O seekers, thirsty for the nectar of the divine love bliss sought by the self-fulfilled, self-contented, selfless paramhansas! As is customary, let us begin by chanting the Lord’s name for a while, after which the discourse will begin.All glories to Shri Radha Krishna!
Who am I? Who is Mine? In solving these two questions, I have explained to you so far that Brahman (God), jiva (the individual soul), and maya (the material energy) are the three eternal entities. Among these three, the entity called jiva is the ‘I’. The jiva and maya are both powers of God; that is why they are also referred to as parts of Him. Moreover, the jiva and maya are eternally governed by God, but the jiva is also governed by maya. Consequently, the jiva is unaware of its true identity.
Maya has two forms: one is called jiva maya, and the other is called guna maya. And jiva maya is also of two kinds: one is avaranatmika maya and the other is vikshepatmika maya. So, what does one of the forms of jiva maya (avaranatmika maya) do? It makes the jiva forget its true identity; it is forgetful of itself. And the second work is done by vikshepatmika maya: it causes the jiva to accept the material world as its own and makes it attached to the world. That’s it!
Due to these two reasons, we have been unhappy, restless, dissatisfied, and incomplete since time immemorial. And as a punishment, we have been revolving in the 8.4 million life forms, suffering endlessly from adhyatmik, adhidaivik, and adhibhautik kinds of miseries. This has been going on since beginningless time. I have explained to you in great detail that the jiva does not have any remedy for this. At most, it can get rid of jiva maya on its own through spiritual practice.However, no jiva can ever free itself from guna maya for endless time by any form of spiritual practice. Guna maya is a power of God and is governed by Him alone. Therefore, only the one who becomes equal to God can conquer Maya. However, no one has ever been, nor is, nor will ever be equal to God, because there is no entity apart from the three entities that I keep telling you about. The entity jiva is itself under the control of maya, poor thing. How can it compete with God? And the other entity, maya, is insentient. It does nothing at all; it cannot do anything. That is why no jiva can ever be rid of maya, even by engaging in countless spiritual practices for infinite lifetimes. And without maya leaving, suffering will not end, nor will the three kinds of bondage end. The three types of bodies will not end, nor will the five kinds of afflictions. The five kinds of material sheaths will not end, and the past impressions of the three types of actions performed in countless births will also not come to an end. And we will continue to suffer in the grinding mill of 8.4 million forms of life.
Therefore, a deep study was made through the Vedas and other scriptures, which revealed that the one on whom God bestows grace and grants His own power to—His senses, mind, intellect, and divine powers—that person attains God by the power of these divine senses, mind, and intellect. Only then is he eternally freed from maya, and only then does he attain divine bliss. Accordingly, it was explained that although we keep creating countless paths, these are just fabrications of the material human mind.
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
Tulsidas said that in Kali Yug (the current dark age), people will keep concocting various paths, and they do it in every other Yug (age) as well. There are and will be unending controversies between countless doctrines in our world, because these controversies, doctrines, and theories are based on ignorance. So, now understand the actual essence of the final conclusion. God Himself has revealed this truth.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 11.21.42, 43)
God said, “O mankind! Don’t apply your material intellect and become distressed, or you will get even more confused.”Tulsidas has expressed this beautifully.
Scriptural Verse (Mahabharat)
There are different views in the four Vedas, different views in the six philosophical systems, different views in the eighteen Puranas, different views in the 108 Upanishads, and in all other religious scriptures. Moreover, there are apparent contradictions even within each scripture. Poor mankind! How much can a person understand with his limited intellect just by reading, hearing, and reflecting? So, God said, “Let me tell you the final conclusion.”
What is that? Those actions… Listen carefully! Only those actions performed for My sake are true karm, true dharm. That knowledge which makes one know Me and is related to Me—that alone is true knowledge. That devotion which is done towards Me—that alone is true devotion. Any austerity or spiritual discipline practised for My sake—that alone is true and gives a true reward. Everything else is wrong. This is the essence.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 2.2.34)
Brahma says, “I have churned all the Vedas three times!”—meaning, he contemplated. Brahma, who was given the knowledge of the Vedas directly by God Himself giving him His power…
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 1.1.1)
God sat in Brahma’s heart and revealed the knowledge of the Vedas to him. That Brahma says, “I have deeply contemplated upon each and every mantra of the Vedas three times, and I have reached one conclusion.” What? Only practise devotion to Shri Krishna. Don’t read, listen to, think, or do anything else. Veda Vyas also said, “I have divided the Vedas, written the Gita, the Vedant, and the eighteen Puranas. Listen to me too.” What?
Scriptural Verse (Ling Puran / Skanda Puran)
“I have contemplated on and analysed all the Vedas and scriptures again and again, and I have reached the conclusion that one must only meditate on God, practise devotion, and love Him.”
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
All the Vedas and scriptures, all the philosophies and texts written, spoken, or preached by true Saints have the same conclusion.
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
All spiritual practices should result in love for the lotus feet of the Lord. If it does not, it is all wrong. This is the criteria. You have recited the divine name day and night for 10, 20, 50 years. Have you developed love for God? How much? This is the yardstick to use. Use it! How great is your desperation to attain God? How great is your longing? “I don’t have any.” Then whatever you have done is all in vain. You have wasted your time and energy. All your efforts came to zero. Tulsidas says this about such people:
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
Do whatever you like.
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
The Vedas have highly praised the performance of yagya and other ritualistic actions; but when you get the results after death, only then will you realise that you did not develop any love for Shri Krishna. You never moved in that direction.You did not even enter that path.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 1.2.8)
If any spiritual discipline you practise does not lead to love for Shri Krishna, then it is wasted. You just put in a lot of effort for no result. Even if you churn lime water all day and night, it still will not produce butter. Only milk produces butter.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 1.2.13)
The Vedas declare:
Scriptural Verse (Katha Upanishad 1.2.15)
All the mantras of the Vedas and all the ritualistic actions, recitations, austerities, and yog are aimed towards attaining God’s love. And if you do not attain it, then what are you saying? “Oh, I have done yog; I can fly in the sky!” Well, you may even enter the netherworld, but what will you gain? Even if we assume that there is a yogi in Kali Yug who can fly in the sky, what will we say? “You have become equal to a bird.” Oh! You spent thousands and millions of years doing so much austerity just to be able to fly in the sky, when birds do it naturally! They fly day and night, but just ask those birds what they have accomplished. Do they get anything in the sky? Oh no! They have to come down to the ground, or they will die from hunger and thirst.
Scriptural Verse (Krishna Karnamrit)
A fish is born in the River Ganges. It eats, drinks, sleeps, and does everything there. It never comes out of the water; if it did, it would die. In the end, the fish dies in those very waters. So does it attain Golok (Shri Krishna’s abode)? Where is it written? Which Saint has said that every fish in the holy Ganges attains Golok? However, you take just one dip in the Ganges and claim, “I will attain Vaikunth (Lord Vishnu’s abode)”, when the fish living there day and night does not.
“That Baba ji lives under the tree. Wow! He is a perfect ascetic.” Under a tree? Millions of wild animals live in the forest with no proper facilities for food or water, or a home to live in. They have no doctors or medicine. They also engage in mating and have children, just like you do. There are no doctors or nurses there. Who will arrange for their intake of vitamins and proteins? You can take care of yourself. So, will all these wild animals go to Golok, being such great renunciates? Which baba can compete with their renunciation?
However, we are so naive that if we happen to hear about some baba like this, we will rush to him. “Oh, haven’t you heard that he lives only on leaves?” He eats only leaves? Well, millions of wild animals live only on leaves. There might be goats in your neighbourhood. Look at them, they only eat leaves. What will happen by doing this?
(Scriptural Verse)
The Chatak bird drinks only the rainwater in the Swati constellation. Snakes cannot make their own burrows; when it rains, the poor things slither into the burrow made by some other animal. The heron concentrates so wonderfully; and Kripalu is tired of telling all of you who are so highly qualified that you will not benefit from your meditation without roopdhyan (visualising God’s form). You must practise roopdhyan. “But Maharaj Ji, it doesn’t happen!” It doesn’t happen or you don’t do it? Just look at the heron. It focuses its attention on the fish that are swimming quickly through the water.It keeps watching, then strikes sharply with its beak and catches the fish. All the herons would die if they didn’t. What would they eat? They are in samadhi (trance). These animals and birds are such great renunciates; but if a man even externally shows some renunciation, we say, “He is a perfect saint.” “He doesn’t wear any clothes even in winter.” Oh, there are billions of creatures living in forests without clothes. Who is giving them clothes?
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
Let such rituals and actions burn to ashes!
Scriptural Verse (Ramayan)
What is this “yog, yog” you keep going on about? Let me ask the yogis a question. You can also ask them. “Oh Mr. Yogi!Are you a follower of the Sage Patanjali?” “Yes, I am! I practise Patanjali Yog.” “Okay, okay. So, among the eight stages of yog described by Patanjali, which one is the first? Which is the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on? Please tell me.””Oh! You are asking me such a beginner’s question!” Well, alright, let me tell you. Yog has eight limbs: yam, niyam, aasan, pranayam, pratyahar, dhyan, dharana, samadhi. So, the first one is yam, and the second is niyam. Now, the very first thing in niyam is shauch. Shauch means? Everyone, listen carefully! If you happen to meet a so-called yogi, just ask him what shauch means. There are six aspects of niyam.
Scriptural Verse (Patanjali Yog Darshan / Shandilya Upanishad 1)
Patanjali has written that shauch refers to two types of purification: of the body and of the mind (shariram manasancha).The Vedas are saying this: one is the purification of the body, and the other is of the mind. And santosh? Didn’t you get any food to eat today? “No, I didn’t.” Yet you are smiling, aren’t you? “Oh, no! I am very disturbed.” Is that so, great yogi?Are you also hungry? Svadhyay—do you study the Vedas? “Oh, no! I don’t even know their names.” Ishwara pranidhanani—do you practise devotion to Shri Krishna? “No, I don’t. I just do some exercises, aasan and pranayam in the morning.” But all these are to be practised later on. First purify your mind by practising devotion to God. This is what yam-niyam is.
Scriptural Verse (Mahabharat)
This is yam: never tell a lie, and observe celibacy. Follow all this yam and niyam, purify the mind by devotion to God, then proceed to aasan and next to pranayam. This is the fourth step. However, you are teaching people the fourth step first: “Hold your nose like this and do this.” Will this take people to Vaikunth? You are just wasting so much time. Tell all of them to meditate on Shri Krishna and shed tears for Him. Purify the mind first.
Even if you do all this, maya will not leave you, nor will you meet God through yog. God Himself said, “Should I tell you what yog is?” “Yes, my Lord. Who else knows about it better than You?” So, God says:
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 1.2.28 / 11.13.14)
That which is done for My sake is yog! Yog is the union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. Through this, one will attain supreme bliss and freedom from maya. Just doing headstands won’t take you to God. These are physical exercises; they are not bad, do them. But why do you call it yog? Yog actually means oneness of the mind with God—union! God has declared this.
Scriptural Verse (Yagyavalkya)
The yog of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul, meaning union. Just think, what should be the aim of any path that is created or will be created in the world? Liberation from suffering and the attainment of divine bliss. These are achieved through the grace of God. So attaining the grace of God should be the only aim of yog, dharm, or gyan. Otherwise, the result will be material.
Listen carefully! If karm, yog, dharm, gyan, and bhakti are not practised for the sake of God, then the result will be material. There are three classes in maya.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavad Gita 14.18)
If the dharm, gyan, yog, and so on that you practise is related to sattva guna, then you will attain the celestial realm for a limited period; you will attain material happiness. If your practice is related to rajo guna, you will return to this mortal world to revolve in the 8.4 million forms of life. And if the yog, gyan, or dharm is related to tamo guna… Can dharm be related to tamo guna? Yes, it can.
Once Vritrasur performed a yagya with the aim of killing Indra. He was a demon. He forcibly brought some sages and said, “Either perform the yagya or I will kill all of you.” The sages cunningly made a slight mistake in one intonation of the mantra. So, the result of the yagya was reversed: instead of Indra dying, the demon Vritrasur died. So, this dharm is tamasic, isn’t it?
The demon Hiranyakashipu performed such intense penance that the heavens began to tremble under its impact. The penance was done to please Brahma because none of the demons were powerful enough to be worth doing the penance for. So, Brahma appeared and said, “Ask for a boon.” Hiranyakashipu presented a very long list: “I should not die either during the day or at night.” Brahma was perplexed: “There are only two states—day or night. What is he saying? What shall I do now? I have promised to grant him any boon he asks for.” “I should not be killed either by a human or an animal. I should not die either inside the house or outside.” The demon made such a long list to ensure that nobody could kill him, and Brahma had to agree to grant him the boon. Now King Indra and the others fled the celestial abodes out of fear. There was no one to confront him on earth, the celestial abodes, or the netherworld. He became so powerful; he became immortal. Everyone’s intellect failed: “What should we do now?” Hiranyakashipu had only one aim in mind: “Now that I have become immortal, I must avenge my brother’s death.” His brother was Hiranyaksha who had been slain by God when He had descended to kill him. So, he wanted to kill God! Listen to this! He went through all of that rigorous penance to kill God—tamasic penance.
I’m just telling you here that even penance, dharm, gyan, etc. can be tamasic. However, what standing does the human intellect have before God’s intellect? God announced, “Alright, I am coming in the form of your death.” “But You should only kill me without breaking any condition granted in the boon.” God replied, “Definitely, I will kill you keeping those conditions in mind.” Internally, Hiranyakashipu was a Saint. He had been the gatekeeper in Vaikunth (the divine abode).God had a curse put on him there and made him a demon. So, he knew this and was curious to see how his Lord would kill him. Internally, he desired to see God display His divine intelligence. So, when God killed him, He made His nails really long and killed him with His nails (one of the boons that he asked for was not to be killed by any weapon). Then God put him on His own lap—neither on the ground nor in the sky. It was neither day nor night; it was dusk. And God was neither inside nor outside the house; He sat on the threshold. And God kept mentioning each condition, “Look, are you inside or outside of your house? Are you on the ground or in the sky?” Poor fellow, what could he say? Internally, he was very happy thinking, “This is my last moment, and now I will go back to the Lord’s abode.” He had done all this just to get himself killed by God. So, this karm, dharm, gyan, yog, penance, etc., can be sattvic, rajasic, and also tamasic.
Even bhakti (devotion) is of four types. Shall I tell you? It is written in the Bhagavat. I don’t speak a single word that I have randomly heard or read; everything I say is supported by scriptural evidence and quotations. And these are not ordinary references. Lord Kapil Himself is explaining to His mother, Devhuti, that there are four kinds of devotion: tamasic, rajasic, sattvic, and nirguna.
Scriptural Verse (Bhagavatam 3.29.8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Those who hypocritically engage in devotion with evil intentions to cause suffering to others, to murder someone—God has to give them the results accordingly. There is a tree called Kalpavriksh: any wish you make while under the tree will be fulfilled. There is also a cow called Kamdhenu who will grant you whatever you desire, and there is a jewel, Chintamani. There are a few things like these in the universe which grant you any material thing you desire, and God can grant material as well as divine things. He feels relieved giving worldly things: “Let Me grant them and be free.” So, this is tamasic devotion.
There is also rajasic devotion: to ask for material pleasures, for fame (“I want to be famous”), or to ask for opulence (“I want to be the prime minister”). This is called rajasic bhakti. And there is also sattvic bhakti. And there is also nirguna bhakti: God says, “This devotion is done for My sake.” Lord Kapil is saying this.
So, all dharm, karm, yog, gyan are of four types. Therefore, if your aim is freedom from maya and to attain God, meaning divine bliss, then that karm, dharm, gyan, or bhakti must be only towards Lord Krishna. The word used here is ‘only’. Don’t forget this! Not ‘also’. Countless lifetimes have been wasted applying ‘also’ in our devotion instead of ‘only’! Later I will explain what a huge difference there is between ‘only’ and ‘also’. We have used ‘also’ for innumerable lifetimes, but never ‘only’—not even in a single life. If we had, all of our suffering would have ended forever. There is such a miracle in this one word. Therefore, devotion to Shri Krishna is the only ultimate goal of human life. Why? I have explained that as well.
However, first of all, it is essential to understand who should we practise devotion to and why. Secondly, who is He? What is special about Him? In the world, when we love someone, we first look at that person’s qualities. You get your daughters married, don’t you? Do you search for a groom? “Yes, we do.” What do you look for? “We look at their appearance, but not just that. Then what else? What is your education? Do you know how to sing? Do you have any other talents? Have you had any relationships before?” We make various sorts of inquiries: “Who is your father? Who is your grandfather?” “Oh God! He is examining me as if he was conducting a postmortem!” “Look, it’s like this, we are going to bring someone else’s daughter into our house. So we must be very careful in our choice, or she could destroy our family.” “Oh, your mother eloped, didn’t she? Then I won’t agree to the marriage.”
There was a satsangi of mine. He has passed away now. Let me tell you about his wife; you will be surprised. Her husband was in the I.C.S. (Indian Civil Service), not just the I.A.S. (Indian Administrative Service). In those times there were only four or five I.C.S. officers during the British rule in India. He was of those times; he was so qualified. She was his wife. Once I went to their house in Delhi at 19 Willingdon Crescent; I still remember it. So, she placed a large number of photos before me. I asked her, “What is this?” She said, “Maharaj Ji, we have to get R.K. married.” Her son’s name was R.K. So? “You tell me which one…” So, I asked her, “Which one have you selected?” Then she picked out three photos: “Maharaj Ji, I like these three girls. However, the mother of this one is overweight.” So? “Then this girl will also put on weight. The father of this girl left his wife and married another woman. Her family does not have a good reputation. That is the problem with this girl.” I started laughing so much that I was doubled over. Do you want your son to marry the girl or her parents? What’s the matter? “Oh, Maharaj Ji!” This was because her boy was an I.C.S. officer’s son, and in those days he was the manager of a tea estate in Assam. He had a very high salary. This was all due to pride. The appearance of the boy was quite unattractive, but matters like position and money have great importance.
Then I said, “Look! It is like this. I have taken a vow that for my whole life, I will never advise anyone on matters of marriage.” Should I tell you why? It is because in any marriage, after a year or two, or four, there are arguments and fights. There is distress and tension, and if I tell you to marry this person, you will say ‘Maharaj Ji, you told me to.’ No one accepts one’s own faults; everyone blames someone else. The husband blames his wife and she blames him. This is the nature of the world. And you will not get a Saint as your husband or your wife. If both are Saints, then fine, get married—get married ten times, it doesn’t matter. However, those bound by maya will argue, fight, and do all kinds of things in the house; and then the one who advised them to get married will be blamed.
Anyway, I was just trying to tell you that in this world, only after a lot of inquiry, is a girl with a mere material body given in marriage or brought to one’s home—after a thorough inquiry. The girl’s family inquires about the boy and the boy’s family about the girl. So, we must properly understand the greatness—the who and what—of the one to whom we are going to surrender our sins and virtues of infinite lifetimes; the one whom we want supreme bliss from; whom we want to be devoted to. The more we understand His importance, the sooner we will love Him.
Look, let us say someone has a diamond ring. However, they are poor. We see it and think it must be made of glass; we see it every day. The woman who sweeps the roads is wearing this ring. Now a jeweller also sees the ring. He says, “Hey, come here! Where have you bought this ring from?” “I haven’t bought it, Sir. I found it while sweeping the road, so I just put it on my finger. Why are you asking?” “Do you know how valuable it is?” “How much is it?” “It is worth five million rupees.” “Five million!” That woman who used to sweep the road for a salary of only 1,000 rupees is dumbstruck on hearing a figure of five million rupees. Now she loves that ring. She immediately rushes home to tell her husband; she says, “We should sell it and buy a big house and a car!” Just see! Now she is in seventh heaven!
In the same way, the more we understand our deity, our Master, our beloved Lord, Shri Krishna, the faster and the more we will love Him. That is necessary. But not today, tomorrow.
All glories to Shri Radha Krishna!
