Sarvopari no aashro is the complete refuge in the supreme God. It is the total reliance on Him just as a child relies upon its parents without any doubt or reservation. It is the realisation that every second of every minute of every day that He is the all-doer (Vach. Jetalpur 5). We are the most fortunate of all as we have attained that ultimate God and His manifest saint; in fact it is He who has selected us.
We are now under His supreme control. As per Vachanamrut G I 37 the crude forces of kal, karma and maya (time, reactions to actions and the bondage of the material world) have no sway over us; God Himself deals with us directly. At most He will use our own fate to purify us or to test us, but He will never let anything bad happen. Maharaj has promised that he who surrenders to His beloved saint that even if he were to suffer the most terrible fate then that fate will be transformed; as per Vachanamrut G I 70 a death sentence will be reduced to a thorn prick.
“Das na dushman Hari kedi nahi, jem karta hashe te sukh aj tashe.” (Swami ni Vato), the problem is that we do not truly believe it.
Krishna Bhagwan had promised Arjuna that, “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me; fear not I will protect you from every sin.” Indeed Maharaj requested a boon from His guru Ramanand Swami that He should feel the pain a million fold in each pore of His body rather than His devotee having to endure any suffering (Vach G I 70). Nevertheless we still see that hari bhakto suffer some misfortune, tribulation or ill health. Maharaj explains (Vach. Jetalpur 5) that this is because there is something lacking in their devotion to God. Invariably, what is lacking in us is the complete refuge in the manifest God, Pappaji Maharaj and His swaroopo.
Pappaji had said that there should be 100% surrender to God (i.e. surrender to that which is the ultimate reality and truth) and that there should not be even 1% less in this. Until there is 100% refuge we experience trials and tribulations. We find that in our behaviour there is some form of reservation, some form of holding back that stop us from completely throwing our whole lives onto Him. This may take the form of reliance on our own intelligence and methods, or a lack of faith.
We often rely on other people’s advice namely astrologers, Vastu Shastra etc, but we do not take refuge in Maharaj. As Pappaji once told an astrologist who wanted to read Pappaji’s fortune that what the astrologer may be saying may be totally true for the lay person, but He had attained the supreme (Yogi Bapa) whom can change everything upside down tomorrow! And this was Pappaji’s constant murti, that what ever happened was ordained by Yogi Maharaj and that what ever He did was for the best. Therefore Pappaji always remained carefree.
“Harek prasange prabu nej upaibutt karva tej sarvopari no aashro.” (In every incident to seek help from the Almighty God is the supreme refuge). If we can automatically turn to prayer and do dhoon then like Draupadi’s refuge in Krishna Bhagwan and Prahladji’s protection (Swami ni Vato), the best solutions always happen and miracles do occur. Gunatitanand Swami explained that as the eyelids protect the eyes and as the hands protect the throat, God is there to protect us. His meaning being that the eyelids do not have to think about protecting the eyes or the hands in protecting the throat and so in the same way God here to protect us.
When Shastriji Maharaj’s life was in danger, Gunatitanand Swami Himself had appeared saying that He had come to protect His devotee. If we have 100% absolute refuge in God then there is no delay in such protection, but if we have not such total reliance then Maharaj will prolong the incident as appropriate.
There once was a devotee who was suffering from an illness, which gradually got worse so much so that the devotee could barely stand-up from the pain. Moved to tears he instinctively prayed, “Maharaj, this body is yours to do as you wish, but I cannot stand the pain.” Instantly even without a seconds delay, the devotee’s pain lessened and with the appropriate treatment he was cured. Such is the power of refuge in God.
There was also another story of a new satsangi who was told by his guru to simply chant the Swaminarayan mantra. One day when the devotee was travelling on a bus with his employer, he sat chanting. The devotee normally sat by the window so that his employer did not have to sit in the sunlight, but on this occasion the devotee was sat on the inside. In a feeling of servitude He tried to persuade his employer to swap seats, but his employer refused. In a short while there was a road accident in which his employer was killed but the devotee was unscathed. The satsangi knew that if he had been sat in his usual place then he would have been killed. He realised that by remembering God simply by chanting His name that he was protected from this fate.
Even if something bad is meant to happen in the very next second, it will be averted; this is the God that we have attained and this is the reward of Sarvopari no Aashro. If we develop the divine vision that at every moment Pappaji Maharaj is the all-doer in our lives then we can stay in a samadhi whereby we remain in a euphoric and carefree state; we can then experience every second the great joy of complete refuge in the supreme God.