When an Astrologer Saw His Own Future, What Happened? Yamuna Bank Satsang (04-07-26)

Words of Pujya Maharaj Ji from the sacred dhaam of Vrindavan — listen in the video above.

The Complete Discourse

Jai jai Shri Harivansh, jai. We are trapped by God's maya. Our true form is imperishable. It is full of bliss. It is full of joy. It is eternal. It is one. Now we are caught in multiplicity, in impermanence, trapped in a perishable body. To be free from this, we have been given a human body, which is our true form.

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः।।
Weapons cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.

Even the power of weapons cannot burn me. The power of arrows, the power of the weapon of Varuna—none of them have the power to touch us.

न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः।
Water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.

Such is my true form. And I, who have such a true form, have become trapped in this body, fallen into such a terrible state that in small matters there is fear, anxiety, sorrow, death—countless kinds of suffering.

Satsang lifts you above all this. Sat is the soul, asat is everything else. The total of everything—my experience is that sat is the worship of Hari, and the world is all a dream. Entirely, we are living in a dream. When the final time comes, you will know whether it was a dream or real. Just as in a dream you built a palace, got married, had sons and daughters, arranged a whole family, and when the dream broke, you were alone. In the world, just as the swan flew away and was alone, then it will be understood that you were seeing a dream. The real delusion—the sleep of ignorance—did not end, so we could not worship God.

The body will surely perish. The body that you cherish so much—you bathe it, apply soap and oil, clean it carefully, apply fragrant substances, look in the mirror and feel proud. That is not you. That is your clothing. This is your garment. You are not it. And this will perish. The garment will tear. The one wearing it will not tear. Bombs do not have the power to tear it. It is imperishable. Only this perishable thing will perish.

So, since the body is going to perish anyway, earn something imperishable. What imperishable wealth do you have? Think about it and see.

You will say, "I have so many acres of land, so much in the bank, such a high position—we have earned all this through hard work." In a dream, when the final time comes, when you wake up, neither the position will go with you, nor the bank balance, nor the land, nor the family. What will go with you is God's name. That is why Kabir says:

कबीरा सब जग निर्धना, धनवंता नहीं कोई।
धनवंता सोई जानिए, जाके राम नाम धन।।
Kabir says, the whole world is poor; there is no truly wealthy one. Know that one alone is wealthy who has the wealth of God's name.

I appeal to all of you: chant the naam. The more you chant the naam, the more your sins will be destroyed. As sins are destroyed, suffering is destroyed. Anxiety is destroyed. Sorrow is destroyed. And God becomes dear to you. This is the greatest thing. When God becomes dear, that is when you will attain that joy of life which we have been wandering in cycle after cycle and have not yet found. Supreme bliss, great happiness, great love—this is attained from God. We are always thinking. We just have to be careful about what we think. Thinking about the world, the body, pleasures, money, the enemy, the friend, the wife, the son, the family—all of this is what we think about. We must correct this thinking, and nothing else needs to be corrected.

Things should remain as they are. When God incarnated, the world was like this too. Today it is like this. In the future it will remain like this. We can improve our own thinking and make things work. Everyone is thinking. Without thinking, no one can live even for a minute. But thinking of the son, of the wife, of wealth, of maya, of attachment, of hatred, of fighting, of quarrelling, of friendship, of enmity—all of these belong to maya. The enemies, friends, attachment, hatred, destruction, birth—good and bad—were created before, are being created now, and will be created in the future. You can erase your own. You can save yourself. So instead of worrying about the world, be concerned with Shri Ji.

अनन्य चिन्तो माम।
Think of me with single-pointed mind.

Think of Shri Ji. Do everything while saying Radhe Radhe. It is not that you should stop other activities to do bhajan. Do your work while doing bhajan. True work is done while doing bhajan. In bhajan there is great power. In Bhaktamal, there is a story of Kuba Ji. He had great faith in the saints. Those who want to love God find the saints very dear. And those who find the saints dear find God very dear to them too. God's grace is great. He was poor, but he was devoted to the saints.

Whenever he saw a saint, he would offer full prostration, bring them home, prepare charanamrit. After preparing charanamrit, he would do their arati. Then full prostration again, and then offer them prasad and pray, "Please stay." If they stayed, they stayed; if not, they left. Where is this happening now? Look at the influence of Kaliyuga. When we were children, whenever a saint or sage was seen coming to the village, my father would say, "Run, go!" and all of us would run 500 meters and offer full prostrations. We would bring them home, wash their feet. Such was the power of that, the power of charanamrit, the power of the saints.

One day, 50 saints came to Kuba Ji's place. He made his living through labor—what is called wages today. He supported his family through manual work. To find one or two saints might be possible, but 50 saints, and a poor man—no one would even lend him anything. If he asked his neighbor, they would close the door. Look at how Sudama was not even given rice; he was given only broken rice grains. Kuba Ji made great effort so that on that day when saints came to his home, they would not leave hungry. This is a great principle of householder dharma: no one should leave your door hungry.

For example, when someone comes to your door and calls out "Radhe Shyam," you should come out. There are three things you should give to everyone. First, sweet words: "Radhe Radhe, Radhe Radhe." Second, a seat: "Come, please sit." Third, water: "Will you drink water? Here, please drink."

Now he is saying, "I need ₹000." Now this is your discretion. Let your discernment work. If you have it, then give it. If not, then don't give it. Then you won't have any sense of guilt. But there is the sin of disrespecting a guest. Like if someone came to your door and said "Radhe Shyam" and we said "Go away" — he will go away, but your merits will also go away. Your merits will be destroyed. Look, Sant, this is why we are giving this discretion — that if you honor everyone through three things, you won't have any guilt: soft words, a seat, and water. You can give these to anyone.

You don't necessarily have to bring them inside the gate — you can give them outside. Put out a chair, arrange a seat like that. Let them sit. About food — we need grace and blessing. What is this for? The question arises, what is this for? Someone says, "I have some work that needs to be done." We might say, "We don't have the capability" or "We don't have the faith." You can say both these things and there will be no guilt. But not disrespect — he will go away, but your merits will be destroyed.

At Kuba Ji's place, saints had come. And Kuba Ji himself was a great saint. A saint knows the glory of a saint. When saints went away hungry, that's a big problem. So a merchant agreed: "I will feed your saints." "Then you dig our well — there's water 50, 60 feet down." He said, "My wife and I together will surely dig your well. Today, please give us dal, rice, and ghee so we can serve the saints well, feed the saints." The saints received prasad while singing the Lord's name in kirtan. There was triumph and joy, and they left.

Kuba Ji never abandoned the name, not even for a moment. That was his special quality. Following the merchant's word, they started digging the well.

He was a devotee of Ram Ram Ji. So with each spade he would lift and give to a basket. His wife would say "Ram." And so with each spade, the name; with each basket, the name. Now the well was dug 20, 30 cubits deep. The soil below was sandy, so it needed wooden support. After putting support, they would dig again. That poor man dug below while his wife was above, pulling the soil with baskets and buckets. And Kuba Ji was below — tons and tons of soil came up. Now she cried out and the villagers came. There was no JCB in the old days. They said, "Friend, by the time we move all this soil, we'll die. Why labor to move it?" And so it was filled in. And the merchant, giving some money, satisfied his wife.

And see how great a promise someone made just to nourish a devoted saint's belly — see how much of a protector God is.

A month had passed. Don't look at God's deeds with amazement, thinking them extraordinary, or as if they're just stories. Don't be amazed. If he is God's devotee, anything is possible. A king's procession passed by there. They heard "Ram Ram Ram." The king said, "This voice is so sweet and full of love. Whose saint is this coming from?" Looking around to locate the voice, the voice was coming from where the well was. "Ram Ram Ram," they said, "Maharaj, it's coming from here." He asked the people and they told him: "A month ago Kuba Ji was buried in it. While he was digging, he said like this: 'Dig.'"

Now the king and his soldiers started digging the well. Where Kuba Ji was sitting, a cave had formed. Kuba Ji had absolutely no injury, no problem. No difficulty breathing. "I do, I act, my mind does otherwise — He who protected me in the womb, that protective God had kept cool water in a pitcher and kept beautiful food, and that food of consciousness and bliss such that no waste was produced." Kuba Ji was brought out. He was asked, "You were down there for a month — did you have any suffering?" He said, "Absolutely no suffering. Sita Ram Ji was with me." Just from sitting like that for a month, their name was only Ram Ji — so his name was set as Kuba Ram Ji.

There is so much power in God's name. How much suffering was given to Prahlad Ji? No suffering befell Prahlad Ji. Therefore, don't worry. "Those who meditate on Me alone, who engage in My worship with faith — for them I provide what they lack and preserve what they have. I will carry both prosperity and protection. You just meditate on Me alone."

These three things must surely come into the heart of a devotee. First, faith in God's grace while chanting the name. Chanting the name is the first duty. And with that, faith that God has special grace for us. Faith in God's grace while chanting the name. Second, the body will die, but I will not. But the body will die — that is, contemplating death is important, friend. You'll think, how painful is it to think about dying? This bhajan increases so that your remembrance doesn't disappear, that you don't drop the body. That you drop it in remembrance of Him. There remains a certain fear that the body can drop at any time. "May the name not be abandoned, may bhajan not be abandoned." Death of the body is certain. Therefore, with constant chanting of God's name, have faith in God's grace.

And the third is that while doing bhajan, don't connect the pleasures and pains that come to your bhajan. Consider them as prarabdh. If we have bad prarabdh, we're experiencing it. If we have good prarabdh, we're experiencing it. But the bhajan we're doing will take care of our accumulated karma and our current karma. We will experience prarabdh. Accumulated karma will be burned away. Current karma will become ineffective. And God-realization will happen in this very life.

When our mind goes toward evil thoughts, the mind doesn't engage in chanting the name. Therefore, one should do kirtan of the name. But at that time the mind will think about silence, not about doing kirtan. If you do kirtan of the name, you'll be saved. If evil thoughts come, if you start shouting "Radha Radha Radha Radha Radha," then see — that evil thought won't be able to rule over you. But when evil thoughts come, the name is dropped. God is forgotten. And with contemplation of that, in that person's association, the mind goes to sleep — contemplating that, trying to experience it — these two things remain.

If we do naam kirtan, then both things will become peaceful and our mind will turn towards God. All the events that happen in the world are determined beforehand. There is nothing new. Therefore, do not be afraid. What is to happen will happen. What is not to happen cannot happen at all. It cannot happen at all. No one can stop what is to happen. There was an astrologer who had very solid knowledge of astrology. He would make horoscopes for everyone. So one day he thought, "Let me also look at my own horoscope." When he looked at his horoscope, he saw that he would die from a crocodile.

This is certain. Just as when King Parikshit was born, the brahma rishis told him at the time of birth itself that he would die from a bite of the Taksak serpent. It is written in the Bhagavat. He saw through astrology that he would die from a crocodile. He sold his house and property and went to live in the desert, thinking, "Where there is no water, how can there be a crocodile? Where there is a water problem, how can there be a crocodile?" Now the astrologer's reputation grew greatly. People gradually spread that reputation, and it reached the king's ears. At that time, the kings ruled.

The king made him his royal priest. He became a royal priest with great comfort. The same year he became royal priest, a son was born. Now the royal priest had even greater honor—with the arrival of Pandit ji, the best works would happen. A son was born, a prince was born. Many years later, the Kumbh mela occurs. So when the Kumbh mela of Prayagraj arrived, the king made preparations and also took the young prince with him. He said to Pandit ji, "You are our family priest, so you must recite the mantras." He said, "Maharaj, I cannot go to Prayagraj. I cannot go to the pilgrimage."

He asked, "Why?"

He said, "My death is from a crocodile. I cannot go near water." So he said to him, "Do not worry. Nets will be set in the Ganga on this side, nets in the Yamuna, and the water in between will be filtered. Soldiers will be in the boat. There is absolutely no need to be afraid." He said, "No, now the king has commanded." He forced him to go. When they went, the boy was in the water and the king was also in the water. Pandit ji spoke from outside, speaking the names of Ganesha and Ganga... but the crocodile seized Pandit ji and took him away. Neither the soldiers nor the nets nor anything could stop it. What is to happen will come to pass. What is not to happen cannot happen.

Therefore, be carefree and chant Radha Radha naam. Through naam jap, all problems are solved, all desires are fulfilled, and attainment of God takes place.

This text is taken from the video's automatic captions — there may be errors in words. To hear the authentic words, please listen to the video.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)