ಶ್ರೀ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಚೈತನ್ಯ ಮಹಾರಾಜರ ಪ್ರವಚನ
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March 4.
Behaviour within a Family
The unpredictability of our life is best borne out in wartime. In times of such unrest and stress, we should keep the mind unscared and steady. Keep doing your duty with a steady heart and without worrying. Worrying is a cankerous habit and needs but the flimsiest of causes. It gives rise to physical as well as mental trouble. One who can live without worrying about anything can be said to belong to God. Therefore, put firm trust in God and abandon all worry.
Every creature is born with the primary passions and emotions; the rich and the poor, and even the saints and avatars. The saints and avatars, of course, have in addition, noble qualities like love, pity, gentleness, tolerance, and forgiveness. The stars in a person's horoscope relate only to the current life, but emotions and passions are a development of a series of births. What man has to do is to control these passions and emotions and augment the good qualities; prapancha is the training ground for this purpose.
In intra-family behaviour, everyone should behave as is appropriate to his relationship. A man who feels assured that his children will carry out what he says, out of their love for him, is an ideal father. The ideal son is eager for his father to express his desire and to carry out this desire. He should not spend his father's money for improper purposes; if he does, the father should refuse to give him money. After all, a son makes an appraisal of the father, like a horse of the rider, and behaves accordingly. It befits a housewife to cook and serve food to the family; this is done and received with love. Marriage is a sacred bond, and prescribes great restrictions. A person who conducts himself naturally and in accordance with the moral code will age in a natural way and not suffer pain.
To resolve honestly to behave properly in the present, automatically wipes out the past. Every day is an opportunity offered by God for self-improvement. Not to repeat yesterday's misbehaviour and resolutely to improve oneself henceforth; this is what constitutes an opportunity. The traditional bounds of behaviour should be observed with understanding or with faith.
Fill your heart to the brim with love for God, and also cultivate love and goodwill for all.
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Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March.3
Let Attention to Prapancha be Limited
Many people have a 'main' business and a' side' business. The attention is of course centred on the main business and the gain therefrom. The side business is subordinate, and may even be closed if the situation makes it advisable to do so. In a similar way, spirituality should receive our main attention; gains and losses in the side business of prapancha, i.e. family life, should not be allowed to affect the focus on God. Spirituality needs prapancha for practice and support, just as a salad needs salt to make it tasty; the salad would be insipid without salt. Too much of salt, however, would make the salad uneatable; likewise, too much zest for prapancha would vitiate the main goal of human life, namely, attainment of God. So do not give over-weightage to prapancha; never let the goal God be out of sight.
To forget God is always undesirable, whether it is due to prapancha being very convenient and comfortable, or due to its being sorrowful. To expect prapancha to be free from vicissitudes is unrealistic. You must not expect that your child, for instance, should never fall ill. Fluctuations of fortune are inevitable.
Prapancha is inescapable for humans, for it is part of God's creation. What is undesirable is the undue weightage that the common human gives to it in life, with an egocentric, narrow bias. What is wanted is a shift in our present emphasis on this strictly circumscribed personal and family life to the quest of God. This will yield true contentment.
That prapancha is happy where husband and wife both share the divine goal. For one who treats prapancha with great zest and a large degree of voluntary involvement, even a day of twenty-four hours will not suffice, while one who does it merely as duty, a few hours a day may be enough. See that you do that duty conscientiously, but beware of being mentally attached to it. Do your duty and let the fruit rest on Rama's will. Devote yourself to His name, and earnestly pray to Him to grant that your mind becomes fully attached to nama.
Nothing is dearer to God than His name. We can easily endear ourselves to Him by constantly repeating nama, and you will certainly attain to Him. Nama compacts faith, and this draws God to you. God, His name, and His devotee, form the divine trio.
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