Daaji Speaks! Cure to modern day stress and restlessness: Heartfulness Meditation

Daaji believes that problems are not new and they existed even before. The definition of problem might have changed but its ingredients are the same. While lack of peace and restlessness cause problems, meditation can address them. Meditation can calm one's heart.

Hyderabad:When Daaji speaks - “you are the experiment, you are the experimenter, and you are the outcome”, he is perhaps referring to the eternal Indian philosophy that one's own self is responsible for everything. Kamlesh D. Patel, a Padma Bhushan awardee, popularly known as Daaji was born in Gujarat in 1956.

Though he studied pharmacy, his keen interest lay in meditation and spiritual growth. In 1976, as a pharmacy student in Ahmedabad, he met his guide Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur (Babuji), the founder and first president of Shri Ram Chandra Mission.

Due to his indomitable interest in spirituality, Daaji left his flourishing pharmacy business in USA and became a full time devotee of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. He is the spiritual guide of the Sahaj Marg system, and the third President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Daaji speaks exclusively to ETV Bharat's Riddhi Nandy. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Q1. Modern-day problems require modern solutions. So, how do you think heartfulness has been contributing to Indian culture?

Ans: Problems cannot be defined by time. There is nothing called a ‘Modern Problem’. The problem was always there and it gives us restlessness. This sense of restlessness was always there in the time of Rama and in the time of Krishna. Let us take an example. In the US you will have to work for eight hours a day and five days a week but in India, it becomes 10 hours and sometimes 12 hours. It is a problem that needs to be sorted out by employers. It doesn’t require a spiritual solution.

If we look around us we will find people suffering from a lack of peace and are restless. This of course has a solution. Meditation is the only way through which one can avoid many unnecessary activities. This will give him or her a lot more time to brood on one’s own self. The most important thing is one should have clarity of heart and mind so that one can make better decisions without depending on unnecessary things.

Q2. What benefits do you think the presence of heartfulness headquarters in Hyderabad has for the state of Telangana?

Ans: Primarily I would like to say that ‘Heartfulness’ doesn’t belong to Telangana only. It is a worldwide phenomenon. Now there are 3000 seekers of spirituality and after a few days, it will reach 1 lakh. Secondly, I would also like to mention that benefits cannot be defined within a scheduled time-frame. This is a place for experiments where we make experiments at social, economic and even agricultural level.

The farmers around us come here to learn the modern techniques of agriculture so that the yield of the crop can be increased. We have an advantage. People from all over the world come here and we get to know a lot of things which we use for our day-to-day benefits. For example, Italian cuisine is becoming popular and so the farmers can cultivate toppings for oregano on pizza or thyme and rosemary for mixing with green tea. Even if they don’t find customers here, they can sell it through digital marketing platforms.

Q3. We have heard recently that heartfulness is entering a new era of creating a new spiritual and environmental world. What plants do you have for rolling out new initiatives all over India?

Ans:We have selected a few cities this year like Hyderabad, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune where we can roll out yoga programmes, especially yoga asanas, pranayama and Dhyana. We will train people in these three fundamental things in association with Patanjali yogpeeth from Haridwar. This programme would be headed by Sri Ramdev Baba and ‘Heartfulness’. Apart from that some good institutions like Gayatri Parivar will come together and on February 26 to 28, these three days in Hyderabad.

Every evening it will run for one-and-a-half hours sessions where we will teach pranayama and asanas for specific ailments like blood pressure and high blood pressure and high blood pressure, liver ailment, thyroid problem and obesity. There are different Pranayama and Dhiyanam which will help them in these ailments. We will teach them these techniques.

We are also introducing people to one-to-one meditation of Sri Ramchandra Mission and it is free of cost. The Mission is not only working across the country but globally too. We have also planned to conduct these programmes in bigger cities like New York, San Francisco, and Houston in the United States, France in Paris, Switzerland and Lausanne, Copenhagen, and Denmark. We call it 'Yog Magotsav of 2023'. Our mission is to reach out to most families around the globe and make them aware of the benefits of yoga and meditation. One can learn it online or can come here in person and there are no charges in it.

Q4. How are music and meditation festivals significant in the backdrop of the '150th birth anniversary week of Lalaji Maharaj'?

Ans:Well, it's a very joyful location for the satsangis of this organisation. Our Adhiguru is Sri Lalaji Maharaj. He rediscovered this fundamental aspect of 'Pranahuti'. Let me explain Pranahuti. Theoretically speaking, the body requires food for nutrition, so we need to educate and enrich our minds and by doing that we educate ourselves. The theory of cause and effect is oblivious to most of the human beings and this sense of divinity can only be perceived from a Yogi of high calibre who has connected himself or herself with the divine source.

For example, If I continue to transmit the divine essence of the 'Pranahuti' I will deplete my energy at a limited level but if one is connected with the infinite then the flow will be continuous. It will not reduce your energy. So the Yogi of 'a calibre' can transmit the 'Pranahuti' . This is the research done by Adiguru which changes meditation altogether. There are lots of meditations available and I challenge that no meditation can give the experience that meditation with this Pranahuti can.

The magical thing that happens is that it transforms your consciousness which helps dive deep into yourself. This Pranahuti meditation satisfies the hunger of the soul and it gives peace. We have been receiving such grace for 150 years from our ancestors and this legacy will continue throughout the globe for millions of years to come.

To honour this discovery of ‘Pranahuti' we celebrate for 7 to 8 days with music and yoga, music and meditation. Classical music maestros like Kaushiki, Rashid Khan, Hari Shankari, Hariprasad Chaurasiaji, Ahmed, Amjad Ali Khan, Rahul Sharma, Abhyankar, and Shashank will come here to perform.

Q5. So millions of people around the world have benefited from this. How easy do you think it is to adopt meditation and simplistic Ways of Life in the modern world?

Ans: This is easier than falling asleep as our job is only to sit comfortably. We all can close our eyes and that's all. We need to be receptive and keep an open heart and pray to God. We have to offer a Prayer that God I need your help. That is what ‘Pranahuti’ is all about. Sit in a receptive posture as long as you can and when you think you're satisfied with the experience you open your eyes gently. See what has transpired and hold on to that state.

Q6: But don't we have all kinds of thoughts when we sit idle?

Ans: When you sit idle it's a monkey's mind. It stops the function of your mind. A nose is to smell, eyes are to see and the mind is to think. Pranahuti meditation teaches us how to regulate the mind and make the best use of the mind. Let us make our mind our best friend.

Q7. What is your primary message to the youth today?

Ans: I shall not answer it myself but share the experience of the late Pandit Jasraj. I had asked him the same question and he said: One is serving parents with all your heart. Don't think of it as a responsibility or don't even think it's a duty. Do it out of love.

Second, "Guru ka aadar": Honouring your master or your teachers. Third, "Riyaz'': Meaning you practice diligently what has been prescribed to you. For a musician if it is practising music then for a ‘Yogi’ it is ‘Tapasya'. Practice can only lead to perfection.