Hold

Guru Maharaj Ji has shown us the path of Knowledge, now it is up to us to walk along it. He has given us a seat in his boat, now it is up to us to sit down.
www.manavdharam.org

Prime Duty

Our scriptures say that it is our prime duty to find this Knowledge. It is said that our body is like a carriage, our organs of perception and action are its horses and our mind is the charioteer. Wherever we direct the mind to go our chariot will go there. If we leave the path of Truth, sooner or later our carriage will have an accident.
www.manavdharam.org

Light

A lot of people have chosen a wrong road. That doesn't mean that they can't get back on track, but they will have to make the effort. Until we take the first step, how can Guru Maharaj Ji point out the rest of the way? If your room is dark, you switch on the light. Darkness will not go away until you take some action to bring light into the room. Our mind is so full of darkness that, no matter how hard we try, that darkness just goes deeper. A doctor cannot cure it, because that kind of darkness has no material cure. Maya cannot cure it, only Satguru can.
www.manavdharam.org

Right Path

So we should resolve to leave the past behind _ we may not be able to change that but we can definitely change our future. If a person does not learn from his mistakes but keeps on making them, he will have to eventually reap what he has sown. If he does wrong he will get bad in return and if he does good he will get a good result. What we do today will definitely come back to us in the future and when it does we will realize what we have done, whether right or wrong. So if what we did was wrong we should leave that wrong track and find the path of truth.
www.manavdharam.org

Eye

Why is there so much violence in the name of religion? What do people get from killing each other? Nothing. If you cause harm for the sake of your religion then claiming it is the best religion will not make it so, because all religions have the same source, they all point to the same origin. God is One. Different languages describe God in different ways, there are many adjectival names for God. People use different names to call Him. But you will not find God in temples because God is actually within you. It is said, "God can be glimpsed in every speck of creation, but only by one who has the eye to see." So how can we get that eye, that insight? That is what Guru Maharaj Ji is trying to tell us.
www.manavdharam.org

Practice

If you are told something but ignore it, you won't get any benefit from it. A human life is a golden opportunity which has been given to us. We should take full advantage of this most precious life of all by meditation and devotion. Just receiving Knowledge will not liberate us. We have to realize it, we have to practice it. That is an absolute fact. Just looking at the meal on the table will not fill your stomach. Until you swallow it you will stay hungry. In the same way, only when you meditate will you get peace and the best thing we can do in life is to spread spiritual knowledge.
www.manavdharam.org

Bhagirath

The sacrifice and devotion of Bhagirath, because of whose efforts the River Ganges came to earth. One of Bhagirath's ancestors was cursed by a sage. He begged forgiveness, so the sage said, "All right. Do penance and I will forgive you. But until the Ganges descends to earth you will not be purified and liberated." So Bhagirath's relatives were in great consternation and wished that someone would be born in their life who would, by his austerities and penance, bring the Ganges down to earth and free them from the curse. That was accomplished by Bhagirath.
www.manavdharam.org

Imagination

Many people receive an education. They read many books and learn a lot, but it is all bookish knowledge. It is not practical experience. Suppose you have read or heard something about Benares. By reading, you may find out what the population is and what temples are there. However, you can't visualize Benares just by hearing about it. If you go there, then what you have read comes alive before you, and there is no longer any possibility of imagination.
www.manavdharam.org

Supremacy

Today everyone is always in a hurry. They are too busy to discuss anything. Before you can explain about spirituality to anyone, he will say, "What is there in all this? There are so many names for God. Choose any one you like and meditate on it!" May be the name of God is being sold, like soap in a market. May be it is like a lottery-meditate on whatever names comes to mind and you'll receive some benefit! People say there is no reason to discuss it. But the mind has to be satisfied. If you are doing some spiritual exercise but the mind still wavers, then that method cannot give you supremacy over the mind.
www.manavdharam.org

Direct Experience

The question arises, `What is that method in which there is no possibility of imagination and speculation? What is the true path?' If you want to shoot an arrow in a dark room, you won't know in which direction to aim. But if the light is on, you can find your target and there is no guarantee that you will get a human life next time. Moreover, who can say that you will be born in favorable circumstances, and from childhood be able to listen to holy discourses and spiritual conversations and feel inclined towards God? Who knows if you will even get a human body or not? Life is not long enough to search for our goal by the trial-and-error method: You follow one path, and then years later you don't like it so you choose another. Very well. If you were immortal you could go on doing this, but human life is so short. Saints have compared it to a bubble and less than a bubble. It lasts less than a moment. No one knows when it will be all over. In such a situation we cannot afford to use the trial and error method. You can't say, "Try this method. If you like it, okay; if you don't like it, leave it." That is why the saints and sages revealed the path of transcendental knowledge, which is one of inner evolution and direct experience.
www.manavdharam.org

Grope

Suppose there is a dark room. One man knows in which corner his luggage is kept, so he goes in the right direction. A second man who doesn't know gropes in all directions, and he may or may not find his things. In the same way, one person gropes his way through life while another goes straight toward the goal and reaches it. The difference between worldly and spiritual knowledge is like the difference between talking and actually seeing. It's the difference between supposing and knowing. Without Knowledge, you have to imagine your chosen ideal of meditation, no matter what it is.
www.manavdharam.org

Liberation

A rock on the ground has no value, but a sculptor can give it a shape. If he sculpts it into the shape of a linga, people will call it a symbol of Shiva. If he makes it into a statue of Rama, everyone will call it `Rama'. If he makes it into a statue of Krishna playing the flute, we will call it `Krishna'. So you have to see the shape of the statue before calling it anything. However, Truth was existing before it assumes the forms of Rama and Krishna, but you can not visualize it because it is a direct experience that you haven't yet had. Knowledge is a practical experience, a transmission from heart to heart. One soul receives it from another soul. That is why the saints spoke about the importance of the spiritual master, or guru. He can make a man into a Bhagirath and make that Ganges of nectar flow within him. When that happens, all his latent qualities are revived. He becomes purified and attains liberation.
www.manavdharam.org

Amar Das

The name of Guru Amar Das comes in Sikh history. He went barefoot on a long pilgrimage to Haridwar 25 or 26 times. How much faith and reverence he must have had! He had the love, but he didn't yet have Knowledge. He used to go to Haridwar to have the company of saints and to give alms and charity. Once he met a monk to whom he wanted to give alms. The monk said, "First tell me your motive for coming here." Amar Das said, " I am a devotee. I have come here to listen to the glory of the Lord and to visit the holy shrines. I am very impressed by you, and I would like you to accept a donation." The monk said, " Your ideas are sound, but tell me, do you have a guru?" Amar Das said, "I am very old, yet still I haven't found a real master. I have no guru, even now." So the monk replied, "I' am sorry, but I cannot accept your donation. It would be a sin to take alms from somebody who doesn't have a guru." Amar Das thought, `I have made this journey so many sacred places. Out of devotion I have fasted and given a lot of charity. What kind of monk is he that he won't accept my donation merely because I don't have a guru?' He felt very hurt.
It is said that the saints are our benefactors, like the rainclouds which cool the heat of the earth. They make us like themselves. The work of a saint is to jolt a person so that he understands. After his encounter with that monk, a conflict arose in Amar Das. He reflected, `Everything I have done has been reduced to nothing. What should I do now?' He tried to find a guru, but found no one who satisfied him, they could only explain things. A person can get a worldly eduction in school or college, so what is the necessity of following the spiritual master? A person can pay fees and learn about external things. But for Amar Das it was a matter of inner education. It was a question of how he could enter within himself. Amar Das didn't find a single genuine enlightened soul and returned home exhausted. One day his nephew came to visit him with his wife. She began reading the sayings of Guru Nanak. They were so profound, so full of wisdom, that Amar Das wondered, `Whose words are these? Who is this great soul?' He asked her, "Who is that sage? Who is this great soul? Could he give me Knowledge?" She said, "These are the words of Guru Nanak. He is the living spiritual master. If you go to him you will definitely receive Knowledge." When he found out that he actually could find the true spiritual knowledge and realize the aim of life, how could he contain his curiosity? He just had to go! When he reached Guru Nanak, he didn't say straight out, "Master, give me Knowledge," but, "Master, please give me some service whereby this dreadful mind can be tamed. When I am cleansed and worthy, please give me your grace."

On this path of the saints, you first of all have to become worthy. A leaky container will not hold water even if you pour a thousand buckets-full into it. First of all an aspirant must become worthy. He must have some understanding. To make a child fit to study for a B.A. or M.A., he is taught from the lower classes up. He is taught grammer, math and so on, so that he may have the potential and ability to put all the facts of various subjects in his mind and to retain this information. So, Amar Das began to serve. He never shirked his duty. His daily routine was to fetch water before sunrise and prepare his master's bath. One day it was raining and the river banks were all slippery. It took him a lot of effort to fetch one bucket of water. It was dark, his foot slipped and he fell in a ditch. He cried out as he fell but he didn't drop the bucket. A washerman's family was living nearby. The washerman's wife said to her husband, "Listen! It sounds like someone has fallen! Who could it be?" The washerman replies, "It must be Amar Das. The unfortunate fellow is very poor and has no kin. His master is very cruel. He makes the poor guy work all day and doesn't give him a minute's rest."

Meanwhile Amar Das had picked up the bucket and prepared his master's bath. What the washerman had said reached Guru Nanak. He called the man and said, "Tell me what you said this morning when Amar Das fell." The washerman trembled like a leaf and said, "I said that he is poor, unfortunate and helpless, and that you relentlessly demand work from him." The master said, "He does service because he wants to. He has become the servant of his higher self." He called all his disciples and said, "This man who was called poor is actually a king. He whom you called helpless will be the protector of the helpless and forlorn. He has the treasure of Knowledge." He revealed Knowledge to Amar Das and, seated him on his own chair, saying, "From today Amar Das will be called the true emperor!" Amar Das had a great love for service. When a devotee has that attitude, he become single-minded.
www.manavdharam.org

Direction

Lord Krishna, speaking about such unbounded devotion, said, "I free from all his sins the devotee who surrenders to Me." To achieve such boundless devotion, determination and concentration of mental energy are necessary, When a person's mind wanders, his energy is also weakened. If you try to pick up many objects at once you will drop them. But if you put your mind into too many things your mental energy becomes scattered and its power is dissipated. But when you train your mental energy in one direction, you can make the impossible happen.
www.manavdharam.org

Desire

There is a story about a king who went to a foreign country. He told his queens that he would return after a few days and would bring anything that they wanted. The first queen asked for clothes, the second asked for jewellery, and the third asked for sweets. But the fourth queen wondered, "What should I ask for? It should be something which will give me everything." So she took a piece of red paper, wrote, sa on it and sent it to the king. The king opened the pieces of paper. One queen had written, "Please bring me sweets," another had written," Please bring me clothes." When the king opened the fourth piece of paper he saw that it contained only the letter sa. He wondered what it could mean. Where would he find such a thing? He called his minister and said, "Make some sense out of this." The minister looked at the red paper and the letter sa and he grasped it meaning. He said to the king, "Your Majesty, it means lalsa (which in Hindi means `desire'). Your fourth queen is telling you that she has only one wish, that you should come home to her." So the king was very pleased. He returned home and the presents were distributed to the queens. But he himself went to the palace of the fourth queen, and wherever a king goes, everything will follow him, won't it? So the queen received everything without even asking.
www.manavdharam.org

Devotion

Ek sadhe sab sadhey - The One Way will give you everything. Devotion to God, the Lord of all, will fulfil a person's every desire. That is why you should have boundless devotion for Him. There should be feelings of duality. Satsang germinates the seeds of devotion, the saints cultivate these seeds, and the Master makes them grow. Then the soul reaps the benefit.
www.manavdharam.org

Bring Knowledge to your life

The Ganges of Knowledge will flow within every person who sacrifices. Sacrifice is a very great thing. Devotion is also something very great, and until a person has devotion, he will not prosper spiritually. You cannot get peace from material things. This is something to really think about. Satsang cleanses us of internal dirt in the same way as we wash away external dirt. So think about it, understand it, and bring this Knowledge into your life. Close the gap between reading and hearing about it and actually experiencing it. Achieve liberation just as Arjuna, Hanuman and Nishadraj did.
www.manavdharam.org

Vastness

After Lord Rama left Ayodhya for exile in the forest, his first friend and companion was Nishadraj, the chief of the Nishada tribe. He belonged to a section of society which was despised and considered very low, but he became the Lord's first friend. Such barriers can be broken by the vastness of spiritual knowledge.
www.manavdharam.org

Divine ethics

Mahatma Gandhi had visions of the kingdom of Rama, or the ideal state. All problems would be resolved in such a state, and all people would be uplifted. Even today people still talk about it. But without a Rama there can not be such a state. However, someone who firmly establishes this state within himself can be said to be living in this kingdom. When the numbers of such people increase, this earthly paradise will manifest. Devotion makes a person great. It causes divine ethics to become part of his character.
www.manavdharam.org

God can be seen within

Saint Tulsidas said, "In the Dark Age the only support is the Holy Name, by remembering which a person crosses the worldly ocean." He didn't say that the only support is the United States! Everything will collapse. Those tanks, bombs and weapons which are manufactured to protect us will actually devour us. Four or five atom bombs are enough to wipe out the world. This type of fire is raging in every country, and everyone has become so disturbed. People search for external wealth but the real treasure is within. They are wasting their precious breath, which are the greatest treasure in the world! God dwells within us. He is speaking but man has become so deaf that he can't hear Him. That is why saints tell us to listen the inner voice. They tell us to become introverted and listen. Divine Harmony is going on within you. God is manifest within you. Open your eyes and you will see Him. However, for this you need a path, an objective. If you don't have any, where will you put your mind? The mind is very unstable. That is why the Master gives Knowledge and awakens the desire within the disciple to establish a relationship with the Lord of the breath, to become one with Him. Then God can be seen within.
www.manavdharam.org

"Parhit"

It is said, "sant vitap sarita giri dharmi/parhit hetu saban ki karni" _ only saints and the Master are truly unselfish. This verse names these things which are dedicated to others - saints, the earth, mountains, trees and rivers. For instance, a mango tree bends under the weight of its own fruit. Trees carry this load, come heat, cold or rain, not for themselves, but for others. A river, for example the Ganges, flows day and night. People bathe in this river and it carries away their dirt. It refreshes us in summer, it irrigates our fields and people believe it has the power to wash away sins. It doesn't dry up no matter how much of its water is used. The Ganges flows endlessly not for its own sake, but for the benefit of others.
www.manavdharam.org

Door to Devotion

It doesn't matter how important you were, once you die your body is quickly removed from your house. Even if a storm is raging outside, nobody will consider leaving your corpse indoors a few days longer. Likewise, a wedding ceremony takes place at the appointed time. Trains leave on time and try to arrive on time. All species in this world, whether they live on land, in water or in the air, can gratify their senses, but the human form of life is special, because it is meant for devotion, meditation and experiencing the Divine Light. If you don't reach this goal then it's immaterial whether you have been born as a human being or not. There is no pleasure which can't be experienced in the animal world, but human life is the door to devotion. So what a shame if we don't remember God!
www.manavdharam.org

Saints

Earth contains so many elements and minerals, our crops grow in it. It gives sugarcane its sweet juice, and the pomegranates their deep red colour and pearly seeds. Just think how many types of fruits exist, with an outside skin and inner seed or stone. How has Nature made all these things? Grass and hay come from the earth. Cows eat this and produce milk, which we turn into butter then ghee for cooking delicious sweets and pastries. What good things the earth produces - not for itself, but for you and me. Mountains, trees, rivers, earth and saints are described as selfless. Saints are the best of all. They dedicate themselves to serving others by showing them the way to salvation. It is written that even greater than Rama is the devotee of Rama. God is the ocean while saints are the clouds which carry its moisture. God is the sandalwood tree whose fragrance is carried by the breeze of the saints.
www.manavdharam.org

Satsang

There is endless water in the ocean, its dimensions are fathomless, but seawater is useless for drinking, washing clothes or irrigation because of its salinity. In the same way, God is omnipresent, but so what? But just as the sun draws up water from the sea to form rainclouds, so the saints evaporate our ignorance with their satsang and free us through spiritual knowledge. Then all is bliss.
www.manavdharam.org

How to Know Holy Name

The sandalwood tree is very fragrant. When the wind blows, that scent reaches us, but the tree cannot spread its own perfume. In the same way, even though God is everywhere, in every heart, He can't be seen. But when a saint comes along, he carries the fragrance of God's Holy Name. But saints are only found at satsang. Suppose there are no sandalwood trees in Delhi. Where will the fragrance come from? In the same way, without satsang, you cannot get the fragrance of the Name. Only one who has experienced satsang realizes its importance.
www.manavdharam.org

Indriya

There are always negative forces opposing satsang and meditation. In the Ramayana it is written "indriya dwar gharokha nana/tana-tahan sur baithey kari thana/aawat dekhi vishay banjari/tey jhat det kapat ughari". It says that the senses are like doors and windows which are guarded by various deities. For example, you are sitting in meditation and sense-stimuli come to you as if on the wind. Your eyes open to look around, your ears pick up sounds, your nose perceives good and bad smells. No matter how hard you try to overcome them, these gates of the senses take you away from meditation. They have other things they prefer to spirituality. They do all they can to prevent you from achieving liberation, so that you are stuck in the cycle of reincarnation and they have a vehicle for indulging themselves.
www.manavdharam.org

Duty

What are saints like? There is a story that once a saint was walking beside a river. He saw a scorpion drowning. As he lifted it out of the water it stung him and fell back in the river. So the saint picked it up again. A passer-by asked him, "Why do you keep on trying to save it?" The saint replied, "It can't help doing what it does. It is acting naturally, and so am I."
www.manavdharam.org

Meditation

Indra by nature is obstinate so he sends heavy rain and storms, but even this god's pride was broken by Krishna. Only the Lord can do that, but even He depends on devotion. God cannot be realized without meditation. So meditation is most important. That is the main thing. God is not realized by reading scriptures _ that ultimate state of bliss is absolutely indescribable and can be reached only with the help of a saint.
www.manavdharam.org

Salvation

Nowadays people make a fuss about `paropkar', which means beneficence, going out of one's way to help others. Everyone agrees that there should be more of it . But do they know the real meaning of that word? No! First of all we have this mortal world, where creatures are born then die. This is the realm of reincarnation, where the soul encounters obstacles and a variety of miseries. Secondly, there is parlok, the next world, or after life. Lord Rama said that the human body is a gateway to liberation and a soul is very fortunate to get it. Even gods long for it. If you put halvah in front of a god, or any creature for that matter, it will eat it, but only human beings can cook halvah for themselves. That is why it is also written that one can experience paradise in this very life. The human body is the only way out of the cycle of birth and death _ no other species has this capacity. Only humans can work for their own salvation.
www.manavdharam.org

Updesh

Many people think that altruism means donating cheap wheat or clothing. Even if it rains gold for two hours and you collect as much as you can, it won't benefit you if you don't do anything with it. You may spend your life giving food and clothing, but will the real need ever be met? People die and are reborn, because we have more than one life, so there is never an end to people's needs. The real meaning of paropkar is not understood. Nor is the real meaning of updesh (initiation). People proclaim loudly from high stages and call this "updesh", or teaching. But on the one hand is this desh, or mortal realm, and on the other is the realm from which there is no return, about which Lord Krishna says, "Once the soul reaches the self-effulgent realm beyond the light of sun, moon or fire, it does not return." But nowadays people think that simply bestowing a rosary is "updesh".
www.manavdharam.org