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Kamlesh D Patel
Interview
16 May 2015, Lyon, France
KDP: I think goals are set not by the process or by God. Goals are set by
individuals. It is up to us what we set, and what we want to achieve through
whatever we do. It is not just for spirituality that we have to set goals. Even in
the material world, even when you play football, what are your goals? How do
you achieve them? When you become a doctor, what are your goals? There
can be so many kinds of specialisation.
KDP: No, not really, it has no affiliation with anything in the world as far as
religions are concerned, though in every religion the heart plays a major role.
When I approach a particular deity or approach my own belief in a system of
any sort, my heart has to be convinced of whatever I do. Even when I play a
chess game, when I make a move, my heart has to be convinced before I make
that move. When I play music, my heart has to be convinced to play each
note.
KDP: Surely.
KDP: Yes, but I would not focus on the teacher at the moment. I would focus
more on the process. Because however great a teacher may be, if the student
is not ready for it, if the heart is not ready for it, what is the use of the
teacher?
Q: You are talking about the process. Sir, what is the process of this
meditation? How is Heartfulness actually done?
I would rather not feed words to you, lest the experience that you may enjoy
be tainted by my own ideas. Let it be your experience, whatever you feel. Then
it is your experience, and that is our aim. Why should I borrow someone else's
experience?
Q: How long do you think a person needs to practise Heartfulness to feel the
effects of it? What could be the possible effects?
KDP: The quickest can be the same instant that you sit. The very moment you
close your eyes, you feel the result instantly. I don't think you have to wait for
eternity or ten years or five years or after death or even the next day. The
effect will be felt instantaneously right then and there. You close your eyes
and you feel it. It is like sunlight; when you expose yourself to the sun, you
feel the warmth. When you expose yourself to this pranahuti while
meditating, you will feel the effect of pranahuti instantly.
Q: Today's lifestyle is very busy and people don't have time. Heartfulness
meditation requires at least thirty minutes. So how to find the time in a day of
hectic lifestyle and stress?
KDP: If we can create a stressful lifestyle, I think we also have the choice to
create a calmer lifestyle. The choice is ours. If you want to feel peaceful, you
want to feel calm, you will have to adopt it. Even if it takes an hour to achieve
twenty-three hours of a good day, it is a good investment of time the choice
is yours.
Q: Would you share with us a little bit of your experience of this Heartfulness
meditation? How did you come to do this and what do you feel about it?
KDP: Well I started this meditation almost like a joke actually. One of my
friends was able, at will, to dim or intensify the light and it was very
impressive. I had an inclination towards meditation, so I used to do it on my
own without any goal, without any particular process, but I was influenced by
Swami Vivekananda. So I would sit like him and devote my time silently in
brooding over things rather than in meditation, and I misunderstood that
whole process as meditation.
KDP: You must have seen on our website, Heartfulness.org, the process is
given there how to meditate. You can meditate in a comfortable corner of your
house, and if you want to try this meditation with transmission, please send
your request via email. Someone will get back to you and say, Okay, sit at
such and such a time at your place. Or if there is another person who
meditates in your town, we will give you their contact details so that you can
meet each other and meditate. It is a very simple process.
Q: Are there any group activities? How many people in France follow this? Is
there a community who follow this in France?
KDP: Heartfulness meditation has been going on in France since the late
sixties, and the number keeps growing every year. Currently, we may be close
to four or five thousand members in France, and they are all family people
leading a happy family life, raising children, which is a rare thing in Europe
these days. They are not extreme, in the sense that they don't go into the
material world so much that their spiritual world suffers, and they don't go
into the spiritual world so much that their material existence suffers.