Three Instruments of Sahaj Marg - Revealing the Personality, Chapter 5 by P. Rajagopalachari

Three Instruments of Sahaj Marg

“Now how can I avoid guilt except by being, or leading my life in such a way that I don’t have to feel guilty about anything. You know, if I go to a shop and quietly put something in my pocket and walk out, I am a thief. I may not be caught, but I am a thief. Sometime, somewhere I will feel guilty about it. People have been known to send back money to their offices, stolen goods to hotel and restaurants. “Please excuse me, I took this away in 1986, but I feel guilty. I want to return it to you.” People have even sent tax to governments like that. 

So you see, guilt arises out of our own judgment about our own selves. It is not something to do with God or religion or the Pope or the archbishop. We are always tending to blame religion. It’s not religion that makes you feel guilty. It is you who feel guilty about yourself. 

And you can only overcome this by correcting yourself in such a way that the guilt is erased. My Master, Babuji Maharaj said, “What you have done in your past, you cannot change.” Absolutely. It is finished. But does it mean I am condemned? No. Why? Because I have a right to change my life in such a way that the past has no effect upon me - through cleaning, through meditation. Cleaning gets rid of the past, meditation creates the future, remembrance now prevents me from indulging in my fancies. In His remembrance, what I do is always right. 

So you see, the three instruments of Sahaj Marg - cleaning, meditation, constant remembrance - in my mind, they are infallible, unbeatable, totally effective instruments. 

Being new abhyasis, I hope you will all do these things sincerely. It is not done in one day, obviously. So the aim of Sahaj Marg is to make this cleaning possible within, say, a few years, through doses of transmission. Fill you with the divine light. Strengthen you from inside through constant remembrance. Make all circumstances of this life almost totally ineffective as far as you are concerned. They don’t impinge upon you. They don’t create any more impressions upon you. 

So this is the divine possibility that is offered here.”

 — Taken from the book, "Revealing the Personality (2nd edition, 2009)", 

Chapter "Talk to New Abhyasis", pg. 44-45, by Shri. Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari

Guilt is an emotion every one of us feels when we do something against our heart. No one escapes it. And this burden weighs our hearts, becoming heavier and heavier as it piles up. All of us carry this burden that gives us sleepless nights, nightmares and interferes with our interpersonal relationships. But how can this be removed so that our hearts become lighter? 

“What we sow, so we reap,” is a very popular saying. And this is most apt for the life of the soul. Normally, every samskara or karma that is created by our thoughts and actions results in a consequence that we have to undergo in order to remove them from our system. This is called bhoga.

Sahaj Marg teaches its aspirants a special technique called the ‘cleaning process’ that helps them to remove these samskaras by the power of our mind. Thus our hearts become free of all these burdens of guilt, prejudice and other  traits that burden it, free to rise higher and evolve.

As Chariji mentions very beautifully, the three processes in Sahaj Marg (meditation, cleaning and remembrance) are totally effective when practiced sincerely. Cleaning removes the burdens of the past, meditation with the help of transmission helps us to transform our hearts and fill it with love. Constant remembrance of God helps us to be immersed in the heart through out the day, helping us to listen to the inner guidance that would enable us to perform the right action in any situation without forming any impression or samskaras on the heart. 

Now external circumstances do not affect us any more and we can live a life of inner tranquility, peace and love. We can live a blessed life.