Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.3.

Purity of Heart, and Determined Nama-smarana
Eschew the idea that you have yet something to do. "I have dedicated myself to God, and now there is no longer anything else that I have to achieve or strive for", this should be the attitude of your mind. You will certainly win tranquillity of mind if you solemnly promise to God, "Lord, henceforward I live only for Thee; nothing else now claims my attention except remembering Thy name."
It is incorrect to say that old age makes the mind weak and therefore unable to repeat the holy name. While enumerating His manifestations, Lord Krishna says, in the Bhagavadgeeta that, among the organs and faculties of the body, He is the mind. The mind, we imagine, becomes helpless at the last hour of life; and yet the Lord exhorts us to remember Him till and at the last moment of our existence. It cannot, therefore, be that the mind must lose awareness of Him. Of course, advanced age may mean loss of ability to sit up in meditation for as long as in younger age, or that sleep may overtake one during meditation; but it cannot happen that the mind may lose awareness of God and the divine name. What actually happens is, not weakening of the mind, but its preoccupation and loading with thoughts about extraneous worldly matters. What is required, therefore, is disengaging the mind from those extraneous matters and concentrating it on God. If we dissociate the mind from money and such other worldly matters, then we cannot miss our goal.
Hankering after money and popular esteem or recognition, drive a person away from the divine, so one should avoid falling a prey to such hankering. One cannot avoid the possibility of coming across it in worldly life, but one who aspires to love of God should be on guard to avoid its evil effects.
Righteousness, devotion to God, remembering and repeating nama, and company of saintly persons, are the means of purifying the mind. In brief, close association with the saintly is the surest remedy. An obvious sign of a pure mind is a desire that the whole world should be as happy as ourselves. To foster this desire, one should make it a practice to pray for peace and happiness to all in the world; then God will in His grace certainly purify the mind.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi -May 3

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada -May 3

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.2.

Great Vigilance is Necessary in Sadhana
A farmer may have cultivated the land and sown selected seed; the rain may have been sufficient and timely; the sprouting may be vigorous; even then, however, he must not rest careless; for even as the growth proceeds, increasing care becomes necessary. For one thing, stray cattle may enter the field and cause destruction; also, pests or locusts may ruin the crop. Intrusion by cattle may be easily apparent, and can be controlled by fencing; but attacks by pests or locusts may not be noticeable without minute inspection, and can only be controlled by sprinkling of appropriate medicines or chemicals. This means that the farmer has always to be vigilant; so, too, has one who is striving for spiritual uplift.
What a fence or hedge is to the field, ordinary life of family and worldly affairs is to the spiritual aspirant; he should therefore pay due attention to its proper management, taking care, however, that it does not thrive so much as to encroach on the main crop and overwhelm it. He should not forget that the sole role of family life is like that of the fence-protection, and give it only that much importance and attention, and no more. We should lead family life without letting it become an impediment in the spiritual path. Just as the farmer inspects the crop very minutely to detect the incidence of pests, so too should we be carefully on the watch lest the mind should get attached to worldly matters.
With proper precautions as outlined above, a farmer may successfully reach the stage of harvesting of the crop. But care is required also in threshing, and the grain must be carefully garnered to prevent incursions by rats and mice. It should be carefully husked so as not to injure the grain. Thus care and caution are needed at all stages. So, too, they are necessary for the aspirant; for, instances are numerous where the aspirant's progress is retarded if he acts carelessly, or under an illusion that the journey is finished and he has reached the goal. The aspirant leading a family life will have to live among other householders, and must therefore exercise great caution lest his mind should go astray owing to their influence; there is no knowing when the inner inclination may change. Spiritual quest is indeed a difficult hunt.
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Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Marathi-May2

Sri Maharaj's Pravachan in Kannada-May 2

Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.1.

Motive for any Action Must be Clean
Of the three gunas, tamas, is the most akin to inert matter; and therefore its effects are most easily, widely, and quickly perceptible. Tamas directly vitiates thought and desires. Man, however, has the capability of purifying the mind, by profusely repeating nama; for, this leads to the development of sattwaguna which gradually purifies the mind. That God can be attained by mere disciplinary practices and mortification of the body and the mind, is a mistaken notion; were it correct, workers toiling in the scorching sun to break stone into road metal would have been among the first to attain God. We should remember, God concerns Himself with a man's disposition and the state and tendencies of his mind and heart, rather than with mere physical acts like mortification.
One may create in people's eyes an image or impression of great devoutness by mortification exercises like say, fasting, and yet secretly entertain a mundane objective. God, who resides in all hearts, cannot be so deceived. We should, therefore, aim at practising what we preach or say; in the path of spirituality nothing is more harmful than hypocrisy. To get lost in contemplation of God and thus forget to take food is far better than intentional fasting. We should get so engrossed in spiritual meditation that we acquire constant, unbroken awareness of God's presence. It matters not, in this state of mind, whether the body does or does not take food. On the other hand, mere fasting without such awareness of His presence will only lead to weakness of the body.
It is the motive behind any act that determines the intrinsic value of the act. God will readily condone an unorthodox action if the motive prompting it is pure. On the other hand, an apparently good action with an ulterior motive may keep God away. An action free from expectation of any kind will be highly appreciated by Him. We should strive to win God purely for His own sake. Indeed, if He were to present Himself before us and to offer to grant our desire, we should only ask for His name; this is true desirelessness. A manifestation of God may disappear some time or other, but His name abides for ever. As long as His name is with us, it is incumbent on Him to come to us.
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