Sri Maharaj's Pravachan - Oct.7.

Renunciation is the Real Essence of YajnyaA person who leads a morally pure life can do with a modest income; being contented with life he also needs modest quantity of food. I emphasize this point repeatedly, because morally righteous conduct is the very basis of paramartha. If the foundation is unsound, obviously the superstructure cannot endure long. So, too, if morality in behaviour is overlooked, your other actions, however commendable they may otherwise be, will not avail. Be specially careful in regard to three things – one, look not on another woman with lust, but with tenderness as on your mother; two, never covet another's money or riches; and three, never slander anybody. Remember, the edifice of paramartha is to rest on the foundation of all these three. Of course that the foundation alone does not make the house is equally true. To chant nama ceaselessly while ascribing all doership to Rama is to live blissfully. An actor may enact the part of a king on the stage, but if he persists in behaving like that at home, too, he will vitiate his whole practical life. Likewise, when you go to God in surrender, forget your standing as a devotee or a scholar or a moneyed man.
Some of us agree that because the effect of an act is not in our hands worry is futile, and yet we continue to worry because it is also not in our power to cease worrying. So practise to remain always immersed in nama­smarana.
The Bhagavadgeeta advocates persisting in work. We should, however, remember the result of such work may not correspond with the expectation. Therefore, always act with remembrance of Him, and merely watch and accept whatever comes. This will be acting without expectation. Thus to act merely as duty, is the essence of the teaching of the Bhagavadgeeta.
One must understand what is to be sacrificed. If one gives away his parents to avoid their responsibility, would you call it a sacrifice? Similarly instead of retiring from the world, many of us retire from God which is wrong. The essence of a sacrifice is the relinquishment of all desires and expectations, to do one's duty without expecting any return. Sacrifice all desire. To desire neither to 'have' this or 'not to have' that, paves the way for God's grace.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Oct.7

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Oct.7

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan-Oct.6.

Reach Blissful Divinity Through Saguna Worship

It is true that the Divinity is, in the ultimate analysis, limitless, non-attributive, and purely blissful. It can, however, be attained only through loving and worshipping the tangible form. It is for this reason that Shree Samartha has advocated that a true devotee should understand the attributeless form but continue to love and worship the tangible form, an idol.
An eternal truth must be peaceful and blissful; and the Cosmic Reality certainly has these features. It created the universe, and pervades it. Creation, therefore, must necessarily be full of peace and bliss. It is a delusion if I find it otherwise. To be able to see, there must be an outer eye backed by proper power of vision; that is, both are necessary. Similar is the relation between the formless, attributeless Cosmic Reality and the tangible form, the idol.
The Cosmic Reality is the eternal truth; this creation is pervaded by that Reality. The Lord desires peace throughout creation. Now this peace cannot be a product of circumstances. It should be intrinsic. Peace must exist where there is no duality. So he realizes peace whose mind is focused on the single point, the Lord, his circumstances notwithstanding. Activity in the world entails misery of one kind or another, but the pursuit of God yields one and only one kind of experience, namely, blissfulness. Constant chanting of nama is the only means to that end.
If we want to attain God, who is the pinnacle of sattva-guna, we, too, must first imbibe it thoroughly, must get saturated with it. A sick person must be careful in three respects: he must avoid unwholesome food, take the prescribed diet, and take the prescribed medicine in specified quantities at the specified timings. Similarly, one who wants to get free of the clutches of the cycle of births and deaths, will have to be careful in three regards: first, avoid the contra-indicated things such as bad company, immoral conduct, indifference to religion, falsehood, hatred, jealousy, etc; secondly, carefully cultivate conducive things such as association with the saintly, righteous thoughts, reading sacred books, righteous behaviour; and thirdly, chant nama ceaselessly. Love and worship the tangible form of God, and earn the eternal bliss that is characteristic of Ultimate Reality.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Oct.6

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Oct.6

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan-Oct.5

Vanquishing Pride is True Sacrifice
Can we describe the colour of water? God is, likewise, indescribable. His appearance is like what you imagine Him. We see Him according to the magnitudes and proportions of our various passions. The more mitigated one's passions, the nearer one is to the true perception of Him. It is unwise to ask how a single Rama can be perceptible to many at the same time, for He is omnipresent, subtly inherent in all creation.
The Ultimate Reality is neither born nor dies; it exists everywhere, timelessly. Why, then, some may ask, celebrate His birthday? It is like this: some children were rollicking in the hall of the house, unaware that grandpa was at home and in the adjoining room; he just cleared his throat aloud, and that made the boisterous boys aware and silent. So, too, by celebrating a specific day annually as His birthday, we only re-awaken ourselves periodically that God is omnipresent; with this consciousness ever fresh in the mind, we shall indulge our senses and passions with some regulation, not licentiously.
That Universal Reality which even the vedas gave up the attempt to describe, the saints succeeded in attaining, and so brought Him within ken, made Him tangible, by giving Him a certain form, name, habitation. In our state today, we need to pray to such a tangible deity, in order to attain the blissfulness which lies with only the Cosmic Spirit.
Mere erudition leads to pride, and consequently not to God, to whom any sense of separateness is intolerable. In fact, true sacrifice calls for complete annihilation of separateness and the consequent pride. The proper purity of heart will come about by always acting without consideration of self altogether. Thus to shed all idea of a separate, individual self, is the true essence of sacrifice.
Only he who has recognition of his own true self realizes God, by expanding his identity to include the entire creation. Man's real importance, uniqueness, lies in resisting passions. Mere abstract morality is like an orphan, unless founded on the concept of a Supreme Being. Paramartha consists in a morally impeccable conduct, treating everyone with love, helping others, and chanting nama incessantly; and this everyone should sincerely pursue.
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