17-18 Jan, Maloya, Chandigarh: From Jatana, Shri Maharaj Ji moved to Chandigarh and stayed at the Nada Jagran Kendra for two days. On both the evenings satsanga was held. The main teachings inherent in the discourses are shared below. :
Positive Attitudes in Daily Living
For believers it is not difficult to understand and appreciate that whatever we are seeing around us – our possessions etc. will not accompany us when we die. Nonetheless, we do take something with us, though we do not see it directly. Other way round, let us ask ourselves with what do we come into this world – why is it that some people are born rich, others poor, some born geniuses, others fools, some are born in a very conducive environment for spiritual growth, others not so! It is to be appreciated that whatever one takes with oneself from here during death, it is the same with which one is reborn.
Now, it is only obvious that our wealth, the money that we have earned does not accompany us to the hereafter; however, the way in which we utilize our money, the attitudes developed in the course of earning our dailies, it is they that go with us. Now, these attitudes with which we work, these samskaras are not that anyone else can see. Sometimes we ourselves are unable to see them. If we work, earn and spend in a selfish way, it is the same selfishness that accompanies us to our next birth, and complementary is the external environment which we find ourselves in. We may do great charitable works, but if we do them for satisfying our egos, to get praise and fame in the world, we are still acting selfish. An egotistical man’s sphere of life and thought is extremely limited – like the toad in a pond. The selfish mind, the fearful mind that we accompany with us because of our selfish actions creates similar circumstances for us hereafter.
Why don’t we understand that the people on whom we try to impose our will, will not go with us. However, this tendency of imposing our wishes upon others will surely accompany us and as a result, the next birth would be such a one that none will remain close to us because of our inherent dominating nature.
What about those who get angry? In the next birth too they would cry this tendency of anger and revenge and as a result their bodies would be diseased. Some people are born diseased from their very birth. We all naively believe that it is the result of the actions done in the previous lives. But still the science needs to be understood. Samskaras dictate the creation of the body. So a predominance of negative traits within oneself, will hinder the growth of a totally healthy body. Today, cancer has spread like we had never heard before. Why is that? Cancer is a deadly disease and its roots are really deep in the mind. We suppress something within us, do not allow that to come out, and the this split between the inner and the outer manifests as cancer.
Therefore, let us be aware. Let us strive to inculcate positive virtues in our minds- something that will go with us, something which is of a much more permanent value than the material possessions, that only last a small time. Whatever we have got today with us is the result of our earlier karmas. We ought to utilize that positively, which means that whatever we have got, belongs to all and therefore we must share it with all.
So, we clearly see that since none else can really see us – the real part of us that accompanies us in death, which is of a more permanent value – therefore, do not judge yourself from the eyes of others. See yourself from your own eyes. Often it happens that when someone praises us, we like that person, and when someone criticizes us, we also become negatively opined about him. It may be, that what others say is right, but a liberating attitude is one that seeks to improve oneself still further if someone praises us and improve the negativity for which we have been criticized.
Furthermore, there is no need to judge others, for we simply can’t. If someone comes into our fold, we should truly try to give him positive help, and simultaneously go on improving ourselves.
An important practice to rise above selfishness is to work and serve where we would not get something in return- outside the confines of seeking fame, looking after our own family. Work there through your body, mind, and whatever material resources you have. ‘Daan’ implies to expand our consciousness. When we expand ourselves, can we connect to the expansive Lord. Keep on doing seva though you may be praised or criticized. It is this expanded consciousness that we develop in this way which will go with us. It is time to learn our lessons now, for if we don’t we would be forced to learn it anyhow, going though the cycles of happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain etc.
Do not remain like the frog in the well. Get outside the limits of your family a little bit. Expand yourself.
More Insights on the Way to Spiritual Evolution (From the discourse on 18th Jan.)
The maha-mrityunjaya mantra prays to the Lord to lead us from death to immortality. Let us ask which is the death that we seek freedom from? Many people can be heard praying for grace so that they are freed from the cycle of birth and death. Why? They actually want to be freed of sorrow and misery. People are afraid of suffering, their minds recoil. They can’t bear it. But along with this is should be noted that without undergoing suffering, without digesting the blows of life, one cannot become fit to receive the grand, immutable bliss.
We usually reach back, when somebody criticizes us. But if we learn not to react back thus, and instead use seemingly harsh words as a means to purify ourselves, if we can accept the blows of life cheerfully then we also become fit to receive bliss and we go on rising above the clutches of our own minds which binds us to misery. Accepting and digesting the misery that comes our way is like swallowing a bitter pill. Many among us make faces, the tongues do not accept the bitterness, our whole being contracts against the idea of swallowing anything bitter. However, if we allow the vibrations of bitterness to enter deep within, if we do not impede their path, then these bitter things will become means of great purification; the harsh words with which we have been greeted, if we allow them to go within, will crush and dust our ego – which is what purification is all about. But all this, only if we learn to not react back, and accept the harsh vibrations with same willingness as we accept the comfy, the sweet and the praise.
This ego is what creates the web of death called mrityujaala. We get separated from the Lord – our inmost being because of ahama i.e. taking oneself to be this body. Then we associate our names with our identity, and our family becomes our own and all others are different to us. In this way we further entangle ourselves. We do not mean loving your family is wrong, only the raga is wrong. With raga the mind and prana are forced to get active outside, which severs contact with the inner source of vitality and contentment. The disconnected being is then a easy prey of disease, decay and death.
About diseases, it should be understood that they are caused by the traits that we carry in the mind. Medicines can at best purify the physical body, but the real cause of maladies – the vices in the mind- remain untreated. As a result the diseases keep coming and going, one disease becomes the seed for another one and medicines become our co-travelers in this journey of life. This is all because the real cause of the disease has been left untreated.
So the starting point is to accept all misery and pain that comes our way, as our own doing, the fruit that we are reaping today for our own karma from the past. Accept all of it cheerfully and go on dong positive actions for the future. Along with this the practice of this belief – I am the part of the Lord, who resides within me in all his splendor.
It happens often that many claim that they have arrived. But this path is such, that the one who says he has arrived, has in reality not even begun. The Lord is infinite. When one catches the real glimpse, he can only wonder at the grandness, the infinity of this path. The more one walks within the more he realizes that more and ever more is still to be walked. But with every step the bliss of the Infinite also sets fire to one’s being.
Thus, believe yourself to be the part of the Lord, and cheerfully accept all happiness and sorrow, and practice deeply. Go on exploring, asking questions. Questions should be such that help in opening our inner path.
About practicing you have to hit hard. Hammering gently may not break the wall though one may go on doing that throughout one’s life. As you progress, the tenacity and force of the practice should/would increase. Doing so many lakh rounds of mantras is only meant to concentrate the mind. The concentrated mind has force in it, which will carry us all the way through. Someone may attain results early, the difference is of the force. Force grows with sincere, devoted, honest, intelligent practice. Explore and ask how one may go within. What are the shortcomings and rise above them. What waits us is bliss. It should so happen, the japa should not be limited only to the tongue. The throat should also do japa, and gradually, it should spread to the ears, eyes, nose, and the whole body.
Everything that we see around us is to help us attain this Bliss, the Lord within. The family, the wealth that we possess – they are all means to help us along. They are not the end in themselves, but means to the end.
(In response to a question) An obese body is not the impediment, but the ‘I’ness in the body is the obstacle. Obesity is in itself is not an obstacle, but the tendency of going on eating without need is certainly an obstacle. An obese body may require more labour on the path early on but in the end it will also bring greater results. It is like there are two piles of wood, one of them has a huge tree and the other little store of wood. Though the latter would catch fire instantly but it will also burn our earlier, the huge tree though slow to begin with will also go on burning longer. Obesity should be understood as a reserve of potential energy J. The basic thing is an inward tendency and yearning to evolve. Once the mind starts going within, everything becomes right!