We all have a conviction of God. The whole world with its multitude of religions, has a belief in the Almighty to whom they pray and dedicate their lives to. However, how much conviction is there in the manifest form of God?
We, the Akshar-Purushottam followers, have a belief in the Pratyaksh, that is to say the manifest form of God whose presence is here on Earth with us. But how much conviction do we have in such a swarup?
Do we truly have the conviction that the swarup is the living manifestation of God? “Pappaji, You are my Lord. I have the darshan of Maharaj Himself in person!” Do we have this revelation every day!?
Hence, how much faith do we have in that swarup that they are our true liberator? “Pappaji, You are my redeemer, my purifier and it is You who will take me to Akshardham.”
And how much refuge have we taken in the swarup? “Pappaji, You are my protector. I belong to You and to You alone, and to non-else. You must do everything for me. I am only Your instrument.”
If we are firm in all these aspects, then we can say that we have true swarup-nistha.
How is this evident in our daily lives? Pappaji Maharaj has given us an example: If the swarup tells us to take the road to the left and even if we know that road is full of potholes and difficulties, and that the road to the right is smooth and easy going, if we still take the road to the left just because the swarup has said, then this is swarup-nistha. This level of complete faith and trust, believing that whatever the swarup does is for the best, is swarup-nistha.
Keeping faith in Guruhari Pappaji even in times of difficulties in our lives and resorting to bhajan is a measure of the degree of our spiritual refuge and nistha in Pappaji Maharaj. In Vachanamrut Vartal 3, Bhagwan Swaminarayan describes the attributes of a devotee and likens this to different types of ‘fire’ in order to describe the different spiritual qualities:
Divo jeva – the fire of a small wick, which can be extinguished just by blowing on it. When faced even with the slightest of problems, such a bhakta becomes wracked with worry and becomes dejected, as if their whole world has collapsed. Instead of keeping faith in God and keeping spiritual composure, the bhakta resorts to any number of courses of action except taking shelter in God.
Mashal jeva – the flame from a torch, which cannot be put out by blowing on it, but can be extinguished by strong wind of a storm. Even though the bhakta is resolute in their devotion to God, praying, doing Jap and seva, when faced a major calamity in life such as a life-threatening illness or if their livelihood is threatened, then the bhakta’s faith vacillates questioning God as to why they have to undergo such trials and tribulations. They may even start to lack faith doubting whether God will save them from such a disaster. As such, even though the bhakta is a dedicated devotee, under these very difficult circumstances, their refuge in God wavers.
Vijli jeva – quite literally the fire of lightening that is not extinguished whilst in the moisture of the cloud. Pappaji says that even though there may be an initial reaction to the situation that is encountered, such a bhakta immediately falls back into the murti of God, and meditates only on God even though the circumstance may be extremely challenging, thereby their total refuge in God is not forsaken. Such devotees are like a swarup of God in their own right (Vach G III 26).
However, it is very easy to relate such qualities to material worldly problems. Even though such difficulties are challenging in themselves, Maharaj is here to protect us. As Gunatitanand Swami has explained in Swami ni Vato, “As the eyelids protect the eyes, the hands protect the throat and the mother protects her child… God is here to protect His devotees.” In other words, these things are instant and happen instinctively, there is no thought process, and as such Pappaji Maharaj is here to protect us without even a moment’s thought. So why should we worry about anything?
Our sadhana is to reach the highest spiritual level by believing that all bhakto are images of the Lord and by maintaining samp, suhridbhav ané ekta; Maharaj is working in them to purify them, but also to take us forward spiritually. He will concoct incidences, both inside and outside of satsang and will inspire fellow bhakto or circumstances that will highlight our own shortcomings, or to test how much we really have progressed spiritually.
As such, when these events are inspired by the Lord, we will behave in a way that will demonstrate our spiritual level as described above. Those who do not understand the fundamental principle of seeing and believing Pappaji Maharaj as the all-doer in our lives may become extremely hurt by the action of a fellow aspirant or incident to such an extent that may become totally despondent. They certainly will not see Maharaj in that person or event and may fall into abhav with that mukta or even God, and may even may feel like they want to leave the satsang.
Those who have reached the intermediate stage, may be very sincere to Guruhari performing bhakti and seva with samp, suhridbhav ané ekta, and living as per the tenets of our religion. However, when Pappaji Maharaj strikes at some weakness in us, be it our ego, swabhav, envy (hut, maan, irsha) or our own intense ambition even in satsang, then we fall into abhav. At that time, we may question why Pappaji is doing this, we may even question our position in satsang and whether everything that we regard in satsang is true! This can be a very turbulent time, but is part of the purification process.
For those who have reached the vijli jeva sant status, even when faced with severe tests in their sadhana, because such bhakta have supreme control over their internal faculties, they instantly fall back into murti. Spontaneously they see Pappaji Maharaj as the one who has inspired everything and what He is doing is all the best – nothing bad will happen. They accept that they are only the humble instrument of the Lord, and gladly accept any circumstance as a prasadi of the Lord. Such a bhakta is constantly in spiritual happiness maintaining absolute swarup-nistha – they are the true heirs of Swaminarayan Bhagwan.
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai
Guruharu Pappaji Maharaj ni Jai