If These 3 Things Are Present, Your Sadhana Will Be Considered Complete! // 23/08/26

Satsang of Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj—to hear the complete discourse, watch the video above.

The Complete Discourse

Jai Jai Shri Ram—human life has been given solely and only to become free from the cycle of birth and death. If we are not careful, this invaluable life will be destroyed. It is generally believed that everyone's mind considers life to be merely indulging in pleasures with the five senses. Usually eating, drinking [throat clearing sound], seeing, hearing, enjoying, acquiring wealth, collecting beautiful worldly objects—that is all that life is considered to be. But when death comes, everything is left behind. The jiva takes only the sins or merits of its own deeds with it.

What should we do so that while living in the world, we become free from the bondage of birth and death, free from worry, sorrow, fear, suffering, and death? The World Guru, Lord Sri Krishna Chandra, says: "Jara maran mokshay mama.."—old age is very painful. The senses remain drawn toward pleasures but lack the capacity to enjoy them. In this state, the mind does not find peace. The mind becomes peaceful through bhajan. If we think that old age will come, we will become desireless, we will become untainted.

But that is not so. Old age and death, suffering and worry, sorrow and despair—what remedy is the Lord telling us to escape from these? "Mam ashrit—take shelter in me." Without the shelter of the Lord, there can be no cessation of suffering. Death is very painful. "Janmat marat dusaa dukh hoyi"—being born and dying is terrible suffering. But those who do bhajan of the Lord are sheltered in the Lord. The Lord says: "Mam ashrit"—you can be saved only through the shelter of the Lord. So do those who do bhajan while taking the shelter of the Lord not die? They do die. But there is a difference between their death and the death of a worldly person.

The death of one who is sheltered in the Lord is like a small garland falling from the neck of King Elephant without him even noticing. Just so, death becomes blissful. Death becomes a great celebration when one is sheltered in the Lord. Disease, sorrow, old age—these belong to the body, not to the soul. When you do bhajan, the Lord will give you this knowledge. Death becomes a great celebration when we are in the shelter of Kishori Ji, in the shelter of Radha.

The only solution to all our problems is surrender to the Lord. If you are not in the shelter of Priya Lal, you cannot solve your problems with money or with your own strength and intellect. One problem will be solved and another will arise. That is why the Lord is saying: "Take my shelter." When will we do bhajan? When will we take shelter? Our childhood passes away in play. We don't have clarity about what we should do and what we shouldn't do. And when the age of youth comes, such a storm of pleasures arrives. We don't even notice when youth has passed away.

When old age comes, we meditate on what we have done our whole life. That is why Prahlad Ji said: from childhood itself, cultivate the practice of doing bhajan while in the shelter of the Lord. If you did not do it from childhood, then now that you are listening, or since you have heard the company of saints and heard their words, take the shelter of the Lord and begin bhajan. Generally people's minds have two divisions—one for worldly work and one for bhajan. They understand bhajan to mean sitting with a mala, or serving Thakur externally, or if we are reading some scripture. They understand only this much as bhajan.

But bhajan is not only this. Bhajan means to dedicate your life to the Lord. Now whether you do farming, whether you are a trader, whether you do service, whatever you do, do it for the Lord. Whatever is done belonging to the Lord and for the Lord brings the attainment of the Lord. It is not that this action in itself will bring the attainment of the Lord. If the mala is moving and your ego is not destroyed, you will not attain the Lord. And someone is doing farming and is in a spirit of service, doing naam jap and offering everything to the Lord.

Krishna pran must—that one attains the Lord. "Mam ashrit"—only through the shelter of the Lord will we be freed from birth, death, and all kinds of suffering. Whoever keeps the Lord with them continuously and eternally, that one is a mahatma. Whether they are a householder, whether they are renounced, whether they are a woman, whether they are a man. What does it mean to keep the Lord with you? Where the naam of the Lord is, there is the Lord. The Lord will make you experience that He is with you. First understand this: there is no particle, no moment where the Lord is not. Everywhere is the Lord; the Lord is in everything; everything is in the Lord. Understand this firmly—the Lord is present in everything, pervading all. And everything is in the Lord. The Lord is so vast and great that we dwell within the pore of His body. In each pore of the Lord's body, millions upon millions of universes are moving and floating. Just like when you look through a window and see the sun's rays, small dust particles float—similarly, the Lord, the universe, creation formed from maya—in each pore, there is, one could say, an entire universe.

Within that universe is this land of Bharat. In some corner of that land of Bharat, we exist, so we exist in the Lord. Everything is in the Lord and the Lord is in everything. "Yo mam pashyati sarvatra sarvam cha mam pashyati tasya na pranasyami sach na me pranasyati"—whoever sees me everywhere and sees everything in me, I am never separated from them. So first, let the naam be in your mouth: "Ram naam, Ram tere hath mein bande, tu tu akela nahin, Ram tere sath mein"—the Lord's naam, the Lord is with you, servant, you are not alone, the Lord is with you. Those who do naam jap of the Lord experience that the Lord is with them. Now when you perform actions while keeping the Lord and remembering the Lord, those actions become actions for the sake of the Lord, and that will save you from suffering, from calamities, from distress, from all kinds of sorrow, and from old age and death.

Therefore, by remembering God and performing actions for God, we can attain liberation from birth and death. God says that I am naturally available to all. There is no need for anyone to make any effort for me. Effort is made for something that is far away. God is sitting in our own heart. The naturally perfect God is in our heart. What is needed is just remembrance. If our effort is anything, it is remembrance. We must remain in the remembrance of God at all times. We must remain in the memory of God. If our remembrance is only in the world, then we are neither sadhaks nor will we be able to attain God. We need to remember Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha constantly, whether standing, sitting, or walking, so that the God who is naturally available becomes manifest in our heart.

The first vision happens in the heart. Whenever anyone has God-realization, it doesn't happen outside—it first happens in the heart. Then it doesn't happen through the mind's eyes. The mental eyes—the heart's eyes—when the light of those eyes manifests in these eyes, then God is seen everywhere in this moving and unmoving world.

jad chaitanya kachu nahi dikhta, jahan dikhta Shyam khade. Bihal vikal sambhar tan ki, Naina ghumat rup bhare prabhu bas jaate hain.
Where there is no inert and conscious matter, where Shyam appears standing, bewildered and distressed by separation, the eyes full of tears wander, and the Lord full of form settles within them.

Whatever person, whatever inanimate object they see, they see their Shyam Sundar. Nothing else.

jit dekhun tit shyamamay.
Wherever I look, everything is filled with Shyam.

This is obtained through remembrance.

Whatever sadhak, whether they are a householder or renunciate, there is no distinction for God.

purush napunsak nariva jeev charachar koi. Sarv bhav bhaj kapt taj mohi param priy soi.
Male, eunuch, female, any living being, any mobile or immobile—whoever worships with all their heart, without deception, is supremely dear to me.

Whether they are female, male, eunuch, or any being whatsoever—any living being—anyone who worships God becomes dear to God. And when God's grace falls upon someone, then troubles, hardships, and suffering may appear, but they won't have any real impact. Their heart will remain forever in bliss.

Until the longing for freedom from suffering enters our heart, we don't take refuge in God. In the worldly dance, God is not our refuge. We take refuge in money. We take refuge in people. We take refuge in ourselves. We don't take refuge in God. The most difficult thing is to take refuge in God. Great souls were asked: for attaining God, is it necessary to take refuge in God and constantly engage in worship? But in my sadhana, there isn't enough power for me to attain God. It seems to me that God is attained only when the yoga is very intense.

But from the way we go about it, it seems we won't attain God. So they gave a special answer and said: the first thing—for attaining God, we are God's. In this, what is the need to do jap and austerities? Just as God has said in the Gita:

mamo jeev loke jeev bhuta sanatna.
The eternal individual souls in this world are parts of Me.

I am yours—why can't we accept God as ours? God is ours. Shri Krishna is ours. Shri Ladli, who is ours. Why can't we accept this? Because our belief is caught in mother, father, son, wife, family, relatives, and kinfolk.

That is why we can't accept our God, our Beloved as ours. We only speak it with our tongue; we can't accept it from our heart. Just as we accept mother as mother from our heart. We accept father as father. We accept son as son. We accept wife as wife. And there is love from the heart. We don't even constantly remember them, yet we never forget them. This is the fruit of accepting something as one's own—that we don't sit thinking about wife, son, and so on. Without such meditation, we still never forget them. Similarly, when we accept God as ours, then the worship of God happens naturally.

So the first thing is that everyone should understand: God is mine and I am God's. The Beloved is mine and I am the Beloved's. Understand this as absolutely firm. Just accepting this much will immediately begin your supreme good. Your supreme good is: I am God's. Goswami Tulsidasji has said this with great experience:

bigdi janm anek ki ab sudhre aaj ho. Ram ko main bhagwan ka hoon.
The damage of countless lifetimes is now being corrected today—I am the Lord's.

When this settles in the heart—"I am God's"—then gradually this possessiveness will fade away, this sense of "mine." This worldly attachment to relationships and connections—this is the cause of our ruin. Because of delusion, you cannot accept it. If you do these relationships with an attitude toward God, if you accept that they all belong to the Lord—

nath sakal sampada tumhari. Main sevak samet sut nari.
Lord, all wealth is Yours. I, your servant, along with son and wife, am Yours.

Then the bonds would be severed. But there is one thing we are not ready to accept from all this: we are only saying it with our tongue; we cannot accept it from our heart.

If we accept that along with the body, all the relationships and connections we have are all God's—that God is in everything—then possessiveness would be destroyed. This possessiveness is so dangerous that even Bharat, who renounced everything—kingdom, family, everything—and was engaged in the practice of worshipping God on the banks of the Gandaki river, developed possessiveness for a baby deer, and in the next life received the body of a deer. Possessiveness is so dangerous, and we are possessive of everything except God. And for the attainment of God, for the cessation of suffering, we must have possessiveness for God—attachment to God.

Possessiveness in the eternal divine play; equanimity in all the world. All equal feelings, divine realization and love—only for the Beloved, only for the Beloved—how is this possible?

What is the remedy for this? The company of saints. Because without the company of saints, our mind cannot be fixed on God. If we get the company of saints, then our mind will become fixed on God. To be fixed on God means: one who listens to satsang should engage in naam jap. Should be absorbed in naam jap. One who listens to satsang should hear God's stories. One who listens to satsang, whether they are renunciate or householder, should establish Thakur Ji in their home or hermitage and serve. One who listens to God's stories, who does naam jap of God, who serves God—their sins are destroyed.

The mind becomes pure, and:

nirmal man jan so mohi pava mohi kapt chhal chhidr na bhawa
One with a pure mind is beloved by me; I do not like deceit, cunning or deficiency.

If it seems to us that our sadhana cannot bring us to the attainment of God, then hold this faith: I am the Lord's, and the Lord is mine. And truly, sadhana alone cannot lead to the attainment of God. It is through God's grace that in the end this realization comes. Just as Hariram Vyas experienced—with someone's strength in devotion, following someone's conduct, Vyas trusting in Kunwar, with feet stretched at Kunwar's feet, trusting in humanity—my refuge is one who is the refuge of the beloved, and his well-being is assured.

So I am telling you something simple. Whether things work out or not, if every little while you keep remembering that I am the Lord's and the Lord is mine, then you will see the miracle of this in your life. See the miracle of this in your life. Keep remembering every little while: I am Shyam, Shyam is mine. I am the Lord's, the Lord is mine. Whoever takes refuge in the Lord—even if wrong actions happen, even if sinful actions happen—because of that relationship of refuge in the Lord, the Lord forgives all his sins.

That is why the Gita speaks with great emphasis:

sarv dharman parityaj mamekam sharanam braj aham tam sarv papbhy mokshasyam
Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in me alone; I will free you from all sins.

If you leave behind the refuge of all dharmas and take only my refuge—the refuge of bhagavat dharma—I myself destroy all the sins of those who are my refuge. Some good actions happen through us, some bad actions happen. We cannot escape from this world. Our intellect sometimes goes toward the Lord, sometimes toward pleasures. Our mind sometimes stays with the Lord for a little while, then sometimes stays with the world.

From such a mind, from such an intellect, the attainment of God does not happen. The mind and intellect should be completely established in the Lord. Complete surrender cannot happen from us—what should we do? One has the strength of austerity, one has the strength of devotion. The strength of refuge—[sound of throat clearing]—the one who has the strength of God's refuge, the one who has taken refuge at the feet of the beloved of Radha, escapes from this world. So the first thing: I am the Lord's, the Lord is mine. To be free from birth and death—through this I am the Lord's refuge—make this relationship firm. I am speaking of great grace in this. Simply by accepting this relationship, maya will leave on its own, delusion will leave on its own.

ja su kripa sab bhram mit jai girja soi kripalu raghurain
His grace alone dispels all delusion; he is the compassionate one, the Lord of the Raghus.

The moment you take the refuge of the Lord, maya trembles. Maya leaves. Maya becomes hidden. Maya disappears. That is why the Lord has said:

devi sa gunam ma maya dattaya mamev ye prapaddyate maya menta tarte
Those who take refuge in me alone cross beyond maya.

Those who are in my refuge alone cross over maya. The refuge of the Lord, chanting the Lord's name, and the company of saints—if these three things come into your life, then your well-being is assured. Your auspiciousness is assured. Everyone is welcome. You have come such a distance here to the sacred banks of the Yamuna, so I request: do not do any intoxication. Do not do any unclean behavior.

Do not eat unclean food—meat and such things. And regarding the Lord as your own, while chanting his name, whoever performs their duty—their responsibility—while offering their actions to Krishna, if life is spent this way, then life will be very joyful and auspicious. Even if there is disease, even if there is calamity, it will not be able to overcome you. If the Lord is your protector:

seem ki chap sake ko tasu bal rakhwar Ramapati jasu jiske
Whose protector is the Lord, none can harm even a hair on his head.

Therefore, chant the name and remain blessed by the Lord. Hail Shri Radha Lal!

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

Source video: Shri Hit Radha Kripa (YouTube)