Beware! Never make this mistake on the path to attaining bhagavat | Yamuna shore satsang (08-07-26)

The words of Pujya Maharaj Ji at Shri Dham Vrindavan — listen in the video above.

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Jai jai Shri Hit - in the scriptures, doing parahit is said to be extremely necessary for attaining bhagavat prapti. Parahit [clearing of throat] - serving others. The greatest parahit is if we make a non-devotee into a devotee, someone who does not do naam jap, whether they are our relative, friend, or someone from society. If we befriend them and inspire them to do naam jap, this is a tremendous benefit. There is no greater benefit than this. If they do not do naam jap, do not listen to us, and conduct themselves with an evil nature, then we should not associate with them.

We should bow and maintain distance. We should not harbor enmity either.

जाके प्रिय न राम वैदेह तजिए ताह कोटि बैरी सम जद्यपि परम सनेही
Forsake those for whom Rama is not dear, as one would ten thousand enemies, even if they are most affectionate.

Even if they are your most beloved, dearest friend, closest relative - if now they engage in all dirty conduct and do not wish to hear about bhakti, do not wish to hear God's name - then forsake them as one would ten thousand enemies, even though they are most affectionate.

Goswami Tulsidas Ji says: if we have associated with those who live a life devoid of bhagavat, then just as if collyrium is applied to the eye and the eye goes blind, what benefit has been obtained? Only loss. Similarly, association with those devoid of bhagavat is harmful.

We should associate with those who listen to us, who do naam jap, who show some humanity. About parahit - parahit is of many kinds. Such as giving medicine to the sick, giving food to the hungry, giving clothes in winter, solving the problems of those in difficulty. But all of this is ordinary parahit. Perfect parahit is when we engage someone in God.

With folded hands, by praying, by having them listen to satsang, by enticing them - just as a mother entices her child, saying "look, we will give you these things to eat if you do two malas of Radha Radha" - in any such way, if we engage someone in naam, if they listen to us - there is no greater parahit than this and no greater benefit is obtained.

When we engage someone in naam and they begin to do naam jap, then we will receive grace and blessing from God's side. Just understand that for everyone we engage in bhagavan's naam, special grace and special compassion comes upon us.

Now, to do parahit in the form of naam, there must be some courage. They may even abuse you. If they are very wicked, they may even beat you.

Just as during Mahaprabhu Chaitanya Dev's circumambulation, Nityananda Ji and Haridasa Thakur went out to give naam daan, to preach naam. Ahead they saw that in an alley people stopped them, saying "do not go."

"Why?" they asked. "There are two brothers of demonic nature. Jagai and Madhai - they drink alcohol all the time and hurl abuses. You absolutely must not go near them."

So Nityananda Mahaprabhu said to Haridasa Thakur, "What should be done, Thakur?" Haridasa Ji replied, "Prabhu, the true worthy recipient is the one most in need. They are absolutely worthy of charity. We must go to them because their condition is very serious - they are great sinners."

Nityananda Mahaprabhu said something about facing opposition like throwing a brick into a hornet's nest, but Haridasa said, "Let us go."

Prabhu said, "Let's go." Nityananda Mahaprabhu and Haridasa Thakur went and began chanting and singing bhagavan's name.

When they chanted bhagavan's naam, those with demonic mentality - a Vaishnav had kept a water pot there - they picked it up and threw it, hitting Nityananda Mahaprabhu on the head and blood flowed. Haridasa Thakur caught hold of Nityananda Mahaprabhu.

Now this incident spread throughout Navadwip. Jagai and Madhai said, "Let dawn come and we will bind them."

Because they were officers appointed by the king. They were officials with great wealth and had the support of the administration.

When Mahaprabhu Chaitanya Dev heard this, he ran toward them and coming in great anger, he invoked the Sudarshan Chakra.

Nityananda Mahaprabhu caught his feet and said, "Prabhu, your incarnation is not for killing but for saving. To kill with the Sudarshan Chakra and thus accomplish the welfare of jiva - you did that in the form of Shri Krishna. As Mahaprabhu Chaitanya Dev, kill his evil nature and bestow saintliness upon him."

Nityananda Mahaprabhu said, "Prabhu, please be merciful."

So he said, "Since you have forgiven them, we too forgive. Call both brothers."

When the divine potency of Mahaprabhu touched them, both fell at his feet. Eventually, both became great devotees.

Even today in Mayapur Navadwip, ghats are built in their names. Jagai and Madhai - they are known as Jagannath Das and Madhav Das - Mahaprabhu gave them these names and standing in the Ganga, he took upon their sins.

He said, "Make a vow: all the sins of your lifetime - we take upon ourselves."

Although they trembled, saying, "Prabhu, that cannot be - I am very sinful."

Mahaprabhu said - this is parahit. If while doing parahit we have to endure insult, have to bear abuse, and if it brings about their welfare, then we should do it.

This is our Vaishnav way. This is the nature of God's servants.

And if you truly ask, this is what humanity means too.

If there is no feeling of parahit but only self-interest, then demonic nature awakens in it.

Which is called asuri bhav.

And he who has the feeling of parahit has divine nature.

But in parahit there is one thing - if there is no desire for anything in return, then it is called parahit.

If we do parahit and then desire something in return, it will no longer be parahit.

Therefore, doing parahit is very difficult.

If we have truly done parahit, it becomes paramarth. Your action becomes paramarth.

One day, it must have been about two hundred and two years ago, in Vrindavan at Kesi Ghat, I saw a man leaning against a wall, his steps faltering. I thought, poor Baba Ji, what help could we provide? We were begging and eating, we didn't have even a rupee. When we went near in his great distress...

He was in great distress, as they say. By God's grace, somehow this soul came. Like a child, he said, "Baba, we are not worthy of anything, but what service can we do for you?" He replied, "Here, no one even gives me water, no one even asks about me. I have been hungry for many days. If you can take me to Sudama Kuti, I hear that sant sewa happens there, so at least I will get food and water."

Now, to take him there we needed people, a rickshaw, arrangements. We had no such arrangements.

So we gathered his belongings along with his clothes, picked him up, and gave him rest at one or two places along the way. When we reached Sudama Kuti, saints are indeed saints—they are compassionate. We set up a place for him on the veranda, bowed to him, and then went to visit Gopeshwar.

When we went the next day, there were worms on his body. We had gone to see Gopeshwar Ji, and there we said, "Maharaj, all this time we have been serving you, offering water—may the fruit of this reach him." That soul was freed from its body—the worms were falling off. When we asked and went on the third day, the place was empty.

The mahatma said, "He departed yesterday. His final rites were performed yesterday." The heart danced with joy. Such bliss arose within. How can we describe that joy?

Through selfless service, the bliss of God is attained. But selfless service means asking for nothing in return.

Now let us speak of that one's grace. When we went on the second day, when there were worms on him, it came to our mind: let us have him call upon Radha once. We said, "Baba, will you say Radha?" He said, "Radha, Radha." He called out so close to us, with his hand like... The grace of such saints, or anyone's grace, can bring about the attainment of God.

On selfless service: Once, Eknath Ji Maharaj was taking water from Ganga Ghat to Rameshwar for Rameshwar Ji. A full group was with him. They were about to reach Rameshwar when nearby a donkey was thirsty, its legs trembling. Its tongue was hanging out. It was clearly visible—it was thirsty.

One or two devotees also thought of it, but they thought, "This water is from Ganga for Rameshwar. Why should we give it to the donkey?" Eknath Ji immediately went, placed the donkey's head in his lap, and gave it the entire pot of water to drink.

Those people went to Rameshwar. Rameshwar appeared right there—the moment the donkey drank the water.

Eknath Ji received direct darshan from Lord Rameshwar.

On selfless service: When Venerable Radha Baba went to Ayodhya, everyone was going to see Kanaka Bihari. On the way, he saw a horse that had been eaten by crows and birds. It lay dying, completely still. Flies were swarming over it.

Baba went, drove the flies away, sat down, and kept brushing them off. The other brother was careful about this because Baba was in a devotional state. He asked, "Where is Baba?" They said, "Baba is not here."

Later, when he came back, they said, "Come on, let's go see Kanaka Bihari. The temple will close soon." But he said, "Until this one's body departs, I will not go to see Kanaka Bihari."

The resolve of a great soul is powerful: soon after, the horse's body expired, and it attained God.

If we ever get an opportunity to serve someone—hungry, thirsty, sick—someone whom no one else is helping, then if by God's grace we get the chance to render such service, it will surely become the means for attaining God.

For attaining God: if someone does wrong to you and you do good to them anyway, you receive double the benefit.

One person opposes you. You think of their good. How can such a thought arise without God's grace?

But when we do good to one who has done us wrong—this is an even greater form of selfless service and supreme compassion. This is beautiful divinity. Humanity contains divinity within it. But it is difficult to achieve.

If one insults us, slanders us, and we remain selfless in serving even them, we should not be afraid.

Once we met a doctor from a mental asylum. We asked him, "Don't the insane act insane? Did this one ever try to attack you?" He said, "One or two times my skull was fractured. Did you not get angry?" "Not at all." "Why?" "Because I know he is insane. It is my duty to heal him. No anger ever arose in me."

If a doctor who understands his duty does not get angry at one who attacks him, then we seekers who understand our duty of spiritual welfare should not get angry either.

Giving falls under the category of service to others. There are two types of giving. When you give understanding it as your own money, you will receive thousands of times more.

But "Tat dayam vastu Govind, tayame samarpay"—what is given by God, I am returning to God. By doing this, you will attain God.

The food given by God—the hungry one before you is God Himself. Feeding such a one becomes your worship. The sick one is God in the form of the sick. God gave me wealth. This is God's wealth. I am using it.

We once saw such a great soul—the owner of a flour mill in Kanpur. When he would come, all the cars would stop from hundreds of steps away. He would remove his shoes, come barefoot in simple dhoti and kurta.

He performed a great yajna in Kanpur, spending crores of rupees. Kanpur is a large city, after all. And what service did he do? He kept a dustbin and broom in hand, and would pick up plates and leaf dishes that people threw where there were no bins.

If someone asked, "Who is conducting the yajna?" he would say, "Brother, ask us how many bins of trash we collected—we can tell you that. We don't know who is conducting the yajna."

The Lord Himself, who conducts yajnas and provides food worth millions and crores, had conducted this great yajna.

But no one came to know of the yajna. When we found out, we said, 'Brother, you are not a person of this world.' That is why he said, 'Maharaj, I am just a servant. The Master is God. Why should I say that I performed the yajna? God performed the yajna. Now why would I say that God is performing the yajna? This discussion should not happen at all. I am concerned only with my work.' Look at how the Lord of Dwarka Himself, when Yudhishthir's Rajsuya Yajna took place, performed the service of washing everyone's feet. Listen—He whose foremost worship has been performed, who is the Master of the infinite universes within 14 dimensions!

He performed the service of washing everyone's feet. We may desire that someone greet us, bow to us, praise and glorify us. But if we give glory, honor, or charity to someone, that charity is successful only if it is given to God, considering it as God's possession. So if you give, considering it as God's possession rather than your own, it will return to you many times multiplied. But that will not be counted as bhakti. Even if you give great charity, you might attain heaven, but you will not attain God's bhakti. Bhakti is rare. How do we attain bhakti? If we give someone even water, with the understanding that the water is God's and the one drinking is God, if you act with this consciousness, then your charity becomes the means of attaining God.

These tirthas are all paths to attaining God. Tirthas are of three types.

Jangam, Manas, and Sthawar. The jangam tirtha—

मुद मंगलमय संत समाजू जो जग जंगम तीर्थ राजू
The wise and auspicious sant congregation, the moving tirthas, the kings of tirthas in the world.

These saintly Mahatmas are moving tirthas.

मुद मंगलमय संत समाजू जो जग जंगम तीर्थ राजू
The wise and auspicious sant congregation, the moving tirthas, the kings of tirthas in the world.

Just as sin is destroyed by immersing oneself in Prayag, the king of tirthas, similarly, by attending satsang, by considering the sant as the embodiment of God, by having darshan of the sant, by conversing with the sant, you will become pure in the same way. Just as by bathing in the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Saraswati, and the Triveni confluence—

मुद मंगलमय संत समाजू जो जग जंगम तीर्थ राजू चलते फिरते ये तीर्थराज हैं
The wise and auspicious sant congregation, the moving tirthas, the kings of tirthas in the world—these moving ones are the kings of tirthas.

If a meeting with a sant has happened, then you have become pure, just as from bathing in the Ganges, just as from bathing in the Triveni.

The manas tirtha is truth. Whatever is running within—if you speak the same outside, then you will become pure.

If something is running within and you are speaking something different outside, that is called deception. That is called falsehood and illusion. That will make you impure. Forgiveness—if someone insults you, disrespects you, and you forgive them, then you will become pure. Sense control—if you have desire for eating fine foods, give those to the poor, then you will become so pure, just as from bathing in the Ganges. Mind control—by turning the mind away from pleasures and fixing it on God's name, you will become supremely pure. Austerity—enduring the force of lust, anger, greed, attachment, arrogance, and jealousy that arise within is called austerity.

If you endure them, then this is the manas tirtha. Through these, you will become pure. The jangam tirtha is saints and Mahatmas. The manas tirtha is this. And the sthawar tirthas are like Kashi, Ujjain, Mahakal, Rishikesh, Haridwar, the Ganges, the Yamuna—

All the sthawar tirthas—Prayag, Pushkar, Naimisaranya, Kurukshetra, Dwarka, Ujjain, Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, and Dwarakpuri, Kashipuri, Kanchipuri, Badrika Ashram, Shrishail, the confluence of the Sindhu and the sea, Setubandh, Rameshwar, Ganga Sagar, the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Saraswati, the Godavari, the Gomti, the Narmada, the Sarayu, the Kaveri, the Mandakini, the Krishna—all these are sthawar tirthas.

One who bathes in these three tirthas becomes worthy of attaining God. One who immerses oneself in all three types of tirthas—sthawar, manas, and jangam—becomes supremely pure and becomes worthy of going to God's abode. Where the Mahatma who has realized God's form dwells, that is the greatest tirtha. Because the Mahatmas have the power to grant tirtha-ness to tirthas themselves. If a bhakti-devoted Mahatma reaches any tirtha, that tirtha becomes free of sin.

So wherever a bhakti-devoted, bhajan-blissful Mahatma dwells, that is the greatest tirtha. One should go there. One should apply the dust of that place to one's forehead. One should have darshan. If one can listen to their teachings, one should enshrine them in one's life. So through immersion in the three types of tirthas, attaining God is certain. But if these are done with desires, then attainment of God will not happen. Desire—bathing in the Ganges with a wish, bathing in a tirtha with a wish, attending satsang with a wish—this desire is an obstacle to attaining God.

If you undertake tirtha practice especially and without desires, then a power will awaken within you, which is called spiritual power. And it will make you engage in bhajan firmly, and through bhajan will come love of God, attainment of God, liberation, and all else. Just as the tirtha is the purifier of the fallen, greater than that is God's name, which is the purifier of the fallen. If you cannot do any tirtha, cannot do any charity, cannot engage in service to others, yet chant Radhe Radhe, then everything will be accomplished. Chant Krishna Krishna and everything will be accomplished.

So it is good if you can do tirthas, engage in service to others, give charity, and practice austerity. But for those to whom nothing comes, just chant the name. From chanting the name, everything will be accomplished. The fruit of all tirthas, the fruit of studying all scriptures, of yajnas, of austerities, of charity, of service to others—all fruits are contained in the name. Therefore, continuously practice chanting the name.

This text is taken from auto-generated captions of the video—there may be errors in the words. To hear the authentic teachings, please listen to the video.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)