Tamé kyan chho?
- Are you always conscious that you belong to a Gunatit Swaroop and live every moment as inspired by Him and only for his worship? Are your convictions, emotions and feelings motivated strictly for the devotion and worship of God and not of selfish reasons? Are they practised exactly as inspired by Him?
- Having served His devotees (sambandh-wala) in order to please Him, according to the first commandment of the ‘Sanjivani Mantra’
- Do you continue to remember those devotees by worrying about them or continue to think of them due to a sub-conscious attachment to them?
- Do you ponder on those devotees with feelings of malice and contempt?
If for whatever reasons you do ponder on those devotees, or continue to remember them by taking manushyabhavand indeed form strong opinions regarding them, opinions which surmise about their characteristics and behaviour patterns, this is known as nirgun-bhumika. You are still wandering in one of the following states: Gauvlok, Vaikunth, Shwétdeep, Badrikashram – even in Akshardham, such stations exist, they are known as nirgun-dham. Whether or not that devotee is still in that nirgun-dham is irrelevant, you definitely are! God will take care of the devotee, you should ensure that you do not ponder over the devotee regardless of any attachment or contempt you may feel for them. If after serving a devotee, you find yourself drawn into contemplation as mentioned above and find it difficult to revert back to deep meditation of God, then consider that Maharaj has utilised that devotee and has inspired him to reveal your weakness. Thus begin to pray until you become engrossed in Maharaj and experience happiness and tranquillity and be prepared for any other service the Lord may present to you.
- If after completing the service you cannot easily re-establish deep meditation of the Lord, instead you find yourself pondering over the elegance, charm, beauty and virtues or the faults, weaknesses and vices of one whom you have served, then there still remains some form of attachment within you.
- This indicates a vasna within you. Vasna is a desire or attachment to something other than God.
- You are not even aware of this fault or weakness. In fact you are deluded that you are doing that devotee a great service by giving them spiritual guidance and are using this as an excuse to deeply ponder on them with affection and attachment. This is a weakness – it is a vice.
What you should really do, is to perform this service to the best of your ability. Then leave the rest to God. You should resume meditation of the Lord and pray until you are certain that the activities have not influenced you or made an impression upon you.
Be sure that even without your service, nothing will be ruined. Accept that Maharaj is the supreme controller of everyone’s fate. Maharaj is using you as an instrument to give you a séva which ultimately exposes your weaknesses and leads you to introspect. It is not as though without your help things will be impaired. Maharaj is so great and has infinite ways and means of doing whatever he wishes. Thus remain ever humble and concentrate on your own sadhana. Form a natural habit of remaining sub-merged in the divine Lord and perform whatever service He inspires. Maintain this habit until you can easily see and accept the ‘leela’ – i.e. that Maharaj is the supreme controller of everything and everyone.
Once you have established an affinity with a Vijli jéva Sant (i.e. – a Gunatit Swaroop who is in constant communion with God) – there is no requirement to practice any disciplines for the attainment of God. Do not attempt to practice such disciplines and do not compare your sadhana with others. Do exactly as your guruinstructs without making any calculations or analysis. Remain light and happy. As and when necessary your guruwill use their divine power and prayers (sankalp shakti) to ensure that you make progress in your sadhana. Remain carefree and live in harmony and unity.