Nirdosh-buddhi may be defined as the acceptance that everything and everyone is inspired by God, thus they are divine and innocent. Literally nirdosh means innocent. To uphold nirdosh-buddhi is to accept with your mind, soul and intellectual mind (buddhi) that whatever happens is inspired by God.
To practice nirdosh-buddhi is the ultimate service of the Lord.
Once during a sabha in Kapodwadi Bombay, Yogiji Maharaj was giving a sermon on the Vachnamrut Kariyani 9. Within this Vachnamrut Maharaj has stated that “to live every moment according to the wishes of whom one loves dearly is the true characteristic of Love”
The gopis loved Lord Shri Krishna dearly and when the Lord was leaving, they could not bear to part from Him and were about to follow him. However, when they looked at Him, they sensed his disapproval and immediately turned back. When Bapa was explaining this, we asked Bapa what he approved of, and what he wanted his devotees to do.
Bapa simply said : “Nirdosh-buddhi”.
Nirdosh-buddhi is the absolute acceptance of the Swami-ni-Vato Chapter 1, Discourse 1. In this particular discourse Gunatitanand Swami has spoken of the mahatmya of Lord Swaminarayan – Shreeji Maharaj.
“Aj to Maharaj potanu Akshardham, parshad ané samagra Aishwarya lainé padharya chhé – té éva né évaj chhé… né déha mukiné jéné pamva chhé té aaj déha chhataj maliya chhé. kayi baki nathi.”
Basically the above means that the Shreeji Maharaj we see before our eyes is the same Shreeji Maharaj who lives in Akshardham. He has bestowed his grace upon us by descending upon the earth; bringing with him his saints and devotees. They are all from Akshardham. Thus whatever we would have expected to have attained in the after-life, we have attained here and now. We do not have to wait to die before going to heaven – Akshardham. Maharaj has brought the Akshardham to Earth with him and we are all presently in Akshardham. We have nothing more to attain. That is the great value of what we have.
To apply the above mentioned mahatmya to Yogiji Maharaj and his devotees is nirdosh-buddhi. To continually speak and hear the mahatmya of God and his saints and participate in nothing else is known as vairagya i.e. detachment from the world and all that it offers. One should never participate in amahima i.e. negative, malicious talk or gossip. To discipline oneself to accept the mahima of the Lord, his saints and his disciples and to have deep respect for them at all times is known as Sakshatkar. If one practices this then one would immediately experience the happiness of Akshardham.
Yogiji Maharaj used to emphasise that the principle mentioned above is very similar to the principles mentioned in Vachnamrut G. III. 7. i.e. To accept the Lord, his saints and his devotees as one’s true relations. Everyone else in this world (up to prakruti-purush) including one’s relatives, one’s own conscious and sub-conscious mind should be rejected. Only support God and his devotees. Whatever hinders you from constantly maintaining thoughts of mahatmya, be it a person, your own nature etc. should be neglected. You must continue to sing the praise of God and his devotees.
In the commandments which Bapa wrote, now known as Sunrut, he stated that we should endeavour to practice and maintain nirdosh-budhhi and believe that each satsangi is an image of Maharaj.
According to the principles of Swami-ni Vato Chapter 4 – Discourse 140, we should believe the Lord to be omniscient, omnipresent etc. and thus should not participate in gossip as it would not please the Lord. Pleasing the Lord would mean that we would be blessed with happiness and peace. We should endeavour to keep this principle at the fore-fronts of our mind. If ever we were to take offence of a devotee, we should ask ourselves :
“Isn’t Bapa here? Isn’t he watching me? Bapa is omnipresent”
Thus one should immediately pray with humility and ask Bapa for forgiveness. Then Bapa would be pleased, he would see and thus know that we are genuinely trying to please him. We are truly trying to practice the principles taught to us by Bapa. We would secure Bapa’s trust and he will bless us.
Thus even when our mind and heart does not want to accept others to be divine and innocent, we should always pray to God for forgiveness and strength to truly believe that they are. Now why waste time pondering on others’ faults? If we concentrate on ensuring that our mind is constantly in a state of mahatmya and does not fall into amahima, then Bapa’s blessing are upon us. One does not have to literally speak to a pratyaksh swaroop to ask for strength and blessings, if one endeavours to live each moment to please Him, then He will grant the required strength.
He who is continually and naturally able to speak and hear nothing but mahatmya is a divine mukta. When one can never under any circumstances whatsoever participate in amahima or negative talk, then one has attained the state described in Vachnamrut G. I. 24. Thus, one should constantly remember Bapa. Accepting Him to be innocent, divine and all-knowing will ultimately make us brahmroop.
A vijli jéva sant is one who will conceal his own virtues in front of a devotee who understands even less than him. No matter what type of person that devotee is, the vijli jéva sant will remain humble towards him and will consider himself insignificant.