(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
Bhakti Bliss 