Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May 28

Treat Your Family Life as Belonging to God
What is vairagya but discontinuance of desire to have this or not to have that? If a calamity comes, instead of wishing it away, we should remember God and pray, "Lord, do not let me ever desire to ask for anything." While you should not deliberately cause suffering to your body, if suffering does come in natural course, accept it calmly, ungrudgingly, cheerfully.
If one feels or knows that prapancha is unreal, is it not inconsistent that one should wish or expect it to be comfortable, or to relish it? Let it be as it may; let us do it only as a duty, as an actor's part in a drama. Do not arrogate to yourself credit as doer, whether in prapancha or in sadhana; for, while the former is the fruition of prarabdha, the latter is really the prompting of the sadguru. Worrying about either is therefore futile, and it is best to accept cheerfully whatever happens. The moment you give yourself up to the sadguru, your past actions and sins become his concern, and he takes charge of your future as well. So cease brooding over past sins, and give up all anxiety about the future; live in the present in joy and contentment.
Spiritual life is nothing but leading worldly life as a proxy-holder for God, the proper owner. To maintain constant remembrance of Him, to ascribe all ownership and doership to Him, to do everything only on His behalf, is true dedication. To say only at the end of an action or episode "I dedicate this to Thee" – does this not imply that I had been unmindful of Him the rest of the time?
So we should pray to God thus: "O Lord, call me Thine. I lay down my mind and heart at Thy feet. Let me never feel the desire to ask anything of Thee." Asking for anything but His name is like begging the King for a broom. If you pray to God in right earnest, He will surely guide you. As we walk in the dark at night, a lightening flash lasting only a fraction of a second may show us the entire way ahead; similarly, if we pray earnestly to God, He does not withhold His guidance. Assure Him that you will like whatever He bestows on you, and keep His constant remembrance. Can there be any other way to meet Him?


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-May-28

Sri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada - May 28

Sri Maharaja's Pravachan in English-May.27

Prideless, Selfless Good Turns are Service to God

It is essential for everyone to have an obliging nature, but discretion must be used in deciding who should help and when.
The primary need of every field, for instance, is enough water for itself. Only if it has any to spare should it think of passing it on to another field that is in need. Similarly, those alone can be true philanthropists who have first liberated themselves; they re-incarnate themselves only to uplift others.
Now, does that mean that the common man should not at all think of doing anything for others? Not so at all. Everyone must have an inclination to make oneself useful to the deserving so far as one can, but there are the obvious limits of one's capacities.
Real altruism consists in exerting for others, not with selfishness or pride of doership, but purely as service to God. This, naturally, is free from undesirable consequences. However, this is not easy; a common man feels self-righteous and falls an easy prey to self-esteem and pride of doership. Therefore, whenever a chance arises to do something for others, one should avail oneself of it but in a spirit of thankfulness to God for this grace, and begging for further similar opportunities to serve Him. If we fail to keep this thought in the forefront of awareness, there is no knowing when pride of doership will sneak into the heart and cause a downfall. One must maintain constant vigil in this regard.
The straightforward meaning of philanthropy or altruism is doing something for others. This evidently calls for two persons; the obliger and the obliged. The common man thinks in terms of two entities: himself, and the rest of the world. This "world" is obviously different for each individual, peculiar to each person. When we get a chance to do something for another, we feel elated at having obliged someone, thus falling an easy pray to a sense of superiority, and to egoism and pride. Even those reputed as philanthropists, but without firm faith in God, will sooner or later fall a prey to expecting or seeking public esteem and honour. All saints have therefore cautioned us to be specially vigilant about this. If we remain constantly in nama, egoism is naturally ousted, vigilance becomes easy, and the mind attains contentment and placidity.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-May-27

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-May.27

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.26

To Remember God is Righteous ThinkingWhy is it that not everyone feels God's existence although He pervades all creation? His existence is apparent only to those whose faith and feelings are mature, not to others. Such faith and feeling can be generated only by constant remembrance of God. I feel that one who repeatedly chants nama lays me under an obligation, because such a one uplifts himself and to that extent, all creation.
A question that haunts many so-called 'rationalists' is that if it is God who grants reason to man, then how can man be blamed when his reason leads him astray? The answer is that, while it is perfectly true that man's reason comes from God, we must see what causes its proper and improper exercise. To give an example: light and darkness are both caused by the sun, the one by his presence, the other by his absence. Similarly, reason functions aright where there is remembrance of God, and goes amiss where God is forgotten. We thus see that although reasoning is a gift of God, it is upto man whether it works well or ill. Its working will not be tortuous if guided by His remembrance; therefore, man should always maintain His remembrance to avoid his reason going astray; this is achieved by nama-smarana. One should live in nama wholeheartedly. Better still it is to do one's worldly duties and maintain awareness of God all the time. This day, every day, we owe to His grace, and we must therefore use it in His service, His remembrance. If we spend our days in this manner, every day will be happy, like the festival of Diwali.
This state of spiritual union with God is related to neither age, sex, wealth, nor any other circumstance. Constant awareness of God achieves what other sadhanas seek to achieve. This, indeed, is the distinguishing trait of kali yuga.
This constant awareness of God, means concentration of the mind on a single subject, to the exclusion of all other things. Such unbroken consciousness of God is punya, spiritual credit, or merit; it is the fulfilment of human life. Achieve it, and all noble qualities will follow. Pray to God in utter submission, "Lord, happen what may to the body, I implore you to see that I never, for a moment, miss awareness of You."

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