Sadhak should avoid this one thing at all costs

Intimate 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.

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This so-called outward bhajan: look at those people, they keep up great scheming. This granth, that panth, pulling each other's legs, tugging each other's beards, that is all they keep doing sitting here. One must stay far away from such people. "We are of such-and-such faith, we follow such-and-such acharya," criticising others, all of that amounts to nothing. These are scheming people. They do not belong to the Acharya, and they do not know the form of the Acharya. What is the form of the Acharya? Vyas Nandan [sound of singing], the support of the world. Maharaj Ji knows this: the form of the Acharya is nothing but the support of the world. Vyas Nandan Harivansh Mahaprabhu:

vyas nandan jagat adhar jagmag jag jas sab jag bandneey jag bhay vihandan jag shobha jag sampada jag jeevan sab jag mandan sab jag mandan
Vyas Nandan, support of the world, radiant, the world's glory, worthy of worship by the whole world, destroyer of the world's fear, the beauty of the world, the wealth of the world, the life of the world, the ornament of all the world, the ornament of all the world.

Once, in a discussion on the commentary of the Gita, it was said that the tangled thread of the world is 250 grams, and the tangled thread of sampradaya is the mind, 100 maunds. It is hard to untangle. We are concerned with Priya Pritam. We are concerned with the Acharya. We have no concern with the world at all. If we follow our Acharya's vani and do upasana as the Acharya has taught, we will reach the nikunj. We will not reach it by wielding a lathi.

Followers of one acharya who criticise another acharya: both of them will go to hell. Whoever criticises any acharya, and whoever listens, both of them will go to hell. These people belong to no acharya. If you belong to an acharya, look at what they are saying. Vyas Nandan is the support of the world. Vyas Nandan is the auspiciousness of the world. Vyas Nandan is the one who delivers the world:

adhar mangal udhar jag mangal jag uddhan jag nidhi jagat prashans charan sharan sevak sadas jai jai shri Harivansh
Support, auspiciousness, deliverance, the auspiciousness of the world, the deliverance of the world, treasure of the world, praised by the world, at the feet and in the refuge of the servant forever. Victory, victory to Shri Harivansh.

Understand this. The Acharya is Vishvambhar, the appearance of the whole world. Describe the play of Harivansh's glory:

samjho acharya Vishvambhr sab jag abhas jas varno Harivansh vilas
Understand the Acharya as Vishvambhar, the manifestation of the whole world. Describe the glory and play of Harivansh.

shri Harivansh shri Harivansh viditi vidhi bhedam shri Harivansh jo tatwabhedam
Shri Harivansh, Shri Harivansh, who makes known the distinction of method. Shri Harivansh, who is the distinction of truth.

Is this understood? All this sampradayavad, fighting, quarrelling, scheming: stay away from it. Wherever there is argument and contention, those who refute and counter-refute have no concern with bhajan. They have no concern with the Acharya. If you are concerned with the Acharya, read the Acharya's vani. See what the Acharya is saying:

krura papino nat satam sambhas dash
The cruel and the sinful are not fit to be seen, touched, or spoken with.

Now, a mahatma who sees the Lord even in wicked, sinful, and lowly people never holds enmity or opposition. He says that his worshipful deity, Radhavallabh Lal, is present in person.

Harivansh Ji Maharaj says: we are concerned only with the Acharya. Keep this in mind. We are concerned with Priya Pritam. We have no concern with debate or dispute, and no concern with the world. Keep in mind that sampradaya means the path. The path is for those who walk on it, not for those who stand and watch. The one who watches with disapproval sees what is bad, and does what is bad. Both of them waste their time. Do not get caught in sampradayavad at all. We are telling you this so that you hold it in your heart.

We belong to no one. We belong to Radhavallabh Lal ji. We belong to Harivansh Mahaprabhu. Harivansh Mahaprabhu is our Radhavallabh Lal. That is all, and nothing beyond it. What is the neighbour saying? What is so-and-so saying? Should you listen to that? You still have room in your ears. For our ears, Harivansh Mahaprabhu said:

shravan phato jo an suno shri Radha jas bain
May my ears break if I listen to anything but the praise of Shri Radha's words.

These people believe in Harivansh Mahaprabhu. They understand Harivansh Mahaprabhu's words. "May my ears break, I do not want to hear such talk." This world can never run in perfect balance anywhere. It is uneven, so we have no concern with it. For whom do we have concern? For Hit Ji Maharaj's Priya Pritam. We have come here to attain Shri Ji. To attain Shri Ji, Shri Ji commands, in the form of Harivansh Mahaprabhu: bow to everyone, the wicked, the sinful, and the slanderers alike, and see Radhavallabh Lal in all of them. We need only see our Radhavallabh Lal present in everyone.

If someone in front of us says something belittling about our ishta or our guru, we puff out our chests and say: "O Lord, take my test. With my loyalty to my guru, to the Acharya, and to you, I will never fail." Let them slander. What is it to us? We will remain in our loyalty.

So, brother, wherever there is argument and contention, and people are pulling each other's legs, you should not go. That very place is Harivansh Mahaprabhu. That is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That is Swami Ji Maharaj. That is Lord Shankaracharya. That is Lord Vallabhacharya. That is Nimbarkacharya. The Lord says, "I come in the form of the Acharya." Sevak Ji says:

jab jab hoe dharm kahan tab tab tan dhar pragat tan jaan
Whenever dharma declines, then I take a body and manifest.

And there is no other. Who understands? Not a single person in the world. If even one person in the world is our enemy, then we are not worshippers of Harivansh.

Harivansh naam leen je ajat shatru te sada
Those absorbed in the name of Harivansh are always without enemies.

No enemy has ever been born. This is the power of the Name. So our prayer is: understand what Shripad Prabuddhanand Ji is saying. Wherever there are conversations about pulling each other's legs, or slandering one another, do not listen there.

What is our sampradaya? Priya Pritam is our sampradaya. Acharya Charan is our sampradaya. Only Harivansh vani and Harivansh keli: this is our daily food and conduct. Beyond this we know nothing. If you walk by siddhant, then you belong to Harivansh.

If you are not walking by the siddhanta, then even with tilak and kanthi on, you do not belong to Harivansh. Wearing tilak and kanthi does not make you Harivansh's. Walk by the siddhanta. Walk as the Acharya says. Enmity, opposition, refutation and counter-argument must not exist in the life of an upasak. No time, friend. If no outsider comes to us, we don't even know whether today is Sunday or Monday, what tithi it is, or which nakshatra. It doesn't matter. From morning it is only Radha: Radha at rest, Radha awake, Radha in dreams, Radha in deep sleep. We have no concern with the world.

That is exactly why we have come onto the path of bhajan, so that no concern with the world remains for us. Which sampradaya are we? We are of Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu's Priya-Pritam, of Vrindavan, and nothing more. If you speak to us about sampradaya, we will not listen or accept it. Quarrel, fighting, jealousy, malice and attachment should not enter any gathering where anyone is slandered. All are our Prabhu, all are our Prabhu. Who else is there?

sa Radhika nav kunjwat sa Radhika purn rasotsaven hai
She is Radhika of the new bower-groves; she is Radhika, complete in the festival of rasa.

We worship that Kishori who continually showers wondrous, wondrous joy with Priyatam in the Nikunj-vati of Vrindavan.

Ah, where is the time to talk with anyone? Kaun ras bayo jahan bolbo bhari, where speech becomes a burden. Hariram Vyas ji said only this much about Kabir Das ji: that he is a nirgun sant. The talk of Priya-Pritam's vihar and bhajan stopped there, and here people walk about with their waist-cloths tied up, criticising one another. Who knows which sampradaya they belong to? Let our bhajan remain safe. That is why Shripad says: "Bhaya Vrindavan, bhay samta", this equality is a thing that gives fear. Only Kishori Ji, Kishori Ji's Nau-Nivrit Nikunj of Vrindavan, and her loving rasik devotees. In the place of Poojya Sadgurudev Bhagwan there will be no discussion except of Priya-Pritam.

Only that vani, and after this there is no point in silence at all.

raat din Priya pritam na kaho so bolbo na koi vihaar
apni kunwar kishori ko jayat nihar nihar atho pahar bhajan mein
Night and day, speak of nothing but Priya-Pritam, and no other worldly dealing. Gazing at our Kunwar Kishori, in bhajan for all eight watches of the day.

Brothers, whether you bathe at Vishram Ghat, Jugal Ghat or Kesi Ghat, if you bathe, you are bathing in the Yamuna ji. I say Jugal Ghat is best, you say Kesi Ghat is best, someone says Vishram Ghat is best. Whichever place your mind has settled on, you say, "Brother, bathing at Vishram Ghat brings more merit." We thought Jugal Ghat, but what benefit are we receiving? We are receiving the Yamuna ji, after all.

In the same way, the supremely blissful, form-of-rasa Paramatma is the joy of every sampradaya. Take that joy. The sky is so vast that you may fly as many kites as you like, though you do not even have enough string for the whole sky. But a person will not try to fly his own kite. He will try to cut someone else's. This is a very strange nature of the world. Therefore one should not go to any gathering, any assembly, where anyone is criticised. Leave aside talk of the Acharya and the worship of Bhagwan. If anyone at all is being criticised, one should not go to that assembly.

Bhaiya, Sevak Ji Maharaj says:

trate nich panpo kahat shubh ashubh
Be humbler than a blade of grass, and do not call anything good or bad.

That is why he says the life of an upasak must be completely untangled. Chaurasi Ji will be sung, Sudha Nidhi will be sung, and Radha Vallabh Shri Harivansh will be sung, and we will spend our lives sitting in Vrindavan. Just that: we have no concern with the world. Understand it perfectly and firmly. I am speaking from the heart. If you never want to get caught anywhere, hold on to our words. What is our Mahaprabhu Radha Vallabh saying?

Radha vallabh lal ko hriday dhyan mukh naam
Keep Radha Vallabh Lal in the heart, meditation on him at the face, and his naam on the lips.

Do naam jap with the mouth. Maharaj, it won't leave your body. Radha Vallabh Lal ji is sitting right here in this temple. If he is not in this temple, you won't see him in that temple. Go and have darshan. The fruit of one darshan is that the samskaras of the jiva's countless births are burnt to ash. What gets burnt? First, darshan happens here. First, darshan happens in the chest: Narayan, or Gaur-Shyam, in the heart's nikunj, that is all. All outer practice becomes meaningful only when the inner comes, when you enter inwardness. Without that, the outer will bring no meaning.

Keeping distance from quarrel, fighting, jealousy, slander, praise and sectarianism, the sadhak should attain only Bhagwat-prapti. Do bhajan day and night. Whose are you? Priya-Lal's. There is no need to tell anyone; it is a matter of your own heart. We have no relationship with anyone. [coughing sound] Do not call anyone to you, and do not go when anyone calls you. Make this a rule. Do not call anyone to yourself. Did we come here to call someone? We came to call Radha Vallabh Lal. He is not coming, he is not coming, so whom should we call? No one. Call no one, and go to no one's place. Did we come to deal with worldly matters? We came to do Shri Ji's bhajan: Radha Vallabh, Shri Harivanshi, Vrindavan, Shri mantra upasana, naam, vani. Only through this comes the supreme state. Whoever strays from bhajan for anything else, the sampradaya expands through bhajan, and the essence of the sampradaya is experienced through bhajan.

Through bhajan the sampradaya's Acharya is pleased. Through bhajan the Ishta is realised. That is plain. Without bhajan, keeping the flag high will not please the Acharya. Without bhajan, if Ishtadev does not shine in your eyes, what benefit will you get? Poojypad Shri Udiya Baba Ji Maharaj nourishes the words, conduct and paramarth of the mahapurushas. As long as the stirring of lust, anger and greed continues in the heart, understand that sin has not yet been completely destroyed. So increase your bhajan, do plenty of bhajan, do swadhyay, and do satsang.

When the state of bhagavadakar vritti (a mind that stays absorbed in God) begins to arise naturally, know that your bhajan has been completed. When? When there is no kamurit (lust), no krodhurit (anger), no lobhurit (greed), and no ahankar (ego), and only the contemplation of the Lord remains natural. Then you should understand that you have become nishpap (free from sin), and your bhajan has matured. As long as any vikar (impurity) is still stirring in the heart, you should not think that your bhajan is complete.

A devotee asked in private: "How many malas should I chant every day to attain God-realisation?" We said that we do not place our faith in that. Our faith is not in the mala; our faith is in the mala of breaths. Let none of your breaths go empty. God-realisation is certain. Chant naam with every breath, and doubt will not remain. Remembering with every breath brings the experience of bliss immediately. Suppose we said, "Chant 20 malas." After 20 malas you are only free; that does not mean your bhajan is complete.

The Guru said: after 20 malas, if you die immediately in worldly contemplation, your bhav is corrupted by that worldly thought. You will be born according to what you contemplate. Thinking of a deer, a great mahapurush became a deer. So how many seconds would it take for us to become a worm in a drain? That is why every breath should be filled with naam jap. And when does our bhajan mature? When no vikar stirs in our heart. Pujya Padiya Baba said that bhajan is not considered complete until there is bhagavadakar vritti. When, in the company of any object, there is no desire to enjoy it, and when, even on receiving the highest gain, there is no forgetting of God, then know that bhagavadakar vritti has arisen. Both bhakt and abhakt live in the world.

The bhakt, while living in the world, remains with his body in the world but his mind is established in God. The abhakt, wherever he lives, contemplates only the world. The sign of abhakti is one who contemplates the world; the sign of bhakti is one who contemplates God. Now, there is no outward garb of a bhakt, yet he does naam jap day and night. Living in the family, he contemplates God. He does business or service. He depends on God. He is a bhakt. The one in the garb of a Baba Ji whose contemplation is on rupees, on honour and respect, on pleasures, on worldly entanglement, is an abhakt.

Bhesh dhari Hari ke ur sale, bin vivek vairagya; bhakt bin satya na ek ko mano; Bhagavat vimukh kapat chaturai, so pakhand nahin jano bhajan.

Those who wear the garb but whose hearts are not with Hari, without discernment and dispassion, know that a devotion in which there is no truth, but only deceit and cleverness turned away from God, is nothing but hypocrisy, not bhajan.

If our contemplation of Bhagavan keeps going at all times, then we are bhakts. One whose character is corrupt can never become a bhakt, and can never attain God-realisation. Once, a great scholar came to Baba, and Swami Akhandanand Ji Maharaj was also sitting there. The scholar said, "Baba, when will I attain God-realisation?"

Baba looked at him and said, "In seven lifetimes you will not attain God-realisation." He asked, "Why so, Baba?" Baba had said these words: a man of corrupt conduct never attains God-realisation. It is not possible for him. It can happen only if he corrects his conduct, seeks forgiveness from God, and takes the vow, "Now the time that is lost, let it not be lost again." Then this shloka works:

ap sudcharo bhajte mam anannya bhag saad samavya samita ghor durachari raha hai.

Even if one of very wicked conduct worships Me with exclusive devotion, he should indeed be regarded as a sadhu, for he is rightly resolved.

Having taken the vow at God's feet, that "we will not make mistakes anymore," God makes him like a sadhu, as in "karo satyate sadhu samana."

One who eats impure food, tamasic food, rajasic food, food unfit for worship, and who keeps talking about village gossip, folk tales and political stories, can never have bhakti arise in his heart. One who takes asattvik food, that is, impure food, and converses about village gossip, folk tales and politics, bhakti does not arise in his heart. For us, it is a great grace when we hear the experiences of saints. Yesterday, a man in the garb of a renunciate, perhaps 65 years old, must have heard satsang, and been influenced by it. Through the effect of satsang he has reached this age, and I remain absorbed in dhyan.

But whatever object I desire at that time knocks me down. I cannot understand why I do not have that strength. Can you tell me? Maharaj Ji said, "Yes, I am quite sure. Where you are sitting and speaking, we are talking right now. Those were exactly the words I used: where you are speaking, that is where you are sitting and talking. You cannot meditate on the object of meditation." I said, "Think about it: renouncing the gross, subtle and causal bodies and abiding in your true form, that is not happening." He said, "No." You said, "There is no continuous naam jap?" He said, "No, not at all." I said, "Then from where will the strength within you come? So what do you meditate on? On whom do you meditate? What gain have you got?" Nothing. "Now what should we do? Start naam jap from today, and tell us after one month how you feel. Because somewhere you are engaged in sadhan, but not at the right place. Through naam jap, every benefit can be obtained very quickly. But people say, 'Oh, my whole life has passed and nothing has been achieved.' We say: if you do 100 naam jap, at least 100 satnaam are accumulated for you. They will not let any amangal (misfortune) come to you. If this understanding reaches everyone, there will be mangal (auspiciousness)."

What is the nature of bhajan? It was asked of Baba. He said, "Bhajan's nature is bhagavadakar, an unbroken, oil-like flow of vritti. That is akhand bhajan." But "Radha Radha Radha Radha," how can this be akhand bhajan? One who worships the Guru, has complete faith in the Guru's words and in the scriptures, and holds the feeling that spouse, children, wealth, house, everything belongs to Shri Bhagavan, for him, an unbroken, oil-like flow of bhajan begins.

In what place is it best to do guru-upasana and bhajan? He said, "In the place of bhav. This is what to understand. When you are doing bhajan filled with bhav, wherever you happen to be sitting at that moment is the best place."

Sitting in Vrindavan, if your mind is full of attachment, aversion and worldly entanglement, then what is the point? This is the special thing to understand. The special thing is bhav and bhajan. If you are sitting in a cremation ground with a wonderful bhav, then you are sitting in a wonderful place. If you are sitting in a temple and your bhav is spoiled, that is very bad, because where are you really sitting? You are not sitting in the temple. Your sitting is in that worldly entanglement. Wherever your contemplation happens inside, that is considered your presence. These external things do not have any special importance. What matters is where your contemplation is happening inside you.

Where should bhajan be done? Bhajan should be done with bhav.

mere prabhu mere to Giridhar gopal dusro na koi jake sir mor mukut mero pati soi.
My Lord, my Girdhar Gopal is mine alone, there is no other. He who wears the peacock-feather crown is my husband.

What is the greatest obstacle to bhajan of this kind? Attachment to pleasures and friendship with indulgent people. Attachment to pleasures and friendship with indulgent people is the greatest obstacle to bhajan. Be afraid of indulgent people, and be afraid of pleasures.

What can help in bhajan? Sant sang, shastra swadhyay, pure food, and purity of body, speech and mind. If impure contemplation, impure resolve and impure action do not arise through these, then bhajan will very quickly begin to grow, to advance and to mature.

So tell us, Baba, what is the main means of bhakti? There are many means of bhakti, but what is the main one? The main means is Bhagwan naam jap. Bhajan, smaran, param vyakulata, tadarpita, akhilacharita: all conduct and actions dedicated to God, and naam jap day and night. This is the main bhakti.

Devarshi Narad Ji described the form of bhakti this way:

tadta akhilacharita ta smaran param vyakul teti
All conduct and actions should be dedicated to God, and if even for a short while naam is forgotten, anguish should arise in the heart.

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

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)