No matter how high a position you hold, be careful. Yamuna Bank Satsang (30-06-26)

Commentary on a pad from Rasik Vani by Pujya Maharaj Ji — listen to the video above.

Full Discourse

Jai jai Shri, bereft of all limbs and virtues, no effort is needed for him. By the grace of one small maiden, whatever happens happens. All limbs are turned away from the abode of the Lord. The Lord's mouth, the name on the lips. Tulsi's faith: one lord, the form of mercy. I am bereft of all qualities. I am devoid of all virtues. Yet one faith remains—that Shri Ji is most merciful and will bestow grace upon me. By that same grace and grace-power, I have received naam. We do not see any sadhana strong enough to unite us with God. Sankhya yoga has been our main discipline, and jnana yoga. Even ashtang yoga has jnana yoga woven through it. We know karma yoga too, and bhakti yoga is certainly there.

It is not that we do not know the disciplines. We have done everything and known everything. Now only one thing has come: the Lord is a form of grace. By His grace, our life can become worthy of Him. We do not have the capacity to be worthy of the vision of God, whose form is consciousness and bliss, or worthy of His service. Not all limbs and virtues, no effort is needed for him. By the grace of one small maiden, whatever happens happens. This grace is not difficult to obtain—what other means are there? The feet, the refuge of Harivansh. It is by Harivansh Mahaprabhu's grace that the right to even that maiden's grace is obtained. We feel that Shri Ji has shown us tremendous grace. The most sacred, the supreme, the divine, the rare and worshipped by Shiva, Vrindavan Dham, and the all-powerful own attendant, Yamuna Ji—and sitting very close to her, we hear the discourse on God. This is boundless grace upon us.

We have been given human birth to attain God. Progress here is spiritual progress. Worldly advancement has no value. You may have attained a very high position here. You may have handled state affairs and remained turned away from God—then when you die, you will go to hell. Will heavenly realms come for you? Because you held such a high position? Just see—if you slip from the heavenly realms, even the position of Devraj Indra can come to ruin. Here was the universal emperor, King Nahusha—he performed many sacrifices and accumulated great merit. Through its power, he became the lord of all three worlds and sat upon the throne of Devraj Indra. When he became Indra, desire becomes very powerful, you see. So it seemed to him—now that I am Indra, the wife of Indra should be my wife. The former Indra, the former Indra's wife should be my wife, because I am the present Indra. He sent word to her. She went to the shelter of her guru Brihaspati and said, "Guru, this vile king wants to destroy my dharma. Only you can protect me." He said, "At this time he is seated upon the throne of lord of all three worlds, and he will not obey my command either, because if he had to obey, why would he think such thoughts? He would ask me first and receive permission before speaking such words. He is acting of his own will, so he will not obey my command. You must understand from the hint that he will not obey me. Now you must find a way to save yourself." So time was given to him. When time arrived, the force of desire moved. She went again to Brihaspati's shelter. He said, "God, the time has come now."

So he said to her, "Tell him that if he yokes the brahmarshis to a palanquin and brings them, then we will accept you." Word was sent that if he yokes the brahmarshis to a palanquin. The brahmarshis are venerated by the world. Now he is the lord of all three worlds—whatever he commands must be obeyed. Among the brahmarshis and devrishis—all are perfected in tapas, all are realized souls—some were ahead, some were behind. In Sanskrit, fast movement is called "sarpa, sarpa, sarpa"—meaning move fast, move fast, hurry up. And those brahmarshis, living on leaves, grass, and milk—a hundred thousand rishis stood before you. And one of those rishis was Durvasa. He turned back and said, "You wish to rule over us brahmarshis? Go—accept the serpent yoni." So straight from the seat of Devraj Indra, he fell into the womb of a python.

Think—how great a position is lord of all three worlds! Master of all three worlds. And when action goes wrong, he takes the form of a python. So if we turn away from God and become some great official in India and turn away from God and act according to our own will, then our downfall is certain, is it not? So human birth was not given for worldly advancement. That will continue by itself through the momentum of fortune. A human being's effort should be spiritual. Along with the spiritual, if there is worldly advancement, that is praiseworthy. If there is only worldly advancement and no spiritual progress, it has value for only a few years—20 years, 30 years. After that, when you depart from here, you will have to experience suffering.

Therefore, the ultimate goal of human life is attaining God. Attaining God through other disciplines in the Kali age is very difficult. Take ashtang yoga, for instance. Three hours sitting in siddhasana and padmasana without moving. Whoever can sit for three hours without stirring, and perform 90 pranayams—30 three times over—rechaka, kumbhaka, puraka, puraka, kumbhaka, rechaka—whoever can control their own breath, control their own body, and control the mind-waves. Yoga is the stilling of the mind-waves. Whoever can merge the mind-waves into the Lord and attain God that way.

He said, tell me, among all these people is there even one who can sit without moving for three hours in padmasana and sidhasana, perform ninety pranayama, refine his vital breath, and [nasal sound] establish his mind in the Supreme? Isn't it difficult? And the siddhis obtained from it exist only in maya. Hearing another's speech, flying in the sky, assuming many forms. Great siddhis are obtained through yoga. Jnana Goswami Ji wrote about the path of jnana:

Kripan dhara parat khag lage nahin bara

The edge of the sword of jnana does not delay in falling, and once fallen, it falls. Knowledge is called a lamp, and if it is extinguished, it is extinguished. Even in the path of jnana there is ego — aham brahmasmi, I am Brahman, therefore sarvam khalimdam brahma, all is Brahman. Then everything is Brahman.

Experiencing nothing but Brahman, not even a trace of any sensation anywhere else — this is jnana. It is said that obtaining Brahman-knowledge is very difficult. Now, karma yoga — if we even give someone water to drink, there remains in our mind the thought: will they not thank us? How can karma yoga be successful? Karma yoga can only be successful when it is done with completely non-attached sentiment, with absolutely no awareness of any transaction. As if we served you, and after today we do not even know who you are. Not that we served you today and then harbour hope that tomorrow you might return some favour to us — karma yoga too has become difficult.

Now [nasal sound] one thing remains: naam jap. In this, whether one is impure or pure, attached or unattached, young or old, woman or man, literate or illiterate, in any condition whatsoever:

Kalyug keval naam adhara, sumir sumir nar uttar hi para

In Kaliyug, the name alone is the support; by reciting, reciting, the person crosses over.

If you do not practise naam jap, in this age of Kali there is little certainty that any other practice will bring you God-realization. God's name is calling out.

Naam sankirtan yas sarva pap pranashan

The recitation of the divine name destroys all sins. We called our son Narayana and he attained the supreme abode. We keep saying, again and again: you recite Narayana, Narayana, Narayana, calling upon Narayana — but you will not attain the supreme abode.

This is why we say: only recite Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. See, all your obstacles will be destroyed, all your worries will vanish, and all auspiciousness will come to you. Yes, but one thing must be kept in mind: just as when disease has grown severe, bitter medicine is sometimes given. We have accumulated within us a heap of wilful misconduct. How many sins have we committed! To destroy them, some punishment will come, some adversity will come, illness will come, humiliation will come. But if you practise naam jap, these will not be able to overcome you. These will not be able to bring you down.

The experience of the great saints tells us this. All the heights that the mahatmas have reached, they have all reached through bhajan. Whatever your condition, if you are practising naam jap, you will certainly reach Shri Ji. This name — no matter how sinful one may be:

Harivansh naam jo le to alak ladi reekh ke mahal khavasi de Harivansh naam Dhruv kahat hi baadhe aanand beli prem rang aur jagmage jugal naval ras keli Shri Priya Preetam ke prem ras leela mein

If one recites the name of Harivansh, the angels in the palace of delight become enchanted. Dhruv, reciting the name of Harivansh, experienced boundless bliss, the play of love shining, the play of divine rasa of Shri Radha and Krishna.

[deep breath] This name — it is the experience of all the great saints. It is the experience of all the great mahatmas: whoever has begun naam jap has secured their supreme well-being.

Radha Baba says: if you have even once uttered Radha, Krishna in your lifetime, you have already laid the foundation of your mansion of auspiciousness. Your preparation to drown in the ocean of bliss has begun. Your welfare and well-being have started, because you have begun reciting the name of God. Brother, Hanuman Prasad Poddar Das Ji told me: I speak of the first and last realization of my life to you: you practise naam jap. If other practices come, well and good; if not, never mind. Practise naam jap. By practising naam jap, God's grace will certainly descend upon you and you will attain God.

When God is attained, what is the matter of fulfilling all other desires? Presently, the play of desires has grown so much that it is becoming very difficult to develop love for naam jap. Because for the mind to engage in naam jap, some purity is needed — purity of food, of company — this is necessary, isn't it? Today our food is becoming progressively contaminated. In hotels, at parties, only for youthfulness people eat animal flesh. Today intellect itself is becoming so degraded that nobody understands that drinking wine is sin, that drinking alcohol is sin. This is not even being understood.

Now it has even become a custom of welcome. It means there are full chances of going to hell. In such a condition, how can one develop affection for God's name? If satsang is obtained and naam jap is practised with determination and with the strength of the name these impure actions are abandoned, then all desires will be fulfilled. God will also be attained. This power of worldly attractions — as long as this interest in pleasures remains, the name will not taste sweet. When someone says nam jap does not appeal to them, it is because of attachment to pleasures that naam jap does not taste sweet. Because the power of worldly attractions has increased, the name does not taste sweet.

When someone's bile increases, even if you feed them jaggery it begins to taste bitter. When the bile has greatly increased and you feed that same jaggery every day, it will alleviate the bile and then it will taste sweet. Similarly, if the name is tasting bitter and naam jap is practised with regularity, it will begin to taste sweet. [nasal sound] Yesterday in satsang we gave the instruction that everyone will recite 10,000 names. Does 10,000 names seem like a lot to you? 10,000 names — Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha — walking about, standing — then a mother came and said, we have so much service, how can we recite 10,000 names?

You only talk about 10,000 names. Is 10,000 a lot? No, 10,000 goes by just like that, naturally. You keep a counter with you, and while going to your service and coming back, in those spare moments, 10,000 names, 10,000 names. If you recite naam every day, you yourself will begin to understand the miracle—where your life is heading. As long as you don't take shelter in God, as long as you don't do naam jap, your attachment to worldly things won't be destroyed. And this very attachment to worldly things is the cause of our cycle of birth and death. The love we have for pleasures—this is the cause of our birth and death.

So the scriptures say, vishyan vishwat.. — abandon worldly objects like poison. This happens through bhajan. The more you do bhajan, the more this world will seem false to you. Try it, do bhajan and see. This money, this wealth, these pleasures, this wealth of things, all these various honors and prestige—none of it will appeal to you, because it's all false. Every day, hundreds of times the thought comes to us. Just as someone remembers a loved one, hundreds of times the thought comes to us: we must die, we must go, we must leave from here. When will our breath stop? We don't know. And when the breath stops, everything is left behind. Whatever bhajan you did goes with you; nothing else does. This is a strange land—we've even left our body behind. In such a place, how can we love these things? This place is called the realm of death. You will all die. Our words may sound harsh to you, but you will all die. If not today, then tomorrow. Everything will be lost. If not today, then tomorrow, become conscious. Give up dirty conduct and, even while doing God's bhajan, do whatever worldly work has fallen to your lot properly and honestly, and dedicate it to God. Krishnaarpanamastu—your life will be fulfilled.

It's a very great mistake that we humans drink alcohol, eat meat, engage in dirty conduct in human life. We speak lies as we wish, we are dishonest, we harm others. We make very grave mistakes, very great mistakes. Now don't make these marks, these stains, again. From today, don't do these things in your life again. If a golden pot is filled with poison, would you drink it? Would you? Like this, there is poison in these bottles that destroys your body, that corrupts your intellect. Look at Bhishma—when such a great soul sat on the bed of arrows giving teachings to Yudhishthira, Draupadi said, "Where was this knowledge when I was being disrobed in the assembly?"

Then he said, "Daughter, by eating the defiled food of Duryodhana, my intellect became corrupted. Now six months have passed, blood has flowed from the arrows. Now I have become pure. Now when you ask questions, you will get the right answers." If the food is defiled, the intellect becomes corrupted. Such a great soul is saying this. And if you eat defiled things, your intellect will remain pure? This is not so! Therefore, brother, abandon this dirty food, dirty company, dirty drink, and abandon these things. What is the joy of life? Look, if you want to experience joy—we give our own example for this reason: pratyaksham kim pramanam—if something is directly perceived, it's the best proof and easier to understand.

Our heart dances with joy. Why? Because He is the Lord. So will there be no crisis in your life? We are telling you: from the age of 13, on God's path, this is our condition. This realm of the world is a realm of suffering. Won't disease come to your body? Won't calamity come to your life? If it will come, then what will you do? You'll have no refuge in God, no strength in bhajan—what will you do then? Then there will be only crying, only "Help me! Help me!" Just now you heard that someone has cancer, and that's all that fills your mind. "Now I'm done, now it's cancer." All kinds of calamities, diseases spread in this world. Therefore, to be protected from them, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha—we have been saved. What do you think? We have been saved, we have no troubles. Therefore, we pray to all.

Don't do any intoxication. Don't engage in dirty conduct. Don't take money through bribery. It will cause great harm to your body, to your family. And do naam jap as much as you can. Take up the discipline of naam jap. These days, wear it like a ring. There's no need to display a counter. If you don't have the strength to wear a mala, then get a counter, brother, wear it like a ring, and go—Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Do plenty of naam jap.

This text is taken from auto-generated captions of the video — there may be errors in the words. Be sure to listen to the video for the authentic discourse.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)