Jagat Janani Shri Mata Ji

The living Spiritual Master alone can impart the technique of controlling the mind and sensory organs. A devotee, with the help of the Spiritual Knowledge imparted by Him, can make his state of mind pure and free of wrong thoughts and thus treading the true path, he can achieve salvation in life.

www.manavdharam.org

"KOTI NAAM SANSAR MEIN, TATE MUKTI NA HOY.

ADI NAAM JO GUPTA JAP, BOOJHE, BIRLA KOY."

There are thousands of names of God in this world but they won't liberate you. Only a rare person knows the Primordial Name which is remembered secretly within.

www.manavdharam.org

Human Life

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

Story

Once a poor brahmin went to a king and begged for alms. The king agreed to give him something but wanted him first to answer some questions. His first question was, "Why don't you have hair on the palms of your hands?" The brahmin was taken aback. He quickly remembered God and, after careful thought, replied, "Your Majesty, I am just a poor brahmin. My hands are always outstretched to beg. I live through others' donations, and that is why my palms are hairless." The king then asked, "Very well. Tell me why I don't have hairy palms. " The brahmin again remembered God and answered boldly, "Your Majesty, you are always giving. Your hands are always giving to others so how could hair grow on your palms?" "Very good," answered the king. "Now tell me why these courtiers, who neither give nor receive, don't have hairy palms." The brahmin replied, "It's like this. You keep on giving and I keep on taking. Your courtiers see this and it makes them wring their hands, so how could hair grow on their palms, either?" So into which category do we fall? Are we receivers or just hand-wringers? There are plenty of people who simply wring their hands. www.manavdharam.org

Agya

You know how important discipline and orders are in the army. To prove this to his men, one commanding officer assembled them on the top of a mountain, which was so slippery with moss that one false step meant falling thousands of feet below. So this officer blindfolded a soldier and told him to start marching. The soldier did so and just as he reached the slippery part, his officer called out "Halt!" He stopped right there. If he had not obeyed immediately but had taken just one more step, he would have fallen. The rest of the battalion saw this and then they understood the importance of obeying orders. When the soldier's blindfold was removed and he saw where he was, he thought, `If I hadn't obeyed I would have fallen to my death.' It was just a matter of one more step. Similarly, agya is extremely important for premies. If a devotee disobeys and takes a single wrong step it can lead to his ruin. Whatever merit he has accumulated from his devotion will be lost. On the other hand, if he follows agya, not a hair on his head will be harmed. Prahlad's father, King Hiranyakashyap, intended to tie him to a red-hot pillar, but the Lord appeared as a man-lion to save him. He had to take this shape because the king was protected by the boon that neither man nor beast would kill him. To save his devotee and kill the king, the Lord had to come in that form. So obeying agya is the prime duty of the disciple. www.manavdharam.org

Satsang

Lord Krishna did not deliver the teachings of the Gita for his own benefit, but for his devotee Arjuna's sake, so that Arjuna could be liberated. This transformation comes through satsang. Satsang is so pure and so powerful that it can save a person from catastrophe. What will listening to worldly people and their gossip do for you? It will only give you high blood pressure. Satsang will lower your blood pressure and make it normal! All the tension the world has caused you will go away. A person needs very little to live on, but how much tension and hassle he takes upon himself! It's something to think about. You can't take anything with you when you leave this world; you will have to leave everything behind. Even so, people carry such a load of tension around with them. Devotion teaches us to be aloof from worldly cares, to live like King Janak did. The lotus lives in dirty water but its flower is always above the water. This is how to live. www.manavdharam.org

Truth of Life

Our life is passing by, day by day. Every day the sun rises, then before we know it, it sets and it's evening again, making our life one-day shorter. Most people are caught up in their worldly routines and don't realize this. Their worldly concerns are a net, which enmeshes them and chokes them. The spider spins its web and ultimately surrenders its life in it. In the same way, the worldly person is strangled by a web of domestic problems. He has spent his childhood playing and his youth chasing pleasures. Even when he is old he is still full of cravings. He says he will meditate tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes, but time certainly does catch up with him. When Death comes for him he is full of regret that he does not know God. And until a person realizes God he cannot escape the wheel of birth and death and is bound to it for lives to come. A devotee, on the other hand, does not get stuck in Maya. He tries to realize God and escape the cycle of birth and death. www.manavdharam.org

Devotee

When a farmer sows seeds. Some seeds get eaten by birds even before they can germinate. Some are scattered here and there and don't get enough water or fertilizer. They grow a little then no further. But those seeds which get enough water, good soil and fertilizer at the right times are the ones which produce the best crops. A tiny seed turns into a shoot then a strong plant or a mighty tree, providing cereals or fruit. We have to become like this type of seed. A devotee needs the showers of satsang. If he doesn't do meditation and service, he will not achieve self-realization. If he doesn't do service, he cannot be called a devotee. He must be sincere, and if he serves the Master sincerely in thought, word and deed, he will succeed. www.manavdharam.org

Holy Name

We all have to leave this world one-day. So long as you draw breath, you are somebody's mother, sister, daughter or wife. But the day you stop breathing, nobody will want you in the house. They will want you out as quickly as possible. Neither your husband nor your son will go with you. The only thing that will go with you is what you have earned through meditation. So realise this Knowledge, realize this all-pervading Name - this is what will go with you. The great devotee Mira was from Rajasthan. What faith she had in the Holy Name! Her husband tried to kill her by sending her a poisonous snake in a basket, but when she opened the basket she found a statue of Krishna inside. The husband tried again, by sending her a cup of poison. But Mira had unshakable faith in the Holy Name. She remembered it as she drank and the poison changed into nectar. If we have the same kind of faith in the Holy Name, no power can sway us. That is why it is said, "If God protects you, nothing can harm you, even if the whole world is against you." www.manavdharam.org