Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Sri Maharaja's Pravachan-Nov.12
Difference between Baddha and Mukta
The baddha is of the world, tied down to its pleasures and pains, whereas the mukta is free of them, and God is the only reality for him. Saints completely dissociate themselves from the body; people ask, not about their progenitors, but about the guru, the upasana. They are, for all practical purposes unaware of the body; its awareness, ego, is all merged in God. The baddha takes far more interest in the pleasures, the happenings, and condition of the body and material existence; a lessening of such interest indicates progress in the direction of absolvement; this becomes complete when God becomes the sole reality.
We are baddha today because we take ourselves to be so; we identify ourselves with this body, whereas we are, in fact, a part of the Basic Reality. Consequently, the pleasures and pains of the body persecute us, and are felt by us as real. The soul, actually, is unaffected, detached. We take the soul and body both as 'ourselves', although we say 'my' arm is aching or 'my' stomach is upset. Tacitly, therefore, we admit that we are not the organs or their assemblage which we call the body, and the 'owner' or the 'soul' is different from, independent, of the body.
Our mind takes joy in sensual pleasures, so we have a soft corner for them. But these pleasures being transitory, the joy, too, lasts only a short while. Discontent also arises from dependence on other persons or things. We should, therefore, never forget the true nature of our' selves'.
This detachedness can only come from true devotion to God. An obstruction to this comes from the 'body-am-I' conviction, which must first be ousted from the mind. So let us ever carry the feeling that we belong to God, and that whatever happens is by God's will; this will gradually erode the 'body-am-I' belief. This does not call for penance, sacrifices, and such other austerities, nor for relinquishing family life and retiring to the forest, or any such other cumbersome and strenuous performance. Abandon all doership, say you belong to God, and be happy and contented; this will gradually attenuate the ego. Just as the 'body-am-I' conviction consolidated itself into identity with the body, we shall recover our true identity with the Ultimate Reality by repeating that we come from God.
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Monday, November 11, 2019
Sri Maharaja's Pravachan-Nov 11.
The Royal Road of Devotion to God
Knowing God is alone true knowledge; what commonly goes by the name is merely verbosity, pseudo-knowledge, which cannot lead one to knowing about the Prime Mover. Devotion alone takes one to true knowledge. A devotee is one who is never apart from God. Non-attachment to worldly pleasures and objects cannot be secured by merely regimenting or chastising the body; it is automatically inculcated by willing acceptance of the situation in which God chooses to keep us. If He chooses to keep us in pleasant circumstances, we should take care to see that we do not contract an attachment. Vairagya does not require us to quit prapancha. Saints did not forsake their prapancha; in fact, they pursued it with an unerring sense of duty, a shade better than us, but without attachment to it in the heart. Indeed, vairagya can be said to be truly imbibed only by the unattached. It need not be advertised by smearing the body with ashes, but may be known by the degree of contentment at God's dispensation. To respect, to accept, a situation without entertaining any expectation, but with humble contentment, is abiding by divine will, or becoming a devotee. Nama-smarana facilitates this attitude; so put your faith in it and practise it assiduously.
The nama which the guru has imparted should be practised, and in fact, the guru should be seen as identical with it. Thereby the disciple comes to see the guru in everything, everywhere; even in a bad place no less than in a nice hall. Then, as everything looks like the guru, there remains nothing that is bad, detestable.
Nama-smarana is not only a means, but also the object. Believe in nothing that contradicts this, for it is the only truth. Believe firmly, unshakably, in it. If you have this belief, God is not far to seek; He is ever by you.
Paramartha is not at all difficult if you transfer to it the attraction and the attachment that you have today for prapancha. To go to the guru in utter surrender is the same as surrendering your ego; the former is not possible without the latter. So long as I identify myself with the body, so long only one suffers the pangs of pain and misery. Ego is destroyed by nama-smarana, so keep yourself constantly absorbed in it.
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