This is the next line of "Sadhana Karu Pyare" series.
Continuing from the last issue...
man ko māno
śhatru usakī, sunahu jani kachhu pyāre
We have already
heard many times and are acquainted with the fact that we are not this material
body. But, we have such a close relation with our mind that we don't even
realize that we are not the 'mind'. Whatever this mind thinks, we
identify with that. Then we go to Swamiji and say, "Swamiji, why did
I think like this? Why do I have this thought in my mind?" Now
see, you are not thinking, but it is your mind that is imagining or
thinking. You have identified yourself with the mind, and hence you are
getting the feeling, "I am thinking; why am I thinking; I should not have
thought like this." If you distance yourself a little from your mind
then you will realize that you are not the mind. We will think, "I
am different from my mind."
This mind often
does unwanted thinking." God has made this mind as a machine that
continuously thinks. According to the Geeta:
nahiṁ kaśhchit
kṣhaṇamapi jātu tiṣhṭhatyakarmakṛit
"This mind
can never remain inactive even for a moment." It is the inherent
nature of the mind to constantly think. Hence, by considering ourselves
as the mind we get tensed. And what does the mind do? It wanders
around in the three modes of Maya. This world comprises of three
qualities of Maya. They are, Tamo guna (mode of ignorance), Rajo guna
(mode of passion), and Sattva guna (mode of goodness). The mind is made
up of these three modes of Maya. The particular mode that predominates at
any moment depends upon the exposure that you get from outside world and the
outside environment.
For example,
every morning you visit the place of worship at your home and pray to
God. And because of the sattvic environment, sattva guna emerges in your
mind and you are in a sattvic mode. Your mind becomes calm and
pure. The mind starts getting absorbed in God. At that moment, you
are approached by your son or your grandchild. He starts crawling on the
floor and keeps his little hand on your back. You hear him, feel his
loving touch and immediately you start thinking of your little
grandchild. You say, "O my dear child!" Now see, the
mind, which was chanting Hare Ram gets distracted and gets absorbed
there. It means that the environment changed and your mind got dominated
by rajo guna. You are still chanting Hare Ram, but your mind is somewhere
else. You lift the child and place him in your lap. Just then, your
neighbour comes in and angrily says, "What were you saying to me
yesterday?" The moment you hear this, you become angry and go from rajo
guna to tamo guna. You say, "Mind your language and speak!"
Observe how the
outside environment affects the modes of every individual's state of
mind. It shows the constantly fluctuating modes of Maya. Hence,
these modes keep on changing in our mind. That is why you sometimes get a
feeling from within, "I should practice devotion every moment."
You say, "I will get up early morning at 4 am and practice
devotion." And sometimes you say, "Why to get up so early, I
will get up at 7 or 8." Sometimes you say, "Has anyone seen God
or not? These saints keep lecturing day and night without
reason." Just see, how the state of mind of an individual keeps
changing. You get nervous and say, "Swamiji, Why does this
happen? Why does our mental state keep changing; our feeling keeps
fluctuating towards Saints as well as God according to the three modes of Maya?"
The reason is
the constantly changing state of individual's mind. Therefore, Shree
Kripaluji Maharaj says, "Do not consider the mind as your friend.
Consider it as your enemy. It will surely mislead you and will keep you
in delusion. That is why, when you get up in the morning, curse your mind
saying that you will not listen to it. Make a firm decision that
you will not listen to your mind but listen to your intellect. The
intellect is beyond our mind and heart. Therefore, we have to grasp the
true knowledge in our mind. When we acquire proper knowledge, then the
intellect will control the mind, and you will follow the spiritual path
sincerely.
If you get
devotional feelings by yourself, then it is the Grace of God. Because of
good deeds of previous lifetimes, you are automatically thinking of God, and
are attached to Him. If these feelings are not present, then you have to
forcefully attach your mind towards God using the Divine knowledge and control
the mind. This is the sign of a true devotee. We should try hard to learn
and realize the true knowledge in our mind constantly.
Shree Kripaluji
Maharaj says, "Always remember - You never know when this life will be
over. We may not get the next moment as life is transient. No one
knows when it will come to an end. And when this life ends, you will
realize that you lost this golden chance of progressing on the spiritual
path. But if we think that today could be our last day, then we will not
procrastinate in practicing devotion and we will strive to attain our goal as
soon as possible." And if you say, "What is the hurry?
I am only 50 years old. I will do it when I retire and have more
time." Later, you say, "I am now retired but my children still
need my guidance. I also have to worry about my grandchildren. I
will do it when my responsibilities to my grandchildren are
complete." And one day we die, having lost a golden opportunity to
uplift ourselves. If we become careless towards achieving our goal, then
our devotional zeal will also reduce.
Once, two
Brahmins of Janakpur were discussing that their king, despite his material
opulence, is not attached to it. He possesses so much wealth, luxury and
richness, yet he is detached from it. One of the two said, "Let us
go and ask the king himself how he can remain detached amidst such
wealth." The other Brahmin said, "No, we should not ask the
king. Kings are not predictable." But, the first Brahmin
insisted on going and meeting the king. So they both went. After
reaching the palace, they asked, "O King, we are curious how, despite the
many luxuries and the wealth that you possess, you don't have any attachment to
it?" The king got angry and answered, "How dare you ask me this
question? I will sentence you to death." The king ordered the
servants to take the two Brahmins and hang them to death the next morning.
"But feed them nice tasty food tonight", he said.
They were taken
to sleep on a comfortable soft mattress sprinkled with rose water. Now
they both started cursing each other, saying, "We should not have come
here in the first place. We have lost our lives." They were
tense the whole night and couldn't sleep. The next morning they were
called by the king. He said, "I have changed my mind. I am
giving you both one more chance to save your lives. Take a bowl full of
oil in your hands and walk around my capital city, Janakpur. Be very
careful that not even a single drop of oil should fall down. Otherwise,
you will be hanged to death."
Now, both
Brahmins took a bowl full of oil and holding it in their hands, started to walk
around the kingdom. When they came back, not a drop of oil had fallen
down. So, King Janak asked, "You roamed in my territory and came
across many attractive alluring things like restaurants, cinema halls, hotels,
gardens. Did any of these things distract you, or did you get attracted
to them? They both replied, "How could our mind go elsewhere?
It was alert with the fear of losing our lives if we dropped even a single drop
of oil."
So, King Janak
said, "This is the answer to your question which you asked me, despite
these luxuries, how am I detached? You had this fear that you can
die anytime. Similarly, even I always realize that this human form is
temporary. It could be snatched away from me any moment."
Hence, we must
always remember this fact and never procrastinate. We must practice
devotion without any delay and try to progress quickly on the spiritual
path. When we constantly have this fear in our minds that life is
transitory, the mind will automatically come under control. This is what
Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says in these two lines.
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