Month: May 2019

Swamiji says…

“All of us have undergone that delightful, memorable phase in our childhood, when we were introduced to our Creator – God, by our elders. They showed us fascinating and awe – inspiring pictures and idols of various Gods and Goddesses …and taught us to fold our hands in respect and say ‘Jai’ to Him. The first seeds of awareness of a ‘form’, a power Supreme, mysterious and Divine, were laid within us in this manner. And, as we grew up, we learnt the importance of bathing Him, worshipping Him, offering fruits and ‘bhog’ to Him, adorning His idol with flowers, lighting ‘diyas’ and incense – sticks, and singing ‘aartis’ in His glory. It did not matter whose name we took – Ganeshji, Mahadev, Vishnuji, Brahmaji, Kaali Ma. The aim was to take His name and make an attempt to cleanse ourselves from our past sins. These rituals, performed by us, matured the erstwhile seeds into young saplings that were rapidly developing strong roots of love, faith, devotion and ‘bhakti’ within us…bonding us with Him.”

“Most of us follow this routine of worshipping and praying to God – religiously and regularly. It is here that we must pause and think – ‘Are we completely absorbed and totally involved in Him while paying obeisance to Him? Or are we still engrossed with the ‘worldly’ world while doing so? Do our senses awaken to experience and detect the divine beauty of those few minutes that we devote to God, in which we whisper words to Him that we are certain He hears or is it a drill that we perform, mechanically, day after day? We pray to Him fervently to fulfil our wishes, to give us the strength needed to live each day as it unfolds itself before us. Do we say these words with complete and absolute faith in Him? Or is our appeal to Him half-hearted! Do we actually feel stronger, secure and safer after sharing our worries and woes with Him or do we do this purely because we’ve been always told that God takes care of us in good and bad times?”

“It is at this juncture that we need to remember that we will most certainly, experience His presence during every moment of difficulty or otherwise, if … we have reposed complete faith in Him. And, it is when our faith in Him makes us surrender to Him that life becomes truly blissful and meaningful. A new lease of life surges through us when His invisible, but, palpable strength makes us feel rejuvenated and strong…to take on, and, accept any challenge that comes our way. The thought that an unseen power, God …or the silent presence of a ‘sachcha sant’ … a guru…is constantly by our side, guarding and guiding us gives us immense strength to carry out our duties in this lifetime without complaining…and by accepting that our past ‘karma’ is playing out in this lifetime.”

“We cry for our loved ones … but, do we cry for Him? If we call out to Him with un-abiding faith, with a sincere, pure heart … a heart soaked with devotion and ‘bhakti’ in Him… before we know it, He will respond to our call and be by our side to usher us on the ‘maarg’ destined for us in this birth.”

“We love our family members. But do we love God with the same intensity? Try doing so.Our faith in Him will not let our love go unrewarded and His love and concern for us will allow us to ‘discover’ Him…discover the ‘spiritual’ path and…’find’ Him. We will also get a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to discover ‘ourselves’ and give us the much needed strength to burn ourselves out in order to do so. The fruitful hours that we thus spend in meditating…in realizing Him…in knowing the Real me…might enable us to enter the ‘spiritual’ sky one day and merge with Him.”

Swamiji says …

” We become the receiver of God’s blessings and His responsibility from the moment our mother conceives us in her womb. This life that he gifts us with is a blessing from Him…and He showers His blessings on us, in abundance … from that very moment in various ways … by ensuring that our foetus form is positioned correctly in the womb, our healthy growth and development and finally our birth…in accordance with our past karma.”

” Every breath that we take, every grain of food that we eat, every requirement of ours that is fulfilled are blessings that we receive from God. But engrossed as we are in material pursuits, we fail to see the hand of divinity blessing us all the time. Forget about seeing ! Rather than accepting these blessings gratefully, catching them deftly and holding them carefully, lest we let go of them… most of us are unable to understand, handle and safeguard His blessings…but complain constantly that He doesn’t think or care about us. ‘Hum blessings ko sambhaal nahi paatey hain’.”

” We are so deeply embroiled in the web of ‘maya’ and rituals that we fail to see the mysterious effect of the words…uttered by a ‘guru’ , an elder family member or a poor, wretched soul …in the form of a blessing, when they fructify before us … take a definite shape and form … and turn out to be true and come to our rescue when we are in dire need of relief. Remember … Blessings have an intriguing way of showing the power that words can have when they rise from a pure, genuine and grateful heart. The beauty of such soulful words reverberates in the space around us … enigmatically become a part and parcel of us… and we, undoubtedly, will reap the dividends of these blessings… at least, once in our lifetime.”

“Rituals, totally meaningless at times, play such a predominant role in our lives, that we continue to follow them blindly and perform them regularly… without pausing to reflect on the consequences of doing so. Do you ever think and ponder … Am I gaining something truly beneficial from the rituals that I have been observing since years ? Am I any closer to understanding who I am? Is it time for me to move to the spiritual course from a life steeped in rituals? Have I shown any inclination to know where have I come from? Do I understand the divine import of the words when a ‘sachcha sant’ tells me – ‘I will help you attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death?’ Do I detect the hidden, divine blessing in these magical words ? Can I hug this blessing close to my heart … nurse and raise it with faith and belief and say…Yes , one day, this blessing from my ‘guru’, will surely colour me in identical hues of his divinity, and help me attain ‘moksha’?”

” Count your blessings, reverentially, as they reward you most unexpectedly, at the moment chosen by Him.”

Swamiji says …

” ‘Karma pradhaan hai …’ You must remember that every action… ‘karma’ of yours is being witnessed,
weighed, analysed and evaluated by your family members, acquaintances, friends, by the society in which you live and above all…by your ever-watchful Creator. The importance and consequences of your ‘karma’ cannot be ignored and over-ruled, even for a second, as it is your ‘karma’, that makes you or breaks you, makes you scale loftiest heights or fall into a pit of doom and despair.”

“The ‘sanskaars’ or values that have been instilled in you by your parents , go a long way and play a definitive role in making you the person that you are today. ‘Sanskaars’ that have been passed from one generation to the next … that our forefathers have learnt from ‘anant anadi sanatan dharma.’ However, you must be honest with yourself and ask yourself whether you have made a genuine effort to imbibe the values that had been imparted to you by them. Once you experience the unparalleled joy of leading a simple life…of living in a ‘pure’ environment, knowing your limits and living within certain means, exercising self-restraint, sacrifice willingly for others, serve anyone and anybody selflessly , look for every opportunity to help others – you certainly evolve into a better human being… one who is humble, grounded, stable and at peace with himself. When you live a life like this, your ‘karma’ too is naturally good, selfless, compassionate and considerate… and people laud you, respect you and remember YOU for your truly good ‘karma’. It is your ‘karma’ that has quietly spoken volumes about you. Isn’t it a relief to have no strings of deceit and falsehood attached anywhere to your name?”

” When you give it a serious thought , you might ponder whether it is really possible for you to accumulate unlimited wealth and live a life of ostentation and luxury without carrying the unforgiving baggage of compromising your values and principles. And if you find yourself in a situation like this, you will realise that you are more than eager to jump from your boat of sincerity and integrity without giving anything a second thought …and cling to a lifeboat of dishonesty and untruth… without any sign of remorse. The acts of omission and commission that are involved in becoming wealthy and rich overnight, will undoubtedly require you to walk on a path that is twisted and convoluted … riddled with greed, avarice, underhand dealings and wrongdoings. But you are more than ready to do anything to make some quick money. Just try and visualise the ‘karma’ that goes into making you something like this! Crafty, cunning, ruthless. The ‘so called’ respect, appreciation and laurels that you see coming your way… is not for the Real ‘YOU’ … but for the ‘maya’ that you possess … your wealth, your power and status. The Real You is lost somewhere in the glitter of the Unreal ‘maya’.”

“On reading books and epics you find the names of the rich and the powerful mentioned…but there is no mention,at all, of the ordinary, poor souls who had fought courageously and died in battle … nameless soldiers and distraught subjects. However, one name that has withstood the passage of time, is that of Sudama, the poorest of the poor, who was Lord Krishna’s best friend and comrade in arms. The Lord couldn’t live without His friend. It was not riches and affluence that made Sudama carve a name for himself for eternity, but his values, traits and ‘karma’ that drew the Lord towards him and made Him bridge the imaginary gulf between high and low status, between riches and poverty, as the Lord too had felt dwarfed by the purity and piety of Sudama’s ‘karma’.

Swamiji says ….

” We love the world in which we live as we look upon it as our home…Love its dynamic nature, the ever- changing element of surprise that it stumps us with … its colours , the fragrances that it exudes , the different seasons that it makes us experience…the people we meet as we grow and evolve…and we love to live in it. “

” However, at the same time, it would do us good to remember that it is this very world that is the cause…the reason … for the moments of disquiet , turbulence and unhappiness that come our way. When Nature and Mother Earth too accept the changes that The Creator has designed for them … one moment the Earth is all still and silent …the very next moment tremors of a roaring earthquake can cause unbelievable destruction … one minute the placid ocean invites us to swim and surf on it … the very next moment , gigantic killer waves rise from the ocean and devour everything that stand in their way. Can we mere mortals then, feign ignorance to the reality that we will remain untouched , unscathed… by the ‘changing times’ that we will undoubtedly face… as we wade through our journey of life. The ever -changing world … the ‘not in our control’ circumstances… successful or failed relationships with people we live with and meet …
untimely death of loved ones… intrinsic and extrinsic changes…
worsening nature and temperament … physical infirmities of old age …become a major cause of grief, sorrow and unhappiness for us.”

” It is possible that , today , one could be at the peak of his career … climbing the ladder of success with sure footedness. He has a beautiful family … and shares moments of pure joy and laughter with them and is living a wonderful life … enjoying all comforts of life… when all of a sudden life takes an unexpected turn … for the worse and he ends up losing all that was precious to him. He is devastated and breaks down completely as he sees no sign of getting his life back on track ever again. Believe me, this is not the case! Time can never remain the same for any one of us. If you meet happiness… moments of unhappiness too will visit you, simultaneously. One day , sorrow will be replaced by joy. It is if, and when, you are faced with a situation like this that you must remember … the traumatic phase that you are facing will not last forever. It will be an event of the past after some time. It has to pass. It will pass. Never forget the words…’The world in which we live is an ocean of turbulence … and we must learn to face ‘dukh’ … ‘unhappiness’…
and ‘sukh’…’happiness’ with equanimity …not wallow and submerge in grief … and although it could be difficult , you must have enduring faith … remain undaunted… certain and sure that you will not give up hope… that things will work out fine once again…and you will see things happening that way shortly.”

” A poor , wretched man living in abysmal conditions could one day be awakened with the good tidings that he is the winner of a million dollar lottery. Such things do happen. Doesn’t everything change for him overnight…his condition , his position !”

” Why didn’t Lord Mahavir and other true saints …’sachche sant’ … continue to live here ? They gave up this ‘world’ in order to attain enlightenment. Didn’t Lord Buddha renounce the ‘world’ on seeing people die and suffer with sickness ? Life becomes simpler to understand … when we learn to receive both …’dukh’ and ‘sukh’ as ‘prasad’ given to us by Him… with a sense of acceptance and thankfulness .”