The Dos and Don'ts

Sunahu Sadhak Pyare - Part 23

If the jeev does not attain salvation and stays entangled in Maya then he will keep getting a human body. In one of those human bodies, one day he might meet a saint. The saint will educate him about God. If that jeev understands the philosophy, and starts practicing devotion as per the instructions and completely surrenders unto God and Guru then he can attain God’s love-bliss. Attainment of God’s love bliss is possible. Innumerable saints have attained the Braj Ras. Initial stage (sadhana bhakti) is to practice focusing on the form of God. Next stage is called bhav bhakti. In that stage your mind will naturally be attracted to God and one can focus on God’s divine form without putting in any effort. And if ever you did get distracted you will feel like you have lost something every precious.

Narad Bhakti Sootra 19

Even at this advanced stage, if the aspirant commits a spiritual transgression against a genuine saint, then utter down fall is guaranteed.

bha. ra, sindhu

We are so proud of our own intellect that we start judging God and God – realized saints. The meaning of judging Their actions is that we consider ourselves more knowledgeable than Them. Hardly do we realize our error and abstain from committing a spiritual transgression. Due to this habit we take a few steps forward and then fall down. After sometime we come to our senses, regret our folly, make some progress and again we fall. If we were to realize the error of our ways, we would be extremely hesitant of committing the same error over and over again. This firm decision will result in steady progress on the path of devotion. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu coded his entire philosophy in 8 shlokas called Shikshaashtak. In there one of the shloka is

naam naam kari bahudhu

O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benedictions to living beings, and thus You have many names. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them

bha. ra, sindhu

God has not imposed any hard and fast rules to perform devotion in holy places only or chant His names at particular hours. Instead He has granted us the freedom of chanting His name at any time in the dirtiest of places. The only condition to pronounce His name is absolute faith that He is sitting in His name. We don’t have this faith. If we had the firm faith that Radha Rani, who is served by the Supreme God Shri Krishna, is sitting in Her name with all of Her divine powers then we would experience goose bumps on our body and our throat would choke in ecstasy. We would not be able to pronounce Her name even once. Lack of faith in God’s name is a serious spiritual transgression. The result is loss of all spiritual earnings.

shrI k_rSNa naam yadi

If despite pronouncing the names of the Lord, love for God does not overcome your heart and streams of tears of love do not flow, that means you have committed spiritual transgressions.

Our material intellect starts judging God and saints and gives verdict against their principles. That single action nullifies all the spiritual earnings. Hence, one has to consciously abstain for performing spiritual transgressions.

Naam aparadhanih

One more point to be addressed. Along with God you should have the same faith and devotion towards your Guru as well.

yasya deve paraa bhaktir

Only that devotee, who worships God and Guru with exactly the same love and reverence, attains the ultimate goal. If there are any impediments in worshipping both, worship only your Guru. Worshipping your Guru will also yield the same result. Worshipping Shri Krishna alone will not yield the desired result. Devotion towards Guru is indispensable, because He is the only boatman who will navigate your boat across the ocean of Maya.

hari mein ho jaisI bhakti

This is the last nugget of information. You now know the dos, also the don’ts. Step by step instruction is
1. When you shed tears of love, then your mind will be cleansed of all attachments, then your job is done.
2. Now, your Guru will infuse divine power in your being. Take note; a clean mind will not attain divine power automatically. Guru has to make the mind divine with the Swaroop Shakti,
3. Then Guru will pour divine love in it. You won’t need to ask for it. He constantly watches and makes the mind divine the moment it gets purified.

Having divine love means having the power to persuade God to do anything you wish him to do.

anubrajamyaham

Shri Krishna says,” I love my devotees so much that I walk behind them.” Why, maybe to protect them? “Nope. I walk behind my devotee so I can bathe in their foot dust and be blessed.” This is an example of His love and subservience towards His devotee. The great Paramhans, who have already attained oneness with Brahma also wish to attain this love. Yet only one amongst millions of paramhans can attain this love

bha 6.14.4

bha ra sindhu

The Gita says amongst four kinds of aspirants (AatR, ij}aasu, A9aR9I R v }aanI– , only those attain love who attain the grace of God or His beloved devotees. Divine love is so rare.