Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Monday, July 22, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-July.22
The Sadguru Leads us to Ultimate, Eternal Bliss
A boy stood on the parapet of a well, ready to jump in to recover his ball which had fallen in. A person who was standing by tried to dissuade him, warning him that he may sink in the deep water and be drowned. The boy's father happened to be passing by and did his best to reason with the lad. Finding him stubbornly bent on jumping, the father gave a smart slap and drove him home. Would you here blame the father as unkind to his son?
Precisely similar is what happens between the disciple and his sadguru. The disciple, in his ignorance, goes on asking for fulfillment of mundane desires. The sadguru reasons with him to dissuade him. If the disciple still insists stubbornly, the sadguru uses more stringent deterrents such as obstacles and calamities, and tries his best to save him despite his protests. We profess to be educated, grown up, wise, and yet are eager for fulfillment of mundane desires. The sadguru may advise the disciple, in his own interest, not to marry, while the latter asks imploringly and persistently when he will find a wife; he may finally go to the length of saying that the guru is an ignoramus. This is because we see and seek happiness only in the sense perceptions. The sadguru, on the other hand, knowing as he does where true happiness lies, tries to dissuade us from following our fanciful notion of happiness. It is therefore in our own interest to listen to his advice. We shall attain true happiness by implicit obedience to his behests. What he does in advising us is to extricate our mind from wherever it may have got stuck with false fancies.
When it is said that God protects the devotee, it does not mean that He destroys the calamities; rather, He so fortifies the devotee’s mind that he can meet them calmly and courageously, with a contented mind. He ensures that the devotee is ever mindful of God. It is such devotees that eventually attain sainthood.
To feel respect for a learned man one must oneself be learned to some extent; to recognize a saint one must oneself possess at least some saintliness. The main essential quality is devotion. The external appearance and behaviour may differ according to the place and times, but love for God is an unvarying quality common to all saints.
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Sunday, July 21, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan July.21
Nama is Eternal and Divine, Just Like the Vedas
It is stated in the scriptures that in the Kritayuga God could be attained by long and deep contemplation; in the Tretayuga by performing arduous sacrifices; and in the Dwaparayuga by elaborate worship, In the present, Kaliyuga, none of them is possible, but God can be attained by the simple means of chanting nama, provided it is done sincerely and ceaselessly. Saints verified for themselves the truth of this, and assured all that repeating nama three-and-a-half crore times will purify the heart, and a thirteen-crore repetition will unfailingly bring about a darshana of God. You may not take my word for it, but I vouch this in the name of Jnyaneshwar Maharaj, Ekanath Maharaj, Tukarama Maharaj, and Samartha Ramadasa Swami, whose word is unimpeachable. The Ultimate Reality, which is inaccessible even to the Vedas, is realized by the saints by becoming it. Religious and moral restrictions are but scantily respected and observed in the present degenerate age, and therefore the saints exhort us to take to nama.
The Vedas seek to describe God, the Ultimate Reality; nama, too, delineates His existence. Every vedic hymn commences with 'Hari Om', which is nothing but nama. The origin of the vedas is beyond known antiquity; so is the origin of nama beyond antiquity. Both, equally, are eternal and divine, nama is resorted to by none less than Lord Shiva; so it is obviously the most ancient of sadhanas. Restrictions of diet and behaviour control restrict vedic and other sadhanas, while chanting of nama is singularly free of restrictions and restraints of any kind.
When the Ultimate God gave voice to the vedas, He first uttered the Elemental Syllable 'Om'. Nama is identical with Om. The true import of the vedas can only be comprehended by chanting nama. The vedas are essentially praises of God. While reciting the vedas, therefore, attention should be centred on the meaning rather than on the words. Even if we do not understand the meaning, our attention should be on God, whose praises we are singing. The pity is, we forget God and mechanically do all the rest.
For purification of the heart, vedic acts do not suffice; they must be accompanied by nama-smarana to make up for shortcomings.
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