GURU POURNAMI LECTURE IN ENGLISH

Shree Guru-Pournima – 1

In the name of God I solemnly affirm that I always feel that everyone is activated by Rama, even the one approaching to me for initiation. The disciple may be inferior, deficient, humble, ignorant, and yet I have looked upon him as no less than Rama. I see no one as evil-minded.

I prefer little children and retired persons because both have no inhibitions. I have respect for the learned, but little love or preference for them; I respect the Goddess of learning, Saraswati, that inspires them. I have scant regard for the rich, because they tend to lean on the strength of wealth and to connive at God. Simple-minded, little-learned people are dearer to me than pedants. I prefer village life to urban life. I have stated my preferences, but these may vary from person to person. If you ask a person to set his eye aside before coming to see you, he can not comply. Similarly, I simply cannot exist in the absence of nama. Wherever nama exists, I am there. If there is anything to learn from me, it is to give up worry, in the faith that God is the sole doer. To young boys and girls, my exhortation is that they should obey parents and elders, learn to be sincere in whatever they do, never swerve from honesty and integrity, and never lose sight of God. Good, disciplined conduct in young age will make a really responsible unit of society in due course.

I know what goes on in the innermost thoughts of a visitor. I listen to everything with your ears. When anyone of you feels depressed, I feel disturbed; then I search for and discover source. I sincerely feel sorry when anyone of my people worries; everyone who calls himself mine should have unquestioning trust in me. I say as a matter of personal experience that if you conduct yourself in life with trust in God, you will lose nothing. Resolve to follow my guidance, and leave all care and worry to me. When I assure you that I am by your side, I do not mean that I am there in physical form; it means that God Himself is with you. Be sure that I am doing everything needed by you. On your part do what you can, but never pine for anything. Why not believe that I reside in your heart and prompt you in your thought and action? You should have firm faith that whatever you do is by my will, by me. I never feel despondent about anybody, for anyone born as a human being is bound to attain to God one day or another.

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Sri Brahmachaitanya Pravachan-July.16

The Highest Duty is to Obey the Sadguru

Many are the means to attain to God, but one should only follow the path prescribed by the sadguru. If you follow it for a while and then shift to another, you will not reach the goal. If you change your doctor, naturally the responsibility of the first ends. The moment you are initiated by a sadguru, all your worldly and spiritual responsibilities become his, and all you have to do thenceforward is to obey him, provided of course, you sincerely feel so.
A poison is a poison, whether fed through this dish or that; similarly, self-conceit is harmful in practical as in spiritual life. If you realize your real self you have realized God, for the two are the same. God is infinite and attributeless, and we must also become so if we want to realize Him. In other words, we have to give up the sense of our individual self, or ego. To understand anything thoroughly requires that we identify ourselves with it, merge completely into it. To realize God, therefore, we should equip ourselves with similar characteristics, and put away those that are different, divergent. If by spiritual practice and discipline, we divest ourselves of all sin, we shall see the world also as sinless.
If we concentrate on God as having a certain form and certain qualities, we may realize Him in that form and possessing those characteristics; but by repeating and concentrating on the nama, we shall realize Him in his entirety. The nama therefore, is superior to all other types of sadhanas or spiritual practices.
Let us, then, live in nama, for therein we find all bliss. And what do we strive for in life but unalloyed, permanent bliss? I myself strove and searched for such bliss, and I found it, so I can say with the confidence of self-experience, that such bliss can only arise where there is unbroken awareness of God. I am perfectly, undisturbedly contented and so should you, be. I repeat, in conclusion, what I said at the beginning: whatever you may be, never give up nama, never forget nama. Do as much nama-smarana as you can; and what you cannot do leave to the care of Rama. He will certainly come forward to fulfil this desire.


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-July 16

pravachan - Gurupournami (Marathi)

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-july16

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-July.15

Earnest Yearning Brings Sadguru's Meeting

Man does know what to do and what not to, but he is controlled by the dictates of desire, to which he succumbs. We enjoy sense pleasures, but when we come to their unpleasant consequences, we feel overwhelmed. This is due to a misconception, a delusion, which can be overcome by, (1) good, godly thoughts, (2) nama-smarana, and (3) company of saints. A saint, however, is not easy to recognize, unless we belong to that class ourselves. It is easier to gather and entertain good thoughts. A good thought is one that has a bearing on God. It is easiest, however, to engage oneself in nama-smarana. If you manage to bring yourself to repeating nama incessantly, you need not go to search for a guru, for he will come of his own accord, even from the remotest part of the Himalayas. It is as natural as ants swarming to a lump of candy.
You may protest inability to maintain incessant repetition of nama. Now just consider what you do when your child fails to make the grade at school. Do we not force him to try again more seriously? We force him out of our anxiety to equip him to make a living. Why do we not show the same anxiety to meet a sadguru? If we do, he will even emerge from below the ground, for be sure he is eagerly waiting, watching, to assist you.
A mother's care for the child is limited to her life-time, but a sadguru's guardianship covers life after life of the disciple. The sadguru may have laid down his body, but he continues to exist and extend his protection and guidance to the disciple in one incarnation after another. When the, disciple becomes restless, so does the sadguru. So if you do not want the sadguru to lose his peace of mind, you should always keep your mind at rest, contented. Whether the body is subjected to pleasure or pain, keep the mind equable, undisturbed, happy. To have found the sadguru is the all in all of life, and you have nothing to do further. You will lose your separate existence, your ego, provided you surrender yourself to him completely unreservedly.
A yearning for God is the very life of a sadhaka. So think of Rama, whether you are awake or sleeping. Let nama be ever on your lips.



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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-July.15