Swami Shreeji
Pappaji Maharaj Smruti Saurabh Utsav ni Jai
The brahm-niyantrit drastha-wala samaj
Introduction
According to Hindu theology, there are 5 eternal entities: Jiv[1], Ishwar[2], Maya[3], Brahm[4] and Parbrahm[5]. These entities, Shreeji Maharaj confirms as being eternel in His conversation with Muktanand Swami (Nilkanth Varni: An epic pilgrimage of a child-yogi, 1st Ed, Swaminarayan Aksharpith).
The significance of this is that Maya, which is the power of God by which He creates, sustains and destroys all the worlds and universes, is also the womb of all jiv. The inherent quality of Maya is the base nature composed of the 3 guna: sattvic, rajsic and tamas. The jiv lies dormant within that Maya, encompassed by these mayic elements, but it is through God’s sheer compassion that He ‘glances towards Maya’ and instigates the process of the material creation.
Purpose of creation
It is important to understand that creation is for the sole purpose of spiritual evolution of the jiv from mayicbase nature to total spiritual emancipation – this liberation is the realisation of oneself as spirit soul (self-realisation, to become brahmrup) and the realisation and union with the supreme reality and truth, which is known as parbrahm (Bhagwan Swaminarayan).
The mechanics of the universe is governed by the laws of physics and the spiritual journey of the atma is ruled by kal, karma, Maya and swabhav, which is administered by the devta (demi-gods). This is all done by the wish of Shreeji Maharaj.
· kal – Time, which can be auspicious and unfavourable such as famines, draughts, wars, Covid-19 etc. and includes the 4 ages[6] of enlightenment
· karma – Actions, good and bad, resulting in the jiv enjoying the fruits of those actions in the cycle of birth and death, and the generation of an individual’s fate
· Maya – Illusion that the material world is the only reality, believing the body to be one’s own self, desires and attachment to everything related to the physical body and world
Notwithstanding that, God is the Almighty and nothing can happen without His will or His sanction. He is the ultimate controller of everything and everyone. As Krishna Bhagwan explains in the Bhagavad Gita, “As the mighty air ever moving yet rests in ethereal space, so all of creation rests in Me.” (Bhagavad. Gita Ch 9 Text 6)
In other words, although it may seem that there is no divine plan or intervention, and although everyone has freedom to shape their own destinies, ultimately, in reality ‘not even a blade of grass moves but by His will’.
The process of purification
As life evolves from the most basic organisms, from amoebae to more sophisticated intelligent life forms, so does the soul evolve from the mayic base consciousness to enlightenment. In Hinduism, it is said that the soul transmigrates 8.4 million species before attaining a human body (Vachanamrut G I 21). Only in the human form can the soul achieve God realisation and liberation from Maya.
God’s grace
Whilst the jiv transmigrates through the cycle of life and death, it accumulates positive traits as well as base nature such as ego, lust, anger, covetness and develops various beliefs, views of right and wrong, likes and dislikes.
Throughout the ages, ascetics, sages and the ‘seers of truth’ have inspired mankind to develop advanced thinking by advocating that the material world is only temporary and full of misery, and that there is a higher reality, which is full of eternal bliss. We have been given holy text such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayan, Mahabharat and Bhagavad Gita, The New Testament, Quran and Vachanamrut to name a few. Each inspires mankind to live in a certain way, to better themselves and to realise the Supreme divine Lord.
By His grace, God himself descends on this earth in one form or another when dharma (righteousness) begins to wane, when people start to live godless and impure lives and when there is too much suffering, in doing so, He re-establishes righteous behaviour and re-instils the values and purpose in life, which is to realise oneself as atma and to become one with God.
Emancipation
When the previous incarnations of God descended on this earth, such as Shree Krishna and Rama, they did so for a very specific mission to re-establish dharma. These incarnations of God only manifested with the divine powers required for that time. In the process, Rama Bhagwan taught mankind how to live disciplined lives with principles, Krishna Bhagwan taught the concept of the self being the atma and to surrender to the personal God through bhakti-yog.
Those who recognised God in the manifest human form (pratyaksh) and surrendered themselves to Him completely and unreservedly, such as the likes of Hanumanji, Arjun, Udhavji and Radhaji attained divine abodes.
However, many did not recognise Rama and Krishna and did not take refuge in them. They simply practiced their bhakti as per their own beliefs, ego and understanding, and sometimes even believed the Lord to be their equals – bhakto were effectively left behind despite having attained God in person. Over millennia, barely only a handful of bhakta such as Jalaram Bapa, Miraba and Nirsinh Mehta and others have reached a higher spiritual level and oneness with the God.
Over time the deep-rooted religious beliefs, and faith in devta such as Mataji and Shankar Bhagwan instead of the supreme Lord, has resulted in superstitions, irreligion in the name of appeasing the gods, false traditions and religious dogma, which has served to bolster egos, fulfilment of material desires, including gaining power over people and embedded intrinsic nature (swabhav). Here, God sits in our atma only as a witness as the souls enjoys material pleasures (Bhagavad Gita – As it Is, Bhakti-Vedanta Book Trust, Plate 17 related to Ch2, Text 22.)
As such, the jiv has remained entwined in kal, karma and Maya and the cycle or birth, death and re-birth, BUT it is important to note that this is still part of the Lord’s masterplan because the jiv is still in the process of spiritual evolution and purification. However, a new age was about to dawn on us, which offers redemption to each and every living soul.
A new age – the brahm-niyantrit drastha wala samaj
This time, a new age has begun. The jiv having transmigrated through so many life forms and then to human form over billions of years, and through atheism and so many different religious belief systems, this time Sahajanand Swami Maharaj, Bhagwan Swaminarayan descended on this earth as the Supreme Lord (the cause of all other incarnations) with all of His divinity and all of His powers. He has done so not only to re-establish righteous conduct, but this time He descended along with the human manifestation of His highest divine abode, Mul Akshar Brahm (also known as Akshardham), the supreme pure abode of God. This He did to free us from our swabhav and dehbhav.
Shreeji Maharaj has made a sankalp, which is everlasting and that which will release all jiv from kal, karma, Maya and the constant cycle of life, death and re-birth. This sankalp is that He will forever be manifest on this earth through a Gunatit satpurush and grant salvation through them. Gunatit, also known as brahm, is the epitome of the highest spiritual consciousness, communion with God and in whom God Himself constantly dwells.
Whosoever surrenders to that living personal form of God (pratyaksh), for them kal, karma and Maya have no sway over Him, it is God who deals directly with the bhakta (Vachanamrut G I 37). This is the brahm niyantrit samaj.
So, whilst God is the Almighty and He is the supreme controller of everything and everyone, there is a difference because individuals who are compelled by kal, karma, Maya, their own prakruti, swabhav and their own endeavours, and Swaminarayan bhakto who are directly under the authority of Shreeji Maharaj and the sankalp of the Gunatit satpurush at all times.
Unlike the previous example where God acts only as a witness, here God and the satpurush are directly the all-doer in every jiv. They do everything for us and in us (Anoopam 7, Ch 22) for our fast track purification and realisation of the absolute truth. Here, such as devotee accepts the Gunatit satpurush as the pratyakshmanifestation of God and serves Him. This is what is known as the drahsta-wala bhakta.
This is why Shreeji Maharaj and the satpurush have stated that we should not judge and see faults in any drahsta-wala bhakta. This is because in actual fact when we find fault in any devotee, we are actually finding fault with Maharaj and the way in which He is working in that bhakta!
Our samaj is our true and eternal spiritual family and as such we should always keep kinship with them in the same way that we keep ties with our material relatives. We should be just as forgiving as we would be with our own family members, if not more. We should always treat a bhakta as an image of the Lord and then leave the rest to Him – Let Him work.
In comparison, a non-satsangi, even though they may have faith in God, they are still very much impelled by their own minds, motivations and desires, and are entangled in kal, karma and Maya – Maharaj allows this to happen as part of their spiritual evolution. In fact, Maharaj may still utilise a non-satsangi to take us spiritually forward, this is because we still live in the material world and this provides an opportunity to test the devotee’sfaith and conviction in Maharaj.
Even though that person may not be a drashta-wala, we as bhakta of Shreeji Maharaj should still show compassion and humility towards everyone, but in a way that does not compromise our religion, belief and sincerity to the satpurush. Whereas we are forgiving of our spiritual kin, believing that Maharaj is directly working in that bhakta and not forsaking their seva even if we are having difficulties with that bhakta, in a similar situation we may choose not to keep the company of a non-satsangi if anything untoward happens.
The key point here is to stay aloof of Maya, stay in Maharaj and not get entwined in non-satsangi lives despite fulling our duty, having friendships and associations with them. This is because if we gain more affinity for these mayic elements, then we will automatically fall away from our satsang. Shree Maharaj still holds the strings and will allow this to happen until we realise by ourselves that such mayic elements is full of miseries, and we come back into the fold.
This is not tantamount to seeing faults in a non-satsangi, but rather understanding that they are on a different path and that their time will come at some stage – we should simply practice our religion and let God do the rest.
Sambhand-yog
The question that arises is how does one escape the clutches of kal, karma, Maya, prakruti and swabhav, and become a drashta-wala bhakta?
When Shreeji Maharaj descended on this earth, not only did He do so to re-establish righteous conduct, but it was because in the evolutionary process of the jiv the time was right for this spiritual revolution – this time Maharaj promised that through His Gunatit satpurush the satsang would spread throughout the universe, not a single leaf would be left untouched.
On this basis, Maharaj promised that those who had His darshan would be redeemed. He then thought that how many people would have His darshan? So, He promised that whosoever has the darshan of His sadhusthat they will also be redeemed. Once again Maharaj thought that how many people would have the darshan of His sadhus? Consequently, this time He promised that whosoever has the darshan of any of His haribhaktawill attain redemption – this is sambhand-yog. This applies to every living being, but Maharaj will take each and every jiv forward at the appropriate pace irrespective if they accept the Swaminarayan faith or not.
So, as part of this brahm niyantrit samaj, we have attained God in human form and we have kinship with His divine liberated souls. As His drashta-wala devotees we simply need to do seva with that divine sentiment and remain forever humble and sincere – Pappaji Maharaj will do the rest.
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai
Guruhari Param Pujya Pappaji ni Jai
Pappaji Smruti Saurabh Utsav ni Jai