Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.31

The Very Purpose of Human Life is to attain to God

There is only one thing that God looks for: He loves one who bears Him devotion. Caste, creed, and such other things don’t count. In normal life, one who has wealth is considered fortunate; actually, he is fortunate who has realized God. To realize God is, indeed, the very purpose of human life. What hinders the realization is neither want nor abundance of money, but the individual pride, the ‘I’ ness. One who says ‘I serve God’ really serves not at all, for the sense of doership destroys all sense of service. Whatever we do while thinking of Him is a meritorious act. So always entertain the awareness of God. What is done with faith will bear fruit.
However, prayers and meditation done without full faith, do not go to waste, provided these are done with the aim of generating devotion, and not merely as a pastime. There aren’t a few who do good acts, but often there is a selfish motive underlying it. To perform good acts without expecting a return is a step towards devotion.
Paramartha, in essence, is to realize that it is God who activates everything. It is synonymous with the realization of God within one’s own self. One should understand that He is the prime mover behind everything. When a person dies, we say ‘he is no more’; we are then referring not to the physical body, but to the departed ‘Soul’. It is a tacit but obvious recognition that there is some unknown thing which owns and ‘animates’ the whole system which we call ‘the body’, a something that passively watches all activities including wakefulness, sleep, and dreams.
I call the world ‘mine’, but pay no attention to what animates me. Let us first try to be aware of the ‘God’, whose presence in me makes me, keeps me, alive. This presence is realized by inference as well as by experience.
We celebrate the beginning of the fresh year with the New Year’s Day, the joy of living, with the birthday, and each fresh day, with the morning. So, too, we should begin devotion with nama. We shall thereby get immediate proof of joy, making both the beginning and the end joyful. The sky is common to all, irrespective of status, caste, creed, and such other distinctions; the aim of human life is, similarly, regardless of religion or nationality, the same, namely, the attainment of God.
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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.30

Faith in Rama Rewards us with True Contentment

Attend carefully to worldly duties, banking inwardly on Rama’s support. A bad thought is equivalent to the company of the vile. Obstacles and difficulties will flee away if you adhere whole-heartedly to Rama. Take care to preserve nama in your heart despite worldly conditions, pleasant or otherwise. Keeping the heart at peace, let the body face its trials and tribulations. Have firm faith in Rama, everything will ultimately be to the good. Believe in earnest that Rama will stand by you. To obey the sadguru implicitly is the best of all sadhanas. Implicit trust in the word of the sadguru imparts dauntlessness.
Human life has a brief duration; see that it does not go to waste. He is blessed by Rama who holds nama dear to his heart. He who chants nama and bears Rama ever in his heart, can be sure of attaining the Supreme Reality. Destiny will run its pre-charted course, while the mind unnecessarily suffers pleasure or pain. Resolve that you will not let the course of events in your prapancha affect the equilibrium of your mind; this will assuredly make you happy in life. Dejection arises because one forgets sadhana. Attachment to carnal pleasures automatically drops off if you have devotion for Rama.
Place full trust in God, and whatever He does, believe it to be in your ultimate interest. Also, remember the Lord’s promise that whoever recalls His name at his last breath shall be united with Him.
The saints all aver that the only means to get free of all feeling of misery is to give up all attachment. So, do your duty by all means, but with a mind free from all egoism. Think always of Rama, never about yourself. Circumstances never remain steady, so never feel sorry, only be always aware of Rama. Hold your tongue, fill your heart with love for Rama, always be aware of His abiding presence: this is sadhana.
He who keeps implicit faith in Rama may rest assured of perfect contentment. Let this faith guide your steps in all your worldly activities. To believe that Rama alone is your true support, is all the sadhana you need to do. Keep your conduct morally unimpeachable, and purify your mind. Keep your mouth occupied with chanting nama. God will assuredly grant His grace to one who follows his God, his sadguru and sadhana single-mindedly.
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Festival of lights in Chintamani Mandir

Special evening poojas in the month of Kartika started to-day.Smt.Vanajamma and Family were the seva kartas.

Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.29

A Faultless Person is Acceptable to God

We feel that primarily we are for and our principal source of happiness is, prapancha. We look expectantly, imploringly, to the world and to prapancha for happiness. Unless we disabuse our mind of this delusion and, instead, pledge our fealty to God, we shall not experience true contentment. This feeling can only come if there is a burning desire to attain to God. Such a burning desire can come only to a faultless person. The first step towards such faultlessness is the elimination of the desire to represent ourselves to the world in a favourable light. We should always have a pure heart, feeling ashamed that the world respects us more highly than we deserve. Our conduct should at all times be above suspicion. Never resort to hypocrisy. God will certainly accept us as his if we have a heart devoid of impurity or pollution of any kind.
Once we come to belong to God, what cause do we have to bear any anxiety? How contradictory, therefore, is on the one hand, our claim, that we are theists, that is, we consider God as all in all, and, on the other, entertain anxiety about anything whatever ! In order really to be free from anxiety, we must whole-heartedly feel that our money and all things that we call ours, belong, in reality, to Rama’s will. We must genuinely believe that our prapancha is run by Him and as He desires, and resolve that we shall ever live in contentment in whatever circumstances He chooses to place us. Do not bother about vairagya, abandonment, etc. All that you will be putting into effect if you only live contented with prevailing circumstances. Make effort to abandon whatever causes God to be out of sight. Whatever puts God in your mind is vivek. Do your duty conscientiously in practical life, but do not let yourself get entangled with it by attachment. Living the practical life is not a sin; to become attached, however, is. Observe religion as far as you can; take care of morals as of your life; and retain nama till the last breath.
So many of you people come to Gondavale; but I feel constrained that, with all the expense and effort and inconvenience that you undertake, you carry back nothing worthwhile. Take with you love for nama; chant nama purely for its own sake; seek nothing in return. Rama will undoubtedly reward you.
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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.28

God Resides in Our Heart

A subordinate merely obeys his superior and is absolved of all personal responsibility of doership. This freedom everyone can enjoy by putting his faith in the sadguru. The profit and loss due to any action are left to God, and are the responsibility of the sadguru. Since he prompts us in everything: including the sadhana, whatever comes brings credit or discredit to him. Whatever the disciple does then becomes service to the sadguru. The important thing is that there must be the firm faith that God resides in our heart, that we, too, are part of Him, that we and He, indeed, are identical. As an intermediate stage, we may cultivate the idea that God is present everywhere, at all times, and is watching us and all our activities. This may not destroy pride totally, but will at least prevent us from doing undesirable things.
A sacred place owes its sanctity to our own feeling regarding it; else, it has only ordinary water and a sculptured stone, the idol. ‘Kashi,’ ‘Ganga,’ and such other words raise holy thoughts in our minds, but many local residents look upon them as just ordinary streams of water, and do not take a dip for years on end. They therefore seem to hold no special regard for it.
A holy place is thus holy only because we think it so. If, after all, it is a matter of our sentiment, can we not create it, imagine it, even in the home? Of course, it demands a forceful conviction. If we do not have such convictions, and also lack the means to go to a place known as holy, we should at least repeat the pious wish to visit such a place, so that holy thoughts occupy the mind.
Similarly, though God is omnipresent, we have to realize Him by strength of sentiment. Prahlad and Draupadi did have that conviction in their heart, so God had to manifest Himself in concrete form for them. Similarly, if you have the conviction that your sadguru does exist and help you, he will have to run to your help. It is entirely upto you to have proof of this.
To be free of all doubt of the existence of God is true knowledge; this knowledge is easily obtained by one who lives in constant consciousness of Him.
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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.27

Ascribe Doership to God and Anxiety will Vanish

Our doership is only partial, only slight, only nominal. Real doership rests fully with God. So the resultant pleasure or pain should not affect us; it may, if at all, affect God! We should therefore carry the conviction that it is God who does everything, we are only His instrument. We, however, assume doership; at the commencement of a job, we are beset with anxiety; during the execution of the job, we feel anxious because of diffidence about the outcome; and we feel disappointment at the final result. So throughout life, the man who is afflicted with anxiety never gets happiness and contentment. Anxiety is like white ants; its depredation is unnoticed, and becomes apparent only from the ruin wrought by it. Similarly, anxiety in an unnoticed way eats into faith, but only when faith is thoroughly undermined do we come to realize it.
If anxiety is to be thrown overboard, today is the auspicious day, and this moment the most auspicious! It’s now or never. In the Mahabharata war, Lord Shrikrishna became Arjuna’s charioteer and guided his position in battle, and Arjuna only discharged arrows towards the target. In short, Arjuna handed over the reins to God, and worked as little more than an arrow-flinging machine. Let us similarly become a machine in the hands of God, for He is the prime mover. Let us deliver ourselves to Him, trust in Him, and live chanting nama.
Let us give all doership to God, to whom it truly belongs; thereby we can get free from all anxiety, and live always in joy and happiness. In everything that happens, maintain the feeling and the awareness that it is God who is doing it, and therefore must be in our ultimate interest. What do we lose, and what is the difficulty, in maintaining this feeling? In practical life we should not spare effort, put in the maximum. But have an innermost conviction that its success or failure is in the hands of God, and is in our ultimate interest. With such conviction, where is the cause for anxiety of any kind? And once we get rid of anxiety, what remains is our natural heritage, the natural state, of bliss. This joy does not have to be obtained from anywhere, it is only overshadowed by anxiety. The sadhaka should unshackle himself from anxiety, and what remains is sheer freedom, sheer joy.
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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.26

The Flood of God’s Grace

When sowing, only pure, unrotten seed is selected. Devotion with some ulterior, mundane object in view is like rotten seed. Pure seed has to be carefully developed, evolved. One may begin by sowing available rotten seed; similarly, one may start devotion with some mundane aim in view. As one proceeds, one may realize the importance of undertaking devotion for its own sake. God should be prayed for this purpose. After sowing, there should be opportune rain. This is not in our control, but God arranges for it. Now if the field is hollow, water may accumulate there, and must be drained, lest excess of it decay the roots. The excess water may be drained into the adjacent field, in all likelihood with advantage to it. To breach the bund and let the water to the needy corresponds, in the case of God’s grace, to benefaction. With spiritual progress, the sadhaka often gets certain occult faculties; for instance, what he says comes true, he can make out what passes in another’s mind, can go to another place unseen by others, and so on. At such times he must avoid the temptation to use such faculties for selfish purposes; he has to be specially alert in this regard. If used at all, they must be employed only to relieve others’ distress, never for any selfish end.
It would obviously be wise not to base one’s happiness on other persons or things or circumstances. This has to be learnt by practice. However, the mind cannot remain vacant; it must be provided with some occupation. God is that occupation. Because God is eternal, complete in Himself, and blissful, these qualities automatically percolate into the mind that keeps contemplating on Him. One can only imagine how sweet life must be to a mind so soaked in Him. Have an abiding consciousness that you and all that exists belong to Him; then life becomes such enjoyable fun!
The grace of God will be experienced if nama is chanted with a pure heart. A sadhaka should do his duty conscientiously, and live happily, leaving everything else to God, or to sadguru.
A thing comes or is lost as destined. Why should we then vainly feel miserable or joyful? When we know that everything belongs to God, we can leave everything to His care, and be carefree, joyful.

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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.25.

Genuine Yearning and Utter Surrender

God is not attained merely by eschewing carnal pleasures, not by abandoning the family, not by resorting to a forest, nor by living amongst people. Truly speaking, God is not attainable by any particular physical act or procedure. We find saints who live as ordinary householders; there are others who live as recluses.
The chief requirement is genuine yearning; such yearning is fifty per cent of the battle; it is the foundation for the edifice to follow. With this, the next part of the task becomes easier. If the yearning is there, it is not essential that sensual pleasures be discarded. One must genuinely feel that he belongs to Rama, and surrender oneself utterly to Him; that is, in the heart of hearts, genuinely and wholly live for Him. Do you think this will interfere with your prapancha?
In service, does one always find a kind and considerate superior? Do we not serve him, without demur, physically, though at heart we may not like him? So, we should determine mentally to belong to Rama, though physically we may toil, willy-nilly, for prapancha; it will turn out even better than otherwise expected, because Rama Himself, in Whose name we do it, feels it incumbent to ensure that it does not bring Him discredit. Bibheeshana approached Rama in a truly humble spirit. Coming as he did from the enemy’s camp, and being the very brother of the opponent, he was naturally a suspect, and Rama’s counsellors all advised putting him to death. But Rama put forward the decisive argument: ”He has come in complete surrender, and it is therefore my duty to protect him.” And He not only spared his life, but, further, gave him the kingdom of Lanka. That is why I say that Rama protects those who approach Him in sincere surrender.
You are so many coming to me, but has a single one of you asked me to take you to Rama? Am I here to provide you with mundane favours? Is not your approach similar to that of a thief who goes to visit Maruti in the temple and vows to crown it with a gold pinnacle if he has a good ‘scoop’ that night? What you should pray for is, ‘God, give me complete contentment in whatever condition you choose to keep me in; let me wish to ask for nothing.’

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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.24.

What is True Worship?

Once you get rid of the of consciousness of individuality, all cause for anxiety ceases. It is this consciousness which imparts pride even about the sadhana that one is doing. This pride is no less harmful than the pride in any other form. The remedy is to ascribe to the divine will whatever happens. God knows wherein your good lies, and whatever He does is for your good. So never feel anxious about anything. Place your trust in Him and, eschewing all anxiety, go through life happily.
Devotion is substantially the same as non-attachment to worldly pleasures; devotion is complete attachment to God, whereas vairagya, conversely, is complete disinterestedness in worldly pleasures. When Prince Rama was about to set out on the fourteen-year banishment to forest, at the bidding of his step-mother Kaikeyi, he tried to dissuade his youthful bride from accompanying Him. She was so thoroughly devoted that she could not bear the thought of separation from him for any length of time, and counter-argued, ‘Dear Rama, risks and inconveniences in your company are far more pleasant to me than the so-called safety and amenities of palace life’. Being a whole-hearted devotee, she was completely oblivious of other circumstances. We, however, depend on circumstances while, simultaneously, we aspire to attain God. So we may adopt a via media, and say to Rama, ‘My circumstances entirely depend on your will.’ If we say this in earnest, we shall be happy under any circumstances.
His worship can be called genuine who does it sincerely; the external formalities do not count. Worship can be only true if the worshipper sees God in everyone and everything and who, therefore, takes care not to hurt anyone’s heart.
Saguna worship aims at having the feeling, ‘Will my God approve of this?’ as the guiding thought. The Supreme Consciousness completely pervades all creation, and manifests itself in any form anywhere at any time; this depends on the intensity of the devotee’s feeling. To one who has firm belief, that is, who entertains not an iota of doubt in his mind, even a stone idol can exhibit divine qualities. The belief, however, must be absolutely genuine and pure.
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Sri Maharaj’s Pravachan-Oct.23

Start Nama-Smarana and Acquire Love For God

One who has no selfishness will always have enough; for, where there is selflessness, God would certainly take care of all the needs. The world will not love you unless you give it your love. One who forgets himself in his love for God will be unmindful of everything else. Just as a thief will run away the moment he finds the owner back at home, the ‘body-am-I’ feeling must make itself scarce if a man cultivates love for God, and thereby he becomes happy. If your imploration to God is so earnest as to bring tears to your eyes, God will also respond with tears in His eyes.
That the company of the saintly will generate love for God there is no doubt, but it may not be the good fortune of many to come across a saintly person. An alternative way is to associate with good thoughts. That God may shower His grace on all, that He may shower good and welfare on all, that all should learn to love Him – to carry such good thoughts always in the bosom, and to contemplate on the teaching of the saints, helps oneself as well as others.
But we often find that our thoughts do not always follow an even tenor. Everyone of us has personal experience of unholy thoughts crowding the mind when we try to compose the mind for nama-smarana. So, it is not in our control to hold holy thoughts in the mind.
The third means is nama-smarana. That is the only thing that you can do with your volition. So all should resort to it with a doubt-free mind. Do not listen to anyone who has something to say against it. Do not split hairs about how to chant it. Straightaway begin chanting it; you can rest assured that you will be filled with love for God. Stick determinedly to nama. Take my word for it, Rama is sure to be wherever nama is being sung. Saints are bound to ensure the spiritual welfare of a person who does nothing but determinedly, persistently chant nama.
Nama is a spark that can be fanned to grow and pervade the whole world. Let us keep this spark alive. One who chants nama naturally burns up all desire and ends indigence. So keep this nama earnestly on your lips, and then you may live normal worldly life happily.

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