ekantik vartalaap evam darshan #1425

Private conversation with Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj at Shri Hit Radha Keli Kunj, Vrindavan. Sadhaks bring their questions about their life and sadhana, and Maharaj Ji resolves them.

Full Discourse

Maharaj Ji, Radhe Radhe. Maharaj Ji, when I am doing some work and something goes wrong, or my attention won't settle and wanders somewhere else, I feel very angry. At such times I do naam jap. Naam jap reduces the anger, but the moment I stop naam jap, the anger grows even more. In this situation, your question is, friend. You are a wise person. At such a young age you are catching such a subtle point. This is a very good thing. You will become a fine person in spirituality. While you are doing naam jap, when a wrong thought comes into your mind, that wrong thought gets deleted from within.

It gets destroyed. So practise naam jap in such a way that there is no empty time left. Why does anger come? Anger comes from desire. When we want something to happen and it does not, that is when anger comes. Anger has no existence of its own.

kamaste krodha krodha smriti vibhrama smriti bhrasad buddhi nasho buddhi nashat pranaste

From attachment comes desire, from desire comes anger, from anger comes delusion, from delusion comes loss of memory, from loss of memory comes the destruction of intellect, and from the destruction of intellect a person perishes.

When obstruction comes in the fulfilment of our desire, anger arises. So we should keep practising naam jap all the time, and when anger arises, clench your jaw. No, that is not what I mean to say. The point is only this: if you begin speaking in anger, then when anger comes, your bhajan weakens, your joy weakens, and you commit an offence.

Harsh words also come out towards elders. Impure language too. If anger becomes great, abuse starts coming. Harsh words come to the tongue, and very bitter words come out. So if you want to stop anger, observe silence. The moment anger comes, be silent. Move away from there. Leave the situation in which anger is coming. Go into solitude. Become silent, and save yourself at that time. Now, it is not that you should clash. If you clash, then anger comes, then abuse, then quarrelling, then violence. As much as one can avoid this, that is a demonic tendency.

Anger is an asuric tendency. It destroys. Therefore everyone should guard against it. The moment anger comes, become silent. The moment anger comes, step away. When anger comes, start saying "Radha Radha" loudly, and the anger will calm down.

Manjeet Singh ji from Gurgaon. Shri Harivansh Maharaj Ji, pranam by crores and crores at your feet. Gurudev, until some time ago I was immersed in alcohol and filthy conduct. Then six months ago, by the grace of Shri Ji, I received your refuge. Alcohol was given up. Food also became sattvik.

My naam jap also grew greatly. But I began to boast about it at home, and because of that my naam jap started to decrease a little. Maharaj Ji, I asked Shri Ji for forgiveness, and naam jap started again. But Maharaj Ji, I cannot get control over my anger. Because of that, afterwards I keep burning for hours in remorse, and my naam jap decreases again. It takes a long time to bring such a state back to normal.

Yes, increase your naam jap, and when anger comes, consider the anger a test, as if God is testing me.

I must not get angry. This is an obstacle to bhajan. Kaam, krodh, lobh, moh, mad, matsar. Do not be proud, do not be envious. Do not have attachment to family, do not get angry. Do not look at another's wife with lustful feeling. So when our mind comes into anger, be careful. Don't respond, and don't speak on that subject at all. Step away as if we were not even talking. Turn back at once, move away and walk off. Whatever the answer, even if it is from a child, step away at that moment and explain later. For anger, you must leave that place and that situation. Otherwise, where there is a reply, abuse will come, and then that anger will reveal its form.

Wisdom lies only in this: be silent at once and move away from there.

Maharaj Ji scolds even his own children. I burn so much inside. We are saying that scolding children is done as a show of anger. So, if you did something wrong, do you understand? If you did not study properly, there is no anger within us. Pretending anger and actually being angry are a little different. A child must be made to feel anger. In the family, anger has to be shown. It is necessary. With small children, if they are not afraid of us at all, a little fear is necessary. If Papa has said to prepare the lesson and we have not, he will beat us. If we make some mistake, that is what happens.

Our father should have fear. Through fear they will walk on the righteous path. But not so much fear that they keep their distance from you. Sometimes behave like a friend, sit and play, so that they tell you even their smallest faults. And sometimes be like a father and shape them, so that out of fear they give up the unrighteous path. But we must pretend anger, not actually be angry, as is needed with disciples. So if you think about it, at that time, 100 out of 100 percent, we have been angry. We are fulfilling our job.

They accepted us with a guru's feeling. If their mistakes are happening, it is our duty to scold them and join them to good conduct. So you are a father. If you want to unite your son with good conduct, sometimes you have to pretend anger. If a father's discipline is pure, then now there is no discipline left at all. Children are being educated and are insulting their parents, disregarding them, because things were not instilled from childhood. A mobile phone was given to them to play with. And gradually, through the mobile, they become engrossed in such filthy conduct.

A person's intellect becomes so polluted that they begin to insult their revered parents. They begin to neglect them, and they go so far from the righteous path that coming back becomes difficult. They get swept up in filthy adultery and addictions. So becoming angry is essential. But the anger should not be real, from within. It should be acting, from outside. You must act out anger. If you feel it inside, you will be troubled yourself. It is not that you should actually hit anyone. You have to complete the acting of hitting. "Oh my, we got away today!" This is what to do. Let anger not enter the heart.

It would be good if we acted it out outwardly. Suppose in a family the parents are drinking alcohol, the parents are saying filthy things, the parents are watching obscene scenes. Then the children's conduct will be affected. You should become spiritual yourself and make your children spiritual. No one's life can be auspicious without being connected to spirituality. Look at how cruel our society is becoming, as it grows ever more cut off from spirituality. What kind of frenzy is this? What does it mean? What is happening? Where are these young people going? Where are they going?

Is she not a human being? Is she not your sister? How are you behaving? Spirituality can make the whole moving and unmoving world auspicious, but when people are not connected to it, when they are connected to demonic tendencies and modernity, there is no auspicious feeling. Look at the kind of filthy things that happen. Now it is a life sentence. The consequence of one mistake is a life sentence, life is ruined, studies, education, health, everything is gone. Then you go to jail, or a death sentence, or prison. When such conduct begins to happen, we feel we must be very careful, and by joining spirituality, we must have our children chant the name of God too.

One should sit down and listen to a katha for a while. Hearing the true scriptures brings great auspiciousness. Maharaj Ji, when children go wearing a tilak, the school says, "What kind of black magic is this?" Yes, so the other option is to take sacred dry dust (raj). If you apply dry dust like this, no mark will be left, and the tilak will still be applied. Now, in school, as you can see, modern education is being given, and young people are behaving in ways they should not. Is this vidya? Vidya is that which generates humility and virtue. Generates humility and virtue. Today people are stopped from applying a tilak. If someone goes wearing a mala for God's work, they will be stopped and ridiculed. If naam kirtan, naam jap and recitation of God's name were part of our schools from the very beginning, with the prayer:

he prabhu anand data gyan hamko dijiye
O Lord, giver of joy, grant us knowledge.

All these prayers used to be taught, the couplets of Kabir Das ji and Rahim Das ji, the auspicious lives of great heroic men. From these, samskaras are imprinted. I don't know whether these things are still there in this time. The characters of the heroes and heroines of our country, of sadhvis and sadhus, should also be included, so that by reading them, samskaras and bhaav are imprinted within. That is fine. One should not get angry, but one should definitely act out anger. Sunit Kaushik ji, Radhe Radhe, Radhe-Radhe, Maharaj Ji, Maharaj Ji, can excessive worship also be harmful? We are sitting before you.

Life itself is worship. Harmful? Why have you come? We have come under your refuge. If not, why? What do we have? Devotion and bhaav, that is worship. Yes. So if you understand this, how can excessive worship be harmful? What is harmful is sinful action. Violence is harmful. Adultery is harmful. Gambling is harmful. Liquor is harmful. Can the worship of God be harmful? What kind of talk is this? What kind? How did this idea come into your mind? Worship, I mean, like one's planets.. The problem is that some people get it fixed in their minds that those who follow dharma closely, who worship much, become troubled.

I understand the question you are asking, but that is not how the flow works. The sinful karmas of the past, for example, both of our kidneys have failed. I have been like a baba since childhood. This is the fruit of our past sinful karma, and it is also the fruit of our bhajan, that the love of the entire public is coming to us. When we step out in the morning, from small children onward, everyone sees us and says "Radha, Radha, Radha." Love is visible in everyone's eyes. Devotion does not bring sorrow. But as soon as we have now begun bhakti, the result of our sinful karma has caught up, so now we will receive suffering.

Because devotion is our farming now. But in the old farming we sowed babool thorns. We sowed sins. So we have to bear the consequences, just as great saints have to bear them. The cancer of Ramakrishna Paramhansa ji and the sufferings of great saints have been seen. They have the capacity to remove another's cancer, to remove another's sorrow. But they bear their own suffering for God's pleasure. Devotion to God can never bring sorrow to anyone. Yet sorrow has been seen in the lives of devotees. Yes ji.

Understand this. Even in that sorrow, they remain happy, and great hardships came into their lives. What happened? Now, for example, this is our last birth. We will not have to take birth again. So the sins of our thousands and countless births are being paid off, little by little. As we pay little by little, we have to pay at every step. We will die while still paying. After this, we attain God. Finished. Otherwise, you would have to wander through countless births. Now, someone says a sinful person does not suffer any affliction, not even a cold; he just dies in a flash. It is seen that a sinful person dies laughing and dancing, and is still called a saint.

Their whole life of bhajan and karm goes to waste. Why? Because once the accounts of their countless births are settled, they will attain God, and until then they will have to wander. They may have to wander for thousands more births.

Devotion can never cause anyone sorrow. Bhakti is never painful. Bhagwan is auspicious, the abode of blessings. His bhajan and his worship can never give anyone pain. His worship removes sorrows. Understand this for certain.

Iti. Chaudhary ji from Mathura. Radhe Radhe, Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji, is worship meaningful without rules and regulations? Yes. Rules and regulations are on one side, and bhaav is on one side. Which one is it? Yes, bhaav is on one side. If, filled with bhaav, someone even breaks rules and regulations, it makes no difference.

For example, Shri Karma Bai. She thought that Jagannath Ji receives plenty of offerings during the day, but at night, when the doors are closed, he must be hungry. So with her bhaav, she got up at three in the morning, before bathing, and first cooked khichdi. She called out to Jagannath Ji with tears, and he came. He would sit in her lap, and she would feed him the whole khichdi.

One day, around seven in the morning, she was going to bathe when she met a sant who knew the rules and followed them strictly. He asked her, "Karma Bai, where are you going?" She said, "To bathe." He said, "What kind of devotee are you? The sun has already risen, and now you are going to bathe? Devotees bathe early in the morning. And you cook Thakur Ji's offering before dawn? Oh Ram, Ram! What a great offence you are committing. Making an offering for Thakur Ji without bathing and without becoming pure is an offence."

The next day, she bathed first, did all her daily routine, cooked the offering, and called him. She fed him one morsel, and at that moment the curtain of the temple parted, and Thakur Ji disappeared. Then, with khichdi still on his lips, the one morsel she had fed him was seen. The attendants of Jagannath Ji asked, "Jai Jai! The offering has not even been placed yet. How is there food in his mouth?" They replied, "She has become caught up in the rules-minded person's way. Tell Karma Bai this: I am not pleased by rules. I am pleased by love. I am under the control of love." So whenever a devotee feeds him with bhaav, God accepts it. He does not accept it according to the rules. The rules are meant for attaining love, and God accepts love.

"I am hungry for bhaav, not hungry for rules."

What did God say? "I am hungry for bhaav, and bhaav alone is the essence. If you call me with bhaav, your boat across the ocean of worldly existence is sure to reach the shore."
"Without bhaav, I never hear a call. Only a call full of bhaav makes me helpless."

Bringing God to helplessness is bhaav, and bhaav is attained when one does bhajan steadily with discipline and rules. But in seva, the priority must be bhaav, not rules. If you keep climbing the steps of rules, one after another, and the rules are completed, your bhaav has still not formed.

And if there is great enthusiasm within, like feeding your little beloved child, whatever you cook, roti, dal, sabzi, kheer, or puas, and you offer it with great bhaav, then God receives it. Bhagwan says, "Patram pushpam phalam toyam bhaktya prayachchhati," "Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I accept it." A sip of water, a tulsi leaf, one fruit or one flower, offered to me with bhaav, and I eat it. Bhaav is primary. Rules serve to fulfil bhaav. Without bhaav, rules have no value.

Prakash ji from Tamil Nadu. Radhe Radhe, Maharaj Ji. In the Bhagavad Gita, three main yogas are described: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Gyan Yoga. Maharaj Ji, which of these is the best in life?

All of them are best in their own place. One should look at one's own intellect and see which yoga one is qualified for. If there is great diligence in karma, skill in action, and delight in action, then with a desireless attitude, that person, that human being, is qualified for Karma Yoga. Whose heart becomes attached as soon as they hear the talk of God, who feels humility, who finds the name of God dear, and who feels, "I cannot do anything on my own, O Lord, protector of the surrendered," and who has not fully renounced sense objects and does not have complete worldly knowledge, but considers himself lowly and turns toward God, that person is qualified for Bhakti.

And one who is very discerning and logical, and who has dispassion, who is ready to give up even life to attain the ultimate goal, is qualified for the path of knowledge. Dispassion, discernment, logic, a path led by intellect; Bhakti is led by bhaav, by humility, by the feeling of surrender, by the sense of one's own incapacity, by devotional feeling; Karma is led by skill and diligence in action.

As for Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga, one should see where one's bhaav lies: whether it is led by action, by devotion, or by knowledge. Wherever it lies, that is the path. That is why God did not make everyone walk one single path. Yet the result of all of them is one. In the end, the fruit of all is the same: to be freed from the bondage of the world and to be established in one's true self. The path of knowledge is to be freed from worldly bondage and established in the Supreme Self. The path of devotion is to be freed from worldly bondage and to be immersed in the love of God. The path of karma is to be free from worldly connections and to be established in the form of the Supreme Soul.

That Paramatma is the same. That is Bhagwan, and that is Brahman. What the wise call Brahman, devotees call Bhagwan, and yogis call Paramatma. The Truth is one. Do you understand?

Brijesh Kumar ji from Bihar. Radhavallabh Maharaj Ji, Shri Hit Harivansh Maharaj Ji, millions of salutations at your feet.

Maharaj Ji, you have been hearing since childhood that we are not the body. Why have we still not understood it until today? Seeing yourself as the soul takes so much sadhana that it will not happen until you do the sadhana. So do sadhana. As you practise sadhana, the pride in your sadhana will be given up, and then you will understand. Without bhajan, this understanding will not come.

If you have held on to something, you yourself must let go of it. Only when you have knowledge can you let go. Has the world held on to you? No. Objects, persons, places and the form of the world are all inert (jad). You are a part of the conscious, imperishable, Sachchidananda Bhagwan.

So a knot between the inert and the conscious can never form. Your connection with the world was never there, is not there now, and will never be there. But you have held on. The world has not held on to you. So until you have knowledge, you will not give up your attachment to the world. If we held on, we ourselves must let go. Even if someone forces it, it will not be released, like a monkey caught in its own trap. We ourselves have held on. Now this knowledge must arise within us. It does not come through outward knowledge. Outward knowledge alone will not free you. Even while saying "I am the soul, I am not the body," you will still go after the pleasures, as long as there is no bhajan.

bar mathen ghrit hoi baru sikata te baru tel. Binu hari bhajan na bhavatria yah siddhant apel ॥
Even if ghee could be churned from water, and oil pressed from sand, one cannot cross the ocean of worldly existence without the bhajan of Hari. This principle is unshakeable.

So do bhajan wholeheartedly, and knowledge will manifest. Keep pure conduct, pure food, the study of scripture, and self-restraint. Then the intellect will grow on its own through satsang. And as the intellect grows, you will see that this world is not yours. Whose good has it ever done? A person studies his whole life, becomes a senior officer, earns crores and billions of rupees, builds a house, has sons, children and a family, and then dies without a single paisa. Nothing goes with him. So his whole life was wasted, isn't it? When you go into your next birth, will you remember any of them?

Just as in your previous birth you had a whole family and everything. Do you remember it now? Then a new shop, a new house, and so on. How long will this go on? Infinite lifetimes have passed doing exactly this. This knowledge comes when a person does bhajan. Then he realises, "Oh, these are not mine. I belong to Bhagwan. I am the form of the Paramatma." Will this knowledge come without bhajan?

People are wasting their whole lives. They spend all their life on studies and spend it on earning. Then old age arrives. Their senses weaken from enjoying pleasures. They die, and they have gained nothing. When they leave here, they take only the bundle of sins, and whatever merit they have is of no use.

Bhajan was not done. If bhajan is done, only that goes with you. Otherwise, nothing else goes from here. Everyone knows this, and having known it, everyone acts as if they do not. Each one feels, "He died, but I will not die." They feel, "His things were lost, but mine will not be lost. All that is mine will go with me." This ignorance of the jiva keeps turning him away from Bhagwan and brings him misfortune.

Nipun Ji from Delhi: Maharaj Ji, I offer crores of pranams at your feet, Maharaj Ji. Which will bring more closeness: prem-bhav bhakti, or bhakti according to the scriptures? Without doing bhakti according to the scriptures, prem-bhav does not manifest at all.

tasmachchhastram pramanam te karyakaryavyavasthitau.
Therefore let the scripture be your authority in deciding what is to be done and what is not.

These are not two separate parts. The first step is to live according to the scriptures and act according to them. Offer every action to Bhagwan after doing it. Chant the naam, listen to the leela-katha of Bhagwan, remember Bhagwan, and sing the naam-kirtan of Bhagwan.

Prem-yoga comes through this same bhakti. Prem does not manifest just like that. Through the practice of sadhana-bhakti, anurag for Bhagwan manifests on its own. When you listen to katha for a long time, sing the naam-kirtan of Bhagwan, and live according to the rules of the scriptures, then the nine forms of bhakti are practised, and prem-lakshana bhakti is attained. Prem-lakshana does not come by itself. To walk on the lofty height of prem, you must do a great deal of bhajan. Without the company of the sants, bhajan does not happen, and without bhajan, prem does not come. Never give up bhajan even for a moment. Hold this as your vow.

So the distinction between what is to be done and what is not, as laid down in the scriptures, should be followed. Chant the naam, do kirtan, listen to Bhagwat katha, do Bhagwat seva, and do paropakar. Then prem-lakshana bhakti will awaken within us. Prem does not come separately. The prem that is already inside us is what we must gather up and offer at the feet of the Lord.

Mother, father, brother, relatives, money, house, the world: wherever we have attachment (mamata), gather all of that mamata together.

mamta tag batori mam pad manhun baandh bari dori ॥
Gathering the threads of attachment, one binds the mind to my feet as though with a strong cord.

Offer all your attachment at the feet of Bhagwan. Chant the naam abundantly and do plenty of kirtan. You will see, you will develop love for Bhagwan. Are you understanding this? So it is not that shastra-bhakti is one thing and prem-bhakti is another. Prem-bhakti arises only when you live according to shastra-bhakti.

Rajat Sahni Ji, Radhe Radhe, Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji, what should one do while having darshan of Bihari Ji? What should one say? If there is some wish, should one ask, or should one only offer thanks? Does a demand arise from seeing the Beloved?

When we see our Beloved, what we feel is: how fortunate, today is my good fortune that I am able to see you. What should I ask of you? The greatest thing has already been given: you have called me close to you, and I am able to see you. Just this, Prabhu: let me always keep seeing what I am now able to see of you. Let this contemplation remain. When you keep seeing this, and the contemplation remains, sorrow will not come near.

Calamity will not come near. Just as rivers flow on their own toward the ocean without any desire of their own, all prosperity keeps coming, on its own, to a righteous person who contemplates God. But one who turns away from God and follows unrighteous conduct is surrounded by calamities he did not invite. Problems, worry, grief and fear are the fruit of sin. When we contemplate God and walk on the path of dharma, happiness, fearlessness, freedom from sorrow and freedom from anxiety remain in our hearts.

Just as rivers go to the ocean without being called, all abundance comes to a righteous person without being invited. So whenever you get darshan of Bihari Ji, say to Him: may I have love at Your feet, and may I always remember Your name. Lord, may this jhanki that I am seeing always stay settled in my eyes. Such grace is what we should ask for: be gracious so that this jhanki never leaves our eyes. Swami Ji Maharaj has sung in a pad:

aise hi dekht raho janm safal kar mano. Pyare ki bhavati bhavati ke pran pyare jugal kishore jano.

Keep on gazing like this, and make your life fruitful. Know Jugal Kishore to be the beloved of the Beloved and the dear life-breath of the Beloved's dear ones.

Keep on gazing like this; make your life fruitful. What is the success of life? Let Bihari Ji keep calling you to Vrindavan. Let me keep gazing at You again and again, and let me keep chanting the name "Kunj Bihari, Kunj Bihari." What greater gain could there be in life than this?

What will you ask of Him? Whatever you ask, it will be just as in this example: a poor man goes to a chakravarti emperor, and the emperor says, "I am pleased; ask a boon." The poor man says, "One year's food for my family, and one year's fodder for my buffalo and cow." He asks for that because that is all his capacity can imagine. He thinks that one year's food and fodder is the greatest thing, and he cannot ask for more. He does not know that this is an emperor who could give him a whole city, who could provide for his entire lifetime.

So from the Lord of countless crores of universes, the Supreme Sachchidananda, what should we ask? We ask for very petty things: that we find a wife, that a son is born, that money and wealth come, that I win my court case. What are all these? It is like asking a chakravarti emperor for straw. All these are perishable things.

If you ask Bihari Ji, ask only this: give me whatever pleases You. We like to see You and to remember You; give whatever pleases You. When He gives from His own standing, He will delight you completely. He gave to Sudama Ji without being asked; He made a Sudama Puri as splendid as Dwarka Puri. How much would Sudama Ji have asked for? Since he did not ask, He will bring things to you even unasked. He is a very generous giver, and He will delight you. Do you understand? Radhe Radhe.

Maharaj Ji, you are saying that for the past two years you have been listening to satsang and kirtan. You have been devoted to Mahadev for the past 10 years. Now Radha says that she is in the medical field, that for the past 5 years she has been addicted to drinking, and that she cannot quit now. Maharaj Ji, drinking is not right. And she says that she wants to attain the Lord.

No, that is wrong. Absolutely wrong. Completely wrong. You say, "I bathe in the Ganga every day." But understand this too: you are taking a dip every day in a gutter. This drinking of alcohol is against our scriptures. Kali Yuga dwells in five things, and they are described as great sins: adultery, drinking liquor, gambling, violence, and dice-play. Killing someone; one who kills, one who gambles, one who has relations with another's wife, one who eats meat, or one who drinks liquor, none of these can ever even be a topic of attaining God.

First give up these dirty habits. If you want to attain God, give up these dirty habits. What does conduct mean? At least develop revulsion toward yourself, toward how wrong you are being. As long as you do not see it as a fault, it will simply go on.

What kinds of dirty habits you have cultivated! If you save ₹100 every day, how much does that come to in a month? ₹3,000. Put that into the service of a poor person, or of a sick person, and it becomes a means of attaining God. What is this? What is it? Shouldn't you feel revulsion toward this? You should give it up.

Take the vow today, in front of me, that you will not drink alcohol. If you have the courage, say it. Do you have the courage? Are you sure? You are sitting here in Vrindavan in front of us. Say: "From today on, I will not drink alcohol." God will give you strength. God will help you.

Chant the name, and from today, no alcohol. Yes. Just don't drink. It all happens like this: it is like mopping the house and then throwing dust on it. So what is the point of the mopping? What is the point of naam jap when your conduct is not pure, when your food and drink is not pure? You should not eat meat and the like.

So, alcohol is given up from today. Don't drink again. If you drink now, there is no chance left. It would become a grave offence: that you said "no" while sitting in Vrindavan in sant samagam, and then drank again. Let our word be firm from today.

Yes, firm. Okay. Very good. And you already do naam jap and worship. When this dirty habit is given up, you will become supremely pure. Very beautiful.

bhakti dan mohe dijiye Gurudev ke dev aur nahi chahiye nish din tumri se ai khuda te mangda jo wakt mera akhir hove is juban pe tera naam

Bless me with devotion, Gurudev, Lord of the gods. I want nothing else from You, day and night. O God, I ask this: at the time of my last breath, may Your name be on this tongue.

This text is taken from the video's auto-generated subtitles, so there may be word errors in it. For the authentic words, please be sure to listen to the video.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)