Serbia

Lessons living with Mohanji – Days 195 & 196

Posted on February 5, 2023February 4, 2023 by Mohanji Editorial Team

by Christopher Greenwood

Day 195 – Melting of Layers

The other day Mohanji was speaking in satsang at the program in Serbia named “The Truth Called You,”- that being our innermost essence, beyond all our identifications of personality, beyond the mind, habits, patterns, fears or phobias, all these types of things. What is the innermost essence with which we can connect?

He shared a great metaphor, which had me thinking this morning, and this was about the connection that people have with Mohanji. When you come into connection with him, transformation automatically begins to happen. I’ve mentioned in some previous recordings that a Master is an external projection that points you back to your inner guru, which is your innermost reality. That’s what you’re coming into connection with. As Mohanji explained this, I reflected on the previous year I spent with him and connected with him before that.

He described that coming closer to him is like a candle coming closer to fire. So, if you imagine a candle, it will slowly begin to melt as you bring it closer to the heat. Like that, the layers of wax, the coatings of wax melt. Similarly, for ourselves, our layers and our coatings begin to dissolve in that connection. Those layers are being removed! That’s the shedding of our patterns or habits or even desires.

In retrospect, before meeting Mohanji, I had typical Western habits like eating meat, drinking, etc. Although I was eating less red meat then, soon after meeting him, I realized that these began to drop off. It seems like that connection was something that didn’t allow that anymore, or it wasn’t necessary. So, they left. Not that it became pressure, they just dropped off.

As I’ve spent more time with him, with that proximity or that connection increasing, these things have become more intense and subtle. Rather than some outward habits, hidden insecurities start to surface, fear of what other people may think, fear of society, and these types of things. These are typical things most people have, and then other things like emotions, such as anger and maybe some jealousy; these layers start to melt away.

I’ve also witnessed this with others who connect more closely with him. The candle metaphor mentioned earlier does not necessarily imply physical proximity. It’s instead the intensity of the connection. So, although people might not be physically around him, the intensity increases when that connection increases and this shedding of the coatings of layers happens in people’s lives. For me, this helped crystallize experiences that occurred previously and over the past year.

Day 196 – When we compromise, we are weak, and when we complement, we are strong

“When we compromise, we are weak, and when we complement, we are strong”; this was something that Mohanji said yesterday. The quote caught my attention and stuck with me. Often when I look back at the person I was, I understand the lessons and transformations that have taken place.

Yesterday was the last day of the Serbian retreat “The Truth Called You”. It has been fantastic. Mohanji remarked on the high level of receptivity and level of understanding of the participants, which meant that most of his satsang was liberation orientated. People had a strong desire to know, to have more profound realizations.

Mohanji asked some good questions. One of them prompted writing and recording this daily message. It was, “How much time do we spend on someone who doesn’t care or love us, and because of that, how much do we compromise ourselves?” It was a good question. I was thinking about this as he spoke. As I peered into my past, I realized that I was often trying to bend, adjust, and do cartwheels; all sorts of tactics to make some people love and accept me. In that process, I would bend myself completely out of shape and become unnatural, not in alignment with who I was or what I wanted to be doing.

I know now that it doesn’t work when we try to be something else. So, a clear message is that we become weak when compromising. It’s beginning to dawn that being my authentic self is my true strength. And chasing after others or compromising my own life makes me weak and unstable, with higher insecurities and complexes. I truly understand that my authenticity is my strength,

On the other hand, complementing each other has brought strength. Accepting myself and allowing others to be themselves entirely, gave all stability. In Mohanji’s talk, he said that what naturally follows is our commitment and responsibility towards those who love and care for us.

If people don’t like us, it’s no problem. We must live our own life, who we are, our truth, and our frequency because that’s the best we can give. He stressed that we must remember to be ourselves and connect to ourselves. It’s been my experience that as I’ve changed naturally, my relationships have had to adjust too. As my journey unfolded, my relationships with family and friends had to adapt somehow. It was a difficult time.

It’s crucial to have that stability and security inside so that you’re still stable no matter what happens outside. No storms can bother you, and it’s possible to sail regardless. It’s the idea of not compromising too much. People will love you or hate you, but you can always be okay, stable and content with yourself. So that was my reflection and lesson from the satsang yesterday.

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 5^thFebruary 2023

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DIVINE CALL OF NATURE

Posted on December 8, 2019December 12, 2019 by Mohanji Editorial Team

by Cathy Johnston, UK

Having gone through 30 years of various gynaecological procedures (and subsequent total hysterectomy 10 years ago) following the respective births of my two giant-sized babies (10 lb each), I had become used to living under the governance of my ever-increasing bladder alerts. Wherever I travelled I’d automatically, mentally calculate my liquid intake and the very real prospect of a cross-legged stagger to the nearest bush (in the face of a commonplace lack of public conveniences).

Most often, my decision was a toss-up between remaining hydrated, and taking the risk, or deciding to dehydrate to avoid a crisis. The latter usually prevailed. Day times weren’t the only problem, this was a 24/7 vigil with sleep disturbances a ‘normal’ for me. Aeroplane and coach journeys were the things of nightmares. Careful consideration and planning beforehand were extremely necessary for me.

When the opportunity to attend Mohanji’s Serbian retreat (October 2019) came up, the first considerations that came to mind were all of the above.

(A couple of months before the planning of the travel for the retreat, I had had the dawning that my next birthday would be the big six zero. I had then decided, once and for all, that the time was right to get my problem sorted before I began my 6th decade and duly made an appointment to visit a female gynaecologist in Manchester. Unsurprisingly, it was confirmed that I had a prolapsed bladder and required one of two surgeries. Another appointment – for the investigation to decide which one of the two operations I needed – was planned for the Wednesday after I’d arrive home from Mohanji’s Serbian retreat.)

I have to admit I was sorely tempted not to attend with the thought of flying 2 hours to Zurich followed by a 5-hour coach ride (did it have an onboard loo?) was too much to contemplate. I was traveling with my younger son via a stop-over with him in Switzerland, and who, by sheer and ruthless pester-power (and a lack of real empathy or knowledge about the debilitating and restrictive condition I lived with) convinced me there would be a loo on board the coach and that all would be well.

Mentally, I decided I’d abstain from all liquid refreshments and be prepared to arrive at the retreat feeling like a prune. I could re-hydrate in the comfort of my room with my lovely private en-suite. (Just as well I’d planned ahead as there wasn’t a loo on board the coach – we did, however, stop halfway at a service where I made 3 trips to their ladies room).

Before booking, I had also noted the ‘code of conduct’ sentence that prompted those who needed to leave the room regularly (speaking directly to me!) during satsang, would be best advised to sit at the rear of the hall to avoid interrupting Mohanji’s flow, etc. The first satsang arrived during our first evening together with around 200 other attendees, so I made sure I arrived early to pick my seat at the back, not wanting to have to elbow other, like-bladdered women out of the way.

(Incidentally, all of this particular retreat’s events/words/language was entirely alien to me – not to my son of course who had occasionally uttered these Indian sounding words in my presence – so my expectations were basically, zero!)

The evening of the first satsang arrived (satsang – what does this mean?), and I duly sat at the end of a back-row seat. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the blonde lady in front of me had rather big, fuzzy hair and my views were so restricted that I found myself constantly bobbing up and down as I became more and more drawn to the truth this Mohanji person was speaking. I became very frustrated (also a little exhausted after such a long journey) but cannily spotted the next seat for the following day that I would nab. I’d get there early once again to avoid any drama!

The following day’s satsang arrived with me smugly seated at the end of a curved middle row, close to another exit door. I settled in and was so happy with my perfect view. I’d monitored my liquid intake and knew I could last about an hour before having to ‘nip to the loo’.

About halfway through, my mind became distracted by my usual obsession as I wondered when a good time would be to duck out invisibly, not wanting to draw attention to myself or disrupt the flow. I was also beginning to cross my legs and in all honesty, didn’t want to miss a trick of what was going on. I was totally captivated by this person. He spoke to my own heart, directly, speaking my truth and reassuring me about myself. I was transfixed and also uncomfortable with the increasing knowledge of an imminent dash becoming quite necessary.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Mohanji stopped speaking and asked aloud ‘does somebody need to go to the toilet?’ My heart stopped and skipped a beat as I shrank down into my seat and averted my gaze, praying to God no-one would recognise my body language and realise it was me!! God only knows how I managed to sit through the next half of the satsang, but I was really puzzled. I wondered, “Did this person read my mind? How can this be? This has to be a coincidence,” blah blah, as I raced out at the end.

At some stage later that day, we all toddled off for our ‘Conscious walking’ session in the glorious sunshine on the beautiful Serbian mountainside. Sitting quietly on a rocky outcrop at our mountain top destination, my son and I were discussing the experience so far when I felt a gentle hand on my head as someone navigated the bumps of the hill around where we were sitting. I thought absolutely nothing of it and looked up and smiled at Mohanji as he gently ambled on with the group he was walking with.

My son, looking wide-eyed and directly at me, was gasping; “Mum, Mum, Mohanji has just blessed you! Do you realise what this means?” I was smiling but really, in total ignorance of the whole shaboodle so far. Nothing was normal to me. The whole experience so far was a million miles away from my everyday life. All of these people talking so freely about their emotions and problems and this wonderfully wise guy walking casually amongst us all. (I was trying really hard to process but as the days wore on, my mind was becoming more and more mushed.)

I can’t remember the exact sequence of events but at some stage, we were informed that the timetable for the following day was to begin an hour earlier at 6 am and we were to go directly to the dining hall to drink a litre and a half of water followed by 12 almonds. Really? Why would this be? How was I going to cope with the two-hour yoga session afterward? (In truth, yoga was the deciding factor for attending this retreat and if it hadn’t been on the agenda, I definitely could have resisted the power of pestering!)

I was genuinely distraught, my body was craving for some yoga but I knew, deep down, that my whole week of yoga was in jeopardy with this ridiculous new instruction and the subsequent million dashes I’d have to make during yoga, in every session, disrupting the others, etc. and causing embarrassment to myself. Darn it! I felt that this week was going to be ruined for me and that I’d return home as unfit as I’d arrived.

The first session of yoga, following our new water and nut regime, was amazing. Yoga like I’d never experienced and from the word go, we were totally immersed in the feelings within. Starting with the gapless breathing (again something new for me) followed by the traditional full-body workout yoga session.

I hadn’t anticipated the overwhelming emotions at the commencement of ‘Shavasana’ when a wonderful guitar sprang to life and the most mournful voice began to sing its tune. I was unsure if this was a live or recorded performance and longed to know if it was live.

Upon rousing, I saw it was the beautiful Natesh, but my taps by this time were already on full-flow and thankfully, from my eyes. I couldn’t control my sorrowful weeping and was very confused as to what was happening to me. (Luckily, my Son was there to console me but I was growing more and more puzzled with all of these new sensations and feelings that were overwhelming me.)

The following day was almost the same, if not, more tears and it was only during the second half of this second day, during the afternoon, that it suddenly dawned on me that ‘Hold on! What’s going on here? I haven’t been dashing out to the loo, this can’t be right, I’ve seen so many people nipping in and out of the yoga sessions and not ONCE have I had to leave the room, this is bizarre, maybe I have soaked up all of the water because of the long dehydrating journey?’

I tried hard to fathom it all and maybe, after the 3rd day, I began to mention this to some of the other women I had made friends with. Each one of them smiled knowingly, some even giggled and I was totally dumbfounded. ‘How could anyone heal someone else’s bladder without surgery? What is happening to me? Who is this person?’

Words are so feeble a tool to try to convey the atmosphere during this event and I kept thinking to myself; ‘being here is believing, there are no words adequate enough to encapsulate the feelings and emotions bubbling up so frequently unannounced’.

More and more, I had the overwhelming feeling that I was witnessing something truly sacred and divine and I felt genuinely humbled to be enveloped by the grace of this person and his beautifully natural and unassuming family.

One particular word (Mohanji used more often than any other) tickled me and brought to mind a Beatles tune ‘All you need is Love’. It was Mohanji’s pronunciation of the English word, ‘Love’ that sounded like ‘low’ which made me smile every time he spoke it and this tune became cemented, on a permanent loop within my mind.

I became convinced throughout the remainder of the retreat that I had been touched by the grace of God and had even had a flesh-hug from the same. How could I possibly explain this to the people back home? Where would I begin to describe the goings-on and wonderfulness of it all? I then began to dread the prospect of being without these people, this new, spiritual family I had found.

I also had the prospect of my second gynaecological exploratory appointment looming on the Wednesday after my return home at the weekend. ‘Would it be prudent to go along? Would this be an insult to Mohanji and maybe reverse my ‘miracle cure?’ What was I to do? Who would know the answer? Would attending this second consultation back home cast doubt upon my faith?’ I was in a quandary and towards the last day, I began to ask the advice of one or two people. My son was adamant and quite assertive in that I had to keep my faith and cancel the consultant’s appointment. Someone else told me the answer was within me. Turmoil!

The final evening dawned and it was my time to have a one to one, 3 minutes with Mohanji. I was more troubled with thoughts about my elder son and his future life and the recent near-fatal accident of my husband to think about using these precious minutes to ask about my personal, troubling decision. So I nervously blathered on to Mohanji about my husband and our life of striving together, ignoring the ‘Elephant in the room’ question.

After Mohanji had delivered his reassurances regarding my spoken troubles, I thanked him but just as I was about to open the door to leave him, I turned around and asked him outright, “Did you heal my bladder?” to which he responded, in his gentle, half-smiling way,

“I am always at work.”

My journey homeward bound was to stay two nights with my son in Switzerland, before flying back to the UK. During the first day out in Switzerland, I was dismayed to notice a slight return in my need to find the nearest ladies’ room and on my return to Geneva airport for my trip back to the UK, I glumly noted the frequency was increasing.

My 21:30 flight was delayed by two hours which meant a dismal hanging around a half-empty airport and once past security I found myself dashing towards the nearest loo. Typical of my pre-Mohanji cure, once inside the cubicle I had a frantic dash to prevent an accident and I felt utterly despondent and really confused as to all that had just occurred, in the space of a week. Did my indecision to cancel my consultant’s upcoming appointment reveal my lack of faith and put doubt into my mind regarding the healing?

I was at a complete and utter loss, with no-one to help or support me, so I looked up from the cubicle and asked Mohanji out loud, “Please Mohanji, tell me what to do, am I being punished for doubting or lacking in faith and by keeping my appointment will this undo all of the work you have done? Please help me.” I was feeling very sad and unhappy and so unsure of myself and the decision I had to make.

As I walked towards the washbasin and pressed for the soap, I looked into the mirror and suddenly noted that the song coming from the piped music was none other than ‘All you need is Love!’ I literally laughed out loud and smiled at myself and spoke out loud to Mohanji in complete and utter thanks.

My answer had arrived, and he’d known all along that I had had that tune in my head, throughout the whole week. How funny! God has got a great sense of humour and does work in the most surprising ways.

Needless to say, I duly cancelled my consultant’s appointment for the Wednesday ahead and have never looked back (or have had to keep my eyes peeled for the nearest convenience!).

Once again, words cannot begin to convey my gratitude for the whole, surreal and ultimately, humbling experience but most of all for my reintroduction to the God within. Mohanji, (I’m smiling now, typing his name) the world will indeed be healed. All we need is Love.

Please read Divine call of nature – 2!

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI||

Compiled, Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 8^thDecember 2019

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— Mohanji Testimonials Team

I am always with you

Posted on November 21, 2019November 21, 2019 by Mohanji Editorial Team

By Ulla Bernholdt

‘Remember I am always with you.’ – Mohanji

These words I have heard from Mohanji time and again. When leaving a retreat, it is usually his last words to us. But how much do we comprehend this? Do we understand the real depth of that message?

In the Serbian retreat 2019, Mohanji used an analogy for the experience. He took a sweet from the prasad plate and held it up while saying:

‘I can explain to you the taste of the sweet, but if you have not tasted it, you will never know what I am talking about’.

True! Then, what is he talking about when he says, “I am always with you?”

Most of us who have participated in a retreat with Mohanji, feel sad when the retreat comes to an end, wondering when we will have the next opportunity to be in his physical presence. We might feel pangs of separation, even though we know far too well that we should connect more to his Consciousness. But still, this illusion of duality holds us in its grip.

Please let me share with you some incidents that occurred to me each time on leaving a retreat.

On the last day of the Kumbh Mela 2019 in Prayagraj, devotees waited outside Mohanji’s residence to wish him goodbye. He hugged everyone and to me, he said:

‘Don’t worry, we will see each other.’

At that point, I had not told him about my plan of going to Jammu to attend his next public satsang the following day.

Everything seemed to be in order, a flight ticket was purchased, and a hotel for the night was booked as well. I ordered an Ola cab to pick me up early. Long story short, in the morning two cars cancelled and the third could only drive very slowly, so I missed my flight. The next flight available was not direct; so the prospect of attending the satsang was rapidly decreasing. I was in a bad state of mind. Over and over again, I would ask Mohanji how he could say, “Don’t worry, we’ll see each other,” when the situation was like this. I tried to convince myself that Mohanji means what he says. If it wasn’t for his promise the day before, I would have given up. Luckily, I arrived in time to attend the last hour of the satsang, thanks to Mamu picking me up from the airport.

The next story begins after the satsang in Slovenia. I was to catch a flight from Zagreb, Croatia, the next day, but I didn’t know how to get there late in the evening after the event. That was why I had not booked a place to stay in Zagreb either. Luckily, another devotee offered me a lift and a place for the night, but later she declined. What to do now? Then all of a sudden, Kristina called me saying she met a man outside the hotel who would like to give me a lift to Zagreb and furthermore to stay with him in his hotel room which had a spare bed. I was, of course, happy for the opportunity that was given to me. There was only one thing that worried me: nobody from the family knew this guy. Could I trust him?

The satsang ended and I got a few minutes with Mohanji before leaving, and he said ‘I am with you.’ Then off I went into the night with a perfect stranger in his car to Zagreb. Mohanji’s promise I could not take lightly. It was a marvelous drive with satsang for hours. Everything went smoothly; the guy was very kind and polite. Next morning, he took me for breakfast in a café before driving me to the bus station. He mentioned it was the will of God.

The last incident happened a few days back. I returned home from the Serbian retreat at Mt. Kapaonik, but my key to the apartment was gone. I searched my bags in vain. I wasn’t too worried though, because I left a spare key with a friend.

I collected the key and entered after unlocking the entrance to the stairwell. When getting to the top floor where I live, to my surprise I found that the missing key was sitting outside the door in the keyhole. It had been sitting there for almost 3 weeks.

I started wondering if the money I left inside from conducting Mai-Tri sessions was still in the box next to Mohanji’s photo. But everything was intact, nothing missing. Indeed Mohanji had taken care of the situation while we were both in Serbia. He is to be fully trusted.

So what does it mean when we experience these plays of the Master?

I think it is not merely a matter of someone strong (Mohanji) helping some poor or weak person in need. Nor is it a matter of us receiving protection, help and comfort in a time of despair.

In my point of view, Mohanji not only gracefully led me to overcome my doubts, to trust him and surrender to the situation, but also made me realise that I have faith, and I can handle whatever comes my way. This was only possible because I dared to believe that he is always with me.

I could never understand what he means when he says that he is always with us, had he not gifted me with these experiences. And yes, the taste is sweet, just like he explained! Because of the experiences, I now know the taste of him being with me.

Such experiences allow us to open up in gratitude and have faith in the Master, who then can work on us in return. Maybe one day, we will get to understand the even subtler levels of being with him.