Anandma rahiyé éj janiya
If we serve our guru sincerely, living every moment according to their commands (agna / vachan), then we would attain the virtues of a Gunatit Swaroop. Furthermore, if we attain such virtues we will become immune to the forces of maya. The forces of maya cannot influence the Gunatit Swaroopo who are in permanent communion with God, in fact, such swaroopo can render it nirgun, i.e. can cause the maya to relinquish its qualities.
You should analyse yourself to ascertain whether or not you we have attained the virtues of the Gunatit Swaroop. You should not worry about what others proclaim. For example, some people may proclaim that you have not attained such virtues, you should not argue, simply agree. At the end of the day, only you can experience the peace and bliss as a result of attaining these virtues. On the other hand, others may proclaim that you have attained the virtues and appear to be experiencing happiness and bliss. At this time, you may be experiencing complete and utter distress and unhappiness but since these feelings are ‘invisible’ to others only you will know the truth. Thus, what others say or think is irrelevant – the consequences of attaining such virtues can only be experienced personally.
How can we ascertain if we have attained such virtues? The answer is agna (command) and upasana (worship).
Agna – What is the Lord’s command? Maharaj has stated that one should consider oneself brahmroop and worship the Lord who is Par-brahm. To become brahmroop and surrender ourselves whole-heartedly to Par–brahm is the ultimate goal. We normally think of ourselves as the ‘wife’, ‘mother’ ‘daughter’ etc. This means we view ourselves as a ‘woman’. This automatically leads us to utilising the fundamental characteristics of jealousy, pride, stubbornness which are predominant in women. Thus we should think of ourselves at the atma – the soul. We should believe the following:
“I am atma” ….. “I am Akshar” ….. “I am brahm”.
We have an attachment with our physical body thus we tend to think that we are either a man or a woman. We do not think in spiritual terms. If we did, we would think of ourselves as atma – we are all souls.
In reality when we die, no matter how wealthy or famous, no matter how popular or loved we are, our body will be cremated! The atma resides in our physical body, when the atma leaves the body, it marks the end of our life as we know it.
What is the atma? How will we recognise it? The Gunatit Swaroop whom we have recognised and accepted as the one who will ultimately redeem our soul – that swaroop is our atma. He is constantly submerged in Gunatit-bhav. He has attained an equivalence with the Par-brahm and is in constant communion with God. The Gunatit Swaroop is the atma, and Par-matma (God) dwells within the atma. We are fortunate enough to have the association of not just one, but many such Gunatit Swaroopo. We have begun to live every moment in order to please such swaroopo, we abide by their commands. They constantly enjoy a state of happiness so why shouldn’t we also enjoy the same happiness and bliss as them? We have accepted the swaroop as our atma. All that remains is to maintain this consciousness. Elements such as our physical body, our mind, our ego, etc. cause us to take offence or experience unhappiness. We should not heed these elements.
How do we know that we have reached the end of our sadhana? Our déhabhav causes us to take offence and therefore experience emotional disturbances, distress and unhappiness. Our consciousness is based on the fundamental characteristics known as satvagun, rajogun and tamogun. We may remain conscious of our gender, i.e. that we are a man or a woman. All these elements are temporary – at the most, we may live for 100 years. Fifty years ago we did not exist and fifty years hence we may not even be here, then why do we waste time worrying about them. However, the atmawhich resides in the physical body is the true entity – “I am that atma”.
The reason we experience any misery and sadness is because we maintain a one-ness with our physical self (as opposed to a one-ness with the atma). For example, we may become distressed when someone loses or destroys our precious belongings, or when someone insults or scorns us, or even if someone neglects or avoids us. Under all such circumstances, we will become upset and unhappy. We should remain submerged in gunatit-bhav, we should endeavour to regain our state of tranquillity and happiness within five minutes. If we can achieve this, then we have reached the end of our sadhana as per Vachnamrut G. III. 26 – Vijli jéva sant.
How can we achieve this in just five minutes? The only way is to begin practising from this moment. Constantly practice remaining in God according to your own ang (characteristics) and performing japyagna. Even if we are influenced by our negative traits which cause us to go off the track, the constant practice of japyagna etc., will alert us and our happiness will be restored.
As stated in Vachnamrut G.III. 11, if we maintain a similar spiritual understanding as that maintained by Sitaji then we will accomplish all the principles mentioned in all the Vachnamruts. The main concept of Sitaji’s spiritual understanding was to happily endure whatever circumstances she encountered. In particular, not simply to endure but also to completely forget that one has endured.
If one endures, and constantly remains aware of the fact that one is enduring then one will feel miserable and depressed. Thus if someone insults us, we should endure the insult, then instantly forget that we have been insulted. If we dwell on the fact that we have been insulted, we will keep asking ourselves why have we been insulted? What did we do to deserve this? etc. and for as long as we dwell on it, we will be unhappy. Hence, we should take such incidents lightly and adopt an easy-going attitude. Let bygones be bygones.
If we continually practice this, we will see that within five minutes we will regain our composure. Sometimes it may take fifteen minutes, sometimes ten minutes, gradually after practising for a month, the time taken will decrease and it will take less than five minutes.
Finally, we will naturally be able to remain calm and composed at all times. During our sadhana, we may find it difficult, but if we persist and remain alert, we will surely achieve it.
What will we finally achieve? We will achieve what Yogiji Maharaj had attained. He had attained an identification with Par-brahm and was constantly in communion with God.
Although Yogiji Maharaj suffered from various illnesses, He always remained happy and cheerful. The illnesses never affected his spiritual equilibrium, his inner peace, bliss and happiness never diminished. He controlled his own illness, and just as a miser uses his money, whenever the need arose, Yogiji Maharaj would utilise his illness to encourage his devotees to pray. He controlled his illnesses and utilised them with full awareness and consciousness.
We all want to become happy and enjoy the peace and happiness of Akshardham. This is also what the swaroopo desire. Then why should we remain sad and miserable? What should we do?
One should never be influenced by one’s negative traits (dévta). Under such circumstances, one should instantly turn to japyagna and endeavour to regain our state of tranquillity and happiness within five minutes. The important fact is that we should have a clear understanding of what we are trying to achieve.
Our goal is to regain our composure within five minutes, if we understand and accept this, then we can begin to work towards achieving it.
Thus we should focus on the following bhajan as part of our sadhana:
“Prasang avé janjo…. é rajipa ni vat…..”
Sometimes when we make mistakes or come under the influence of our negative characteristics (dévta) we may become distressed and adopt a pessimistic view of our selves and our sadhana. We may begin to think the following: “I am a sinner, I have faltered. I will not be able to continue this sadhana.”
However, this is only a phase in our sadhana, and we should not become perplexed. Also, the sadhana will be unique to each person. Each one will be trying to overcome different traits. Sometimes, when sadhaks listen to discourses, they often get confused as the emphasis may be placed on an element which they do not possess. For example, someone may state that unless we are able to perform séva with mahatmya we will not achieve redemption. If a certain sadhak’sweakness is that he cannot perform séva with mahatmya, then he will become disheartened and may develop an inferiority complex. We should all remember that redemption of the soul is not dependent on any specific factor, it will differ for each individual.
Once the santo who lived with Yogiji Maharaj gathered together in the balcony at Karamsad Temple. They were all experiencing difficulties in their sadhana and each one had developed a pessimistic attitude. They were participating in negative thoughts and discourses amongst themselves, stating that they could no longer continue with the sadhana, they had lost confidence in themselves and felt extremely inadequate. Yogiji Maharaj came looking for them, immediately realising the situation, He said:
“We have attained the association of Shashtriji Maharaj. He is the supreme incarnation of God. I have selected you all and I will ensure that you attain the spiritual status mentioned in Vachnamrut G. I. 27. Have faith and do not indulge in negative thoughts.”
Thus we should all focus on the fact that Yogiji Maharaj will grant us the strength to complete our sadhana. We should not despair but march on with courage and zeal.
“Prasang né java dé smruti ni sathé …..”
Endeavour to overcome difficulties and adverse circumstances by doing smruti. What is smruti? It is the consciousness that we belong to a Gunatit Swaroop; that we can only behave in a certain way.
“Valamji né janiné jivtar jiviyé…….”
The Gunatit Swaroop asks only one thing of us. He asks that we remain ever happy and cheerful. He will do the rest. He will grant us the strength to endure, the strength to serve with mahatmya, the strength to worship with love and devotion and He will give us the required spiritual knowledge to complete our sadhana. Whenever we fail to remain happy and cheerful, we have indeed failed to recognise the true power of the Gunatit Swaroop, i.e. that He is omniscient. Thus, practising this principle will enable us to recognise and understand the true power of a Gunatit Swaroop.