Editor Aparigraha Jain
Editor Carla Geerdes
17.11.2006
We met with Ranjit Dugar in the conference room of Terapanth Vidyalaya. Through the beautiful book on H.H. Acharya Mahaprajna ‘Finding Your Spiritual Centre’, he already was familiar to us as a gifted compiler. At Terapanth Vidyalaya, we had a remarkable meeting with him, where he talked on the issues of contemporary life and why he is promoting Preksha Meditation. He also showed the manuscript of his new book to us and went into depth on some aspects.
“Until you go deep into meditation, you don’t realise reality,” Ranjit Dugar stated in his talk on the issues of contemporary life. To explain it, he referred to some lines from the autobiography of T. S. Elliot, for whom he has great admiration.
‘The Anuvrat Code of Conduct infuses with new life people degenerating fast into what T.S. Elliot aptly calls "automatisations or living shadows inhibiting the great wasteland.’
“Where is wisdom? We have lost it for knowledge.
Where is knowledge? We have lost it for information.”
He then continued thoughtfully,
“I would like to add:
Where is life? We have lost it for lifestyle.”
In Preksha Meditation, he experiences both, wisdom and knowledge. But tragically, neither wisdom, nor knowledge can be communicated socially; they have to be experienced individually on the level of soul.
According to him, preaching and lectures are not working on the level of soul. They address the 8% of our conscious mind, which he compared to the peak of an iceberg. Experiences acquired in meditation reach the 92% of our subconscious mind and therefore reach the level of soul.
Then we talked on the increasing number of psychic disorders nowadays, and Ranjit Dugar stated sorrowfully that in World Health Organisation report they predicted depression as the biggest killer in 2015. He had noticed that people increasingly act mechanically like robots because they are cut off from the own Self. The only answer to the many emotional and social disorders he has found is spirituality. Spirituality as well as life and love cannot be evaluated, but have to be realised by living it.
Most people in the world identify themselves with the body and not with Soul. Their focus lies on money, but as Sadhvi Nirvanshree had remarked the same morning, “Money can buy bed, but not sleep.”
Ranjit Dugar wants to inspire people with his books to light the lamp inside, as wisdom comes from the light within. We all agreed that Preksha Meditation is the answer to the root cause of contemporary problems we are asked to solve.
Audio:
| Talking With Ranjit Dugar at Terapanth Vidyalaya, Kolkata |
Ranjit Dugar holds the view that it is a social obligation for all good-minded people globally to cooperate for bringing about the necessary changes to make this world a little better, as unfortunately all bad minded are already much better organised.
His contribution to realise the building of a noble character can be found in the book ‘Finding your Spiritual centre’ and is continued in his new book that will be released soon. He showed the ready-for-print manuscript to us. Like ‘Finding Your Spiritual Centre’, it is illustrated with beautiful photos and contains compilations of Acharyashree Mahaprajnaji’s lectures and teachings on different techniques of Preksha Meditation aiming at developing spiritual consciousness that enables us to communicate with full awareness on the level of body, mind and soul.
Many problems of communication result in conflicts leading to violence and destruction. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the level on which one addresses the other person. When we address the other person on the level of soul, we get response on this level; when we address the other person on the level of heart, we get response on this level; when we address the other person on the level of mind, we get response on this level.
By refining our communication skills and using them with full awareness, we will get better results than addressing others on the subconscious level, because it is there, where all emotions – negative as well as positive - are generated. The key to successful management of emotions is development of spiritual consciousness. For this, the upward stream of energy activating the centre of consciousness above the navel has to be supported. Preksha Meditation provides the technique how to bring it about. Ranjit Dugar hopes to encourage all of us through his new book on the teachings of H.H. Acharyashree Mahaprajnaji to contribute to make the world a little bit better by propagating the method how to develop spiritual consciousness.
He resumed this philosophic excursion by getting back to our direct present experience, “Words cannot express the whole reality of our meeting, and they cannot reflect the atmosphere and the aura. Most of all, they do not reflect the level on which we are addressing each other.” How true!
When we came back to Berlin, he wrote to us, “May I express my immense gratitude for all your noble initiatives I observed during my brief interaction during your visit to Kolkata. Your clarity of vision and dedication speaks of your profound spirituality. Your mission to spread the teaching of His Holiness Acharya Mahaprajna deserves congratulation.”
Reading this, we were reminded to Lord Mahavira’s saying, “A noble soul finds always virtues in others.”