The Cardinal and Supremely Beneficent…

Divine sage Narada said to Shukdev, “See the defects in the objects to which u have developed an affinity or passion’ because if the affinity believed to increase harm, then the mind become dispassionate to it instantly. Lamenting over past event does not bring religious merit, wealth or fame. On the other hand it reduces them, and the grief is not over come. Rather it is aggravated more and more.

“Good objects are acquired by all creatures and are bound to leave them as well. This is the universal law. Separation from the desired object is the only cause of grief. One who grieves for the death or loss of one’s beloved is actually multiplying his sorrow. Thus one who grieves in undesirable circumstances suffers double grief, but one who does not grieve is saved from all grief. Those ponder over the inevitable dualities of good and evil, and pain and pleasure in this world, nether lament nor grieve over the separation of a beloved one. Those who behold this world thoroughly as it is, never lament.

“If removal of physical pain produces mental agony and there is no way out, one should neither worry nor grieve. The best way to eradicate sorrow is to avoid tension because tension does not reduce sorrow but rather increases it. Therefore to be indifferent to it is the best solution.

“Relive mental agony with the help of lofty thoughts and cure physical ailments with the help of medication - this is the duty of the wise. In times of sorrow, do not be distressed like the unenlightened ones Youth, beauty, long life, accumulation of wealth, health and contact with the desired objects, are all impermanent and not everlasting. Therefore the intelligent, learned person should not get enamored with them.

“The great thinkers and scholar, who have read heard about past real stories and thoroughly scrutinized them, have finally come to the conclusion that there is more sorrow then happiness in human life. Undoubtedly it is the right conclusion. Beings are threatened by death only because of delusion and passion for objects of sense pleasure. One who remains indifferent to worldly happiness or sorrow becomes a jivanmukta, liberated while living. Such people are considered to have crossed the ocean of grief by the scholars. Man suffers extremely at the loss of wealth and riches. The preservation or guarding of wealth brings no happiness, and one should not grave predicaments for the acquisition of wealth. Therefore, one should not grieve over the loss of such wealth; because when the thing which gives pain gets destroyed, the pain it produces is also destroyed.”

Pure and detached, you are the one
without from and colour;
Devoid of the three bodies, you are the
external witness without organs.
A reservoir of peace and bliss,
the Self is Bliss Absolute.
Why do you forget yourself?
There is no duality in you.

Satguru –The Only Supreme Benefactor in the World

Espousing the benignity of Sri Satgurudev in the tenth chapter of ‘Jnaneshwarji Geeta’ Saint Sri Jnaneshwarji Maharaj relates:

O My Revered Gurudev! Only your majesty is competent of bestowing the realization of the ultimate truth upon a being. You are the evolution of the lotus of true knowledge. Your divine radiance annihilates the ignorance of this mundane world. Your form is limitless. Your power is infinite. I bow unto thy Lotus feet!

You are the benefactor of the entire universe. You are the cornucopia of jewels that is symbolic of beneficent auspiciousness. You are the aromatic fragrance sandalwood realm of nobility. You are the only god worthy idolization. As the moon placates and pacifies a Himalayan partridge, exactly in the same manner, you appease the quest of sagacious being with the nectar of supreme knowledge.

O my Satgurudev! You are an ocean of elixir drawn from the knowledge of revered scriptures. You earnestly destroy the intense desire of passion in beings that in turn is responsible for the dissolution of the entire conscious world. Therefore my revered Gurudev, I pay my obeisance to you. You are the devastator of the coliseum of the world in which being wonder like an arrogant elephant. Therefore I reverently bow before thee!

When your benevolent world shower their compassion on a dumb person, they can make him competent enough to debate resolutely with Lord Brihaspati, the refulgence of your gaze or the affable touch of your blissful hand bestows upon beings the ultimate realization of the True Self.

How can I, with limited tools of worlds even dare to describe my Gurudev whose deeds are so overwhelming & stupendous? Can anyone smear the sun with sandalwood paste? How far can the ‘Kalpvriksh’ (a mythological plant that is supposed to grant all desires) be adorned with blossoms? How can anyone dare to extend his hospitality to ‘the ocean of milk) by serving it delicacies? Can sandalwood be smeared with any other paste? Can the sky be uplift further by any means? Exactly in the same manner, no method could be deemed capable enough for precisely estimating Revered Satgurudev’s benevolent deeds, and above all, from where could we find such an instrument?

After deliberate reflection of all these facts and without any gabbiness, I’ve reverently surrendered myself at the lotus feet of my adorable ‘Satgurudev.’ If anyone has the audacity to proclaim vaingloriously that he possesses the acumen of given an accurate account of Sri Satgurudev’s power and competence, I believe this to be analogous to that of covering a gleaming pearl with a coating of mica. Evan such a one’s invocation of Sri Gurudev would be similar to that of gilding pure gold with silver coating. So, it is prudent to surrender oneself quietly at reverent Satgurudev’s adorable feet.

My intellect, which was earlier dominated by certain corporeal conception, now by your divine grace, has turned into Elysium Bliss. How can I dare to express the virtuous deeds of my revered Gurudev when they are all so phenomenal, infinite and transcendental? Still, somehow I’ve ventured to espouse a few of them. O my adorable Gurudev, I humbly seek thy remission for my impudence.

Dependence and happiness cannot Co-exist

One of the main reason for our unsteady mind is the inferiority complex. When we consider ourselves inferior to others, the feeling of lowliness gets ingrained in our mind. We start counting our shortcomings that we do not have such and such thing and we think that these transitory objects would give us peace and joy. We unknowingly regard our selves as inferior evaluate other above us.
O child of God! You are unaware of your strength, bliss and consciousness. That on which u cast your loving glance becomes dear to you. You are the immortal son of the Dear Supreme Soul. Om Bliss Om Sweetness…

Wherever you see anything good, in its depth is your own consciousness, it is verily you. Don’t curse yourself. Do you have to go anywhere and attain anything to be happy? O Bliss personified! O Absolute Consciousness! O immortal son of God!
‘Rare is that great soul, who see the one Lord Vasudeva everywhere.’ Let your thinking be in line with that of such a great soul who has experienced the omnipresence of Lord Vasudeva. Be one with his experience.

Om Vasudeva … Om Narayana…
Om Acyutaya Govindaya Anantaya
Om Acyutaya Govindaya Anantaya

One who never trusts one’s own knowledge, intellect or deeds; and always others their role model for their knowledge, intellect or deeds inevitably develops an inferiority complex which leads to frustration dissatisfaction.
Their consequent dull and drab behavior starts exhibiting queer patterns of craving for various worldly objects. Such experience of inferiority ultimately results in a life of dependence.
It is aptly said, “Those who are dependent cannot get happiness even in dream.”

If a man wants to attain a salvation in this very life, he must do the work of thousands of years in a single life, He will need to move much faster than time. One experience praise
and insult, ‘mine’ and ‘yours’, good and bad in a dream. But once he is a wake, they all cease to exist. Likewise, one has to experience of the world in the waking state. Once you come to realize and understand this, you have a accomplished the work of thousands of years. The petty samskaras of thousands of years, the illusion of ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ will all be obliterated, once you find a Saint who can instill this knowledge in you.

When a person becomes a lover his True Self, the worries regarding livelihood, thought about women and the painful memories of enemies cease to exist.

To look at oneself from the perspective of others, not knowing one’s own true nature is the root cause of all sufferings. The desire to project a good image of one’s self is in itself a social vice.

The Great Poet-Devotee Ganga

The great poet Ganga was a court-poet of Emperor Akbar. All the other poets in Akbar’s court used to sing paeans for Akbar. But Ganga was a fearless poet. His poems were full of devotion to the Lord. He never recited a poem in praise of Akbar, which didn’t go well with the king.

Once Akbar reproached Ganga in the open court, “O great poet! You have delighted me by reciting excellent spiritual poems from time to time. But you have never recited a poem in the praise of me. I am the king, the benefactor of all. I can make anybody rich and prosperous and can destroy anybody if I so decided. Please write a poem with the ending, ‘….all should pray to Akbar to satisfy their desire.’’’

Akbar had made it clear that the poem should be in his praise. Those jealous of Ganga were greatly pleased within. The poet Ganga composed a short poem then and there and recited it in the open court:

‘One who sings praises of another,
forgetting the one God,
the tongue of that prattler
should be cut off.
The world today crawls to the king
to get a gift from Akbar.
Ganga is the devotee of
Lord Krishna alone,
and therefore is not afraid of any king.
Those who don’t have
trust in Lord Krishna,
they all should pray to Akbar
to satisfy their desires.’

As he heard these words, Akbar flew into a rage. He said, “You will pay dearly for this affront.’’
The great poet retorted fearlessly:

‘Lord Krishna is a horse,
you are a donkey.
I have said what I wanted to,
do whatever you can.’

Fining this golden opportunity, the sycophants added fuel to the fire. The emperor pronounced the judgment, “Let the poet Ganga be trampled to death under the feet of an elephant!”
He was brought in front of an elephant. Proceeding towards the elephant unconcerned and in a jubilant mood, he said:
‘The spineless can never go to the battled field like a hero, nor can they ever win. (That is only the fearless and brave people can fight battles and assert the truth.) I bless all the courtiers and take leave.’
Thus he was trampled under an elephant’s feet and departed from the world remembering Lord Krishna. The fire of Akbar’s anger was not cooled even with this. He ordered the whole family of the poet Ganga to be trampled under the elephant’s feet.
After a few years, Akbar found a poem written by Ganga:

‘A Dumb fellow can not
understand a profound utterance.
A she-buffalo doesn’t care
whose fields she is grazing on.
Listen King Akbar,
says the poet Ganga.
An ass doesn’t know the worth of the
water of the holy Ganga.’

As he read this verse, Akbar was regretful for he had killed a great poet and devotee of the Lord.

The Saint Exist to do Good to Other

‘A tree never eats its fruits; a river never drinks its water. The saints exist to do good others.’ As a tree never eats its fruits and a river never drinks her water, likewise the saints live not for their own selfish ends but for the welfare of other. Though people maybe envious of the saints’ fame and reputation and try all sorts of tricks to blemish them, yet unmindful of all this, the saints spend their whole life in altruistic endeavours. Their life is spent only in delivering mankind from sorrows and filling people’s hearts with peace and bliss.

There lived one such great saint in the province of Sindh – Sai Teunram. People experienced great joy in his company. He had the hypnotic power of love and benevolence which can be found in Bapuji as well. He had the power of infusing peace and bliss into people through a mere glance. Not old men and woman but the many young people too came to his satsanga. His rising popularity and people’s love for him caused animosity in the minds of some so-called social reformers. Social reformers are two types. One kind is that of noble men, and the there are people who are envious of other people’s fame. They want to become famous by hook or by crook. Some such people of malicious minds started vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram. The malicious campaign gained momentum and become so powerful that some good but credulous people stopped going to see Sai Teunram.

The good people of that time committed a grave mistake. They thought, ‘What does it matter to me? Those who sow, shall reap the result!’ But why should the evil slanderers be allowed to sow sins and thus reap the harvest of misery? Before that they should be put wise so that they are saved from sinning and suffering, and the society too is saved from being misinformed. Anyhow the slandering and vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram became so strong that a resolution was passed by the municipality that the parents of the boys and girls who went to Sai Teurnam Ashram had to pay a fine of five rupees was a big sum of money, as gold was priced at 60 rupees a tola (13 grams). Some people with weaker minds told their sons and daughters not to go to Sai Teunram’s ashram. Some boys and girls stopped, but those who recognized the worth of the saint’s ambrosial words, were not to be held back. Their souls cried out:

‘The world has not the power to hold us back.
The world depends on us;
We are not dependent on the world.’

A smoker doesn’t abstain from smoking; a drunkard does not abstain from alcohol; a gambler doesn’t stop gambling; then how could those wise, satsang-loving boys and girls stop going to their Guru’s Ashram? Though the resolution of a fine of 5 rupees was passed, true devotees didn’t stop going to Sai Teunram’s Ashram.

We have a desire in our minds to please anybody who is worthy of our reverence. Whether it is Lord Rama’s devotee, Shabari or Lord Krishna’s devotee, Meera, they both had a desire to please their revered lords. Sai Teunram’s devotees were always eager to please their Guru. They offered flowers, sacred leaves etc. to their guru according to their capacity to express their gratitude towards him. This aroused malicious feelings in the hearts of the wicked. That is why they had passed the fine of five rupees in addition to maligning the saint. Some fickle minded people stopped coming. But there were others, lovers of Sai Teunram, who continued to come to Ashram. Those who tread the path of god-realization are truly brave. Thousands of obstructions and impediments cannot deter them from pursuing their goals. All rumors and slandering fails to distract their hearts from their devotion to their Guru, because they recognize in full the glory of the Guru and the significance of His grace.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa had unwavering faith in his Guru, Shri Totapuri. Once somebody came to him and said, “Totapuri is eating at the house of such and such a woman and you have made him your Guru?”

Shri Ramakrishna said, “Shut up! If you utter even a single derogatory world about my Guru, you will have to repent for it.”

“But I only wish for your own good. You used to converse with Ma Kali. In spite of being so great, you accepted Totapuri as your guru! Think again. He is just an ordinary man.”

Shri Ramakrishna retorted, “Even if my Guru goes to a wine shop, he is Lord Krishna for me.”

This is true faith! Such people find liberation. The rest are drowned midstream. So the lovers of Sai Teunram found ways and means to reach their Guru. If the parents had to go out for some work, they would tie their children to the legs of the beds, and keeping them in veranda would lock the house from outside to stop them from running away to the Ashram. However, the satsanga-loving boys and girls would break the beds and go to Sai Teunram’s Ashram with the bed-legs tied to their hands and then Sai Teunram and the other sadhakas would untie them. The detractors were nonplussed when they saw people going with cot-legs tied around their hands.

Sai Teunram also used to grow food-grains in his Ashram. When the detractors found that their plan has failed they got another order passed that no shopkeeper should buy anything from Sai Teunram’s Ashram, otherwise the offender would be fined. When this failed to dent Sai Teunram’s equanimity and forbearance, and the faith of his devotees remained unwavering, the wretched sinners poured kerosene into the well that the Ashram people drew water from. What a height of wretchedness! What terrible tyranny! But Sai Teunram was very firm.

Saints are made no weak stuff. They have the potency of playing on the Lord’s chest. Many a time, God has gone back on His vow to keep the word of His devotees and His saints. To get Bhishma Pitamah’s resolve fulfilled, Lord Krishna broke his own vow of not wielding a weapon in the battle of Mahabharata.

The vicious propaganda against Sai Teunram shook the faith of weak minds, but the love and affection of his devotees went on increasing day by day. Sai Teunram used to deliver satsanga sitting on a platform in his Ashram. Other saints used to visit him too, and the platform turned out to be inadequate. His devotees therefore made the platform bigger and this made his opponents burn with even more envy, and so they called tehsildar. He said that the platform had been built in an unauthorized manner and had narrowed the road resulting in hardship to users of the road, and therefore the platform should be demolished. He registered a case against Sai Teunram and told him to present himself in the court the next day. But Sai Teunram didn’t appear in the court at the appointed time. The next day when Sai Teunram came back after taking a bath, he found that the platform had been demolished! The saints may tolerate, but nature will not tolerate affront to a saint. After some time that tehsildar was transferred. The new tehsildar was a devotee of the lord. He got the platform re-erected.

Those who wanted to malign or insult Sai Teunram did not succeed. Some of the people who tried to defame him and tarnish his reputation, repent and begged forgiveness. While nobody, knows which hell the others might have fallen into! However, the fragrance of Sai Teunram’s pious fame is still spreading in all quarters sanctifying countless hearts even to this day.

The words of the Guru, who is a jivanmukta, are verily the sacred scriptures. When put into practice they become religion. The manorajya of a jivanmukta is the divine play of God. His very Self is Brahman.

Those Who Insult Saints are the Ones Who are Insulted

It is none but the Guru who protects us from troubles, who saves us from treading the wrong path, who teaches us how to tread the right path. If anybody, anywhere, tries to insult such a Guru by any means; if a finger is pointed at a saint, then be sure that the finger is pointed at our culture, at us.

Pujya Bapuji has given love to all. With Bapuji’s grace, Indian culture is undoubtedly, continuing. As Bapu claims, no one can stop India from becoming World Guru in 2011AD, but we have to be alert and cautious. People are ready to attack us stealthily. Our Gurukuls are censured. Therefore, certainly now let us become alert.

Whether Bapu believes Himself as God or not, we people believe him as a personification of God because he has taught us how to live, how to die, how to follow the duty of a house holder. Prostrations to such a Bapu, prostrations to such a civilization! In all the gurukuls that are inspired by Bapu, children are taught about and inspired to follow Indian civilization.

What we are supposed to do is to translate His teachings in our life and imbibe His grace to experience the same everywhere gradually. Just as God has said: “We don’t have to be meek or scared, we don’t have to ask for anything, and we don’t have to become escapists.”

Today, though it may seem that the sun, the light is hidden, covered behind the dark clouds of defamation but mind well, the sun never gets clouded; a saint is never insulted. Those who insult saints are the ones who are insulted. This is an undisputed truth.

- Acharya Shri Ramgopal Shukla, Upadhyaksha, Shraddha TV Channel

Don’t Become a Vehicle for Exerting “Mass Pressure”…

- Chief justice of India Shri K.G. Balakrishnan

The tendency of newspaper and news channels to carry unverified reports poses a danger to a free and fair constitutional judicial process.

The manner in which the modern media and telecommunications intruded into a person’s life and caused embarrassing and damaging publicity, if left unchecked, would become “alarming”.

Chief justice of the Supreme Court Shri K.G. Balakrishnan was delivering the fourth K.S. Rajamony Memorial Public Law Lecture on “Constitution, media and courts” in Kochi.

The “media trial”, conveying public opinion in favor of one side or the other, particularly in criminal matters, and become increasingly frequent in recent times. Even before the court trial began, the accused was being shown as guilty. This questioned the very premise on which the judicial system was based – the right of every party involved in a court proceeding to have his case adjudicated in a free, fair and unbiased manner.

The media are a sentinel of democratic freedom. It is the responsibility of every person associated with the media to act responsibly with a sense of duty towards society and the nation. In fact, journalists used to be “vigilant watchdogs of civil liberties.” The right of the media also has the duty to report fairly, objectively and accurately. He said the media should be wary of allowing itself to become a vehicle for exerting “mass pressure” as opposed to a “mere expression of mass opinion.”

Many cases exist in India where the media has conducted elaborate interviews and discussions regarding the guilt of the accused in a manner that created public pressure, rather than public opinion. Publicity is necessary, but that which is responsible and unbiased.

Where is the sword that can kill me? Where is the weapon that can wound me? Where is the calamity that can vitiate my cheerfulness? Where is the sorrow that can destroy my happiness? Now all fears have disappeared. All doubts have vanished. My day of triumph has arrived. No worldly even can disturb the tranquil state of my mind. I do not lose or gain anything on account of these worldly ups and downs. I have neither hatred for enemies nor love for friends. I am not afraid of death, nor scared of destruction. I have no passion for life, no desire for pleasures, no fear of pain, because all this is in the mind and mind itself is but an illusion.

This is a Conspiracy Nothing Else!

It was Sankaracharyaji and now it is Sant Sri Asaramji Bapu – some ordinary thing is taken up and without getting to the root of the matter and searching for the truth, it is the propagated to disgrace their name. It is highly unfortunate. It should also be taken into account as to how many as to how many poor people have been helped by the Asaram, how many have been benefited by the distribution of food, and to many students thousands and lakhs of notebooks have been distributed. Many time he asked me to accompany him to distribute sweetmeats, books, etc in the tribal areas. He wanted to get some books distributed by me. See, how much society has benefited from him, how much support has been given to life – all this has been completely ignored. Even this should be taken into account. Our own people join hand with the media and everything is magnified.

If one is committed to look at the faults alone, one can fined thousands of faults in a great soul, you or me, or even in God.

Look how much Bapuji Has mortified himself for the sake of society! How much contribution he has given to the society! How much life he has infused into society! Why don’t you enquire into the benefits that thousands and lakhs are deriving from him? What is being done to such a saint is not good for Gujarat, not for India. Ramayana has it the punishment for sinning against a saint is instant, delayed for some time. The fruit of satsanga that it ‘gives instant benefits’ instantly not after one or two or five years. Similarly, it is said about sinning against a saint.

‘O Parvati! Listen. Disrespect to a saint destroys all changes of good.’

So this is extremely harmful, and in my opinion, only he who himself is a true saint can decide who a true saint and who is a hypocrite. If somebody says that a saint should not have this or that attribute, or he should not do this or that thing… if you know what kind of attributes a saint should have or what a saint, is then first become a saint yourself. One who knows the definition of a saint will himself become a great saint. So one who says, ‘a saint should have this quality, he should not have that attribute; is only indulging in intellectual jugglery. And when politicians or other with vested interests join the fray, they fail to see a true saint blinded as they are by the veil of selfishness!!! What a deplorable fact! A saint will forgive. Electronic media which is being watched and listened to bye crores should side with the truth; it should worship the truth.

This is clearly a conspiracy to divide the country. There may foreign elements involved in it; that is why it has become possible. It is definitely a conspiracy, and it will be goods for us to awaken our people this subject lest they lose faith in their Dharma, their scriptures and their Gurus. Otherwise they will be deprived of the vital keys which they get from some saint which make their lives accomplished! To that end we go to satsanga etc. If lose faith in that, how can we succeed? It looks like it will harm the saints (or the faith that people have in the saints will be destroyed) but in the ultimate analysis, it will be the ones who are conspiring against the saint and Sanatana Dharma, who will meet with destruction. God himself descendants of Sanatana Dharma. There is the description in Srimad Bhagwat of an incident when Ashwatthama fired the Brahmastra to kill Parikshit, the only descendants of the Pandavas, and Lord Krishna saved him. The lord saves the descendants of the Sanatana Dharma destruction. Those who are bent upon destroying it will themselves be destroyed. But we should not remain inactive. Our inactive is the case of the punishment we suffer. It is not the activity of wicked people that is dangerous for us; it is our own inactivity that is so. (Don’t be passive. Fight bad publicity with good publicity. Make efforts to get justice)

The biggest question is that how come all these things are coming up together now? Why are all those people who are alleging that injustice was being meted out to then ten years ago, now saying so? Those who are relating an incident which occurred 5 years ago, that such and such a thing had happened in his ashram or such and such an incident took place ten years ago; why didn’t they say so at the time? Well! There sure is some thing behind all this. After that single incident of those two children, which sure was a tragic event, everyone jumped into the fray. This is because there is somebody who is supporting them from behind; which mean it is a conspiracy no doubt.

Take any person; there will definitely be some people who are displeased with him, and it can be any saint or great soul. Today, for instance you or me – is everyone pleased with us? Some person may desire a certain position, and if we don’t give it, he will surely nurture hatred in his mind. If one doesn’t get the desired job or positioning the ashram he gets displeased, and displeased people will concoct any tale when it to be understood here is that it is only a reflection of his displeasure. When people see that their desires are not fulfilled, they seek some opportunity to trouble or defame others.