At the beginning of the first lecture and end of the last lecture during the GP function, make an announcement for the curious (jidnaysus) attending the program that those who are interested in starting satsang in their area, can come to one side of the podium (or any other place depending upon the arrangement in the hall) and note down their names.

    At the beginning of the program, note down names and addresses of the curious attending the program. Depending upon the area of residence for the majority of the curious, decide on a place to hold satsangs. The timing of satsang can be finalized for the next Sunday or other convenient day and announced at the end of the lectures. An announcement can also be made as follows: “After listening to this lecture, those who want to do something in future (actively participate in Guru’s mission), can also meet on the day, time and venue announced earlier.”

    Presently, seekers are going to people to collect donations and advertisements for GP; however, it has been observed that they are not making use of our caps, aprons and umbrellas. Caps, aprons and umbrellas are very good media to spread Spirituality on behalf of the Sanatan organization, the divine consciousness (chaitanya) coming from them also helps to influence the other person whom you approach, and they create a protective sheath around us.

    Some seekers are facing problems like headache, back-ache or body-ache as they get up in the morning, or feeling of heaviness of body and lack of energy while doing ‘seva’, etc. To reduce these problems, such seekers should light an ‘udbatti’ before going to bed.

    When you go to meet a saint, it is more appropriate to pay obeisance to Him in gross rather than bowing before Him in subtle. Although subtle is superior to gross, ‘bowing before a saint’ in gross is more apt from the viewpoint of what others see. When you touch His feet, you also get the benefit of the divine consciousness (chaitanya) emitted through His feet.

    If there is a large crowd to meet the saint, then you can pay obeisance from wherever you are. However, as His Holiness (H.H.) Dr. Jayant Athavale is familiar to us, if you go to meet Him, pay your obeisance to Him in subtle/in your mind.

    You have to therefore use your discretion to decide when to pay obeisance to a saint in gross or in subtle.

    Seekers following various other paths and belonging to different sects are chanting the Name obtained through the seven Names experiment. There is likelihood of seekers facing opposition from their family or their sects. Seekers facing such problems should explain the importance of the chant obtained through experiment. If they are not much satisfied with the explanation, seekers should continue to do their distressing energy chant in their mind without going into further details.

    Seekers should not drive at high speeds, not overtake from wrong side, should stop at the signal lights, not drive on ‘No entry’ roads, etc.

    Some seekers are regular in their efforts for removal of Personality Defects (PDs). However, sometimes if they feel that there is no change in their PDs despite giving auto-suggestions, they stop giving auto-suggestions. They do not introspect to find the reason behind their failure in reducing their PDs or do not approach other seekers for advice. Then, they feel depressed and stop following the PDR procedure altogether. A seeker stopped following the process of PDR for about a month. On discussions with him, it was observed that his manner of giving auto-suggestions was wrong and thus he was not acting per the auto-suggestions.

    Seekers should constantly make efforts to solve the problems in the PDR process and for continuing spiritual practice.

    A seeker from Karnataka (India) would try to visualize the physical form of H.H. Dr. Athavale to increase his spiritual emotion and thus improve his quality of chanting. Later, he started visualizing Him not just during chanting, but also sometimes when he did not chant. He visualized H.H. Dr. Athavale even when he would go to the bathroom or toilet. Therefore, he felt embarrassed for remembering H.H. Dr. Athavale at such places and for a few days he not only stopped chanting there, but also when he was doing other work. Without consulting a responsible seeker, he made such a decision. Seekers should ensure that they do not commit such mistakes. We know that God is omnipresent, so there is no harm in remembering Him anywhere.

   In the Sanatan organization’s periodicals, under the headings ‘Messages to seekers’ and ‘Seekers should avoid such mistakes’, guidance is given on different aspects of spiritual practice:

• Various facets of seeker-ship

• How to avoid committing mistakes that cause damage to Guru’s mission

• Methods to be followed for perfect individual and collective spiritual practice leading to faster spiritual progress of seekers

• Showing the right path to achieve this and what should be ideal governance for establishment of divine kingdom

    Some seekers engaged in the seva of propagation of Spirituality feel that published mistakes committed by seekers staying in the ashram are actually meant for those seekers staying in the ashrams, and can be addressed at the ashram level and are unnecessarily wasting space in the periodicals. Such inappropriate views and incorrect thinking shows that there is a lack of proper perspective in seekers as to what they should learn from such mistakes and how they can bring improvement in themselves to develop perfect seeker-ship qualities. Seekers should note that such an attitude is dangerous for their spiritual progress.

   The distressing energy trouble is more severe on the full and new moon days. The trouble also starts two days prior to such days and exists even two days after. Seekers should therefore do maximum chanting and prayers on these five days.

*If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, or to complement one's current spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting or constantly remembering God's Name according to one's religion. Chanting also acts as a useful complement to any spiritual path one may be already following. It is a practice recommended for the current times by Holy texts and Saints of all religions.

• Seekers in the initial stages of spiritual practice (less than one year) can repeat The Name of the Lord as per their religion (refer to Issue 3 Clarification of Doubts section for details).

• Seekers who have been doing regular spiritual practice for over a year or so can determine the appropriate chant for them from the experiment given in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section.