Bhagatiji Maharaj had said that His guru (Gunatitanand Swami) had taught Him how to offer devotion to God continuously – this is what we all wish to do. Guruhari Pappaji Maharaj has given us the same prayer in Swarup Yog, “My dear Lord, may I be lost in You every moment, every moment may You be my guide in this endeavour and may You give me immeasurable strength.”
If we reminisce the darshanof Pappaji Maharaj, we can recall special and personal moments with Him. Even now with the current day swarupo there is an aura about them and we have a great feeling of spiritual elation. When this happens, we promise ourselves that we will be sincerer in our devotion to Guruhari Pappaji. However, Pappaji Maharaj used to say that we are a bundle of habits, and as such we fall back to our normal ways, we sometimes become complacent and even apathetic, and as we become busy with daily life we again find it hard to focus on God.
In Vachanamrut G III 2, Swaminarayan Bhagwan asks the question that despite devotees having an innate belief in God, why is that the mind does not focus on God? Muktanand Swami responded by saying that it is because they are lacking in their detachment to the material world. Shreeji Maharaj agrees, but says that even more than this, it is because there is something lacking in their conviction of God who is manifest in human form [and so, this is why we cannot focus our mind on God].
What does it actually mean to continuously stay in the manifest God? In Vachanamrut G I 22, Maharaj explains that during worship we maybe able to keep our vrutti[1]on God, however, after worship, if we cannot maintain our vrutti on God whilst doing other activities, then our vruttiwill not become steady on the manifest God when we engage in worship again. In other words, whilst doing activities, we find it hard to apply ourselves and concentrate fully on God. We are able to do any physical activity without even a second’s thought, but if we attempt to stay fully focused on God, then we find it very hard to do so. Wouldn’t it be good if we could stay focussed on Pappaji Maharaj, the manifest God whom we have attained no matter what activity we do – hence experience a constant samadhi?
When Guruhari Pappaji initiated the first 30 benoat Gunatit Jyot, He said that thesebenowere of the calibre described in Vachanamrut G I 21: ‘A devotee should contemplate on the manifest God while eating, drinking, bathing, washing, sitting… in fact in all activities.’
What does it really mean to keep our vrutti on God in all activities? It is to experience His presence and bliss from within at every moment – that connection should never break. The key point here is that we shouldn’t have to think about it, that connection with God should be natural and instinctive. In effect, we need to change our physical bodily consciousness to a spiritual consciousness – this is when it becomes natural.
There was a German philosopher of the name of Eckhart in the 17thcentury who had made an extremely profound statement: “We ought not let ourselves be satisfied by the God that we have thought of, for when that thought slips the mind, that God slips with it. What we want is the reality of God exalted far above any thought…” If God is real, then there should be a reality of God all the time and He should not just be a conceptual thought!
We should not have to stretch the mind to stay in God, rather we should feel as if Pappaji Maharaj is filling our entire consciousness. We should see Him right here and right now.
Once, there was a samaiyo at the Junagadh Swaminarayan temple. There were many guests there and Gunatitanand Swami was attending to them. Pragji Bhakta was busy doing seva in the kitchen washing up pots and pans. During the samaiyo there was a sweet food item called kheer that was served. Kheer, when it dries, because it is starchy it sticks to the pan, and so it becomes difficult to clean off. Whilst attempting to clean off some remaining kheer from such a pot, for a split second Pragji Bhakta became frustrated and annoyed. At that exact moment Gunatitanand Swami, who was sat with the VIPs immediately got up and went to Pragji Bhakta in the kitchen and said to him, “Why did you forget God?” This is the stiti that we have to attain – not even for a second should our connection with God be broken!
How can we attain such a spiritual level? There is a brahmsutra that states:“Bhajan karta karya karo, karya karta bhajan na karo”. Which means that our baseline should always be bhajan, this should be a fundamental constant and any activity that we do is an addition to that. On the other hand, if our focus is on doing activities, then our mind will be centred on the activity and if we try to bolt-on doing bhajan, then when a different thought comes to mind relating to our activities, then God will slip from our mind with those thoughts as well.
Once, Pappaji Maharaj was on a trip with haribhakta and there was a man who performed a show with pigeons. The man put some of the pigeons on Pappaji’s lap, but as they flapped their wings, this startled Pappaji. Afterwards, Param Pujya Ben asked Pappaji why He had become unnerved by this, but Guruhari replied that it was not He who had become perturbed, it was His body! No matter what happens externally, we should not be disturbed or be shaken and our vrutti should never break. In our stillness, is our strength.
Gunatitanand Swami has said that if we remember God in all our activities, then we are not the doer. Krishna Bhagwan in Bhagavad Gita also states that, “He who perceives inaction in action, and action in inaction, then he has real knowledge[2]– even whilst performing all actions he is doing Yog”. In other words, such a person is in constant communion with the personal God despite doing all types of activities.
How can we constantly experience that reality of God without having to think about it? Gunatitanand Swami has given us guidance that we must learn to worship God from within, such that we do not have to stretch our mind to stay in God, rather we have to stretch our mind to do worldly things. This is what Shreeji Maharaj explains in Vachanamrut G II 13.
Maharaj states that He is constantly in a spiritual consciousness and from there He has to purposely apply His mind to do a material task: “Just like throwing a stone in the air, it goes as high as the force of the throw, but it falls back again (down to its natural state)”. That is to say, we should stretch the mind to do a task only as much as necessary but we bring it back again into God. This is what Param Pujya Didi has written in the bhajan Ugati Prabhaa E, “Nimit a bani, karya kari, paccha murti rupi mala ma”– the key thing here is that we should act as His instrument in everything we do.
Maharaj further explains that the reason for Him behaving like this is that His vrutti is always introverted towards His hrudayakash[3]. Indeed, it is from here, our own hrudayakash, that we should also operate and not from the mind – we are not the mind but we are atma.
In order to be able to perform bhakti continuously, to have a constant consciousness of God and to keep out vrutti constantly in the manifest God 24 hours a day, we can put into practice the following 3 things:
a. We should constantly introvert and experience the bliss that emanates from our hrudayakash, so that in all activities we are always submerged in God: Hai Maharaj, Hai Pappaji…
b. We should use the mind only as a tool and then bring it back into murti. Kakaji Maharaj used to say that we should reset ourselves every morning: I am Akshar, I am Brahm and Maharaj is within me.
c. We should make Pappaji Maharaj our atma. Shreeji Maharaj in Vachanamrut Sarangpur 2 describes the manner in which the Queen of Dharampur used to do darshan of Maharaj and internalise Him. Further, Bhagatji Maharaj has explained that we should entwine our vrutti in the manifest God and capture Him.
If we contemplate these concepts and keep this awareness, and put these 3 points into practice, then we can constantly experience the reality of God and a remain in a constant samadhi.
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai.
Author: Sunil Gandhi