Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-April.22

Association with Saints, Best Means to Attain God

To be born a human being, to meet a saint, and to recognise and associate with him: these are the rarest things on earth. That is why living with a saint is incomparable good fortune. It may, in fact, be termed the king of sadhanas. Saints eradicate all desire in a man; and then there remains nothing to be acquired.
The body of a person performing religious rituals very meticulously, automatically acquires a characteristic radiance or aura; such you may not find with a saint, but his body is invariably a fit temple for divine knowledge. The ways and means of acquiring pleasures of the senses may be better known to us worldly-minded persons, but the blissfulness that is beyond the capacity of the body and that transcends time and space can only be obtained by remembering God and thereby being oblivious of the physical body. That is divine bliss; and only a saint can guide us in realizing it. One may go to a saint with the object of fulfilling some mundane desire, but the saint will manage to send him back divested of all wishes; in fact, one who achieves this for every person that approaches him is a true saint ---nay, he is God Incarnate. We should long to meet such a one. Saints make us cognizant of the Ultimate Reality. The true achievement of human life lies in following a saint's behest in word, deed, and spirit.
All persons sitting in a railway train reach the terminal station, irrespective of the class they travel by, and even those without a proper ticket. Similarly all persons living in the company of a saint reach the terminus, namely, the Ultimate Reality. The wicked, the sinful, the unrighteous, the unworthy, and the despicable, who may be said to correspond to the ticketless; these, too, will achieve liberation. The only proviso is that they do not leave the train en route, that is, they hold on to the saint's company. Therein, indeed, lies the greatness and the glory of a saint.
In man's quest for liberation, association with saints is of paramount importance. This association can be obtained in three ways: physical association, association with the mantra conferred by the saint, and association with his lofty thoughts and teaching. All these kinds of association exert an influence that takes place almost unawares, but is quite positive.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-april 22

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada April 22

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-April.21

Living as Directed by the Saint is True Association

Every sacred function commences with an invocation to Ganapati, and is wound up with bidding Him propitiatory farewell. So, too, the beginning of the perusal of a spiritual book as well as its termination should be marked with an awareness of God, only with this difference: that whereas in a function, after the end, we remain and Ganapati is given a farewell, in the perusal of the spiritual book we should merge our 'self' at the end with God, with the prayer, 'O Master, keep me as you please, but I beg you grant that I may never be unmindful of you'.
When you sing a hymn, do not forget that it is God that is your object. If you have Him in your thought, it does not matter even if the body is engaged in household chores. Do not set God aside out of fear about what the world thinks of you. Think on what you are in reality; that you will realise when you try to see who you are not. A little thought will show you that you belong neither to kith nor kin, nor to wife, child, parents, nor even to the mind and body that you think to be yourself; what remains after eliminating all these, is the real you. True contentment is only obtained in unity with the Supreme Being, in giving up all duality. Ego creates the sense of duality, so endeavour to conquer that ego. For this, attribute all doership to God, try to feel that God is immanent in everything, associate with the good. The real good is in the Ultimate Truth. True association with the good and the godly consists in having faith in their words, and moulding our thought and action accordingly. Keep single-minded faith in the saints. Follow their way. Do not think it humiliating to be in their company. Those, who continually indulge your sensual needs are not true saints. True saints, on the contrary, reduce the attachment to sense-pleasures. Surrender yourself to such true saints, for they alone can purge the mind of hankering after satisfaction of the senses, and can create a yearning for God. Their language always rings with sincerity, and therefore it appeals to us, converts us. Implicitly follow their teaching.
The world can never be devoid of saints. We can only recognize them by assiduously practising nama.

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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-April 21

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-April 21

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-April.20

Blessed are They who Get the Company of Saints

Be not disturbed by occurrences in worldly life, or troubles of fate, nor any upadhi; to be unmoved by these is true samadhi. A shadow is not washed and cleansed even if it falls on mud or dirt; that applies to the body, too, but the saints alone are able to realize this. Divest yourself of all desire, keep your mind clear, unprejudiced, and innocent, like a child's. It will be your highest achievement if you maintain your discriminative power alive and awake and keep the mind occupied in nama. Thorough contentment will be your reward if you still vagrant, futile fancies, and keep the mind busily engaged in Rama-nama. A perfect sadhu is one who surrenders himself completely to God, and who is delightfully engrossed in the contemplation of God. Enjoy peace of mind by burning all urge of desire and relinquishing all awareness of self. Believe honestly that you belong only to Rama and that He belongs to you.
One who abandons the 'body-am-I' feeling can alone profit by association with a saint. Do not attach importance to the body or bodily action of a saint; you have to transcend your own body-consciousness in order truly to comprehend Him. To have love for nama is the mark of a saint. Saints really make life fruitful for those who honestly associate with them. Even after the physical body of a saint dies, his influence on the world continues to act. So we remember him and seek to serve him day and night. Blessed, indeed, are they who live in association with a saint. One who has unflinching faith in a saint will definitely attain to God. Keep your attention riveted on a saint even while your body maybe attending to worldly business.
Saints never forget that Rama is the real doer, and therefore they can guide others. We should have darshan of a saint, and follow his advice always and in case of difficulties, so that worldly life will be easier for us to go through. If we follow a saint as an ideal, we shall never come to harm. Having thus achieved contentment, we should also guide others to the means thereto.
One who yields himself up to a saint completely, need seek no other means for salvation. Unfortunate, indeed, is he who happens to meet a saint but turns away from him.
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