Saturday, May 25, 2019
Friday, May 24, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May 24.
Value Nama as Your Life
God has endowed man with the unique gift of speech; will it be proper to employ it for anything but the chanting of nama? How can we afford using the tongue for futile chatting about mundane matters, instead of employing it for nama-smarana whereby we can attain God? You buy books for the purpose of study; if you merely use them for a pillow, how can that impart knowledge? Therefore, I say, employ this precious gift of speech for nama-smarana. God has blessed us with sound health and robust legs; had we rather not be legless if we do not employ them for the attainment of God?
You have before you the example of Brahmananda. He devoted his entire life and energy to nama-smarana, to which he stuck heart and soul. You may not be able to emulate him, but the least you can do is to love nama no less than you love the body. In the present times of Kali yuga, every day means further digression from faith in God. Be vigilant lest you lose faith. If scepticism overtakes you, resort to nama-smarana with redoubled vigour. Trust in me in this regard, if not in worldly matters.
Do not exploit nama for a worldly motive. Nama-smarana should be done for its own sake, and you shall get genuine bliss from it. Take stock every day of how much time you devoted to nama; resolve to spend at least part of the day in practising nama and thereby your faith shall become firmer. True contentment will be fostered by repeating nama. Nama is self-existent and natural; persist in it despite doubts and distractions, for they will disappear in course of time. It is the master remedy to uproot doubts and distractions. It is like money deposited in a bank; you can depend on it in times of need. Approach the Lord in all humility and complete surrender, and earnestly implore Him to grant you love for His name; this will definitely beget that love in you, and you will see Him in the true sense.
Desire destroys, or steals, one's joy. It deprives one of the contentment which is the objective of life. Nama-smarana directs desire to the proper path, so desire will gradually die out, leaving pure bliss with us.
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Thursday, May 23, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan- May.23.
Forget Yourself for God
Do you not forget yourself at least once in a day? You do, but it is in mundane matters. We sometimes hear highly welcome news, sometimes very disconcerting news; both so disturb us that for a time we are beside ourselves with jubilation or misery, and do not know what we are doing. In other words, we forget ourselves in emotion; this is so also when we are in a towering rage or passion. It is admittedly undesirable to forget oneself in worldly subjects, but nothing is better than forgetting oneself for God.
When singing bhajan we should get so lost in it that we become unaware of the body. Is it so today? If a co-singer commits a fault in rhythm, we instantly fly into a temper; that is not true bhajan. It should be performed in the feeling that there is none else but God and me; then alone will it be true bhajan, and we may then lose awareness of the body. In worldly life, never forget who you are in reality; that is, never be subservient to sensuous subjects. If we go through life with an awareness of our true self, it will never prove harmful.
In worldly affairs you may have passion, anger, greed, and such other emotions, but they must always be under your control; you must not be a prey to them; then body consciousness will gradually die out. This can be achieved only by complete surrender to God, which again, is brought about by nama-smarana. There are some who find no advancement even after being in sadhana for a score of years and more, and therefore give it up as unfruitful, ineffectual. This fruitlessness is evidently their own fault, not of the guru.
If you want to enter sannyas-ashrama, evidently it cannot be done unless you give up living with your wife. Similarly, you cannot be said to have really met the guru unless you go to him divested of worldly desires. So first purify your heart by practising the sadhana prescribed by him, and then you can meet him in the true sense. What you should ask of him is genuine contentedness. If you get that, there remains nothing more to ask for, and thereafter you cheerfully accept whatever situation he chooses to keep you in. Then you cease to care for the body and what happens to it.
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