Mahatma Gandhi said that one lit candle wipes out all darkness, however dense it may be. Likewise, we all should take a pledge to eradicate the darkness of ignorance so that each human being may experience Divine Light within, our country may be all light and the light of Spiritual Knowledge may thus enlighten the whole world. So it is said, “ Jot se jot jalate chalo, prem ki ganga bahate chalo. Ishwar allah tero nam, sabko sanmati de bhagwan. Raghupati raghaw raja ram, patit pawan Sita Ram.”Light all unlit candles with a lit one. Let the Ganges of Love flow. Your Name is ‘Ishwar' and also ‘Allah'. May God grant good sense to all. You are the redeemer of all sinners and outcastes”.
The Holy Name of God purifies all sins. There is only one name for the Almighty. ‘Ishwar' and ‘Allah' are adjectival names of God, but the empirical Name is only one. St.Tulsidas has written in the Ramcharitmanasa, “ Nam prabhaw jani ganarau, pratham poojiyat nam prabhau.” “ Ganesh knew the influence of the Name, due to which he is worshipped first amongst all deities”. It is further written, “Sumiri Pawansut pawan namu, apne bas kari rakhe Ramu.” The son of the Wind (Hanuman) captivated Lord Rama by remembering the Holy Name. He got so much power from remembering the Name that he had the Almighty, Lord Rama, under his control.
We also have to remember the Holy Name and captivate the Lord. St. Kabir expressed his experience thus, “Koti nam sansar mein, tate mukti na hoy. Adi nam jo gupta jap, bujhe birla koy.” There are thousands of names for God, but they will not grant salvation. There is one secret primordial Name which is known by only a rare soul.” There are many adjectival names of God. Saints and great Divine Personalities called the true name of God the ‘ Adi Nam ' (Primordial Name). Guru Nanak Dev Ji said, “ Shabad hi dharti, shabad akash. Shabad hi shabad bhayo prakash. Sagli srishti shabad ke pachhe. Nanak shabad ghata ghat achhe.” Earth, sky and the entire creation have been made by the Word. Light is also produced by the Word which is within everyone's heart”.
We accept the scientific formula E=mc 2 , which means that the entire physical world has been created by the power of the Word. If you split the minutest particle of matter, energy comes out of it and we all are made from that energy. So our saints said, “Jarre jarre men hai jhanki bhagwan ki, kisi sooojh wali ankh ne pahchan ki . God is omnipresent but only he who has the eye to see can perceive it.. A spiritual person understands this. Knowledge means to manifest the omnipresent. Knowledge of the soul is the instrument by which we know who we are. So St. Surdas says, “Apan ko ap hi mein payo. Shabda hi shabda bhayo ujiyaro, Sadguru bhed batayo. Apan ko ap hi mein payo.” “Within myself, my Self I see. The Word alone was there, emanating the blazing Divine Light. My Satuguru revealed the secret.”
Our saints said to remember the primordial vibration, because that is the basis of the entire world. So it is said, “Kaliyug kewal nam adhara. Sumari sumari nar utarahin para. ” In Kaliyuga, the Dark Age, the only support is the Name of God, by remembering which one is redeemed. After acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, our new life begins, the life of our second birth begins, the life of knowledge begins. So, we should take a pledge here in satsang to tread the spiritual path.
Once a holy man visited a businessman. He asked him, “How old are you?” The businessman humbly replied, “Mahatma Ji, I am only five years old.” After a while, some children came there and said to the rich man, “Father, we are going for a walk.” The saint asked the rich man, “How many children do you have?” The businessman replied, “I have only one son.” Then the saint further asked, “How wealthy are you?” The rich man replied, “Mahatma Ji, I am worth 10,000 rupees.” The saint said, “That's not how it seems to me. You are doing business worth millions by phone. You tell your staff to purchase in thousands then sell for millions. I also don't understand what you mean when you say that you are only five years old, you have only one son and only 10,000 rupees. Please clarify this for me.”
The businessman replied, “Mahatma Ji, it's like this. I got an opportunity to attend satsang about 5 years ago. I acquired Spiritual Knowledge and then my consciousness was awakened. Due to that alone I am remembering the Holy Name and doing meditation. So I believe that my true age is only five, as the rest of my life was wasted in worldly and illusory things and was spent in vain.
A short time ago you saw five children here. They went away without seeking my permission. If I tell them to bring a glass of water for me, they reply that they are very busy and that they do not have time and they further advise me to ask the servants to bring water. So they are not my sons. I have only one son who obeys me. If I ask him to bring a glass of water, he will bring it with his own hands. That is why I said that I have only one son.
“I have a business worth millions of rupees, but I have so far invested only ten thousand in the service of saints and hence that is my real wealth. Only what I have spent in the service of saints, to help spread of Spiritual Knowledge, is my real wealth.”
If people want to take and accept the message of spirituality, then it is a matter of great pride that even today that message of spirituality is available in India . India and China are becoming economic super-powers in the world. India also has spiritual wealth. So let us all join to strengthen India with spirituality. Only when Spiritual Knowledge spreads will India be strong. When goodwill spreads everywhere in our country, then India will be strong. Today, due to ignorance we are fighting in the streets. Men are killing other men. While I was travelling on foot through Gujarat , from Dandi to Ahmedabad, (a distance of 350 kilometres) I saw that, simply due to ignorance, hatred was flourishing in society. We have to eradicate this hatred and we can wipe it out only by spreading love and goodwill.
So, let us come together, tread the spiritual path, understand the influence of the true name of God which has been described as the indestructible Word in the Bhagavadgita. That Word is indestructible, which cannot be destroyed, which is the primordial vibration, which sustains the entire creation. That is why it is written in the Bible, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.” To understand that, we have to find the Spiritual Master. “And you shall know the truth and truth shall make you free”. When you know the Truth, then Truth will redeem you from desire for illusory things. That is why it is written in the Ramcharitmanas: “Bhakti swatantra sakal sukh khani. Binu satsang na pawahin prani.” Devotion is independent and is the treasure house of all happiness and bliss, but no one can get it without satsang.” Devotion to God is independent. It is dependent on nothing and it embraces everyone.
During his period of exile, Lord Rama visited Shabari. She was very poor and downtrodden. Nearby was Pampa Lake which had become stagnant and dirty. Lord Rama told all the rishis living there to put their feet in the water and purify it. Accordingly, all the Rishis put their feet in the water but the water did not get purified. Lord Rama then asked Shabari to put her feet in the water. Shabari, very hesitatingly, put her feet in the water and it was totally purified. It was very strange that such knowledgeable sages who had done a lot of meditation and penance could not purify the water of Pampa Lake, whereas it became pure the moment Shabari, whom people considered low-caste, put her foot in it.
It is said that Vishwamitra was jealous of Rishi Vashishtha. Whenever Vishwamitra visited Vashishtha Ji, the latter would address him as ‘Rajrishi' (royal sage). He never called him ‘Brahmarishi' (divine sage). So Vishwamitra became angry and killed Vashishthaji's hundred sons. Vishwamitra had decided to kill even Vashishtha if he did not address him as ‘Brahmarishi'. He hatched a plan to kill Vashishtha Ji.
Late one night Vashishtha Ji was talking to his wife Arundhati. She asked him, “Maharaj, look how bright the moon is shining tonight.” Vashishtha Ji replied, “The moon is indeed shining brightly, but our rishi Vishwamitra shines even more brightly.” When heard Vashishtha Ji, whom he was going to kill, comparing him to the moon, he felt ashamed. He approached Vashishtha Ji and prostrated before him. Vashishtha embraced him and said, “Come, Brahmarishi!” It means that Vishwamitra became ‘Brahmarishi' by virtue of his feeling of total surrender. So, we should also develop the feeling of total surrender to the Spiritual Knowledge.
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