Nov. 10, 2012. Aur, Nawa Shahar. After guiding the villagers of Dhamai, Maharaj Ji headed to next village Aur where another  satsang was organized in the evening. Maharaj Ji continued the discussion from Dhamai and reminded people of their ultimate abode that is accessible inside the physical body itself.

As a tree has its roots buried under earth, similarly tree of our life or the life force is rooted inside the body, in the tenth door. A child is well connected to this center, though unknowingly and thus grows very fast in body as well as in mind. However, this connection gradually weakens with growing age due to worldly attraction and outward focus. Divine mother still ignores our ignorance and calls us inside every night for revitalization so that we can recognize our roots one day. Just imagine how kind is the divine that even without making any conscious efforts we are granted with divine grace consistently. Nevertheless, we persist in worldly race and drift away from this inner connection even in sleep many times, which drains us of energy causing diseases, depression and finally death.

It is high time we understood that the source of energy is inside and therefore we cannot be happy or healthy without going in whether in sleep or in meditation. It is ironic to note that so many people cannot keep their eyes closed for more than a few minutes. We have cluttered the inner path so badly that we cannot even sleep properly save meditation. We never realize that our consciousness is rooted inside the body and all our external activities are based on this. A tree may grow branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits only as long roots are firmly fixed in the ground. Similarly, our life force can exist and expand only as long we are connected inside. Therefore, it is our prime duty to make a journey within. Most importantly, without this inward focus we cannot achieve happiness even in outside world.

The biggest obstacle to this inner journey is that we don’t live in our body, the divine temple. We live in houses, shops, fields, factories, motorcars, money, material, and even in the bodies of others we are attached with but not in our own body. All our activities, our thoughts, our desires are attached with these petty worldly affairs at the cost of vital connection with life-force inside. Isn’t it mere our ignorance that we crave to live in buildings made of dead material discarding this marvelous dwelling made by God? We are accumulating worldly objects and facilities without any regard for health, happiness or inner peace. We hardly put any efforts to build up inner connection and even if we do, it is based on ego that only widens the gap with our divine self. Not only this, we seem to have totally forgotten our divine nature as we identify ourselves with these lifeless temporary objects. We have gone to such extreme that we don’t even say my shop, my field, or my car, we rather claim that it’s me in form of all this. There is an old episode in this regard, when this being (Maharaj Ji addressing to self) had come to Malke village; a villager was informing me about the village. He raised his finger in one direction and said, from here until that banyan tree on 10 acres, it is Ram Singh and then it is me till next 12 acres. It took me a while to grasp that he was naming persons in place of their possessions, but it is a norm in our society now.

Another sign of this materialistic thinking is the fact that whenever this being goes anywhere, people invite to their houses made of lifeless bricks and stones in preference to their heart where the divine lives. Instead of asking for lighting up a lamp of divine wisdom, divine love, divine name (guru-mantra) inside, they ask for worldly gains which is bound to perish one day. They don’t even ask for physical and mental well-being even though they may be having pitiable health condition. Obviously, the reason is that they don’t live in their bodies but in money and matter.

Remember, this whole discussion is not meant to condemn the role of money or matter or the physical world. The idea is not to inspire you towards abandonment of your house and business but to describe the real purpose of it. After all, this world is also made by God. The purpose of this whole creation is to provide us with means and ways to enter within where lies the ultimate power, ultimate pleasure and ultimate peace. Our bodies would not survive for long without shelter, food and comfort hence we must build houses, run business and work hard to acquire comforts. Nonetheless, we should stay alert not to become slave of all these instead taking help of these we must pursue the real purpose of life. And the purpose is to go inside the body through all the nine orifices or doors so that the tenth door may open and lead us to God. The crux of the matter is – If we forget God and the importance of getting to him, whatever we do in the world is not just futile but a severe sin. Conversely, if we truthfully pursue the inner journey, all our endeavors become service to God. The purpose of worldly relations and possessions, family and business is to bring comfort and safety to the body and mind, and make the inner journey trouble-free. Thus, we should prioritize them accordingly.

It is a general notion that God is being remembered more in present times – 24hrs. religious channels, so many young saints, growing number of religious societies and edifices, everyday religious events, increase in religious tourism, and similar happenings are a clear sign of it. However, the pathetic state of humanity is also quite evident. The reason is simple – even in the name of religiosity, we are expanding mostly money and matter outside rather than the inner awareness. Our focus is upon building huge ashrams, satsang halls, temples with modern comforts to have global reach and attract more people there. But is there any schedule or even intention of reaching inside and developing our divine nature?

We do satsang, read scriptures, perform rituals, deliver lectures but do we really follow it all? We pursue our perverted mind and its desires not the truth, not the ultimate goal. Have you ever thought why Arjuna was enlightened by listening to Bhagwat Geeta just once, while we repeat it so many times to no avail? In fact, we often become drowsy by reading it. A little discomfort or disturbance in form of work stress or some household work or some family dispute or knee-pain or heat/cold or a phone call or even laziness is enough for us to avert from spirituality. But Arjun opted for it in severest of the condition and admitting all his weaknesses surrendered to Lord Krishna. This justifies his instant enlightenment.

Arjuna was in a situation where a deadly battle was about to start involving thousands of people but he was so badly depressed that he couldn’t even stand on his feet; he couldn’t make himself fight for truth blinded by attachment; he was willing to give up all the promises and pledges and even self-respect fearing the aftereffect of war; he had suffered so much and lost everything; and in such a situation he submits to Lord Krishna saying, “O my lord! I’m troubled and confused due to my ignorance and thus I take your refuge. You only know what is good for me. I will follow your command.” And what do we do in contrast to Arjuna? On slightest hint of any problem first thing we do is leave our sadhana and run after the world; a slight inkling of disease makes us run from one doctor to other; a small dispute may be enough for us to drag even our family to courts; a little loss may cause us not only blame others but curse our destiny and even God. Then, how would this Geeta enter inside us?

Here, let me advise you not to belittle yourself considering yourself a sinner or a weakling. It’s not your present qualities but the faithful surrender to an able master (Guru), which will make the difference. The main thing is your honest spiritual aspiration. If you have that then it’s very easy to start with. Learn to be satisfied by the rewards your “sincere” efforts may bring and carry no grudges against anyone. Take personal responsibility of your failures and instead of being disheartened, put more efforts. Then, reading Geeta may help you on your inner journey as this is the fundamental teaching of Geeta ‘यथा लाभ सन्‍तोष:’.

In your day-to-day life – If you happen to incur a loss, do not blame or curse others. If you don’t get adequate rewards despite sincere efforts, consider it your fate. If you are cheated or defeated, instead of seeking revenge forgive and seek more strength for yourself. If your body is not in good shape, instead of abandoning your practice take some medicine or aid.

A devotee came in afternoon and started talking about so many things. After half hour when I asked him about naam-jap, he replied that he is not doing it due to knee pain. When I asked him if he was doing other work and watching TV, he innocently answered that the pain was troubling only in meditation. It’s true, we are so intensely caught up with the world that we don’t realize pain and problems but when we try to go inside, pain surfaces. When pain or disease restricts our outward activity, shouldn’t we make use of that opportunity in going inside? In fact, it is easy to go inside when pain is already pulling our mind inwards provided we want so. If we could turn our mind inwards in those moments, the pain and problem may also vanish. Body is the door to divine kingdom, by entering inside we may experience divinity. Probably, the biggest problem here is that we can’t see anything inside and that is why we fear going in. We cannot perceive God with our senses like people and possessions and that is why we are unable to love God. We instead love the world and even in our prayers, we ask for more and better of it. However, one day we will have to leave these worldly possessions save our mind and its possessions in form of divine love and gratification or anguish and desires.

Finally, let me give you certain points to carry home –

  • Why to spoil our health for things we have to leave one day?
  • Why to ruin our relations for petty things that don’t go with us?
  • Why to ignore our real home (God) where we must go sooner or later?
  • Why not befriend our body and gain access to ultimate home consciously?