Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the past, many premies have found it difficult to dedicate themselves to Guru Maharaj Ji, maybe because of a misunderstanding of what dedication actually is. Dedication doesn't mean changing your living situation, moving into an ashram, giving everything to Guru Maharaj Ji, or doing full-time service in DUO. Dedication means first to understand that perfection that has been revealed inside of us and then to use whatever we have in this world, in whatever way is practical for us, to live that perfection and then to spread it to others.
We are seeing now, and Maharaj Ji has always been saying, that this Knowledge is going to be spread on a person-to-person basis in a community environment. And this is showing us that propagation of this Knowledge can't depend on the staff and workers of Divine Light Mission alone, but must be a joint effort on the part of all of the premies in the community.
Until now, Divine Light Mission has tried to set up propagation programs, social service projects, festivals, community programs, and national and international support and propagation systems almost entirely on the income of about 1200 ashram premies and DCP members and about ten large donors. The ashram and DCP members have reached a point now where all this effort has burned them out, and Divine Light Mission, meaning Guru Maharaj Ji's Mission to bring Divine Light into this world, is finding it necessary to broaden its basis of support, or else cut back its existing programs.
This broadening of support is a practical program of regular dedication in which each premie can participate. It's something that many premies do already, but we're just getting around to organizing it because it's now vital to Guru Maharaj Ji's work in this world. Basically, a regular dedication is giving on a weekly or monthly basis a pledged sum of money. This enables a person to practically do something for this world, even if he has no time to get involved in other service. It provides a way to be directly connected to a practical expression of the source of our life.
And this will go hand in hand with the establishment of our community. Guru Maharaj Ji wants us to have in our communities a Divine Community Club with not only a satsang hall, but also classrooms, workshops, and recreational facilities. And the local communities will be a part of the world community that Guru Maharaj Ji is establishing support Divine Light Mission. None of it can happen without the support of each individual premie.
I think we all want to see a world based on peace, love and understanding of the source of life. So I'm inviting each of you to help, to get really connected to this movement of peace, by pledging a regular dedication of whatever you can afford. The traditional amount, which is really reasonable for most people, is ten percent of your earnings. If you bring home $300 a week, dedicate $30 a week to Maharaj Ji's work; if you bring home $50 a week dedicate $5. If you can't afford to give ten percent, then just give what you can, but give it regularly, because we need a constant dedication in our lives to feel really connected. The enclosed satsang from Bob Mishler might explain this more clearly for you.
Please fill out the enclosed pledge sheet and send it to the DUO office -- and then be very conscientious about the commitment you make. With all of us working together we can really do something for this world.
