Why are we here in this world?

"Once, I was giving a lecture in a town. There was a college boy, who had heard my lectures and was staying with me during his vacation. After the lecture we went for a walk. He asked me the question, "Swamiji, why are we here in this world?"

 I wondered how to answer this question. There was a cinema hall in front and the night show had begun. I asked him, "Do you have money for the tickets?" He said, "Yes" I said, "Buy two tickets." He replied, "Swamiji you will see the movie!" I answered, "Let's see it with you today." So, he purchased the tickets. We were a little late. We entered the hall. It was very dark except for the screen. The gateman usher us in with his torch and with a narrow beam of light, inspected our tickets, and indicated to walk down the stairs, and said, "Sit on those two empty seats." We went and sat down there.

 Now, the movie had begun. The college boy immediately engrossed himself in what was happening on the screen. It was very attractive, beautiful lights, so many colors moving at such a fast speed. Fifteen minutes went by. Now, the boy forgot that I am sitting next to him. I said, "Hey! Listen to me." The boy said, "Don't disturb." I caught his hand and gave him a jerk. Then he replied, "O Swamiji!" Now he realized. Then I asked him, "Why have we come here?" The boy didn't have any answer. Fifteen minutes ago he had asked me this question. "Let us go out; now you get the answer to your question,"

 I said "In the cinema hall you had lost total contact with reality and forgotten who are you? What are you doing? What is the goal of your life? There was some white light that was falling from the projector bulb and you identified that light as reality. "This is the hero; this is the heroine; that is villain; this is an airplane." In other words you had fallen in to illusion. What was the reason for this illusion?

 The reason was the fact that there was darkness in the hall. Because of that darkness you were engulfed in illusion. Suppose, the manager came and switched on the light. Immediately, the illusion would be dispelled and you will start thinking, "Where are my slippers; Where are my shoes; Has my handkerchief fallen down? Let me be the first to reach the car stand." The illusion would be dispelled. So, the cause of illusion was lack of light."

 Similarly, God is All-light, All-knowledge, and we have lost our contact with Him. We have turned our backs towards Him. Now, turning our backs to light we have been engulfed by the darkness of Maya, the material energy of God. This material energy has made us forget our own nature. All the souls are under the influence of Maya since eternity. However, the true identity of a soul is that it is an eternal servant of Shree Krishna. Being the eternal soul we are thinking that we are material bodies. And thinking of ourselves as the body, our goal has become bodily pleasure. How to give happiness to this body? For that we are running in this world. That is the reason we are in this world."

When God can do anything, He should also be able to bestow His Grace on us without our surrender. In this way, He should liberate all the souls from the material world. Then why does He require us to fulfill any conditions for bestowing His Grace?

  

  

  This statement that God can do anything needs to be understood carefully. It means He can perform feats that are impossible for us, such as create the world, maintain it, annihilate it etc. He can even perform contradictory actions, such as simultaneously being formless and possessing a form, being further than the furthest and closer than the closest, being soft as  a rose and hard as a thunderbolt etc.

  However, God has His own rules of action that He never breaks. For example, He has a rule: 

करम प्रधान विश्व करि राखा। 

जो जस करइ सो तस फलु चाखा।। 

(रामायण)  

  "The law of karma prevails in this world. Whatever you do, you shall reap accordingly." This law has been created by God Himself, and He never breaks it. Thus, we see that Dashrath, the father of the Supreme Lord Shree Ram, passed away; his wife, Kaushalya, become a widow; but Ram did not save His own father. God says,"The rule is the rule. It is immaterial whether someone is My mother or father. This is not a homely affair that the Judge (God) has become a member of the family, and so there will be some concessions. Everyone will get results according to their karmas." That is why everyone has faith that they can expect justice from God, although worldly people may cheat them, for there cannot be an unfair God.

  Similarly, there are innumerable other rules that God never breaks. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says he could write a book on all the things that God cannot do. Likewise, God has a rule that only if we surrender to Him, we will receive His Grace.

  We may say that if this rule did not exist, it would be very advantageous. What would be the advantage? Well, we would not surrender to God and would still receive His Grace. Yes, but the reverse could also be true, that we surrendered to God and still did not receive His Grace. That would be disastrous. So God says that He does not break His rule. If we wish Him to bestow His Grace, we will have to surrender to Him.

How can we inflame our aspiration to traverse the path to God-realization?

  

   One of the important devotional virtues, which will stand you in good stead as you move ahead towards God, is the intensity of your aspiration. A strong aspiration will help you cut through the greatest hindrance as a knife cuts through butter. However, if your aspiration is weak, then every little obstacle will appear like a mountain to you. So, you must endeavor not to remain lukewarm, but to keep the desire for spiritual attainment burning brightly.

  How can you inflame your aspiration for God? This requires chintan, or contemplation. Repeatedly contemplate upon the Divine knowledge of the scriptures, and the knowledge you have heard from the lotus mouth of your Guru and the Saints. Usually seekers feel great inspiration when they attend the lecture series, but once it is over, they find their enthusiasm waning. The reason for this is that while hearing lectures, the knowledge remains fresh in their intellect. But then, due to lack of revision, the knowledge starts evaporating, causing a dip in their enthusiasm. Chintan, or contemplation about what you have heard and read, is the antidote for this. Such chintan will strengthen your decision that your eternal relationship is with God alone. And a strong decision will be your asset to further steps.

  The Vedas describe a powerful formula for progressing quickly on the path:

स यथा कामो भवति तत् क्रतुर्भवति यत् क्रतुर्भवति 

तत् कर्म कुरुते यत् कर्म कुरुते तदभिसंपद्यते ||

( बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद् 4.4.5)

  "The stronger your decision that attaining God is the goal of your life, the more intense will be your desire to meet Him. And the more intense your desire, the deeper will be your resolve to do the things that take you closer to Him. The deeper your resolve, the harder you will try. The harder you try, the more Grace you will attract, and the closer you will come to Him."

  So, appreciate the importance of a strong aspiration on the spiritual path and endeavor to ignite it within yourself. Do your sadhana on a daily basis. Read Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj's "Prem Ras Siddhant" regularly in which he has summarized the knowledge of all the Vedic scriptures, watch the lecture DVD's you have procured, and keep revising the knowledge with your intellect. 

   

Whenever I am in satsang, I feel de-stressed but once I am out of satsang, the stress level increases. My question is how to get relieved of stress permanently?

We experience stress because we want certain outcomes, situations and results. However, the soul is not independent, and it is not within its ability to fulfill all of the desires. By nature, the soul is a servant of God. Now, what is the duty of the servant? To fulfill the wishes of the master. If we surrender to God and think whatever He does is for our welfare, this attitude of surrender will help us get rid of stress. A surrendered soul says:

राज़ी हैं उसी मैं जिसमें तेरी रज़ा है। 

यूँ भी वाह वाह है त्यों भी वाह वाह है ।।

   "I am happy in Your happiness. Whatever situation You put me in, I will blissfully accept it." Thus, stress is a symptom of lack of our submission to the Will of God. When we experience stress, the best medicine to cure it is to increase our level of surrender. 

   Now, what is the problem in increasing the level of surrender? Worldly attachments! We keep on pondering, "This should happen this way; that should happen that way." That is the main hurdle to complete surrender. For achieving that goal, we need to increase our detachment from the world.

    

   Before God-realization, there will always be some amount of tension within everyone, because the extent of surrender will not be one-hundred percent. However, by giving us tension, God signals to us that something is wrong and we need to correct it by surrendering further to Him. This is just as when we put our hand in the fire, we feel pain. What would happen if we did not feel the pain? Our hand would burn without our knowing it. The feeling of pain is, in fact a form of Grace. It is a signal that something is wrong, and that must take the hand out. Similarly, stress is a signal that we need to increase our surrender and devotion to God.

     A spiritual doctor will prescribe you the medicine of submitting to God for getting rid of stress, whereas a material doctor will give you all kinds of medicinal drugs. However, such drugs will not help eradicate the root cause of  stress. By increasing the level of surrender, the source of stress will itself be eradicated. Shree Krishna states in the famous verse:

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ।।

                                                                                 (Bhagavad Gita 2.47)

Read full commentary by Swami Mukundananda

     "Work with full dedication. Do not be careless while performing your tasks. But do not get attached to the fruits of those works."

Shree Krishna again says:

योगिनः कर्म कुर्वन्ति संगं त्यक्त्वात्मशुद्धये ।।

                                                         (Bhagavad Gita 5.11)

Read full commentary by Swami Mukundananda

     "A yogi is one who can work without any attachment to the results." If we follow this formula, stress will be abolished from its roots.

How can we learn to desire the Right thing?

In this Bhakti, there are no desires from the beloved. See these desires that we make I want this! I want this! I want this! These desires will never have any end. We think O God! you know I don't have any other desire but this one desire if you can please fulfill these, after that I will never ask for anything. That fellow who is thinking in this manner is very simple, because the moment desire is fulfilled it will lead to greed. That desire will come back with redoubled intensity. This is the material world people always know I have this deficiency; I have this deficiency. I have got this problem; I am going to problem to problem. So if we ask God there will be no end we will keep on asking. So what happens in these asking? My desire is fulfilled Shree Krishna is very good, not fulfilled he is not good, he is alright. I have been harmed, Shree Krishna, there is no goodness in him. He is very hard hearted.

Our love for him will oscillate like this. Like it does in the world. My husband is very good very bad. My wife is very good very bad. These drama goes on 10 times in a day. The same thing we will do towards God and Guru also. If our formula is that they should fulfill my desire. Now the thing is that these desires we are making are on the wrong platform. There are on this platform of ignorance that I am the body. So because we are thinking I am the body, for the happiness of the body we will going to make desires. Now we have to decide I am not the body, I am the soul. So if I am the soul then what should I desire you should still not desire because desire is against the nature of love. 

This love is that in which the only desire to give and give. In other words, it's not for our happiness, it is for the happiness of beloved. You desire to make Shree Krishna Happy. In other words, you desire to please him, to give him happiness and when you give him happiness he is not a miser, he will multiply it many fold and will give to back and that happiness that you get in giving to him that is the happiness of divine love which is the sweetest of all which is so sweet that Brahmaji to become a blade of Grass in the land Vrindavan to relish that and Udhavji become really a blade of grass. It means you learn to desire the right thing. 

• If God have given you a wonderful voice, desire to glorify him with your musical abilities. 
• If god has given you a good literary skill, then desire to write something in his glorification. 
• If god has given you a business acumen, then desire to earn and glorify the lord with your wealth. 

In other words, whatever God has given you, you desire to glorify him with that. So when we desire to serve him with everything our desires become perfectly oriented and we experience the highest bliss which is the bliss of the soul. 

Hear this lecture on SoundCloud by Swami Mukundananda

Since my childhood whenever I imagine about Lord Krishna, the form of the Lord that I saw on the TV serial Mahabharat comes to my mind. When I see Mahabharat's Lord Krishna I feel as if He is my Beloved Lord Himself and not any character played by the actor. But all my friends and relatives warn me that I am doing a sin worshiping an actor in the costume of Lord Krishna. Please help me, Swamiji. Shall I meditate on the Lord's form as portrayed by the actor?

     For Roop Dhyan, the form of God that you meditate upon can either be made by the mind, according to your liking, or you can take the help of a deity or picture of God, and meditate upon it. Now your question is that instead of the deity etc., you wish to meditate upon the form of an actor who played the role of Shree Krishna in the famous Mahabharat TV Serial.

    This is not wrong. If you attach the mind to that form with the sentiments that this is the Supreme Lord Shree Krishna, you will get the benefit of your Sentiments. This is like when one worships a stone deity with sentiments that is Lord Krishna, one gets the benefit of engaging in devotion to God. The Lord is seated in your heart and notes and rewards the Divine sentiments. Similarly, if you worship the form of a TV actor with the sentiments that it is the Supreme Lord, you will get Divine results.

    However, it is usually not recommended that you meditate upon a living material personality. Tomorrow if you hear about his faults, you will not be able to retain your Divine sentiments. Hence it is suggested that either you imagine the form of God with your mind itself, or else take the support of a deity or a picture, where there is no scope for seeing faults.


-Excerpted from Spiritual Dialectics by Swami Mukundananda

The Divine Mother of our Mission.

Our Divine Mother, Shree Maharajji’s wife, whom we devotees lovingly called Amma, closed her manifest leelas in the material realm, and went back to the Divine Abode of Radha Krishna.

Amma had descended to assist Shree Maharajji in his mission of distributing Divine love of Radha Krishna to evolved souls on this planet. She was born on Diwali day in the year 1925, in a small village called Leelapur, about 100 kilometers from Mangarh. Her father was a great Sanskrit scholar and devotee. She was married to Maharajji in her childhood itself, in accordance with the tradition of child marriage prevalent in Uttar Pradesh at that time. In her youth, she stayed mostly in Mangarh, while Maharajji would go on preaching tours for eleven months in a year.

As the satsang grew and thousands of satsangis became a part of the mission, she showered her love on them, and helped them in their devotion to Shree Maharajji. While Maharajji, as the perfect Spiritual Master, was often as hard as a thunderbolt, Amma was the soft, forgiving, patient and caring mother, whose love could always be counted upon. While Maharajji maintained an externally strict profile, Amma provided the gentle human touch that gave so much strength to the devotees in their arduous journey to God-realization.

Amma’s life was always one of sacrifice for her Divine Beloved. She never complained about having no opportunity for personal time with Maharajji. His happiness was her only consideration throughout her life, and she sacrificed her all for it. She was thus the epitome of purity, and of selfless devotion to her Divine husband. Amma’s causeless and oceanic love could not be described in words. While Maharajji’s fame spread throughout the world, and devotees came in hordes from many countries, she expanded her heart to give a place to everyone. No wonder, in her arati, she is described as “Jagadamba” or Mother of the Universe.

In Amma’s soft heart, the material welfare of the devotees was as important as their spiritual upliftment. I have sweet memories of how I once fell sick with cold and fever in the ashram. Amma was so concerned about my illness, as if I were her own child. On the third day of the fever, I came out of the room to join the parikrama around the ashram. On seeing that I was not resting, Amma got so annoyed that I had to immediately return to my room. Such was the love that she bestowed on each and everyone who came close to her.

Amma’s visible pastimes are no longer manifest on the earthly plane. However, in the hearts of the devotees, she will continue to live, in loving memories of her Names, Form, Virtues, Pastimes, and Abode. When we pray to her to bestow on us true love for our Guru and God, we know that she will always be there to respond to our entreaties, as generously as she did during her lifetime.

Her little child,
Swami Mukundananda.

What stops one from complete surrender? Do one's past negative sanskārs and vāsanās play a part in determining the level and speed of surrender? How can one overcome one's inherent negativities and make progress towards self-surrender faster?

Surrender is not a one-time procedure. It is not that we surrender once, and we are done with it forever. We have to keep surrendering at every moment. In this process, there are innumerable obstacles. Our mind is made of Maya and it naturally runs towards the world. We need to beat this mind with the intellect. We also have saṁskārs of past lifetimes that must be countered. And then, we have the ignorance or agyān within us, which is the source of all the problems.

However, we must not feel disillusioned. Innumerable souls in the past have overcome these obstacles to perfect their surrender to God, and have attained Him; if we endeavor sincerely, we too will be successful.

First, we must illumine our intellect with the spiritual knowledge given to us by our Guru. Then, with this purified intellect we must work on the mind, to detach it from the world and attach it to Names, Forms, Pastimes, Virtues, Abodes and Saints of God. Along with our sincere efforts, we must pray to God and Guru for help, firmly believing that Their Grace can make us perfect our surrender.

To speed up the process of surrender, we should strengthen the sentiment, "God and Guru alone are mine." When we develop love for God and Guru, surrender becomes natural and automatic. When we reach the state of complete surrender, the feeling "He alone is mine" will always remain in our mind, and all our thoughts and actions will be in consonance with it.

If we can keep increasing our desire to serve, that is also a very potent tool for progress. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj states:

सौ बातन की बात इक, धरु मुरलीधर ध्यान।
बढ़वहु सेवा-वासना, यह सौ ज्ञानन ज्ञान।  

"Fix your mind on Shree Krishna, and keep increasing the desire for sevā. This is the most powerful weapon for conquering the mind and Maya." 

Many a times in our Life we come across so many mishappenings with us, during those conditions we actually do not realize the grace of God but after somewhere we realize that it was for the betterment of us. Then how can we realize the grace of God during those unfavourable conditions because momentarily obviously we get panic?

Well that is Positive Thinking that you see a positive aspect in everything. We want situations to be favourable to us always! and when situations are not favourable then our natural reactions are like as you said we start getting panic.

However if we bring this piece of knowledge in mind at that time that an unfavourable situation is an opportunity to rise higher.

Swami Vivekananda said "Life is a continuously  unfoldment of a being under circumstances tending to press it downwards". So whenever there is an unfavourable situation if we look on it as an opportunity, as a stepping stone then we can see it as a grace of God and that is the secret of seeing situations as graces of God.

New Year Message from Swami Mukundananda.

Divine Souls, 

It was at the same time last year that we looked upon the 365 days of 2015 in front of us with aspiration and resolve. The year 2015 has now moved down memory lane, and a new set of twelve months is at our doorstep, with fresh promise of opportunity and possibilities. 

Although there is no particular reason to differentiate between days—they are all alike—yet the new year day offers a natural cutoff for releasing the past and re-envisioning the future. From the past, we take invaluable lessons learnt. For the future, we hope and aspire. Then, equipped with wisdom and inspiration, we enrich the quality of life we lead in the present. That is the journey of life— from moment to moment, continuously learning, improving, and growing. As tiny parts of God, we naturally seek to be pure and perfect like him, and we can only rest contented when we reach the goal that God indelibly inked in the blueprint of our personality when he created us at the beginning of eternity. 

So let us utilize the opportunity afforded by the first day of the new year to once again rededicate ourselves at the lotus feet of God and Guru. Let us resolve to realize even more deeply the immense blessings we have received. Filled with gratitude to the Lord, may we soak our hearts in the sweet nectar of his devotion. Let us leave behind the darkness of ignorance as we walk towards the light of truth, divine love, and inner beauty. May we embrace sacrifice, austerity, service, prayer, and, surrender as the bedrocks of our life. May we have faith in the torrents of grace that await us when we learn the secret of selfless love. Let us hope, aspire, resolve, and strive for the highest goal, for that is our soul-nature. And may we “stop not till the goal is reached.”

Let us show our love for Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj by sincerely implementing his every instruction and walking the path he compassionately revealed to us. 

Best wishes for the New Year 2016!!! 

Your ever well-wisher, 

Swami Mukundananda 

Winning the battle against the Mind!

At times when we sit to work on an important piece of our assignment, we realize that just when we are trying to focus our mind on a particular subject; it throws up all kinds of thoughts. Retaining our focus on an important subject turns into a battle with the mind. The untamed mind can cost us dearly in terms of lack of creativity, increased stress, loss of memory and a feeling of discontentment.  To win our battle against the restless mind requires us to firstly understand our mind. The mind is a subtle machine that constantly generates thoughts. These thoughts shape our personality and our physical appearance. We look at someone and say, "He seems to be very aggressive", or "She appears to be tensed" etc. The nature of thoughts in a person's mind reflects in the personality and physical appearance. No wonder, when we look at a Saint, we see a very calm and composed personality. At present our mind is scattered. Just as, if the channel button of television set is spoilt, the channels keep changing sporadically. Similarly our mind keeps flipping from topic to topic and hence we are unable to derive the maximum benefit out of its potential. If only we could channelize the thoughts in our mind and learn to concentrate it, we could increase the extent to which we are able to utilize its potential. This is where meditation has given us the power to harness the latent potential of our mind.  Meditation techniques have been described in the ancient scriptures and passed down numerous generations. Simply put, "Meditation is the practice to persistently direct our thoughts to one focal point". Some practitioners focus on the breath, others on the eyebrow centre, others on the psychic centres in the spinal cord, etc. In order to tame the mind through meditation, it requires repeated practice, akin to physical practice. Initially a person may find it difficult to focus the mind for even two minutes, but with repeated practice a person can go on to practice meditation for hours at a stretch. All that one needs to do is make a firm resolve to discipline the mind. Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says,               "man ko māno śhatru usaki, sunahu jani kachhu pyāre" "Declare war on your mind. Do the opposite of what it says, and soon it will stop bothering you." Instructions of doing Meditation:- Select a quiet and clean place to meditate, which is free from distractions. Sit in a comfortable meditative posture.  Ensure that your back is upright. Close your eyes and relax your body. Have a slight smile on your face. Keep your eyes closed till the end of this meditation exercise. As you listen to the meditation, create the same type of feeling in your mind. Slowly and steadily breadth in and breathe out. Concentrate on your breathing rhythm.

20 steps to Knowledge.

Humbleness.

When we become proud of the attributes of our individual field, such as beauty, intellect, talent, strength, etc. we forget that God has given all these attributes to us. Pride thus results in distancing our consciousness from God. It is a big obstacle on the path of self-realization since it contaminates the entire field by affecting the qualities of the mind and intellect.

Freedom from hypocrisy.

The hypocrite develops an artificial external personality. A person is defective from inside, but creates a facade of virtuosity on the outside. Unfortunately, the external display of virtues is skin-deep and hollow.

Non-violence.

The cultivation of knowledge requires respect for all living beings. This requires the practice of non-violence. Hence the scriptures state: ātmanaḥ pratikūlāni pareśhāṁ na samācharet “If you dislike a certain behavior from others, do not behave with them in that manner yourself.”

 

Forgiveness.

It is freedom from ill will even toward those who have harmed one. Actually, harboring ill will harms oneself more than the other. By practicing forgiveness. person of discrimination releases the negativities in the mind and purifies it.

 

Simplicity.

It is straightforwardness in thought, speech, and action. Straightforwardness in thought includes absence of deceit, envy, crookedness, etc. Straightforwardness in speech includes absence of taunt, censure, gossip, ornamentation, etc. Straightforwardness in action includes plainness in living, forthrightness in behavior, etc.

 

Service of the Guru.

Spiritual knowledge is received from the Guru. This imparting of divine knowledge requires the disciple to have an attitude of dedication and devotion toward the Guru. By serving the Guru, the disciple develops humbleness and commitment that enables the Guru to impart knowledge. Thus, Shree Krishna explained to Arjun in verse 4.34: “Learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him with reverence and render service unto him. Such an enlightened saint can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”

 

Cleanliness of body and mind.

Purity should be both internal and external. The Śhāṇdilya Upaniṣhad states: śhauchaṁ nāma dwividhaṁ-bāhyamāntaraṁ cheti (1.1) “There are two types of cleanliness—internal and external.” External cleanliness is “The material mind is dirty since endless lifetimes. Purify it in the fire of longing for God, while practicing utmost humility.”

 

Steadfastness.

Self-knowledge and God-realization are not goals that are attainable in a day. Steadfastness is the persistence to remain on the path until the goal is reached. The scriptures state: charaivaite charaivate, charan vai madhu vindati “Keep moving forward. Keep moving forward. Those who do not give up will get the honey at the end.”

 

Self-control.

It is the restraint of the mind and the senses from running after mundane pleasures that dirty the mind and intellect. Self-control prevents the dissipation of the personality through indulgence.

 

Dispassion toward the objects of the senses.

It is a stage higher than the self-control mentioned above, in which we restrain ourselves by force. Dispassion means a lack of taste for sense pleasures that are obstacles on the path of God-realization.

 

Absence of egotism.

Egotism is the conscious awareness of “I,” “me,” and “mine.” This is classified as nescience because it is at the bodily level, arising out of the identification of the self with the body. It is also called the aham chetanā (pride arising out of the sense of self ). All mystics emphatically declare that to invite God into our hearts, we must get rid of the pride of the self.

jaba maiṅ thā taba hari nathīṅ, ab hari hai, maiṅ nāhīṅ
prem galī ati sankarī, yā meṅ dwe na samāhīṅ (Saint Kabir)

“When ‘I’ existed, God was not there; now God exists and ‘I’ do not. The path of divine love is very narrow; it cannot accommodate both ‘I’ and God.”
In the path of jñāna yog and aṣhṭāṅg yog, there are elaborate sādhanās for getting rid of the aham chetanā. But in the path of bhakti yog, it gets eliminated very simply. We add dās (servant) in front of aham (the sense of self ), making it dāsoham (I am the servant of God). Now the “I” no longer remains harmful and self-consciousness is replaced by God-consciousness.

 

Keeping in mind the evils of birth, disease, old-age and death.

If the intellect is undecided about what is more important—material enhancement or spiritual wealth—then it becomes difficult to develop the strong will required for acquiring knowledge of the self. But when the intellect is convinced about the unattractiveness of the world, it becomes firm in its resolve. To get this firmness, we should constantly contemplate about the miseries that are an inseparable part of life in the material world. This is what set the Buddha on the spiritual path. He saw a sick person, and thought, “O there is sickness in the world. I will also have to fall sick one day.” Then he saw an old person, and thought, “There is also old age. This means that I will also become old one day.” After that, he saw a dead person, and realized, “This is also a part of existence. It means that I too will have to die one day.” The Buddha’s intellect was so perceptive that one exposure to these facts of life made him renounce worldly existence. Since we do not have such decisive intellects, we must repeatedly contemplate on these facts to allow the unattractiveness of the world to sink in.

 

Non-attachment.

It means dispassion toward the world. We have only one mind and if we wish to engage it in pursuing spiritual goals, we have to detach it from material objects and persons. The sādhak replaces worldly attachment with love and attachment toward God.

 

Absence of clinging to spouse, children, home, and so on.

These are areas where the mind easily becomes attached. In bodily thinking, one spontaneously identifies with the family and home as “mine.” Thus, they linger upon the mind more often and attachment to them shackles the mind to material consciousness. Attachment causes expectations of the kind of behavior we want from family members, and when these expectations are not met, it leads to mental anguish. Also inevitably, there is separation from the family, either temporarily, if they go to another place, or permanently, if they die. All these experiences and their apprehensions begin to weigh heavily upon the mind and drag it away from God. Hence, if we seek immortal bliss, we must practice prudence while interacting with the spouse, child, and home, to prevent the mind from become entangled. We must do our duty toward them, without attachment, as a nurse does her duty in the hospital, or as a teacher does her duty toward her students in the school.

 

Even-mindedness amidst desired and undesired events in life.

Pleasurable and painful events come without invitation, just as the night and the day. That is life. To rise above these dualities, we must learn to enhance our spiritual strength through detachment toward the world. We must develop the ability to remain unperturbed by life’s reversals and also not get carried away with the euphoria of success.

 

Constant and exclusive devotion toward me.

Mere detachment means that the mind is not going in the negative direction. But life is more than merely preventing the undesirable. Life is about engaging in the desirable. The desirable goal of life is to consecrate it at the lotus feet of God. Therefore, Shree Krishna has highlighted it here.

 

Inclination for solitary places.

Unlike worldly people, devotees are not driven by the need for company to overcome feelings of loneliness. They naturally prefer solitude that enables them to engage their mind in communion with God. Hence, they are naturally inclined to choosing solitary places, where they are able to more deeply absorb themselves in devotional thoughts.

 

Aversion for mundane society.

The sign of a materialistic mind is that it finds pleasure in talks about worldly people and worldly affairs. One who is cultivating divine consciousness develops a natural distaste for these activities, and thus avoids mundane society. At the same time, if it is necessary to participate in it for the sake of service to God, the devotee accepts it and develops the strength to remain mentally unaffected by it.

 

Constancy in spiritual knowledge.

To theoretically know something is not enough. One may know that anger is a bad thing but may still give vent to it repeatedly. We have to learn to practically implement spiritual knowledge in our lives. This does not happen by hearing profound truths just once. After hearing them, we must repeatedly contemplate upon them. Such mulling over the divine truths is the constancy in spiritual knowledge that Shree Krishna is talking about.

 

Philosophical pursuit of the Absolute Truth.

Even animals engage in the bodily activities of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. However, God has especially blessed the human form with the faculty of knowledge. This is not to enable us to engage in bodily activities in a deluxe way, but for us to contemplate upon the questions:
“Who am I? Why am I here? What is my goal in life? How was this world created? What is my connection with the Creator? How will I fulfill my purpose in life?” This philosophic pursuit of the truth sublimates our thinking above the animalistic level and brings us to hear and read about the divine science of God-realization.
All the virtues, habits, behaviors, and attitudes described above lead to the growth of wisdom and knowledge. The opposite of these are vanity, hypocrisy, violence, vengeance, duplicity, disrespect for the Guru, uncleanliness of body and mind, unsteadiness, lack of self-control, longing for sense objects, conceit, entanglement in spouse, children, home, etc. Such dispositions cripple the development self-knowledge. Thus, Shree Krishna calls them ignorance and darkness.

Source: Bhagavad Gita – The Song of God by Swami Mukundananda

Is Worldly Prosperity a Sign of God's Grace?

If you believe this, that when you experience a material loss, you may also feel you have lost God's grace and He has become unfavorable towards you. This inconsistent attitude causes you to fluctuate between being faithful and faithless.Every soul is bound by his karmic destiny or prarabdh, which is the outcome of his past lives' good and bad actions. 

Whatever material prosperity we are destined to receive is pre-determined by the immutable law of karma.A lack of worldly possessions is truly a sign of God's grace. When someone has less, he has less pride, and it is easier for him to turn towards God.

There is an age old saying: "When you are ready the teacher will appear.” What is that "readiness" required for the Guru to appear?

The Vedic scriptures have repeatedly instructed the need to surrender to a Guru, for attaining God.  However, the question that stumps a seeker is how to find a true Guru. 

   Fortunately, God helps the sincere seeker in this task.  He is seated in everyone’s heart, and so when He sees that we are ready, He not only brings us in contact with a genuine Guru, but also creates our faith towards the Guru by inspiring us with the feeling, “Yes!  This is the personality whom I was searching for.”  Without this inspiration that comes so strongly from within, we may stand before the Guru, and yet not recognize him as a true Saint.  Or we may recognize his Divinity, but feel no motivation to surrender to him.  But when God bestows His Grace, He inspires us and creates strong faith in the Guru.  Hence, it is said that when God sees we are ready, we find our Spiritual Master.

   Here, readiness means a sincere aspiration to attain God.  We must firmly decide that our goal is God-realization, and we must desire it intensely.  When God sees this readiness in any soul, He creates our connection with the Guru. 

   Often people search for spiritual teachers, but their desire for God is mixed with material aspirations.  In accordance with their motive, their faith is created in unauthentic spiritual teachers who pander to their material desires.  After many years, such seekers realize that their guru was not perfect, and they feel they have been cheated.  But it was their own insincere aspiration that was to blame for their developing faith in a wrong personality.

   Hence, the best way to find a genuine Spiritual Master is to develop and intense yearning for God.  When He sees this “readiness” in our heart, He will arrange for us to meet our teacher.

What is the special power in the Guru mantra that is given in the ear of the disciple at the time of deeksha (initiation)? Is it compulsory to receive a mantra for our devotion? Why are we told to keep it a secret and what will happen if we tell our Guru mantra to friends?

True deeksha is not merely the giving of a mantra in the ear of the disciple.  True deeksha means to give the Divine power of God to the disciple.  It should result in liberation from Maya, attainment of Divine Knowledge, Love and Bliss, and initiation into the eternal pastimes of God.  Such deeksha is given by the Guru only when the disciple has totally cleansed his or her mind through the practice of Sadhan Bhakti, or preparatory devotion. 

  The problem arises when people do not want to purify their hearts.  They look for shortcuts whereby they can retain all their worldly desires, and yet attain God.  Therefore, claims of magic mantras, tantras and yantras are very appealing to them.  And Gurus who offer such allurements become very popular.  But we must remember that until the heart is totally cleansed, we will not receive the divine grace which is necessary for God-realization.  And to cleanse the heart, we can chant any name of God; there is no need of a special mantra.

   Guru mantras are Sanskrit words that usually mean things like: “O Shree Krishna, I surrender to you,”  “O Shree Ram, I offer my obeisance to you,” However, if we were to say the same thing in another language, would God not listen? God is the knower of the hearts.  If we do not utter even a single word, but simply think of Him, God will understand and reciprocate our sentiments.

   So there is no need of receiving a mantra in the ear.  God has unlimited Divine Names, and the He is seated in all of them.  So we can chant any of His Names, such as:  Krishna, Govind, Damodar, Gopal, Ram, Shiv, Narayan, etc.

   Even if the Guru gives the disciple a mantra in the ear, keeping it secret serves no purpose.  Jagadguru Ramanujacharya’s guru, gave him a guru mantra, and asked him not to reveal it to anyone. But Ramanujacharya went to the crossroads, and shouted out the mantra before the crowd.    He said, “If it is beneficial, then why keep it secret.  Let others also know it and benefit from it.”