|| Shri Hari ||

Secret of Freedom

God and His dear devotees do not subject others to their bidding or views.  That does not imply that if others,   follow their advice,  they will not be dependent or be free from the subjection of others.  

There is great joy or spiritual bliss in doing the work of devotees.

At Vrindavana one devotee did not have the Darshana of Lord Bihariji.  People would say -  ‘Aye,  Bihariji is standing right in front !  But he would reply - ‘O’  Brother,  I do not see Him’.  In this way,  three days passed away but he did not have even the glimpse of Bihariji.  That devotee thus thought  -  ‘All people do see Bihariji and have His Darshana,  but I do not see Him.  I am then a great sinner,  for the Lord does not want to see me ‘Darshana’.  I must thus drown myself in the river Yamuna and thus end myself up.  

Having thus surmised he walked towards the holy river Yamuna during night time.  There alongside the river band a leper was sleeping.  God told him in a dream to catch hold of the feet of that man who would just arrive there.  By his grace he would at once be free from his disease.  That leper got up and sat down in an alert position   As soon as the devotee arrived, the leper caught hold of his feet and told him to cure him of his leprosy.  But the devotee implored him  -  ‘I am a great sinner,  I do not have the vision of Shri Bihariji and painfully requested the leper to free his feet, But the leper did not release his feet.  Ultimately, the leper said -  ‘Alright !  at least say’ .  ‘let your disease go away !’   But the devotee replied that he did not have the ability and power to say so.  But when the leper insisted a lot,  the devotee said  - ‘let the leper be cured of his disease’  In an instant,  after the devotee’s utterance, the leper was totally cured.  Thereafter the leper narrated his dream wherein God had asked him to catch hold of the devotee’s feet.  Having heard all that, the devotee pondered over the matter and decided not to die of drowning that day.  He returned to the  temple and he was graced by the Lord’s divine vision !  In a light mood of blessedness, he enquired  of Thakurji as to why He had not granted him His Darshana earlier.   Thakurji replied -  ‘You had never requested anything from Me throughout your life.  Therefore I had no guts to appear before you.  Now when you had prayed to Me to free the leper from the disease,  I have gathered the strength to show My face to you.’  What does it all mean ?   It means that he who does not want anything from God,  God becomes his slave.  

Hanumanji did God’s work and God felt indebted to him,  He became his slave -  

sunu suta tohi urina maim nahim  ( Manasa 32/4).  

He who serves becomes great and he who is served becomes small.  But God and His devotees do not feel shy in becoming small or low.  They knowingly become small.  Even in their becoming small,  they really do not become small;  and there is never the pride of being great in them !  

Narayan !   Narayan !!  Narayan !!!   

From book ‘Be Good’  by Swami Ramsukhdasji,  # 474,  published by Gita Press,  Gorakhpur,  INDIA

|| Shri Hari ||

Secret of Freedom

If a servant always works in accordance with the Master’s biddings,  then when occasion so demands,  the master also has to honor the word of his servant.  Thus if somebody makes another his slave, then he too will have to suffer subjection sometime -  this is the Law.  

The other person must obey my words,  act according to what I say,  follow my command,  become just as I want him to be -  the name of this very thing is ‘desire’.  Desire is the name of getting things done as per one’s disposition.  A man of desires will never have ‘peace’  -  

tadvatkaama yam pravishanti sarve sa

shaantimaapnoti na kaamakaam  (Gita 2/70).  

Renunciation of desire is at once followed by peace -

tyaagaacchaantiranantaram  (Gita 12/12).  

But today things are fast moving in opposite direction :  people want peace but at the same time,  they so desire and want that their wives, sons, parents,  even they Guruji should do as they want them to do.  Not merely this,  even God should do as per their asking.   Since we are God’s devotees,  God should act according to us.  Even Sage Naradaji said thus -   

karahu so begi dasa maim tora (Manasa,  Baal. 132/4)

I am thy servant.  Please speed up my work.  

All want that others should obey them;   who will then do as biddings ?   Someone tells that he should ‘follow my command’;   the other says that he should ‘obey my orders’;  then both are ‘thagas’ (cheats).  There is no thuggery (cheating)  between two ‘Thagas;,  The best and brave one is he who acts on other’s saying .  ‘ I should obey all, should act as he tells me’  -  these are the characteristic features of the good and the worthy ones.  God is the best among all;   how then will God say that one should do this, and in that manner ?  

If there is a good thing,  then why should we want it to be done by others ?  Does not the other one want to do a good thing ?  Let that thing be placed before others with the submission that if they wish they may do,  if they don’t then they may not.  Even God has said :   

sunaha karahu jo tumhahi sohaai  (Manasa,  Uttara 43/3)   

He may or may not do - therein we have to remain equanimous -

 sidhyasidhyoh samo bhootvaa  (Gita 2/48).  

It is our job to place the best things before others;  it is not our concern to get things done by others.  If we want the work to be done by another person,  then we will have to be dependent on him.  He may know it or not.  It is a joyful thing if he does or does not do our work.  Why is it a joyful ?  It is so because we will have to be under an obligation if he does our work and we will be freed from that if he declines to do as we bid.  We will not be bound to him.   The saints and seers, the great souls who are unconcerned and desireless recluses,  spiritually free and great one - and God -  Who never tell, never even wish - if somebody acts in accordance with their selfless words of wisdom, then they too have to be bound, to be dependent on others.  

to be continued......

From book 'Be Good'  by Swami Ramsukhdasji from Gita Press, Gorakhpur

|| Shri Hari ||

Secret of Freedom

Listener -   Sir,  you had observed that God wills the good and well-being of all ?   

Swamiji -  Yes,  God does wish that,  but He is not coercive;  He does not force His wish upon anyone.  Great ones do not compel people.  And God is the Lord of the great ones,  how and why shall He compel at all !   

As I say, as I do,  others also should likewise do - this tendency is among animals too.  Good people do not have this attitude.  When you insist upon the good people and persuade them,  then alone they become great and accept Guru-ship.  They do not have this tendency that ‘I should be the Guru of all’ This is no good at all.  It is a thing of a very low order.  Lord Shri Ram while instructing His subjects very candidly said that if I tell you to do anything which is improper,  you should abandon fear and refuse to let me do that thing.

Jaum aneeti kachu bhaasaum bhaai

tau mohi barajahu bhaya bisaraai  

(Manasa,  Uttara.  43/3)  

If I tell you anything that is against the Law,  O’  Brother !  Abandon fear and refuse to follow the improper !!  

It implies therefore ,  ‘not to do as I bid you to do’,  but to do as you yourself deem right and proper,  God compels none,  never !  

If you need to undergo a surgical operation in a hospital,  then you will have to give a written undertaking that if you die, it is at your own risk;  only then you will be operated upon.  If you want work to be done by anyone, then you will have to give him total authority to do your work.   It is in your hand to give authority;  it is not in your hand to get authority.  Thus God does not usurp anybody’s right.  The Lord drives the horses of Arjuna and obeys his commands.  Arjuna orders Bhagavan Krishna to take his chariot and place it  in between the two armies -  

senayorubhayormadhye ratham sthaapaya me’cyuta  (Gita 1/21).  

The Lord quietly obeys and takes the chariot between the two armies  -  

‘senayorubhayormadhye sthaapayitvaa rathottamam (Gita 1/24);  

But He does not take him under His shelter rather tells him to seek refuge -  

‘maamekam sharanam vraja (Gita 18/66).  

It is not God’s job to make someone take His shelter.  

God gives freedom to all.  He is liberal who gives freedom to all, and does not exercise his right over any.  He who exercises his right over others is a lowly man.  But nowadays an opposite mentality has grown that if they exercise their right or authority over others,  they are big and great men.   They become great when others obey their biddings.   In reality,  you become a slave if others obey you;   you won’t be great  !   He who obeys the command becomes the Master and he who is obeyed becomes a slave.  He who does not want anyone to work as his slave or to work under his thumb aur auspices,  or has even no desire that someone should act at his behest -  if someone obeys even his word,  or acts in consonance with his inclination,  then too he will have to be a slave.   A devotee who works and lives according to God’s mandates,  becomes the crest-jewel of the Lord.  The Lord says -  

bhagata mere mukuta mani   

or

aham bhaktaparaadheenah (Srimad Bhagavata 9/4/63)  

I am the slave of my devotees.

to be continued......

From book 'Be Good'  by Swami Ramsukhdasji from Gita Press, Gorakhpur

|| Shri Hari ||

Secret of Freedom 

Someone is intelligent,  someone is a dunce; someone is wealthy  and someone is poor;  someone is able and someone is not -  these conditions or states belong to the realm of the world.  If one has to turn one’s back upon the world,  then the sense of being wise and wealthy has also to be given up;   likewise the sense of being foolish and pauper has also to be relinquished !  Reason being that God Realization cannot be had through worldliness;  but it can only be through its renunciation.  The worldly abilities etc., have a limitation, but renunciation knows no bounds or limits.  Renunciation is limitless whereby illimitable and infinite God is attained.  Thus the purport of worldly things, their value and importance that one has in the heart,  have to be given up. No one can give up the world as such, and no liberation is ever possible thereby !  Were liberation thus possible,  then all those who have died should have attained salvation;  because they go away  (from the world), having left behind their mortal coil,  body,  riches,  family etc,  and they do not thereafter write letters, send no messages or news -  they renounce so much indeed !   But liberation  (Mukti) -  is not possible through such outer renunciation only !  Renunciation should be from within,  from the innermost recesses of the heart !   The attachment, intense longing,  lovingness and importance -  these are the causes of bondage -  

kaarananm gunasango’sya sadasadyonijanmasu (Gita 13/21)  

When internally the relation has to be sapped,  then whether a thing is extremely fine or bad,  it is scarce or in plenty - what difference does it make?   

Questioner -  When God created this world,  why at all did He spread out this big and wide network of His Maya (illusion) ?  

Swamiji -  Look, it is said that God’s Maya has entangled us;  but it is not so.  Really viewed,  it is our own dishonesty of regarding God’s Maya as our own that has entangled us.   We get enmeshed only in those things and beings whom we believe to be our own.  We are not entangled in those things etc,  whom we do not regard as our own.  

to be continued......

From book 'Be Good'  by Swami Ramsukhdasji from Gita Press, Gorakhpur

|| Shri Hari ||

To Listen to Perfection of Human Life in the Awakening of Love, 
click here

Perfection of Human Life in the Awakening of Love
continued.....

On the attaining salvation  ‘I am liberated;  or ‘I am Yogi’ of ‘I am wise (jnani) – this kind of iota of ego persists.  This ego does not become an obstacle in attaining salvation,  but it is an obstacle in the awakening of love i.e. in infinite bliss.   Due to this slightest ego,  there remains differences in philosophers with each other.   After the rise of love,  such type of differences do not persist.   Therefore the complete accomplishment lies in the awakening of love. 

The nature of God is ‘sat-chit-anand’ embodiment of existence (reality),  consciousness, and bliss.  There is limitless, infinite and endless beauty in ‘reality’,  there is limitless, infinite and endless glory in consciousness and there is limitless, infinite and endless sweetness in bliss.  There is beauty in the real due to the fact that each one possesses the attraction of one’s own existence and he feels that he should always remain alive.   There is never distaste in one’s own existence.  There is glory in consciousness because one feels proud - ‘I am the knower of so many things’,  in this way one feels that he has special knowledge (wisdom).  Truth, consciousness and bliss -  these three being one in essence,  appear different due to the angle of one’s vision only.   In fact where there exists the reality,  there also exists consciousness and bliss.  Where there exists consciousness, there also is  the existence (reality,truth) and bliss.  Where there is bliss,  there also persist truth and consciousness.  In God (the entire form of God) there is existence, consciousness and bliss in complete form but in his ‘ansh’ (part, fragment) the soul, they remain in their partial form.

The beauty,  glory and attraction (sweetness) which are seen in this world, are perishable.  But by supposing one’s own relationship with this world, the vision of man is limited and fixed in the world only,  it does not go beyond the world towards God (supreme Reality).  Due to attachment to the world,  he assumes the perishable beauty,  glamour and attraction (sweetness) of the world as permanent and real.  Although the apparent beauty,  glamour and attraction,  visible in the world,  is also a glimpse,  a replica of that Supreme God,  but the person does not presume it as God’s and assumes, its independent existence and gives all the importance to it.  By giving importance to worldly beauty,  mineness arises;   by giving importance to glamour,  desire arises and by giving importance to sweetness, attachment arises.  As a result of which his life becomes changeable (miserable),  disquiet and dependent.  But when the supposed relationship with the world does not exist, then the attachment, desire and mineness are destroyed and the person become faultless, peaceful and independent which means that he becomes completely free from the bondage of this world.  When the selfless grace of God makes that salvation tasteless, then the real love arises.   For instance,  due to the rising of the sun, the light of one thousand watt lamp of electricity does not diminish,  but in the light of the sun its importance does not get recognition,  similarly,  when love is awakened, then flawlessness, quietude and independence, don’t disappear,  but they don’t get recognition and don’t have so much importance and then ‘I am without any defects, I am quiet, I am independent’  - This subtle ego and all the philosophical differences,  which arise from this ego,  totally disappear which means,  that non-dualism, qualified non-dualism, dualism, nondualistic-dualism etc.,  all such differences are transformed into God’s manifestation which is a Reality.  Therefore in the heart of a devout devotee who has realized ‘All is God’,  there remains no insistence of any particular view,  rather there remains equal respect for all sects and views.   There being no insistence for any specific sect,  he never has any disrespect for any sect, or religion or opinion etc.   

Narayan !  Narayan !!  Narayan !!!    

 

From article by Swami Ramsukhdasji in 'Kalyaan Kalpatru' from Gita Press, Gorakhpur,  Issue - dated Jul 2014 

|| Shri Hari ||

To Listen to Perfection of Human Life in the Awakening of Love, 
click here 

Perfection of Human Life in the Awakening of Love

man has a disinclination for the real and by supposing the unreal as the real and by giving importance only to this mistaken belief, he gets attached to it.  He supposes the unreal as the objective of his life; the result is this, that he becomes dependent (slave), unhappy (miserable),  tired,  defeated, poor and destitute.  Not only this,  when the attachment to the unreal is intensified,  he supposes independence, in dependence,  pleasure in pain,  rest in tiredness (fatigue),  victory in defeat,  prosperity in poverty and supportful feeling in supportlessness and goes from humanity to brutality.  

A man may be degraded to any extent,  in him the eagerness for the real, consciousness and bliss may be suppressed but it cannot completely be finished.   His real necessity is never destroyed.  Just as a man does not like even a little poverty,  similarly, he does not like his destruction,  his unconsciousness and his pain and suffering in the least.  Sometimes by a holy book or by good company (noble Satsanga) or on facing some calamity,  by the grace of God,  his vision gets off from the unreal and goes toward the real ‘illumed’ self,  he has disinclination for the unreal and an inclination to the real, and then the desire for the unreal does not stay in him and it transforms into the inquisitiveness for the real i.e. the distinction between desire and inquisitiveness for the real becomes clear.  After this distinction being clear,  the necessity is fulfilled and the desire is destroyed.   i.e.. the supposed relationship with the unreal does not persist.  By the elimination of the association with the unreal, man attains peace.  By not enjoying this peace,  he attains constant peace (bliss) and if he is not satisfied with that constant bliss,  he attains infinite bliss.

By detachment from the unreal (inertia),  a striver attains peace and by getting established in the self,  he attains constant peace.  In the Yoga of action (Karmayog) peace is attained and in the Yoga of wisdom (Jnanayog) constant peace is attained.  The result of Karmayog andJnanayog is one and the same i.e. the result of both is that the aspirant gets established in the self (salvation is attained).  When salvation is accomplished,  then the desire for salvation or eagerness does not remain,  but the thirst for love still remains.  Therefore when the emancipated soul is not satisfied with constant bliss,  then the Lord by His causeless grace provides him infinite bliss.  This infinite bliss is called ‘love’.  The desire for salvation or eagerness to know the reality is fulfilled but this form of love never ends and never gets fulfilled.   Just as by obtaining wealth,  its greed goes on increasing,  similarly on getting the love i.e. on the awakening of this love,  it goes on increasing every moment.  Therefore this love has been called as increasing every moment ‘pratikshan vardhamaanam’ (Narada Bhakti 54).

to be continued..... 

From article by Swami Ramsukhdasji in 'Kalyaan Kalpatru' from Gita Press, Gorakhpur,  Issue - dated Jul 2014