God Dwells in the Hearts of All

Hari sab ur raha Govinda Radhey,
Yah vishvas tohin Hari tey mila dey

God resides in everyone’s heart, Govinda Radhey,
If you had complete faith in this, you would attain Him.

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on July 3, 2010, in Mussoori, India, explaining this new kirtan verse.)

Normally people say, hear and read that God resides in everyone’s heart. Besides Saints, God has also said in the Vedas,

“Asteetyevopalabdhavyas-tatva-bhavena chobhayoh…”

Katha Upanishad, 2/3/13. If someone were to truly believe that God dwelt in everyone’s heart, he would not need to do any spiritual practice. He would automatically become God realised.

It is very surprising that we have never seen our own self, but we always accept its existence. “The same ‘I’ that is me existed yesterday, and it is the same ‘I’ that existed the day before yesterday.” We are saying “I” and “me” 24-hours a day. This means we always sense our own existence, despite never having directly seen it. Similarly, wherever this sense of “I” exists, God also exists. We have learned about both of these from the Vedas.

“Dwa suparna sayuja sakhaya samanam vriksham…”

Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 4/7. The soul resides in the area near the heart. This means we reside there, the soul, and also God. God resides in the heart itself.

When we leave our mother’s womb, God is with us. When we leave this body at the time of death, God comes along with us. Wherever we go, no matter which type of birth we take, He is always with us. We naturally recognize our sense of self as “me”, but God is also there. He is with you, near you, always keeping an eye on you and noting your thoughts. He must be constantly vigilant in in case we surrender to Him at some point in time. What would happen if God felt sleepy and decided to take nap at that time? This would not happen.

He is always looking towards us. He is that kind of Father who is ever-hopeful, “He will surrender to me now. He will surrender now because he has met a true Saint and learned spiritual philosophy. Now he will surrender. Oh, today he received some rebukes from his father. His wife scolded hm. Now he will turn towards Me and surrender…”

In spite of God remaining ever-hopeful, our nature is like a dog’s curly tail. Even if you press it down thousands of times to straighten it, when you let go, it will again curl up.

So the Vedas asks us why we don’t accept this fact. When you accept your own existence without actually having seen it, then why don’t you accept God’s presence? Why don’t you have faith in this? Or you have faith, but only for a short time. You feel, “The Vedas, all the scriptures and Saints say it, so it must be so!” Then again you forget.

We have what we call private thoughts, and it is these very thoughts that have ruined us. When we feel we are alone with our private thoughts, we commit wrong actions and think wrong things. We forgot that we were not alone and God was noting our thoughts. He was using His divine x-ray machine.

If we were to accept that God resides in everyone’s heart, then we wouldn’t feel animosity or act negatively towards anyone. We would be scared to cause them any harm. We wouldn’t even utter a single hurtful word to criticise someone and hurt them. But we do this especially in our own families! If someone says something even slightly negative to us, we must retort in such a way that it hurts them and they feel bad. We think about what to say so the situation escalates. We don’t do this with strangers, we do it with our own family members. We spew insults and criticisms. We forget that God is also seated in their hearts.

Par peeda sama nahin adhamayi.

There is no greater sin than hurting another. Even so, we forget this all the time. We keep on hurting others through our behavior and words, and we keep on thinking, “She is like this… He is just like that… But I am good!” You won’t think anything negative about yourself.

Your Guru has done such hard work for you. He has bestowed so much grace on you, yet you remain as you were in the beginning. We are not concerned in the least about our own spiritual welfare. If we were to die in the next moment, what would happen? We should think deeply about this. Think about your spiritual welfare. And don’t have faith in the longevity of your body. You may have faith in all else, but not in this.

There was a hale and hearty wrestler. He was going somewhere, met an accident and died. He didn’t think about this moment happening. There was an important prime minister or president. He died in a helicopter accident or his plane crashed. He may have just been driven somewhere, had an accident and died. Someone may slip in the bathroom, strike his head and die. Falling is just an excuse. The real reason is that everyone’s time of death is pre-determined.

God remains in everyone’s heart. When our time is up, He says, “Let’s go!” If a person says, “Can I have a few more seconds?” God says, “No, it’s time to go. But I am coming with you!” He doesn’t just take the sinners like this, it happens to everyone. Even Saints follow these rules. Adi Shankaracharya left this world at the age of thirty-two. Although, in reality these rules of death don’t apply to Saints. A Saint has the power to leave at any time or extend his time. If they follow these rules anyway – this is a separate point.

Therefore, a soul under Maya should remain vigilant every moment. He should not have faith in his longevity, and he should have faith that God dwells in everyone’s heart. He should remember these two points.

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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Maan Man, Chadu Maan Apaman-Part 3

(Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on October 24, 2009, in Bhakti Dham, Mangarh, India)

We need a thorough knowledge of how we react to praise and dishonor, and then we need to put our knowledge into practice. Simply knowing this will not produce any changes. We have to practice managing them. For example, a person insults you. Don’t reply. First practice not responding. If your spouse criticises or scolds you, be quiet. Do not respond. Our habit is to respond.

One spouse says, “Why have you left this book on the pillows we sleep on? It is a holy book!” Immediately the other will respond, “Where else do you want me to put it? On my head?!” This is the kind of language we use in our relationships. Then this will escalate. One will give a response in kind, and the other will react to these outbursts until eventually their interaction will result in complete silence and both will refuse to speak to each other. Now the husband will call the son, “Pappu! Go tell you mother so and so.” His wife is sitting right next to him, but he is calling his son because he refuses to speak to her directly.

So we should see the truth of this and change ourselves because we desire what is in our ultimate self-interest and we also desire God’s grace. Such behaviour may be the key to success in the world, but it will never serve you in your spiritual life and you will get no peace.

A beggar thinks, “If only I could get two pieces of bread, I won’t want anything else.” He gets two pieces of bread. Then he thinks, “If only I had some soup and vegetables with this.” He gets that, too. Now he thinks, “If only I could get some dessert.” These desires keep on increasing. That person may even become a billionaire one day. Now the desires for celestial pleasures will arise.

So your aim of attaining happiness is not going to be fulfilled here in the material world. Make this firm decision beforehand. When you give up your desire for praise and your aversion to disrespect and dishonor, and instead feel true humility, then devotional tears will automatically begin to fall.

Even if you committed only a single sin in this lifetime, you have had uncountable lifetimes. If you do the math, this results in uncountable sins. What do we think instead? “I haven’t committed any horrible crime in this lifetime like murder. All I have done is tell a few lies. These are very ordinary sins.” The actual fact is you have committed uncountable murders and uncountable lies. You do not know this. But it is all recorded in God’s files. Accept this as an actual fact. It is in acknowledging this fact that great Saints say in the words of a devotee,

Mo sam kaun kutil khal kami.

“No one is as devious, wicked and lustful as me. Lord, if you do not forgive my past sins, it will take me an eternity to reap the consequences of my past actions.” They will never, ever come to an end. It is God’s grace that he forgives all our past deeds and that He also takes complete responsibility for our future. But He has one condition. We must surrender to Him completely and give up all our deception, craftiness, and pretense and accept the mind to be the enemy.

What have we done til now? The mind says, “It’s time for satsang but lie down and go to sleep.” Then you think, “But what if Guru Ji calls me?” You answer your own question by thinking, “I will tell him I have a backache or my head is hurting. I’ll lie.” By just giving into this whim, you have become the mind’s servant and committed a grave sin. If you had just scolded yourself then and said, “You have come to the ashram for devotional practice! You made the decision to leave your home behind for some time specifically to do this and I should listen to your suggestion to sleep just now? I have done all this my whole life. I have eaten, I have slept, I have spoken, and I have sinned according to your whims.”

The mind says, “Do this and you will become happy.” But the happiness the mind desires is the opposite of what the soul needs. The mind is a product of Maya, and the soul is a child of God. They are opposite to each other. We forget this fact.

There was an descension of God whose name was Rishabdha. Great yogic powers known as siddhis approached him in their personified form. He asked them, “Who are you? Where have you come from?” They replied, “Lord, we are the great supernatural siddhis, and we have come to serve you as you are a great devotee.” Hearing their praises, he immediately responded, “Get away from me this very instant! You will serve me?” He advises us, “Oh, humans, don’t give into the demands of the mind, even by accident.” (Bhagwatam, 5/6/3)

There was a renunciate named Shaubhari Muni who was so evolved in his yoga practice that he performed his austerities underwater in the Yamuna River. Once, he saw two fish mating and he immediately thought, “I should get married.” He was swayed by the whims of his mind. He emerged from the water and went to Mandhata, a king who had fifty daughters.

Shaubhari Muni asked to marry one of King Mandhata’s daughters. The king thought, “If I give a daughter to this old man, I will go to hell because I failed in my duty as a father. But if I don’t do this, he may curse my daughters, and all fifty may become animals!” Vishwamitra had, after all, cursed the celestial maiden Menaka to become a rock. Alhalya was also cursed in a similar manner. Great ascetics have this power to curse. The king said, “I will hold a swayamvar, a ceremony in which my daughters will choose their own husbands.” The king thought, “Not one of my daughters will choose him, and I will be off the hook.”

Shaubhari understood the king’s intention, so using his yogic power, he turned his body into that of a 16-year-old youth. He was so attractive, that all fifty princesses chose him to be their husband and started fighting with each other over him. King Mandhata thought, “All I have done is bring new trouble on myself.” But Shaubhari Muni said, “It’s all right, I’ll marry all fifty of them.” With his yogic power, he created fifty bodies, and married all the princesses.

This family over time expanded to over 5,000 people, including his children, and grandchildren. One day, sitting by the Yamuna River where he first had the idea that led to his present circumstances, he woefully said, “Oh, what was I then and what am I now!”( Bhagwatam, 9/6/50) Shaubhari Muni said, “Oh humans! Witness my downfall caused by following the whims of my mind! Please be extremely careful and treat your mind as your enemy. Never consider it to be your friend.”

Understand this principle in relation to praise and dishonor and practice this diligently in your own personal lives.

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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The Secret of Deity Worship-Part 3

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj given in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, on January 9, 2010)

Once there was a temple priest. In his temple there were many different deities of God. This is a very common practice in temples nowadays. Generally deities such as Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Hanuman, Garud and others are installed so that if a devotee of any of these forms of God visits the temple, he’ll give some money as an offering.

As part of his duties, this priest also served food to the deities. It happened that some of his students invited him to their area, which was quite far from the temple. A young boy of 8 years of age used to stay with the priest as a helper. The priest told him, “Son, I have to go away for one month. I want you to continue to serve the deities like I do, alright? Make a nice meal for them, give them a bath, then close the temple at the right time so God may sleep.” The boy said, “Yes, I will do it.”

After the priest left, the the boy served his first meal to the deities. He placed the tray before them and then closed a small curtain so God could eat in private. But, really, is a stone deity going to eat? The boy kept on opening and closing the curtain to see if any of the deities had eaten. He saw that the food remained untouched. He thought, “They must be mad because the priest has gone away. Alright, so I won’t eat either.” He took the food away.

The next day he prepared food again and said to them, “You all must be hungry by now. Here – please eat!” Again the food remained uneaten. He also went hungry. Several days passed like this. There was no one he could talk to about this because the priest had gone far away. He told the deities, “I can’t tolerate this hunger any more. Please don’t mind, but now I have to do something drastic.” He picked up a big stick and said strongly, “Alright, let’s see you not eat now!”

This little boy and firm faith that the real Hanuman and Krishna and all the other of forms of God were present there, and that these were not lifeless deities. Brandishing the stick he said, “Eat or else!” Each of the forms of God represented by the deities came out and immediately started to eat. They ate so much that the boy said, “Alright, stop! Save some for me!” Unfortunately no food was left so again he remained hungry.

The next day he made extra food and again it was all eaten up. Any flour that had been left in the house was quickly finished. He was forced to go numerous times to a neighbor to borrow more flour.

Some time after this, the priest returned. When he learned about how much the boy had borrowed, he said, “How did you spend so much money on flour? You were alone!” The boy said, “What could I do? God ate it all up!” The priest said, “What is this nonsense that God ate it! Do the deities eat?” The boy said, “Guru Ji, what are you saying? Do you think I’m lying? Come on, I’ll show you.” He again served the deities, and they all came and ate. The priest saw the food was gone, but he couldn’t see who was eating it. The boy saw that everyone came and ate, but the priest wasn’t able to see anything. At that moment, a voice came from the heavens, “Oh, priest, you didn’t have any faith that we would eat and that is why we didn’t. But this little boy had full and firm faith and that is why we have eaten his food.”

We will be able to benefit from deity worship or visiting pilgrimage places only when our develop our feelings of love and faith. There is no special benefit in just physically visiting these places. As it is, God Himself is seated in our hearts and we are not benefiting in the slightest from this. Then what could we expect to receive from a stone deity?

If someone says, “What you are saying is preposterous!” Then answer this question. After you visited charo dham, the four main pilgrimage places, and you returned to your home, did you become renounced from the world? Did your attachment to your loved ones and wealth go away? “No, it didn’t go away.” In fact, it increased. After returning to your home, when you saw your children and grandchildren, you joyfully gave them big hugs, “I’m back!” What happened? You were fine before you left. “Well, when I was gone, I was remembering them. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve been gone for 12 days. What if my accountant makes a mistake with the books… and my son was sick when I left. He may have gotten worse. My wife is alone, hopefully she hasn’t become unfaithful in my absence…'” Your mind was filled with the world while you sat in the temple. This is the result of going on pilgrimage.

For this reason, understand that God, His name, His form, His virtues, His pastimes, His abode and His Saints are divine. If your mind remains attached among any of these through any kind of feeling you will attain the divine abode, Golok. If your mind remains attached to the world with worldly feelings – you will attain a material result after your death that corresponds to whomever your mind was attached to during your lifetime. But if you love God through any material object, and feel that God is present in that object, you will also attain Golok.

In this way, we can receive the same benefit from a true Saint that we could receive from God Himself. If we aren’t benefited, this is our problem. We have seen Shri Krishna in the past. Even though we saw His actual form, we criticised Him. “He keeps on wandering after girls. Imagine, Sage Durvasa says He is God! He must be crazy, too!” Even Sage Durvasa was included in our criticisms. As a result, we received no benefit.

Thus, the benefit we receive from satsang is millions of times greater than this, because we receive the opportunity to listen to spiritual philosophy, and by understanding this, we benefit. The effect of satsang purifies our mind. Here you are sitting and meditating with closed eyes and imagining that God is close to you while you are chanting His name. Even the person who is exploring the temple at Rameshwaram isn’t receiving as much benefit as you are. While there, a person is troubled because there are so many stairs to climb, he feels tired, he has nothing to drink, and so on.

A person can understand where he receives more benefit. Just think whether the benefit you are receiving here in satsang is more than whatever you received on pilgrimage. Reflect on your own personal experience.

In ancient times, Saints used to live in pilgrimage places. Now only shopkeepers are there. Lots of thieves hang around these places, ready to cut someone’s pockets. Lots of unsavory characters are there to cheat innocent visitors. When a person comes home, he only remembers, “Oh, what a horrible thing happened to me!” The benefit that was received from Saints in these holy places is no longer available. Even if one true Saint resides in such a place, there are fifty more who are impersonating a Saint. How could an ordinary person recognize the true Saint?

Therefore, if a devotee goes to a pilgrimage place with true devotional feelings and he meets a true Saint, and he receives the benefit of that Saint’s satsang, then there is a benefit to visiting that pilgrimage place. Otherwise, you can sit alone in your own home and practice devotion, and that benefit is equivalent to visiting millions of pilgrimage places.

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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The Secret of Deity Worship-Part 2

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj given in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, on January 9, 2010)

If a one doesn’t feel that God is present in a deity, he will only receive the consequence of worshiing a stone sculpture. If we merely think, “What a great deity! What great features! It’s wearing a lovely diamond necklace. It looks wonderfully alive.” These are only external qualities. They are all material or mayic. If your mind is attached to these, the consequence of this attachment will be material. On the other hand, if you lovingly feel God’s presence in the deity, then you will receive a divine consequence. Very, very few people have these kinds of devotional feelings. The majority just make some brief show of respect to a piece of stone.

If one were to form these devotional feelings, then how much bliss he could experience! But we don’t experience as much happiness from seeing the deity as we do from seeing our husband, wife, or child. If your loved one comes from England after ten years, and you go to the airport to see him, how excited you are! We don’t become this excited when we see God’s deity. So then how have we formed any devotional feelings for the deity? How then could we receive a divine consequence for that worship?

For this very reason we have gone from temple to temple in uncountable lifetimes to worship one deity after another. If you think you have devotional feelings, then ask yourself when you last went to the temple, how many tears did you shed, thinking, “Oh Krishna! When will I meet You?”

In all the temples around the world, food is served to the deities every day. The priest places the food before the deity, closes a curtain between himself and the deity, closes his eyes and rings a bell. If asked, “What are you doing?” He will say, “I am serving food to the Lord. He is blessing it. Be quiet!” Does he really believe what he is saying? Does he really believe that the Lord is eating? “Of course, everyone offers food like this.” Now he opens the curtain. Has anyone ever looked closely at the tray and wondered, “What did the Lord eat? Oh! He hasn’t eaten anything! It’s because of me. What a sinner I am!” Has any temple priest had these kinds of feelings? No, no one has. Our faith is the opposite. Our firm faith is that God will NOT come and eat what He is served. Then how is this ‘blessed food’? ‘Prasad’ or blessed food means the food that was left over from what was actually eaten.

Thus, you will benefit from deity worship when you feel God’s presence in the deity. You won’t benefit from mere deity worship. The Bhagwatam (11/27/12) states that there are ten different kinds of deities, made of different materials such as iron, gold, wood, stone and so on. If someone were to imbue such a deity with the feeling of God’s presence, he could become a great Saint.

If such feelings are not imbued in the deity, if instead a person says, “This deity performs miracles.” A deity doesn’t perform any miracles. It is made of stone. This is your own confusion. “But there’s a huge crowd over there! In one year they collect millions in offerings to the Lord!” This is just blind faith.

That same miraculous Lord is present everywhere, even in hearts of those demons who insulted Shri Krishna and Shri Ram hundreds of times. God is not more present in some places and less present in others. He is not greater in Vrindaban, Rameshwaram, or Badarikashram and lesser elsewhere. Such pilgrimage places should be visited with the feeling that they are God’s leela shthal – a place where God enacted His divine pastimes.

For example, so many people are in Rameshwaram just now. Are they lovingly visualising in their meditation that Lord Ram’s lotus feet actually touched that place, and it was there that with His own lotus hands He established the deity of Lord Shiva? Not at all. They are just making a show of respect by proclaiming, “Glory to Lord Shiva!” and moving on. With this kind of attitude how could anyone benefit from visiting a pilgrimage place? You are just deceiving yourself by proudly thinking, “I went to Rameshwaram!” Please note this – every place is equal, whether one is standing in Golok or hell. How is this so?

Prabhu vyapak sarvatra samana.

God is equally present everywhere. He is also present in a deity.

Prem te prakat hohin bhagavana.

But it is only our devotional love that makes God manifest through a deity in His true divine form so that we could see Him, speak with Him and He could then eat what we have prepared for Him.

(Continued in Part 3)

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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Who is Shri Radha? – Part 3

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj given in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, on January 7, 2010)

Out of the three qualities of sat-chit-ananda, the most important is ananda. If one has eternal life, but has not yet attained bliss, then how sorrowful that life would be! If one has life, but no knowledge, then he will make mistakes and be punished. Why do we experience so much suffering? Because we lack knowledge. We don’t realise, “I am a soul and a part of God.” We believe we are the physical body. From this, all the confusion starts. If you consider yourself the body, then you also think, “I am a brahman, a kshatriya, a vaishya, a shudra, I am Bangali, Madrasi, Gujarati, (American, Australian or Malaysian…)” What is all this? You are the soul! This is your body, which is human. In the future you could receive the body of a donkey or a devata (celestial god). The body the soul receives keeps on changing according to the consequences of actions we perform in a human birth.

So due to ignorance, we consider our ‘self’ to be the body. Once you believe you are the body, then you believe the body’s happiness is the happiness you seek. To achieve what the body desires, you think, “May I become rich! May I become a millionaire! May I become a billionaire! This should be mine! I need that!” Now you have caught the ‘disease’. Once you have acquired some wealth, you think, “I should have something more than this.” Once you reach that point, “I need more!” Everyone remains sorrowful in this pursuit.

You all must have heard that the two brothers from the wealthiest family in India have for several years filed a pending case against each other (over the division of assets), which has reached the Supreme Court. You might ask them, “Are you lacking something that makes this court case necessary?” “I don’t need anything! But…” What do you mean ‘but’? Even if you stopped working and didn’t earn any more money from this moment, your ancestors would have something to eat for the next 10,000 years! They are billionaires, not millionaires. But material desires never end.

So God is the form of sat-chit-ananda, divine existence, divine knowledge and divine bliss. There is also mayic or material existence, material knowledge and material bliss which we experience daily from our loved ones and the things we are attached to. This is material happiness, which is deceptive. The same thing that gives you happiness, will also give you sorrow. As long as someone remains favorable towards us, we are happy, when he turns against us, we experience sorrow. If someone does as we request, we think he is wonderful. If he refuses to do what we wish, our mood goes off. I myself knew of a husband and wife who had an argument and stopped talking to each other one day, and remained this way for their whole life while living in the same house!

So out of these three qualities, divine bliss, which is what we desire, is superior. The essence of that divine bliss is called the power of hladini. The essence of hladini power is called prema, divine love. That divine love has many stages. This love is not worldly attachment; it is divine and spiritual. These stages include sneha, maan, pranay, raag, anuraag, bhav, then mahabhava.

Mahabhava is of two kinds, rudha mahabhav and adirudha mahabhava. Out of these two, adirudha mahabhava is superior, and this is also of two kinds, maadan and modan. Modan mahabhava is the stage of divine love of the Gopis who enter Golok abode.

But no one can attain maadan mahabhava. That maadan stage of divine love is the form of Shri Radha. Because of this, even Shri Krishna worships Radha Rani.

This ‘Radhey Radhey’ which you are all casually chanting and thinking is God’s name, is the same ‘Radhey Radhey’ that is resounding from every pore of Shri Krishna’s divine body, even when He is sleeping. You don’t understand its importance. Therefore when you say ‘Radhey’ you don’t experience as much happiness from it as you do saying ‘Radhey’ when it is your mother’s, wife’s or grand-daughter’s name. While you are singing that Radha’s name, who is the absolute essence of divine love, you are also looking here and there in the satsang hall. This is only because you don’t realise it’s importance.

So Shri Radha is the ultimate divine power, who is worshipped by supreme God Shri Krishna. Always remember an important point: God Himself is present in His name. With this awareness, do chanting or nam-sankirtan, and then you will see how quickly your devotion to God and your experience of devotional bliss grows. Understand the importance. Once you understand the value, then you will experience love. Shri Radha is maadanakhya mahabhava, the absolute and ultimate form of divine love. Increase your faith in this, and then sing Her divine name.

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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Who is Shri Radha? – Part 1

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj given in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, on January 7, 2010)

It is extremely important to understand who Barsanevari Radha is because our love for anything is limited to the extent that we understand its value.

Imagine a street sweeper finds a ring lying on the ground. He asks someone, “How much do you think this is worth?” That person says, “25 or 30 rupees. What else? It’s just glass.”

Experts on diamonds are one in thousands, and they are found only in very few shops. So this person thought, “If I lose it, what difference will it make?”

One day an expert jeweler came. From afar he saw the ring and asked the man, “Where did you get this from?” “Oh, I was sweeping and it was just there lying on the ground.” The jeweler said, “Come here so I can see it in the sunlight.” The man said, “How much could it be worth?” The jeweler said, “At least 5 million rupees.” “What did you say?!” That street sweeper earned 1000 rupees a month at his job. As soon as he heard “5 million” he fainted. When he regained consciousness, he looked at the ring and felt a deep attachment and a special caring for it. “Hey, why should I work anymore?” He was so happy he went skipping and hopping all the way home to show his wife. She said, “Don’t believe that person. You should bring it to a jewelry store and show them. Come on, let’s go.” When they showed the ring at the jewelry store, the appraiser said, “It’s worth 7000 rupees.” The man had faith in this appraisal and his love for the ring reduced accordingly.

Similarly, a man is walking ahead of you. You don’t recognize him. You glance at him and see his appearance is like anyone else. Someone tells you, “It’s the prime minister!” “Really?” A huge crowd develops. If you hear the name of anyone famous, your affection for that person immediately grows.

All our scriptures and all Saints say we should practice devotion to God, but who are Radha Krishna, the ones to whom we are devoted? Until we understand this, our love for them won’t develop. You will just understand that there was a wealthy landowner called Vrishabhanu who lived in a village called Barsana with his wife Kirti, and who had a daughter called Radha. This is the history, but knowing this isn’t anything special. This is why you need to understand Her importance.

There is some God, who created the entire universe and then entered into it omnipresently. He resides within everyone. He is the supreme protector. Did you ever think that everything came into existence on its own? Did you think your body was created in your mother’s womb and there was no ultimate creator? Yet from the union of sperm and ovum such an amazing body was formed. How did all our internal organs develop? How amazing and complex it is. Could the body have done this on its own?

To date there have been millions of scientists. Has any one of them been able to create any part of the human body? When they cannot understand how to do this, then actually doing it is out of the question. No one to date has been able to produce even a single hair so baldness could be cured.

God has produced so many amazing life forms and each is different from the others. And apart from this, before the creation was manifested, absolutely nothing existed. Where did all this come from?

Nowadays scientists produce things from what already exists in creation. An atomic bomb is created. How was this done? They took existing material elements, combined some and subtracted others and created something. This is just like the combination of different ingredients found in a cook’s dishes. What do these contain? Flour, grains, oil, spices, vegetables and so on. Where these already existing in God’s creation? Yes. So then what did the cook actually create? So we just add and subtract what already exists and “invent” something. But just see the miracle that God performed to create something from absolutely nothing.

So there is an all-powerful God who has done all this, who, without the help of any pre-existing elements and by only thinking, created this universe. He merely thought, “Let there be creation,” and the world came into existence. This is described in the Vedas.

(Continued in Part 2)

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Kamana Kabhu Mitai Na Govinda Radhey-Part 3

Kamana kabhu mitai na Govinda Radhey,
Hari Guru seva ki kamana bana dey.

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on June 25, 2007, USA, explaining this new kirtan verse)

In deep dreamless sleep – all our desires go away, but when we wake up, they all come rushing back. So what difference did it make that they temporarily went away? We need someone to tell us how to make our desires go away forever.

The fact is that our desires will come to an end only when we attain divine bliss. Until that time, they will never leave us. If a Saint or even God were to tell you, “Just abandon your desires!” Then you should clearly tell them, “That is impossible!” This is just like telling someone to see through their ear, “Hey, just give it a try!” And how will this be done? There is no scientific base to accomplish this.

So there is only one remedy for our desires and that is they must be turned into desires to serve God and Guru. Now you continue to have desires, and you also continue to form new desires, and through this you will attain divine bliss. Keep on forming lots of desires! “When will I see my beloved Shri Krishna? Oh, when I do see Him, then I will do this for Him and then I will render this seva, and after that, this will happen…” Keep on desiring. Until you receive Shri Krishna’s actual divine vision, His other form is the Guru.

Now your desiring is no longer dangerous. The desires that made you suffer were mayic desires. Your devotional desires will put an end to Maya and all of Maya’s suffering. We simply have to divert our material desires to the divine side.

For example, you want to travel in an easterly direction, but your car is going towards the west. You are going farther away from your destination. You simply have to turn the car’s wheel so it starts traveling towards the east – everything else can be left as is.

Krishna and the Gopis

You form desires for God just as you form desires for the world. You don’t have to use any new or additional senses to do this. However you are, that is what you will use. The feeling of love is the same, whether it is the love of Laila and Manjanu in the East, or Romeo and Juliet in the West, or the Gopis and Shri Krishna in the divine world. The feeling is the same, but there is an unlimited difference in the result. Through one love you will attain unlimited divine bliss, and through the other, unlimited suffering. There is no difference other than this. The Vedas and other scriptures are not telling us to do anything new.

What have Tulsidas, Soordas and all other Saints told us? Saint Tulsidas gives the example of a lustful man. Every moment he is consumed by thoughts of women. A greedy person continuously meditates on money, “When will I become a billionaire?!” In devotion, we form similar strong desires, but for divine subjects. There is nothing new to do. Everyone has the same kind of mind. Saints do not possess a different kind of mind – they have the same physical machinery we do. They only thing they did was change the field of their desires.

So leave your desires for this material world and form desires for God. As God is not yet perceptible, so form desires for the Guru. Turn your desires into desires to serve God and Guru. Your mind is only one, right? So when it forms desires on one side, it leaves desires from the other side. Plus, God’s rule is that our devotion should be single-minded. This means our desires should be for Radha Krishna, Their name, form, virtues, leelas, abode and Their Saints. Desires for these should remain in our mind, and when they do, desires for the world will go away. Then your mind will fully purify, after which you will receive God’s bliss through the Guru.

After God realisation, your desire will become perfected. What will you desire than? To serve Shri Krishna for His happiness. You will have this desire forever. It will never go away. His happiness will be your happiness, His desire will be your desire. And if a soul wanted his desires to be ended forever, he could ask God to be liberated. That soul’s mind will be terminated and he will merge into absolute bliss. So by diverting one desires towards God and converting them into devotional desire, a soul can either enjoy divine bliss or becomes divine bliss. This is the meaning of this verse.

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Kamana Kabhu Mitai Na Govinda Radhey-Part 2

Kamana kabhu mitai na Govinda Radhey,
Hari Guru seva ki kamana bana dey.

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on March 25, 2007, USA, explaining this new kirtan verse )

If we could be free of material desire, we wouldn’t get angry nor would we become greedy. These two mental states wouldn’t arise. This is described in the Ved (Kathopanishad 2/3/14 and Shathyayini Upanishad, 25). If you could eliminate material desire, you would be the same as brahman, you would become perfectly peaceful and blissful.

Narsingh Bhagwan said to Prahalad (Bhagwatam, 7/9/52), “Son, ask for a boon. Prahalad said, “May I say something? Please don’t feel bad.” Narsingh Bhagwan said, “Tell me.”

Prahalad continued, “If a human being had no material desire, then he would become like You, my Lord. I don’t want to have any desires. I won’t ask for anything.” Narsingh Bhagwan said, “My child, everyone asks for a boon when they see Me. Because you are a child you don’t realise this, so ask.”

Prahalad said (Bhagwatam, 7/10/7), “Alright. My wish is that I never have any desires and I never ask anything from You. Please grant me this wish and guarantee that I will always remain this way.”

In the Gita, Shri Krishna told Arjuna (Bhagvad Gita 2/71) that if someone were to eliminate their material desires they would become peaceful. All the scriptures are repeating this point. When we hear this, it sounds wonderful. But how could we eliminate our desires? Are they some kind of external object that we could just toss away?

Why do we form desires? What do we desire from worldly things? Pleasure, peace, enjoyment. Why do we desire anything? We desire it to experience happiness. So our original desire is only for happiness. If someone could just give us happiness we would happily eliminate all our desires in one second! But what kind of happiness are we seeking? This we don’t know. But if we could get that happiness, then our worldly desires would end automatically. Such happiness is only in God.

As an individual soul, we are a part or fraction of God. Every part desires that from which it originates, so we desire Him. We are a part of blissful God. For this reason we desire happiness, and we will desire it forever. No one can eliminate his desire for happiness, even if he were to try for millions of lifetimes. This is our eternal nature.

As we don’t understand our soul’s desire for God’s bliss, we unknowingly search for happiness in the world. Those who are truly knowledgeable look for happiness in God. Without attaining this true happiness, how could we ever eliminate our desire for it? The Ved and Gita explain that we should eliminate material desire. We have heard this message in uncountable lifetimes. We have even tried to realise this in many lifetimes, but our efforts have been in vain. If we had a little success, this was only temporary.

For example, when a person smells chloroform, he loses consciousness and all his desires come to an end. We achieve this same state in deep dreamless sleep – all our desires go away, but when we wake up, they all come rushing back. So what difference did it make that they temporarily went away? We need someone to tell us how to make our desires go away forever.

(Continued in Part 3)

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Relationship of God and Guru-Part 1

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on December 23, 2009, in Bhakti Dham, Mangarh, explaining a new kirtan verse)

In our scriptures and also in the world three kinds of situations are written about and described. In some places it is written that God is the greatest. It is also written that God and Guru are equal. It is also written that the Guru is greater than God. An ordinary person, who reads the scriptures on his own can’t understand which of these three is correct and so he becomes confused. I am now now going to reconcile these three.

These three statements are, in fact, correct. But they contradict each other – how then could they all be correct? In the scriptures it is written that God is the greatest, so this point is certainly correct (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6/8, Gita, 11/45, Bhagwatam, 3/2/21 and 2/4/40).

All these verses say that there is no one, nor will there ever be anyone equal to God – so someone being greater than God is completely out of the question. The name for God is brahm, which means He is the greatest and He makes others great.

So the definition of God is that He is absolutely unlimited and the greatest (Taitariya Upanishad 2/1). Why is this? Listen to the reason. The Ved says that all the individual souls are parts of Him. The individual souls are a power of God. Both Maya and the souls are powers of God. Apart from these two, there is no third power that exists (Purush Sukta, 3) This same verse is also found in the Chandogya Upanishad, 3/12/6, and the Tripavibhuti Narayana Upanishad, 4/1.

So all the individual souls are parts of supreme God. A part can’t be equal to the whole. A part means a fraction. A grain of sand could never be equal to the entire earth. The Gita also explains the individual soul is a part or true fraction of God (Gita, 15/7, 9/18). The Subhal Upanishad (6/4), the Bhagwatam (3/50/38) and Ramayana declare the same.

So logically no one would even consider that a part is equal to the whole. They are opposite to each other in nature. Therefore, there is no one now, nor will there ever be, nor was there ever anyone equal to God.

But it is also said that God and Guru are equal. And when you practice devotion to God, it is said that you must practice exactly the same devotion to the Guru. The Vedas declares this (Shevtashvatar Upanishad 6/23). Why is this? Because, as the Narad Bhakti Sutra (41) says, there no difference between God and Guru. God and Guru are one (Bhagwatam, 7/15/26, 7/15/27). So the Gita, Bhagwatam, Ramayana and other scriptures, declare both are equal. How are they equal? How could a part be equal to the whole?

In actuality, they are not equal, but with God’s grace and after God realisation, God makes the individual soul equal to Him. This is definitely possible.

God has eight main divine qualities (Chhandogya Upanishad, 8/1/5). The Vedanta or Brahma Sutra has said (1/3/13-16) that God gives these eight qualities to an individual soul after God realisation. The soul even receives the quality of satya sankalpah, in other words, whatever he thinks, happens. He doesn’t have to do anything. He simply desires and it comes to pass (Chandogya Upanishad, 8/2/1-10).

Therefore, God and Guru are also equal. Whatever knowledge, bliss and eternal life God possesses, the realised soul or Saint attains forever.

There is one area in which God will remain the greatest (Brahma Sutra, 4/4/17, 21), which is creating the world, remaining seated in the hearts of all the individual souls, noting their actions and giving them the consequences of their actions, and so on. These tasks are only done by God, not by any Saint.

But why then is it said that the Guru is greater than God?

(Continued in Part 2)

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Worldly Desire-Part 3

(Part 3 of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India, on November 27, 2009)

The body was produced by your parents and it is made of material elements. It was for the maintenance of the body that God manifested the world. We should make use of the protein, vitamins and anything else the body requires so that it remains healthy for devotional practice and the aim of the other “I”, God realisation, is attained. If this body isn’t cared for properly, then you will experience physical suffering and as a result, you won’t practice devotion to God.

Nowadays everyone suffers due to the body and this is because we wrongly understand that our happiness is in this world. “Today there’s a wedding, which means lots of malpua (a rich Indian sweet) to eat!” You ate a lot. Keep on eating – you are still young, but when you get older you will see that diabetes and heart disease are waiting for you. God said, “Eat the food I produced in this world in its original form.”

Instead we mix, fry and spice everything, and in the process destroy all the vitamins that the food contains, and then say, “I really enjoyed that!” It is these kinds of preferences that cause disease in the body.

So we experience physical suffering and our mental suffering – desire, anger and greed – is separate from this. Even beyond this there is the attachment we have to our loved ones. If your child gets a fever, you exclaim, “Oh! What is his temperature?” But why are you so excited? You don’t have the fever. “No, I don’t have the fever, but it’s my son!” If your son also has an accident, “Rush him to the doctor!” The doctor says, “He has to have an operation. He broke a bone. It will cost $100,000.” “$100,000? But I’m poor!” We experience so much unhappiness due to our relations, and our personal suffering is separate from this.

Out of ten or twelve of our closest relations, if one of them dies, we cry. We cry for all of them them, and the last one to go cries the most. How does a human being continue to live in the face of all this suffering? In spite of this he doesn’t turn towards God. Saints try hard to help the souls, but even they get tired. The scriptures are a treasure of divine knowledge, but we never paid attention to them.

Therefore we have to think about this and understand it and increase our movement towards God. To do this, we have to divert our desires for the world towards God. You might think this is too difficult to do, but it is actually quite simple.

Imagine there is a young girl of 18 or 20 years of age. She lives with her parents. She considers everything that belongs to her father as her own. She was just married to someone which whom she was completely unacquainted previously. She left her parents’ home and went to her in-laws home, but what magic happened in her going that as soon as she arrived, she thought, “This is my home. This is my car. This is all mine”? if she were asked, “What about the things at your mother’s home?” She would say, “Those aren’t mine; they belong to my brother.” Did that young girl practice detachment for many years to reach this state? No, it happened in one second.

If you realise, “I am the soul and my self-interest is only served by God,” you will start to love Him. Imagine there is a beggar. He went to someone’s home and spoke to a servant in that house, “Please give me something to eat, and in return I will give you a paras (a touchstone fabled to turn iron into gold).” That servant had never heard of a paras so he had no idea what it was. He thought, “It might be something good. I’ll give it to my master, and then he’ll be happy with me.” He said, “Alright, I’ll give you something to eat.” Later that evening when his master came home, he said, “Sir, a beggar came to the door today. He asked for some food in exchange for a paras, so I fed him and he gave it to me.” His master laughed, “Fool! Would the owner of a paras be begging? Even billionaires would be his servants!” He picked up the stone and threw it. It struck a metal hinge on the door, which turned to gold. The master picked up the stone and touched it to another hinge. That also became gold. “Oh, this is really a paras! I don’t have to work any more!”

That object which he threw away in anger he now considered dearer than his own life. Similarly, it is a fact that God dwells in our hearts, but we don’t believe this. Every moment he is noting our thoughts and ideas. We have to understand this and accept it – because without accepting it, knowing about it doesn’t produce any results. If someone explained the scriptures to us and we accepted that philosophy, then we benefited. If we merely knew it but didn’t accept it, there is no benefit.

This is like a funeral procession where “Ram nam satya hai” (God’s name is the only truth) is traditionally being recited. If the corpse being carried were to suddenly sit up, everyone in the procession would simultaneously say, “Hey! Quiet! Stop saying this! He might die again!” This is the state of our understanding.

If we know and understand that God alone is ours, and that by attaining Him we will fulfill our self-interest and find happiness, then,

Jatey kachu nij swaratha hoi, tapar mamta kare sab koi.

We love someone up to whatever limit he fulfills our self-interest. If our self-interest is being served, we automatically love.

You are all suffering in the world. When some religious person comes, you say, “Let’s go listen to him. Maybe it will make a difference and we’ll find happiness.” Otherwise, why would you ever leave your home in this cold weather? Everyone works to fulfill their self-interest. So what is in your true self-interest, and by “your” I mean what is in the self-interest of the soul, is to attain God’s supreme divine bliss. To do this you have to form desires for Him and accept Him as your own, that is all. So we have to divert our desires for the world towards God. When we do this, this is called sadhana or devotion.

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