Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Monday, December 2, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan - Dec.2
Unbroken Remembrance of Nama is Worship
What is it that debars us from God? A little thought will show that it is we ourselves. We try to shift the blame to others, but in reality we are ourselves the culprits. The trouble is that we give our loyalty and allegiance not to God, to whom we really owe it, but to others, like the wife, son, or brother. These are ours to a very limited extent, whereas God is ever ready to rush to our succour. Recall, for instance, the well-known story about Draupadi. She expected that the Pandavas would stand by her when Dusshasana tried to humiliate her in public; but, when she found her appeals to them futile, she prayed to Lord Shreekrishna single-mindedly, and He miraculously rescued her in her hour of dire trial. This clearly illustrates that those whom we suppose to be ours cannot really help us beyond narrow limits.
So we should always treat God as our true support, and as the real doer of everything. Upasana is required to create and confirm this conviction. What, after all, is upasana? It boils down to the abiding conviction that God is ever about us, that he is our sheet anchor. For achieving this, ceaseless nama-smarana is the sure means. When we utter a person's name we recall his form and entire personality; similarly, uttering nama is a constant reminder of the presence of God.
God is really beyond description. But Lord Shreekrishna has Himself said that He is to be seen in His name; it is the aptest description of Him; it is the form in which we can visualise Him. Therefore, constant repetition of nama means His constant presence with you.
How is this nama to be repeated? Shree Samartha has said, "If a man utters nama orally, continuously, to the exclusion of all other activity of the body and mind, it pleases God, and He takes the devotee under the cover of His protection." Now, when we sit down to meditate on nama, is our mind truly void of all thought and fancy? Do not the cares of worldly life haunt the mind even then? That means the consciousness of the ego, the 'body-am-I' conviction, is present then, too. The devotee whom God takes under His protection is one who has surrendered his ego, and He sees to it that his spiritual quest proceeds unhindered.
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Sunday, December 1, 2019
Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in English- Dec.1.
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan - Dec.1.
Vairagya is Detachment from Physical Comfort
An unshakable awareness of God at all times is devotion; vairagya is the conviction that all this assemblage of things and people around one is not one's own. To believe that everything belongs to Rama is tantamount to dedicating all to Him. What is the real obstruction to paramartha? Not wife, nor son, nor wealth, but the attachment one feels for them. To be devoid of attachment to anything is vairagya, not the absence or abandonment of a thing. If a man is unmarried or his wife is dead, he cannot be called unattached; nor can he be said to be attached merely because he does have a wife. What matters is passion and attachment. To live in contentment in existing circumstances, with the conviction that everything belongs to Him and has come because He has willed it, is vairagya. One should live in this spirit, and without passion for the senses.
One should live worldly life with an awareness of its impermanence. Life cannot be renounced, but to live it with detachment is virtual renunciation. To perform good acts without expectation of return is devotion, while vairagya is setting aside everything that hinders performance of duty without regard to physical comfort, to discard all desire.
After all, does experience show that worldly things are obtained as and when desired? It is, in fact, not in our hands to acquire or discard them as we wish. So where is the sense in wishing for or against them? We should, rather, leave everything to Rama's will. To ask for worldly things is tantamount to admitting that we have a greater yearning for them than for Rama Himself. It is not the things themselves but our craving for them, our attachment for them, that is to be abandoned. Where is the sense in propitiating God for the sake of some non-lasting thing? Let our faith in God be as staunch as that of Prahlad. He took to nama with faith and in .order to cleanse his mind of all desire. It would be senseless on our part to use nama to acquire some paltry, mundane thing.
Once we resolve to live only for God, we shall be able to see His presence in everything. This is not an empty fancy, you will realize it yourself. All that we have to do is always to live in nama-smarana.
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Vairagya is Detachment from Physical Comfort
An unshakable awareness of God at all times is devotion; vairagya is the conviction that all this assemblage of things and people around one is not one's own. To believe that everything belongs to Rama is tantamount to dedicating all to Him. What is the real obstruction to paramartha? Not wife, nor son, nor wealth, but the attachment one feels for them. To be devoid of attachment to anything is vairagya, not the absence or abandonment of a thing. If a man is unmarried or his wife is dead, he cannot be called unattached; nor can he be said to be attached merely because he does have a wife. What matters is passion and attachment. To live in contentment in existing circumstances, with the conviction that everything belongs to Him and has come because He has willed it, is vairagya. One should live in this spirit, and without passion for the senses.
One should live worldly life with an awareness of its impermanence. Life cannot be renounced, but to live it with detachment is virtual renunciation. To perform good acts without expectation of return is devotion, while vairagya is setting aside everything that hinders performance of duty without regard to physical comfort, to discard all desire.
After all, does experience show that worldly things are obtained as and when desired? It is, in fact, not in our hands to acquire or discard them as we wish. So where is the sense in wishing for or against them? We should, rather, leave everything to Rama's will. To ask for worldly things is tantamount to admitting that we have a greater yearning for them than for Rama Himself. It is not the things themselves but our craving for them, our attachment for them, that is to be abandoned. Where is the sense in propitiating God for the sake of some non-lasting thing? Let our faith in God be as staunch as that of Prahlad. He took to nama with faith and in .order to cleanse his mind of all desire. It would be senseless on our part to use nama to acquire some paltry, mundane thing.
Once we resolve to live only for God, we shall be able to see His presence in everything. This is not an empty fancy, you will realize it yourself. All that we have to do is always to live in nama-smarana.
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