PATRICK FLEURY has been on an inner journey from a young age. Looking back, after 50 years of Heartfulness practice, he shares the importance of a spiritual Guide, and the Transmission and Grace that flow as a result of the Guide’s presence.
I was 13 when I first met God and experienced merging with the Divine. The moment was decisive for the continuation of my spiritual quest. The Lord had shown me the goal to be reached.
I did a lot of research in both Eastern and Western spiritualities, and at 17 I realized that “knowing” was not enough. I was fed up with reading about spirituality, yogis, mystics, saints, and masters. I wanted to “live” what they were talking about. I had concluded that only meditation, contemplation, and prayer would enable me to do that, so I started meditating on the third eye chakra. After one experience, where I explored several dimensions, all of which went to infinity, I realized that I needed a guide, otherwise I might get lost in these immensities.
But how could I find such a teacher? So I simply asked God.
My mother used to say, “When the disciple is ready, the master will come.” I meditated every day for twenty minutes with my parents, until my prayer was answered. After a few months, I came across the Heartfulness way and its guide Ram Chandra, Babuji. I experimented, testing this meditation on the heart. At that time, I only had contact with the Transmission (pranahuti). I would receive it constantly, feeling it was nourishing my soul deeply.
In 1976, four years after starting, I met Babuji, the source of this blessed Transmission. The first time I meditated with him was at the Heartfulness Center in Nice. I was literally carried away. I had met my Master and I was not going to leave him. Six months later, I went to his home in Shahjahanpur, India. There we would spend the whole day and often part of the night near him, sitting on his veranda. We were out of time, completely contented.
I understood much later that in Babuji’s presence we were at the Center, in God. Grace flowed down on us regularly, in waves. It surpassed even the fabulous Transmission. I became aware of the blessing that a living Master represents.
After that, every year, my wife Alberta and I would spend a month near him. But it was the meeting with Babuji in 1978 that really triggered it all. At the end of each stay at his place, we felt spiritually satisfied. On the day of our departure in 1978, we went to thank him for all he had given us so abundantly. Seeing our gratitude, Babuji asked if we wanted to meditate. I naively replied that it was not necessary, that we only wished to thank him for all he had given us, adding that we had already been blessed with so much. He beckoned to us to sit facing him and the meditation began. Instantly, he gave me the experience of divine infinite love, and I knew this was what I had been longing for all my life without even knowing it.
Thus, my quest for God had been totally re-oriented by Babuji. It now went through the love and surrender that manifested for my Master. The inner journey took a superluminal speed. My daily practice changed. I purified my heart so that it would become a sacred temple where I could be in the presence of the Beloved. I discovered the immense value of a Master who had realized the Ultimate. The progress was fabulous and Babuji enabled me to reach the states of liberation and realization at a relatively young age. But the quest for the Ultimate was not yet over. It is infinite, eternal.
In 1976, in France, Babuji permitted me to be a Heartfulness trainer. I saw with enthusiasm the advancement of others who practice meditation. Through all these years, I have been blessed to travel the world teaching Heartfulness. It is an effective, universal method. I have realized that the light in the heart is common to all, whatever the continent, culture, or religion. We just need help to access the source of this light in the heart, and Transmission (Pranahuti) gives that direct experience. It brings about a great transformation of the being, a balanced life, and a remarkable equanimity.
I was amazed that the instructions Babuji gave us to practice Heartfulness all fitted on one page. But what a page!
Babuji used to say, “God is simple and the means to realize Him must be simple too.” He also said, “Silence is the language of God.” I invite you to share this Silence in the depth of your heart.
