Sadhana Karu Pyare is a unique philosophical compilation set in 54 lines and arranged in the form of couplets (dohas). In these lines, Shree Maharajji has summarized the entire philosophy of the knowledge of God and Guru (Philosophy of Divine Love). Swamiji explained the complete set of 54 lines at the Puri Sadhana Shivir in 2008, which we will reproduce in this series.
This is the next line of "Sadhana Karu Pyare" series.
This is the next line of "Sadhana Karu Pyare" series.
boolihooṁ durbhāvanā kahuṁ, ho na sapanehuṁ pyāre
lakhahuṁ jani paradoṣh kabahuṁ, doṣh nij lakhahu pyāre
jagat te man ko haṭā ke, lagā hari meṁ pyāre
Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj further reveals a very
important point here. Each line of this kirtan series gives us a very
important message that all devotees need to implement in their lives.
Further more, we should never harbor any ill-feelings for others even by
mistake. It is very beneficial to have positive thoughts for others,
while it is harmful to have harbor negative thoughts about others. Our
thinking shapes our personality. For example, if we think negative about
others by saying, "He is a bad person", it does not harm the other
person. Instead, it harms us. It is equivalent to shooting ourselves in
the foot.
We are advised to have a feeling of 'Godliness' towards
others. This attitude is considered to be of the highest order. This
means, we should see God in all entities. We should think that God
resides in every being. If you cannot bring yourself to see God in
someone, then you should at least think positive about that person, and in no
case harbor negative thoughts. The normal human tendency is that we
develop a feeling of 'negativity' towards a person who has wronged us. We
keep thinking about how to get back at him. We derive happiness from
this. This is known as Tamasik Sukh.
Our attitude is, "He used foul language against me, so
I slapped him. He will never forget the lesson." Irrespective of
whether the other person remembers the incident or not, you are recalling it in
your mind. This negative thinking spoils your mind. We may think
that our negative thoughts harm the other person, but the fact is that we end
up harming ourselves by making our mind dirty. This is the reason that
Maharajji tells us not to have any ill-feelings towards others. Further,
he says that we should never find faults in others.
There is a saying in Urdu -
"tu jo auroṁ kī or karatā hai aṅguste numāi"
If we find faults and point our fingers towards the other
person, three of our fingers point towards us.
Our saints teach us not to see the negative aspect in
others, instead we need to focus on their positive qualities.
You might have heard about an incident in the life of Saint Eknath.
He was a saint from Maharashtra. He made a great impact on the
culture of Maharashtra, which exists even today. "Naath Bhagvad", a
manuscript by him, is very famous. Once he was returning after a bath in
the holy Narmada River. A pathan came and stood in front of him. He
filled his mouth with water and spat on him. Eknath did not get angry on
him or say anything. He kept quiet and then said - "Jai ho Rukmani
Vithal". He then had a bath in Narmada again. When he came out, the
pathan spat on him again. This sequence continued many times. The moment
he came out after taking a bath, the pathan would spit on him. This
continued from the morning till the evening. People gathered on both the
sides of the bank to see who would emerge victorious. At last the pathan
gave up. He asked the saint, "Maharaj, what are you made of? Wood or
stone? I spat on you so many times, but you did not even ask me as to why
I spat on you?" The saint said, "Why should I get angry with
you? You are doing good to me. It is because of you that I could take
bath in this holy Narmada River." This is how saints think. If
someone thinks bad or does bad things to them, they don't get disturbed.
There was a Mahatma, great man who was always opposed by a
person. People used to say that the person was condemnable, but the Mahatma
never said anything to him. One day, the man died and Mahatma came to
know about this. He started crying when he heard this news. People
said, "He was a bad person and always disturbed you, and derived happiness
from that. Now that he is no more, it is good for you, he won't be able
to disturb you anymore." The Mahatma replied, "It was due to
him that I could increase my tolerance. He helped me increase my humility and
reduce my ego. He used to do good for me. Now that he is no more, I
am tensed as to how I will be able to progress spiritually?"
This illustrates that great people do not get affected by
opposition; instead they feel happy about it. It is a very unique quality
not to find faults in others. In fact, each one of us has faults in us
since we are under the influence of maya. When we see faults in others,
our ego prevents us from realizing our own shortcomings. This is very
natural. We are not able take any initiative in correcting ourselves and
our own faults keep increasing. Hence, Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says that
if you want to see faults, see them in yourself. Once we implement this
philosophy in practice, we will find a lot of peace. Secondly, stop judging
others and everything will move on smoothly.
There was a man who had two sons. He taught them to
get up early at 4 am and practice sadhana. Both of them tried to get up
early, but only the elder one could make it. He took bath and then sat
for meditation. The younger son slept on till 7 am. The elder son
complained to his father about the carelessness of his younger brother.
His father said, "If you wanted to wake up at 4.00 am to find faults in
your brother, it would have been better if you had slept on like him."
Similarly, if we are to go to a satsang to find faults in
others, it is better to stay at home than to participate in satsang. The
more impure the mind is, the more faults it find in others. The day our
mind becomes pure, we will stop finding faults in others. According to
the scriptures, there are only three people who have the right to see faults or
judge other people. The first is a doctor. It is his duty to find
physical faults. Next is a lawyer. He is paid to find faults and
the third is a teacher, because he imparts education. No person other
than these three has the right to find faults.
Shree Kripaluji Maharaj further gives us the solution
of one of the most important questions. Everybody complains that we
cannot concentrate our mind on God. Please give us some magical formula with
which we can concentrate.
Once a person asked Maharajji that he is not able to
concentrate his mind on God. Maharajji said, "Which fool told you
that you will be able to concentrate on God? It is a great achievement if you
can concentrate in God. You are still doing sadhana. By sadhana we
are trying to concentrate our mind in God, and you think you would be able to
do it automatically!" We have to try and make an effort to concentrate on
God. Maharajji says that we must detach our mind from the materialistic
things and turn our mind towards God. But do not expect that your mind
will continuously concentrate on God. It will naturally lean towards the
materialistic world. You may wonder why this happens.
Maharajji replies that, "Our mind is mayic in nature,
and the world around us is also mayic. Hence, it is not surprising if the
mind is attracted to the material world. It takes effort to concentrate
our mind on God. It is difficult to throw a ball upwards, but it takes
absolutely no effort to throw it down. Just release the ball from your
hand and it will fall down. In sadhana, we have to concentrate and make a firm
decision using our intellect that, "My goal is God. I am related to
Him and with the help of my intellect I will detach my mind from this
materialistic world." If your mind gets diverted towards the
material world, bring it back towards God. Every time the mind deviates
from the path, we have to bring it back towards God. We need to sustain
this effort continuously.
It is similar to the Mahabharat war. If we want to
find God, we need to fight with our mind. If someone discourages our
effort and tells us to let things be the way they are, we will continue to
revolve around the 8.4 million species. We will not gain freedom from the
cycle of birth and death. Hence, this is the only way to attain complete
freedom. It is known that any work seems difficult in the beginning, but
with practice, it becomes easier. Initially, it is a bit difficult to
concentrate our mind on God. Keep doing sadhana sincerely and
continuously, and it will become easier. This way, we will progress slowly but
surely.
.... To be Continued
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