Reminiscences

A person wearied by annoyances of domestic life asked ShriMaharaj, 'Maharaj, if one must suffer the fruition of one's destiny, what use is worship of God? There is no gain from practising worship.' In reply ShriMaharaj said, "Here, there is some confusion of understanding. Just as experiences of a pleasant nature come to pass in a person's life, painful experiences also fall to his lot. One's complaint is only about the pain. He who takes birth as a human being cannot escape the painful experiences that fall to his lot. This can be clearly observed from the lives of in­carnations like Rama and Krishna. One cannot bypass an experience that has fallen to one's lot, one has to finish it by bearing it. In that case, what does one practise wor­ship for ? While practising worship, in his devotion for God, a devotee loses consciousness of himself and his body. The devotee has no consciousness of whether his body is experiencing pleasure or pain.'

Reminiscences

A gentleman of advanced age had become bedridden from paralysis. He used to feel bad that he had become entirely dependent on others. When ShriMaharaj went to meet him, he said, 'Maharaj, long life is really a curse.' Upon this ShriMaharaj said, "In a way, being born is it­self a curse; but it is also a boon. If one spends life forget­ful of God, being born becomes a curse. If one spends life in remembrance of God, being born becomes a boon. In remembrance of God one forgets sorrow. For that remem­brance to endure there is no means like nama. So if you practise remaining absorbed in nama, the physical suf­fering will surely diminish, and the illness too will lessen.' He listened to ShriMaharaj's advice and his illness less­ened a great deal. Later he died of a heart - attack.

Reminiscences

An educated lady had come to meet ShriMaharaj, who was then giving a discourse. In conformity with the sub­ject matter he said that one should practise worship of God in a concrete form. After the discourse wound up, the lady said to ShriMaharaj, 'The practice of worship of a concrete God is a misconception originating in ignorance. The abstract form being, the ultimate truth how can you advocate otherwise ?' Instead of answering the lady's ques­tion, ShriMaharaj enquired after her family. In the course of converations   the lady sadly said, 'My daughter has grown to marriageable age. But as she is always unwell, I am worried about her. ShriMaharaj promptly said, ;   'Madam, just tell me whether this worry is concrete.' The  lady immediately understood. Realizing that her under­standing of the concrete and the abstract was merely un­derstanding of the literal senses of these words, and real­izing that she was very much a part of the concrete world, she became silent. 

Reminiscences

The husband of a middle - aged lady died suddenly. She began neglecting herself and her children from grief. When she met ShriMaharaj, he said to her, "Madam, I have full understanding of your grief. With all that, I say, you should act with due discrimination. Discrimination is a great fac­ulty accorded to man. It is present in everyone. If man acts making due use of it, he will belong to God. Grief is bound to be present in domestic life, and, without discrimi­nation, its severity will not be reduced. To keep the fac­ulty of discrimination active, one should either make God one's witness, or chant his nama uninterruptedly. Be ab­sorbed in nama, and your sorrow will be lightened."

Reminiscences

A student of saints' works asked ShriMaharaj, 'On one hand saints say that fruition of one's lot is inescapable, and on the other they say that there is nothing that is unattainable by effort. Which of these is true ?' ShriMaharaj promptly said, "So long as one has ego, that is, so long as one feels that one is the doer, efficacy of effort appears real; and once ego vanishes, that is, when one begins to feel that Rama is the doer, effectiveness of destiny appears real. That endeavour has a place in life, there is no doubt. But only the effort which takes place under the guidance of saints, proves capable of yielding fruit. Besides, the starting point of effort is the intent. If the intent is one of attaining God only then destiny does not come in the way of that effort. No importance is to be attached to the pains and pleasures that the body suffers by fruition of one's accumulated lot, in the course of endeavours to attain God."

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Reminiscences

There is no doubt that morality and religiousness are regressing in Society. How should one who practises chant­ing of nama act during such times ? In course of telling about this, ShriMaharaj said, "What times are trying times? The times when it becomes difficult for a moral person to act morally should be considered trying times. Such times existed at the time of Ravana. Such times ex­isted at the time of Samartha. This is undeniable, but even then there existed Vibhishana in Ravana's kingdom.

Maruti went to Lanka to look for Sita. In almost every house he noticed a riot of sensuality. But while he was moving around, he suddenly heard the nama of Rama being chanted. That was Vibhishana's house. When he happened to meet Vibhishana, the latter  told him that he continued living under those circumstances sustained by nama of Rama. The same maxim applies to us. If we adhere to chanting of nama the bad external situation will not hurt us."

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Reminiscences

Once ShriMaharaj asked a teacher in an engineering college, 'Is it correct that your students are taught car­pentry, smithy, etc. ?' The teacher said, "Yes, we call it 'workshop practice'." Thereupon ShriMaharaj asked, "What price will the articles prepared by the students fetch if they are offered for sale in the market ?" The teacher said, "No one will purchase them even as scrap." ShriMaharaj asked again, "How much amount is spent on these articles?" The teacher replied, "A lot of expense is incurred. There is a lot of capital expense such as build­ings, machinery, etc.; besides, expenses are also incurred on special teaching staff, lighting, running the machines.

And including the cost of wood and steel actually used, the total expense incurred is huge." On hearing this, ShriMaharaj said, "Then is it not uneconomic to incur this unreasonable expense only to create utterly worth-less things ?" Upon this the teacher said, 'Maharaj, if this is looked upon as a business, it is all a dead loss. But it is necessary to incur this huge expense in order that the students, who are to be engineers in future, may some­what understand from experience what precautions to ex­ercise, what problems arise, what operations and skills are required.' ShriMaharaj said, "Likewise, in attainment of God, there is a definite necessity of worldly life, so that restraining of passions, maintaining equanimity, perform­ing duty eschewing attachment, putting up with honours and insults, praise and censure, may be practised. But if one lives worldly life with the idea of making a profit, that is, in the hope that happiness will result from worldly life, it will prove to be utterly wrong and loss - making,

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