The Pursuit of Bliss

Vasant Panchami 2012

2012-01-25T10:31:00.000+11:00

Vasant Panchami

This festival is celebrated at the beginning of the Spring season, when vibrant yellow flowers in the mustard fields are blooming, creating a joyous atmosphere everywhere. In Braj, from the time of Vasant Panchmi, devotees begin to sing Holi songs in the Temples. Shri Maharaj Ji dresses up in lovely yellow garments. Devotees chant special Holi songs, dance in spiritual happiness and play Holi of flower petals throwing them on each other, and Shree Maharajji showers his Grace by throwing flowers on them.

“Pad Kirtans” sung during this season usually recount how the exasperated gopies, took their sweet revenge on Shri Krishna and his friends. Tired of being teased and harassed by Shri Krishna and his friends, the gopies decided to retaliate by pelting the darling of Braj with cow-dung, mud, dyes made out of local flowers, vermilion powder etc. If an unfortunate Gopa (Shri Krishna's mate) happened to be caught by the gopies, he was forcefully dressed in female attire and made to dance amidst them. Needless to say, Shri Krishna survived several close calls, and made fools of the gopies on a number of occasions. Not to be outdone, the gopies gave as good as they got.

The various leelas of Shri Krishna in the time of spring are truly blissful our beloved Gurudev, Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj has written many “Pad Kirtans” depicting the lovely Leela (plays) of our Divine Beloved Shri Radhakrishna.

This year Vasant Panchami falls of the 28th of Jan 2012

Success Story of our Free Hospital in India

2012-01-25T10:11:00.000+11:00

http://youtu.be/PTZ-hUaJCI4

Ajay Kumar Walks again after 6 years!

Patient: Ajay Kumar
Age: 21 years old
From Ishipur Dhikhai Village, Pratapgarh, UP, INDIA

Ajay Kumar suffered from a severe case of Paralysis from the age of 14, due to which he was bed ridden. For 6 years he relied on his brother, Vijay Kumar, for full support as he was unable to move.
His arms and legs were both very stiff to the point that he could not even move out of the bed without support. He could never imagine being able to walk again.

After going to many doctors in Pratapgarh, Allahabad and even Delhi for various treatments, Ajay did not see any signs of improvement in his condition. Belonging to a poor background, his family struggled to continually spend money on his treatments which had not helped with his condition.

After spending 2.5 lakh rupees on treatment, Ajay heard about Jagadguru Kripalu Chikitsalaya (JKC) - Mangarh, and its 100% free services through a friend.

At JKC -- Mangarh, Ajay received Naturopathic treatment from Dr. Amrita Mishra, Physiotherapy treatment from Dr. Santosh Vaijwade and Acupressure treatment/ massage from Dr. Edward Radhey, all free of cost. Together these doctors got Ajay out of a wheelchair and onto his own feet, walking again, happier than ever before. The entire treatment lasted 6-7 months and with continual efforts made by Ajay himself and his doctors, today (23 January 2012) he can be seen walking on his own without any support.

Ajay returned to JKC - Mangarh to thank his doctors and other staff members involved in his treatment at JKC. His family is grateful for what JKC had done for Ajay. If it weren't for the free medicines and free treatments provided by JKC, Ajay would still be in a wheelchair and would not have been able to work in his family business today.

This is one of the many success stories of JKC - Mangarh. Since its establishment in 2003, this 100% Free Hospital has helped change the future of many people who had otherwise lost hope of a normal life.

Jagadguru Diwas 2012

2012-01-14T12:09:00.000+11:00

Makar Sankranti is the first Hindu festival of the solar calendar and is celebrated with great devotion, zeal and fervour on 14 January each year. It falls on the day when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Makar (Capricorn) and when day and night are of equal duration.

On the auspicious date of January 14th,1957, our beloved Shri Maharaj Ji was honoured with the title of `Jagadguru' by the 500 scholars of Kashi Vidvat Parishad in Varanasi, India.

Shrimatpadavakyapramanparavarin

Vedmargpratisthapanacharya

Nikhildarshansamanvayacharaya

Sanatanvaidikdharmpratishthapan-satsampradayaparamacharaya

Bhakti-yog-rasavatar Bhagavadanantashrivibushit

Shri 1008 Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Ji

In 1957, Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj (Shri Maharaj Ji) was invited by the Kashi Vidvat Parishat, a body of 500 foremost scriptural scholars of Varanasi, India, to speak for nine consecutive days on scriptural philosophy. During this time, Shri Maharaj Ji quoted thousands of verses from hundreds of scriptures and spoke in fluent Sanskrit. He revealed a breadth and depth of Divine understanding that belied his age at that time of only 34 years.

Shri Maharaj Ji accepted and proved true the existing philosophies of all the previous Jagadgurus and to the utter amazement of the scholars. He also miraculously reconciled their seeming contradictions. In addition, he proved the significance, importance and supremacy of bhakti (devotion) as the essence of all the Hindu path for this age. To this end, he also explained the practical form of nishkam bhakti, or selfless devotion, which could be followed by anyone.

Recognising that only the greatest of Divine personalities could have revealed such knowledge, the scholars of Kashi Vidvat Parishat unanimously bestowed on Shri Maharaj Ji the title of Jagadguruttam, or Jagadguru of Jagadgurus.

Subsequent to his receiving the title of Jagadguru, and for the last 55 years, Shri Maharaj Ji has revealed thousands of verses of devotional literature explaining the form, virtues, names, leelas and abodes of Radha Krishna, and in particular, he has revealed the supremacy of Shri Radha as the absolute supreme form of the Divine existence.

We are all trully blessed to be in the era and time of such a great Jagadguru who is alos a Rasik Saint that can deliver a soul to the higest possible goal of life. All glories to Jagagdguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Ji !!!

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T13:19:00.000+11:00

Radhey Radhey Everyone,

Wishing all of you a blessed 2012, and may this New year bing clarity of thought and you closer to Hari and Guru. Recently someone sent me a mail about the the world ending in 2012, if that prediction is true then there is no worry as every problem we experience in this life will end with the end of the world. The truth of the matter is that only the problem of this life has ended but the Sanchit karma (accumulated) & Prarabdh Karma (karma from past actions) will haunt us in the comming lives. We cant escape the :-

trigun - the three mayic qualities - satvik, rajas, tamas

trikarm - the three kinds of actions (sanchit-past accumulated, prarabdh, fate of this life, kriyaman, new actions of present life)

tridosh - the bodily humors described in Ayurved - vat, pit, kaph).

panchkosh - five material sheaths – earth, air, water, fire and ether

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaji the 5th current Jagadguru says.... "So I advise all of you to constantly meditate on God and Guru and be absorbed in Their loving remembrance (Roopdhyan). I am reminding you that both of them are Divine. Your heart will be completely purified if you meditate on them. The only condition is that you should constantly and uninterruptedly attach your mind to Them (God and Guru). You should be careful not to bring feelings of love or hate for any worldly object (or person) in your mind.

We have never practiced devotion in this way in any lifetime. Therefore, our heart could not be purified and we remained deprived of attaining God's Grace as the receptacle (our heart) was not purified. So neither could we be freed from the bondage of maya nor could we attain Divine Bliss.

Be careful not to develop love or hate towards anyone if you really want to purify your heart. And if you have any negativity towards anyone, remove it. This may not happen within a second or within a day or two. You have to seriously practice it.

Shri Krishna says to Arjun in the Gita, Abhyasen tu kauntey vairagyen... Gita 6/35

Constantly practice. It may take many lifetimes to attain perfection, but you have to do it. If you decide to neglect this kind of devotional practice, maya will bother you and will keep inflicting sufferings on you.

कर्मावलम्बका केचित् केचित् ज्ञानवलम्बका

वयं तु हरिभक्त्तानां पादरक्षावलम्बका

“Some take shelter of the path of karm; others take the shelter of

the path of gyan. I have attained God by taking shelter

of His devotees’ lotus feet.”

With this thought I wish all of you a blessed New Year 2012 and hope that you will start practicing roopdhyan and devotion in your life.

Gopal

Christmas and New Year thoughts.

2011-12-24T22:18:00.000+11:00

Christmas and New Year is literally around the corner, for me it’s always been a day for celebration. It’s not only a day when I think that Christ was born but also a day where I celebrate the love of my life Radha Krishna together under the Kalpavriksha tree.

When I was much younger Swamini Sushree Gopeshwari Devi will come to Malaysia (during the mid 80's to late 80's) after the annual Sadhana program had finished in India. At times she would stay with us till the New Year with 12 hours of Hari Nam Sankirtan and to conduct satsang. During that period we would celebrate Christmas and New Year in unique fashion. A day before the 24th of December we would go out to the small forest and look for a Pine tree and we made sure it was at least 5 feet tall in minimum height. It was an arduous task getting the tree chopping it down and putting it into the back of the car with its fern like twigs jutting out of the car window we would drive through town bringing it back home. Thanks to the young and boisterous satsangees who made it possible.

Once we were home we would get a pot and plant the tree into a pot placing stones and dirt to make the tree stand tall and erect. We would then move it into the house hall where we conduct satsang and make an altar with the tree in the background. We then decorated the tree with tinsels and small photos of cut out Radha Krishna in various forms and sizes and decorate them like any other Christmas tree, we would even throw in the blinking lights to make it beautiful and under this tree we would place get a deity of Shri Krishna with a cow we would place them there. We would then place pictures of Radha Krishna and of Shri Maharaji ( Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Ji ) our beloved guru. The altar would be decorated with fresh flowers and beautiful garlands. In short we would try to create a small Vrindavan.

On the eve of Christmas everything would be ready; Prasad would have been cooked and placed in small bowls for offering of Bhog (food offering). We would do chantings and Sushree Gopeshwari Devi Ji would tell us about the significance of celebrating Christmas in that way.

The tree would be named Krishna tree, and Shri Krishna sits there under that tree with Radha Rani. The love play between the Divine couple would take place just like how Shri Maharaji describes it in his Pad Kirtans in His Prem Ras Madira. We as devotees of the Lord keeping that in mind lovingly meditate upon the loving form the Divine Couple and sing the Kirtans. The great tree is like the Kalpavriksha tree (the wish fulfilling tree). The only wish that we would ask for is that we want to be in the service of the Lord in this life and the life after. The Divine cow is Kamadhenu (the wish fulfilling cow) and we would ask her for nothing but Bakthi in our hearts. With this in mind we the devotees celebrate Christmas.

Aarati is performed at the end of the satsang and we would eat the Prasad. After that the younger devotees would continue doing the Kirtan chanting till midnight and do the Aarati again. We sometimes exchange gifts in the spirit of family amongst satsangees.

Then on the eve of New Year we would celebrate the welcoming of New Year with a 12 hour Maha Mantra ( Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare). Beautiful tunes in in various styles will be sung by devotees while lovingly we meditate on the beautiful form of the Divine couple and our Guru. At midnight we will have the grand Aarati of Shri Maharaji and of Yugal Sarkar ( Shri Radha Krishna).

As 2011 comes to an end we have to ask ourselves on how much of Sadhana Bhakti (Preparatory devotion) have we committed ourselves for? . How humble has our heart become? Whilst in this mayic (materialistically) world we somehow seems to lose track of our goal. Our Gurudev Shri Maharaji says "during the time of Kali Yug, the mind easily forgets". Having said that our beloved Gurudev, Shri Maharaji is and has still not given up hope on all of us. He is hoping that, when will the day come when this soul will truly realise the potential and rise to the occasion. He constantly graces the souls at every opportunity as it is always in a disciple's hands how much grace he gains from his Guru. A disciple's selfless love causes his Spiritual Guide to think about his disciple, and that Saint's favourable thinking takes the form of grace, which promotes the disciples feelings of devotional love.

With the coming 2012, we need to move faster, shed tears of humbleness and yearn for the Divine vision and service of our beloved Hari and Guru. Saint Tulsidaas Ji says "How fortunate is that soul who has attained satsang! Without the least effort, he crosses this ocean of ignorance." Make 2012 a truly fruitful year for yourself by associating with Hari and Guru more.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

Gopal

Festival Dates for 2012

2011-12-20T22:01:00.000+11:00

2012 Festival dates

Jan 14, 2012 Saturday Makarsankranti ( Jagadguru Divas )

Jan 28, 2012 Saturday Vasant Panchami

Feb 20, 2012 Monday Maha Shivaratri

Mar 08, 2012 Thursday Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Jayanti (Poornima )

Mar 09 2012 Friday Holi Dulhendi ( Poornima )

Apr 01, 2012 Sunday Sri Ramanavami

Apr 06, 2012 Friday Hanuman Jayanti

Apr 24, 2012 Tuesday Akshaya Tritiya

May 20, 2012 Sunday Mother’s Day

June 3^,2012 Sunday Father’s Day

Jul 03, 2012 Tuesday Guru Purnima

Jul 24, 2012 Tuesday Nag Panchami

Aug 02, 2012 Thursday Raksha-bandhan

Aug 10, 2012 Friday Shri Krishna Janmashtami

Aug 23, 2012 Thursday Sri Radhaashtami

Sep 19, 2012 Wednesday Ganesh Chaturthi

Oct 24, 2012 Wednesday Dusshera / Vijayadasami

Oct 29, 2012 Monday Sharad Poornima

Nov 03, 2012 Saturday Karwa Chauth

Nov 12, 2012 Monday Dhan Teras

Nov 13, 2012 Tuesday Diwali

Nov 24, 2012 Saturday Dev Prabhodhini Ekadashi

Nov 28, 2012 Wednesday Kartik Poornima

Neither Love nor Hate in the World

2011-12-07T18:51:00.001+11:00

You have been told a number of times that God realization and freedom from the bondage of maya is not possible by practicing any devotional process. One may put rigorous effort for countless ages and may practice karm, gyan and bhakti, but that will not lead him towards the attainment of God or freedom from the bondage of maya. It is possible only through the Grace of God. But to receive the Grace of God it is necessary to prepare the receptacle (our heart). That has to be done by the individual soul. And what does it mean?

Our heart has been impure since eternity due to worldly attachments. Removing all these worldly attachments, you have to purify your mind completely. Neither God Himself nor any Saint can do it for you until you make the effort.

God is eternal and so are we; God it not senior to us. In our innumerable lives we have seen God in person and He also dwells in our heart, but even He cannot bestow His Grace until our heart is completely purified. Before that, no one can be free from the bondage of maya nor can one attain spiritual happiness or be free from the bondage of trikarm, trigun, panchklesh. It is naive to think that if a Saint had showered his Grace on us then all our problems would be solved. It is absolutely necessary to purify your heart. The Guru will help you and will guide you. In fact, without him, you cannot proceed on your spiritual journey.

Without spiritual knowledge you cannot progress. Your Guru will guide you towards the attainment of Divine Bliss. He will answer your questions like, "Why have we been suffering since eternity?" "Who is God, the individual soul and maya?" The Guru should be well versed in all the scriptures and also must have realized God. Only then can he guide us properly.

History tells us that there have been countless Saints. We met them, listened to their Divine words, but still we kept revolving in this endless cycle of birth and death because we did not have faith in them. People who had complete faith in them followed their instructions, practiced devotion under their guidance and completely surrendered to them, attained their supreme goal. We missed the chance.

So the Guru is indispensable. He alone guides us towards the attainment of God. In the material world we also need a teacher. No one can attain educational degrees without studying under the guidance of a teacher. How can you expect to traverse a spiritual journey without the guidance of a Guru? But as far as devotional practice is concerned, that you have you to do yourself.

As I have already explained, purification of the heart means to remove all the dirt which we have been collecting since eternity. Here 'dirt' denotes worldly attachment; that is of two types. Your mind can be attached to someone either through favourable sentiments (love) or through unfavourable sentiments (enmity). In both situations you bear the same fruit. Whether you love or hate, your mind remains attached to that person or object.

All your worldly relations, your mother, father, sister or whoever it maybe, are bound by maya. So they are just like you. If you love anyone then that will make your heart more impure. And if you hate anyone, that will also make your heart impure. In our innumerable past lives we had feelings of love for our father, mother and spouse, but instead of our heart becoming purified it became more and more sullied, because they were not Divine personalities.

Just use your common sense to understand this with an ordinary analogy. Suppose you want to wash your dirty clothes, which you never washed in your whole life. Definitely you will require water that is absolutely clean. It is so dirty that you need to wash it a hundred times to remove the dirt, provided the water is clean. If the water itself is not clean and you try to wash your clothes, you will continue adding only dirt, making your clothes dirtier.

You have unlimited accumulated actions that have not yet borne fruit. In our innumerable lives we have been performing good and bad deeds and whatever actions we do are mayic because we are bound by maya. Due to our ignorance, we may feel that we are performing good actions, but all our actions are mayic. They result in dirtying our mind more and more.

The scriptures and Saints advise to attach our mind only to pure (Divine) personalities. That is the only way to purify our mind. Love only them.

Who is Divine? Only God and God realized souls are Divine so your mind should be constantly attached to them alone. After God realization one becomes free forever from the bondage of trigun, trikarm, tridosh, panchklesh and panchkosh. Then one no longer bears the fruits of his accumulated actions. His heart becomes Divine.

So if you love Divine personalities, your heart becomes pure. This works the same way as pure, crystal clear water cleans the dirty clothes.

Listen to me attentatively! All of you are very familiar with the word vairagya meaning being devoid of attachment. Attachment of the mind can be either through the feelings of love or hatred. Normally, most of you think that vairagya means not to love anyone. But if you hate someone then you constantly think of him. You have only one mind. Simultaneously you cannot attach it at two places. Either meditate on a Divine personality or meditate on a worldly personality. You have a choice.

During the descension period of Shri Krishna, the Gopis so deeply loved Him that they reached such a high level of selfless devotion that even the great personalities like Brahma and Shankar sought the sacred dust of their lotus feet. Bhagwan Krishna highly rewarded the illiterate Gopis for having only favorable feelings (love) for Him. On the contrary, demons like Shishupal, Kans, and others had feelings of enmity, yet Shri Krishna sent them to His Divine abode, as their mind was totally absorbed in Him. Day in and day out, they thought of Him alone, no one else.

Whether you gently touch a piece of iron to a touchstone or you angrily bring them in direct contact with each other, the iron will definitely be transformed into gold. If you eat rasgulla (an Indian sweet) out of desire or you forcibly put it in your mouth, it will be sweet.

Similarly, whether poison is consumed knowingly or someone makes you drink without your knowledge, it will cause death. A fire burns equally for the sati who willingly sets herself on fire and for the one who is thrown into the fire. The holy river Ganga sanctifies even the water you spit into Ganga, which becomes a part of the holy Ganga. Just like the river Yamuna smoothly merges into Ganga at the confluence and becomes known as Ganga.

So either you have feelings of love or feelings of hatred. In both cases the mind is attached. Since eternity we have had these feelings of love and hatred in the world. We have to make ourselves free from these two feelings and also keep a watch on ourselves to not be afflicted in the future.

In ancient times we didn't have a matchbox or other means to ignite a fire. To produce fire for yagya, etc., people rubbed two pieces of wood together continuously. In the jungle sometimes two bamboo sticks produce fire due to their constant rubbing against each other. So to produce fire out of two pieces of wood, they must be rubbed together continuously. If you pause in between, the temperature goes down, and again you have to go through the same procedure. Uninterruptedly keep rubbing them and only then the fire will be produced.

Similarly, uninterruptedly meditate on God. Constantly meditate on Him alone. In this single verse of the Gita, Shri Krishna is emphasizing three times that a devotee should meditate on God continually.

Annya chetah sattam... Gita

If you look at this verse from the point of view of literary form, repetition is considered undesirable, but in a philosophical description this is very, very important. You should constantly, day in and day out, think of God exclusively. Not only one or two hours but all 24 hours, your mind should be attached to God. If even for one second your mind goes back into the world, it is like making your clothes dirty again after putting so much effort into cleaning them.

Throughout the day you worked hard to earn money and at the end of the day you carelessly left all this on the road and slept peacefully. All your money will be stolen. You will be left with nothing in your hands.

So I advise all of you to constantly meditate on God and Guru and be absorbed in Their loving remembrance. I am reminding you that both of them are Divine. Your heart will be completely purified if you meditate on them. The only condition is that you should constantly and uninterruptedly attach your mind to Them (God and Guru). You should be careful not to bring feelings of love or hate for any worldly object (or person) in your mind.

Shri Krishna says to Arjun in the Gita, Abhyasen tu kauntey vairagyen... Gita 6/35

Thank You

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj

2^nd Dec 2011 (Bakti Dham) Mangarh

trigun - the three mayic qualities - satvik, rajas, tamas

trikarm - the three kinds of actions (sanchit-past accumulated, prarabdh, fate of this life, kriyaman, new actions of present life)

tridosh - the bodily humors described in Ayurved - vat, pit, kaph).

panchkosh - five material sheaths – earth, air, water, fire and ether

How does present day meditation that's taught differ from ancient meditation taught thousands of years ago in India?

2011-11-28T15:36:00.001+11:00

How does present day meditation that's taught differ from ancient meditation taught thousands of years ago in India?

Although there are an abundance of different styles of meditation, yet it is unlikely that there is any meditation being taught today which did not have its roots in ancient India. Someone may add their own personal twist to give a different flavour to any particular form of meditation, but the main categories of meditation remain the same as they have always been. The reason is that our mind has two main facets: the intellectual mind and the emotional mind. These are two facets of the same mind. Thus, there are two main categories into which all forms of meditation are divided: intellectual and emotional. Intellectual meditation is done from the brain area; the activity of the mind is focused in the 'head' or 'brain' of the meditator. Emotional meditation is done from the heart area; the activity of the mind is focused in the 'heart' of the meditator.

These two main categories can be further subdivided into more specific kinds of meditation. Intellectual meditation is mainly of three kinds: 1) non-dual meditation (gyan); 2) psychic elevation techniques (includes psychic relaxation techniques, psychic refinement techniques, psychic strengthening exercises, psychic concentration techniques, and psychic unity with a spirit or a celestial being); and 3) yogic techniques (includes hath yog, kundalini yog, raj yog, and seeing the inner light and listening to the inner musical sound). Emotional meditation is divided into two main categories: 1) loving remembrance of the world; and 2) loving remembrance of God. Loving remembrance of anything requires a form to meditate on, because no one can love a formless energy. So emotional meditation on the world means loving remembrance of any worldly person or thing; and emotional meditation on God means the loving remembrance of the personal form of God. Emotional meditation on the personal form of God is further subdivided into those who remember God with any worldly desire that they wish to fulfill, and those who remember God without any worldly desire. Both of these are further subdivided according to the particular form of God upon which the person is meditating.

To understand how intellectual and emotional meditation affects the mind, we have to understand that the mind is a very subtle material energy. It is not the brain, because the brain is just a physical organ of the body. The mind is much more subtle than the brain or even any electrical transmission between neurons. The mind is so subtle that it cannot be studied or detected with material science, because science can only study the electrical impulses of the brain. So although the mind functions through the organ of the physical brain, yet it is more subtle than the brain. When our soul leaves our body and goes to another body (reincarnates), the mind goes with it. The brain, of course, stays behind with the body, but the soul and mind together go to the next birth. All the characteristics of a person's personality are preserved in the mind and transferred along with the mind to his next life, although the individual memories of his past lives are not accessible to his conscious mind. Another amazing fact about our mind is that it is never static. The mind always remains active, and as long as it is active, it is having thoughts. All of our thoughts are categorized according to their quality (good, bad or neutral in intention). If we think of the mind as a cloth which can be made clean or dirty, then we can understand how the mind can accumulate impurities and also be made clean. The mind preserves an imprint of every thought in a subtle form called a sanskar. Bad thoughts create bad sanskars and add impurity to the mind. Good thoughts create good sanskars and purify the mind somewhat. Neutral thoughts (like, "I'm hungry. I should eat something") neither purify the mind nor make it impure. A thought is considered 'bad' if it has an emotional charge to it and is motivated by a bad intention (like, "I don't like that co-worker. I'd like it if they got fired."). A thought is considered 'good' if it has a good motivation behind it (like, "That person was rude to me, but I'm not going to retaliate, because that will only make the situation worse."). In this way, with every thought, our mind is moving along the spectrum of purity/impurity, and either becoming more pure or more impure. Now let's see what kind of 'thought' meditation is.

Intellectual meditation is a neutral thought, because it is done without any emotional charge and the motivation behind it is neither to harm another, nor to hurt another; so it is neutral. So when the mind is being 'intellectual', it is in a neutral state, where it is neither becoming more pure nor impure. However, emotional meditation can be considered either good, bad or neutral, depending on the object of meditation and on the motivation of the meditator. When the mind is emotionally remembering any person or thing, then the mind has an 'adoptive' quality. It means that the mind is affected by the qualities of the person or thing which it emotionally remembers. In other words, the mind takes on, or adopts, the qualities of whatever it emotionally remembers. If a person is lovingly remembering another person, then they will slowly and gradually begin to adopt the qualities of that person's mind into their mind. This even happens with pets, which can be observed when the pet owner's mannerisms sometimes begin to reflect the personality of his pet. We do not usually think of lovingly remembering the world as being a form of meditation, but in fact it is. We all do it so naturally that we don't think it could be meditation, but in fact deeply remembering anything is meditation. And whatever we deeply remember enters into our heart and stays there (for better or for worse). Thus, we are naturally meditating throughout the day on whatever we are emotionally attached to, and our mind becomes more pure or impure according to the quality of the object of remembrance. This emotional meditation can be taken to another level entirely when the object of meditation is God.

Meditating emotionally on God, or lovingly remembering a personal form of God, has a powerful purifying effect on the mind. Two of God's qualities are that He is omnipresent and He is Divine (He is better than 'good', or 'pure'. He is ultimate good and absolute purity). Since He is omnipresent, the moment you think of Him, there is an instant connection between Him and your mind; and since He is Divine, when that connection is made, you begin to adopt His Divine qualities into your mind. This is the fastest way to purify the mind, even faster than through normal good thoughts. Please note that just saying, "I love God" will not purify your mind. You have to actually lovingly remember Him in His personal form, only then will your mind be purified. Also keep in mind that meditating on God and asking Him to fulfill a worldly desire means that your mind is attached to the world, not to God, so it will not have a purifying effect. If one desires the full effect of emotional meditation on God, then they should lovingly remember God without any worldly demand, only with a desire to attain Him. As mentioned above, this type of meditation is further subdivided according to the form of God upon which a person chooses to meditate. When a person's mind is fully purified, then that person can attain the Divine vision of that specific form of God upon Whom he was meditating. This Divine attainment is not the outcome of one's meditation alone, because the process also requires surrendering to that form of God to receive His Grace. The Grace reveals the Divine vision of God, whereas the emotional meditation on God purified the mind and made it a fit receptacle to receive the power of Grace (called kripa shakti in Sanskrit).

Thus, we see that while intellectual meditation can improve certain abilities or powers of the mind, and can also give certain psychic experiences, it cannot change the inherent quality of the mind; it cannot affect the purity of the mind. Emotional meditation has the power to change the quality of a person's mind, and if the object of meditation is God Himself, then the mind purifies very quickly and the ultimate result can be God realization. This process of emotional meditation on God is also called bhakti or bhakti yog, which has been practiced in India for more than thousands of years. The intellectual techniques described above all fall under the general titles of yog or gyan, which have also been practiced in India for more than thousands of years. Thus, we see that the ways of meditation being taught around the globe today are all related to the techniques that were being practiced in ancient India thousands of years ago.

By Swami Nikhilanand

Understanding God means removing our ego

2011-11-22T15:21:00.001+11:00

Understanding God means removing our ego

Chaitanya Dev Gaurang Mahaprabhu says that a person becomes a Saint when the Divine love of Krishna appears in his heart. Until then, even the celestial gods of intelligence like Saraswati and Brihaspati cannot understand a Saint’s words, actions, and behaviour. Even great yogis and munis cannot understand a Saint. Only God and other Saints can understand a Saint. Why? Sometime Saints act just as we act in the world. Sometimes they may appear very formal and sometimes they may act in an anti-social way. Sometimes they may seem as if they have one screw loose, sometimes two, three, and sometimes all four screws loose.

Sometime a Saint cries, sings, laughs, jumps, or does anything else. Occasionally his condition may appear to be like of a crazy person. Sometime he may seem normal. He lives in an ever-changing state. Depending upon his Divine bhav (state of Divine love absorption), he acts accordingly. From inside he loves you, but from outside he may scold you. On the other hand, he might lovingly talk to someone, but not love him from inside. He exhibits opposite-type behaviour. Sometimes his behaviour is normal and sometimes contrary. He acts any way he wants.

The Vedas says that a Saint is under no one’s control. He is under the control of the waves of Divine love. How a Saint behaves at a certain time depends upon the kind of Divine love wave that is arising in his heart at that time. We cannot enter that world. We don’t know what the rules are of the Divine world. Since this is the case, how could we recognize, analyse or inspect a Saint? If we try, we will definitely fall beyond any possibility of being saved.

We have wasted innumerable lifetimes this way. We now worship these great Saints like Tulsidas, Mira, Soordas, Nanak, and Tukaram. We were also present when these Saints were on this earth. At that time we laughed and said, “Hey, what kind of Saint is this?” We saw, thought, made a decision, and gave a judgment: He is not a true Saint. We turned around and went home.

We went to another Saint. We saw him and thought, “He is not right. He’s not at my intellectual level.” This means a Saint should be at the level of our dirty, material and worthless intellect. You will find many people in this world who are at the level of your intellect. We have become friends with people in this world who are at the same intellectual level. A drunk will make friends with another drunk. Those who love their mother, father, son, wife, and husband will form friendships in the world with the same kind of people.

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj stresses that friendship takes place among people with the same nature and interest. But if you want the Divine Bliss, then what are you doing? Your measuring tool is a 4-inch ruler made from salt. You are trying to measure the unlimited ocean with that scale. How could you measure the ocean with a 4-inch ruler? Your scale will dissolve in the seawater. What could those who want to evaluate God or a Saint measure? Rather, their intellect will be destroyed and they will commit transgressions. They will have to suffer the consequences of that sin. It would have been better if they did not go to see a Saint at all.

In some ways Saints are very dangerous. You might go to a Saint, but not surrender to him. Instead you may argue with him by applying your intellect. You might think, “I am someone important. Why shouldn’t I apply my intellect?” If you think this way, you will commit a transgression.

When a person judges a Saint, he commits more transgression. For example, there is a powerhouse. You should not walk in to the powerhouse because you do not know anything about the powerhouse. You should stay quiet. You might go in and ask the electrician where to stand, which switch or wire can be touched, which item is live and which isn’t, which switch is on and which is off. If you say, “Why do I have to ask him? I am not less intelligent then him.” Okay, then touch the live wire and die. Similarly, you would not be successful in the world. You have to surrender.

You have some knowledge in some subjects. For example, someone is an engineer. He may study this subject till his old age, but even so, he wouldn’t be able to attain .100% of the all the engineering knowledge. Then how could he know about medicine or any other subject? You have to surrender to receive the knowledge of your desired subject.

When the topic of God comes up we think, “I am knowledgeable in this subject matter.” This type of ego brings you down. Since eternity we have seen uncountable Saints and heard their speeches. Sometimes, we nodded our heads and said, “Yes! I understand. I understand.” After that we added ‘but’ every time.

Choosing a particular tradition, Guru & aspect of God

2011-11-15T17:20:00.001+11:00

I'm unsure about how to choose a particular denomination in Hinduism. How would someone new to Hinduism pick a particular tradition, Guru, aspect of God, etc.? What influenced you to decide to worship Radha Krishn and to follow Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj?

The term we use in Hinduism for denomination is 'sampradaya', which means a lineage or tradition within Hinduism which was established by the followers of a particular Saint after he left the earth planet. The truth is that the original Master doesn't start the sampradaya. All Saints essentially teach the same thing: to surrender to God to receive His Grace and through His Grace attain Divine Bliss. This is the essence of Hinduism and the essence of the teachings of all true Saints in history. Internally all Saints are one; and essentially, their teachings are the same. However, the details of their explanations of the Hindu scriptures may appear to differ, but only on the surface. It is difficult (or impossible) for a material mind to reconcile these apparent differences, yet, essentially, all Saints taught the same thing: to surrender to God. A Saint may teach his followers a particular way of worshiping God which differs from what another Saint taught. But the reason for worshiping is the same: to become surrendered. So you see, the essence is the same, but the details differ. A Saint teaches the form of devotion which will be most helpful to those people at that time. Once he leaves, then people continue to follow his teachings, but what often happens is that they rigidly follow the outer formalities and forget that the real goal is to become surrendered. Thus, a sampradaya is born and is followed for many generations. Often the followers of different sampradayas bicker and criticize each other. They debate over the differences in the philosophical descriptions of their original Masters and argue about which form of worship is right. This is all a waste of time. Sampradayas are formed and eventually disappear. But the original teachings of Hinduism in the Vedas, Upnishads, Gita, Bhagwatam and other scriptures are eternal. And the original and eternal path to God (bhakti or surrender) is above differences in physical formalities of worship and above any sampradaya.

Thus, you do not need to choose a sampradaya. However, you do need to choose a goal. Hinduism teaches that the search for happiness can be directed either towards maya (the material world), or towards God. Those who direct their search towards maya find disappointment because there is no lasting happiness in the world. Those who direct their search towards God find perfect happiness. But even those who direct their search towards God need to be more specific in what their ultimate goal is. Why?

Because God has 3 main aspects, called bhagwan (loving God), parmatma (almighty God), and brahm (formless God). These are 3 aspects of one single God. The way to attain any of Them is the same: bhakti. Devotion to formless God is called gyan yog. Devotion to the personal form of God (either loving or almighty) is called bhakti yog. In all cases, complete surrender to God to receive His Grace is required. Those who ultimately attain formless God are freed from all kinds of suffering forever, but then merge into formless God and remain in a state of Divine peace which is unknown to them because they have no body, mind or senses with which to experience. Those who attain almighty God (Whose main forms are Vishnu, Shiv and Durga, and Whose many affiliated forms include Ganesh, Lakchmi, Parvati, Saraswati, Kartikeya, Kali, Gauri, Amba, and others) receive a Divine body, mind and senses and go to the the Divine abode of their worshiped form of God forever. There they experience unlimited Divine Bliss (included in this is the release from all sorrows forever). Those who attain loving God receive that, and more. What is more? They not only get to see God in His Divine abode (like those who attain almighty God) but they get to have close personal interaction with Him. The form of loving God is Radha Krishn, Whose more reserved form is Sita Ram.

A Saint represents the particular form of God which he has attained, and teaches devotion to that particular form of God. This is why different Saints taught devotion to different forms of God. It is a choice we need to make: which form of God do we wish to attain? This choice is made based on what Divine experience we wish to attain. Since we need the help of a Saint to follow the path to God, choose a Saint who is teaching devotion to that particular form of God you wish to attain.

So you see that you are not required to choose any particular sampradaya; but rather you choose to follow the guidance of a particular living Saint based on what your ultimate goal is.

I chose to follow devotion to Radha Krishn because They are the most loving form of God Who award the most intimate relation to the souls who surrender to Them. And I chose to follow Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj because he teaches devotion to Radha Krishn and clarified what the goal is for me, as well as teaching a simple and practical style of devotion.

Surrender to God

2011-10-26T00:15:00.000+11:00

Surrender to God (The most confidential of all knowledge!)

Shri Krishna says to Arjun in the Gita:

सर्वगुह् तमं भूयः श्रृणु मे परमं वचः (Gita)

“Arjun! I have disclosed some confidential knowledge, and also some very confidential knowledge to you. Now listen to the most confidential of all knowledge.” After hearing about the paths of Karm, Gyan and Bhakti, Arjun had not yet reached the point where he would be ready to fight the Mahabharata war and kill everyone as per Shri Krishna’s instruction. Arjun did not have the courage to say, “I will fight not one but ten Mahabharata wars; I will kill them all.” So God said to him, “Because you are very dear to me, I will disclose to you the most confidential of all knowledge.” Shri Krishna said,

सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं वज्र (Gita)

Most acharyas have explained this verse to mean, “Renounce all dharma, or prescribed Vedic duties, and surrender to Me alone.” Only Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya has explained it as, धर्म अधर्म च “Surrender to Me, abandoning all types of Vedic duties and irreligiosity.” This commentary has been ridiculed by everyone, laymen and learned scholars alike. Why? Because, it is understandable that Shri Krishna would say, “Abandon all types of religious duties and surrender to Me,” but what is the need of mentioning that adharm, irreligiosity, must also be abandoned? Even fools know that adharm has to be renounced. This commentary of Shankaracharya just shows his obstinacy in not wanting to accept devotion to the Personal Aspect of God. The meaning he has given to this verse is so incorrect that even the common man laughs at this commentary.

Pay close attention. If Shri Krishna had intended to say dharm and adharm both are to be abandoned, he would have used the umbrella term karm, or all actions and said,

सर्वकर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज

“Renounce all types of actions and surrender to Me.” Shankaracharya’s motive in saying dharm adharm was to recommend the renunciation of all karm. Shankaracharya was a sworn enemy of the path of karm and an advocate of karm sanyas. He would do anything to justify the abandonment of karm, and that is why he explained this verse in this way, “Surrender to Me, renouncing all actions, dharm as well as adharm.” Even Madhusudan Sarasvati, who has boldly acknowledged himself as Shankaracharya’s disciple and who has admitted that his commentary on the Gita is in accordance with his Guru’s commentary, has criticised this interpretation. Even he could not tolerate the words of Shankaracharya and therefore proclaimed them wrong. It was not Shri Krishna’s intention for Arjun to practice karm sanyas, and give up karm, or his duty as kshatriya. This is why Arjun’s response to Shri Krishna’s instruction to surrender was,

नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वप्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।

करिष्ये वचनं तव । (Gita)

“O Shri Krishna! By Your grace, my illusion is gone, and I will now act according to Your instruction.” The entire world knows that Arjun fought the battle, and did not take sanyas. If the verse had meant renunciation of all actions, Arjun would have become a renunciate. Moreover, Arjun was already saying in the first chapter, “I will not fight.” He was already willing to become a sanyasi. Then why did Shri Krishna give him all this lecture of the Gita?

If, as Shankaracharya says, this verse means ‘renunciation of all actions,’ then Arjun was already taking sanyas. He had put down his weapon and that too at a time when Shri Krishna, along with the Pandavas, would have become an object of ridicule. If the Pandavas had no intention of fighting, they could have sent a message from home, “We just want peace. अिहंसा परमो धर्म “Non-violence is the ultimate religious principle.” This is a Vedic principle, and had the Pandavas embraced it right from the onset, it would have passed off as greatness. But they had asked Shri Krishna for help, and the army was already on the battlefield. The opposing army was all prepared to fight.

शंखान् दध्मुः पृथक पृथक्

The conches had sounded, indicating the start of the battle. Arjun chose such a moment to say to Shri Krishna:

सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये रथं स्थापय मेऽच्युत (Gita)

“Place my chariot between the two armies.” Shri Krishna, the charioteer, took the chariot to the middle of the battlefield. Arjun inspected the enemy forces. Seeing his respected elders and teachers there, Arjun was shaken and said, “I will not fight.” “But you knew beforehand whom you would be fighting, Guru Dronacharya, Bhishmapitama, Kripacharya, and Ashvatthama. You knew beforehand that you would have to kill them to win. Has something new taken place?” But Arjun put down his weapon, preferring the path of sanyas, and refused to fight. And he did not do it whimsically; he justified his decision. “Shri Krishna, I accept Your superior capability, so pardon my impertinence. It seems wrong to me to kill these people who are my elders. And even if I ignore the fact that they are my relatives and kill them thinking them to be my enemies, I will be doing something wrong. I am a mighty warrior, the wielder of the Gandeev bow, and I have You on my side. These people are sure to be killed, and then their wives will become widows.” “Yes, yes, if you fight the war, they will become widows. Not just a few hundred, or a few thousand, but millions of them.” “O Shri Krishna! If these women become unprotected, many of them will become unchaste. This will result in unwanted children. Why should I incur this sin? For the sake of procuring a kingdom? I do not care for a kingdom. Presenting this logic, Arjun boldly announced his decision to take sanyas.

But, this was not pleasing to Shri Krishna. He started His Gita lecture in which He explained the nature of the soul, Karm, Gyan, Sankhya, Vedanta and Yog. He summarised the entire body of scriptures, but then seeing that Arjuna had not understood, He said, “I will now reveal the most confidential knowledge.”

सर्वगुह् तमं भूयः श्रृणु मे परमं वचः (Gita)

This was said at the end, in the 18th chapter. If this verse meant that Arjun should take sanyas, then what was the need to give such a long lecture when Arjun was ready to be a sanyasi right at the beginning? And at the end of the Gita, when Arjun responded, “I will fight,” Shri Krishna should have rectified him, “I am trying to get you to take sanyas and avoid fighting.” Quite obviously, this verse is instructing Arjun not to give up action, but to fight the battle. It should be obvious to everyone how much Shankaracharya has twisted the meaning of this verse to support his viewpoint.

What does Shankaracharya mean by mentioning sanyas? What does he mean by renouncing all actions? If this is what Shri Krishna had meant, He would have said to Arjun, “You fool! You don’t understand anything.”

सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं वज्र (Gita)

If this verse means, “Become a sanyasi; do not fight the battle,” Arjun would have said immediately, “Maharaj! Why such a long lecture, when I was already willing to renounce the battlefield?”

So, I have explained in many different ways - I think even the simplest person will understand - that Shankaracharya has taken such liberties in interpreting this verse as meaning,

सर्वकर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज

“Renounce all karm and surrender to Me alone.”

Another point is that, the idea of renouncing all dharmas goes against Jagadguru Shankaracharya. Why? Because he follows the path of dharm. He has not renounced dharm, and so this verse was going against him, and this is the reason why he deliberately misinterpreted this verse, thinking that innocent people may thereby accept his viewpoint of abandoning all actions. You may think, “Shankaracharya was a sanyasi; he did not follow any dharm.” But remember, even sanyas is within dharm. There are four stages of life included in Varnashram Dharm, and they are: Brahmacharya, or celibate student life, Grihastha, or married family life, Vaanaprastha, or the stage when husband and wife practice detachment while living together, and Sanyas, or renounced life. There are many Vedic rules prescribed for a sanyasi. For example, he must shave his head, discard his sacred thread, not come close to fire, keep a staff in his hand, not stay more than one day in anyone’s home, and so on. There are many very strict rules and regulations to be followed by a sanyasi. At present, there is not one sanyasi in the whole of India who follows the rules of sanyas properly. If you were to question a sanyasi, “Are you living a life governed by the Vedic duties prescribed for a sanyasi,” he will have no answer.

So, sanyas is also within dharm. Therefore, if Shankaracharya had interpreted the verse correctly, he would have had to renounce his sanyas dharm and surrender to Shri Krishna. Then how could he justify the opposition of the path of Karm in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras and the Gita? This is why he deliberately misinterpreted the verse. But the fact is that without surrender to Shri Krishna, neither the sanyasi, nor the grihastha, the vanaprastha, brahmachari or any other adherent of dharm can attain the ultimate goal. No matter what dharm one follows, he will have to surrender to God.

मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेत्तां तरन्ति ते

The word ‘eva’ has been used in the Gita, which implies “only.” “Only he who surrenders to Me, can free himself from the bondage of maya.” Some modern interpretations of the Gita maintain that Arjun was representing all souls, and this is why Shankaracharya has interpreted the verse in the way that he has. But this is not so. Why? Well, it is stated very clearly:

इष्टोऽसि मे सर्वमिित

Shri Krishna says, “Arjuna, you are dear to Me.” Such words would not be used for a representative of the entire human race. Further, He says, ते हितम् "I am speaking for your personal benefit.” This is addressed to Arjun directly and to souls in general. Further, Shri Krishna says,

मामेकं शरणं वज्र

“You come and seek shelter in Me.”

अहं त्वां सर्व पापेभ्यो

“I will protect you from all sins.”

So it is not being said to Arjun as a representative of the individual soul, but to him personally. Arjun accepted it as such and fought the battle. This proves that this verse means “surrender to God,” and not “renunciation of action.”

Shankaracharya has said one more thing that is quite amusing. He says, “Arjun was not eligible for the path of knowledge, since he was attached to the world. This is why he was asked to fight.” Now consider this! Arjun and his brothers had borne great difficulties. They had been banished to the jungle; they had tolerated the abuse of King Virat as his servants; they had lived incognito for years and years. Still Arjun opted for the help of Shri Krishna alone, without weapons. He could only have done this if he had knowledge of who Shri Krishna was. Before the battle of Mahabharata, both Arjun and Duryodhan approached Shri Krishna for help. When Shri Krishna found out that both Arjun and Duryodhan were coming to see Him in Dvarika, he pretended to be asleep. Arjun entered the room, paid his obeisances and sat near Shri Krishna’s lotus feet. Duryodhan also came. When he saw that Shri Krishna was asleep, he sat down near His pillow. Kings have their pride, after all. How could Duryodhan sit beside the feet? When Shri Krishna opened His eyes, He first noticed Arjun was sitting beside the lotus feet. “Arjun,” He asked. “What brings you here”? Duryodhan interjected, “I am also here.” “Oh! You are here also. Namaste, Namaste”. Since He saw Arjun first, Shri Krishna asked him, “You get the first choice. Tell me what it is that you want.” Duryodhan objected, “No, I should get the first choice.” Both Arjun and Shri Krishna consented. Shri Krishna said, “On one side will be my eighteen army units. On the other side I will fight, but without weapons.” Duryodhan asked for the eighteen army units of Shri Krishna. This is what he had come for. Arjun was pleased, because he had wanted Shri Krishna, even unarmed, in the first place.

Now just think. On the one side were only the five Pandavas and their wife Draupadi, and on the other side, so many mighty warriors, like Bhishma, Karna, Dronacharya, Kripacharya and Ashvatthama. Not one of them could have been defeated by the Pandavas, if it were not for the trickery of Shri Krishna. Bhishma, Karna and Dronacharya could not have been killed merely by the arrows of Arjun’s Gandeev bow. It was the cunning of Shri Krishna in each of these encounters that led to their deaths. Somewhere He arranged for someone to beg for Karna’s armor and earrings; elsewhere He got someone’s chariot wheel stuck; somewhere He ordered someone shot with the arrow from behind. He told Yudhishtir to shout out loudly, “Ashvatthama is no more.” Dronacharya asked, “Which Ashvatthama, man or elephant?” When Yudhishthir gave the reply, Shri Krishna blew His conch so as to prevent Dronacharya from hearing the answer. In other words, He used every trick possible, just so the Kauravas would get killed.

Thus, the Pandavas happily opted for the weaponless Shri Krishna despite the great trouble they were in. The reason being that they were fully aware of who Shri Krishna was. If they had not known, they would have objected to the choices given by Shri Krishna, preferring to fight without any help from Him. Angrily they would have said, “We will fight the Kauravas on our own, no matter how powerful they are.” Or, they would have said, “What partiality Shri Krishna is displaying! He is offering Himself without weapons to one party, while to the other He is giving his fully-equipped army. Fine! We do not want anything from Him.”
Else, they would have refused to fight the battle. But no, these five Pandavas and Draupadi were absolutely delighted to have Shri Krishna on their side. This indicates that they knew Shri Krishna to be God even before attaining the knowledge of the Gita. It is widely known that Arjun and Shri Krishna are dissensions of Nar and Narayan. How did Shankaracharya have the audacity to say that Arjun was not a fit candidate for sanyas!

Moreover, the words मामेकं शरणं वज्र mean “Surrender to Me alone.” Shankaracharya interprets the word माम् as Brahm. “Seek shelter in Brahm.” And since the soul is Brahm, this would mean, “Seek shelter in yourself.” What a wonderful interpretation! I could tell you of many more explanations of his different verses like this, but I do not wish to waste your time. If I had met Shankaracharya I would have taken him to task. But you need to understand clearly that this verse of the Gita मामेकं शरणं वज्र is the most important. It is an unfailing remedy for souls. You see, there is no one in the world who can follow the path of Karm or the path of Gyan or the path of Devotion properly. I strongly feel that out of 6 billion people, there may not even be six who are genuine karmis, genuine gyanis or genuine bhaktas. These are very, very rare to find. For the general aspirant, the most direct path is the most beneficial. It is risky to walk on a crooked and thorny path that meanders through rivers and canals. The foolhardy may follow such a path just to prove how bold they are, but why should we not follow the safest and surest path? And that path is the path of self-surrender - सर्वधर्मान् परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं वज्र. Surrender gives one the biggest claim on God. God and the Saints give more importance to the surrendered soul than they do to even their own father, mother, brother, and son. I will tell you a historical incident to illustrate this point.

Once there was a realised Sage by the name of Gaalav. One day he was making offerings to the Sun. A gandharva by the name of Chitrasen was traveling in the sky at the same time, and inadvertently spat into the water that Gaalav Muni was offering while reciting the verse:

सूर्यश्च मामन्युश्च मन्युपतयश्च मन्युव्रुतेभ्य

पापेभ्यो रक्षंतां यदात्रया पापमकार्ष मनसा वाचा हस्ताभ्यां

पद्भ्यामुदरेण शिश्ना रात्रिस्तदवलुंवतु यत्किंचिद्दुरितम् (Ved)

Gaalav was beside himself with rage. He immediately went to Shri Krishna and said, “Maharaj! The devas that you appoint are very insolent. Look how Chitrasen has misbehaved.” Seeing Gaalav’s anger, Shri Krishna pacified him by saying, “Chitrasen has indeed committed a grave mistake. I vow to kill him within 24 hours.” Such harsh punishment for an offence that was committed accidentally! Yes, for the sake of Gaalav Muni, who is very special!

In the meantime, Narad Muni heard what had transpired and felt compassion towards Chitrasen who was going to be killed without any good reason. Narad Ji thought to himself, “I cannot sort things out with either Gaalav or with Shri Krishna. Gaalav is insisting that Chitrasen should be punished, and Shri Krishna has taken a vow to kill him within 24 hours.” Anyway, Narad went to Chitrasen, who pleaded, “Lord, please save me.” Narad Ji said, “I give you my word; I will protect you.” What can Narad Ji do now that Shri Krishna has taken a vow to kill Chitrasen? He cannot ask Shri Krishna to take back His vow. What to do? Should he approach Gaalav? No, if he does that, Gaalav may destroy him also.

So Narad Ji approached Subhadra, Shri Krishna’s sister and Arjun’s wife. He said to her, “Tomorrow is a very auspicious day. Go for a bath in the Yamuna early in the morning, and if you hear some pleading voice asking for a boon, do grant him what he wishes. By doing so, you will gain unlimited merit.” Subhadra said, “Narad Ji, I will do as you instruct me.” In the meantime, Narad Ji said to Chitrasen, “Tomorrow morning, go to the riverbank. There, start crying bitterly, begging for help. If a woman approaches you and asks what trouble you are in, first extract a promise from her to help you, and only then tell her your story. After she promises to help you, tell her that Shri Krishna has taken a vow to kill you. That is all you have to do.”

The following morning Subhadra went to the Yamuna river to bathe. There she was approached by Chitrasen who extracted a promise for help from her. Chitrasen said, “Your brother has vowed to kill me.” Subhadra promised him, “Regardless of what vow my brother has taken, I will give you my protection.” At home, Subhadra said to Arjun, “As my husband, you must honour the word I have given.” Arjun said, “Very well. It does not matter right now that Shri Krishna is my friend, or even that He is God and I, His servant.” Now there was a Mahabharat battle right at home. Who could sort things out when such great personalities were involved?

Shri Krishna took up His Sudarshan Chakra, ready to sever Chitrasen’s head. He warned Arjun, “Go and sit at home; your Gandeev is useless in front of my Chakra.” Arjun said, “I know that. But perhaps You do not know that I have another weapon that I did not use during the Mahabharat. And that weapon is the Pashupatastra. Shankar Ji had given me this weapon which can bring about the annihilation of the entire universe. Be warned; I am about to release this mighty weapon.” Both the weapons, Chakra and Pashupatastra, are unfailing and if both were released simultaneously, the entire universe would be wiped out, with the exception of Arjun and Shri Krishna.

Shri Krishna and Arjun started reciting their respective mantras for invoking their weapons. As the weapons were released, the entire world fell into a state of chaos. Lord Shankar renounced his samadhi and came immediately from Shivlok. Standing between the two weapons, He asked, “What are you two doing?” Shri Krishna’s weapon, the Sudarshan Chakra said, “I am going to cut off Arjun’s head.” Shankar Ji’s weapon, the Pashupatastra said, “I am going to sever the head of Shri Krishna.” Shankar Ji pleaded with both the weapons, “Do not carry out your plan. Everyone knows that neither Arjun nor Shri Krishna will die. But the entire world will be destroyed. It is not time for the final dissolution of the world.” With these words Shankar Ji pacified both weapons. But now Gaalav’s purpose was frustrated. He was furious and thought, “Shri Krishna, Subhadra and Arjun are brother, sister and brother-in-law. They have joined forces. And Chitrasen has not been punished for his offence. Fine! I will reduce all four to ashes.” He took up some water in his hand and started reciting a mantra. Just then, Subhadra came and stood in front of Gaalav. She also took some water in her hand and said, “I will render the power of your mantra useless with this water.” The mighty power possessed by Subhadra was the power of Self-surrender. And with this power she rendered the power of Gaalav Muni’s asceticism absolutely ineffective. Consequently, the water did not leave Gaalav’s hand. He kept trying to offer it, but it would not fall.

Here I am merely pointing out that self-surrender is so great that nothing and no one is greater than it. Not mother, not father, not brother. No one. This is why God has called the instruction to surrender to Him as the most confidential knowledge,

सर्वगुह्ातमं भूयः श्रृणु मे परमं वच

However, even after countless lives we have not yet surrendered to God. This is the reason we do not have faith in God or Guru. These are the two personalities to whom we must surrender.

यस्य देवे पराभक्तिर्यथा देवे तथा गुरौ (Shewtashwatar Upanishad)

“Worship Guru in the same way as you worship God.” Considering both to be equal, we must keep the same sentiments towards God and Guru. But we have not managed to do this yet. The reason being that we are not yet surrendered. We do not have faith. To have faith in a personality means to always think favourably of him. That is all. Only favourable thoughts.

A woman, who is fully surrendered to her husband, is having her meal. Her husband comes along and adds ghee to her food. The woman is happy. A short while later, he comes along once again, and this time mixes garbage into her food. She is happy just as she was earlier when he had added ghee. Is there any such woman in existence? No. This proves there is no woman who is surrendered to her husband. The vow of fidelity, whether to father, mother, Guru or God, means to keep your desires in line with theirs, not to apply your intellect to their actions and to always think favourably of them. This constitutes surrender. If you look at the life of Saint Tukaram, you will see that he retained full confidence in the actions of God despite the loss of wealth, even despite the death of his wife and son. But, someone who is foolish will start questioning, “I went to the temple for a kirtan and a robbery took place at home. What did God do? What kind of protection does the Guru provide?” The fact is that whatever happened was for your welfare. The different methods utilised for our upliftment are understood only by God and Guru. How can we possibly understand? If we could understand the secret behind each of their actions by our intellect, and realise how it actually caters to our well-being, then what would be the difference between us and these Divine personalities? We could all don the robes of Masters.

So, we must have faith, and this faith arises from detachment. This is why every acharya has said आदौ श्रद्धा “Faith must be present first and foremost.” In the absence of faith, we will not make any progress despite listening to countless lectures, or meeting countless Saints and Dissensions of God. We will keep standing where we are at present. Only one who does not find fault with the one he loves can succeed in surrendering himself. One who has a habit of constantly employing his intellect, cannot surrender even in infinite lifetimes, nor can he attain God’s grace. He will try to comprehend everything with his material intellect before accepting it, which is utterly impossible. Even in the world we do not understand everything in the beginning. First we accept, and then we understand. A little child is told, “This is your Mommy; this is your Daddy.” Hearing this, the little child also says, “Mommy, Daddy,” without knowing what these words mean. He starts understanding later. You people use many electrical gadgets, like the radio and the tape-recorder. Someone asks, “What is this machine?” You answer, “It’s a tape-recorder. It can record everything you speak.” “But how?” “I don’t know. I just use it. Why should I waste ten years in finding out the science behind the workings of a tape-recorder?” You see, we accept so much in the world. Later, if you wish, you can make the effort of finding out how the machine works. But it is impossible to attain this knowledge right from the start.

So, first you have to do sadhana, i.e. practice devotion, and then you will attain practical experience. Then your knowledge will be complete. You cannot attain practical knowledge without first accepting the theory. Children learn Mathematics at school. They draw lines. What is a line? It is defined as something that has length, but not width or breadth. “But what you have drawn has width as well as breadth.” “Yes, but you must assume that it does not.” A Mathematics teacher tells his students to subtract five from five. One student does not write any answer. When asked the reason, he says, “If you subtract five from five, you have nothing left.” The teacher scolds him, “If there is nothing left, you must write zero as the answer.” “But when there is nothing left, why should I put a zero?” “No, no, this is compulsory. You must comply with this rule even if you don’t understand it.” Those of you who have studied algebra know that you have to begin solving the problem by making assumptions. The teacher says, “Suppose Ramesh’s age is ‘A’.” “What does that mean?”
“First you must accept his age to be ‘A.’ Then when you solve the problem, the actual age will be worked out.” So all this is done on faith. And as you learn how to solve the problems, you begin to see why it is done.

So you see how in acquiring material knowledge you accept so many notions simply on faith. Then you learn on the basis of that acceptance, and then finally you understand why it is that you had to accept Ramesh’s age to be ‘A.’ In the spiritual realm, you do not accept, because you are bereft of faith. You become proud of your so-called knowledge. Your knowledge in even your area of specialty is so small that you are not able to understand anything much with your material mind. You have not even understood your own family members so far. Sometimes you say, “Oh, today my eyes were opened. Now I understand.”
This means that you were ignorant so far, and even what you have understood today is very limited. Who knows what you will understand in the future? It is your misconception that you have understood. You do not possess true knowledge yet.

Thus, Self-surrender is the highest path. We can attain Shyamsundar’s grace only by surrendering to Him. And I had told you one day that the most important thing to do in surrendering ourselves to God is to become humble. The most important of the eight verses in the Shikshasthak of Gaurang Mahaprabhu is:

तृणादपि सुनीचेन तरोरपि सहिष्णुना (Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu)

“If you wish to attain God’s grace, you must become more humble than a blade of grass.” Humbler than a blade of grass! What do you have that makes you proud? Why do you think and feel that you are someone very important? What are you, and what will you become after death? A dog, a cat, a tree or some insect? In the body of a tree you may well be asked, “Were you not a professor in your last life, with a doctorate in literature? You had been told to seek shelter of God, to humble yourself. At that time you had said, ‘I have a Ph.D., I don’t put blind faith in anything.’ Now look at your condition. At that time your educational qualifications were not allowing you to humble yourself before God.” So, without humility you cannot even begin your spiritual practice.

There was once a Saint called Venkatnath. He was a wealthy man, and when he made very quick progress on the spiritual path, he met with tremendous opposition. One day his opponents made a garland out of old shoes and hung it from the gate of his ashram. They knew that Venkatnath was always blissfully absorbed in God and so would not notice the garland. They thought, “When the garland of shoes falls on his head, he will be very offended. Then we will laugh at him. Then he will shout and scream at us in anger. We will also get an opportunity to ridicule him.” When Venkatnath entered the gate, the garland of shoes fell on his head and he said,

कर्मावलम्बका केचित् केचित् ज्ञानवलम्बका

वयं तु हरिभक्त्तानां पादरक्षावलम्बका

“Some take shelter of the path of karm; others take the shelter of

the path of gyan. I have attained God by taking shelter

of His devotees’ lotus feet.”

Instead of feeling angry towards his tormentors, he manifested humility and surprised his opponents. Whosoever has a hunger for attaining God must develop humility.

You must have heard of the great philosopher Socrates. His wife was very short tempered. To hurl abusive words was her entertainment. I am not talking about all wives here, just about the wife of Socrates. One day, she swore at her husband for a long time. Socrates merely smiled. He knew that the poor woman was suffering from the disease of the three modes of maya. He actually felt sorry for her, knowing how troubled she was by her own anger. Seeing that her abusive words did not have any effect on her husband, Socrates’ wife dumped an entire bucket of water on her husband’s head. She wanted to make him angry. But Socrates said calmly, “This is good; this is good.” A friend of his was sitting nearby. He asked, “What do you mean by saying that this is good?” Socrates replied, “You know there is always a shower after a thunderstorm.” His friend said, “And you call yourself a man! If I were you, I would give her a sound beating with a stick.” Socrates said, “You are my good friend. We are not fighting; we are just putting on a show for you to watch.” The friend was stunned to see Socrates make light of such bad behaviour of his wife. This is humility.

Once there was a Saint by the name of Usman. He was walking down the road with his disciples, when someone threw down a basket full of ashes on him from the third floor. The person who threw it did it innocently. It was not a deliberate act. Covered with ashes, Usman looked up and addressed God, “I am fit to have burning coals thrown on me because I love the world instead of You. But You are so merciful that You merely covered me with ashes.” Instead of anger, Usman responded with humility.

We too have to become humble. At present our condition is such that if someone tells us something absolutely true about us, we cannot control our anger. This is true even of those who have taken to the renounced order, let alone householders. So, humility is paramount, without which your spiritual life will not begin.

Those who sit in sankirtan and cannot shed tears should think of themselves as fallen, destitute, and insignificant, and think about why tears do not come to their eyes. Time is fleeting. When will you do it, if not now? You have received the great fortune of a human body, and that too in India. You have left home to participate in satsang in such a conducive environment. Still, when it comes to doing serious sadhana, you become careless. You must deeply regret sorrowful this. The more you reflect on your carelessness, the faster you will move towards God.

So, you have understood that humility is the main feature of self-surrender. However, you have still to find out how to love. That will be disclosed to you some other time.

Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj

The Highest Grace - By Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj (English translation)

2011-10-10T00:29:00.002+11:00

If someone asked you "What is the highest Grace of God" what would you say.

As such, God doesn't do anything except Grace. Killing a demon is a Grace since all demons killed by God went to Golok. Punishing a sinner is a Grace because of which he starts moving towards God. If there was no punishment, all of us would have gone astray.

So God cannot do anything but Grace. Only due to Grace He created the world, He took us out of His belly, brought us in this world and revealed the Vedas.

What a Grace it is that God can only be found by doing nothing or surrendering, not by doing Jap(repeating the name), Tap(austerities) or Yog. Just as when we were born, we did not do anything. At that time, our mothers did everything. As we started doing something, our mothers reduced doing something for us. When we started doing everything for ourselves, our mothers stopped doing anything for us.

So even if someone tries to write each Grace of God for ten million kalps, they will not end. But the highest form of Grace which Kripalu believes in is the following. God descended on earth and left but He continued to reside in the Name, Form, Qualities and Abodes with all His powers. In each Name that was give to Him according to His Leela, He resided Himself permanently. So you do not have to go to a temple or a mosque. I will always reside myself in this Name. And I will reside with all My Powers.

The second big Grace is that there is no law, discipline or condition in saying My Name. There are no conditions that one should take the Name of God after a bath. Even if you have all the waste on your body, say "Radhey Radhey". Do not fear. As Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that no dirt can make the property (Name, Qualities, Pastimes, Abodes, Saints) of God dirty. Instead, the dirty thing that comes in association with the property of God, that dirty thing will become pure. There are tough rules in doing a yagya for the demigods. There are tough rules in your job. But there are no conditions or rules in taking the Names of God and doing Bhakti. Such a mother is God.

So God has placed all His powers in His Name. You do not have to go to the temple to meet Him. If you are blind, even then You can do Bhakti unconditionally. You do not require any senses, you can do Bhakti with your mind which even a donkey has. So God is saying that you remember Him with your mind. Give your body to the world but Give your mind to Him. Just realize that the Names of God have all the powers of God. Think, believe, firm up your faith that what we say Radhey, Radhey Rani is actually sitting in it. Then you will drink the nectar. One day will come when you will not be able to utter "Radhey".

Vijaya Dashami

2011-10-06T12:35:00.003+11:00

Vijaya Dashami (Victory of Bhagawan shri Ramachandra over Ravan)

On this day in the Treta Yug, Bhagawan Shri Ram killed the great demon Ravana who had abducted Shri Rama's wife Mother Sita to his kingdom of Lanka. Shri Rama, his brother Lakshmana, Hanuman, Jambavan and an army of monkeys fought a great battle to rescue Mother Sita. The entire narrative is recorded in the epic Ramayana, a Hindu scripture.

Shri Rama had performed "Chandi Yagna" and invoked the blessings of Godess Durga, who blessed Shri Rama with secret knowledge of the way to kill Ravana. On the day of Ashvin Shukla Dashami, Rama's party found Mother Sita and defeated Ravana. Thus it is termed as Vijaya Dashami. Based on the scriptural writings from Valmiki’s Ramayana, Kalidas’s Raghuvans, Tulsidas’s Ram Charit manas, and Keshavdas’s Ram Chandra Yas Chandrika as well as common perception in India, Shri Rama, Mother Sita, and Lakshmana returned to Ayodhya on the 30th day of Ashvin (19–20 days after Vijayadashmi). To mark the return of Lord Rama, in the evening, the residents of Ayodhya lit their city with millions of earthen lamps (called Diya / Deepak). Since then, this day is celebrated in India as Deepawali or Diwali.

Some people perform "Aditya Homa" as a "Shanti Yagna" and recite Sundara Kanda of Srimad Ramayana for nine days. These Yagna performances are thought to create powerful agents in the atmosphere surrounding the house that will keep the household environment clean and healthy. These rituals are intended to rid the household of the ten bad qualities, which are represented by ten heads of Ravana as follows:

Kama (Lust)
Krodha (Anger)
Moha (delusion)
Lobha (Greed)
Mada (Over Pride)
Matsara (Jealousy)
Manas (Mind)
Buddhi (Intellect)
Chitta (will)
Ahankar (Ego).

It is also that on this day that Shri Maharaji our Gurudev (Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Ji) starts the annual moth long sadhana programme from Vijaya Dashami to Kartik poornima. It is at this time that devotees practicing the path of Bhakti Yoga are able to come together under the guidance of a Shrotriya Bhramanistha Guru (Theoretically and practically God realised saint) to lean and experience the inner intricacies of Bhakti. With heavy emphasis of sewa (service – in 3 modes Than Man Dhan – Body mind and wealth) we get rid of the 10 vasanas like that of Ravan and truly surrender to a Guru’s Lotus feet. One may say that I have met Shri Maharaji and that you have His divine hands of protection over you, but it does not work that way as He will test and test and test the aspirant like putting gold through fire and making it pure so that only purity remains in the hearts of the devotee. When that happens yours antahakaran (inner- mind mechanism) is cleansed and ready for Bagawad Prapti (God realisation) until then. ………. A devotee or an aspirant will remain as a contaminated gold not knowing its full potential and keep rotating in this cycle of Maya.

Well we don’t have to perform the “Chandi Yagna” or "Aditya Homa" as a "Shanti Yagna" and recite Sundara Kanda of Srimad Ramayana for nine days but to make Sadhana as a daily part of our lives like when we are there in Mangarh India with our Gurudev, Shri Maharaji and bring that feeling that Hari and Guru are always with me as a conscious effort in our lives. Having that conscious feeling at every step of our lives will change and make us into true karma yogi’s who is practicing Bhakti towards Radha Krishna. The dilemma of how about this and that will not arise as we will learn to be trustees of this life and look forward to that Blissful state of being in love with God. Currently instead of being trustees of this life we are all behaving like owners of this life and as long as we behave like owners of this life, the pit falls of this life due to the karmic reaction and the shortfall of not truly understanding will pull us down into a false perception that this is a true life. As long as you behave that you are owners of this life you are liable for every action and reaction that follows suit. Let’s learn to become trustees of this life as what we are truly meant to be, we have had so many opportunities to become trustees but instead we have chosen to become owners of this life. Live a life were we carry out our duties as a father, mother, husband wife, child, and every other character that we are given as trustees, performing to what is truly required of us.

On this day of Vijaya Dashami let us take the active role of practicing sadhana if you are going to India have a blast with Gurudev, Shri Maharaji and bring that back with you and consciously practice that as a daily part of your life. If you are not going to India, join the satsang programmes in your area and practice daily.

Not All religions are the same

2011-09-26T12:23:00.000+10:00

One goal we often hear voiced by the Hindu community in America is to preserve the authenticity of the teachings of Hinduism and pass that heritage on to future generations. There is a statement many of us make which undermines these efforts. We often say, "All religions are the same." Why do we say it? Sometimes we don't want to offend anyone. This is a safe, politically correct, fallback position. Sometimes, not knowing the intricacies of Hinduism, we fail to recognize its uniqueness and greatness. If Hinduism were the same as all other religions, then why would we care if our children convert to other religions? Why would we organize conferences to preserve our essential teachings and develop better ways of teaching them to our kids? If Hinduism were the same as all other religions, then why would I, who was not raised Hindu, have chosen Hinduism over other religions?

It is true that there cannot be two Gods. There cannot be a separate Hindu God, a separate Christian God, a separate Muslim God, a separate Jewish God, etc. Our Vedas state, "Ekamevadvitiyam brahm nehananasti kinchan," "God is one and absolute. There can be no other." So whoever is worshiping God, anywhere in this universe, is worshiping the same God. And all theistic religions agree on certain general characteristics of God. God is perfection, absolute divinity, omnipresent, all-knowing, all powerful, blissful, etc. This is the extent of the description available in other religions, but not in Hinduism. The Sanskrit scriptures of Hinduism reveal the knowledge of God on a much deeper level. This is both what makes Hinduism great and also what makes it more challenging to comprehend.

Some Hindus complain that it is so easy for the members of other religions to summarize the teachings of their religion. It is easy to summarize general and superficial knowledge. But the depth, scope and detail of Hinduism require more skill and training to understand, distill and communicate to others.Clearly it is important to have a qualified teacher. Anyone can teach finger-painting, but it takes someone with a PhD to teach nuclear physics. Hinduism must be learned from someone with not only theoretical understanding, but with practical experience of God.

The word God is a general term. It is vague and non-specific, like the word fruit. Fruit is abstract, because fruit does not exist as such. Bananas exist; apples exist; mangoes exist. If I ask you to describe what fruit looks like, you cannot, because fruit is a general term. You could only describe the appearance of a mango or an apple--a specific fruit. Similarly, the description of God in other religions is non-specific and general. What does God look like? You cannot tell me, because God is just an abstract term. However, in Hinduism we have the specific description of God's form and personal names. He is Krishna, He is Ram, He is Vishnu, He is Siva, She is Durga, etc. We know what He looks like, and we know what His Divine personality is like.

Supreme God has uncountable Divine powers. When most of them are dormant or inactive, then God is formless and is referred to by the term Brahman. When more of His powers are active, God has form, and is referred to by the term Paramatma. This is almighty God, Whose three main forms are Vishnu, Shiv and Durga. Krishna says in the Gita, "Ye yatha mam prapadyante tanstathaiva bhajamyaham." In other words, "I come to you in whatever form you worship Me." Hinduism not only incorporates the concepts of God of other religions but also reconciles the apparent differences in the various descriptions, all the while providing an unmatched depth and elegance in the description of God.

Hinduism is also unique in saying that God can be experienced, and, in fact, that is the ultimate goal of a soul. This was one of the most compelling factors for me in my decision to adopt Hinduism. Not only does Hinduism answer all of my intellectual questions, but it clearly states that you can meet God in person. Now who wouldn't want to do that? However, if you don't have the full description of God, then how will you find Him? It would be like someone coming from India and landing at JFK in New York and asking the people he sees, "Have you seen my friend? Where is my friend? I want to meet him." They would ask, "What does your friend look like? Do you have a picture of him? What is his name? Where does he live?" The man answers that he only knows that his friend moved to America 20 years ago, but he does not remember what he looks like, nor does he have a picture of him. People will think him insane because he may search all over America for his whole life and never have any chance of finding his friend. Similarly, without a proper description of God, how could we hope to find Him? Hinduism provides such a detailed description of God, which is like providing the photograph and the address of the man's friend. Now all the man has to do is follow the path to reach his friend. This path, known as the path of God realization, is also described in Hinduism.

There are many more such points which illustrate the greatness of Hinduism. So remember, although there are similarities between Hinduism and the other religions of the world, and as Hindus we respect all religions, nonetheless, there are features of Hinduism which are not found in other religions and which make Hinduism great.

BY - Swami Nikhilanand, a disciple of Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj, adopted Hinduism as a young man, and received the order of sannyas in the raganuga tradition of Vrindaban, India.

GURU POORNIMA

2011-07-10T12:53:00.003+10:00

Guru Poornima coincides with the full moon day of the Hindu Lunar calendar month of Ashadh, which usually falls during the month of July every year. On this particular day, Guru Kripa (Grace) is far more active than on any other day of the year. The primary mission of the Guru is to spread spirituality. So on this day, when one undertakes an activity towards the spread of spirituality, one is graced by the Guru a thousand times more. Participation in the Guru Poornima celebration also helps to generate spiritual emotion in the seeker. This auspicious day presents seekers with the unparalleled opportunity to pay their gratitude to the Guru. In truth, the seeker grows spiritually by participating wholeheartedly in festivities through the sacrifice of his body, mind and wealth for the Guru’s mission of spreading spirituality.

This is the full moon night when devotees all over the world pay special honour to the Guru.

"Gum Rauteeti Guruh”.
This Vedic mantra states that the one, who is perfectly capable of dispelling the
darkness of ignorance, is called a guru.

"Grinaati gyanam iti guruh".
The one, who imparts Divine wisdom, is called a Guru.

“Tadvigyanaartham sa gurumevabhigacchet samitpanih shrotriyam Brahmnishtdam.”

Mundakopnishad, verse1-2-12 says, that in order to know God, one needs to surrender to a God realised Saint .i.e. the one who has complete theoretical knowledge of the scriptures and has also practically attained God. The Divine personality who can explain to us and give us the true understanding about- Who am I? What is my aim? How do I attain my aim? Who God is? What is Soul? What is Maya? What is material happiness? What is mind? What is intellect? Such a divine personality is called a Guru.

“Ram sindhu ghan sajjan dheera,
Chandan taru Hari sant sameera.”
Supreme God Ram is the vast ocean,saint is like the rainy cloud,
Lord Hari is the exotic tree of sandalwood. Like the wind, the Saints carry its fragrance.
(Ramayan)

bhayam dvitiyaabhiniveshatah syad
ishaad apetasya viparyayo 'smritih
tan-maayayaato budha aabhajet tam
bhaktyaikayesham guru-devataatma

"Fear arises when one misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in (Maya) the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When one thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called Maya. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a genuine spiritual master, whom one should accept as one’s worshipable deity and as his/her very life and soul.
(Shrimad Bhagvatam 11.2.37)

If you forget Shri Krishna, you are forced to be extremely attached to this world. You will start to think, "I am this body. Old age will come and then I will die." Fear comes. At the time of death we cannot take anything with us. So many mental diseases come, and so many problems come in this world. You should know and understand that your Gurudev is more dear than your father, mother, wife, husband, children or any relative. Obey Him and worship Him, and then perform Roopdhyan to Shri Radha-Krishna. Don't disobey your Guru, otherwise you will fall down. We should know that our Gurudev is our most dear friend and mediator. We should Respect, Love and Serve His Divinity, and by that service (sewa) we should always serve the Divine Beloved Shri Radha-Krishna. This is the easiest method to attain Them.

yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hyarthah prakshante mahatmanah
- Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.23
One who has supreme devotion in God and Guru (the Saint) equally (no less!),
attains that ultimate goal.

Why So? "Because, there is NO difference what so ever between God and His very Own Saintly Devotees!". As explained in the Sutra below by Narad Ji.

"tasmins taj-jane bhedabhavat"
(Narad Bhakti Sutra 41)

And Lord Krishna also confirms this in Bhagavatam in His conversation to Uddhava

Acharyam maam vijaaniyaan,naavamanyeta karhichit,
Na martya-bhudhyaasuyeta,sarva-deva-mayo guruh.
“Know the Guru to be Myself (God). Never think unfavorably about Him.
Do not use your material intellect to comprehend the Guru’s divine actions,
for all forms of God dwell within Him
Srimad Bhagavatam 11.17.27

A genuine guru is one who descends on the earth from time to time as a repository of spiritual force.The divine current of this spirit-force changes its course from time to time just as a mighty stream of water opens up a new channel.

On this most auspicious day of my life, I again and again pay my utmost humble obeisance at the Divine Lotus Feet of my beloved Gurudev. His mercy is boundless and my sins are boundless yet His Divine Excellency has accepted me in His divine service. Who can be more gracious then grace Himself descended on earth as -‘Kripalu Mahaprabhu.’
'He who explains the essence of the Vedas and fills the heart with love
for Beloved God, is the Sadguru.” Such is my Beloved Gurudev,
Jagadguru Shri 1008Kripalu Ji Mahaprabhu.

BOLIYE SHREEMAD SADGURU SARKAR KI JAI.

Worshiping Radha Krishna

2011-02-02T11:26:00.003+11:00

Ishton men Radha Krishna Govinda Radhey,
Bhavon men madhurya shreshta bata dey.

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on January 17, 2011, in Bhakti Dham, Manghar, India, explaining this new kirtan verse.)

The one who is worshiped (ishta) or the one who is served (sevya) is of many kinds. Some are even mayic or material, such as celestial gods and goddesses. These include Indra, Varuna, Kuber and others. Such ishtas are millions in number. By acquiring spiritual understanding through the teachings of a true Saint, we come to know that the worship of a material personality results in a material consequence.

The word deva applies to both celestial beings and to supreme God.

Kah paramo devah. Krishno ha vai paramam daivatam.

This verse asks: Who is the greatest deva? Here the word deva refers to supreme God. Similarly, the word divya (divine) refers to both material celestial beings and also to God. The word atma (soul) refers to both the individual soul and God. Only Saints know which meanings apply to what words in the scriptures. Those with merely intellectual understanding of the scriptures don’t have this knowledge.

One single God has many worshipable forms. These include impersonal Brahm or Brahman and paramatma. Paramatma has three aspects: (1) karanarnoshayi paramatma, (2) garbhodashayi paramatma, and, (3) ksheerodashayi paramatma. Even though these forms are non-different from each other, the aspect of paramatma is superior to impersonal brahm.

Impersonal brahm is completely neutral, and remains this way even when loved or worshiped. Brahm is purely a divine existence. It reveals no divine powers or qualities. For example, a grain of wheat lies in a cabinet for years. An innocent person might say, “I put that grain in there, thinking in ten days it would sprout and then after a month it would be a fully grown plant, but it has stayed the same for years!”

A grain or seed is full of power but, this manifests only after it comes into contact with the soil, the sun, water and air. When all these are present, a seed could grow into a plant in one month. Similarly, even though brahm possesses all the divine powers, none of these are manifest. Therefore, brahm is called avyakta shaktik – endowed with powers that remain unrevealed.

Paramatma, on the other hand, manifests powers, form, name, and qualities, but does not perform leelas or divine pastimes, and does not have divine associates. However, don’t be confused about this point – the same brahm is paramatma, because God is only one.

So paramatma has three aspects. Karanarnoshayi paramatma permeates uncountable worlds. Garbhodashayi paramatma permeates one world. Ksheerodashayi paramatma resides in all our hearts, notes our thoughts and gives us the consequences of these actions. This is the object of worship for yogis.

The final and supreme form of God is Radha Krishna, who manifest all the divine powers, including divine love and divine pastimes. Brahm and paramatma are Their other forms.

These three forms all pertain to the same one God, but in the form of Radha Krishna every kind of divine bliss is manifest. That is why this kirtan verse says, “Out of all the worshiped forms of God, I worship Radha Krishna.” There is no other form beyond this.

Now let’s consider bhava or devotional sentiment. How should Radha Krishna be loved or worshiped? As almighty God? Arjuna listened to the teachings of the Gita from Shri Krishna on the battlefield before the Mahabharat War. Again and again Shri Krishna referred to Himself as supreme almighty God, “There is nothing beyond Me. Everything has arisen from Me. I reside in everyone’s heart.” But Arjuna thought of Shri Krishna as his friend. He said, “You keep on saying that you are almighty God. How am I to believe this? Any one could say this. Show me how you are God!”

Shri Krishna said, “How will you see this? Your eyes are mayic, material. They are made of the same material elements as is this world. Your body and senses are made of material elements and after your death they will merge into material elements. But I am divine. My body is not made of material elements.”

The Padma Purana explains that the body and soul are separate in all living beings, including celestial gods and goddesses. In God’s case, however, God’s body and soul are one. Shri Krishna asked Arjuna, “So how will you see My divine body with your material eyes?” Material eyes only see the material objects of the world – provided a person has good eyesight and light is present. These two conditions must be met. Even so, we can see only a limited distance, and small objects such as atoms are imperceptible to us even with magnification.

So with what feeling should we love God? Even the celestial gods and goddesses are terrified of God in His almighty form. When Narsingh Bhagwan appeared on this earth to kill Hiranyakashipu, all the celestial gods and goddesses said, “We must give thanks to Him. He appeared in our world to kill such a terrible demon. But He is manifesting such a scary and angry form! Who will go first?”

They said, “Brahma, you are His son. You go.” Brahma said, “No, not now.” They then said, “Shiva, you have the power to reduce this world to ashes. Please go.” Lord Shiva also said, “No, I won’t go right now.” Finally they decided, “Send for Prahlad and let him go first. After all, God appeared on his account. When He sees Prahlad, He will cool down. Then we will all go to Him.” When Lord Narsingh saw Prahlad, He started smiling. He took Prahlad in His lap and affectionately hugged and stroked him, as you see parents do with their children. Then all the celestial gods and goddesses, and Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came forward with songs of praise.

So Shri Krishna said to Arjuna, “First I will bestow on you divine vision, then afterward you will see God.” He graced Arjuna with divine eyes so Arjuna could see His almighty form. But Arjuna started to tremble in fear. He shut his eyes. He started perspiring. Stammering, he said, “I don’t want to look! You really are almighty God! Until now I had no idea. I always accepted You as my friend. Please forgive me!”

So if you worship God’s almighty form, you will not be able to love Him. Instead you will feel afraid. However, God says, “My children, don’t think of Me as a supreme almighty power. Relate to Me in the same way you relate to others in the world.”

The first type of relational feeling with God is that of dasya bhava, the love of a servant for his master. Now our devotional feelings have a way to develop because a master is benign, not angry. In the world we see there are servants in homes. A prime minister or president has a personal assistant. But the familiarity a servant is entitled to with his master is very restricted. The Ramayana says,

Sir bal chalau dharma as mora, sab tey sevak dharma kathora.

When Ram, Lakshman and Sita were leaving Ayodhya to enter the forest, Lakshman would walk behind Ram and Sita in such a way so that he would not step in their footprints. How difficult this is! A true servant instead places only his head wherever his Guru places his feet. Does this mean we have to walk on our head? How is this possible? What this implies is the role of a servant is very difficult. There are many rules of propriety that must be observed.

Beyond this is sakhya bhava, the relational feeling of a friend to a friend. What does a friend do? He places his arm around his friend’s shoulders and informally asks, “Hey, where did you go today?” Still, the rights of a friend are also restricted.

Beyond this is vatsalya bhava, the relational feeling between a parent and child. In this bhava God is loved as your child. You may spank Him, twist His ear and scold Him for being naughty. You may request, “Son, please bring my slippers…” And He will have to bring them! He has become your son. But even this feeling of love still has some restrictions.

Beyond this is madhurya bhava. This is the relational feeling of a lover and a beloved. This is not the same as the love between a husband and wife. The feelings of a lover and beloved are even beyond this. A woman’s husband is at home, but she secretly loves another. This quality of love, which was the love of the Braj Gopis for Krishna, is called jar prem.

Love in madhurya bhava is selfless. This is its uniqueness. Selfless means with no personal desire for one’s happiness. The other unique quality of this bhava is one may think of God as one’s beloved, one’s child, one’s friend, or one’s master. However, those who love God with any of the lower types of relational feelings may not think of Him with the intimacy of madhurya bhava. They do not have this right. A devotee who thinks of God as his master, cannot even love Him as a friend, let alone as a beloved. If any servant were to place his arm around his master’s shoulders, his master would scold him and say, “What is this nonsense! Maintain your distance!” A servant is not entitled to this kind of closeness.

The feelings of a lover and beloved are the most intimate. Whatever the lover asks, the beloved must do. A wife, on the other hand, cannot speak like this to her husband. She has to abide by the rules of propriety that relate to her prescribed duties as a wife. There are many social rules that relate to this kind of relationship. A wife can’t say her husband, “Son, come here.” Her husband would think, “She called me ‘son’?!” His next thought might be to send her to the hospital for treatment.

But God gives us the right to love him with all these relational feelings in madhurya bhava. We may relate to Him and love Him as a Beloved, as a Son, as a Friend and as a Master.

What is the nature of selfless devotion? People are very confused about this, including those who are supposedly learned. There are two areas – Maya’s area and God’s area. For this reason there are two kinds of desires – desires for material things related to the world and desires related to God. Therefore selflessness or niskhamata is of two kinds. One kind is directed towards the world and the other kind is directed towards God.

To have worldly desires is only natural. We perceive the world before us and so we form worldly desires thinking that by fulfilling them we will attain happiness. If clarified butter is poured on a fire, the flames reduce as if the fire is being extinguished, but then they rise up again. Similarly, when we fulfill worldly desires, these desires don’t come to an end, they only grow stronger. The Ved says,

Na jatu kamah kamanam mupabhogena shyamyati... Narad Parivrajak Upanishad, 3/37.

This verse is also in the Bhagwatam, the Vishnu Purana and the Padma Purana. Worldly desires don’t come to end when they are fulfilled; they grow stronger.

A poor person thinks, “If only I could have $100,000.” After attaining this, he starts thinking, “$100,000 is nothing. I want $200,000!” Desires keep on growing like this. The greatest billionaires feel distressed that in the coming year someone else’s wealth will surpass theirs. Even in an ordinary family it is seen that if one person is more financially successful than the others, those who have less feel jealous. This is also seen in the celestial abodes,

Surapatir brahmam padam yachatey.

Indra is the emperor of the celestial abodes. All the other celestial gods like Varuna, Kuber, Yamaraj and others are under his command. Even so, he is not satisfied with his own abode; he desires the abode of Brahma. He feels restless and has no peace of mind.

Remember this: Desires only increase when you fulfill them. This is where everyone is stuck. There are five kinds of desires of the five senses – to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, and to touch. Whatever kind of desire you have, it will either be fulfilled or not. We feel happy when a desire is fulfilled. But after this, that desire grows stronger. This is the double danger with worldly desires.

If someone says he will pray to God to fulfill his material desires, what will happen? Nothing. Why? Because God only listens to His devotees. If one hundred people go to the temple and pray to God to make them prime minister the next day – how is this possible?

Imagine that you are standing on the side of the road and you must reach Allahabad. You flag down an approaching car. The driver wonders, “Who is that person? Why is he trying to stop me?” But he does stop and you tell him, “I must go to Allahabad.” The passenger refuses and as he drives away he thinks,”That person is absolutely crazy. I have no idea who he is but he wants me to take him to Allahabad?!”

But if that driver’s relative were standing by the side of the road or if his Guru suddenly appeared there, he would immediately stop and ask, “Why are you standing here?” “My car broke down.” “Oh! Please come with me.” Without even asking, that person is invited into the car. This is because there is a relationship between the driver and that person. There is a feeling of love and devotion and that is why he stopped.

Similarly, great Saints such as Tulsi, Meera, Sur, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram asked for something from God, and God had to fulfill their desire, even if that meant making the impossible possible. But what about the other requests that people make? Nowadays people rush to pilgrimage places like Vaishno Devi or a particular Shankar Temple, Ganesha Temple or Durga Temple to ask God for something. What is this? Fruitless effort. God will not listen to even 1% of such requests. Why not?

You had a desire so you went to Vaishno Devi and prayed, “Bless me with a son.” By chance you had a son. You believed, “Vaishno Devi performed a miracle for me!” You went to Vaishno Devi a second time. When you returned home you learned your son had died. Now you believe, “This is all a deception! There is no God. My neighbour had five children and he just had a sixth. But I had just one child and he died!”

If you believe your worldly acquisitions are the result of the grace of God or Guru, when these acquisitions are lost or destroyed, you will blame Him, lose faith in Him and act adversely towards Him. Thus, as long as you haven’t attained God realisation, do not ask God, even by mistake, to fulfill your worldly desires.

After God realisation one does not continue to have material desires.

Bhidyate hridayagranthish-chidyante sarva sanshayah.
Ksheeyante chasya karmani tasmin drishte paravare.

This verse is found in the Mundak Upanishad 2/2/8, Yogashika Upanishad 5/45, Saraswati-darshan Upanishad 32, Bhagwatam 1/2/21 and 11/20/30. It says that after God realisation, one’s mayic ignorance is destroyed. As a result, all of one’s material desires are eliminated. Really, after experiencing such great divine bliss, why would one continue to have material desires? God’s bliss is unlimited. Worldly happiness has no comparison to this.

So there can be nothing more foolish than to ask God to fulfill your material desires. To say one’s desires were fulfilled by God is utter nonsense. If they were fulfilled, this was bound to happen anyway according to one’s karmic destiny. We wrongly give God the credit for this.

Further, if we have material desires, this only means we have not yet understood the ABCs of spiritual philosophy. We are still confused about whether happiness is in the world or in God. This is the very first stage of understanding. And if one realises that there is no happiness in the world including up to Brahma’s abode, then why would we ask God for the world? Why don’t we pray to God to realise God?

Once God went to the celestial abodes. Indra welcomed Him with great respect, “God has come to my kingdom!” When He was leaving, God said to Indra, “Son, ask for a boon.” Indra said, “Please give me such a woman whose beauty has never been equalled in the past nor will be in the future.” God smiled and thought, “I can’t believe what a foolish request this is. What does he lack here in the celestial abodes? The most beautiful maidens are already here.” Celestial gods have so much power they could produce thousands of such maidens simply by thought.

But to fulfill Indra’s desire, God produced thousands of extraordinarily beautiful women and said, “Choose one from among these.” Indra only saw the very first maiden and said, “I choose that one.” Her name was Urvashi. Indra took her to his Guru, Brihaspati. Brihaspati said to Indra, “Who have you brought with you? This isn’t Indrani, your wife.” Indra sheepishly said, “Oh, well, God appeared today… and… He said I could ask for something…” Brihaspati said, “What? You have given your Guru a bad name! You asked for this from God?”

So when the emperor of the celestial abodes can make this kind of mistake, how much more foolish are those who go to the temple and pray to God for the fulfillment of their material desires?

Even if God Himself where to appear before you, He will not fulfill such prayers. What is it that God could give? Take a look at history.

Even Abhimanyu, who was sinless, had to die. Although Veda Vyas, a descension of God, performed Abhimanyu’s marriange, and Abhimanyu’s uncle was Lord Krishna, who was supreme God, and his father was Arjuna, a true saint, decension of Nar-Narayana and knower of the Bhagavad Gita, no one could save him. Why not? What is death to God? Is anything impossible for Him to do? Surely He could have saved him.

Yet, when Arjuna was weeping after Abhimanyu’s death, He asked Lord Krishna, “Please let me see him just once.” Even at that time, Lord Krishna couldn’t bring him back. He said, “One’s time of death is determined by the destiny created by one’s actions. I do not interfere in this.”

So unlike Abhimanyu, when you have no relationship with Lord Krishna, what will you receive by asking Him to fulfill your desires?

Even Lord Ram’s father, Dasharath, had to die. Lord Ram Ram did not save him, even though He saved thousands of monkeys killed in the battle of Lanka. This is because when one’s destined time of death has come, he must go. We can’t do anything to alter this. Then why do we hope that merely by asking God to fulfill our material demands He will do so?

Material desires are only a source of suffering, and to ask God to fulfill these is outright foolishness. This is also pure selfishness (sakamata). What is selflessness (niskhamata), will be described next.

What is selflessness or niskhamata? To desire your beloved’s happiness, not your own. A little selflessness is seen in the world when a baby is born. A mother and father serve their child even though their child does nothing in return for them – everything is done by them for the baby. How many dirty and messy things the mother has to do, and if another baby is born within the year she undergoes even more hardship. She keeps on running back and forth changing diapers, keeping them warm, feeding them, holding them when they are crying. How can she sleep? Her husband, who is also woken up every night, is convinced at this point, “There is only suffering in this world!”

So some selflessness is seen in the relationship of a parent and child, but within this there is a hidden desire. “When my baby grows up he’ll get a good job and make a lot of money. Then he’ll take care of me in my old age…” This is the hidden planning that is going on in the parents’ mind. “The scriptures say that my child will enable me to cross over to the next world after death…” So there are many hidden desires like this, but only one desire is missing – that the child should find God. In its place are only worldly desires.

If some selflessness is seen in the world, it is found wherever there is love. Someone loved his father selflessly and that father, who was an alcoholic, died. As a consequence of his debauched lifestyle, the father was reborn as a dog. Due to his attachment, that child will also have to be reborn to his father, regardless of what form his father has taken. Whoever we love, we will have to follow them wherever they go.

This doesn’t refer to just ordinary souls, it also applies to great renounced paramhansas such as Jadbharat. He raised and had great affection for a baby deer. At the time of his death, his last thoughts were of the baby deer. As a result, he had to be reborn as a deer. You all may be familiar with this story from the Bhagwatam.

There are four classes of attachment. If you love a sattvik being, you will enter swarga, the celestial abodes. After staying there for some time, you will return to this earth plane – not in a human form, but in a lower form of life. If you love a rajas being, after your death you will return to this earthly plane and receive a human form. If you love a tamas being. you will enter naraka, the hellish abodes after death. If you love God and Guru, who are divine, you will enter the divine world. No matter with what feeling you love someone, if you are mentally attached, you will go wherever he has gone after your death.

So whether one has selfish or selfless love for a material being dominated by satvik, rajas or tamas, the consequence is always mayic or material and binds the soul in the cycle of birth and death. But if one has selfless or even selfish love for God, he will enter the divine world.

However, Saints advise against selfish devotion. Selfishness in devotion means that before God realisation, you asked God to fufill your devotional desire. What
will happen if your desire is unfulfilled?

For example, someone desires to see God, to have His divine darshan. But his mind has not become completely purified, there is still 10% more to go. So he will not receive God’s swaroopa shakti that will divinise his senses, mind and intellect. Therefore he won’t be able to perceive God’s divine form. But his desire was, “I will see God within a year!” But two years have passed and still he hasn’t had God’s darshan. At this point he may start thinking, “This is all useless!” He does an about turn and leaves his devotional practice. If this person does not have a Guru, who will tell him that he is purifying the sins of uncountable lifetimes and that he still has a little farther to go?

When a person is digging a well for water, first he encounters some damp soil and feels excited, “I’ll find water soon!” As he continues to dig, he finds big rocks. He is surprised, “Why are these here? I thought I would find water!” If an experienced well-digger is nearby, he will say, “Don’t worry. You have to dig out the rocks first. Water is definitely there.” He takes out the rocks and finds a layer of pebbles and small stones. “Hey! What is this?” Again that experienced well-digger says, “Just keep digging.” He does and he finally finds water.

If a person gives up digging after finding rocks, he will spend his whole life digging wells in different places and never finding water. This is what happens to the person who has selfish devotion. Someone tells him, “Why are you practicing devotion to Krishna? Worship Lord Shiva instead. He is so easily pleased. He will grace you immediately! You just have to sprinkle a little water on Him and give Him some bel leaves and He will be happy.” He feels swayed by this and leaves his practice of Krishna devotion. After some time another person comes and says, “Why aren’t you practicing devotion to Mother Durga? She is so gracious!” Like this, innocent practioners pass their whole lives going from here to there until their death. They don’t attain anything.

If they had met a true Saint who understood scriptural philosophy and was also a practical knower of God, and if that Saint had explained to them the difference between selfish and selfless devotion, and how to practice selfless devotion, then they could continue their practice unperturbed, “So what if I don’t attain God realisation in one birth? I’ll attain it in my next birth.” They wouldn’t give up.

Just see, when a child is learning to walk, at this stage he can’t even talk or understand what is said to him. He uses the wall for support, then a nearby couch or bed, then he holds onto his mother. He takes a few steps and then falls. This fall hurts his tender body. But again he stands up, takes a few steps and falls down. But he doesn’t give up.

You all went through this stage. You just don’t remember. No one was ever born who could start running right away. You first tried day and night and then you learned to turn over, and from there you progressed. Now if an athlete has an operation and must be confined to bed for one week, he becomes extremely restless and unhappy. But a newborn is confined to not only being bed, but remaining in the same position. This changes only if his mother holds him for some time. After this he is again confined to his bed. This is his condition at the start.

So this is the essence of the secret of selfishness and selflessness. Using these guideliness, form desires for God and Guru, not the world. Render service to them, make their desire your desire and give them happiness. This is selfless devotion.

God is a Magnet

2011-01-19T13:24:00.000+11:00

Hari Guru chumbak Govinda Radhey,
Man loha shuddhi matra so kinchva dey.

(Synopsis of a talk by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on January 16, 2011, in Bhakti Dham, Mangadh, India, explaining this new kirtan verse.)

A mother and father have four children. They all live in the same home, share the same environment and eat the same food, but the aim and interest of each is different. All four children went to see a Saint. One of them sincerely followed the Saint’s teachings. One half-heartedly following them and then stopped. One didn’t follow them at all. One criticised the family member who was practising devotion, “Why has he started this ‘Radhey Radhey’ in our home?” Why is there so much difference? This verse gives the reason.

Our mind is filled with the stored impressions of actions from uncountable past lifetimes. This is collectively called sanchit karma. During this time we have committed uncountable sins. There is no such sin, even one such as murder, that we have committed just two or three thousand times. We have performed such actions uncountable times. Because we have been in existence as long as God, we have had uncountable births. If we had committed one murder in uncountable lifetimes, then we have committed uncountable murders, because our lifetimes are innumerable. There is no such sin that we have committed in the thousands and millions; we have committed them all uncountable times.

When all of Dhritarashtra’s sons were killed in the Mahabharat War, he called Shri Krishna. Dhritarashtra knew that Shri Krishna was supreme God. He asked, “You know everything. What sin did I commit that all my children died?” Blind Dhritarashtra at that time was sitting alone and weeping. Shri Krishna said, “How many of your previous lifetimes do you remember?” Dhritarashtra said, “Three lifetimes.” Shri Krishna said, “What is uncountable minus three? Can you calculate this? You can’t even calculate the sins from three lifetimes.”

We only see the present, and even in the present we don’t understand what is a right action and what is a wrong action. Not even 1% of the people in the world understand this, including those who are very knowledgeable. During my lifetime, I have met many great scriptural scholars. They would come to me and ask, “What is sin? What is virtue? What is good? What is bad?” The definition of this is very simple.

That amount of time that we remember God or Guru is the amount of time that we do not commit sin. Everything we do apart from this is a sin.

Now a person can calculate how much remembrance of God he has done during the course of his lifetime. He alone is our only relation. It is for realising God that we were given a human birth. Why have we forgotten this and instead of loving Him we love each other?

So there is one philosophy that applies to sin and virtue: Whatever time your mind is absorbed in loving remembrance of God is the amount of time you are saved from performing wrong actions. Otherwise, we are always performing wrong actions. For example, you loved our mother. Is this wrong? When you go to the temple and say,

Tvameva mata cha pita tvameva tvameva bandhusch sakha tvameva,
tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva tvameva sarvam mam deva deva.

Do you know the meaning of ‘tvameva‘? It means ‘only You’, not ‘also You’. This prayer says, “Oh my beloved God, You are my only father, You are my only mother, and You are my only property and wealth.”

Yet if a hungry beggar comes comes to the window of your car and starts speaking to you, even though you have $10,000 in your pocket, you will turn your face the other way and say to the driver, “Let’s get out of here!” If you takes something out of your pocket for that beggar, you give the smallest bill you have and throw it at the beggar disdainfully, “Here! Take it!”

You have all been like this beggar in uncountable births. How must that poor person have felt when that money was thrown at him? Yet we have all heard and read and believe that God dwells in everyone’s heart. If you are going to give him something, even if it’s just a few pennies, give it with love. This is just your pride. The different ways in which you have hurt others is part of your sin.

So the amount of attraction one feels for God and Guru depends on the extent of the sin he has committed. This is proof positive of how sinful we are. Is our mind attracted to God and Guru or is it attracted to our worldly relations and property? When you are alone you can assess both and then you will know what is your status. It is our material attachment that has not allowed us to go towards God. If we did go towards God, we were just pretending. If we sincerely went towards God, we went some distance and then turned around and went back to our material attachments.

Take a magnet, for example. Place a variety of needles around it. Some needles are pure iron, some are 10% iron, some are 20% iron and so on. The needles of pure iron will be immediately attracted to the magnet. The ones mixed with another metal will be attracted slowly. The needles that have very little iron will remain where they are. Our minds are similar to the needles.

Papvant kar sahaj subhau, bhajan mor tehi bhavana.

You people are so lucky. You may be traveling by train or airplane and if someone says, “Radhey” even while yawning, you will immediately think he is a good person, “Oh, he said ‘Radhey’!” You have acquired this attraction through the grace of God and Guru. Otherwise you would never have these positive feelings. You might feel instead that God’s name was painfully piercing your ear like an arrow.

When we were building Shyama Shyam Dham, we set up loudspeakers to start playing kirtan at 3 am. I thought, “Everyone will hear God’s name and feel happy.” It didn’t take even a month before I started receiving complaints and that, too, from so-called holy men who have renounced family and home to live in Vrindaban, “Could you please request the Jagadguru Ji to change the position of the speakers so they are not facing in our direction?” It is only our sins that do not allow us to feel receptive to the divine name.

Yavatpapaistu malinam hridayam tava deva hi.

Our attraction to God and Guru is related to the extent of our sin. If one has a perfectly pure mind, he will be attracted immediately, and that, too, just by sight. So if in the future you wish to know how far you have advanced, you can use this as a measure.

Free diagnosis

2011-01-19T13:15:00.003+11:00

On January 14, Makar Sakranti, millions took an early morning dip in the chilly waters at the sangam of Ganga and Yamuna in Allahabad. Further downstream, in Varanasi, Kripaluji was formally installed as the Fifth Jagadguru. I mention this because, to a non-believer like me, Kripaluji’s sayings make more sense than the others who appear on TV channels to discourse on spirituality. All of them have the gift of the gab, but he is more forthright, logical, lucid and gives chapter and verse of the sacred texts he quotes from. His memory is truly phenomenal.

He was born Ram Kripalu, into an affluent Brahmin, land-owning family of Mangarh near Allahabad. He received his prilimary education in Hindi and Sanskrit at the local school. He went on to study advanced Sanskrit and Ayurveda, and spent another year studying the Vedas, Upanishads, the epics and Bhakti literature.

Besides giving spiritual discourses, he has set up two well-equipped hospitals. He provides all the modern methods of diagnosis and medicines to the poor for free. At his hospital in Mangarh, he filled in a form for me in his own hand: Name of the Patient: Jeevatma (Individual soul), Disease: Maya (ailments owing to material energy of god), Medicine: Hari-Guru Bhakti and Mukti say Viraag (devotion to guru and god, detachment from material desires and desire for liberation). Advice: Divya Prem Prapti (attainment of divine love). Kripaluji’s ideas, collected in Philosophy of Divine Love, might be esoteric, but are still comprehensible to non-believers.

KHUSHWANT SINGH
http://www.telegraphindia.com/

Jagadguru Divas 2011

2011-01-16T21:38:00.004+11:00

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj at Bhakti Dham, Mangarh, India, on January 14, 2011, explaining this kirtan verse.)

Hari Guru bhaju nit Govinda Radhey,
bhava nishkam ananya bana dey.

This verse contains the essence of all spiritual philosophy. It mentions four points:

(1) Hari Guru bhaju – The scriptures do not prescribe that our worship should be to God alone. Yasya deve para bhaktir yathe deve tatha gurau. The Vedas explain that the Guru should be worshiped with the same devotion as God. Devotion to both is compulsory.

(2) Nit – Many people practice devotion, but only for a short time. This is like saving $10 and spending $20, or washing your clothes once with soap and afterward making them dirty ten times. If you do this, your clothes will never become clean.

First, we don’t practise devotion properly. Even if we do practise devotion for an hour or two, we do it pridefully. People observe with some awe, “Do you know that person is a tax collector and he worships God for one full hour?” But just ask him what he did during that time. He recited the Hanuman Chalisa or the Shiva Chalisa or Durga Chalisa. He did a little japa. This isn’t devotion.

Even if someone were to properly practice devotion for one hour, afterward he virtually becomes an atheist. How is this so? Just consider one small point, which we need to bring into our understanding: Shri Krishna is seated in our hearts. This is stated everywhere in the scriptures and everyone knows this. “God resides within all!” But how many truly realise this? This realisation should be continuous or nit, not just for 10 minutes, half an hour or 23 hours.

For example, we feel a continuous sense of “I am.” We know the same ‘me’ that existed yesterday is the same ‘me’ that observed dreams while we were sleeping, and it is the same ‘me’ that is existing now. Just as we have a continuous sense of “I am”, we should continuously realise with full confidence that our divine Father, our soul-beloved God is seated in our hearts. If we do this, then we are a true believer.

If we should forget this, even for just a minute, then we start having private thoughts, “No one knows what I’m thinking right now!” There are even those who sit before their Guru and silently criticise him. It may be that the Guru doesn’t know what his disciple is thinking, but God is still dwelling in that person’s heart. He forgot this point.

In fact, everyone forgets this. This is everyone’s shortcoming, regardless of how knowledgeable they are. For this reason, Kripalu has written ‘nit‘ – devotional remembrance of God and Guru should be continuous.

(3) Bhava nishkam - 99% of the devotion that people are engaged in is selfish. There is a huge crowd at a particular temple. Why has everyone gone there? Because the form of God worshiped there performs miracles! On this basis, some temples collect millions in gold. A person places a heap of gold before a statue of Sai Baba. He explains, “God blessed me – I just won the lottery! So, of course, I have to give God a percentage.”

This is selfish devotion. If such a selfish devotee encounters the slightest hardship, “Oh Lord! Hear my cry! My son is very sick.” But your Guru taught you to be selfless – so selfless that even at the point of death you should not request God, “Let me live.” Your material attachments to your family and relations have made you forget spiritual philosophy.

(4) Ananya - People worship a god or goddess, then someone convinces them they should instead practise tantric meditation, so they leave their worship and start that. Then they go to the shrine of a deceased holy man where huge crowds gather and they also worship there.

People pilgrimage to such places simply due to hearsay. The holy man who left this world is gone now. If he was a Saint, he has gone to Golok, God’s abode. What did he leave behind? Just his mortal remains which must have decomposed by now. Still people are convinced, “He performs great miracles!” Even presidents and prime ministers frequent such places.

When we worship celestial gods and goddesses and also supreme God, this means we still don’t understand who is the supreme divine power. If we did understand, then why don’t we worship Him alone? This just means we don’t understand spiritual philosophy, even though we have listened to it a lot. Spiritual philosophy has been explained to us in every age. We have listened to it, understood it and then forgotten it.

So we have to constantly reflect on these four points and practise them. Without practise, neither God nor Guru will give you anything. God Himself is already seated in your heart; what are you receiving from Him? Even if a person were to find a true Saint and stay with him 24-hours a day, this doesn’t automatically guarantee anything. Everything is dependent on practise.

Thus these four important points have been incorporated in this verse:

Hari Guru bhaju – worship God and Guru with the same devotion;
Nit – your remembrance of God and Guru should be continuous;
Bhava niskham – your devotion should be selfless;
Ananya - your devotion should be exclusive
If you forget the philosophy of the scriptures, by simply remembering these two lines you could attain your spiritual aim.

New Years 2010-Another Year Has Passed

2010-01-02T12:50:00.003+11:00

(Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Shyama Shyam Dham, Bhubhaneshwar, India. This lecture was given 2 or 3 years ago, but the topic is as relevant now as it was then.)

Today is the last day of this year. Tomorrow, the world will joyfully celebrate the new year. But this is wrong. Because this is actually not a joyful situation. Rather it is an occasion for remorse. Imagine you saved 100,000 rupees. If you spent 50,000 of this, you don’t celebrate. Instead you think, “Oh, now only 50,000 are left!” Eventually only 2,000 are left. Now only 1,000 are left. Similarly, this human body was given to us by God to attain our ultimate aim. How much closer have we come to that aim? How much devotion or upasana did we do? Upasana (devotion) means to go ‘pas‘, close. The meaning of upasana is to go close to God. How much closer to God have we gone?

For example, someone is feeling cold. Before him there is fire. The closer he goes to the fire, the more his feeling of cold will lessen. If we went closer to God, how much closer did we go? How much farther are we from the world? We should think about this, be we don’t. Instead we celebrate happily. Now 20 years have passed, now 50 years have passed, now 75 years have passed. Elders say with pride to their children, “Son, what do I have left? My time has already passed. Be concerned about your own situation!” What has passed? Is this human body some kind of burden that it just ‘passes on’?

If someone is in jail for ten years, after one year passes he thinks, “Now only nine years are left.” Soon there is only one year left, then only one day – so if he celebrates the passing of time, this is fine. What are you celebrating? Are you going to be liberated after you die? Have you attained release from this jail of the 8.4 million species of life? You still haven’t done this as yet, nor have you even thought about it. If you were to think about this deeply and truly realise this even one second before your death and your mind became attached to God, your aim could be accomplished. The Bhagavad Gita (8/6) says that your thoughts at the time of death, whatever they may be, determine what you will attain in your next birth.

So our aim is not to celebrate happily but to think deeply about this and do an appraisal of our own personal situation. After elections have taken place in local politics, the candidates review their campaign. “Why did I win?” “Why did this problem arise?” “What lack should be remedied?” So we should also do a review of our devotional progress at least once in a year. If possible, it would be even better to do this daily. For two or three minutes we should reflect, “Today what did I do? Did I do good? Did I do bad? How much did I attach my mind in the world? How much did I attach my mind to God?” If you were to do this, then you would commit fewer mistakes the next day. If you did this once a month, you would make fewer mistakes the next month. But even when we are dying we don’t do this. Instead we have no fear. A 90-year-old says, “I’m not going to die soon.” How long are you going to live? 100 years? Even if you did live this long, what will happen after that?

So when you do this review, you will discover that you were very careless. However, there is still a chance. But as you never think about the time of death, when will you start thinking about your devotional life? You think a lot about making your life in the world, “When will my son, daughter and grandchildren be established? Of course, then after this everyone has to become millionaires…” You think a lot about these things. Now think about doing something for your soul. You are the soul, not the body. You have to leave the body – the body will be forcibly taken from you.

Therefore, every year review your devotional progress, realise your mistakes, and make preparations for the next year, and feel that, “This year, I should attain my goal.” You don’t know if you will receive the whole year or just 6 months or even one month. You may or may not live to see the next day. Once there was an engineer from Agra who did a lot of sadhana in Mangarh. One night he went to sleep in his home in Agra and never woke up. His own family had no idea what happened. He had a heart attack while he was sleeping.

This is death. When your time comes, death is not going to give you even one extra second. No matter who it is, everyone must go. When even God realised Saints must leave this world, what could be said about the souls bound by Maya? Some go laughing, some go crying. Even God Himself comes and goes. When Lord Ram had reached 11,000 years of age, Yamaraj, the god of death, appeared to Him and said, “My Lord, I have come only to remind you that your time is up. It’s possible that due to the love of your your devotees you may have forgotten. If you wish to stay longer, that is fine.”

So tomorrow is the start of the new year. Celebrate happily when you have accomplished detaching your mind from the world and attaching it to God. It won’t become attached to God on its own. You must practice attaching it to God. You have practiced attaching your mind to the world in uncountable previous births. The one who practices attaching his mind to God feels attached to God. Ved Vyas has said very beautifully in the Bhagwatam (10/14/27) If you keep on thinking there is happiness in worldly objects, you will become attached to them. If you repeatedly think there is happiness in God, you will become attached to God. It’s just a question of thinking. The more thinking you do, the more attached you will feel. We have to increase this kind of positive devotional thinking.

(Courtest of bhaktiblss - http://bhaktibliss.com/)

The Mind is the Performer of Action-Part 4

2009-11-24T08:55:00.002+11:00

(Part 4 – Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 17, 2009, in Bhatinda, India)

It matters not what name and form of God you use. Call out to Him with whatever name you prefer, whether that is in Hindi, Urdu, English, Punjabi or any other language. But this should be done with love. It should be done with as much feeling as a drowning man calls out to his beloved or a dying father says, “Bring my daughter here so I may see her for the last time!”

Many people offer food to God before eating. Some sprinkle water over their food, some don’t. Their eyes are closed. Some fold their hands. This becomes an even bigger ritual when done in temples. But has there ever been a temple priest, holy man or anyone else, who opened his eyes and looked at the food after it was offered to God and asked, “What did God eat? Oh, He didn’t eat anything?” Has anyone ever felt bad as a result and cried because nothing was eaten? “He didn’t eat a single thing! How great a sinner I am!”

If anyone in your family were not to eat your food, you would feel bad. You would say,”Alright, he left without eating so I’m not eating either.” But if God doesn’t eat anything you offer Him, you don’t give it a second thought. Why is this? Because it is our faith that God won’t eat what is offered to Him. Then why do we put on this act of offering Him food? “My father did it, and they also do it in the temple, so I do it, too.”

So there is only reason for this – we never understood that we have to practice devotion with the mind. We practice devotion with the senses instead. We waste so much time doing this. You do devotion for two or four hours. Ask yourself how many tears you shed during that time to attain God. We don’t shed tears at this time, but we always do for the world.

You ask someone, “Why are you crying?” “My daughter left to go to her mother-in-laws place.” “Yes, but you yourself looked for the husband and gave her away in marriage and you’re crying about this? You yourself made her leave the house!” “Yes, that’s true, but I don’t like it.” This is due to your mental attachment. It is this kind of attachment that you must have for God.

Kamihin nari piyari jimi lobhihin priya jimi dama.
“Your love for God should as intense as the desire of a lustful man for a woman or a greedy man for money.”

You should have such love for God that you can’t live without Him. Then He will listen to you. In this love, we do not ask him for the world. The more worldly wealth, prosperity, status, and so on that you receive, the less close you feel to God. He remains far away. Due to pride, it is impossible for those who have wealth, physical beauty and strength or great fame to bow their heads before God. It is said in the Bible that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God.

So do not ask God for the world. Whatever was due to come to you as a result of your previous life’s actions will come to you without your asking. It is seen in the world that an illiterate villager becomes a billionaire and a businessman who works his whole life dies bankrupt. If you gave charity in your previous birth, you will receive wealth in this birth. If you didn’t do this, no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to collect money. You will feel tremendous tension. As soon as money comes, it will go. Everyone must undergo the consequences of their actions.

This is why it won’t work to call the temple priest to say a special prayer so your sick child won’t die. Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna and the nephew of Shri Krishna. Ved Vyas ji himself conducted his marriage ceremony. He had the association of these three supreme powers, but he was killed on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and his wife Uttara became a widow. The one whose time has come must leave this world. Even great Saints must leave this world.

Jagadguru Shankaracharya left at the age of thirty-two. If someone were to say to him,”You must have defeated death by now. Stay and benefit this world by your presence.” No, he will stay for the number days that were ordained for him to be on this earth by the spiritual government. Not even a God realised Saint opposes these orders. Then how could an ordinary sinful soul expect that by calling a priest to utter a few prayers that his child won’t die? But this is what we do. When we encounter difficulties we pray, “Oh, God, help me!” When the difficulties are over, we forget about God.

So the mind alone is the cause of the problems we see in the world. If the mind is purified, then everyone will become virtuous. There would even be no need for governments. If devotion were practiced correctly, then society would reach that stage that you have read about in the age of Satyuga where people never put a lock on their doors. But if we don’t bring God into the mind, if instead our minds are full of the world and worldly thoughts, if we have made the decision that happiness is in the world, then the result will be that corruption we see will be multiplied thousands of times. Therefore, attach your mind to God.

© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009
Reproduced with courtesy from www.bhaktibliss.wordpress.com

The Mind is the Performer of Action-Part 3

2009-11-24T08:46:00.004+11:00

(Part 3 – Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 17, 2009, in Bhatinda, India)

So the conclusion is that it is the mind alone that has to be purified. Whether you practice devotion to the world or to God, wherever the mind is attached is where you will have raga or love. Vairagya or without raga means to detach the mind from the world. But what do we think detachment means? “Look! That renunciate is living in the jungle! He doesn’t wear any clothing and he only eats fruits! He never speaks to anyone!” But we don’t see that he is still thinking of the world. Instead we fall at his feet thinking he is as great as God’s own father.

This is due to our ignorance. Renunciation means to have no mental attachment in the world. There were uncountable Saints in the age of Sat Yuga, some who ruled over this entire earth like Prahlad, Dhruva and Ambarish. There were Saints like Vasishtha and Bharadwaj, and Lord Ram, Bharat, Lakshman, and Shatrughan – they were all living in family life. The Gopis, whose foot dust was desired even by Brahma and Shankar, were all in family life. But if we had seen them, we would have thought, “Poor things, they are attached to the world.” And when we see a so-called holy man in the jungle sitting under a tree, we think, “This is a God realised Saint.”

We don’t recognize who has love for the world and who has love for God. Everything depends on the mind. For the amount of time your mind remains lovingly attached to God, your devotion is correct. Everything apart from this is just acting, and there is no devotional benefit from this. If someone in the world discovers that you are merely acting with them, they will consider you an enemy. The fact is we act with others all the time.

If a dangerous criminal came to your home, you would say to your wife, “Quick! Serve him tea and make sure he has some snacks.” If you don’t pretend to be hospitable he could turn against you. You do this out of fear. A person may say to his business partner about a rich businessman, doctor or lawyer, “Show him a lot of respect and spend a hundred rupees on him, and then later we’ll make two thousand rupees off of him!” We act like this all the time.

All souls are suffering. Even in one’s own home there is so much tension, fighting, and arguing between family members. But if you ask someone, “Hello, Mr. Srivastava, how are you?” He will say, “I’m alright!” There is not a single right thing happening in his life. It is all wrong, yet he lies and says the opposite, “I’m fine!” Apart from the sufferings we undergo from our family, we also have physical suffering, and even more frightening than this is our mental suffering – lust, anger, greed, jealousy and so on. The emotional pain caused by family emergencies – a mother or wife becomes sick, a son has an accident – is in addition to these other sufferings. Yet we tell others, “I’m all right.” This means we keep on acting with others. The problem is we also want to do this same kind of acting with God.

We get what we want in the world by acting and fooling others. But God is residing in our heart, noting all our actions. When you had a thought, He noted it. He noted what you thought. And you claim to want God’s grace! “You are extremely compassionate! Oh, God, grace me!” Should He grace you when you are deceiving Him? The only way He will listen to You and give you His grace is if you sincerely call out to Him and shed tears. This won’t happen through cleverness and cunning. Learning and scholarliness won’t work here, and neither will the wealth of being a billionaire. You have to shed tears and beg God for His love. Please pay attention to this particular point.

In the devotion that is commonly seen nowadays, 99% of the people go to the mountains on pilgrimage to visit famous temples located there. Why did you go to such extremes to visit Vaishno Devi or Tirupati when there is a temple right next door to your house? “Oh, the God over there performs a lot of miracles!” This means the God over here isn’t worth two cents. Yet the scriptures say,

Prabhu vyapak sarvatra samana.
“God is equally omnipresent everywhere .”

Just as ghee (clarified butter) is subtly present in milk and fire is subtly present in wood, so God is subtly present everywhere in the world. Whether you go to one temple or another or even to God’s actual divine abode, there is no difference. But our intellect doesn’t understand this. We think, “In Vaishno Devi, God is 100%, and in the temple next door to my house, He is only 10%.”

In fact, the very same God who resides in His own divine abode is also seated in your heart. God is only one, whether one is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or anything else. There is only one God. Give Him any name you wish; He has uncountable names according to our scriptures. You could even leave the names that have been written in our scriptures for God and make your own name for Him. The Ved says that even the individual letters of the alphabet are God’s names.

Shri Krishna’s mother, Yashoda, never called her son “Shri Krishna”. Instead she said, “Oh! Kanua! Come here!” Where is the word ‘Kanua’ written in the scriptures? The Gopis used to make Shri Krishna dance in exchange for chhach, what is left of milk when the butter is taken out. He happily danced for them, in spite of how many bad names they called Him. Krishna is walking behind a Gopi. She would angrily say, “Where are you going? Lafanga! Shameless womaniser!” Even in the scriptures He was referred to as chaur jar shikhamani, the foremost leader of thieves and adulterers. Hearing these names, Shri Krishna would become overwhelmed with love.

It matters not what name or form of God you adopt. Call out to Him with whatever name you prefer, whether that is in Hindi, Urdu, English, Punjabi or any other language. But however you remember Him, do it with love.

Continued in Part 4

© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009
Reproduced with courtesy from www.bhaktibliss.wordpress.com

The Mind is the Performer of Action-Part 2

2009-11-24T08:37:00.004+11:00

(Part 2 – Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 17, 2009, in Bhatinda, India)

Action refers to your mental motivation, your intention. Because of this, it is the mind that is the cause of your liberation from Maya or your bondage in Maya.

Those who do perform religious rituals and scriptural recitations don’t do this while engaging the mind. They read the Gita, Bhagawat or Ramayan, or any other scripture with their tongue. They are merely reciting the words. Some people use prayer beads, but this is just the physical activity of the hands.

Some take a ritual bath in the Ganges River. During the time they are bathing, where is their mind? “Oh, look, there’s a boat. Hey, that person is also here bathing. Oh no, my purse might get stolen!” But you are bathing in the Ganges! Do you know who Ganga Ji is? You reply, “This water.” This is the extent of your knowledge. Before bathing, ask your Guru about Ganga Ji’s personality. Invoke Ganga ji with your mind, and then take a holy dip in the river.

If a glass bottle was filled with urine or some other impure substance and thrown in the Ganges for twenty-four hours, after it was taken out and opened, would you drink it like the river water you ceremoniously drink when you are bathing? You would say “How could I do that! It’s dirty!” Similarly, you have immersed your body in the Ganga, but not your mind. The impurity you have to clean is in your mind, because ideas originate from the mind, not from the senses. Whatever physical actions your perform, they first begin with a thought. The mind alone is the performer of action.

So what is done in the name of devotion is all physical. A person goes on pilgrimage. He sits a plane and quickly arrives at Badrinarayan, then he immediately departs for Rameshwaram – in ten short days he covers the four principal pilgrimage places and thinks, “Now I’ll keep on doing mischief because this pilgrimage guarantees I’ll go to God’s abode.”

God does not make a note of these physical activities. If you multiplied zero by 100,000, the result will be zero. “But I multiplied it by 100,000 – such a big number!” Multiply it by a million. The result will be the same, because of the multiplier. Similarly, the consequence of mere physical activity amounts to zero – how was your mind involved in that?

Once in Mathura, there was a group of ten or twelve sadhus who regularly consumed hemp as part of their practice. On Shivaratri, they all became intoxicated by drinking bhang. One of them said, “Come on – let’s go bathe in the Ganga at Prayag.” They all enthusiastically agreed. Someone said, “How will we get there?” Someone else said, “Hey, the boats are right here. We’ll go by boat from Mathura because the same Ganga flows through Prayag. We don’t even have to ask anyone for directions!” They all sat in a boat. They were all big and strong so the whole night they were rowing. By morning their intoxication had worn off. They started to say to each other, “What happened? The bathing ghats here in Prayag look just like the ones in Mathura!” Some people were bathing nearby. The sadhus asked them, “Brother, is this bathing ghat in Prayag?” That man replied, “Oh come on, this isn’t Prayag. This is Mathura!” They all exclaimed, “Mathura? How could that be!? We rowed the whole night!” The man said, “Can’t you see? Your boat is still tied up over there!”

Like this the mind is attached in the world to our mother, father, children, husband, wife and grandchildren. But we verbally recite a prayer, “My Lord, You alone are my mother and father.” Are you trying to fool God? He knows everything because He is seated in your heart. Even the simplest person in India knows this philosophy.

When someone dies, everyone in the funeral procession recites, Ram naam satya hai (God’s name is the only truth). But if the corpse that was being carried to the cremation ground were to suddenly sit up, what would the father say? “Everyone be quiet! Stop saying this!” But why are you making everyone stop repeating this? “My son is alive – he just sat up.” But you should be even more excited to repeat this because this was due to the grace of Ram’s name! “No way, my son might die again! This should not be chanted all the time. We only say this after someone dies, and then, too, we do it reluctantly.” This is the quality of knowledge that we about God.

So the corruption that we see happening in the world is because there is no spiritual practice being done nowadays that matches the mind’s impurity. Absolutely no one is meditating correctly on God.

Before a ritual or scriptural reading takes place in a Hindu family’s home, first a mantra is recited. The priest says, “Alright, take some water in your hand.” You take it. “Sprinkle it overhead.” You do it. The priest recites a verse from the Padma Purana, “Whether you are pure or impure, whether you have just bathed in the Ganga or you haven’t bathed for a thousand days, no matter what state or condition, you are in, if you lovingly remember Shri Krishna, you are purified both internally and externally.”

But it’s highly likely that the priest himself doesn’t understand the meaning of this verse, or even if he does know it, he may feel it would be wasting time to explain it to the person who requested and is paying for the ritual, unnecessarily delaying when the priest will get his fee. And the person who has requested the ritual doesn’t know the meaning of verse and who has to meditate on God (the mind).

Continued in Part 3

© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009
Reproduced with courtesy from www.bhaktibliss.wordpress.com

The Mind is the Performer of Action-Part 1

2009-11-23T07:45:00.002+11:00

(Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 17, 2009, in Bhatinda, India)

In India and in the world, a lot of religious activity and fervor are seen nowadays. There are so many temples, mosques, gurudwaras, and every other kind of place of worship, and although people go to these every day, and practice devotion according to their religion, still we find that sinful tendencies are increasing everywhere.

So much has changed in the last 100 years – what will happen in the future? So much spiritual practice wasn’t seen in the past as is seen nowadays. When so many things are being done in the name of religion, why are there so many wrong things happening in the world?

This question is asked by those who don’t believe in any religion and their question is correct. Why do people follow a religion when so many contrary results are seen everywhere? You may say that you are doing this to receive a benefit after your death. But you will receive after death only what you received when you were still alive. Nothing is added or subtracted from this.

For example, whatever a student writes in an exam book during a test is what he will be graded on. No test scorer will pull a good grade out of his pocket for a student just like that. If in the present our ideas and character are not good, then what miracle will occur after our death? God will only give us the consequence that corresponds to our present actions.

The answer to this question is straightforward. The ones who are our religious guides or spiritual teachers nowadays are wrong. What today’s gurus have taught us about dharma and action is wrong. What is the very first teaching of dharma? Pay special attention to this point. There is something wrong in this very first teaching. What is it? We have been wrongly taught who is the performer of action.

Our gurus made a mistake by not telling us at the very beginning who is the performer of action. There are only two kinds of devotion – devotion to God or devotion to the world. Apart from the individual souls, there are only two entities, God and Maya (the world). There is no third entity whose devotion we could do. The one who practices devotion to God is called a believer (dharmatma). The one who worships the world is called an atheist (nastik).

So the practioner of dharma and the performer of action is the mind. Remember this always. This is where we are making a mistake. Action doesn’t refer to your senses. God does not regard the activity of our senses as ‘action’.

In the battle of the Mahabharat, Arjuna killed millions, but these actions were not noted by Lord Krishna. Hanuman Ji killed millions in Lanka, but none of these action were noted by Lord Ram. Even our worldly government won’t charge a person with a crime if he is not at fault for what happened. If a driver accidentally hit and killed a person who unexpectedly threw himself in front of his car, the court wouldn’t give the driver a fine of even ten rupees. It wasn’t the driver’s fault. He wasn’t judged according to his physical actions, rather on his mental intention. It was just an accident.

A riot is happening in a city. The magistrate orders the police to open fire. They open fire and one hundred people die. The court asks, “Who fired the bullets?” The police answer, “We did.” The court says, “You will get the death sentence.” The police respond, “No, we won’t. Go to the magistrate and ask him why he gave us this order.” The court goes to the magistrate and asks him. He says, “Your honor, if I had not given this order, then instead of one hundred dying, thousands would have died.” He is not convicted of any crime.

You all play jokes on each other on April Fools Day. If someone decided to take you to court for some foolishness you did, if you say, “But your honor, it was April Fools Day,” the judge will say, “Oh, I see. Case dismissed!” No charge would be filed because there was no mental motivation to commit a crime.

Action refers to your mental motivation, your intention. Because of this, it is the mind that is the cause of your liberation from Maya or your bondage in Maya.

(Continued in Part 2)

© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009
Reproduced with courtesy from www.bhaktibliss.wordpress.com

Who is Truly Knowledgeable?

2009-11-16T20:45:00.003+11:00

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 14, 2009, in Karnal, India)

There are two types of human beings – those who have understanding and those who don’t. Those who understand are few. Those who don’t understand are in the majority. The ones who can distinguish between those who understand and who don’t are also very few in number. Everyone thinks they are knowledgeable. The first sign of not being knowledgeable is thinking that you knowledgeable.

If you say to someone that he is ignorant or a fool, he feels hurt. He might start arguing and possibly get into a fight with you. It was asked of Shri Krishna, “Who is ignorant?” He replied, “The one who identifies himself with his body.” Now you all can think about this when you are alone: Are you ignorant or knowledgeable? Do you think you are the body or something more?

One class of ignorant person considers himself to be the body; more ignorant than this is the person who believes he is a man or a woman; even more ignorant is the one who believes he is a brahman, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra, and even more ignorant is the one who thinks he is Punjabi, Gujarati, Madrasi, Bengali and so on. Now when you are alone, think about which class you are in.

After all, this was Shri Krishna’s answer, so He won’t make a mistake in His response. Someone considers himself to be a human being. Then what happens? A human body is related to other human bodies, to a mother, father, spouse, several children and all of our other relatives. Our mind is attached to all of them.

Someone is being attacked. You ask, “What’s happening?” “Sounds like someone is getting a beating.” “Who?” “Oh, it’s Ramesh.” “What?! That is my son!” What happened? A moment ago you were relaxed, and now you are anxious, “But it’s my son!” The person standing next to you is laughing at your condition. You are feeling distressed because you are the father and Ramesh is your son. When any of your family members experience pain, you suffer along with them, and this is all due to identifying yourself with the body.

If you were not to identify with the body, then you would not feel related to others. When you don’t feel this emotional attachment, then even if someone else is suffering, you internally remain at peace. Everyone must undergo physical suffering. You already undergo mental suffering like lust, anger, greed, jealous, animosity and so on, and on top of this you share the suffering of others due to your attachment.

In spite of this, when we say to each other, “How are you?” We say with a smile, “I’m alright!” We are experiencing so much suffering, but we respond with a smile and say we are alright. We are fooling the other person when we say this, because the fact of the matter is that everything is all wrong.

Why are you suffering? “I don’t have any money. I can’t find enough to eat.” And Mr. Millionaire, why are you unhappy? “Money has made me unhappy.” What? How could that be? You are a millionaire. “Yes, but I’m not a billionaire, like my neighbor.” You may have read that the Ambani brothers, the richest family in India, are fighting with each other. Over what? Fifty billion dollars. For this reason there is a case in the Supreme Court at the moment, and the expenses related to this case will amount to 10 billion dollars. And the suffering they experience from the animosity they feel towards each other is in addition to this.

Just think – you may desire to have a million, but just see the condition of those who are billionaires. If you were to get one million, you will desire two. If you were to get two, then you would ask for four. You can never be happy like this. This disease is just like a fire that someone pours ghee (clarified butter) on. Why are you doing that? “Oh, I want to extinguish the fire.” But you have applied something that will only make the fire grow stronger.

So the one who is ignorant is the one who considers himself to be the body. This is the sole cause of all suffering. Who is knowledgeable? The one who considers himself to be the soul. Apart from the soul, there are two other entities, Maya and God. The question is which of these two belongs to you? The one who understands and believes this is truly knowledgeable. Just knowing this is not enough. A person can come to know this, but he must also believe it.

So we want happiness, peace, pleasure – we don’t want unhappiness or suffering. So which of these two entities, Maya or God, has the happiness we desire? This has to be understood.

This world is not related to us. This is our practical experience. How do we know this? We receive happiness from the same object that causes another to suffer. If that object had been a true source of happiness, then everyone would experience happiness from it. A drunkard feels happy when he hears the word ‘wine’, but a priest feels insulted if you hears the same thing. If there were happiness in wine, then the priest should also experience the same joy as the drunkard. The word ‘wine’ would be like music to his ears, but it is not. Then from what could everyone experience happiness, and that, too, all the time and in the same way?

Someone from an extremely poor home couldn’t even afford a bicycle. Today he got one. He is extremely happy. Now he can ride to work and arrive early. But his neighbor just bought a motorcycle. Now he feels sad, “A bicycle is useless!” Now he got a motorcycle. But his neighbor purchased a car. “What is the point of having a motorcycle. I need a car!” This disease is so pervasive it even exists in the celestial abodes. Everyone experiences suffering by seeing someone who has more than himself. By seeing those who have less then us, we forget our suffering and feel happy. “He has a bicycle, but I have a motorcycle!” In life there are those ahead of us and behind us, but everyone is experiencing suffering.

That same object we experience happiness from will also cause us to experience sorrow. A son obeyed his father’s request. The father was happy and gave him a hug. The second time, the son didn’t pay any attention to his dad. He also ignored him a third time. Finally the father scolded and slapped the son. What happened? You were just hugging him! We feel attached and detached from the very same mother, father, and spouse 10 or 20 times a day, depending on whether or not they are fulfilling our self-interest.

If there were happiness in any of these relations, we should always experience it. But instead it always steadily decreases. This is true of everything that gives us happiness in the world. So we need to think deeply about the nature of our world. We have hugged our loved ones thousands of times, but there has always been a difference in the feeling of happiness from person to person, and times have come when we felt so adverse to them we didn’t even want to look in their direction, “It would be good if he died! My life has been ruined by getting such a spouse! How did I get such a terrible son!” and so on.

So there is no true happiness in this world, which means it must be in God, because there is no third entity. This understanding has to become firmly seated in our minds. Our situation is like a dog, who runs to a man who is showing him a piece of bread. As he comes close to the man, the man hits him with a big stick. The dog runs away crying in pain. When he is at a distance, he looks back angrily at the man. The man shows him a piece of bread and the dog thinks, “Never mind, he is giving me something to eat.” He runs towards the man wagging his tail, and again the man hits him with a stick. When we have problems with our relatives, we feel emotionally detached from them. Then after some time, we feel attached again.

So if someone thinks deeply about this, he will come to the realisation that there is no true happiness in this world. In other words, he will realise, “My kind of happiness is not here.” My means ‘what belongs to me’. Me means what is not mine, such as my body, my mind, my intellect. What is mine cannot be me. We don’t say, “I am the house.” We say, “This is my house.”

So you have a body; you are not the body. So the ‘you’ that came into this body is such a power that it enabled this lifeless from to become active. With that power, you began to see, hear, smell, taste and touch and think. When it left, then this body became lifeless, dead. So we are that soul.

What belongs to us, the individual souls, is God. What belongs to the body is this world. Because we are a part of God, our happiness lies in God. This world is for the maintenance of the body. If someone were to sit and meditate on God for 24-hours, then after some time if he feels hungry, he will forget about God. So the body requires the same substances it is made of to function. The body was created from material elements in the mother’s womb. And God created this world out of the same elements to support the body’s functioning, and that, too, was done with such variety that there are thousands of different kinds of foodstuffs – that is how great our divine Father is! He did all this for the body, not for you. He said, “I am the one for you.”

This needs to be continuously understand. Your refer to and believe your worldly father is your true father. You feel this continuously. But you should not feel that the father of your body is the father of your soul. The father of the atma is paramatma. Don’t feel that what gives happiness to the body also gives happiness to the soul. This is a deception. The world is for the maintenance of the body. The soul’s happiness is only found in God. Just this much has to be understood. The whole essence of all the scriptural teachings is just this.

Even if someone were to study all the scriptures, he would come back to this point: I am a soul, my happiness is my paramatma, Shri Krishna. This is my body, and for its maintenance God created the world. Both are necessary – God and the world. You have make this understanding firm in your mind through repeated thinking. In the past, you have done the reverse and thought that everyone and everything in the world was yours. You did some spiritual practice, realized the truth, and then forgot it, because you did not repeatedly review this understanding. The scriptures say to listen to spiritual philosophy from a true Saint, then review that understanding over and over again so it becomes practical and firm, and then you will attain your ultimate aim.