Death
will come unexpectedly without warning or at a pre-arranged time and
will take you from your bed. The rest of your family will sleep while
you are being separated from them. Therefore our saints say, "You may
have unlimited wealth and your kingdom may cover the world, but what is
the use of it when you have to die anyway?"
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What
is our true religion? How can we get peace? You should think about it.
We need a living leader to govern us; we need a living doctor to cure
our diseases; in studies we need a living teacher; so why do we want a
dead saint or a dead spiritual master? He must also be alive. You can
ask a living teacher questions. In the scriptures it says that three
types of people must be alive at the time: doctors, the head of
government, and the spiritual master.
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You
can turn the pages of history upside down, but that knowledge of the
soul is not in them. Who has the spiritual knowledge? The realized souls
have it. From turning the pages of history you will increase your
reverence towards the great souls, you will desire to know, but you need
a living realized soul to eliminate the restlessness of your mind. The
subtle mind can only be controlled by a subtle instrument. People are
becoming restless. Do you know how to combine all humanity into the form
of one garland?
See
how many types of flowers there are in this garland. On this thread the
gardener has made a beautiful garland. He has offered this garland to
please his Lord. This is the beauty of the gardener and the miracle of
his talent. Diverse flowers can be threaded into the form of a beautiful
garland, but the thread within them is one. The flowers on it are
different but the thread is one. It runs through them in a subtle form.
Similarly, saints impart the knowledge of spirituality that makes all
into one.
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Religion
never teaches conflict among yourselves. Religion never teaches you to
feel animosity towards each other. Religion teaches you to love. When
the Lord came to the ashram of Bhilni, he wept for her. The same Lord's
arrows made a sieve out of the heart of the devil Ravana and destroyed
him. The same Lord gave unfathomable love to his cherished devotees.
That's the grace of great souls. Remember them.
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Mankind
is going to reach such an evil stage that rivers of blood will flow in
this world. That day is not far off. Our minds have become so powerful
that they don't like to bow to anyone. Ravana said, "Because of my
egotistical personality I didn't meditate, therefore my mind was out of
control." Only in the primordial essence is there peace. If you cry
"Water, water," your thirst will not be quenched. You should go to the
water, bend down and drink it, and then your thirst will be quenched.
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Once
a parrot requested a devotee, "Since you go to visit your Guru Maharaj
Ji nearly every day, could you please do me a favor and ask him on my
behalf to solve my problem? My existence is confined to this cage. I
understand your Guru Maharaj Ji has the potential to help anyone break
away from bondage, so can he help me get out of this cage?" Accordingly,
as soon as the opportunity arose, the devotee put the parrot's plea
before Guru Maharaj Ji. As soon as Maharaj Ji heard the question, he
fainted on the floor.
On
the way home, the devotee was regretting his foolishness in asking a
question which resulted in Maharaj Ji's collapse. He then stopped at the
cage and with great disappointment told the parrot, "Your question
remains unanswered as Maharaj Ji fainted as soon as he heard it."
However, the parrot was delighted to hear this, as it knew that
mysterious are the words of a Perfect Master. It found its answer in
Guru Maharaj Ji's behaviour. The parrot did exactly the same by lying on
the floor the cage and pretending to be dead. Its owner returned a few
minutes later, presumed the bird to be dead and threw it away. The
parrot merrily flew away thanking Guru Maharaj Ji from the depths of its
heart. That is why our scriptures are filled with praise for the
Satguru who liberates us from the bonds of maya and the cycle of birth
and death.
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Goswami
Tulsidas wrote in the Ramcharitamanas, "I bow to the lotus feet of
Satguru who is the ocean of grace and God in human form, whose words act
like the sun in the heart of a devotee". We
are talking about spiritual knowledge, the message of humanitarianism
is being given. We must apply that message to our lives and follow it.
The knowledge that we have received should be reflected in our lives.
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A
farmer gave a bag of seeds to each of his sons and said, "Keep these
safe." One son kept the bag in a locker. The second son thought that if
the bag was kept in the locker, the seeds would rot, or be eaten by
insects. So he ploughed an entire field and sowed all the seeds. After
some time, the farmer called both his sons and asked them to give the
seeds back. The first son went inside the house, opened the locker, took
out the seeds and put them in front of his father. The farmer opened
the bag and saw that all the seeds had turned to dust. The farmer asked
his second son to bring his seeds. He said, "Father, I need a
bullock-cart to bring those seeds, because I sowed them in the field.
Then I harvested a crop and sowed more seeds. In this way they kept on
multiplying."
Similarly,
if we sow spiritual knowledge in our lives it will multiply over time,
it will keep on increasing. If we keep it in a locker, it will not grow,
it will not make our lives meaningful. That is why devotees who have
acquired the knowledge should sow it in their lives. Remember the Holy
Name, because, as Guru Nanak said, "Kaliyuga has come, Kaliyuga has
come, remember the Name, remember the Name."
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We
have to remember the True Name of God to be protected from the
ill-effects of Kaliyuga. Only remembering the Holy Name can do this. A
boat on the water protects us from drowning. Similarly, the Holy Name is
also a boat, which keeps us from being caught up in the whirlpool of
the mundane world. The effect of materialism doesn't trouble a devotee.
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There
is a story that once Shanidev (Saturn) said, "During the 7½ and 2½ year
periods when I am in control, my glance ruins everyone on whom it
befalls." Hanuman replied defiantly, "Brother! You cannot disturb the
devotees of my Lord even the slightest." Then and there Shanidev and
Hanuman had a fight to decide who is more powerful i.e. the god or the
devotee. At the end of the brawl, Shanidev lost the bout. He said,
"Hanumanji, I accept defeat, I cannot affect those who are devoted to
God." Then he begged Hanuman to spare him and also asked for some oil to
massage his bruised body. That is how the custom of offering oil to
Shanidev began.
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Even
death cannot harm those who meditate and remember the Lord. Hanumanji
constantly meditated on the Holy Name of God. The Ramcharitmanas says,
"By constant meditation Hanumanji was able to understand the Power of
the Holy Name and also Lord Rama, by which he gained control over the
Supreme Lord." Remembrance of Lord has immense strength. If we remember
the Almighty in our lives then our progress is definite. Regarding
meditation, our saints said, "Engage consciousness in remembrance, do
not speak. Close the outer doors and open the doors leading inside."
Only when we become introverted will our lives become meaningful. That
is why it is said, "It is not a matter of discussion but of actual
experience: the wedding guests are forgotten as soon as the groom and
the bride meet." It is said that this is not a matter of discussion or
of reading and writing. This is matter of realizing God by seeing Him
face to face. Saint Kabir Das said, "How can your and my mind become
one? What I say is what I experience and see whilst what you say is
based on hearsay and on what you read. I recommend you wake up and let
us see how your and my mind can achieve the same wavelength."
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Saints tell us to directly see the Lord. Seeing the River Ganges and Haridwar on a map is not the same as taking a dip in the Ganges or going to Haridwar. We
read the description of the name of Almighty God in scriptures and read
prayers to the Lord. But with this we cannot realize God. That is why I
tell you all that to make our lives meaningful we must receive the
Knowledge.This human form is not available again and again. It is said
in Ramcharitmanas, "Today I am grateful and really grateful in spite of
being lowly in every respect _ regarding me as His own, Rama has blessed
me with the company of saints. It is only by the blessings of Almighty
God that one gets the company of saints who initiate the aspirant on the
path of meeting the Lord. The company of saints is available only if
one is very fortunate.
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"The
source of goodness neutralizes evil. Lord Shiva together with Uma
remembers the Name which is the source of all well-being and the
antidote to evil." That is why we should be devoted to Almighty Lord.
Such a golden opportunity is not available again and again. We should
actively avail ourselves of this opportunity.
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Lord
Rama was about to be crowned but instead he was exiled. Bharat asked
Guru Vashishta Maharaj, "What kind of auspicious time has been chosen?
Lord Rama has been exiled instead of being crowned!" Vashishta Maharaj
replied, "Bharat, nobody can escape what is destined to happen. Loss
& gain, life & death and fame & disrepute are in the hands
of God exclusively." These six things are beyond man's control.
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Nobody
wants loss but it still occurs; nobody wants death, but it is
inevitable and beyond man's choice. Same is the case with achieving fame
or recognition. If we study this verse carefully, then the hidden
meaning of Ramcharitmanas is understood. To whom did the loss occur? To
the people of Ayodhya from where Lord Rama was exiled. And who gained?
Those saints and sages who were meditating in the woods, those who were
meditating in the caves and waiting for the darshan of the Lord. Also
Bhilni, who used to sweep the path daily waiting for the Lord. When and
how did the Lord oblige her? As a rule, devotees eat the `prasad' given
by God but in case of Bhilni, Lord Rama ate fruit which she had already
tasted.
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What
you think about expands into action. The more conscious you become of
the ways you use your mind, the more you will be able to leave behind
toxic ways of thinking. When you know that your thoughts expand into
action, you become very careful about what you think because you know
that your thoughts literally poison your life.
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Purifying
your thoughts is a variation on the theme of higher awareness. So you
might want to start with a review of the keys to higher awareness. The
first three— banishing doubt, cultivating the witness and shutting down
inner dialogue— are essential to taming the ego and beginning to
recognize and change toxicity to purity.
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Toxic
thinking is a habit of using your mind as an interpreter. Let go of
that habit of constant interpretation and begin to live your life free
of ego’s comments. Your willingness to confront the ways that you have
been thinking is your opening to the purification process. The ability
to suspend judgment will allow you to reach the higher ground and
experience the richer awareness that goes with the triumph of the higher
self over the ego.
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Just
knowing that you can choose less toxic thoughts is an important
insight. Many people have never had this insight. Consequently, they
spend their entire lives defending the position that their thoughts are
unchangeable. You, on your sacred path, know better. You know that who
you are is something grander than the thoughts you think and more divine
than the body where the thoughts occur. Your thoughts and behaviors
are habits. The ways that you have allowed your inner world to work are
habits resulting from your experience of your life, including the
beliefs that you’ve received from all the well meaning people who taught
you about life. To purify your thinking and make your mind work exactly
as you want it to be willing to examine these habits of thought. Then
you will begin the purifying process and see the opening to your sacred
self.
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Man
is essentially spirit, or in other words, consciousness. To know
consciousness, to experience it and to realize it is the path of
spiritual knowledge. Knowledge has two aspects- material and spiritual.
In the material domain it is called 'Apara Vidya' and pertains to all
physical and social sciences. In the spiritual domain it is called 'Para
Vidya' and pertains to self-realization, the experience of the soul.
Science of soul itself implies the science of universal life. The
science of the spirit is a sovereign science, a sovereign secret,
imperishable, supremely holy, most excellent, directly enjoyable, full
of virtues and very easy to practice. It is itself both the means and
the end - the immediate and the ultimate. It is all comprehensive and
all-inclusive, and knowing it means nothing remains to be known. It is
the saturation of the self, the merging of the individual self with the
Cosmic Self. It cannot be achieved through senses, mind or intellect. It
is experienced by the self through the self by the grace of the
realized Master. Knowledge is the means, and Knowledge also is the
destination. In Divine Knowledge there must be no duality. It is just
one point.
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"The
knowledge of God is the purest thing on earth. By receiving that
Knowledge, by coming in contact with the Knowledge we can also become
pure. 'People say, 'Meditate on God.' How can you meditate on God without knowing God? First have Knowledge of God.
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'By
this Holy Knowledge a Buddhist can know what the Buddha taught, a
Christian can know what Christ taught, a Moslem can know what Mohammed
taught, a Hindu can know what Krishna and Rama taught, because this is
the empirical, this is the essence. An iron piece becomes a magnet by
contact with a magnet, and similarly, when a person's consciousness
comes in contact with this Knowledge, the person becomes divine. The
difference between a magnet and a simple piece of iron is the
arrangements and settings of the molecules. In a magnet, all the
molecules are aligned in one direction while in the piece of iron they
have haphazard patterns. Similarly, the difference between a person who
meditates on Knowledge and a man who doesn't is that the consciousness
of the former is single-pointed while in the latter it is diffused and
scattered.
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'This
Knowledge is to be practiced. This is the means to attain God, and this
is God. This is the seed that we have to grow, this is the seed that we
have to sow, and this is the crop that we have to harvest.
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'Ignorance
is merely the absence of knowledge. There is no such thing as darkness;
the absence of light is darkness. Then there is the multiplicity of
shapes and forms which is nothing but the vicious circle of illusion.
Duality of perception ends only after one receives Knowledge.
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'Knowledge
is the beginning of a new life. Like a snake shedding its skin, you
will shed the old miseries and get a fresh outlook."
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The
main thing we teach in satsang is to meditate on the Holy Name of God.
The way of the saints begins from here. There is no doubt about what
they have said. No saint has ever said to follow any path, then leave it
to follow another. They taught, "The One Way will give you everything."
Trying to water the leaves of a tree is useless, but if you water its
roots the water, as you know, will reach every part of the tree. This is
why Guru Nanak said, "It's the Dark Age, so remember the Name!"
Tulsidas said quite confidently, "In this present Age the only support
is the Holy Name, and by remembering it you can be liberated." People
follow one sect after another and that is why they don't get anywhere.
It is written in the scriptures that whatever a person thinks about with
his dying breath determines what happens to him thereafter. That is why
we tell you to meditate, to remember the Name, because whatever you
think about all your life is what you'll think about as you die. A lot
of people think that they will meditate at the end of their life and be
liberated. But will that be possible?www.manavdharam.org
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna
discusses the various ways in which people worship. He divides them
into categories. He says that those who worship spirits and elementals
will go to the spirits and elements. Those who worship ancestors will
go to the ancestors. Those who worship deities go to deities. Then he
says, "Those who have Knowledge realize that I am the Giver of all.www.manavdharam.org
The
student who has studied all year is able to apply what he has learnt at
examination time, whereas the student who hasn't studied cannot answer
the questions. Nowadays students are allowed to take their books into
the examination room, but that doesn't help the one who hasn't studied
but hopes to scrape through by copying. The questions are framed in such
a way that he won't know which part of the book to copy from. In other
words, only students who have studied will pass. In the same way, the
devotee who meditates all his life will be able to meditate when he
dies, because meditation and devotion will have become his very nature.
Remembering the Holy Name will have become second nature to him. That is
why Kabir was able to say, "God remembers me while I relax."www.manavdharam.org
Tulsidas
used to water a certain tree and this pleased the spirit which lived in
that tree. One day the spirit appeared to him and offered to give him
anything he wanted. Tulsidas wasn't interested in anything else except
Lord Rama, so he asked the spirit to show him Rama. The spirit replied,
"I can't do that. If I could, I'd see Him myself and be freed from this
spirit-form." That is why it is said in the Ramayana, "The soul which
receives a human body is extremely fortunate."www.manavdharam.org
We
think that animals must be happy. We see a dog riding along in a car
and we think that it is being very well looked-after. But you haven't
seen a dog cooking its own food, have you? Cows give milk but you won't
see a cow cooking milk-pudding. They have to eat whatever they are
given. Theirs is a passive existence. A human life, on the other hand,
is an active existence. People can create karmas. We can see how much
humanity has achieved. We read in the Ramayana that Ravana made all the
deities serve him, and this surprises us. But today, due to science, we
can push a button and turn on a fan - we have conjured up the
`wind-god'! We push a button and on goes the heater - we have invoked
the `fire-god'! We push a button to turn on the light — we have invoked
the `sun-god'! So we can see how much mankind has accomplished. You
don't have to be a bird to fly - now we have aeroplanes! You don't have
to become an elephant to do heavy work - we have bulldozers which can do
the work of an elephant. In other words, people can do actions and
suffer or enjoy the consequences of action, too. Really, human beings
have so much potential. We are a bundle of energies, we have so much
power. But we have turned our attention outwards and are just racing. We
have done so much, but we haven't been able to go within ourselves, and
this is why we lack peace.www.manavdharam.org
