Friday, March 13, 2020
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March.12
Never Forget " Rama is the Real Doer"
God is pure bliss itself, bliss neither caused nor affected by anything. If you meditate on His form, visualize Him as with a benign, smiling face. Man looks for joy in everything. A little cool breeze on a hot day pleases him; a shower in the hot season fills him with hope of pleasant relief. In short, he is ever on the lookout for joy, he hungers for joy. Now a hungry man eating food will have joy and the satisfaction from it; but if, instead, he eats poison, he will not have the joy but only death. So, too, a person indulging in sensate pleasures only suffers therefrom. Sumptuous food served to a person with intestinal worms, nourishes not him but the worms; similarly, if we do good deeds not selflessly, but with an ulterior selfish desire, it only fattens the desire instead of bringing us contentment. Therefore, even good acts should be done only as a selfless duty, and then they will not affect us adversely.
Man usually becomes habituated to the practices of the trade, profession, or service that he has followed in life. An advocate, for instance, gets into the habit of arguing and pleading in and out of reason. One who spends a lifetime in service will feel and behave as a servant even in a dream. On the other hand, whatever one does should be done sincerely but detachedly, dispassionately, unaddictedly, purely as matter of duty; otherwise it is bound to become harmful.
After all, it is impossible to remain perfectly still in any single position, without doing anything whatever. To have to do so would be the severest punishment. We are naturally so constituted that we cannot but do something or other, must do one activity or another. Done in forgetfulness or connivance of the fact that Rama is the true doer of everything, all actions affect us adversely, and only lay a foundation for the next birth or incarnation. Therefore, whatever you do should be done in the unshakable conviction that Rama is the real doer and that you are only his tool. We certainly cannot remain inactive, but trouble arises because we look longingly for certain results. If we do things without any expectation of this kind or that, the job is itself its own reward, and gives contentment.
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Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March.11
Give Up Ego to Bear the Ups and Downs of Life
Worldly life can never be an obstruction in the pathway to God. In life we have dealings with many persons; the parents, wife, children, siblings, other relatives, friends, and many others. If we want to put them on a proper footing and make the best use of them, we should interweave them with the thread of nama-smarana; this will help us in establishing amicable relations with all, and make prapancha very joyful; at least, it will not, prove troublesome.
The main cause of the upsetting of human relations is an individual's self-pride, his ego. It is by no means the rich alone who fall a prey to this pride; the financially poor and needy, too, are subject to it. We have read in the puranas that when God's incarnation as Narasimha began to tear out the entrails of Hiranyakashyapu, the latter's pride made him reach for his sword, instead of humbling himself to kneel before the Lord. How compelling is man's ego even against his better judgement!
Nor is a man spared by his ego because he is poor or in an humble position. A beggar once stood at the gate of a house to beg alms. When the householder remonstrated with him for coming at an odd hour, the beggar retorted, "Do you think yours is the only house for me to beg at? Don't forget there are a hundred such others!" See how universally this ego operates, how deep-seated it is!
Ego, indeed, is like weeds overrunning a field. We cannot obtain a good harvest without completely uprooting these weeds. Similarly, we cannot hope to attain God without completely ousting the ego. When opening the jackfruit, to get at the pulp, one has first to smear the hands with oil to prevent the viscous sap from sticking to them. Similarly, if we sincerely practise nama-smarana while conducting the tasks and relations of prapancha, neither ego nor desire will be able to entrap us, and we can positively attain God. If we shake off this ego and the pride that pester everybody, we can easily face the ups and downs of life.
After a storm shower has stopped, children make little paper boats to sail on the streamlets of running water, and laugh with fun whether the boats sail or sink; we should similarly take life sportingly; this is easy with the help of nama.
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