It would be foolish of me if I proclaim that I was able to understand everything discussed in the book. ‘The Heartfulness Way’ is not a preaching which is to be read and understood in the first place. It, rather, is a way of life which needs to be practiced, experienced and felt deep inside. It helps in giving a direction and presents a way to look into one’s own self, lead a peaceful life and attain the real purpose of our life. So, here is a short take on what I ‘understood’ about the book and the Heartfulness practice.

The book is a series of dialogues between Joshua Pollock, a Heartfulness practitioner and trainer and Kamlesh D Patel, the fourth guru in the Heartfulness lineage, widely known as Daaji. As the presentation is in a conversational style, it is well structured and very engaging. In this conversation between Guru and Shishya, Pollock is the Shishya seeking knowledge on various aspects of meditation, why to meditate, how to meditate, and its relevance and importance to life, more so in the context of current hectic lifestyle where stress is an everyday affair and finding time a rarity.

Many a time, this conversation reminded me of the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna during the war of Kurukshetra! However, this conversation in the book is not preachy at all. In fact, it is written in a very simple, easy-to-understand language and anyone, even those who are new to meditation or spirituality, can easily understand the prescription(if I may use the word) to meditation, and thereby to the higher goal of life.

Also, those who practice meditation regularly may find ‘The Heartfulness Way’ more revealing, as Pollock who used to meditate regularly before meeting Daaji found Heartfulness more helpful in discovering Self than other methods. In more simpler words, ‘The Heartfulness Way’ is meditation-made-easy for both the beginners and the experienced alike.

Starting from how meditation should be an ‘effortless focus’ and how to make it effective to how meditation can help one explore higher realms of consciousness, Daaji neatly explains how the Heartfulness way’s meditation goes through the different stages of Ashtanga Yoga — Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Through Pollock’s questioning, Daaji takes us through the complete process of the Heartfulness meditation. All the minute details are covered — where to meditate, when to meditate, how long to meditate, what posture to meditate in and how to be ‘effortless’ in doing all this. An important aspect mentioned was the ‘Object’ of meditation — the object really is the core of the entire Heartfulness practice (at least, that is what I think!). Well, with practice only will one discover what these different stages really take them through and what lies in the depths of consciousness. It needs to be explored and found out by experience. An in-dweller, seeking a way to experience inner joy and happiness can only taste it when practiced, not just by reading it in a book. So, reading is all good but useless if not practiced.

Another mystic subject discussed was Yogic Transmission. Quoting Daaji here: “Transmission is the hallmark of Heartfulness way. Transmission is the key to Heartfulness approach”. I really cannot comment on it as I think this is not something that can be read and understood — it can only be experienced and felt, with the help of a Heartfulness trainer. This was earlier done by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to Swami Vivekananda. This was not accessible to many earlier and was a subject of mystery, but with Heartfulness it is more easily accessible now, and the transmission from a trainer to a practitioner is possible. So, all you need is to find a trainer and your utmost dedication.

Finally, other steps in the entire process are ‘Cleaning’ and ‘Prayer’. Cleaning is basically eliminating one’s negative(or even positive) emotions or impressions or Samskaras. It is a process in which one can leave behind all the mental and emotional baggage one carries every day and at the end one can actually feel lite. The importance of Cleaning and its process is again explained in a very realistic way in detailed steps. Prayer is a way to remind ourselves, constantly, again and again, ‘the real purpose of our life’. The need for Prayer and what exactly to pray is given. The words in the prayer, as Daaji says, have a deeper meaning and one can only relate to the inner significance with regular prayers… the prayer only reveals itself more deeply with every day practice.

Well, as the book says, ‘The Heartfulness Way’ doesn’t really end with meditation. Meditation, actually, is the beginning! Daaji urges the reader (through Pollock) to move from the act of meditation to being in a state of ‘Meditativeness’. It is not an activity to do for a day, a week or a month. It is to be imbibed internally. The calmness should pervade into your entire day, into your life. The journey is endless and the seeker only needs to move forward. With constant inner exploration through meditation, the seeker will discover new realms which never existed before.

So, this is a very rudimentary presentation of my ‘understanding’ of the book. There may be many mistakes or differences from the actual Heartfulness practice. And if any Heartfulness practitioner or trainer is reading this, I would like to know from them and correct myself. I really look forward to meditate and explore my inner self! For others seeking a practical way to meditate, you can read the book and start practicing. Till then… peace!

Thanks to Sudha Yalamanchili for recommending and presenting this book to me 😊 … And I’m off to reading another book.

Thank you for reading! 🙏🏼

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