Vrindavan, 2017.05.14 (Shri Binod Bihari Das Babaji Maharaj): There are two ways in front of the jeevatma (soul): one towards samsaar and another towards God. This is why the jeev is called tatastha-shakti, meaning the power situated in between two ways – on the shoreline.
On one side there is the infinite Ocean, and on the other side is the land. If you want to keep on taking births one after the other, as insects, birds, animals and humans, then follow the path of samsaar. If you want to become free from this vicious endless cycle, then take the path to God.
If you go towards samsaar, you will receive only sadness, because that’s all that there is in samsaar. There is no shanti here, no peace here. No one here is experiencing shanti, has ever experienced shanti, nor will they ever experience shanti here. This is because shanti is related to the soul alone. But we have forgotten that and accepted that there is shanti in this chaotic samsaar, in this body and things related to the body – in shabd (sound), sparsh (touch), roop (appearance), ras (flavor) and gandh (smell) – and we are running behind these?
Run as much as you want! There is infinite time to run! The Time Cycle (kaal chakra) does not rotate beyond this universe. Here, when sun rises we say it is day, and when the sun sets we say it’s night. When we go beyond this universe, the Time Cycle is stationary there; there is no day and no night. Run as much as you want, but shanti is not here in samsaar! Here there is only infinite sadness is search of shanti.
And where there is shanti, it passes away unnoticed from us; we dont even try to accept that there is shanti only in God.
Our relationship with god has always been there, is still there and will always be there. There is no doubt about that! What new relationship you will establish with God? He was never a stranger! You have to correct your mistake, and the mistake is that you have forgotten your relationship with God. Correcting this mistake itself is sadhana (spiritual practice). You must offer yourself at the feet of God.
What sadhana will you do? You dont have much capacity to do sadhana so that you can reach God by your own strength. God has not given such power to the jeev.
In the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna says, “Arjun! God resides in every creature, and through Maya, He makes every creature dance like a puppet.”
So what should we do?
The Bhagwad Gita says, just become samarpit (surrendered). Take His shelter. Then with his kripa you will receive the supreme shanti. But what is samarpan (surrender)?
Suppose you have sold your cow to someone. Now you cannot direct that person on how he must look after the cow. You cannot tell him, you dont give the cow water and food at the right time. This is very wrong. You must do like this and like that. No, you cannot say that because you have sold your cow and now you have no right over her.
Similarly, when we offer ourselves at the feet of God, our desires and thoughts have no place there. We have to destroy all our desires even become a drashta (a mere observer) and watch what He wants to do – what is His desire. Whatever is happening is happening by His desire.
What shall we do? We must only see if we have any independent desire that indicates we still make way for new karma. We have to stop being doers and make god the doer. We are servants of god. Whatever is happening, we are acting as You want us to act. We dont want anything back as its result. We are Your slaves and we want nothing back. Now your karmas have finished! Any karma. How will we understand if our karmas have finished?
There are symptoms indicating that.
‘Yadicchalaabhsantushtodwandhatitvimatsara’
As you receive, as is happening, be happy in that. ‘Dwandhateet’ means being unaffected by happiness and sadness, honor and dishonor, cold and warm, profit and loss. These are laws of samsaar. They will keep happening and have occurred in everyone’s life. If there is happiness, then there is unhappiness also. If there is profit, then there is loss also. If there is cold, then there is warmth also. If there is honor, along comes dishonor too. We must not be affected by these. We must weigh them as equal.
‘Dukheshusnudwignamanah sukheshuvigataspriha,
veetraagbhayakrodh sthitadhiramuniruchyate’ (Bhagwad Gita)
When unhappiness comes, don’t be disappointed or worried, and when happiness comes, don’t become elated by that either. Because that happiness will not remain for long. Tt is very short-lived. Worldly happiness is in fact an illusion. We think we will receive happiness just now… just now… but no-one has ever really received happiness in samsaar.
Suppose you think you have received happiness. Don’t become engrossed in it, because it is a fraud. There’s no telling when it will throw you in the ocean of unhappiness.
‘Veetraagbhayakrodha’ – ‘Veetraag’ means unattached to samsaar, ‘bhay’ means the fear of losing materialistic things and ‘krodh’ means when we face an obstacle in achieving something we desire, anger arises. These three things when destroyed in a person, such a person is called ‘sthir buddhi’, one whose mind is unmoved. Only then there can be samarpan. Then Radha Rani will automatically start looking after you.
Just like a mother always looks after her child, the child need not say, “Mother please look after me. Mother, please give me some food,” because the child is dear to the mother. The child doesn’t know anything other than her; she is dependent on her mother. Similarly, when we become samarpit, Radha Rani thinks that this child knows nothing other than Me. So she looks after the sadhak every second of his life.
‘Kaunteyapratijanihina me bhaktahpranashyati’
(Bhagwad Gita)
God promises that his bhakta is never destroyed. He promises himself! This is samarpan. Accept whatever is happening as the desire of God. Be unaffected in all situations. If an unfavorable situation comes, accept that too because who knows how God is showering kripa (mercy) on you?
There are two types of kripa. One is anukul kripa and the other is pratikul kripa. Anukul kripa means mercy which can be easily recognized as mercy. For example, when we encounter no obstacles in doing bhajan, our mind gets absorbed in bhajan, we feel bliss when meditating on the Lord, and so forth. These are favorable, or anukul kripa.
The other kind of mercy, pratikul kripa, is mercy that does not seem to be mercy but afterwards, we realize that it was mercy alone.
Suppose there is great restlessness; chaos, war within your heart. Then it is impossible to stay as you are. Then you become afraid of samsaar as a place of unhappiness. Then you try your best to become free from samsaar and offer yourself at God’s feet, saying, “Now I’m in Your shelter, please protect me.” This thought of offering yourself to God came due to all the unkind events you experienced. If you had experienced good fortune at that time, you wouldn’t have decided to take his shelter, Because the jeev is habituated to like this samsaar and be fooled by Maya. It is a habit from time unknown.
For a little materialistic pleasure, the jeev forgets all about God. If your son, daughter, wife, husband, and so on, all behave well with you and love you, you wouldn’t be able to do bhajan really. You will chant ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna’ only for name’s sake. Your mind will roam only in materialistic thoughts. And as they start behaving unfavorably with you, you will try becoming free from all them as soon as you can.
Who is your son, daughter, wife, husband, etc. here? All are Maya, an illusion. Leave them from your heart. So ‘Pratikul Kripa’ causes vairagya (renunciation) and makes you anxious to reach God. The sadhak becomes samarpit fast and whenever Maya attacks he or she becomes careful, thinking this is unpleasing samsaar. I have already experienced that. It is very unpleasing. This is pratikul kripa. Only afterwards we come to know, oh! It was actually kripa! If all this had not happened, I would not have become samarpit. Oh Lord, you are so kind! You shower so muc kripa!
I was not a sadhu from childhood. In childhood, I was so badly hurt by samsaar. When I was 7 years old, my father died. When I was 10 years old, my mother died. Then my brother went away and everyone else left me. At the age of 10!
Life became full of unhappiness. Whenever I went I was only hurt. Nobody to look after me. Nobody to guide me in proper direction. I was roaming on the roads, no guarantee of getting the next meal, no place to sleep at night. Everyone thought of me as a great problem. If I lived at their house, they would have to take care of me, give me place to sleep. Wherever I went, I was only hurt!
Today, I have not really become a sadhu, but whatever I have is due to Radharani’s pratikul kripa at that time. Now no samsaaric love can be fool me into its trap. It is the fruit of the tree that was planted at that time. Now see how much peace there is.
The world is short-lived, prone to be destroyed. No one belongs to me here. Let’s do bhajan. It’s all a fraud and we have nothing to do with it.
‘Na Lena, Na Dena, Magan Rehna’
“We have nothing to do here, except being constantly connected to God.”
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