Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.10

Be Always Contented in Rama's Will
To lead worldly life in perfect contentment indicates highest knowledge. Contentment and happiness rule where God manages everything. Living contentedly as Rama keeps you is the only way to happiness. For one who utterly surrenders to Rama, contentment is bound to come. The heart that is contented will be brimful with love for God. Dissatisfaction is a foregone conclusion if a man gives his allegiance to anyone but God. Aim to attain the Ultimate, Unconditioned God, nothing less than that. If your mind gets diverted from the goal, to that extent the attainment of God will be deferred. The repeated utterance of nama, the attainment of God, is a result of great religious merit. Be sure to maintain contentedness, in the faith that Shriram is omnipresent. One who genuinely believes that Rama is the prince of donors will never have to face destitution.
Rama always showers grace on His disciple. In His infinite grace He pardons all errors and misconduct; we, on our part, should take care not to repeat them. 'If a person dies remembering Me, I undertake to absolve him'; this is the assurance the Lord Himself reiterates in the Bhagavadgeeta, and therefore its veracity should be beyond question.
No one has seen or even heard of a person who is happy without God. He alone becomes God's man who has shed all ego. Win the affection of God, the Master of all creation. God, who has sustained the universe, will of course continue to do so; only, we have to maintain constant awareness of Him.
Once you go in utter surrender to God, who controls even time, all risk in life vanishes. The heart that harbours God and God alone, cares not for opulence and power. God resides with him who is devoid of a sense of self and selfishness; this is a universal, abiding principle. If you entertain the conviction that Rama is the sole, ultimate doer, where is the cause for any feeling of lack or deficiency?
Rama will be pleased if you do your duty selflessly. Ask for His help where you find human effort inadequate.


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Dec 10

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Dec.10

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.9

Avoid Egoistic Pride and Slander
A close look shows that what pampers the 'body-am-I' sense is our pride. If this pride kills or overpowers virtue, what is the sense in entertaining it? The wise therefore abandon pride, whereas the ignorant pamper it. No enemy is more dreadful than pride. One should search deep for this indwelling foe and take steps to oust it. Mere virtuous actions do not drive it out; they may, on the contrary, nourish it like giving milk to a snake, which turns it into venom. This, of course, does not mean that we should cease doing virtuous acts; we should certainly do good acts, but take care that no pride arises from them. Never feel that you are the doer. Pride comes with the birth of man and attends persistently till his death. It should therefore be carefully banished from the heart, with the help of nama.
Our heart has the turbidity of slanderousness, like a well having brackish water. Suppose we pump out this water and deepen the well, it is quite likely that we may tap a vein of sweet, potable water. So, too, if we abandon egoistic pride, stop the love of slander, and introspect deeply to find God, we are more than likely to strike the spring of His love which will flood the heart. The water drawn up from a well is the same as that in the well itself; similarly, whatever lurks in the heart finds expression in the speech. One who takes pleasure in slandering others must have a slanderous nature at heart; the heart cannot be clean and generous. Some people slander others to stave off possibility of blame; there are others who are evil-natured, and must always see faults in others.
One who seeks to walk in the way of God should bear in mind that the faults one sees in others must be existing in his own heart in a latent form. To talk of other's faults signifies a mean mind. Therefore he should never slander others, nor be proud of his strength, skill, or good quality. Never do or behave as you would not like others to do. You must not take more than essential interest in prapancha, but carry God always in your innermost attention. Thereby you will find all undesirable qualities purged from the heart, and taste lasting peace of mind.


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Dec.9

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Dec.9

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.8

Protect the Body Only for the Attainment of God

It is certainly necessary to take care to protect the body well, provided it is employed for attaining God. Such protection, however, should not be employed to make the body a medium of sensual enjoyment. If a man expends all his means to preserve past pomp, what is the net gain? It is sheer folly to do so. The utility of the hard outer shell of the coconut is to preserve the kernel. To preserve the external pomp is certainly not the ultimate goal of mankind.
The basis of all duality lies in 'I' and 'mine', and we get stuck in the consequent mire, so that we are always thwarted by the question 'Who am I'? When a man discovers that he is on the wrong path, he has to trace his footsteps back to the starting point. The mischief started when the 'body-am-I' feeling took possession of us, when we took the body and worldly things to be permanent, that is, true, which they are not. Despite repeated experience to the contrary, we stick to the misconception that there is true pleasure in indulging the senses. Is it not surprising that we still persist in that wrong notion?
Worldly things and situations constantly keep changing. In a sense we die and are reborn every day, for our going to sleep and rising again are equivalent to death and rebirth.
A jail holds a large number of prisoners. The crimes which have brought them there may be diverse; but one thing which is common to them is that each has committed one crime or another. So, too, persons whom we find suffering misery must be atoning for some misbehaviour in some past birth, under an inexorable law of action and reaction. God has however, mercifully granted the concession that one who forgets the body will not be conscious of the misery.
The problem of misery of some kind or another in the world as a whole, does not admit of a solution that will be satisfactory to human reason. Instead of worrying about it, try to alleviate the misery to the best of your capacity. Only he can forget the world and its misery who maintains an unbroken awareness of God. The more earnestly we utter nama, the more the involvement in it. We shall then automatically forget ourselves.
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