Harismruti: June 2010

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS

Everybody wants to possess more money than the other person and when he has it, he is not satisfied, because he finds there is still someone else who has more than he has. People live in a bedlam of misery created by their own desires. An average American has much more than an average European or Indian or an average citizen in any other land. But still he is not happy. He is besieged with anxieties and worries. So learn to be satisfied with what you get without twisting, or torturing and perverting your mind and without sacrificing your physical health and moral integrity.

Everyone can accept the idea that the purpose of life is to seek happiness. This happiness is nothing but the feeling that comes by constantly experiencing the presence of God, He is the only divine Joy, Sachchidanand that would never go away from your soul. So try to achieve that happiness.

The forces of Nature constantly offer you material pleasures, but such transitory satisfaction ends only in sorrow and bitterness. Even the most favored person, who appears to have everything may not still be happy. One will never be satisfied for long with earthly things, as the whole world has plunged into chaos through greed, materialistic ambition, and cut-throat competition.

The more you exert in the external world, as an extrovert, the less you will know about the glory of the enticing form of God, Who is the dweller in every soul. The more you practice introversion, the less difficulties you would have. Life around you keeps you more or less engrossed in earthly things. It never allows you scope to think about the deeper realities and the real meaning of life. The best way to be happy constantly is to be in tune with the Form (Murti) of Shree Swaminarayan Bhagwan. Your paramount desire should be the realization of God Supreme.

It is impossible to deceive God because He is sitting right within your soul. He knows what you are thinking and desiring. If you are truly detached from the earthly things and seeking inner communion with God, He will definitely come to you. But at the same time you must be sincerely aware that you want Him; nothing else. Once that desire for Him is firmly rooted in your heart, He must come.

One must make sincere efforts to please god. Use your hands to pray in adoration before the Form of God, your feet to seek Him everywhere (i.e. visit the holy places with reverence), your mind to remember Him as Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient.

Happiness comes by feeling that you are one with God, through absolute devotion. Keep your mind engaged in remembering the divine glory and the Divine Leela (sportings) of God as much as you can. If you keep your self in tune with Him, you will feel eternal peace and joy. You will be engulfed in the ocean of bliss and peace.

Above all, develop the will to seek God, no matter what obstacles you encounter. Then only you will be victorious in life. This is the journey from SELF TO SUPREME.

PEACE AND BLISS

PEACE is the freedom from the cycle of sorrows and pleasures and absence of boredom. It is a very desirable state of mind. You enjoy floating on the calm sea of peace.

BLISS is greater than peace. It is an ever-lasting and ever-new joy that never disappears, but remains with your soul through eternity. Bliss can be attained only by perceiving God Supreme.

Design & Concept : Jnan Baug, Vadtal www.harismruti.com

The Struggle Of The Valiant

Part - 1

“The War that an ascetic wages

Is more arduous than the warrior’s;

Only the bravest of the ascetics dare to fight

The inclinations of the mind, says Muktanand."

- Muktanand Swami

The fights are common in this world. One person fights with another; one clan fights with another clan; one nation wages war with another nation. The will to fight, to struggle, to dominate the opponent is very common. But the struggle of the individual with his own mind is a grave matter. Let us discuss this valiant kind of struggle of the individual with himself, with his own mind.

Mind works as a store-keeper of our “Subtle Self.” The mind is full of good and bad desires. Mind binds the man in eternal bonds; mind can also free him and lead him to Moksha, the final redemption. It all depends on how one uses one’s power over one’s mind.

In the eyes of the world the person or nation which wins is considered valiant. But that is superficial bravery. The ultimate bravery consists in overpowering one’s own mind and in leading it on to the path of spiritual progress.

This is a little difficult idea to understand for a common man. Very few understand the nature of this struggle and still fewer go on practicing this and walk on the thorny path of self-realization. Many persons think that they can, if necessary, control the activities of the mind and keep it away from struggling. So their life is ordinary routine life. They are subjected to temptations. If one advises them to follow the spiritual path they would answer that they do all they need to do mentally. But they don’t understand how they are cheated by their own mind. Would they say that they would ‘eat with their mind.’ It is not the mind that eats. The mind works through the agency of the body. The mind needs the help of senses located in the ‘gross self’ – body to do what it pleases. Thus, it is necessary to enroll the body in devotion; only then will the mind be attached to it. But a common man gets engrossed in the objects of senses in this world and deviates from the path of spiritual progress. Thus he ruins himself.

Does man want to destroy himself? Does he want his own ruin? No, it is only his gross ignorance that leads him to the path of his own destruction. He brings his mind in the world filled with the impressions of good and bad deeds of his past births. And he constantly goes on acquiring newer and newer objects in his mind.

Man’s mind is filled to the brim of worldly things

He acquired these as he passes in life

There is hardly left any space in his heart

For the Lord Divine to enter there

(Hriday- Prakash)

- Nishkulanand Swami

Suppose there is house that is well-designed. All furniture items are placed in their proper places as they are needed. It would be comfortable to live there. But if the owner goes on buying hap-hazard items and goes on stacking them on an on, there would hardly be any space left even for the owner to live in that house. Then how can he accommodate a guest – Shree Hari in this rag-and-bone Kebab shop of his heart?

We must always organize our house. Our mind is our house. We must put everything in order. May be, one has to shoulder one’s responsibilities in domestic life and to that extent get involved in worldly affairs. But one corner must always be kept sacrosanct for the Lord Shree Hari. Of the twenty-four hours allowed to us, some specific time must be allotted to the prayer, where one may sit face-to-face in the Dhyan, meditation of Shree Hari.

Imagine a person talking on phone. He goes on chatting with his friend at the other end. Their talk is useless gossip. All the while there is another call waiting for him. Someone else wants to talk to him about the things of his interest. But he cannot be reached. He is engaged in the useless gossip, while the call waits for him. Then the caller leaves the phone, considering it ‘engaged.’ The Lord Shree Hari is always dialing us but have we time to take His call? Our phone is busy in the useless gossip. Thus, the Lord who loves us and wants to communicate with us leaves the phone and fells dejected that we have no time for Him!

And don’t blame the Lord Shree Hari for your fault

He is ready to help, but are you ready to receive Him?

(Hriday – Prakash)

- Nishkulanand Swami

The Lord Shree Hari is always ready to lift us up towards our bliss. The fault lies in us. The people of the world are “so full of worthless objects” in their heart that they have no leisure to hear His call. Only those who come to know Him truly through His saints will be able to traverse the path of Bhakti, the way of Divine Love.

Thus, you are enjoined to free your mind at least for half an hour, from its preoccupations with the desires of the body and try meditation, chanting the Holy Name. Then sometime the Divine Bell will ring and you would hear the Voice of Divine. And your self will be tuned with the Supreme. That is the real battle of the Valiant.

Design & Concept : Jnan Baug, Vadtal www.harismruti.com