"The real aim of sadhana is to awaken God in oneself, and then to awaken the same God in the whole world. This is the path that Sacha Baba constantly teaches us."
Sacha Baba (sometimes spelt Sachcha Baba) is the title given to the latest torch bearers who are also Avatars of the Sacha lineage, an ancient line of saints which dates back from the beginning of time, with its first Master – the holy Narada. However, it is often specifically used as the name of the third Torch bearer in the lineage's present cycle of activities — Sacha Baba Kulanandji, as is the case here.
After Kacha Baba, Sacha Baba Girnari and Sacha Baba Kulanandji, Shri Hans Raj Maharajji Sacha Baba was the fourth torch bearer in the present physical manifestation of the lineage. The above torch bearers have incarnated for the sole purpose of guiding humanity up the steep path leading to a new state of consciousness which is now dawning on the world today, bringing in an era of more brotherhood and sharing. This shift in consciousness is known as Parivartan in Sanskrit, and the work carried out for this purpose by both Masters and disciples is called the Sacha Mission.
Shri Hans Raj Maharajji, in his booklet Sacha Sadhana Paddhati or The Teachings of Sacha Baba explains his Master Sacha Baba Kulanandji's particular method to initiate his disciples into spiritual practice. This method includes the spiritual truths behind one's sadhana, meditation (Part 2) and japa1 (Part 3) Here, his illustrious disciple Shri Hans Raj Maharaji presents Sacha Baba's teachings on sadhana or spiritual practice.
Shri Sacha Baba Kulanandji
Extract from SADHANA in The Teachings of Sacha Baba by Shri Hans Raj Maharajji
Part 1. The Principle Of Sadhana
Our Path of Spiritual Practice
In the spiritual world, many great thinkers and Sages of India, have tried through many different ways to find the Truth. Having set their goal, they undertook a deep spiritual discipline. Those who came out of the depths of their sadhana, after having realized their goal and reached the indisputable Truth, presented us with many different methods, which we know by the name of bhakti-, ghyan-, karma-, raja-, hatha-, laya-yoga. Sacha Baba, a revolutionary Seer of Truth also has a particular method to initiate his disciples into Yoga (union with God).
The Principle of Sadhana According to Sacha Baba
First of all you have to go beyond your ego, and make a connection with God, so that you become ready to be initiated into yoga. After that, it is necessary for you to accept the absolute God Who is beyond the manifested world, and Who is also inside you and with Whom you have a deep inner connection, so that He can transform your consciousness. Finally, you have to use this transformed consciousness in the everyday world with God as a central point.
According to this method, it is clear that the first step of Sacha Baba’s sadhana is to destroy the individual human ego. As long as you identify yourself with the consciousness of the body, it is difficult to enter the field of sadhana. Saint Sacha Baba does not want to put an end to each person’s individuality, but to cut the knot of the ego. For the destruction of the ego Sacha Baba always stresses working in a selfless way. It is clear that as a thinker in karma vada — philosophy of karma or action — he is never attached to his work. The essence of his path is to bring each one to the stage where he no longer has any personal desire. In other words, we can describe the complete sadhana as a way towards surrender.
Sacha Baba Kulanandji and Sacha Baba Hans Rajji
In
every field of karma yoga, Sacha Baba Maharaj inspires people to rise
above their individual interests and to work for universal
upliftment. One can express his thought clearly by saying that by
sacrificing one’s own desire, and working for the benefit of
individuals and society, the ego dissolves.2
This brings you to divine consciousness. One does not need to do any
other sadhana. For the destruction of the ego, Saint Sacha Baba
Maharaj does not give any pointers towards escaping from the world or
taking sannyasa3
[renunciation]. As an accomplished Karma Yogi, he inspires people to
give their hearts to God and through God, to work for God.
The wonderful thing about the sadhana of Sacha Baba is that he never tells people to sit with closed eyes for four hours in meditation, nor does he recommend that they escape from ordinary life and take the path of sannyasa. He says,
“It is the destiny of everyone to work.”
One
has to search one's own dharma4
in the circumstances of one's own karma. The individual’s duty
towards the advancement of the human race, which is fulfilled
according to the nature of his work, is to destroy the ego by
surrendering through his work. The ego of a human being persists as
long as he wants to live for himself alone. Through devoting one’s
life to society, nature and the whole universe, one is able to
observe how strong the ego still is.
During Sacha Baba’s very deep sadhana, an inner voice came, which in the field of Truth crushes the sadhaka’s ego,
“Sacrifice the ego!”
In his deep, deep meditation these words came, “Sacrifice your own interests”. As long as you are not at that point, you must continuously watch yourself, and you have to sacrifice your own interests which are created by your ego. Sacha Baba Maharaj says,
“One's entire life is Yoga. Every action must be united with God.”
As long as we are not able to get inspiration, impressions and instructions from God, we need to continue our efforts towards this. Often, you can see that a spiritual seeker ignores spiritual feelings and inspiration and works according to his mind, but after going up a little bit, he falls down like a stone thrown into the air, and which, due to gravity, automatically falls.
During the sadhana of a seeker, the ego and the absolute God are always playing hide and seek. Sometimes the seeker works according to divine orders and impressions and sometimes he works according to his ego. In the field of sadhana this is a very dangerous step. With the slightest carelessness, there arises a fear of falling. As divine impressions and inspiration work very fast in the seeker, his ego likewise grows. He is not able to understand that inspiration belongs to God, not to himself. He begins to think that he himself is God. With this mistake of taking the ego for God, he becomes separated from God. He is cut off from the divine source. Whenever a seeker receives divine knowledge and experiences, the ego begins to play hide and seek.
Therefore, Sacha Baba Maharaj warns all spiritual seekers that when they receive divine inspiration, impressions and experiences,
“Do not forget that they are not yours. Only be grateful to God, and go on obeying His instructions. Only then can you reach the main goal of life.”
Sacha Baba says that just as a man becomes proud of his own beauty in his youth, in the same way a spiritual seeker can become proud of his experiences, and this ruins him. That is why a spiritual seeker must continuously watch his ego and all divine experiences through which he may pass. He has to feel them as experiences coming from God and not as his own.
When a spiritual seeker begins to live in God, slowly, slowly his egoistic knot begins to loosen and then breaks, and the stage comes when there is no difference between God and the devotee. The great power of God becomes one with the seeker, who becomes an instrument of God. When a spiritual seeker reaches that stage, he must still make an effort to change his whole consciousness, and retain the divine energy in him. When his consciousness has completely changed, he will see the world as the centre of God. Henceforth, all his efforts are directed towards world progress, the enlightenment of this world, and its transformation and unification with God.
To sum up, one can say that the aim of Sacha Baba’s sadhana is first to become one with God, and to remain constantly in that state. Then when the disciple’s state is well established, and his whole consciousness has changed, from then on he must help with the liberation of human society. The real aim of sadhana is to awaken God in oneself, and then to awaken the same God in the whole world. This is the path that Sacha Baba constantly teaches us.
ॐ ॐ ॐ
A few remarks :
“It is difficult for us to know how much this great soul Sacha Baba has done for humanity. But from the little which has been revealed, it is said that one of the results of this special mission is that Sacha Baba made it possible for a disciple who establishes a perfect heart to heart connection with a Master of the Sacha lineage, to obtain liberation in this very life, thus becoming a jivanmukta. If not, he will obtain this liberation on leaving our world, i.e. what we usually call death, which means that he will no longer have to reincarnate again on this Earth as an ordinary man; but he may come back to help carry out the plan of the Great Beings.
To sum up, we could say that Sacha Baba has considerably reduced the distance between man and God, not only through his teachings, but also by this special work carried out on the higher planes, so that disciples of the Sacha lineage can attain realization more quickly. The fact that he was the incarnation of such a great Being as a Kumara, had certainly allowed him to carry out such action.
As Hans Raj Maharajji has pointed out, this grace is not reserved for a small elite. Indeed, Sacha Baba’s work is universal and so this grace is available to whoever makes the effort to harmonise himself with a Master of the lineage and seriously follow the sadhana given, along with the teachings of his heart. Sacha Baba lived and worked for the spiritual upliftment of the entire humanity, and not for the progress of just a few individuals.”
(Shri Hans Raj Maharajji and the Dawn of a New Consciousness)
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1 Repetition of a mantra given by a Master.
2 This technique of action must always be accompanied by perfect connection with the Master in order to go towards divine perfection, otherwise one is only an admirable benevolent worker serving others, but for all that, one will not significantly go towards perfection. There are so many examples of this.
3 “Taking sannyasa” means renouncing the world and all one’s ties with family and society, to become a travelling monk dedicated to the research of inner truth.
4 The duty which everyone has towards God and society. In particular, in the spiritual domain, dharma can be defined as “religion”, and consequently religious practice.
