A seeker working in the Editorial department of the Sanatan organization’s daily publication at Ratnagiri (India) had the habit of having tea five to six times during the day. Once he asked a lady-seeker for a cup of tea at 7.30 pm although that day, there were fewer seekers available for kitchen satseva. The lady-seeker told him that it would not be possible for her to make tea at that time as she was busy cooking dinner. Upon this, the seeker got very angry; he went back to the Editorial department grumbling that other seekers did not realize that the satseva done by him was very difficult as it involved use of intellect and that only when others try to do such satseva will they know how difficult it is. This incident shows that the seeker has so much ego about the kind of satseva done by him.

    Seekers engaged in kitchen satseva progress faster than the seekers doing the satseva involving use of intelligence. Examples of these seekers are M/s Sushama Pednekar, Kavita Rathivadekar and Aparna Banavalikar from Ramnathi Ashram, Goa (India) doing satseva in the kitchen department earlier. There they progressed faster and now they are doing satseva in the Subtle Department. While doing spiritual practice, we must do the satseva with the perspective that the satseva we do should help us progress spiritually rather than rating the allocated satseva as superior or inferior. Seekers should not have wrong viewpoint about sadhana like the above seeker and regress spiritually.

    On July 7, 2005, a show of a Marathi play in which there is mockery of deities, was to be staged at Nanded (India). When Shri Deshpande, seeker from Vidarbha, came to know about staging of the show, he told Shri Jadhav, another seeker, to give an application in writing to the District Collector (DC), Police Commissioner and the concerned police station for withdrawal of permission granted to stage that show. Accordingly, Shri Jadhav gave the application to the DC through the Hindu Jan-jagruti Samiti (Committee to create awareness among the Hindus) and managed to convince the DC that there was ridicule of the deities in the play. The DC immediately called the organizers of the show, had discussions with them and withdrew the permission to stage the show. Consequently, the show was cancelled.

    Later Shri Jadhav put up a banner of the Hindu Jan-jagruti Samiti at the venue where the show was to be staged and guided the people who had come to watch the play as to why the show was cancelled and requested them to participate in the activities for prevention of mockery of deities. The people agreed and left the venue without any discontentment. You can also take similar action to stop the ridicule of deities.

    Seekers are prone to make the following remarks at random while speaking or writing, “His Holiness (H.H.) Doctor (Jayant Athavale) will not like this thing. We have to do as is expected by the Lord/ H.H. Doctor.” To cite an example, once a Name strip was stuck on a wall with a little slant by a seeker in an ashram. The chief seeker said, “Will H.H. Doctor like the Name strip stuck in a slanting manner?”

    While speaking about an incident or giving perspective to others, one should not refer to the point, “Will the Lord/ H.H. Doctor like it? We have to do as per Their expectation.” Any mistake should be viewed from three angles and an appropriate view out of the three should be put forth before the erring seeker.

When a mistake comes to our notice, it can be corrected in three different ways:
1. If the mistake is on a gross level, we can say, “It does not look good to the eyes.”
2. While giving a spiritual clarification for the mistake, we can say, “Any activity should be done in a skilful and perfect manner, i.e. in keeping with ‘Yogaha Karmasu Kaushalam’.”
3. If the mistake is on a subtle level, we can say, “We do not get good vibrations from it.”

    Instead of advancing any of the above clarifications, if we merely say, “The Lord/ H.H. Doctor would not like it; we have to do it as is expected by Them”, the seekers would not know what exactly the Lord/ H.H. Doctor likes and what exactly They expect. They will get confused. It is therefore necessary to study any issue from the above three angles and then a proper explanation may be given to the seekers.

    The blow in the form of the flood at the Devad Ashram, Panvel (India) was just a glimpse of the imminent crisis. Henceforth, we will have to face even more dreadful circumstances. Only Guru’s grace is going to save us. This incident showed us that the Government machinery does not work at the time of crisis. Only God’s grace can save us. Even then, as a matter of our ‘Kriyaman karma (wilful action)’, all seekers should keep stock of all essential medicines that would last for 4-5 weeks.

    Make a kit of the following medicines that would take care of the need of the ashram as well as family members (for about 4-5 persons):

• Medicines for cough, cold and fever, including antibiotics, packets of oral rehydration salts (ORS), anti-diarrhoeal, medicines for stomachache and pain killers

• For children: ORS to prevent dehydration, medicines in syrup form for diarrhoea and fever

• Other: Dettol or Savlon (anti-septic soap), antibiotic/anti-septic creams, roller-bandages, cotton, etc.

    The essential dosage of the medicines for the above-mentioned diseases may be stocked with you as per doctor-seekers’ advice.

    It has been observed in the homes of some seekers in Northern India that their home temples are kept closed or the idols or pictures of deities of worship are kept closed in a cupboard. They are taken out only at the time of worship or aarti. Thus the vibrations of divine consciousness emanating from deities’ idols or pictures remain inside the cupboard and do not spread in the entire house, thereby depriving the family members the expected benefit of divine consciousness. The home temple therefore should not be kept closed or the idols nor should pictures of the deities of the home temple or those used in ritualistic worship be kept closed in cupboards.

    Many seeker husbands and wives are practicing spirituality under the guidance of the Sanatan organization. A seeker-husband in North India opposed the collective spiritual practice of his wife. He said, “The husband is the Lord. You serve me alone. Make me happy so that you will attain the Lord. There is no need for you to go out to spread spirituality in society.”

    This seeker’s line of thinking is totally wrong. In order to create the spiritual emotion in the wife that “Husband is the Lord”, the husband’s behaviour should also be like the Lord. The wife should be able to see divine qualities in the husband. One cannot create such spiritual emotion in the wife merely by coercing her and getting service done from her in order to get happiness for oneself. On the contrary, the husband may attract the sin of creating hurdles in wife’s way of attainment of the Lord. In fact, in keeping with the religious principle of ‘mutual cooperation’, husband and wife are expected to help in the spiritual practice of each other. Seekers should always hold the view that, “I may not be able to help in other’s spiritual practice but I should not at least create hurdles in other’s spiritual practice.”

*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.