Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May 5.


Do Your Duty without Pride of Doership
The first step in the process of learning anything, whether in the material field or spiritual, is the assumption of ignorance. We go about, however, with a vainglorious pride that we know everything. In spirituality, there is no greater enemy than such pride. To say that it is like the pernicious weed to a field would be underrating its evil efficacy; for, the weed makes itself apparent and can be uprooted, whereas this pride is subtle, unnoticed, and usually unadmitted by a person. There is no telling when it will crop up and make itself felt. It is the main obstruction to purification of the heart. Nothing would be sillier, and more doomed to failure, than to imagine that one could surmount it with one's own prowess. The only way to overcome it is to go into utter unquestioning surrender to the sadguru, and constantly to pray him to deliver you from its clutches.
A heart thoroughly purged of doubt and desire is like a pit which is filled with good soil and proper manure for planting a tree. The next step is to sow a seed of best quality and perfect purity. Even with all such care, it may happen that the final product is not up to the mark, and the hopes entertained at the beginning are belied. It may happen, besides, that after a certain age, the tree becomes unproductive, or gets a rot of one kind or another. Altogether, a time comes when it ceases to give the pleasure expected in the beginning, and actually proves a nuisance. It would have been better to select a seed which would grow into a tree yielding pleasant fruit for endless time.
Now, does our experience show anything which provides uncloying, unperishing pleasure? The answer must inevitably be in the negative. We are driven to conclude that anything done for a perishable objective is predestined to failure in ultimate fulfillment. Consequently, we realize that the only way to everlasting pleasure and bliss is to do one's duty with no sensate object in view.
We should fervently pray God to ask of Him the gift of devotion without any objective but Himself, and our effort should be directed to that end. We use the sifting fan to blow away the rotten grain and retain only the pure; similarly we should practise to discard all desire but that for God, and resort to devotion with no object but Him.
* * * * *

Shri Maharaja"s PRAVACHAN IN KANNADA -MAY 5


Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi May5

Shri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-May 5

Monday, May 4, 2020

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.4.


Association with Saints Wipes out Desire
We should always remain in the company of saints. This is extremely important in the journey towards God. However, if the heart is not pure, what would be the use of even such company? Really speaking, saints should not be seen with their physical form. Their benevolent influence works not so much through the physical body, the shell through which they appear to us, as in the sadhana they prescribe for us. They are devoid of all sensuous desires, and therefore we cannot really meet them, that is, understand them truly, unless we free ourselves of such desires.
Suppose a thief goes to a saint; his eyes will naturally look out for and spot articles which can be stolen; he will understand neither the noble nature of the saint nor get to know his valuable teaching. These we shall only realize if we approach him with a pure, desire-free heart; what they give to us in that state has unequalled value indeed.
A certain person, along with many others, used to go frequently to a saint for darshan. He never mixed with others, never communicated with anyone, and always appeared deeply dejected. One day, the Master, not seeing him in the crowd, abruptly said, "Hasn't that silly child of mine come today?" At this, the man suddenly went into a rapture, started to dance in joy, and left the place, never to return. Nor did he need to return; his object had been achieved; for had the Master not called him 'mine'? It is the highest ambition of a true disciple that the Master should admit or accept him as 'his', 'his very own'.
The common disciple has not freed himself of desire; indeed quite often he approaches the guru with the very object of having some desire fulfilled and therefore he does not realize the importance of being accepted by the guru.
The guru, on the other hand, aims at completely annihilating all desire in the disciple. This can be achieved by nama-smarana, and this is, therefore, what we should do. Nama removes all anxiety and yearning for desire. When the mind baits us with one desire or another we should retaliate with nama, which is an efficient antidote. Association with a saint or even with a sincere sadhaka provides a very congenial atmosphere for nama-smarana.
* * * * *

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-May 4

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada -May4