Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-April.25.

Saints Conjoin us with the Supreme Being
Our heart is crammed so full with sensuous passions and mundane desires, that there is no room for love for the divinity. If we try to force this love in, it is spilt out and immediately evaporates. To fill this heart with love for God, we must first evict those passions and desires, and then charge it with love for God. It is common experience that a thing which is obtained repeatedly and in abundance cloys us. Let us now try to acquire something which will not so cloy; and there is only one thing which answers to that description: it is God.
A very high-ranking officer gets a stamp made of his signature, and authorises a trusted subordinate to use it at his discretion and in his name. Similarly, God gave the saints His name, to be used at their discretion, and to give to a deserving person.
As a human being, there is little distinction between us and a saint, except that while he acts as he preaches we only talk tall and glibly, but if anyone crosses our path of selfishness, we talk ill of him. We dislike a person who loves to do what we love to. We talk approvingly of moral principles, but do not act up to them. Let us therefore learn to practise what we preach.
One does not take a railway train for its own sake, but for reaching a certain destination. Similarly, saints leading a family life did not do it for the pleasure of it. They always strove to save ignorant souls, without ever deflecting from their spiritual level. They have provided us with the support of the Lord just as a drowning person may be saved by casting a rope to him. One who lives in the company of a saint himself becomes a saint in course of time, just as the wood of a tree in the vicinity of a sandalwood tree acquires the same scent. Indeed, the greatness of a saint lies in leading an ordinary person to spiritual height without his performing austere disciplines.
Even righteous persons feel that their mind is not yet purged of passions. But if we merely harp on these passions every now and then, they may thereby multiply rather than diminish. So just ignore them, only see that the body does not act up to them. Then they will automatically diminish.

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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-April 25

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-April 25

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan- April. 24

Implicit Obedience Ensures "belonging" to a Saint
No less important than the need to live is that of getting to know the creator. Who can escape criticism of the world? One who devotes himself to spiritual life is charged with neglecting worldly life; we had best ignore such comment. The only cause of real regret can be that one does not yet belong to God. One who accepts the Lord's doing and will, cannot but come by good. We should feel contented in whatever circumstances God keeps us. God is bliss itself, and it is in the very nature of all creation to lead everyone and everything to that bliss. There is scope for blissfulness even in the midst of the direst poverty. In fact, man cannot survive without some degree of joy. When every being is of that eternal bliss, whence comes this bugbear of sorrow? If I feel sorrow, there must be something wrong with me. The liberated never feels doubt as to whether he is right or wrong, because he is one with God. The spiritual ignoramus simply discounts the existence of God, and never suspects himself to be in the wrong; he assumes the authorship of whatever he does. Qualms are only felt by the mumukshu. When the qualms become acute, a saint comes along to quell them. This only happens where there is considerable store of past merit.
We should live as is meant for one "belonging" to the saints, that is, as one who has none but the saints to support him. Such a person acts scrupulously within their behests. We should not imitate their actions but act as directed by them. Cultivating association with the eternal truth is identical with the company of saints. To act without attachment to anything is the mark of a liberated soul. There is no cause for sorrow when we give up the desire to "have" or "not have" anything.
To feel the presence of the sadguru whatever we are, and to get perfect contentment in that feeling, is the true grace of the sadguru. What devout faith can achieve is unobtainable even by austere penance. Understand once and for all that the guru is identical with the Supreme Being, and there is no better spiritual exercise than implicit obedience to him; it is as good as penance, and we need feel no desire to do anything else by way of spiritual practice.

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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-April 24

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-April 24

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-April.23

Books Written by Saints are their Testament

Saints do not write books out of fondness for writing; on the contrary they do so with great reluctance. Their knowledge is intuitive, and comes directly from the Lord. Do you think Samartha Ramdas and Eknath wrote their books after repeated reading and study of the Jnyaneshwari? It is inevitable, of course, that they express some thoughts already set forth by predecessors. The saints' works are their testament. Which father would bother to write a testament if he were sure that his sons would behave properly? It is only written by one who is not sure in that respect. Similarly, saints have written not because they liked to do it, but purely out of compassion for the well-being of suffering fallen souls like us. Such books are closely connected with our life; they set forth philosophical principles which are directly applicable in everyday life.
Shri Samartha Ramadas has in his Dasabodha raised doubts and queries on our behalf and answered them, too. A person who does not think of his lasting welfare is an obvious fool, but one who tenders gratuitous advice is doubly guilty. Saints accept even this blame and try to preach spiritualism, and it is in our interest to attend to it.
When reading a spiritual book we should carefully look for the sadhana advocated for attaining the goal. If we carefully select the most suitable sadhana we can be sure of success. We should read only books pertaining to spirituality, which we want to be proficient in. If we want to study mathematics but read only fiction, how can that lead us to success? To attain spiritual ideals, therefore, we should study only the saints' works, and ponder and meditate on them.
With the mind firmly fixed on God, we should let the body and its affairs drift on the current of fate; they may sometimes be in a pleasant state, sometimes otherwise; floating on a straight course for a time, nearly sinking at another. However, under any circumstances, our mind should be peaceful and blissful. We should learn to look objectively at ourselves; this we can do if we surrender ourselves mentally to God and physically to prarabdha or destiny. The feeling of pain of the body should be treated with indifference, and not allowed to affect the mind to any depth. Pursuit of nama helps us achieve this.
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