Harismruti: July 2010

The Struggle of the Valiant - 2

The Struggle of the Valiant
Part - 2

Subtle is the story, and few would follow:

I crave to see that Divine Image in my mind

Day by day I strive and struggle in vain,

So far I’m not blessed with His sight.

- Nishkulanand Swami

All men want happiness. Man’s acts of piety or sin have their origin in his desire to be happy. He seeks happiness but the happiness he gets from these acts is only short-lined; the pleasure vanishes in a moment and pain follows.

He, who gets rid of his desires one by one and unites himself in meditation with the Image of the Lord Shree Hari, would always find his life full of happiness, divine joy “Anand”. The Lord is the source of all happiness. The Vedas and the Upanishad describe the Lord as Sat-Chit-Anand – True and Transparent Unclouded Happiness.

Sorrow is defined as separation from the Lord. The world is full of sorrows; the Lord is the source of complete happiness. Sorrows create rift in man between his body and his conscience. Happiness takes him towards his inner self. A man who is an atheist would deny the existence of God but would he able to deny the existence of happiness, joy? Certainly not. That is the proof that God exists.

There are two kinds of believers, theists, in this world. One kind seeks happiness in the objects of pleasure that this world offers. The other kind seeks happiness in the spiritual bliss. One who is an atheist is really a theist in his relation with the world! But when he comes to realize that the joys he seeks are evanescent and they are followed by sorrows and miseries he would lose his faith in the world. Thus, his only inclination would be towards the Lord Shree Hari. Everyone knows that Lord Shree Hari is the true source of happiness but he is precluded from achieving this happiness because he is misguided by four enemies, Mana that is mind, Buddhi that is intellect, Chitt that is consciousness and Ahamkar that is self-consciousness.

These four are your bad companions,

Mind and ego, intellect and sentience

They will distract you from the vision of the Lord

In your ignorance you think them your friends

But truly they are your secret enemies

You are cheated by these your intimate friends.

- Nishkulanand Swami

There were two friends who decided to go on a pleasure trip on a moonlit night. They took intoxicating drinks before they reached their boat on anchor at river. They went on paddling their boat all night long. They thought they were making progress. Tired of paddling and under the influence of drinks they fell asleep. It was dawn. Sweet breezes from the river woke them up. They looked around and saw that still they were at the same strand where they started. There was no progress at all during their night of hard rowing. Here in this parable the intoxicating drink stands for the ignorance of sins of previous births. The morning breeze that awoke them is symbol of the meeting of a true saint, a divine guide. This vast ocean of life can be traversed only by those who have conquered their ignorance, are awakened by the divine grace and are ready to row their boat to their destination.

Here I quote the words of Shreeji Maharaj from Vachanamrit – Panchala 3: “See the way the English deal with the criminal. They arrest him and make him stand in the cage before the judge. He is tied up before he is interrogated. They don’t have him free, lest he should run away. They don’t trust him. The same should be our approach to our senses. We should hold them in the cage of the Five Rules of Religious Practice and hold them in bondage. Don’t ever trust your senses and allow them to roam about free. You must always hold your senses as suspects.”

If the inner self has no occupation then the Mind should direct all its attention to the divine Way of Life led by the Lord Shree Hari. The Intellect should be pressed into the contemplation of the Divine Form. The sentience should be made to meditate on the life of the Lord Shree Hari. The Ahamkar should be pressed to be a humble devotee of the Lord Shree Hari and advised to assume that the self is also a part of the Divine Self.

Thus, these four should be pressed in the service – Bhakti, of the Lord Shree Hari. This approach gives happiness of the Sight of the Divine Form of the Lord and makes us touch the Divine. If these four intimates mislead us into the temptation of the worldly pleasures, we would be ruined. They must be made helpmates to meet the Lord Shree Hari. It is, those four bad companions, our enemies within who hinder us from being one with our Lord and Master. If we follow where they lead we would not be able to participate in Life Divine. Mere outward worship is nothing but rowing the anchored boat that does not move.

In the next section we shall deal with these for bad companions and how they can be pressed into helping us to serve our Lord Shree Hari.

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

Nectar Of Divine

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

Our Etherial Asset

The wealth of our life

Is the Son of Dharma

Who brings the dead to Life

As Lord Ghanshyam in person

Relieves the fear of re-birth

When we look at Him with love

He washes away ugly thoughts

That's why Premanand

Keeps His beauty in his heart.

We may ask someone: 'Brother, how much is your wealth?

He would reply: 'May be rupees fifty thousand, ten lacks, two crores, apart from so many bungalows, so many cars etc. But in most of the instances such wealth may lead to murders, bungling and scams. Ultimately it is sure to bring discount because such wealth is not permanent. When a person's body fuses into the five fundamental elements, all the wealth remains where it is and the soul of the person, who had accumulated such wealth may go away elsewhere. If a person is a billionaire he cannot sleep soundly at night because of the thoughts of strategies for escaping from the dragnet of income-tax department He may become a victim of a series of diseases. He wouldn't be able to enjoy his own wealth! So Muktanand Swami Says:

Uneasy lie the heads of the kings and the poor,

The rich are unhappy with disorders.

Ignorance causes the plight all over the world,

In the darkness of illusions and of attachments.

Muktanand the great sage says:

The man of letters reaches the light divine

Happy are the saints in this world of sufferings.

A poor person is unhappy because he has no money, while a rich person is unhappy because he has much more money. If a person thinks (wisely) with discretion, he realizes that the true wealth of his life is God-realization. This is why Premanand Swami declares: 'The wealth of our life is the Son of Dharma.' The wealth of our life must be Shree Harikrishna Maharaj. If we count our wealth before someone, finally we must say: 'Above all, my true wealth is God Supreme-Shree Harikrishna Maharaj. The wealth in terms of money if lost, can be regained; but God leads us to spiritual liberation. If that is lost, all is lost.

Innumerable people live in the world but they live as if dead because they do not have the spiritual spark. Just as the herb of nectar can bring the dead to life, a person becomes immortal if all his thoughts become steady and fixed in God. The most powerful man of the world constantly decides not to die and so always makes efforts for the same and lives in an atmosphere of death-fear. But if he understands the mystery and worships God, Who is the divine nectar and removes the fear of re-birth, he would become fearless.

Thus the form of God leads a man to immortality, making him fearless and bestows everlasting bliss upon him. So keep your worldly life confined to your senses and internal (fourfold) senses, but at heart love the form of God alone. By doing this, the path of devotion becomes smooth, easy and direct.

A woman has a child , playing with many children of the same locality. These children may be more beautiful than her child but that mother would love utmost only her own child and she rears the child with great love, care and caution. This mother knows that other children may appear more handsome but ultimately her own son will support her in old age.

Similarly, as long as we are within the frontiers of ignorance, we may have attraction for apparently pleasant sensual objects of pleasure but the final bliss is bestowed upon us by God alone. That is why we should love none but God. Call on the form of God with great love after removing desires for objects of pleasure.

There is difference between a mother calling her own child and somebody else's child. She has constant love for her own child. Similarly when we meditate upon from the God, we should do the same as if we are looking at our dearest object in the universe.

Muktanand the great saint says: The man of letters, reaches the light divine.

Which is the true divine knowledge?

The answer is: Concentration of mental modifications in the divine form of God.

That is why Premanand Swami keeps His beauty in his heart.

Keeping the beauty in the heart means keeping in heart the beauty of the Form of Shree Harikrishna Maharaj, installed by Shree Hari in Shree Swaminarayan Temple at Vadtal. That Form is our true asset. So we should meditate upon Him in our soul and develop the conviction that none in the universe is as beautiful and as dynamic as He is. Then only the technique of meditation upon Shree Harikrishna Maharaj would become easy for us all.

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