Want the wisdom of God? Then make these 5 things part of your life

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

Full Discourse

If the name is being chanted at every moment, we have no need to worry. If we forget God, that is a matter of great concern, because our body can give up at any moment. And when the body gives it up and the bhajan is not complete, we will have a next birth. We do not know what kind of atmosphere for bhajan we will get, what kind of environment. If we make a mistake, we may go into other species. How many species there are, and all of them are dominated by experience: they only bear the fruit of past karma and cannot create new karma. The right to perform new action belongs only to the human body.

The good fortune of worshipping God through discrimination, destroying all sins and attaining God belongs only to the human being. The human body is for a fixed span of time. As water held in cupped hands, however tightly you hold it, will run out, and as a dewdrop hanging on a leaf will certainly fall, so death will destroy this body. If you attain God before this body is destroyed, you have gained the supreme benefit of human life. Shripad is saying, "Sakhe, what use is anything in this world? Listen to my words, my dear friend: nothing in this world, or in any world, is true. It is a magic show woven by maya, which was not there yesterday, will not be there tomorrow, and appears only today. That is called maya."

Here, everything from a blade of grass up to Brahmaloka is Brahman's expression, and it is a cycle of coming and going again and again. It is not a permanent state. The permanent state is this: "I am the servant of Shri Bhagavan." Let this be realised, let this be experienced. This is permanent. Therefore, all the things of the entire universe are false. Your bank balance is false. Your house is false, your body is false, your bodily relations are false. When will you know this? When the time comes for the body to be given up. Everything is being left behind. There is no companion. If you have done name chanting, there is no regret that there is no companion.

There is a wonderful joy in thinking that when our body is given up, we need not care, because we have the wealth of the name of Radha. We have no need to go anywhere else in any world. I must stay in Vrindavan. Now we are in Vrindavan, and even after the body is given up we will remain in Vrindavan. We have the wealth in the form of the name of Radha, by which we get the good fortune of serving Priya-Pritam, being in the presence of Priya-Pritam, and being included in the intimacy of Priya-Pritam. Therefore, do not take pride in the things of the whole world, saying "I am learned, I am wealthy, I am of a noble family," and so on. All the things of the entire universe are illusory.

Brahma satyam jagan mithya. Do not even try to know who I am or who God is. Shripad is saying: "Koham, Ishwar kaun hai, and who am I, do not even try to know that." Through worship, sharpen the knife of discrimination that is in the intellect. With discrimination, cut all relations: no enmity with anyone, no friendship with anyone, no "one's own" and no "other's." Hold back the senses from going towards the enjoyment of sense objects. These senses are never satisfied; however much you give them pleasure, as worldly pleasure comes, the fire flares up even more. So if you want to extinguish it, restrain the senses.

Do not let them go towards enjoyments. Restrain the senses from worldly enjoyments. Restrain the mind from the pleasures that come from sadhana. Restrain the body from wrong conduct. Do not try to know who I am and who God is. Just begin name chanting. By name chanting your senses will be defeated; you will become master of the senses. By chanting the name, the importance of external objects will come to an end. By chanting the name, inner knowledge and love will manifest. Therefore we should be constantly engaged in bhajan. Shripad is saying: by bathing at Vrindavan, by giving in charity, by sacrificial rites and pilgrimages, no special benefit is obtained.

A special benefit is obtained by taking refuge in Shri Dham Vrindavan and by constant remembrance. In life, nothing else holds importance. He who does not have faith in the words of the Guru, who does not believe in the words of Gurudev Bhagavan, cannot attain any state of perfection even in a dream. So, in childhood, Pujya Gurudev Bhagavan instilled the fervour that constant remembrance of God is the essence of life; do much bhajan. These samskaras were implanted. Then, on studying the scriptures, on hearing Vedanta, Yoga Vasishtha, Ashtavakra Gita, the entire Mahabharata, Shrimad Bhagavatam Mahapurana, and the other Puranas, as far as the Lord gave the opportunity, entry was made even into Sankhya Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and the Nitya Vihar Ras Yat Kinchit. From all of these the essence was drawn out: the name of Radha. In the ekantik, I was asking, perhaps yesterday: what is your ultimate goal?

What is the longing in your heart right now? People come up with all sorts of strange questions. Our ultimate goal is Radha. The final longing of our heart is Radha. There is nothing besides Radha. Not this or that, not like this or like that, only Radha. If we ask you, "What will you eat?", the answer that comes up is just two syllables: Radha. "What would you like to see?" Radha. When asked, does it never come into your heart to go somewhere and see something? At that moment, what comes out is:

nazo se najren nahi hatti najare ab kya dekh
Eyes do not pull away from eyes. What else is there left to see?

pi murat nain base te ras raha samae ab kya dekhna hai
The Beloved's form dwells in my eyes and its sweetness fills me. What else is there to see?

The beauty of the entire creation comes from a fraction of our Lord. And the Lord himself, the source of all, has offered himself up to the beauty of our Gauranga Priyaji. What should we look at now? Look, friend, serve that beauty. What should we see now? The Lord in whose pores the whole universe dwells has been sold to the beauty of our beloved Laadli Ji. He is under the power of love. What should we look at now? "Ishwarohам" (I am God) has no concern for us.

Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. You will see. Shripad is saying that there is no essential substance in all the pleasures of the world.

Restrain all the senses, or they will destroy you. Sacrifice, charity and such things will not be of any use. Only Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Accept it. Accept what we say.

Over many births you loved many, and you obeyed many.

The question was also asked: just as we love a wife, love a son, love a family, why is there no such love for the guru? Why does the guru not seem so dear? You won't feel it. Because with a wife it is not love but a relationship of desire (kaam). With a son it is not love but a relationship of attachment (moh).

With a friend there is a relationship of affection (raag). But with the guru there will only be love. No raag, no moh, no kaam. Only love.

And Devarshi Narad ji says that the company of great souls (maha-sang) is rare and inaccessible. First, meeting a great soul is itself difficult. If you do meet them, loving them is difficult. And if you come to love them, then attainment of God is certain and infallible. The attachment and love that are done in the world are the cause of bondage. Lord Kapil Dev's words say that if that same attachment is directed to saints and great souls, it is an open door to liberation. Sevak Ji Maharaj is describing the form of this attachment.

man karm vachan tuddha sakal mat ham shri hit Harivansh upasi
In mind, deed and word, this is our whole conviction: we are worshippers of Shri Hit Harivansh.

jo Harivansh tajo bhajo aur to moh shri Harivansh duhai
Whoever gives up Harivansh and worships another is under delusion. By the oath of Shri Harivansh,

bhajo Rahu ko kahu mein nahi diye mere prannath shri shyama shpath karo ta
worship no one else. I swear by my Lord, Shri Shyama.

Here it comes from our side. There is no show of saying "I love you." No. Don't look at us. Never meet me. Never shower your grace on us. But let us keep calling out to you only, day and night. Just this much grace: give us birth again and again, give us suffering each time, and let us call out in every suffering: Radha, Radha, Radha. That's all. We want nothing from you.

We don't want that grace by which you give happiness to everyone. Give me that suffering in which I call out to you, filled with you. Radha, Radha, Radha. That's all. From our side, we have to love God alone, love the Lord. We have no concern at all with the Priya-Pritam (the Divine Couple) or with anyone else. We don't even plead with the Lord, "I love you, so you love me." Whether you love us or not, you have millions of lovers. Love them. We don't have millions; we have you. We will love only you, and that love will come from our side, whether you love in return or not.

He is an ocean of love. What is our love? Our love may even be a pretence. But the Lord is true, and his love is true. He loves us very much.

So, "Koham?" Who am I? "I am Brahman, I am Ishwar." What am I? Does any of it matter?

Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Look, we will go, but we will take you along. Wherever you take us, you will have to come along.

yatra yatra mam janm karm bhi narke parme padeva
Wherever my birth and deeds take me, whether to the supreme abode or to hell,

Radhika rati nikunj mandli tatr tatr hrid mein virajta
there, in the heart, Radhika, love and the circle of the nikunj abide.

Become carefree, brother. Accept what I say. Don't carry so much trouble on your head. How will you be saved? How will this happen, how will that happen? Leave all that. Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Look at the two-syllable supreme knowledge (dvakshar para vidya). If everything in this world and the next does not come into your palm, then tell us. But first your sins must be destroyed. How much time it will take depends on how many births' sins you carry. Chant Radha, Radha, and they will be destroyed. Then you will see what light appears.

Vrindavan nish sukhe he sakhe
O friend, if you wish to attain happiness in this very life, take refuge in Vrindavan.

yadi isi janm mein sukh pana chahte hain to Vrindavan ka aashray le lo
If you wish to attain happiness in this very life, take refuge in Vrindavan.

akhand Vrindavan vas Vrindavan ko chhod ke aur tirth je jat pai Vimal chintamani kauri ko lalchat pai ratan cheen nahi din karte dar
Eternal dwelling in Vrindavan. Whoever leaves Vrindavan and goes to other pilgrimage places, longing for a cowrie shell, throws away the pure chintamani jewel without recognising it.

Even Prayagraj longs to come to Vrindavan, and when Vrinda Sakhi gives the command, one gets the chance to come only once in 12 years. There is a Kumbh in Vrindavan too. They get the chance to come here once in 12 years.

ab nij dharm apno kahe tahan nitya Vrindavan rahit bahut prem sagar
Now, where one's own dharma is spoken of, there eternal Vrindavan dwells, an ocean of great love.

The point is this: we fail to understand the glory of what we have been given. We have Vrindavan, but we do not see its glory. You will understand later. When the reckoning comes, when you realise you threw away the jewel and picked up a cowrie, then you will understand what it was.

We don't say you shouldn't go on pilgrimages. You should. To whom? To those who have not received this good fortune. If you have even a little acquaintance with Shri Dham Vrindavan, let pride arise in that. Let your body break apart, limb by limb. Vrindavan has been given up, and that is a great mistake, a great mistake. Settle this in your heart, dear one, and Laadli Lal will be found by you, through the grace of Vrindavan. Not only that you have found Vrindavan, or found Rajrani, but that you are sitting in that dust of her feet, where Priya and Pritam dwell, and where the dust is soaked with the tears of the gopis and of great lovers. In the whole world, there is no dust greater than the Braj dust.

The water here cannot be matched by any pilgrimage place, not even a single drop of it. This is the own abode of Priya and Pritam. We are not able to understand the glory of what we have received. We no longer need any pilgrimage or any supremely sacred place, because all the pilgrimage places come from the feet of Shri Hari, and they are Hari's house. Hari, at whose feet the peacock crown is placed, knows that these are the dust of the feet of the great Queen Priya:

Priya charan raj jaan ke lute rasik sir mor
Knowing it to be the dust of the feet of Queen Priya, the rasiks lay their heads down in devotion.

So the refuge of Vrindavan became the name of Radha. Now we have no need for any knowledge to find out who I am or who God is. Everything will become known.

Where are we to go? Our beloved Ladli Lal, our own home. Did they say God is not? You may consider Him God. For us He is our breath, our life, ours. He is our Ladli Lal. Can anyone give blessings to God? We keep giving blessings to our Ladli Ji, to our Ladoo, continually. Chiranjeevi bhav, like this:

dharivansh vipin bhutla par santat avichal jori avichal jori ladli jo tharo abhi chal raho jo suhag dasheesh Harivansh prashansat kar anchal ki
Chiranjeevi bhav: may the eternal, unbroken pair of Harivansh's Vrindavan on earth remain steady. O Ladli, may your good fortune of marriage (suhag) keep going as it is now. Harivansh praises it; this blessing is for the one who holds the end of the veil.

How would you know? Pujya Shri Udiya Baba Ji Maharaj says that the words of the mahapurushas make us strong in both worldly interest and spiritual interest.

So listen carefully and put it into practice.

Maharaj Ji, how does sin happen?

Sin happens by acting against the scriptures. And sin happens when a person does not contemplate God and only contemplates the world. Sin happens twice over: through contemplating the world, and through acting against the scriptures. Acting against what the scripture commands is called sin.

Maharaj Ji, how is sin removed?

Sin is removed by chanting the Bhagavan naam, by contemplating God, and by following the scriptural command. Whoever acts according to the scriptural command and chants the naam at all times becomes sinless. He crosses over himself, and he ferries the people of the world across. He himself is carried over, and he makes the whole world pure.

Maharaj Ji, one who does no bhakti but also commits no sin, whose conduct is pure, and who serves the country.

How is that? Is service to the country not bhakti? Is social service not bhakti? If service to the country and society is done while remembering the name of the Lord, it is great bhakti. Pure conduct, fulfilling one's duty, and naam jap: these three things are emphatically said in every ekantik. Today: pure character, pure conduct, practice of naam jap, and whatever you are doing is service to God's creation. It is worship, if you consider it so. So Pujya Baba is also saying: is this not bhakti? Service to the country, service to society, pure conduct while remembering the name of the Lord, this is great bhakti.

No, we are saying this: when someone serves the country but does not worship God at all, is this world not the form of the Divine? Is the country not the form of the Divine? When he worships the form of the Divine, it is bhakti. But if he does not believe in God, then service to the country and service to society, done by one who does not believe in God, can never lead to his welfare. If he does not believe in God, his welfare can never happen. To do social or national service, every living being must be seen as a form of the Divine, and naam jap must be done. Work done in an unthinking, lifeless spirit (acit bhav) is forbidden, and whatever such work is done will come to nothing. In other words, every action without the feeling of the Divine is useless.

If there is no feeling of the Divine, then knowledge too is fruitless. Nowadays, in the pride of wealth, people cannot stop themselves from acting as they please. Therefore their inner mind becomes impure, they begin to consider themselves God, and they disregard God. When they receive the punishment for this, their intoxication will fade. When the pride of wealth fades, they will automatically take refuge in God. However many good deeds you do, if you do not chant the Bhagavan naam, your welfare will not happen. Pujya Padu Baba Ji Maharaj says: listen again carefully. However big a good deed you do, if you do not do bhajan and do not chant naam, your welfare will not happen.

Sit in the ship of naam, and cross over without effort.

Radha Radha Radha naam jahaj hai chadhe so tare par
Radha, Radha, Radha: the naam is the ship. Whoever boards it crosses over.

If there are mountain-like sins from the past, and you chant naam, then by the power of naam japa even mountain-like sins will be destroyed. The naam of God is the kalpavriksha; whatever you wish for, you will keep receiving. The living being naturally desires happiness, but it is not to be found in the world. In the world there is maya, and in maya there is deception. There is no true happiness, only the illusion of happiness. What you consider happiness is not happiness; it is the shadow of happiness.

You do not understand. This is the maya of my Girdhar. Happiness is in Shri Bhagavan. Understand the moving and the unmoving world as the form of God, and constantly remember God's name. You will become not merely happy, but supremely happy.

Maharaj Ji, one should remain silent. When we listen, what benefit comes from silence? Only one who practises naam jap can take benefit from silence. Merely closing the mouth brings no benefit. If naam jap is going on inside, then your silence is meaningful. Just doing it brings nothing, and it causes a lot of trouble.

If there is some work to be told to someone, don't hold it back, just say it. So now, friend, say it. Why? What will be lost? When a thought comes up within you and you turn it over hundreds of times, then say it once: chant Radha Radha in peace.

Silence means there is no stirring (sphurna) at all, no stirring of anything except God. For that, we are saying: practise naam jap. When naam jap is going on, you are in silence. Silence like that, where one sits and contemplates the world and indulges in mental fantasy (manorajya), brings no benefit. Outwardly, silence these days is mostly this. Pretence keeps increasing.

No, not like this, not like this, not like this. Do this, do that. Everything depends on bhajan. Without bhajan, there is nothing. Put one digit down, then add zeros, and it grows tenfold each time. What is the digit? Radha, Radha, Radha. Chant it in silence or chant it aloud. Chant it while eating roti, or while eating kuttu puri. Chant Radha, Radha. Naam is auspicious. Without naam jap, everything is zero.

I am going to tell you something very special. A saint came from Kashi after hearing a discourse on YouTube. He said, "We study Vedanta from our guru in the shastri tradition. We bathe in the Ganga every day and offer water to Vishwanath Ji. We carry out our daily routine. But I have no peace. I have come from Kashi for the answer to just one question." He said, "Maharaj Ji, there is no peace, and there never will be. Accept what we are telling you today. Write 'Radha' in front of us." "Yes, I can see it." "Yes, now do it and see."

After a month he came back, fell prostrate from a distance, with a cheerful face and a radiant body, and said, "Everything has worked out." It worked because the ground was ready. Put one digit down and add zeros, and the benefit multiplies tenfold. Remove the digit and it is zero, zero, zero. The digit is continuous repetition of naam. Someone who sits in silence and keeps indulging in mental imaginings and fantasies, without doing bhajan, gets nothing from that silence, from fruit-only diets, or from any renunciation. If the mind of Khoji Ji's guru became absorbed in a mango, he would become a worm in that mango.

If there is attachment, even one rupee is enough. If there is no attachment, the wealth of the whole world troubles you. Does the money in the world trouble you? You say no. Why? Because it is not mine. If you understand just this, that it is not mine, then even if you are emperor of the whole world, what difference does it make? But if you feel it is mine, even one thing will bind you. A fawn bound Chakravarti Emperor Maharishi Bharat, who had renounced his entire family, and it became an obstacle to attaining that very Paramatma.

A fawn. An ordinary person engages in silence, in less or more recitation of the Path, in naam and kirtan. First purify the mind. Then the silence of the mind alone is considered true silence. Look, a sadhak of the highest category will do in five minutes such bhajan that you will not gain it by turning the mala for 24 hours. Just as a labourer works eight hours and gets ₹00, and some people sign their name once and lakhs of rupees come to them, in the same way, when you concentrate the mind and contemplate naam, five minutes of bhajan will give you the benefit that you will not get from turning the mala for 24 hours.

Bhajanananda is fulfilled in five minutes. If you sing or remember with complete absorption in love for five minutes, you get that benefit. But turning the mala while contemplating worldly affairs and talking, we say, the one who has no attachment to bhajan should not stay in solitude at all. Always stay in the company of sadhus. Do satsang. Keep studying the scriptures. Those who think, "Let me do bhajan, but let me not get a cold, let me not get a fever, let there be no calamity, no sorrow," will not get God even in 14 lives. Budhiya Baba says that those who feel this way will not get God even in 14 lives. Whoever keeps increasing their remembrance of God, enduring sorrows with a smile, will attain God in this very life. One should not fear sorrow. One should learn the art of enjoying sorrow.

Enjoying sorrow means: just as there is pain in your body, what difference does it make to us? Just as there is pain in our body, what difference does it make to us? This art should be there. If you have this, then you may give discourses, but you have not truly received sorrow. The matter here is this: in your whole life you have received nothing but sorrow. What is called happiness in worldly terms, you never got it in life. When you do get something, you get sorrow hand in hand. And what is called happiness lies beyond the reach of this sorrow and happiness. Without enduring this sorrow, that happiness is not attained. Seeing this sorrow, people often draw back. If they cross over it, ahead lies that happiness, which here is neither happiness nor sorrow, and sorrow too is included in its sameness.

jo main aisa janti prit kiye dukh hoe to nagar dhindora pitati aji prit na kariyo
Had I known that love brings sorrow, I would have proclaimed it through the town: "Oh, do not fall in love."

When separated, there is great pain; when united, there is great joy. This is the state of early love.

Accept sorrow. This is a very good thing, very good. There is great joy in savouring it. You must do constant bhajan. So wear a vest, just on top, and bathe in cold, cold water, chanting Radhavallabh Shri Radhavallabh. If you don't find yourself walking out of Radhavallabh Shri Harivansh on your own, then come, let's go to Yamuna Ji, take five dips counting them, and see whether it runs like a machine. Radhavallabh Shri Radha, Shri Radha, Shri.. It will flow on its own. Will Radhavallabh Shri Harivansh flow with geyser water? When you endure hardship, the attention stays in bhajan, and bhajan remains bhajan.

rukha sukha khae ke thanda pani piyu dekh parai chupdi mat lalchave jeeva
Eat plain dry bread and drink cold water. Do not let your heart be tempted by seeing another's buttered bread.

The radiance of bhajan is in the eyes. The radiance of bhajan is in the speech. The radiance of bhajan is in one's resolve. The mahatmas of the past were like this. Their skin got wrinkled and turned dark. Were they then without radiance? Their radiance could reduce things to ashes. The joy in contemplating Bhagwan is such that nowhere in the three worlds, in any position or status, is there such joy.

One day Shri Rukmani Ji was fanning Bhagwan. Suddenly she fell into a bhav samadhi. Seeing Bhagwan in a pleased, joyful posture, she stopped fanning. When her consciousness returned, she reproached that samadhi bliss. The bliss of serving Bhagwat surpasses even the bliss of samadhi; even samadhi-sukh is disregarded before it. Therefore, serve with your body abundantly, chant naam with your mouth, and keep your conduct pure, as much as you can, by the grace of God. Through this alone, everything gets done. Without naam jap, life is meaningless.

This text is taken from the video's auto-generated subtitles. It may contain word errors. For authentic words, be sure to listen to the video itself.

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)