Reminiscences

The Company of a Person is pleasing in proportion to his being bereft of Desires

A bonny baby crawled up to ShriMaharaj. Looking at it with loving admiration, he said, "There are desires in ungerminated form present in this baby, but it is not charged with desires at this moment. It does not yet have a consciousness of its own self, and therefore it has no volition or misgivings. Because of their absence, the response of its mind is wholesome; so everyone loves it, wants to pick it up. Thus, in spite of the presence of desires in a nascent form in it, one over and again desires a baby's company. If this is so, then why should it appear beyond the bounds of possibility if one were to say that the company of a person who, by the grace of God, has his desires completely eliminated, is joyful?"

Reminiscences

The Tumult of Thoughts and Fancies arising during Namasmarana is a sign of a 'Quit notice having reached the Six enemies of the Soul'
There was a well - to - do woman who practised chanting of Nama. She received a good monthly income from the rents for her property. She once asked ShriMaharaj, "When we perform a task relating to worldly affairs, our minds think about other things associated with that task. But when we set about chanting Nama,

the mind does not think about the things associated with Nama. A tumult of other thoughts unrelated with Nama arises in the mind. Chanting of Nama does not get genuine attention; it becomes merely a mechanical act. Consequently, Nama is not chanted with adequate zest, and one soon gets tired of it. Constant compulsion is generally needed to keep the mind occupied with Nama. What can be done in this situation ?" Upon this ShriMaharaj first praised her for her sincerity, and added, "He who practises Namasmarana is definitely fortunate. Not any Tom, Dick, and Harry will undertake the practice of Namasmarana. It is only he whose stock of past deeds is good and who has been accepted by the guru, whether in this birth or an earlier one, will under­take the practice of'Namasmarana. When one sets about chanting Nama, the six enemies of the soul * that tenant the body may be deemed to have received a 'quit' notice. These tenants realize that if this body sets about chanting Nama, they will have to vacate the premises sooner or later. You have been seeing how difficult it is in practice to evict a tenant who has a proper receipt for the rent. Even if the owner wants the premises for himself, on filing a suit, most often the verdict is in favour of the tenant. If this is one's experience in practice, then how is it possible that these six tenants, who hold rent -receipts given by us over several births, will meekly va­cate the premises ? When the notice reaches them, all the six tenants rise in mutiny to dissuade one from the chant­ing of Nama, so that they do not have to vacate the pre­mises. When one is performing the tasks relating to worldly affairs, they have no such fear, so they are quiet.

When all the six tenants get disturbed, naturally they raise a storm of protest. The remedy is that when a tu­mult of thoughts arises, one should treat it as a sign that all the six tenants have received the 'quit' notice, and are frightened at heart. With this realization our mind will gather courage. One should vigorously persist in chant­ing Nama. Later, in course of chanting Nama, the storm of thoughts naturally subsides, and the passions have to vacate the premises one day or another. As soon as they vacate the 'premises', God, Who is present just next to one'sSelf, becomes apparent. There is the realization of God within oneself, and one's task has been accomplished."

* ( Shadripoo y^Ky} : the six enemies of the soul, viz., lust, anger, covetousness, love or affection, pride, envy.

Reminiscences

One should ask Rama only for contentedness; That includes Everything.

A woman practising as a Sadhaka once came to see ShriMaharaj. ShriMaharaj said to her, "We make all this fuss so that God may be propitiated. Suppose He is pleased, and he stipulates that you ask of Him in only two words whatever you want, what will be your plea?" She said, "My plea will be, 'Bestow love for Your Nama'." ShriMaharaj said, "But these are five words; the stipulation is that the plea should be in only two words." The woman was nonplussed. ShriMaharaj smiled and said, "The plea should only say, 'Bestow contentedness'. One does not obtain contentedness without having obtained love for Nama, awareness of God, total surren­der, the experience of God. Therefore, when contented-ness is asked for, He can bestow it only after bestowing all these things."

Reminiscences

There is Nothing  of greater importance than meeting the Sadguru

ShriMaharaj once said to Bapusaheb Sathaye, "Bapusaheb, tell me what the main events in your life are." Bapusaheb narrated to ShriMaharaj all outstand­ing events up to his old age. After his narration ended, ShriMaharaj said to him, "In all these little and big events, is there no place for the fact that you happened to meet me?" It was then that Bapusaheb realized his mistake.

Reminiscences

One should attribute all doer-ship to Rama

The wife of a newly - married, devout young man once fell ill with typhoid. When he met ShriMaharaj and re­ported the matter, ShriMaharaj said, "Rama will cure her. You need not worry." Upon this he said, "Say ' I will cure her,; it is only then that I will be satisfied." On hear­ing this, ShriMaharaj said, "You are asking me to utter words with which I have not defiled my tongue in my entire life. Have no doubt that Rama will cure her."

reminiscences

Consider that which is ultimately beneficial as truly conductive to happiness

A young man who was considering marriage to some girl asked Shri Maharaj, "Will my family life be a happy one if I marry this girl?" ShriMaharaj replied, "All my life I have been saying that family life is basically never conducive to happiness. How then can I say that your family life will be a happy one? But it is for sure that if you were to marry this girl, your family life will be of help in attainment of God.

reminiscences

The Joy of Feeding someone to His fill and seeing him contented is Indescribable.

While ShriMaharaj was once travelling in Karnataka, along with him was a doctor from Bombay. One day, in one of the towns, they had an occasion to partake of snacks at ten or twelve different houses. On being urged to eat more at yet another house, the doctor lost his patience, and he said, "Do you mean to overfeed us and burst our tummies? Enough of this urging to eat more!" When ShriMaharaj heard of this incident, he said, "Doctor, if these people invited us, it was not from a practical stand­point that we are in want of food, or to show off that they have more than enough. They invited us only out of love. It was with the intention that they may experience the joy resulting from what we eat or what we accept, that they urged us to eat more. To be able to experience the joy of giving away of food, that is, for one to feel joy when someone else has eaten, is nothing but grace of God. You haven't enjoyed, in all your life, an occasion to give away food. It is because you do not know what joy it brings that you lost your temper for a bit of urging to eat more."