Thursday, January 2, 2020
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.1
Nama is Synonymous with God
Nama is the name of God. Considered as a means of attaining God, there is no distinction among the different appellations by which different people may be calling God. Nama is the connecting link between an individual soul and the Cosmic Soul. It is the means as well as the end. It has its beginning in saguna and it ends in nirguna. God, the Ultimate Reality, is abstract, attributeless, formless, intangible. He first got His nama only when He manifested in a tangible form; so nama is saguna. Nama persists even after the tangible form ceases to exist; so it can be termed nirguna. So, whether one worships a tangible representation or an attributeless, abstract concept as God, nama is the common foundation.
Nama is extremely fine, subtle, and so is vritti; nama is , therefore, the connecting link between vritti and God. Repeating nama will cleanse and purify vritti; thereby the mind will be clarified, peaceful, stable, free from all agitation, and this will eventually strengthen faith. In olden times, a bride was initially a complete stranger to the bridegroom's family; and yet she completely merged her personality, her individuality, with her husband's. Vritti should similarly merge and lose itself in nama.
Food has some taste of its own; adding our relish to its taste, we eat the food. Nama, without a taste of its own, will gain sweetness in proportion to our relish for it. Roads converge on Pandharpur from different directions. However, for darshana all have to join the common queue. Similarly, whatever their sadhana, all must finally take recourse to nama. The bliss that nama is can be realized by uttering nama, listening to it with one's ears, and forgetting one's self in the process.
We completely identify ourselves with our name; so is God completely identified with nama. The nama that we chant today continues unchanged, but it becomes increasingly comprehensive and meaningful; finally one experiences its identity with God. Water is an essential component of the living body; so should nama become an integral part of ourselves. It should so thoroughly pervade our being that it should only cease with the last breath. Nama should become such an integral part of our life that nama and life cease together. An adherent to nama will realize that it is nothing but sheer bliss.
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Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.31
Nama is Everlasting, Endless
We celebrate the completion of japa. That is, truly speaking, inappropriate, because nama is everlasting, and therefore endless. It transgresses the limitations of time and space. In fact, its greatness is unfathomable. Nama is what the Lord holds dearest to His bosom, and nothing will please Him better than nama-smarana. He is inseparable from nama. God, nama, and the devotee is a trinity which is the real symbolic Triple Confluence. Where there is God, there will be found His devotee and nama; and a true devotee is invariably to be found where there is God and nama.
Having completed the proposed japa, what will you ask of Rama? Beg Him something that will put an end to all future asking. If you ask for a mundane matter, He will smile in derision, saying to Himself," What a trifle to ask from a donor like Me!" So pray Him for unshakable contentment, and love for Nama. Pray further," Lowly as I am" please accept me as Yours. I will henceforth live only to sing Your Name."
All should apply the mind only to the acquisition of God. Prapancha should be treated only as a means for paramartha. There should be no involvement, no attachment, no upadhi. The best means to become free of upadhi is to devote oneself to nama, which is itself free of upadhi. Ceaseless repetition of nama will consolidate faith, and that will create firm love for nama. Have no doubt whatever that God will Himself come and meet you if your faith is unwavering and if you repeat nama ceaselessly. Blend prapancha and paramartha together. Entertain no doubts regarding paramartha. From this very day, treat God as lovingly as your son. Chant nama with the utmost fervour and with continuity, aiming at ensuring that even the last breath will contain nama. One who chants nama thus will never be aware of bodily pleasure and pain, and will always enjoy beatitude.
Just as surely as a cow follows her newly born calf wherever it is taken, do saints follow a person steeped in nama. A patient in a hospital gives his body over to the doctor, for such treatment as may be considered fit. We should surrender ourselves to a saint with equal unreservedness, saying 'good bye' to all sense of doership.
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Monday, December 30, 2019
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.30
The Essence of all Prayers
Get up early from bed, and think of God; freshen up, and sit down and perform manasa-pooja, mental worship, with the prescribed sixteen items. As part of it, offer an anointing with sandalwood paste, flowers, and food, and partake of the remnant of the food as His gift. Lastly, pray thus.
"Rama, I approach You in the utmost humility. Whatever I call mine, I surrender to you. Now please see that my mind relinquishes all attachment, all sense of possession. Let me have no more desire, except for copious love for nama-smarana. Grant me enduring contentment. You alone can do so. Let Your grace enable me to observe the moral code of conduct. I now live only for You. I dedicate my body, my all to You. Do as You like with me, and keep me contented therewith. May I never forget You. Let me not think of asking for anything but a burning passion for Your name. I approach You humbly and pray that I may never be unaware of Your presence. I desire not for proficiency in literature, nor science, nor the arts, nor even divine knowledge. Have pity on me and save me from being consumed by the passions. Treat me as You please, but I will never budge from Your feet; O Rama, I give up all pride and thought of doership, divest me of all idea of ownership; all that I call mine is no longer mine, it is given over to You. Now so please, may You be the only thought in my mind. If You forsake me, where else shall I go? To whom shall I look for support? The "body-am-I" feeling is persecuting me, deliver me from its throes. I have so far given myself up to sense-pleasures, and fallen in their snares. O Rama, You are all powerful, so grant me what I plead for: complete contentment. Pray be constantly in my heart, for I live for You alone; I lay my mind and body at Your disposal. In Your mercy, grant that I forget myself in contemplating You."
Pray to Rama thus, and He will immediately hasten to meet you. Have single-minded faith in nama. With firm faith, go ahead with nama-smarana, even if today the mind feels unwilling to do it.
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