Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.27

Find the Way to Create Love for God
The devotees and other people around a saint are often seen to be as morally depraved as the common run of people. This need not surprise us. If we visit a hospital, we are only likely to come across patients, not healthy people. Similarly, most people come to a saint to get relief from some worldly difficulty or other. What likelihood is there of getting such help from a saint in worldly matters who has renounced worldly life? It would evidently be advisable to consult a practical man than to refer to a saint. It is quite another matter, though, that chanting of nama, even if resorted to for relief in sickness, will not go unrewarded spiritually.
The saints deserve the world's gratitude for having discovered the root-cause of misery, and pin-pointed it to be the desire, to have or not to have a particular thing or situation. It is this desire that deprives us of steady satisfaction. There are only a few who aspire for God, and most of them want Him, not for His own sake but as a strong support for their worldly affairs. One who really wants God for His own sake will undoubtedly find permanent satisfaction, irrespective of age, education, intelligence, or wealth. All that is needed is earnest desire, yearning.
Paramartha is by no means a matter of conjecture. We feel it is beyond our capacity because we only talk about it, and never act. For our inaction we can always advance excuses galore. Even Arjuna, the great warrior, started giving excuses when Lord Krishna asked him to stand and fight the opponents on the battlefield; this made the Lord feel sorry. Ego, the "body-am-I" delusion, leads one to citing excuses to by-pass even the Lord's behests. If a man's daughter falls ill in a distant place, he will rush to that place, out of anxiety; but he advances all kinds of excuses if asked to go to Varanashi on pilgrimage. It is a great sin to give excuses.
A rich man may, under his guru's orders, give away all he possesses, but he will be unable to forget that act. He does not realise that the one who advises the gift is the real donor. Today, prapancha claims all our attention, our love; we must divert it and apply it solely to God.


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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Dec.27

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Dec.27

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-Dec.26

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Chant Nama Earnestly, to Subdue the Mind

Many people in this world have gifted away money, or sacrificed themselves in other ways, but they did not become truly selfless for the simple reason that they did it in the consciousness of doership. We cannot become truly selfless unless and until we have our mind in complete subjection. Yoga, sacrifices, and other religious performances are designed precisely for the purpose of subduing the mind; but can we carry them out in the present circumstances? The times are certainly not favourable. In the present age replete with distractions and temptations, there is nothing that can subdue the mind with the ease and surety of nama, because it is the only form in which God's incarnation is perceptible in the present times. So let everyone take to nama for subduing the mind.
Of the passions that destabilize the mind, the most prominent is pride or ego. No other passion surpasses it in its deadliness. Our utmost effort should be directed against it. All incarnations of God have been for the sole purpose of annihilating ego. A glaring instance is that of Hiranyakashyapu, the demoniac king; even when confronted by the lion-headed incarnation of God, he did not think of folding his hands in obeisance, but his hand went for the sword to attack Him; so dominant was his ego. In order to free ourselves from the strong hold of this ego, we should resort to nama-smarana, with a determination, and utmost effort to abstain from doership in it and in all other activities.
The second dire enemy that destabilises the peace of mind is anger; it, too, is deadly in its effect. It has laid low many a sage with severe penance to their credit. To control this anger, we should make an all-out effort, after having identified the nature of the irritants. A sensible, practical way is to observe the moral restrictions laid down by the religion. If we pay attention to the object behind these restrictions, it will be possible to control anger with its lieutenants, the other passions such as desire, covetousness, temptation, etc. If, alongside, we direct ourselves to God in a spirit of humility, the mind will automatically behave as you want it to. If you keep God always in the foreground, be sure that He will help you subdue and control your mind.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-Dec.26

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-Dec.26

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan -Dec.25

Essence of any Sadhana is Remembrance of God
Two carts left a village on official duty. One carried cash, the other building materials. Both were bound for the district headquarters, so they journeyed together. On reaching the destination at the end of the day, the drought animals were unyoked and all equally fed with same hay. Similarly, to God the learned and the ignorant are equal. The one with a head crammed with intelligent thoughts or beautiful ideas or a plethora of information is no nearer or dearer to God than the one with an empty head. Both have enough pride to take them to ruin. Learning for its own sake is evidently to be roundly decried; instead of making it becoming the goal of life it should be a means to attainment of God. The so-called learned often spend the whole life in just hairsplitting argument, whereas a plain man may merrily pass through life with nama on his lips and attain God. The learned man tries to first find out the attributes and properties of God, how we stand in relation to Him, whether He is aware of nama as we utter it, when nama came into existence, how it should be chanted, and so on and so forth. They carry this scrutiny to the end of their lives, which leaves no time for practising nama, and enjoying the pleasure of it. It would therefore be wise for a learned man to carryon his investigations into God and nama concurrently with chanting the latter; the doubts will get automatically resolved in course of time.
If a person is egoistic, God will mete out proper atonement for a sin committed by him; but He looks with kindly forgiveness on one whose ego is not dominant. If we commit a mistake unknowingly, and approach God in a spirit of repentful surrender, He will surely forgive us. If we dedicate all our past actions to Him with genuine remorse, He undertakes to guide us in the future.
Many, indeed, are the approaches to God; however, they involve much trouble for the body and the mind. Nama, on the other hand, is simple to chant, provided it is done with unswerving faith. Constant remembrance of God is the very core of all sadhanas; and it is the prominent aspect of nama. It is so powerful that all doubts are gradually overcome by persisting in chanting it.
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