Reminiscences

ShriMaharaj once said, "Two main things terrify man: poverty and death. Take the case of poverty. One who

chooses to belong to my fold by leaving all his concerns and fears in my lap. I take on myself to provide him with at least a few morsels of food, albeit course, for his belly. Speaking about death, my guru has taught me perfectly well how to make his final moment fulfilling, who chants nama as per my advice, and I will not fail in that.'

Reminiscences

On the way to Kashi, ShriMaharaj stayed at Harda, for several days. During that time, a person doing the work of trapping parrots and selling them came to ShriMaharaj with a parrot, and praising it for its smartness, he urged ShriMaharaj to buy it. At his insistence, ShriMaharaj bought it. When handing over the parrot to the priest he said, "Hang up the cage in front of Rama and teach it only to say 'Shriram, Shriram." Accordingly, the priest got the parrot trained, and it used to utter nama almost uninter­ruptedly. Thus ShriMaharaj accomplished the well-being of that soul.

Reminiscences

ShriMaharaj gave a copy of Dasabodha to a gentleman going abroad for service, and advised him to read it regu­larly every day. After some years the gentleman returned home. Some days were spent in arranging the baggage, visiting relatives, etc., and then he went to see ShriMaharaj. After the preliminaries ShriMaharaj asked, "Is the reading of the Dasabodha continuing regularly as I had advised ?" The gentleman said, "Yes, no matter how­ever rushed, or delayed, I did not let the routine be missed. However, now, after returning, I cannot manage it in the midst of visiting and everyday matters." Upon this ShriMaharaj said, "This is not the difference in the cir­cumstances, but in the mental attitude. While you wereabroad, there was a fear that, possibly, if the routine were missed, something might go wrong. You wished that such a thing should not happen in a foreign place. Now there is no such pressure on your mind, and therefore negligence takes place. Let it not be so. When a routine is observed, it should be observed for one's own welfare and not out of fear. So far the reading of Dasabodha took place out of fear, now do it out of love.^w

Reminiscences

After saying that a good or bad disposition always ex­ists in the mind of an ordinary person to a greater or a smaller degree, but one should try to make it chaste, pure and sublime to an increasing degree, ShriMaharaj added, " Degrading or evil thoughts do keep rising in one's mind. Immediate performing of an evil deed in accordance with them is the disposition of the lowest, or dull type. Discrimination is totally absent in such persons. Those in whose minds evil thoughts arise, but who, by practising self- control, do not let the evil deed actually take place, are of a superior type. This can be called the passionate type. The desires which arise in the minds of those who are superior to this, of a good disposition, are all of a good, philanthropic kind; there is no trace of unholy thinking in them. The highest and purely good form of disposition is not arising of any thoughts other than the sadguru and God in the mind. Saints and liberated men are like that. When a person involves himself in namasmiarana con­stantly, he automatically reaches perfection, climbing these steps."-

Reminiscences

When one called upon ShriMaharaj, not only did the caller feel joy, but it used to be apparent that he himself

felt even more joy than that. When an outstanding devo­tee was asked the cause of this, he said, "No matter with how clean a mind one goes to see him, as one's love for the physical self has not been wiped out, there does lurk a secret, a faint desire somewhere deep in one's mind, that some difficulty or deficiency in one's worldly life should get removed, or at least that the current state of well -being should continue. Because of this the joy one feels is adulterated, impure and encumbered; it is invariably tainted by desire. On the contrary, as there exists the single, pure, unselfish yearning in his mind, that every living soul that visits him may be freed from its bonded state, that he may gain everlasting bliss by encountering God, the joy that ShriMaharaj feels is unencumbered, that of pure affection, full of tenderness. If one too wants such joy from meeting the sadguru, visiting a saint, then one should approach with a pure sentiment that one's body and one's worldly life may suffer any fate, but that one should be freed of cycles of birth and death by developing of genuine love for God.'

Kartika Deepotsav

One month long Kartika Deepotsava ended to-day.Many Devotees visited the Mandir and some of them sang devotional songs.

Reminiscences

When once the talk had turned to saints, ShriMaharaj said, "All these three classes are no doubt pre - eminent, but if one were to look minutely, small differences are to be observed. Although Vishwamitra was himself proficient in archery, he did not oppose the demons obstructing the performing of yajnyas;, either by arms or by his superhu­man powers; on the other hand, he brought over Rama and Lakshmana, and brought about the extermination of the demons at their hands by making them proficient in archery. Rama and Lakshmana being incarnations of God, and having been born in the warrior caste, had it as their duty to destroy the wicked. Having performed it with a detached mind, it did not become a cause of bondage for them. Now what does one see when one looks at a saint ? Not even the thought that someone should suffer extermi­nation touches a saint's mind. What did ShriJnyaneshwarmaharaj ask of God ? Did he not ask that the perverseness of the wicked, or perversity of the evil-minded be eradicated ? There is no instance of saints' having wished extermination even of those who have op­pressed them. So it is seen that saints view all living beings with pure love.'