We all want to devote our lives to God, but often we struggle to do so. Param Pujya Pappaji has explained in Pratam ni Pathik ni the brahm sutra:
“There is greater spiritual power in chanting His name than in His physical body, but even greater power lies in living by His commands”
In fact we have to keep all three aspects in our sadhana, which will ultimately lead us to perfection.
Remembering His physical form
Shreeji Maharaj explained in great detail that we have to practice both Samkhya and Yoga. Samkhya is seeing the material world as full of miseries and temporary, and to believe ourselves to be separate from these. Yoga quite literally means union with God, or Upsam.
Shree Gunatitanand Swami had very simply explained that if we keep the Gunatit Satpurush in our lives then we will achieve both Samkhya and Yoga automatically. We all have experienced that as we remember Guruhari, do Smruti, remember festivals and contemplate the divinity of P.P. Pappaji then gradually we have lost interest in the material world. That is to say that even though we live in the world, partake in material activities as we must to survive, these things do not play the most important part in our lives.
Quite often in society we are obsessed with status and materialist achievements. If someone has a BMW then we want one as well, if someone has a four bedroom house with en suite then we want a five bedroom house with two en suites, and so on. If Maharaj gives us these to use then we should use them but we should offer these in return back to God and accept that all this actually belongs to Him.
As we meditate on the brahm swaroop we feel a oneness with Him and we start to gain the attributes of brahm as well. Our actions become inspired by Guruhari and Maharaj and not by own motives. Then gradually we will achieve the highest spiritual status.
Chanting His name
The Swaminarayan mantra is the mahamantra with no equal as God himself has given us this mantra. To chant this mantra gives power to prayer like the point of an arrow, and to chant this mantra is to invoke the divine power of brahm and parabrahm. But Maharaj Himself as stated that along with chanting the name of God, we must also chant the form of our true selves. That is to say, we must consider ourselves as swami, or brahm.
However, after thousands of years of births and deaths, we have accumulated many faults that stop us from acting as atma and with oneness with God. We therefore meditate upon Guruhari as our Swami and contemplate that you are Swami and within you is Narayan. Ultimately by chanting this mantra we gain the attributes of Guruhari, become brahm ourselves and then we will reach the most ultimate status of, I am Swami and I am one with Narayan. In this manner eventually we will always be able to remain in communion with the almighty God.
Living by His commands
Maharaj has guided us on how to live in Vachnamrut and Shiksapatri. But also Gunatit and the various Satpurushes since Maharaj’s time have also given us scriptures to guide us on how to live. In particular for modern times we have Panchamrut, Gunatit Gnan nu Navnit, Sanjivan Mantra, Anoopam 5,6,7,8 and others.
We don’t have to remember all the brahm sutras. But, if we keep and contemplate those that suite our understanding and nature, and practice them faithfully and sincerely then Maharaj and Guruhari will be pleased with us and we will achieve the highest goal. Panchamrut itself contains the essence of perhaps three of the most powerful commands:
- Mediate His name constantly – as we do more and more jap or dhoon we find that in our daily activities and even when we are free we do dhoon in the back of minds. Slowly but surely we start to remain in God all the time such that our mind becomes a mandir.
- Live this moment in spiritual equilibrium and pray for His strength and guidance to follow it – P.P. Pappaji says that we should become like children and trust entirely in God. In every incident if we act as stated in Pearls of Wisdom ‘throw all the burden on to Him … rest assured the problem will solved in the best possible way’ then we can maintain the spiritual equilibrium and be carefree. We can easily say to ourselves that Pappaji has brought this incident and he will bring the best solution. We will achieve a child-father relationship and we will depend upon Him always.
- Keep nirdosh buddhi in every body as they are controlled by God – this is to believe that Maharaj has chosen all haribhakta for kalyan and that as He is working in us to redeem us, He is also working in all haribhakta; therefore they are all divine and innocent. We can then support Maharaj and Guruhari in their mission, such that they will be pleased with us. At most we can pray for ourselves if our ego does not allow us to accept someone’s behaviour or pray to bring the best solution as discussed above if circumstances are causing problems for us. That way we keep nirdosh buddhi all the time.
If we practice these three steps as discussed in this article with sincerity and faith then Maharaj will start to work in us and he will give us supreme peace and joy. We will achieve kalyan quickly and simply, and we will attain Akshardham.
Author: S Gandhi
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai.