In the last chapter we discussed how to remain submerged in brahm; that is to constantly remain in Akshardham. Bapa has bestowed His grace upon us and has granted us this gift. We may wonder how has he done this ? The fact that He has allowed us His sambandh; His divine love for us and His presence in our lives is the most important factor. All we need to do now is to constantly remember Bapa, reminisce over His memories and that in itself is Akshardham. The gift of Bapa’s presence in our lives has cost us absolutely nothing; He compassionately bestowed it upon us gratis. He has redeemed us from jivbhav ; our innermost self – the ego.
Everyday Bapa would say:
“Today we have attained the ultimate redemption of the soul known as Atyantik Kalyan. We will not have to go through the process of re-incarnation again.”
What did he mean by this ? It means that nothing up to prakruti purush, that is nothing in this world will appeal to us, nothing will appear attractive, fascinating or tempting. The reason for this is that Bapa Himself is beyond prakruti-purush i.e. He is not from this world, He is from Akshardham. He is the almighty redeemer of our souls and we have accepted Him as the ultimate divine being. With His grace we have also accepted that His devotees are divine as per Vachnamrut G. II 14. Thus our soul has attained the status of brahm-swaroop and to free our soul from jivbhav, to destroy the ego, is in His hands. Bapa will cleanse our souls, He will purify our ego, all for nothing. All we now have to do is to remember Him and remain happy and contented in the knowledge that we have attained the ultimate – God.
It seems so simple yet why aren’t we able to do this ? The reason is that our vision is very limited. We can only see up to prakruti-purush i.e. within the bounds of our world. Our vision is limited by our own spiritual status. Thus what we see is only superficial, we see only the garments worn by the ‘soul’. We cannot see the soul itself.
Just as we discard our old worn out clothes, so the soul will discard the physical body, the indriya and antakaran. However, it will keep and carry forward its innermost self, its ego otherwise known as the karan déha. It is this karan déha that Bapa will dissolve. If it is not dissolved within one’s life-time, even as one takes the last breath, Bapa will free us from it. He will give the soul enough strength to remain submerged in Him, this in itself is sufficient to purify the soul and to free it from the clutches if one’s own ego. Thus the mere fact that we have attained the association of someone as great as Bapa, guarantees the redemption of our soul. It guarantees us a state of non- reincarnation.
The physical body bears no importance whatsoever. If one bears this in mind and endeavours to remain submerged in Him, then one would experience the peace, bliss and happiness of Akshardham from this moment.
Elements such as our race, caste, desires, intrinsic characteristics, nature, pride, jealously, others’ perception of us, our own physical body and our individual biases will often lead us away from the Lord.
The above mentioned negative influences will cause us to forget the Lord. Thus all we need to do is to constantly think positively ; ponder on the glory and greatness of the Lord ; remember him and remain happy and contented in the knowledge that we have attained the ultimate – God. Also, it is important to neglect all negative influences.
There are three main type of kusang – negative influences:
- External Negative Influences – these include scriptures which claim God to be nirakar i.e. non-existent. We should not read such scriptures.
- Negative Influences within the Satsang
- Irrespective of who they are, or on any pretext, if satsangis speak negatively of anyone which would lead you away from performing mahatmya-yukt séva; lead you to falter from your own convictions and religion, or induce you to adopt a narrow minded view towards other devotees, t hen you should avoid them at all cost. Even if anyone attempts to convince you by quoting from the scriptures, do not listen. You should never associate with those who do not sing the praises and the glory of God.
- Never listen to any negative talk regarding other saints. Do not allow such talk to continue.
- Negative Influences of the self : If we are able to avoid the external negative influences, then there is always the danger of being affected by our intrinsic negative influences. I.e. our senses, mind, intellect, emotive mind and ego.
- The mind will begin to think negative thoughts such as ‘I have been doing this sadhana for such a long time yet I seemed to have achieved nothing !! I do not appear to have gained anything.’
- When our guru guides us through our sadhana showing us our weaknesses in terms of maan, swad, lobh, kam i.e…. our pride, greed, lust, desires etc., we will tend to witness these same weaknesses in our guru and will take offence. Thus one should be aware and alert that our gurus are divine and free from such characteristics, they are pure and divine. Bapa has kindly ensured that we become closely attached to our gurus ; then he utilises them to show our us our weaknesses. If we remember that it is Bapa who inspires our gurus, it is via the gurus that we will become purified and freed from the negative influences of the self, then we would not take offence.
We should maintain our distance from the three types of kusang mentioned above.
When we are going through the process of purification, when our weaknesses are revealed to us, we will instantly recognise those same weaknesses in others, in our gurus etc. At that time, if we remains alert, do not take offence of others or of our guru but endeavours to remain submerged in Bapa, then we will be able to neglect the negative influences instantly. That is the power of Bapa !! When a fire breaks out, the flames are small, if one has a bucket of water ready to pour over the flames, the fire is instantly put out. If however one panics and wastes time running around etc. … then the fire will spread quickly and become uncontrollable.
Therefore it is very important to practice murti ni smruti i.e. practice remaining submerged in the Lord. Practice constantly praying in any way which suits you. Constant prayer will help you to fight off negative thoughts and negative influences. You will be able to turn to prayer instead of resorting to other means to solve problems. Your sadhana will be made easy and smooth.