2012 Sharad Poornima

Philosophy

Sadhana Instructions

In this article, we present the Sadhana rules established by Shri Maharaj ji to help us understand the importance of Sadhana in our spiritual journey.

1. सतर्क होकर साधना करने बैठो। यदि आलस्य आने लगे तो अपने आप खड़े हो जाओ। लेकिन शर्त यह है कि चिंतन श्यामसुंदर का ही हो।
Be attentive when you sit for Sadhana. Stand up if you feel lazy. However, try to engage your mind in constant remembrance of Shyamsundar alone

2. अपने इष्ट देव का ही गुणगान करो। ध्यान रखो किसी का मन किसी के गुण पर ही रीझता है। इसी प्रकार अधम उदाहरण, पतित पावन, भक्तवत्सल आदि ठाकुर जी के अनंत गुण हैं । इन गुणों का निरंतर चिंतन करो।
Chant the glories of your chosen form of God ONLY. Remember! One gets attracted towards someone by knowing about their special attributes. Lord Krishna has numerous attributes like protector of wrong doers, friend of fallen souls, supporter of devotees etc. To attract your mind towards Him, think about these exclusive virtues.

3. केवल गुणगान करने से भी काम नहीं चलेगा। गुणगान तो गवैये भी करते हैं । लेकिन उनको भगवत प्राप्ति नहीं होती । गुणगान करते समय तदनुसार भी लाओ । जैसे हम बहुत अधम हैं, पतित हैं, अनंत जन्मों से किए अनंत पापों की गठरी सिर पर लिए बैठे हैं और वे अकारण करुण, भक्तवत्सल, पतित पावन, अधम उधारन आदि हैं ।
Chanting alone is not sufficient. Singers also chant, yet they do not realize God! While singing the glories of God, create sentiments like I am an offender, a fallen soul and a sinner carrying a burden of innumerable sins. Whereas He is causelessly merciful, admirer of devotees, redeemer of offenders and fallen souls and so on.

4. हमें कीर्तन में नींद क्यों आती है? क्योंकि हम अपने इष्टदेव का ध्यान नहीं करते। प्यार नहीं है, इसलिए मन नहीं पिघलता हम ऊंघने लगते हैं ।
Why do we feel sleepy in Keertan? Because we do not focus on the Divine Form of God (roopdhyan). Our heart does not melt since we do not love God. This is the reason.

5. नेत्र बंद करके रूप ध्यान करो, क्यों प्राथमिक अवस्था में आंखें खोलकर कीर्तन करने से दूसरे लोग आते जाते दिखाई देते हैं, श्यामसुंदर नहीं। रूप ध्यान की अत्यंत आवश्यकता है। रूप ध्यान नहीं करोगे तो शारीरिक क्रिया का कोई फल नहीं मिलेगा ।
Keep your eyes closed while doing roopdhyan. Otherwise in the initial stages of practice, you will tend to notice people entering and leaving (the hall) and won’t be able to focus on Shyamsundar. Roopdhyan is indispensable. Without it you won’t realize any spiritual benefit from your physical activities.

6. जैसे भी चाहें, ठाकुर जी का रूप बना लें। ठाकुर जी उसी रूप में मिल जाएँगे । लेकिन भगवान को पहले देख कर फिर रूपध्यान करने वाले नास्तिक बन जाएँगे । क्योंकि हमारी प्राकृत आंखें प्राकृत राम को देखेंगी, भगवान राम को नहीं ।

चिदानंद मय देह तुम्हारी, विगत विकार जाने अधिकारी ॥
cidānaṃda maya deha tumhārī, vigata vikāra jāne adhikārī ॥

अतः अधिकारी बनने से पूर्व देखने की बात न करो
For the purpose of doing roopdhyan, meditate on Shri Krishna’s form as per your liking and interest; you can choose His form either as a child, adolescent or youth. Upon God realization, Shyamsundar will appear in front of you in the form you have imagined in your Roopdhyan. Do not desire to see Him in his divine form as a precursor to starting your Roopdhyan-practice; else you will become an atheist. This is because our eyes are material and material eyes can only see material Ram and not Divine Ram. “Chidanandmaya......adhikari”. (His body is divine and only deserving souls can see His Divine Form). Hence, don’t ever contemplate on seeing Him before becoming a worthy soul.

7. रूप ध्यान करते हुए प्रिया प्रियतम के साथ जिस लीला में जाना चाहो चले जाओ, तथा उनके दिव्य मिलन व दर्शन के लिए अत्यंत तड़पन पैदा करो। लाख आंसू बहाओ। लेकिन किसी भी आंसू को तब तक सच्चा न मानो जब तक स्वयं श्यामसुंदर आकर अपने पीतांबर से न पोंछ लें ।इतनी व्याकुलता पैदा करो कि नेत्र और प्राणों में बाजी लग जाए। एक-एक पल युग के समान लगे। लेकिन यदि प्राणबल्लभ ना आए तो निराशा न आने पाए।
While doing Roopdhyan of the Divine Couple you may participate in any Leela and develop an intense desire to meet and see them. Shed incessant tears. But be advised! Do not consider any tear to be real until Shyamsundar Himself comes to wipe them off with His Pitambar (yellow garment). Increase your desire to see Him to the extent that there would be a tough fight between your eyes and your life (whether your eyes will fail first, due to shedding constant tears for Him or will your life leave the body first due to intense longing). Your yearning to see Him should increase every moment and rise to such an extent that every moment would seem like an era. But, don’t be disappointed if despite your intense longing your Beloved does not appear.

8. पूर्ण लाभ लेने हेतु साधना समय के अतिरिक्त समय में गुरु एवं ईश्वर को साक्षी अंतर्यामी रूप में नित्य अपने साथ अनुभव करते हुए मौन नियम का पूर्ण पालन करो।
To derive full benefit of your visit to the ashram during Sadhana time, feel that Omniscient God and Guru are with you all the time even while you are not in the Sadhana Hall. Feel that they are witnessing all your actions. Also take a vow that you will observe silence during the duration of your stay.

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Glories to Maa Durga

जय जय जय जय दुर्गा मैया गोविन्द राधे, कृपा करि मोहे कृष्ण प्रेम दिला दे।
jaya jaya jaya jaya durgā maiyā govinda rādhe, kṛpā kari mohe kṛṣṇa prema dilā de।

"O mother Durga! Please bestow the love of Shri Krishna upon me".

मोहिं श्याम की बनाए दे दुर्गे माँ । तोहिं चुनरी चढ़ैहों दुर्गे माँ ॥
mohiṃ śyāma kī banāe de durge mām̐ । tohiṃ cunarī caढ़aihoṃ durge mām̐ ॥

"Please make me such that I exclusively love Shyamsundar. I will offer you a beautiful chunari".

अस वर दे मोहिं दुर्गे माँ । श्याम गोपी बनाए दे दुर्गे माँ ॥
asa vara de mohiṃ durge mām̐ । śyāma gopī banāe de durge mām̐ ॥

"O mother Durga! Bless me with such a boon that I get a chance to become a gopi of Shyamsundar. "

Here is Shri Maharaj Ji’s short lecture on importance of mother Durga.

The ultimate role models of “divine love” are the milk maidens of Braj called Gopis (1). There foot dust is desired even by Bhagwan Shankar, the eternally liberated 4 sons of Brahma, King Janak of Mithila, Uddhav and all other Paramhans. These great Paramhans appeared as trees in the land of Braj to get the foot dust of the Gopis. No-one has or will ever be able to reach the pinnacle of selfless Love as demonstrated by the maidens of Braj.

The Gopis of Braj, who reached the state of Mahabhav, can be categorized into 2 classes - the married and unmarried gopis. The love of the married ones is considered greater than that of the unmarried ones, as the unmarried ones loved Shri Krishna openly, while the married ones loved Shri Krishna secretly. The love of both of these classes of gopis is of the highest class. Both of these groups worshipped mother Durga.

Mother Durga is referred by several names and has several forms. She has four arms, eight arms, thousand arms etc. in her form as Durga. Katyayni Devi is also a form of Durga. She is also referred to as Yogmaya, the daughter of Yashoda, and an elder sister of Shri Krishna.

The story goes like this, Yashoda gave birth to a daughter named Yogmaya and Devaki gave birth to a son named Shri Krishna. On the dark rainy night, after the birth of Shri Krishna, Vasudev picked up Yashoda’s daughter Yogmaya and lay Shri Krishna beside her. Kansa tried to kill Yogmaya, by flinging her on the rock, but before she hit the rock she flew in the sky and appeared in a divine form with eight hands. She scolded Kansa saying, “O devil Kans! You cannot kill me and the one who will kill you has already taken birth”. It is that Katyayni Devi or Yogmaya or Durga whom the maidens of Braj worshipped and asked for a boon that Shri Krishna should be my husband.

कात्यायनि महामाये महायोगिन्यधीश्वरि ।
नन्दगोपसुतं देवि पतिं मे कुरु ते नम: ।
इति मन्त्रं जपन्त्यस्ता: पूजां चक्रु: कुमारिका: ॥
भागवत 10.22.4 ॥

kātyāyani mahāmāye mahāyoginyadhīśvari ।
nandagopasutaṃ devi patiṃ me kuru te nama: ।
iti mantraṃ japantyastā: pūjāṃ cakru: kumārikā: ॥
bhāgavata 10.22.4 ॥

"O Katyayni Devi! We pay our humble obeisance to you. Please grant us a boon that Shri Krishna may become our husband". The same Goddess Durga incarnated as mother Parvati during the dissension period of Ram.

मन जाहि रँच्यो मिलहिं सो वर सहज साँवरो ॥

Mother Parvati had granted a boon to Sita Ji, that “May you attain Shri Ram as your Husband”. So we too worship mother Durga and ask for a boon to, “Bless us so that we can attain the love of our Beloved Shri Krishna”.

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O Sleeping Bride! Arise!!

O bride! You have been sleeping since eternity. Now it’s the time to wake up.

There are three eternal entities: Brahm (God), Jeev (Individual beings) and Maya (Cosmic energy). Only Maya is insentient, the other two are sentient. The sentient entities God and Jeev are related to each other so intimately and exclusively that every relation in the world applies to God Alone. i.e. father-son, mother-daughter, master-servant, beloved-lover every relationship of every soul is with God ALONE. Souls are not related to each other. All relationships seen in the world exist only as long as the body lives.

In every temple this verse is recited -

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव । त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव । त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणम् त्वमेव सर्वम् मम् देव देव ।
मोरे सबहिं एक तुम स्वामी... अन्तर्यामी ॥

You alone are my mother, father, relative, friend, knowledge and wealth. You alone are my everything.

This is obvious since only these two entities are sentient. Jeev being sentient cannot be related to the non-sentient entity, Maya. But we have not been able to comprehend this relation since eternity. And not comprehending it is the root cause of our ignorance and miseries.

It is our ignorance that we consider the bodies of other beings as our relatives. Physical relatives may be compared to travelers journeying with you. While on your journey, you make friendships with them and share a good time. But when one of them reaches their destination, they get off the vehicle and leave without any feeling of separation from you.

पुनरपि जननं पुनरपि मरणं पुनरपि जननी जठरे शयनम् ।

Although Jeev and God are exclusively related to each other, their characteristics are totally different from each other. God is ‘Sat’. He and His body both are eternal (1). But the body of an individual being is mortal and ever changing.

यः सर्वज्ञः

"God is Omniscient".

The individual soul when born knows nothing, recognizes nobody. He gradually learns to recognize his mother. Then after practicing for a long time, learns to recognize and learn A, B, C, etc. God, on the other hand is always omniscient.

ज्ञाज्ञौ द्वावजावीशनीशावजा

"Brahm is the embodiment of bliss". And since eternity, despite relentless pursuit, the soul has not managed to attain even a single drop of unending bliss. 99% of the people do not even know the meaning of bliss. There is so much ignorance!!

तस्मिंश्चान्यो मायया संनिरुद्धः ।

There are two birds in our “anatahkaran”. One is "I" and the other is "my father" (God). These two birds permanently dwell in our mind, our father and us. One is the controller of Maya, who gives the power to the other to perform actions and also continuously watches the actions of the other bird (Individual Beings) and gives him the results of his actions out of His causeless mercy.

मायया संनिरुद्धः The other one (Jeev) is controlled by Maya and performs various actions unceasingly to become free from Maya and bears the fruits of his actions. God notes down every single action that a Jeev performs and gives him fruits for his actions. If God did not give us the fruits of our actions, performed in our previous lifetimes, Jeev could never attain God realization, as he would have to start afresh, in each lifetime. Thus we know that our eternal father is really kind and merciful.

“Sada Son” means since eternity. We are an eternal part of God yet we are ignorant and under the influence of Maya since eternity. We are given a choice to be free from Maya. Once a soul gets free from Maya, it can never be gripped by Maya again.

God is always blissful. And since eternity, despite relentless pursuit, the soul hasn’t managed to attain even a single drop of unending bliss.

सदा पश्यन्ति सूरयः ॥

So, the poet is addressing the soul saying, “O sleeping bride! Wake up.” Why is the poet awakening the bride and not the bridegroom? In Sanskrit Grammar, the words Jeev and Atma, denote masculine gender but the real form of Jeev is feminine. God is the Supreme Man, however, God is also referred to as Brahm and Brahma denotes neutral gender. So, words are not that important.

जीवा ब्रह्नादयः प्रोक्तः ।

Brahma (creator) is also a Jeev.

बह्माद्याः स्त्रिय एव हि

According to the Vedas, all souls including Brahma are considered to be feminine. Only Shri Krishna is the Supreme Man. Gender is given to the body and body keeps changing genders in different forms of life. So, we all are women and Shri Krishna is the only Man and beloved of all souls.

That is why it is said, “O bride!” You have been sleeping since eternity, now the time has come to wake up. For instance, a worldly woman has to wake up and associate with her husband to fulfill her desires. Similarly, to be free from the afflictions of material desires, one has to give up the slumber of ignorance and wake up to meet the eternal beloved and embrace Him.

So how should we wake up, since Maya is constantly giving us allurements to be more engaged in the same slumber of the matters of the world? Yes, it is true. Hence, the poet says:

आये रसिक जगावन आपुहिं, जाग्यो तेरो भाग ॥

The Rasik Saint himself has arrived to wake you up, which is the best sign of your fortune. O Sakhi, the saint is like your sakhi (friend), who is sent by your merciful beloved Shyamsundar to wake you up, so that you may attain Him and through attaining Him, attain unlimited bliss of divine love.

But our condition is similar to that of a drunken man, who is lying in a gutter. When a well-wisher tries to bring him back to his bed, he says in intoxication, “Oh, I am already sleeping comfortably in my bed. Don’t disturb me.” That poor guy cannot differentiate the filthy gutter from his lavish home. Rather he yells at the one who is trying to awaken him.

Our state is similar to that drunkard. Saints try to wake us up, but we abuse them and consider them our enemy. They still love us and provide us spiritual guidance and direction. We admire them too. But again, we fall into the sleep of ignorance. Just like a child whose mother tries to arouse him and sits him up. But as soon as the mother leaves her hold, the child falls right back to sleep. We are precisely like this. We remain awake in the association of a saint, listen to his discourses and get guidance. Once the saint leaves us after waking us up to help other aspirants, our father, mother, brother, and sister would immediately pull us back into the worldly mire. The saint cannot remain with one person all the time. He has come to deliver other aspirants too. We should listen to him carefully and follow his teachings.

If the child, after being awakened by his mother, thinks, “Oh, I have to go to school, I should wake up now; I have to build my future”, then the child refrains from the joy of sleeping and wakes up and works diligently until one day the same child becomes a virtuous man.

Similarly, if a person constantly revises the knowledge granted by the saint, and desists enjoying the pleasure of sensory organs (referred to as sleep in the child’s example), by understanding that all pleasures of the world are momentary and do not grant true happiness; that I am a soul and my true happiness lies in God, then following the instructions of the Guru, one attains their ultimate goal of meeting the our divine beloved Shyamsundar (God) forever.

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Preface: In olden times, students used to live in their Guru’s ashram to study and complete their education. At the completion of their studies, they used to make an offering to their Guru as a token of their gratitude towards him. This offering was called “Guru Dakshina”. Kautsa, the son of Devdatta, an ordinary Brahmin of the city Paithan, was a disciple of Sage Vartantu. After completing his studies in the Ashram, he humbly asked His Guru “Guru Ji, I wish to offer you Guru Dakshina. Please instruct me as to what should I offer?” Guru Ji replied, saying, “I know that you come from a humble background and have nothing to offer to me. I am very pleased with your impeccable services. You don’t need to offer me anything. You are free to go and practise what you have learnt from me.”

Kautsa pleaded to Him, “Guru Ji! There must be something that I can offer you. Please oblige me by asking for an offering”. Seeing his disciple’s constant persistence, Guru Ji finally agreed and said, “Alright, I have given you the knowledge of 16 subjects. Hence bring me 16,000 gold coins.”

Kautsa gladly accepted his Guru’s instruction and started to make plans to get 16,000 gold coins. He thought, “As a Brahmin, I have the right to beg for alms. I will beg for 16,000 gold coins. But who will have so many gold coins to give in alms!” All of a sudden an idea flashed through his mind. He thought of approaching King Raghu. King Raghu was the great grandfather of Lord Ram and was widely known for his magnanimity and benevolence. Kautsa thought that King Raghu would certainly have that much to give.”

So, Kautsa went to see King Raghu. As he reached the King’s palace, he saw King Raghu dressed in ordinary clothes. King Raghu welcomed Kautsa by washing his feet in vessel made of clay. Kautsa was given a warm welcome but he was disappointed. He thought in his mind that if the king is washing my feet in clay vessels, then he would not have anything to offer to him.

King Raghu welcomed the young Brahmin and asked him the purpose of his visit. Kautsa replied “Nothing. I was passing through here and thought of seeing you”. King Raghu humbly enquired, “Respected Brahmin! I know Brahmins don’t frequent palaces. You must have come for a reason. Please tell me how I can serve you?” Kautsa kept quiet. The king continued, “Please tell me what is it that you desire is. It will be a great shame for me if a Brahmin came to my door and left without satisfying his desire.”

Narad Ji paid a visit to Kuber

Hearing this, Kautsa told him the purpose of his visit, to get 16,000 gold coins to offer to his Guru as Guru Dakchhina. King Raghu immediately summoned his treasurer and asked him to check the royal treasury to see what it contains. The treasurer came back dejected, saying, “My Lord! There is nothing left there. You have given away even the Queen’s jewels in charity”. King Raghu thought for a moment. He then summoned his army chief and ordered him to prepare the army to attack Kuber, the celestial God of wealth, to get 16,000 gold coins from him, for in those times, kings never begged for alms. Instead, they conquered other kingdoms in battle, to get whatever they needed.

Meanwhile, Kuber was relaxing in his palace, completely unaware of Raghu’s plan to attack him. Just then, Sage Narad arrived and said, “Kuber, Wake Up. Do you not know that King Raghu is making preparations to attack you?”

Raghu’s strength was known to all. As a nine-year old, he had single-handedly defeated Indra (The king of swarg) and dragged him in chains to his father Dilip, when Indra had stolen Dilip’s horse, while he was performing the Ashwamedha Yagya.

Hearing Raghu’s name, Kuber panicked. “O Great Sage! Why would Raghu attack me? What wrong have I done to him?” Sage Narad replied, “Nothing. King Raghu needs 16,000 gold coins to give in alms to a Brahmin. If you fill up his treasury with 16,000 coins, he will have no reason to fight with you.” Kuber immediately filled King Raghu’s royal treasury with gold coins. Seeing the royal treasury fill up, the treasurer came running to Raghu and said “My Lord! A miracle seems to have happened. The treasury is overflowing with gold coins.” Raghu called off the attack and asked the treasurer to bring all the gold in the treasury and give it to the young Brahmin.”

The young Brahmin replied, “I do not want all the gold. I only want 16,000 coins for my Guru. I shall not accept any more.” The situation became awkward, as Raghu would not agree to keep any part of the wealth that came in the young Brahmin’s name and the young Brahmin would not take more than 16,000 gold coins. Both were equally adamant.

Finally, Guru Ji was called upon to intervene and resolve the conflict. Guru Ji then explained that he had asked for the 16,000 gold coins to test his disciple and that he did not need any money. He instructed King Raghu to build rest houses, granaries and temples and donate all the wealth for the wellbeing of society, which Raghu gladly obeyed.

Celestial gods have much more intellectual power than humans. They realized that despite the knowledge they were so attached to the material opulence in swarg lok that they could not have forsaken it. On the other hand, Raghu (a human) proved that he was completely detached from material opulence (see Whose job is it to set ideals?). Seeing such strength in Raghu’s character, the celestial gods (devi-davata) from swarg Lok, showered flowers on him and sang his praises.

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