ekantik vartalaap evam darshan #1438

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

Full Discourse

Pasna Goswami Ji, Radhe Radhe. Maharaj Ji, Maharaj Ji, I feel that I have no friend. When we felt this, we let go of all our relationships and ran off, because we wanted a friend who is imperishable. That is God. We made friendship with him from childhood, and to this day he has kept up that friendship, and will continue to, but until now he has blessed us. He is our friend. He is our friend. He is the true friend who is imperishable and is always with us. He is never far from us. He is everywhere, so wherever we are, he is there.

He is present at all times, so at whatever time we are, he is there. He belongs to everyone, so he is mine too. He is in everyone, so he is in me too. The friend who is absorbed in me is Narayan. He is Hari. He is Krishna. So we feel that true love is found only in God, and here in the world there is only deceitful love. Someone will be more attractive than you, and then he will be enamoured of a third person. No one loves us for our own sake. Someone may love us for their own sake. Someone may love us for their own sake. But love for our good can only be given by God.

No one else can. Just as a mother loves her child, not for herself but for the child's sake, the affection of countless mothers is only a drop of God's vatsalya, which is called the ocean of affection. So God alone is such a true friend, true husband, true son, true guru, and true disciple. Whoever wishes to have a relationship with God, he accepts it.

Maharaj Ji, people use me for their own selfish ends. This feeling troubles me very much, Maharaj Ji. Otherwise, you find in this world that all people are deceitful, crooked, and Kalyugi, and in this world it is selfishness that rules. Selfishness, deceit, and cunning are how Maya runs her kingdom. If there were no selfishness, no deceit, no cunning, and no falsehood, where would Maya be? The play of Sachchidananda would come into view. The very tendencies that keep us from reaching the play of Sachchidananda are selfishness, deceit, cunning, and fault-finding. That is why God says:

moh kapt chhal chhidr na bhawa nirmal janm man so moh pava
Deceit, cunning, and fault-finding are not pleasing to him; he is attained in the pure mind of a person.

Where will he be found here? He is found in the pure mind of those who do bhajan. Otherwise, the cunning, deceitful, and selfish will talk to you of great love. You will feel, "This person is sacrificing his life for me," but he only wants to fulfil his own selfish aim. He wants to fulfil his lust, so he can say anything, but he does not love. Only God loves. True love is from God alone, and eternal love is from God. You will not find this in the world. True, eternal love can only be found in God.

Try it and see. When you are defeated, make our Shri Krishna your friend, and the bond will be kept up without fail.

Jata Shankar Ji from Ghaziabad. Radhe Radhe, Radhe Radhe. Maharaj Ji, charan sparsh, Maharaj Ji. Even after unwavering faith in God, why does the mind become frightened by small difficulties? What is the remedy? After unwavering faith in the wrong God, this does not happen.

Right now you have only memorised words: unwavering faith, unwavering faith. Hot sand was poured while people were made to sit on a heated griddle, and their nails were pulled out. And do you know what word came out? Do you understand?

tera kiya mitha lage
Whatever You do seems sweet to me. This is from Guru Arjan Dev Ji. In unwavering faith, how did agitation come in? This means that the naam jap which should be happening now is not happening. The sadhana that should be there is not there, and the faith that should be there is not there.

Haridas Ji Maharaj, of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's circle, was beaten with sticks and whipped in 22 bazaars, and an order was issued to take his life. His tender body was whipped until the skin peeled off. They whipped him again, saying "Hari bol, Hari bol," and when he did not respond, thinking he was dead, they threw him into the Ganga. As soon as the pure water of the Ganga touched him, he regained consciousness, and his full awareness returned. Later, when he was asked, he said only this: "It is the result of some karma of mine. I feel no pain. God's grace upon me is great." What was the word? "God's grace upon me is great." That is faith, which does not let us become agitated.

If you are agitated, then there is a shortfall in your faith. There is a shortfall in your bhajan. Unwavering faith cannot have agitation. No work gets stuck. God is always helpful. The very concept of desire no longer remains. When you have faith in God, desires and wants are a different matter altogether.

sakal kamna hin je Ram bhagat ras leen
One who is free of all desires and absorbed in the bliss of Ram's devotion.

When you speak of faith in God for the fulfilment of your desires, you have spoken very superficially, very superficially. All your desires are perishable. Is there any imperishable desire?

Let your bhajan grow so much that in every situation there is only joy, only joy. In honour and in dishonour, in criticism, in circumstance, in gain and in loss, in happiness and in sorrow, in victory and in defeat, there should be only the grace of my Lord. Nothing should be visible except His grace. Do you understand? Yes.

Whatever situation You give, let me be content with it:

y drishtha labh santushto dwandateeto vimatsara
Content with whatever comes of its own accord, beyond the pairs of opposites, free from envy.

Let there be equal feeling and no envy towards anyone.

yatha labh santosh sada kahu so kachu na chaho
Be content with whatever you receive; never ask anything of anyone.

dridh vishwas mangwo bhlo na bap so jo prabhu rakhe tek
With firm faith, it is not good to ask even of a father; whatever the Lord keeps as one's support, that is what holds.

If your trust in the Lord is firm, there is no need to ask anyone for anything, and no expectation of help from anyone. That all-powerful Supreme Being will Himself act. And if He does not act, I do not want it to be done. I am content in whatever state He wants to keep me.

joi joi pyaro kare soi mohi bhave
Whatever my Beloved does, that is what pleases me.

So what is the problem? Wherever we are lacking, let us fill that gap. If we take care of the faults that occur in our contemplation of God and in our sadhana, we will become stronger and stronger.

Just as Prahlad Ji Maharaj was given so much suffering, yet in every situation God protected him, so God protects us too. But it is certain that God will not act according to our wishes. We will have to be content with the way God acts, because we are children. Our intellect is limited, and God is omniscient. God sees far ahead, and we see only what is near. We see only as much as is visible to us, but God sees the whole future. So He will do what will make our future auspicious, because He is the abode of auspiciousness.

The arrangement made by Him can never be inauspicious. Ji, Bhanwar Singh Ji, Shri Radhe Maharaj Ji, Radhe-Radhe Maharaj Ji, for some years I made fruitless efforts to know and understand spirituality. I kept listening to the discourses of saints of various faiths, but no steadiness came into my life. I found no satisfaction in any one method of sadhana. My mind was drawn towards the formless, and the path of bhakti and the path of spirituality seemed to be a single state, the first stage. For the past two and a half years I have come into your presence and company. For two and a half years I have continuously listened to your private conversations and satsang. I also do naam jap, and I try to walk in your command and discipline.

Now steadiness has begun to come into my life. The distinction between the with-form and the formless has ended. I have now understood that bhakti is both the first stage and the completion. Let no one think that bhakti is separate from knowledge. Whatever complete knowledge God has spoken of:

tapasvi se bhi adhik yogi gyani se bhi adhik yogi aur karm yogi se bhi adhik yogi
A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the learned, and greater than the man of action.

wo yogi jo shraddwan bhajte mam
That yogi who worships Me with faith.

Because true knowledge is given by God:

soi jane je dehu janai aur jab jaan jaoge to janat tum ho jai
Only one to whom He makes Himself known can know Him; and when you know Him, you will become like Him.

Knowing God in His essential form (tattva) is easy.

But knowing God in His playful form (leela) is very difficult, very difficult. Take gold: in its essential form we say "this is gold," and we have known it. But knowing it in the form of ornaments is very difficult. How many ornaments can be made? Every ornament is the same gold. Such is the form of God with a form. It is very strange, and very difficult to know. Even Sati Devi, the goddess of intellect, became confused. Lord Shiva, who dwells in the half of the body of Tattva-gyan swaroop Bhagwan, was confused. When Shri Ram was weeping, and the demons were wandering, and He was saying:

khag mrig Madhukra shreni tumh dekhi Sita mrignaini
O birds, O deer, O rows of bees, have you seen Sita, the deer-eyed one?

Lord Shiva said, "Sat-chid-ananda, the supreme abode." Sati Ji felt: if this is the Truth of sat-chid-ananda, it should be all-knowing. Why is He asking birds, animals and creepers, "Have you seen my Sita?" She became confused. Great Garuda, the wise one and treasure of virtues, also became confused. When Meghnad bound the Lord in the Nagpaash, Garuda saw Him bound and thought that He was coming to free Him.

So he thought: how can this be God? He who accepts us as His vehicle, I know that Lord. He is all-powerful. How could a lowly demon bind Him like this? And you are waiting for us? You are lying bound. Deluded, confused. Then he had to go to Kagbhushundi Ji.

Here He is present everywhere in the form of Tattva. Not even the smallest thing in the three worlds, neither inert nor conscious, is without the Supreme. The Supreme Himself has become everything. God has two natures: His lower nature (apara prakriti) and His higher nature (para prakriti).

When we describe them separately, how many are the five great elements, mind, intellect and ego? Eight. These eight are the lower nature of God, which is Maya-prakriti. And the living being (jeev) is the higher nature of God. When we describe them separately, we speak of Maya and the jeev. But when we see them in their essential form, it is the same Maya and it is the same jeev. There is no difference. The same five elements have become that. The same mind, among the senses, has become the mind:

indriy naam manasma
Among the senses, I am the mind.

The same has become the intellect. The same has become the ego. Apart from Him, is there anything else?

matta par taram nyatat kinchidasta Dhananjay
O Dhananjaya, there is nothing whatsoever beyond Me.

Nothing at all apart from Me.

Therefore, in essence, we see Siya-Ram in all the world. Siyaram may sab jag jaani, karo pranam jor jug paani. And in its lila form, Goswami Ji is savouring Siya-Ram. This is the state of bhakti. Tattva gyan alone is not enough. After tattva bodh, bhagwat prem also arises. So bhakti is the highest.

Svarupanusandhan bhakti re gasi. Bhagwan Shankaracharya Ji said that for realising one's svarup, bhakti is the best. The gyani attains tattva bodh and svarup bodh through great effort.

Mam darshan phal param anupa, jeev pav nij sahaj svarupa. The longing to have My darshan makes a person realise their svarup.

Nobody should understand that bhakti is only for those who came through the path of gyan, ashtang yog, or karm yog. Do not think that people who are chanting "Radha, Radha" are simply saying "Radha, Radha, Radha" in that way. From childhood I had a very sharp, scientific intellect. I never made a friend. I never considered anyone my own, and I did not quickly develop faith in anyone.

My nature was very logical and skeptical. I did not have faith in anyone. I was drawn in by your discourses, but I would ask: how is your conduct? What is your solitude? What is your state? You can speak into a microphone, and acting out saintliness is also done. But true saintliness is found in solitude. So when we step back and look carefully, if we truly associated, then we associated; if not, then we did not. My intellect remained very sharp. Then, by the grace of Mahadev Ji, I came here and began chanting "Radha, Radha, Radha." So let no one think that bhakti is only a beginning stage.

It is both a beginning stage and the completion.

Brahm bhoot prasann atma, na shochati na kankshati, sam sarvesu bhooteshu mad bhaktim labhate param. What is the supreme benefit of My bhakti? The devotee becomes brahm-bhoot. Prasann atma: no grieving, no desire, no wish, no longing. That supreme state is brahm-bhoot. Everyone's true form is formless. Your own form is also formless. Consider carefully: this form is made of the five elements, born of maya. It belongs to prakriti. What is your true form? It is formless. Now, how will you know it? Its means is with form. The means to know the formless is the form. Accept the Guru in form. Accept Vedanta in form, and keep contemplating until you become achintya. Then you will know yourself through yourself.

The self cannot be known through the senses or the mind, because the senses and mind are illuminated by the self. How can they know their illuminator? First, do bhajan with full determination. Right now everyone is saying "Radha." If the breath left right now, bhagwat prapti would happen. When someone called out "Narayan" to a son, bhagwat prapti happened. If we deliberately call out "Narayan," bhagwat prapti will not happen just because of that.

One should think patiently and deeply: if we want to attain bhagwat prapti, we must never give up naam. Understand this as a firm truth. The supremely wise Lord Shankar keeps chanting the naam at all times. The supremely wise Sanakadi always keep chanting Hari sharanam, Hari sharanam, Hari sharanam at all times. There is no great soul, no one in creation, who does not chant the naam of the Lord. Naam jap is supreme. So chant the naam abundantly. Whether you understand or not, understanding will settle on its own.

I am trying to chant the naam, ever since you said so. But I say that at this stage of life, the mind still wanders toward worldly objects. Maharaj Ji, do not worry about that. But now, stop the actions. The sankalp-vikalp of the mind will gradually calm down as impurity is destroyed. But now, get tired of these actions and say: enough. Whatever we have seen in life, we have seen. This trishna is a sinful thing that never gets quenched. Now it must be stopped. Trishna means the desire to enjoy again an object already enjoyed.

It must be stopped. Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Where the mind starts creating sankalp and vikalp, there say: Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. No, brother, no. Ab lau nasani, ab na nasaihon. Until now we have wasted so much. We have wasted the breaths of our life in the luxuries of maya. Not now. Now, only Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha. Slowly, slowly, the antahkaran will become pure. Whether it becomes pure or not, if you say Radha and the breath leaves, bhagwat prapti happens. So keep holding on to Radha, Radha at all times.

Yes, Deepesh Ji. Radhe-Radhe, Maharaj Ji, Guru Ji. Is mental worship equal to actual worship? Is mental seva even superior to actual seva? Because in actual, visible seva, the time is short and the articles are few.

In mental seva, you can do it while walking or moving around, and you can do it in great detail. In visible seva, we cannot offer Thakur Ji a golden thaal, golden vessels, and a variety of bhog items. But in bhaav, we can. In bhaav there is a vast golden thaal. There are small bowls: in one there is kheer, in another ras malai, in another rabri, in another a variety of bhog items, all gathered together. In bhaav, we offer them with our own hands. In bhaav, we are feeding Thakur Ji with our own hands.

They are feeding them, the ones who pamper them, and that is the truth. It is not just imagination. It is the truth.

Once a wealthy but very stingy man asked Shri Vitthalnath Goswami Ji, "Can seva be done for the Lord, and can the Lord be pleased, without spending any money?" Some people are naturally like that, very miserly. He said, "Is there any way that seva is done and the Lord is pleased without spending even one paisa?" Goswami Ji said, "Yes, there is a way. It is mansik seva, mental service. It costs not a single paisa." He explained the method: "Do it like this, like this, like this, mentally."

After some days, one day during his mental seva he put sugar in the milk, and it became a little too sweet. It pricked him that the sugar had become too much, because of his stingy nature. So Thakur Ji gave him a slap. In the outer world, when the slap landed, Thakur Ji appeared and said, "In mental seva, where did your money go? The sugar became too much in the mind, so why did you feel bad about it?" In other words, Thakur Ji accepts mental seva.

He certainly accepts it. But mental seva is considered complete only when the mental Ishta appears clearly, just as we see you sitting before us, our beloved Priya-Pritam. Only then does the seva happen. When the mental deity appears, then the seva takes place. Bathing Them, wiping Their limbs, dressing Them in clothes, applying tilak, adorning Them with ornaments, offering bhog, performing aarti, offering pranam, dancing: all of this can be done mentally. You can do everything in your own mind. You can do a little of it in imagination as well, and the benefit is received in the same way.

That is, the benefit you receive is the same as the benefit from actually offering bhog outwardly. So see, there is no expense of even one paisa, and the merit is very great. So one should sit and do it for a while. We feed Thakur Ji rabri, we feed Thakur Ji mangoes, we feed Thakur Ji apples. Whatever feeling comes, we arrange good dishes on a plate and offer them to Thakur Ji. Achaman is offered, the face is wiped, paan and beeda are offered, itra is applied. Whatever you wish, as much as the mind wants, seva can be done abundantly without money, and attainment of Bhagavat is certain. Mental seva brings certain attainment of Bhagavat, because the mind itself is doing the seva. But to engage in mental seva, outer seva is necessary, because without outer seva it is difficult to reach mental seva.

When we have not offered bhog outwardly, how will our bhaav form in the mind? So try to do outer seva for a while, and also do mental seva for 5 to 10 minutes. If you get more time, do more. Mental seva is even superior to physical seva, because in it all the items are pure. Suppose we bring things from the market: they may be impure. But in mental seva we bring them with bhaav. If we bring the items with bhaav, the supremely pure Bhagavan accepts only the bhaav as bhog. So this is a very excellent thing.

Mansik seva. Ashish ji: Radhavallabh Shri Maharaj Ji, koti-koti pranam at your holy feet.

Maharaj Ji, my question is this. When we do naam jap, the form of the one whose naam we chant comes to mind. For example, in the naam Radha, Radha Ji's form comes to mind. Similarly, in the naam Ram, Ram Ji's form comes. Since in tattva Ram, Krishna and Radha Ji are all one, why is there a difference in the form that appears in naam jap, Maharaj Ji? There is a difference in the naam, isn't there? If we take the naam Radha, Radha's form is assumed, so Radha's form will come. If we take the naam Ram, Ram's form will come. If we take the naam Shiv, Shiv's form will come. If we take the naam Om, the tattva will come. Maharaj Ji, I have one small prayer. Suppose someone has never had darshan of the form at all. The naam itself, the naam and roop, the naam itself is what is bringing this about. Without naam jap, will such a jhanki appear? Will it come just like that? Is it like those pictures in calendars?

Arre bhai, the beauty of that form cannot be described even by crores of tongues on each pore of the body:

koti koti rasna jo rom rom prati ho pyari jo ke rup ko na praman kaho jat hai jo ko koti kalp lag jive rasna kotik pave to ruchir badnarwind ki shobha kahat na ave

Even if every pore had crores of tongues, the form of the Beloved cannot be measured. Even if one lived for crores of kalpas and gained crores of tongues, the splendour of that lotus-like face still could not be described.

When we chant Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, Radha, a great deal, our mind becomes sinless, and then the Radha form shines forth. And when the Radha form shines, you become full of prem. Do you understand?

Maharaj Ji, a prakrit swaroop and a chidanand swaroop cannot be one. They can never be the same, not in any way. God never has a material (prakrit) form at all.

Like this picture you are looking at, which came into the mental imagination. The ink applied in it is maya-made. The painter's feeling is in it. For example, suppose this sakhi is Tungavidya Ji, and she is like this. We can imagine Tungavidya Ji like that. Now we take her as a supposed number (maani sankhya), like in school when you solved a problem: you took an assumed number, put in whatever value you liked, and the problem got solved. So, taking Tungavidya Ji as that assumed form, when we worship her and become absorbed in meditation, we will reach the chidanand form while contemplating the prakrit form of Tungavidya Ji.

Till today no ink has been made that matches the darkness of Shyamsundar's complexion. Till today there is no fair complexion that matches that of our Pyari Ji.

pita arun anant tad latabham ek bijli chamakti to hosh kharab ho jaate hain

Golden-red like a creeper of countless lightnings: when a single bolt of lightning flashes, the senses are overwhelmed.

Countless lightnings rising together, such is the radiance of Shri Radha Kishori Ji. Who could bear it? So if we take up the worship of Shri Radha Ji and begin naam jap, the natural capacity of our senses starts to fall away, and chidanand capacity starts to come, slowly, slowly. This prakrit form disappears, and the real swaroop comes. If we are doing naam jap while worshipping a prakrit form, whether it is an installed stone murti, an ashtadhatu image, or a picture, then through worship of these we will attain the chidanand form.

We have to reach Chidanand. Yes, we have to reach Chidanand, because just as we have natural eyes, Bihari Ji is in Chidanand. So do we find happiness? If we found happiness, we would not remember anything except Bihari Ji, and would have no desire to see anything else. But we would not have that feeling unless we found that happiness. After a while, though, we start looking at the temple again. We look around and think, "Oh, those eyes are not there, and we cannot see that form either." Can we see the form of Bihari Ji that Swami Ji saw?

It is the same Bihari Ji. Now, chant naam abundantly: "Kunj Bihari Shri Haridas, Kunj Bihari Shri Haridas." When the power of Chidanand awakens in our eyes, we will see that Bihari Ji, who stuns even crores of Kamadevas (Cupids). Bihari Ji, whose beauty surpasses crores of Kamadevas, who makes the entire three worlds dance, who stuns even crores of Kamadevas. This will happen through bhajan. We should do plenty of bhajan and worship Bihari Ji, and then we will receive the eyes within the eyes, the manas netra (inner eye). Then:

sacchidanand main deh tumhari vigat vikar jaan adhikari

Sachchidananda is your form, free of all defects; it is known only to the qualified.

Then that qualification will come, and then it will become knowable.

Radhe Radhe. Vata Ji from Haryana asks: Maharaj Ji, can chanting naam change a person's tendency toward rajas guna, meaning my rajas guna tendency?

Rajas guna? Rajas and tamas will be destroyed, and you will attain the state beyond the three gunas (trigunatit), above sattva. When naam jap becomes a constant practice, then:

yam labdhwa manav siddho bhavti amrito bhavti tripto bhavti

One who attains this becomes a siddha, becomes immortal, and becomes content.

One who attains this becomes a siddha, one who drinks the nectar becomes immortal, one who becomes content. The one who chants naam, understand that naam jap has immense power, and the Lord resides in the naam. Those who take up the practice of constant naam jap are very fortunate. But whether the chanting brings joy or not, whether it brings happiness or not, whether it brings benefit or not, we should not worry about it. We should simply do our duty and chant. Then:

sa tu dirghakal nairantarya satkarasevito dridhbhumih

When this practice is pursued for a long time, without interruption, and with reverence, it becomes firmly established.

One who chants the Lord's naam continuously, for a long time, with reverence, becomes firmly established. Such a person becomes a siddha and attains the Lord. First, learn to meditate through the practice of naam jap. Right now, the mala is moving in the hand, the naam is moving on the tongue, but the mind is wandering in the world.

So that is not yet proper jap. Proper jap happens when the mind is engaged in naam, whether or not the mala moves and whether or not the tongue moves. This is a very high level. So new sadhaks should not be disheartened. This is a stage-by-stage path, a step-by-step stage of naam jap. In the first stage, we should chant naam while moving the tongue, and whenever the mind wanders, we should pull it back and fix it on the naam. Practise this again and again, and wherever the mind goes, try to see Bhagavan there. There is no object, no person, and no place where the Supreme Lord is not present.

So while chanting naam, practise two things. First, pull the mind back from wherever it goes and fix it on the naam. Second, wherever the mind goes, try to see God there. Gradually our mind.. I am not saying you will become perfect in two months. The practice will take four months or longer, because we have the habit of thinking about objects of the senses from many, many previous lives. So when we chant naam with attention, what do we mean by attentive? Just as we said, when "Radha" is chanted, it echoes in our ears. "Radha" appears before our eyes, whether our eyes are closed or open. No tongue is moving, yet inwardly there is a sound, "Radha Radha" or "Ram Ram Ram Ram," and we keep sinking into that sound. When concentration arises in naam jap, it is called japa with dhyana (meditation). When that concentration stays steady for an hour or two, it is called samprajnata samadhi. And when that concentration remains through all of life, while rising, sitting, walking, eating and drinking, and not even for a moment does the naam slip away, that is called asamprajnata samadhi.

That person becomes a siddha. Kabir Das Ji says:

thade baithe pare utana Kabir kahe ham thikana

Standing, sitting, or lying down, Kabir says, we remain in our place.

Whether we are standing, sitting, lying down, eating or drinking, we remain in our place. That means we remain in contemplation of the Lord at all times. So if naam jap is practised this way, then through naam jap one can attain whatever one wishes: the state beyond the three gunas, samadhi, the vision of the Supreme Lord, and entry into the divine leela. There is no sadhana greater than naam. Naam is the essence of life. It is not that we have not practised other paths. We have practised Ashtanga Yoga. We have practised Sankhya Yoga. We have practised Karma Yoga. Having done all of them, we are telling you that the essence of all of them is to develop love for the naam. At every moment, the sweet naam of the Lord should be running within. The naam that is dear to us. If there is no naam, we consider everything incomplete. The life of one who has no naam is rubbish. Like zeros: zero, zero, zero. What does that mean? Now put a one in front, and then add a zero: ten. Add another zero: a hundred. Add another zero: a thousand. It keeps growing. If naam is the one, and you keep adding other practices as zeros, the greatness keeps increasing. But if you remove the one that is naam, then zero, zero, zero, zero, and those have no meaning. Therefore everyone should chant naam. Through naam jap, not only rajas guna but also tamas guna will be destroyed, and one will arrive at a state above sattva guna.

The state beyond the three gunas, the state beyond guna, will come. Shri Harivansh Maharaj Ji, Maharaj Ji, how can one remain asanga (unattached)? What are its rules? That is, has their divorce from the world happened, Maharaj Ji? After that, living in asanga means one wishes that one's mental and spiritual progress continue. And in today's modern age, how, Maharaj Ji, can one do this? Unless we connect our inner state to the Lord, asanga cannot happen at all, because the mind cannot remain without taking refuge in some object, person or place. That is its nature. It will take shelter somewhere.

Look, when you sit quietly and observe, some person or thing or place or incident or circumstance keeps running in the mind, and the mind takes shelter in it and keeps contemplating it. The shelters we took earlier have made a kind of cassette inside us. When we do naam jap, it opens and shows us, "this is the earning you have." So we have to delete it, and not let a new one form. For this we have to do naam jap all the time. We have to attach the vritti inwardly. But if the mala moves in the fingers from outside, the tongue moves in the mouth, and the mind is busy in the world, then we still cannot become detached.

Mayyasakta manah partha: Bhagavan said, become one whose mind is attached to Me. When we listen to the leela-katha of Bhagavan, such as the Dashama Skandha of the Bhagavat, when we read it ourselves, listen to it much with our ears, do naam jap of Bhagavan, and walk on the path of Bhagavan, then a power comes into us, the Bhagavatik power, and through it we remain detached. We will not like anything else. It feels as if, "I am alone, someone should be mine." Everyone feels this, don't they? That there should be someone in whose lap we can rest our head and sleep peacefully.

ye paye jaan jagat mein sab jan kapti kutila kalyugi tanch
Know this: in the world, all people are deceitful, crooked, Kali-yugi, and cunning.

Only Bhagavan is that. Otherwise the world is deceitful. It is very hard to know what is on the outside and what is on the inside. On the outside there is one language and one show, and inside there is something very different and another show. So the one who is the same within and without is Bhagavan. We should take shelter in Bhagavan. Whoever we meet, our conduct should be pure. There should be no dirty behaviour. If someone abuses us, we should hear it and bear it. We should not abuse back. If we do naam jap, then gradually the spiritual quality called asangata will come into us.

asango hyayam purush, main asang hoon.
"I, this Purusha, am unattached."

This experience will come, because in reality we are unattached. Our true nature is unattached only. At some point that svarup made a mistake: it took the body to be "I," and took the antahkaran, the mind and intellect, to be "I," and got trapped. Therefore do naam jap, listen to discussions of Bhagavan, listen to satsang, and live good, pure conduct. Only then does asangata come. If you act badly and talk about spirituality, those talks remain only talk, and there will be no light in life. If you want to make life progressive and live a good, happy life, then first stop the dirty conduct. Stop the sinful conduct. Do good conduct and do naam jap.

Baba, you received this strength. No, this strength, the treasure from where we received it, that very treasure is what they are giving you. Suppose we say: chant Radha Radha, listen to discussions of Bhagavan. It is from this that we received strength. The same strength by which we are holding on, that very strength they are giving to all of us. If you accept this strength, then in the long run you will yourself experience what capacity is growing within you, and what feelings are growing within you. Ji.

yah path video ke swachalit (auto-generated) upasheershkon se liya gaya hai — ismen shabdon ki trutiyan ho sakti hain. Pramanik vachan ke liye video avashya sunen.

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

Original video: Bhajan Marg (YouTube)