||
Shri Hari ||
How to Derive Benefit from Satsang
(Associating with the Good)
continued.......
|
God is
always with us, He can`t be away from us whether we know it or not, whether
we have an inclination or disinclination for Him. God pervades where `I am`.
This `I am` is with I (God). We commit an error by considering this `am`
with the body. Accept the fact that God is
here, now, in me and is also mine. This is not something for
learning or for religious discourse. But it is to be accepted from the heart.
All mundane objects and affairs are transitory. By being entangled in worldly
affairs we create the pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain, the
desirable and the undesirable, which lead us to bondage. So don`t get
entangled in the pairs of opposites because the Lord declares, `He who is
free from the pairs of opposites is easily released from bondage` (Gita 5/3)
People
argue over the social affairs. Some of them say that they are right while
others declare them to be wrong. But actually all such affairs are wrong
because they, instead of leading to salvation, lead us to bondage. We incur
great loss by supporting or opposing something. We should do what is right,
but we should not stick to it because all mundane affairs are transient,
while God is eternal and permanent. Our affinity for God is permanent while
we have no affinity for the world. If you are a householder, perform virtuous
deeds without getting entangled. A sage should also do the same. `Remain
equanimous in honour and dishonour.` (Gita 14/25). Honour and dishonour both
belong to the same class. Both of them are to be renounced. So why should we
feel pleased or displeased? Kim bhadram kimabhadram vaa (Srimad Bhagwat
11/28/4) - what is right and what is wrong?
The Lord
declares in the Gita - `Treat alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory
and defeat` (Gita 2/38). Why? Because they are all transient. So perform
your duty according to the need of the hour by remaining detached. Don`t
attach importance to union or disunion of the worldly persons and objects
etc. By doing so you will have association with the good permanently. But if
you attach importance to the union or disunion, you will have no time for
permanent association with the good.
The Lord
at the beginning while preaching His gospel of the Gita declares, `The
contact of the sense with their objects are transitory and fleeting, bear
them patiently` (Gita 2/14). The term `bear` means that you should remain
untainted without being pleased or displeased. The Lord further declares, `He
who is not tormented by them does not attain salvation. If you feel pleased
and displeased when you are honored and dishonoured respectively you are
deprived of salvation. So get rid of them. How? Remain equanimous. You remain
the same whether you are honored or dishonored. So remain established in the
self. The Lord declares in the Gita, `Remain balanced in pleasure and pain,
established in the self` (Gita 14/24). Instead of deriving joy from
`satsang` (association with truth, good company), you have to grasp from the
`satsang` how to get established in the self.
Narayan! Narayan !! Narayan !!!
|