Maan Man, Chadu Maan Apaman-Part 1

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

In Prem Ras Madira there is a pad, Maan Man, Chadu Maan Apamaan, “Oh mind! Accept what I say. Don’t engage in disputes over honor and insult.” Even though this is not a Vedic verse, it is very important to understand for one’s devotional practice.

There are two obstacles in our devotional path. One is maan, the desire to be respected or honored, and the other is apamaan, the aversion to being disrespected or insulted. If we understand both of these and try to control them, our devotional progress will speed up considerably.

What is maan? Our sense of pride or ego. It is our desire that others should respect and honor us. When we are praised by others we feel happy. If someone says, “You are very generous.” Externally we answer, “I am not worthy of such praise.” But internally we feel, “This person is a very good. He is speaking highly of me!” Although externally we are saying we don’t deserve praise, internally our feelings are just the opposite.

On the other hand, when someone disrespects or insults us, we lose our equanimity. We become angry, our feelings get hurt and our hearts burn from within. But why is this so? Just reflect on this when you are alone: what fault do you not possess? Name a single fault that you don’t have. From time to time you are lustful, angry, greedy, deluded, and jealous. You have animosity for others, you lie, cheat, boast, and deceive others – all to fulfill your selfish desires. Everyone does this, from the most illiterate person to the most intelligent. Why is this?

The first reason is that we are under the control of Maya. The second reason is that we desire spiritual happiness. Because we are under the control of Maya, we are ignorant. We identify ourselves with our physical bodies. Our desire for happiness is also natural, and to attain that happiness we are capable of doing anything. We will lie, cheat, and deceive even our own parents, siblings and spouses. You even do this with your own Guru, what to speak of others? Your Guru is the one from whom your greatest self-interest could be gained, but you do not even spare him.

If the Guru utters just one sentence to you, “Why did you do that?” You immediately make excuses, “Guru Ji, it is like this, it is like that…” What are you actually saying to Guru Ji in this situation? “What you are saying is incorrect! I didn’t do anything wrong.” Why do we do this?

This is due to pride. We have spent our entire lives thinking of how to make sure that no one speaks ill of us. We have accumulated knowledge and acted in such a way so that people speak well of us. We keep on asking ourselves, “What should I say to deceive that person? How can I create a good impression so I can get what I want from him?” This is all we have done. We haven’t attempted to become good, we rather only wanted to be called good. What is the use of merely being called good?

There are politicians who claim, “I am a public servant. I serve the masses.” But do they serve the public or their own pockets? They act like they are sacrificing so much because they spend millions of rupees to be elected to their posts as public servants. The moment a person is elected, all he does is try to make that one million into two million. This is the extent of his service to the public. “I work for the welfare of others!” The welfare of others? When even Indra, the king of the celestial abodes, is unable to work for the welfare of others, what will an ordinary mortal do? Everyone simply wants his own happiness, and will perform every kind of good and bad action to attain it.

So the desire for respect and honor is a very serious ailment, as is our aversion to being disrespected. If anyone should speak against us, we immediately get angry, and when that happens, our discriminative thinking comes to an end. So our aversion to disrespect is also a major obstacle in our devotion, but disrespect will always happen in the world. This being the case, how could anyone avoid being disrespected? Even God realised Saints aren’t spared being criticised. Detractors say, “He just keeps on saying ‘Hare Ram’ all day long. We have to stop him. Let’s discredit him by spreading some rumours about him.”

History bears witness to what we have done to Saints from the time of Prahlad up to the time of Meera. What has not been done to oppose Saints? But no one thinks of the harm they are causing themselves by doing this. They just end up destroying themselves. Their precious human birth is taken away from them because of these serious spiritual transgressions.

So the simple fact is that as long as you are under the control of Maya, you will have every fault and these faults will remain with you in the future.

(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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Who is Truly Knowledgeable?

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on November 14, 2009, in Karnal, India)

There are two types of human beings – those who have understanding and those who don’t. Those who understand are few. Those who don’t understand are in the majority. The ones who can distinguish between the knowledgeable and the ignorant are also very few in number. Everyone thinks they are knowledgeable. The first sign of ignorance is thinking that you are knowledgeable.

If you say to someone that he is ignorant or a fool, he feels hurt. He might start arguing and possibly get into a fight with you. It was asked of Shri Krishna, “Who is ignorant?” He replied, “The one who identifies himself with his body.” Now you all can think about this when you are alone: Are you ignorant or knowledgeable? Do you think you are the body or something more?

One class of ignorant person considers himself to be the body; more ignorant than this is the person who believes he is a man or a woman; even more ignorant is the one who believes he is a brahman, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra, and even more ignorant is the one who thinks he is Punjabi, Gujarati, Madrasi, Bengali and so on. Now when you are alone, think about which class you are in.

After all, this was Shri Krishna’s answer, so He won’t make a mistake in His response. Someone considers himself to be a human being. Then what happens? A human body is related to other human bodies, to a mother, father, spouse, several children and all of our other relatives. Our mind is attached to all of them.

Someone is being attacked. You ask, “What’s happening?” “Sounds like someone is getting a beating.” “Who?” “Oh, it’s Ramesh.” “What?! That is my son!” What happened? A moment ago you were relaxed, and now you are anxious, “But it’s my son!” The person standing next to you is laughing at your condition. You are feeling distressed because you are the father and Ramesh is your son. When any of your family members experience pain, you suffer along with them, and this is all due to identifying yourself with the body.

If you were not to identify with the body, then you would not feel related to others. When you don’t feel this emotional attachment, then even if someone else is suffering, you internally remain at peace. Everyone must undergo physical suffering. You already undergo mental suffering like lust, anger, greed, jealous, animosity and so on, and on top of this you share the suffering of others due to your attachment.

In spite of this, when we say to each other, “How are you?” We say with a smile, “I’m alright!” We are experiencing so much suffering, but we respond with a smile and say we are alright. We are fooling the other person when we say this, because the fact of the matter is that everything is all wrong.

Why are you suffering? “I don’t have any money. I can’t find enough to eat.” And Mr. Millionaire, why are you unhappy? “Money has made me unhappy.” What? How could that be? You are a millionaire. “Yes, but I’m not a billionaire like my neighbor.” You may have read that the Ambani brothers, the richest family in India, are fighting with each other. Over what? Fifty billion dollars. For this reason there is a case in the Supreme Court at the moment, and the expenses related to this case will amount to 10 billion dollars. And the suffering they experience from the animosity they feel towards each other is in addition to this.

Just think – you may desire to have a million, but just see the condition of those who are billionaires. If you were to get one million, you will desire two. If you were to get two, then you would ask for four. You can never be happy like this. This disease is just like a fire that someone pours ghee (clarified butter) on. Why are you doing that? “Oh, I want to extinguish the fire.” But you have applied something that will only make the fire grow stronger.

So the one who is ignorant is the one who considers himself to be the body. This is the sole cause of all suffering. Who is knowledgeable? The one who considers himself to be the soul. Apart from the soul, there are two other entities, Maya and God. The question is which of these two belongs to you? The one who understands and believes this is truly knowledgeable. Just knowing this is not enough. A person can come to know this, but he must also believe it.

So we want happiness, peace, pleasure – we don’t want unhappiness or suffering. So which of these two entities, Maya or God, has the happiness we desire? This has to be understood.

This world is not related to us. This is our practical experience. How do we know this? We receive happiness from the same object that causes another to suffer. If that object had been a true source of happiness, then everyone would experience happiness from it. A drunkard feels happy when he hears the word ‘wine’, but a priest feels insulted if you hears the same thing. If there were happiness in wine, then the priest should also experience the same joy as the drunkard. The word ‘wine’ would be like music to his ears, but it is not. Then from what could everyone experience happiness, and that, too, all the time and in the same way?

Someone from an extremely poor home couldn’t even afford a bicycle. Today he got one. He is extremely happy. Now he can ride to work and arrive early. But his neighbor just bought a motorcycle. Now he feels sad, “A bicycle is useless!” Now he got a motorcycle. But his neighbor purchased a car. “What is the point of having a motorcycle. I need a car!” This disease is so pervasive it even exists in the celestial abodes. Everyone experiences suffering by seeing someone who has more than himself. By seeing those who have less then us, we forget our suffering and feel happy. “He has a bicycle, but I have a motorcycle!” In life there are those ahead of us and behind us, but everyone is experiencing suffering.

That same object we experience happiness from will also cause us to experience sorrow. A son obeyed his father’s request. The father was happy and gave him a hug. The second time, the son didn’t pay any attention to his dad. He also ignored him a third time. Finally the father scolded and slapped the son. What happened? You were just hugging him! We feel attached and detached from the very same mother, father, and spouse 10 or 20 times a day, depending on whether or not they are fulfilling our self-interest.

If there were happiness in any of these relations, we should constantly experience it. But instead it always steadily decreases. This is true of everything that gives us happiness in the world. So we need to think deeply about the nature of our world. We have hugged our loved ones thousands of times, but there has always been a difference in the feeling of happiness from person to person, and times have come when we felt so adverse to them we didn’t even want to look in their direction, “It would be good if he died! My life has been ruined by getting such a spouse! How did I get such a terrible son!” and so on.

So if there is no true happiness in this world then this means it must be in God, because there is no third entity. This understanding has to become firmly seated in our minds. Our situation is like a dog, who runs to a man who is showing him a piece of bread. As he comes close to the man, the man hits him with a big stick. The dog runs away crying in pain. When he is at a distance, he looks back angrily at the man. The man shows him a piece the bread again and the dog thinks, “Never mind, he is giving me something to eat.” He runs towards the man wagging his tail, and again the man hits him with a stick. When we have problems with our relatives, we feel emotionally detached from them. Then after some time, we feel attached again.

So if someone thinks deeply about this, he will come to the realisation that there is no true happiness in this world. In other words, he will realise, “My kind of happiness is not here.” My means ‘what belongs to me’. Me means what is not ‘mine’, such as my body, my mind, my intellect. What is mine cannot be me. We don’t say, “I am the house.” We say, “This is my house.”

So you have a body; you are not the body. The ‘you’ that came into this body is such a power that it enabled this lifeless body to become active. With that power, you began to see, hear, smell, taste and touch and think. When it left, then this body became lifeless, dead. So we are that soul.

What belongs to us, the individual souls, is God. What belongs to the body is this world. Because we are a part of God, our happiness lies in God. This world is for the maintenance of the body. If someone intends to meditate on God for 24-hours, after some time he will feel hungry, and then he will forget about God. So the body requires the same elements it is comprised of to function. The body was created from material elements in the mother’s womb. And God created this world out of the same elements to support the body’s functioning, and that, too, was done with such variety that there are thousands of different kinds of foodstuffs – that is how great our divine Father is! He did all this for the body, not for you. He said, “I am the one for you.”

This needs to be continuously understood. You refer to and believe your worldly father is your true father. You feel this continuously. But you should not feel that the father of your body is the father of your soul. The father of the atma is paramatma. Don’t feel that what gives happiness to the body also gives happiness to the soul. This is a deception. The world is for the maintenance of the body. The soul’s happiness is only found in God. Just this much has to be understood. The whole essence of all the scriptural teachings is just this.

Even if someone were to study all the scriptures, he would come back to this point: I am a soul, my happiness is paramatma, Shri Krishna. This is my body, and for its maintenance God created the world.” Both are necessary – God and the world. You have to make this understanding firm through repeated thinking. In the past, you have done the reverse and thought that everyone and everything in the world was yours. You did some spiritual practice, realized the truth, and then forgot it, because you did not repeatedly review this understanding. The scriptures say to listen to spiritual philosophy from a true Saint, then review that understanding over and over again so it becomes practical and firm, and then you will attain your ultimate aim.

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Gopashtami Celebration – Bhakti Dham

A festival dedicated to Lord Krishna, Gopashtami, was celebrated on October 26 in Bhakti Dham, Mangadh, during the 2009 annual sadhana camp.

Gopashtami or Gopa Ashtami, is observed on the eighth day during waxing phase of the moon (Shukla Paksha) in Kartik month (October – November).

These celebrations commemorate Shri Krishna’s childhood leelas related to tending cows in Braj. Traditionally on this day, cows are bathed and decorated, and “go” or cow puja, a small ceremony, is performed.

A beautiful rangoli design was made with colored powders inside the temporary cow pen

Two cows from the ashram goshala were chosen and decorated for the occasion

Crowd waiting for the festivities to begin

Joyous respected devotees beginning to arrive for the celebration

Shri Maharaj Ji graces the occasion

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Two Kinds of Suffering

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj at Bhakti Dham, Mangadh, on Saturday, October 3, 2009)

Every soul is unhappy and dissatisfied. We work every moment to be freed from these feelings. There are many kinds of suffering that you know about and have practically experienced uncountable times since eternity. Primarily these are of two kinds: physical suffering and mental suffering. All other kinds of suffering are included within these two.

You are familiar with physical or bodily suffering. You feel cold, you feel hot, you get a disease, someone is beating you, you have a stomach ache – you feel tremendous pain from these. Even the most influential and wealthy people are in the grip of this kind of suffering. If it is too hot, a wealthy person can afford air conditioning. There are many kinds of suffering like this that wealth can eliminate. There are others that are inherited and can’t be avoided. There are many reasons for physical suffering but the main point is no one can save himself completely from this.

Even greater than physical suffering is mental suffering, which is continuous. Everyone struggles with lust, anger, greed, jealously and delusion. Every human being has an internal machine called the mind. This machine works continuously every second planning and practicing how to be freed from these sufferings.

Some people wonder how to achieve happiness. Sage Vidur says in the Bhagwatam (3/5/2) that everyone is trying every second to find happiness and be free from suffering, but they attain neither, and instead their suffering only increases. This same idea is also found in other places in the Bhagwatam (7/7/42, 6/16/7, 11/3/18).

For how long have we attempted to eliminate our suffering? Since eternity because the individual soul is eternal. We never stop receiving bodies. The soul is in a jail in the form of the 8.42 million species of life. A celestial body body is so great in comparison to any other material body, but mental suffering is exactly the same for a celestial being. Wherever a soul goes, it will receive a mind, a body and suffering.

Shri Krishna said to Arjuna in the Gita (16/21) that are three causes of suffering: desire, anger and greed. Eliminate these three, then suffering will also be eliminated. Just like doctors learn the cause of disease or bodily suffering so they can end it, so we should know about these three.

The Gita (3/37) also says there are two causes of suffering – desire and anger. Eliminate these two, and suffering will also be eliminated.

The Gita (2/71) also goes to the extent of saying there is just one cause of suffering – desire. If just desire were eliminated, suffering could end. Desire means our need for this or that, “No one should be greater than me, otherwise I will suffer.” “My father scolded me and made me feel bad. I think it would be good if he died.” And so on…

The Gita explains that greed and anger are the children of Maya. If our desire is fulfilled, we become greedy, “I made $100,000; I should have $200,000!” If our desire is unfulfilled, we become angry. If our selfish desires are not fulfilled by our relatives and loved ones at any time of the day or night, we become angry.

Some temple priests or so-called holy men will advise that to give up desire, anger and other mental vices, you simply write down your vow, “I give up anger.” But the mother of anger is Maya, God’s power. Only the one who could defeat God could defeat Maya, otherwise such talk is rubbish.

If we could eliminate all his desires, the result is that we would become blissful, truly happy (Bhagwatam 2/3/14, Gita, 2/71). But desires won’t just simply go away because their origin is Maya. Yet our nature is to attain happiness because as an individual soul we are a part of God, who is supreme divine happiness. This is our nature. We can’t change this nature just as light can’t change its nature to illuminate. We shouldn’t try to eliminate a mental vice by vowing, “I won’t get angry.” This has a little effect, but that effect is temporary and limited. It doesn’t completely eliminate the tendency to become angry.

In ordinary anger, you may remember my advice, “Maharaj Ji said that if someone is verbally abusing you to stay quiet.” But after two or three more insults you have reached your limit and you angrily speak back. So it’s impossible to completely eliminate this on your own.

Look at the example of Vishwamitra. He was such a great tapasvi, performer of devotional austerities, that he was able to create a new celestial abode for Trishanku. He angrily attacked Vashishth so many times and each time he was defeated by him. One night at midnight he hid behind Vashishth’s hut determined to murder him. Just at that time Vashishth’s wife, Arundhati, asked, “Swami, at this time on this earth who is the greatest tapasvi?” Vashishtha said, “That is only Vishwamitra. If he could only end his anger, he could become even greater. He hasn’t yet been freed from Maya.” When Vishwamitra heard these words he thought, “Oh! My enemy is praising me?” He immediately entered the hut and surrendered to Vashishtha, who then blessed him to become a bhramarshi, a God realised Saint.

Without attaining God realisation, Maya won’t be eliminated. Without eliminating Maya, you will fail to eliminate desire, anger, greed or any other mental vice.

In actual fact we have our own version of freedom from suffering and the attainment of happiness before God realisation. This comes to us in the form of deep, dreamless sleep. In that state our mind is at peace; when we awaken, tension and suffering start immediately, “I’m sick”, “My wife left me”, “I lost my job”, “My friend defamed me” and so on. We need to recognize that this is not true freedom from suffering or true happiness.

The Vedas explain that true happiness is always unlimited and eternal. To attain this you must receive God’s grace, and to receive that grace, you must surrender your mind to God. With this end in mind you have all come here to the sadhana program to practice devotion. But some of you are careless. You don’t think about this carefully. You must think about this one day in order to be truly happy. Why not think about it now?

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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God is Causelessly Merciful – Part 1

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Bhakti Dham, Mangarh, India, on September 15, 2009)

Great scholars and philosophers have pondered on how God is causelessly gracious. Causeless means to grace without a reason. In our world everyone is gracious with cause, no matter if it is our mother, father, son or neighbour. Gracing with cause is like a business transaction. We give something and in return we receive something from the other person.

For example, when we go to a store, we give money to the shopkeeper and in return he gives us the goods we require. He doesn’t give us a discount for that, rather he takes the full price. If the shopkeeper were asked to give something worth $2000 for $200, he would say, “Have you gone crazy? Get out of my store!” It is necessary to pay the full price. This condition exists everywhere in this world.

We did something for our mother, father, son, and so on. In return they graced us. This reciprocal business is found everywhere. As a result, people assume this also exists in the spiritual area. Those who practiced devotion and become Saints like Tulsi, Soor, Meera, Kabir, and others were graced by God. We didn’t practice God’s devotion but instead practiced devotion to the world. As a result, the consequence we received for this made us roam here and there in the 8.4 million life forms.

To receive a human birth is extremely rare. In the jungle there are so many creatures. They don’t have rooms, nor do they have any clothing or ready-made food, but still they continue to exist. They also have offspring and they experience all kinds of pains and suffering like we do. They also experience happiness as we do. A person eating a rasgulla (Indian sweet) experiences the same happiness that a cow receives by eating green grass. The quality of happiness in both these situations is comparable.

But what human beings have that is unique is a special power of knowledge. This power makes them capable of having their selfish desires fulfilled, even from animals! But, look at the poor condition of the wild animals, who have to move continuously from here to there just to get enough food, and in that, too, there is no certainty. In this, the less powerful creatures become prey for the more powerful animals. This is the scene all over the jungle. But,

Kabahunk karu karuna nar dehi,
deta isha binu hetu sanehi.

Saint Tulsidas says that the human body is precious and rare. This form is bestowed on a soul by God, who is causelessly gracious. Veda Vyas says that even the celestial gods, who are worshiped by humans, also long to receive a human body. They pray to God to receive a human form, which in comparison to their own, is extremely impure. A celestial body naturally exudes perfume and has a divine luster. It doesn’t age or produce sweat or any waste products. But still they desire a human body. Why? Because the freedom to perform action or karma is only bestowed on the human form. This is what makes us capable of attaining what we desire, divine happiness, and likewise what we don’t want, suffering. Producing consequences of action is possible only in the human body.

Again the same question arises. Is God gracious with cause? And what about those who give donations as charity? At least they must be causelessly gracious! No, they are not. They have faith in the Vedas and scriptures, which say that if you give charity in your present birth, you will receive ten times that in your next birth. You won’t wander here and there in search of a piece of bread. You will lead a comfortable life. This is the hidden, selfish desire of those who give charity.

For example, a mother selflessly nurtures her child for 20-25 years. What can a newborn baby do in return for its mother? But still the mother nurtures her baby with great difficulty. She seems to be selfless but actually she is not. She also has a hidden desire. Her desire may be that after her child becomes an adult and is earning money, that he will support and take care of her in her old age, and so on.

There is attachment and animosity everywhere. Just as children in a poor street sweeper’s house fight and quarrel over a few pennies, so do brothers in India’s richest families file court cases against each other over millions. Not only poor people are troubled, although the poor may think that everyone else is happy except themselves.

So then is God causelessly gracious? Yes, He is. How have people attained God realisation? Through devotion. What does devotion mean? What could we offer to God so that He would grant us the power to see Him? His form, knowledge and bliss are all divine. Even this material world belongs to Him. What could we offer to Him? Initially we have to practice devotion to attain Him, but how will we do this? With our mind – but our mind is also material, and whatever loving remembrance we practice will all be a product of our material imagination. So on what basis will He give us His divine vision?

There is nothing in the world that could be offered to God in exchange for being granted His divine vision. Our mind, intellect and body are all material. How could we pay for something divine with something material? Still, God has graced so many Saints with divine vision. How did that happen? This will be explained later.

© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss

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Dharu Nandanandana Ko Dhyan Re

(Pad kirtan excerpted from Shri Krishna Madhuri of “Prem Ras Madira” written and composed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj)

Dharu Nandanandana ko dhyan re.
Oh, my mind! Lovingly meditate on Nandanandana Shri Krishna.

Jako dhyan dharat nishi vasar, vidhi hari har bhagavan re.
Even Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar, who are supreme God, continuously meditate upon Shri Krishna.

Mor mukut lakuti lapati pat, lajavati bhrikuti kaman re.
A crown embellished with peacock feathers is adorning His head. The yellow silken shawl that graces His shoulders is wrapped around His staff. The arch of His eyebrows puts to shame the perfect arch of a bow.

Chanchal nain driganchal chanchal, anchalapat phaharan re.
His eyes are casting playful and mischievous glances and sidelong looks of love. His yellow silken shawl flutters playfully in the breeze.

Gati madamatta gayanda lajavati, manda manda musakan re.
His charming gait puts to shame the gait of an intoxicated elephant. He has a gentle and sweet smile.

Viharat nit Kripalu Vrindaban, rati-ras chatur sujan re.
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj says, “Shri Krishna is the crest-jewel of the Rasik Saints who are eternally absorbed in divine love, and He eternally performs ever-new pastimes of divine love in Vrindaban.”

(Pad kirtan excerpted from Shri Krishna Madhuri section of “Prem Ras Madira”, written and composed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj)

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Greatness of Radhey Name

(Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj explains the meaning of four new kirtan verses relating to the greatness of Radhey name in Kishangarh, India, on September 8, 2009.)

‘Ra’ se sab bhagen pap Govinda Radhey,
puni aave to ‘dhey’ dhakka de ke bhaga dey.

When someone says ‘Ra’, the first syllable of ‘Radhey’, all his sins run away. But as he is a mayic soul, they all return. But when they do so, ‘dhey’, the second syllable, gives them a big blow and drives them away.

Radhey nam sunatahin Govinda Radhey,
Shyam bhaje aave bolen puni kahu Radhey.

When a soul says Radhey name with real feelings of love, Shri Krishna comes running to him and says, “Could you please say Radhey name again?”

Radhey nam ‘Ra’ ko suni Govinda Radhey,
Shyam bhaji aaven sochen ab bolega ‘dhey’.

When someone says ‘Ra’, Shri Krishna rushes to that soul, expecting that he will say ‘dhey afterward – even though that person may be intending to say ‘Ravana’ instead.

Radhey nam sunatahin Govinda Radhey,
Shyam bhajen peetpat murali gira dey.

When Baby Krishna hears Radhey’s name, he runs from Mother Yashoda’s lap so eagerly that His little yellow kachani (waist-cloth) falls off and He drops His tiny murali (flute). He runs towards the sound of ‘Radhey’ without even caring that He is naked.

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Kali se bhaju na kahun Govinda Radhey

“Kali se bhaju na kahun, Govinda Radhey,
jane kal tera kali aane hi na dey.”

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj in Kishangarh, India, on September 8, 2009, explaining this new kirtan verse)

Ninety-nine percent of the world’s population have no knowledge of who they are, what is their ultimate aim, or what method to use for attaining that aim. The number of people who have correct knowledge of this is much less. Those who know also have a defect. What is that? “I will do it… but later.”

They know the way to Kishangarh, but they say, “I’ll go there tomorrow.” The speaker asks, “When will you spend time in devotion to God? Your childhood has passed. You are no longer a youth. When are you going to practice devotion?” The habit of procrastinating is very bad. This habit alone has caused you to spoil an uncountable number of previous births.

When will you practice devotion? At the moment of death, Yamaraj doesn’t allow anyone to extend their allotted time by even one second. Saints also have to leave, but Yamaraj escorts them to the divine world with great respect. Has any jnani, yogi or bhakta lived forever? Most importantly, no one knows when he is going to die. Even a newborn could die immediately after taking birth. We see this every day. Still we procrastinate. Why? We have to leave this habit.

We have to practice devotion to God and Guru with our tan (body), man (mind) and dhan (wealth). If someone has no money, he can practice loving remembrance and render physical service. If someone is physically unfit, he is still able to practice loving remembrance and give charity.

In any case, everyone should practice devotion with the mind or do loving remembrance of God. There is no one who could say, “I don’t have a mind!” Everyone has a mind. This kind of excuse doesn’t work in the spiritual area. After we leave this world, we will be questioned by the spiritual court, “Why didn’t you practice mental devotion?” So, we have to leave this habit of delaying these spiritual subjects.

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Selfish and selfless devotion

(Synopsis of a talk given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on 2-8-09, Bhakti Dham, Mangadh, India)

Q: Maharaj Ji, could you tell us something about sakam bhakti (selfish devotion) and nishkam bhakti (selfless devotion)?

A: All of you must have heard or read about these two words, sakam (sa or with, kam or desire) and niskhkam (nih or without, kam or desire). Sakam means having a desire or being selfish, and nishkam means having no desire or being selfless.

Let’s talk about sakam, being selfish. Generally this word is used in two areas, the mayic or material area and in God’s area. The context of this question is God’s area.

What is selfish devotion? It means practicing devotion and asking God for the world. People think that through selfish devotion God fulfills our desires and gives us whatever we ask for. For example, Dhruva prayed to God with a desire to become a king, and he became one. Draupadi prayed to God to have her honor and life saved, and they were. Gajraj prayed to God to be saved from death, and he was. This means whatever they prayed for from God, they received. In general, selfish devotion is 100% wrong because it is just pure selfishness. It is not selfish love. First we should love God and then desire something from Him.

For example, a man standing on the side of the road is asking for a lift from someone in a car, “Hey, can you give me a ride?” The man in the car is thinking, “Is he crazy? I don’t even know him. Why is he asking me for a lift?!” So he doesn’t stop the car. In other words, he has no relationship to that man. He feels no love for him. Similarly, we have no love for or relationship with God, and yet we want Him to fulfill our selfish worldly desires. People in the world are considered crazy if they behave this way with others, and in the spiritual area they are considered even more crazy. If God were to give us everything we wanted just by demanding it from Him, what would the condition of the world be like after that?

Let’s move ahead and consider what is sakam prem, selfish love. This means to first love God, develop a relationship with Him and after that desire something from Him. If a man is asking for a lift from one of his relatives, that relative feels it is his duty to help because of their relationship.

In selfish love there are also two areas. The first area is the material area. We can only ask for those things our intellect is aware of. For example, if offered a piece of candy or a priceless diamond, a young child will choose the candy. This is the extent of his understanding. Our intellect is mayic. Before God realization we will only desire material things. We develop a relationship with God and before it becomes firm, we start demanding things from Him. We go to Vaishno Devi or any other pilgrimage place or temple and start expressing our demands. It may happen that some of our desires are fulfilled as a result of our material destiny. We assume God has answered our prayers and fulfilled these desires, and due to this we develop faith in Him, but we are mistaken. If the next time we pray to God and get an opposite result, our intellect will become anti-God. We will become atheistic. So before God realization, we will demand worldly things from God.

The second area is when we have selfish desires and we are also surrendered to a true Saint. If this is the case, these desires are correct. Because as a result of that Guru’s teachings, we won’t ask God for the world. We will instead ask for His divine love so we may attain His eternal divine service (seva). This is not wrong. Rather, this should be our inner desire that we attain God’s eternal service so we may give Him happiness. In order to receive God’s service, we need to have selfless love for Him. For that kind of love, we need to receive God’s divine vision, and to receive His divine vision, we have to purify our minds by shedding selfless tears of love.

This kind of selfless love starts developing in the primary stages of devotion or sadhana. Sometimes we have problems practicing this. Later on, we realize our mistakes and move forward. Slowly this feeling of selfless love becomes completely firm and then it keeps on increasing every moment.

This progress doesn’t happen in selfish devotion because the devotee has expectations. If his desires are fulfilled, then it’s fine. If not, then his mood goes off. He may think, “I shed so many tears for God and He never came. The world is much better than this.” His devotion and faith then start to reduce. But a selfless devotee says, “If it makes Him happy that I should continuously shed tears then I will continue to do so.” This devotee remains happy in his Beloved’s happiness. By practicing the kind of selfless love, we will attain our ultimate aim of supreme divine bliss.

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