Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Monday, October 7, 2019
Sri Maharaj's Pravachan - Oct.7.
Renunciation is the Real Essence of YajnyaA person who leads a morally pure life can do with a modest income; being contented with life he also needs modest quantity of food. I emphasize this point repeatedly, because morally righteous conduct is the very basis of paramartha. If the foundation is unsound, obviously the superstructure cannot endure long. So, too, if morality in behaviour is overlooked, your other actions, however commendable they may otherwise be, will not avail. Be specially careful in regard to three things – one, look not on another woman with lust, but with tenderness as on your mother; two, never covet another's money or riches; and three, never slander anybody. Remember, the edifice of paramartha is to rest on the foundation of all these three. Of course that the foundation alone does not make the house is equally true. To chant nama ceaselessly while ascribing all doership to Rama is to live blissfully. An actor may enact the part of a king on the stage, but if he persists in behaving like that at home, too, he will vitiate his whole practical life. Likewise, when you go to God in surrender, forget your standing as a devotee or a scholar or a moneyed man.
Some of us agree that because the effect of an act is not in our hands worry is futile, and yet we continue to worry because it is also not in our power to cease worrying. So practise to remain always immersed in namasmarana.
The Bhagavadgeeta advocates persisting in work. We should, however, remember the result of such work may not correspond with the expectation. Therefore, always act with remembrance of Him, and merely watch and accept whatever comes. This will be acting without expectation. Thus to act merely as duty, is the essence of the teaching of the Bhagavadgeeta.
One must understand what is to be sacrificed. If one gives away his parents to avoid their responsibility, would you call it a sacrifice? Similarly instead of retiring from the world, many of us retire from God which is wrong. The essence of a sacrifice is the relinquishment of all desires and expectations, to do one's duty without expecting any return. Sacrifice all desire. To desire neither to 'have' this or 'not to have' that, paves the way for God's grace.
* * * * *
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Sri Maharaj's Pravachan-Oct.6.
Reach Blissful Divinity Through Saguna Worship
It is true that the Divinity is, in the ultimate analysis, limitless, non-attributive, and purely blissful. It can, however, be attained only through loving and worshipping the tangible form. It is for this reason that Shree Samartha has advocated that a true devotee should understand the attributeless form but continue to love and worship the tangible form, an idol.
An eternal truth must be peaceful and blissful; and the Cosmic Reality certainly has these features. It created the universe, and pervades it. Creation, therefore, must necessarily be full of peace and bliss. It is a delusion if I find it otherwise. To be able to see, there must be an outer eye backed by proper power of vision; that is, both are necessary. Similar is the relation between the formless, attributeless Cosmic Reality and the tangible form, the idol.
The Cosmic Reality is the eternal truth; this creation is pervaded by that Reality. The Lord desires peace throughout creation. Now this peace cannot be a product of circumstances. It should be intrinsic. Peace must exist where there is no duality. So he realizes peace whose mind is focused on the single point, the Lord, his circumstances notwithstanding. Activity in the world entails misery of one kind or another, but the pursuit of God yields one and only one kind of experience, namely, blissfulness. Constant chanting of nama is the only means to that end.
If we want to attain God, who is the pinnacle of sattva-guna, we, too, must first imbibe it thoroughly, must get saturated with it. A sick person must be careful in three respects: he must avoid unwholesome food, take the prescribed diet, and take the prescribed medicine in specified quantities at the specified timings. Similarly, one who wants to get free of the clutches of the cycle of births and deaths, will have to be careful in three regards: first, avoid the contra-indicated things such as bad company, immoral conduct, indifference to religion, falsehood, hatred, jealousy, etc; secondly, carefully cultivate conducive things such as association with the saintly, righteous thoughts, reading sacred books, righteous behaviour; and thirdly, chant nama ceaselessly. Love and worship the tangible form of God, and earn the eternal bliss that is characteristic of Ultimate Reality.
* * * * *
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)