Saturday, January 11, 2020
Friday, January 10, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.10
Nama alone can Make Life Happy
The sole purpose of human life is to acquire love for the Lord. Kali, the age of vice and strife, is in full swing, depriving man of a sense of duty and morality. Rama is our sole support in this age rife with licentiousness and rampancy. There is no sense in being wary after the house has been burgled, so be cautious right now and be in constant remembrance of God. There can be no unhappiness for one who lives in submission to the will of the Lord. He alone truly serves Rama who completely surrenders his self to Him. When one annihilates all separate identities of oneself, then alone one realizes the Brahman that pervades everything animate and inanimate.
We should adore Raghupati who has endowed us with invaluable human life, protected us so far, and is our Master. We have been born as humans; we can only justify this blessing by holding that to belong to Rama is the sole goal of life. Blessed indeed, is he who thinks that there is no protector but Rama.
Worldly life and spiritual life are not separate from and hostile to each other; rather, they are the obverse and the reverse of a coin. Neither of them can be happy without Rama. Keep your heart and behaviour free from taint, and constantly think of Him: this alone can make life happy.
Put your trust in Rama; this, indeed, is the stock in trade for a spiritual life, which, in essence, consists in remembering Rama in every worldly activity. Let the mind always feel that your interest rests with Rama. Always treat Him as the doer, and believe that whatever He does must be for your good. Be correct in your actions, with full faith in Rama. Always keep an awareness of Him; this is the royal road in spiritual life. The body may be employed in doing worldly duties, but the mind should be ever riveted to Rama. It is for us to strive, and for Rama to give or not to give.
In worldly life work with due care and caution, and never lose courage, with faith that Rama is your sheet anchor. A housemaid may be at work but her heart is with her infant at home; so may you do your worldly duty but keep your mind fixed on Rama.
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Thursday, January 9, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Jan.9
Nama: Doubts and Suspicions
It is a complaint very commonly heard that doubts and suspicions beset the mind whenever we start chanting nama, and they weaken conviction and faith. However, we do not realise that this itself establishes the importance of nama. The demons of doubts and suspicions become restless when a man resorts to nama-smarana. They resent his action, fearing that they will one day be ousted; so they revolt, and seek to distract such a person and dissuade him. Distractions are very subtle, and the remedy to counter them must be equally subtle; nama-smarana is the one such remedy. The means to be employed to draw a snake out from its burrow must reach and drive it from the burrow; merely raising a hue and cry outside will not be of any avail. What is wanted is pouring scalding water into the burrow, or forcing in an obnoxious gas or smoke. Likewise, chanting of nama causes doubts to rise to the surface; this signifies that the heat of your ardour for nama has reached the source of doubts and distractions. Hence, rather than getting bewildered or alarmed when doubts crowd the mind during nama-smarana, one should chant nama with redoubled zest, in the knowledge that one has now found the master-remedy against doubts.
To begin with, all are sceptical about nama; continual chanting steadily overcomes doubts. Lack of devotion makes one forgetful of the Supreme Being, while lack of practice in remembrance of the Supreme Being causes lack of devotion. The wise should, therefore, discard, or at least ignore, doubts and distractions, and take to practising nama-smarana. The objective will have been gained when all doubts are eliminated and nama becomes firmly established in the mind.
It is common experience that when walking along a street one comes across persons that one would rather avoid. What one does is to ignore them. Some of them, however, purposely clear the throat or otherwise draw our attention. Likewise, if doubts thrust themselves on us, we may reluctantly notice them, and persist in the chanting of nama, so that nama will itself eliminate them in course of time. We should take care to remember nama unceasingly. Even a lot of effort may come to nought if done sceptically; if we determine to persist in nama, doubts will certainly resolve themselves in the end.
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