What Is Transmission: Shri Kamlesh D Patel

In order to understand the concept of transmission, which is described in Sanskrit as pranahuti and in Urdu as tavajjoh, I would like to
 take a little detour to the subject of nutrition. To nourish our physical system, our body, we consume food. As far as possible, if it is a balanced diet it is great – vitamins, protein, fat, carbohydrates and fibre in a balanced state. That nourishes our physical body.

Then we go on to the second aspect of our existence: mental enrichment. How do we nourish that? You are all going through the process at the moment of enriching yourself mentally. And please don’t let it stop with the end of this degree. Let it continue, and don’t let it rust. Education should never be stopped till we die. Otherwise, as they say, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”

And we also have a third body. The first body 
is the grosser body, the physical body, and we get nutrition from food. The second is mental, and that derives its nutrition through enrichment via our professors and what we do with their teaching. We assimilate it and later on make it more intense through our work, actualising it in our experience.

We also have a third entity we call the soul or the atma. Did you ever think about how we can enrich that soul? Is there any food for that? When a baby is hungry and eats something, without realising that it is food, if it satisfies the baby’s hunger he is happy. The baby does not need to say, “This is my food.” When you are thirsty, without knowing the name water, the water still quenches your thirst. And when we are so desperate for knowledge, it really does not matter from where we gather our knowledge, it just impresses our heart so much that we are lost in that knowledge. We are somehow in a state of joy when we learn something new.

It is similar with this inner being, the soul, though we do not know how it feels hungry or not. Through some process, somehow it is satisfied. It remains 
at peace, it derives immense calmness that it has never experienced before, and so then you can say, “Yes, something is all right. I am being fed.” That
 is what I call pranahuti. Pranas-ahuti is the sacrifice of someone’s soul for the enrichment of my soul. A yogi at the pinnacle of his sadhana or his evolution merges in the Ultimate. He derives the essence 
from the Ultimate and, after drawing it, he is able to transmit it. The people who receive it feel it, and that is what we offer to you.

Our body has its limitations at a genetic level – 
if you are going to grow to five feet five, you will only grow to five feet five, maybe five feet six if
 you keep on exercising. A five-footer cannot dream of becoming a six-footer. There are enormous limitations imposed at a physical level, restrained by the genes that we have inherited from our parents.

If you go to the next level, growth at the mental level, it is not as restricted. It is not genetic. If my father is a farmer, I have the possibility of becoming a PhD. A son or daughter of a rickshaw puller can still become a PhD but not all can become like Einstein. There is limitation there too, but there is greater flexibility than at a physical level.

Going to the spiritual realm, there are no limitations. The possibilities are infinite. You can go on expanding and growing infinitely in the spiritual field, because now you are merging with God. And if God is infinite and your merger is in the Infinite, your growth must be infinite. So there is a greater possibility through meditation.

I welcome you all to try it out. If you like it, continue with it. Once you like it, make it a commitment to yourself. It is not that you are going to satisfy your parents by sitting quietly with closed eyes and becoming a saint. You are not even here to satisfy God; you are here to satisfy your existence. The very purpose of existence is to excel in whatever you do. After many years of interaction within myself I have come to this fundamental conclusion that this life is given to us so that we excel in whatever we do. It is as simple as that.

[Excerpt from an address by Shri. Kamlesh D. Patel, President, Shri Ram Chandra Mission, to the students of Aurangabad Government College, 17th of March 2015, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India]

Satsang: by Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian

         The word “SATSANG” is a combination of two Sanskrit words, namely: 

‘Sat’ meaning ‘Real’, ‘Existence’ or ‘Good’ and ‘Sang(a)’ meaning ‘Union’ or ‘Contact’.  

So, it means the ‘union or contact with Reality’ or ‘association with good people or Saints’ etc.  Any assembly of people where chanting or recitation of scriptures or hymns in praise of various deities is done has come to be called Satsang.

         The Masters of Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM), Rev. Lalaji Maharaj, Rev. Babuji Maharaj, Rev. Chariji Maharaj and Shri. Kamlesh D. Patel have stressed that ‘Satsang’ means the ‘eternal connection or union with the Ultimate Reality’.  Although the group meditation where hundreds or thousands of abhyasis of SRCM assemble together in one place in the presence of the Master or the Preceptors / Prefects permitted by him is known as Satsang, the Masters of Sahaj Marg have always said that Satsang is not an affair lasting for one hour or few hours in a day.  It is a continuous process.

 

         Is there any reference to such Satsang in ancient scriptures like Vedas?  I do not think so.  There are many occasions where we find saints or spiritual aspirants, Gurus etc. join together where discourses are given, assemblies being held. But the Satsang we experience in Sahaj Marg is quite revolutionary, far higher than all those available in literature.  One must read the last hymn of Rigveda called Aikamatya Sukta to have an idea of how we should conduct ourselves in Satsang.

         The credit for an organised way of conducting Satsang goes to Shri Ramachandraji (1873-1931) of Fategarh, affectionately known as Lalaji Saheb.  It was He who invited and included those having spiritual thirst to join him. He showered the divine energy, ‘Transmission’  which is called Pranahuti, on all of them, without distinction.  He also transmitted to many during nights even without the knowledge of the aspirants, which the lineage of Gurus in Sahaj Marg continued.

         In the spiritual gatherings / Bhandaras or during Satsang, the divine energy is transmitted either by the Master or by the Preceptors / Prefects permitted by him.  Such a phenomenon was unknown in earlier days.  Also the equality given to people without the barriers of colour, caste, creed, religion, nationality, sex etc. is unique in Sahaj Marg.  It is like the Sun or Moon shedding its lustre on all without any discrimination whatsoever.

         We do not find much role given for women in spirituality in ancient literature, though occasionally we find reference to some female saints like Gargi and exalted women like Maitreyi, Katyayani, Anasuya and a few others, but in Sahaj Marg, under the banner of SRCM, we have many women who are not only abhyasis but also Preceptors who conduct Satsangs where hundreds of men and women meditate. 

         It is due to the tireless work of Shri Ram Chandraji (1899-1983) of Shahjahanpur, affectionately known as Babuji, the ablest disciple and successor of Rev. Lalaji Saheb that women were also made Preceptors and were permitted to conduct Satsangs.

         When many spiritual aspirants join together and meditate, it has its own positive effect in the environment. This can be clearly felt by anyone visiting such places where Satsangs are held.  Also this promotes the feeling of brotherhood, sadly missing in today’s social life.

         There is also no room for higher and lower, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, white and black etc. in these Satsangs.  All are equal before God, so too before the Masters of Sahaj Marg.

         So, apart from spiritual purpose, we can see the social revolution brought by SRCM through Satsangs.

         Rev. Parthasarathi Rajagopalachariji Maharaj (1927-2014), popularly known as Chariji, worked tirelessly and established Satsangs in thousands of places in more than hundred countries.  He said once, “In Satsang, the Master is there, you are there, the transmission is there and yet the most important thing is ‘link with God / Master’ and if it is not there, then you will not get full benefit”.

         Satsang is not a place where we assemble to meet each other, exchange ideas, gossip or even to listen to the discourses.  It is to train one to go deeper into oneself into the Self, says Shri Kamesh D Patel, the President of SRCM.  He goes to the extent of telling that even if you sit at home and link yourself with Him, it is Satsang. This is in deed a great boon for many - housewives, elderly people, physically challenged and others. It is also worthwhile to know that Kamlesh bhai has kindly declared that those who have completed 15 years of age can commence their spiritual practice (sadhana) under SRCM. This will help students to derive the benefit directly so that during the course of their examinations, they can remain at home at meditate and continue their study.

     Such is the uniqueness of Satsang in Sahaj Marg.

What is Transmission?

Revered Chariji says the following about Transmission: Transmission is something we believe to be unique to our system. Master defines transmission as the utilization of Divine power or energy for the transformation of man. This is made possible by the discovery of his own Master that a human being can transmit to another provided he is in contact with the Ultimate source of all energy. And my Master is doing this work. And, apart from his doing it himself, he has made it possible for people called preceptors, teachers, trainers, to also transmit this same energy under his control, under his guidance and directions.

The current Master of Sahaj Marg, Shri. Kamlesh D. Patel explains about transmission in simple terms. He says just like how the body grows with the help of food and nutrition and the mind gets its nourishment through education and knowledge, so does the soul need food for it to grow and this food for the soul is Transmission.