Shree Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita stated that bhakti is ‘kartum susukam’ which means “very easy to practice”. It is easy because on the path of Bhakti we don’t have to do anything. We can very naturally attain God if we learn to love Him. ...
In today’s world with our fast paced lives amidst stress and anxiety, if there is one thing we all long for, it is peace of mind. For most of us peace of mind has become a cherished ideal that seems far-fetched. We dissipate a large...
If we wish to reach the goal of life, which is God-realization, we must work towards the purification of our heart. We must strive to make our heart into a temple of God in which we bring Radha Krishna and our Gurudev alone. However, we...
Continuing our short series on 'Who Am I', let us now understand the characteristics of the soul. Scriptures talk about two types of characteristics; Svaroop and tatastha (marginal) characteristics. Svaroop means the natural characteristic of the soul. The soul is conscious; it is a power...
Part 13: True love is selfless
All our life we have not learnt to love, because we follow the principle of take, take and take. But if we wish to enter the realm of God we will have to reverse our principle to give, give and give.
In life we are born with many relations like our parents, brothers, sisters etc and there are other relations that we form as time passes. No matter how closely we feel related to these people, the truth is that all these relations will cease to exist one day. Our scriptures inform us that we have had countless such material relations in our past lives as well, and every time it has been the same story; we spend some time together and then we all part ways to form relations in our subsequent lives. Yet, apart from all these transitory relations, there is one relation which alone is eternal. And that is our relation with the Supreme Lord of the Universe who is seated in our hearts and accompanies us in every life form. When we realize the truth that God alone is our relative and he is the soul of our soul, we discover the uniquely intimate and divine bond we share with him. Merciful God has given us the freedom to develop any relation with him as we like, we can look upon him as our child, as our friend, king or beloved. Shree Kripaluji Maharaj in his keertan ‘jo piya ruchi mahaṁ ruchi rākhē’ tells us to worship God in madhur bhav or in other words as our soul-beloved. There is however one correction required even in this bhav, and so Maharajji states:jo nija sukha ura nahiṁ rākhē
He says; don’t love God for the sake of your own happiness. Love Him for the sake of His happiness!
Part-12
In this world all our relations are temporary, but there is one unique relation we have with God and that alone is eternal. Devotees realize the intimacy of this relation and thus see God as their soul-beloved.
In the third stanza of the keertan “jo piya ruchi mahaṁ ruchi rākhē”, Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj states:jo madhura bhāva apnāvē rē
yāmēṁ chārihuṁ bhāva samāvē rē
jo nija sukha ura nahiṁ rākhē, prēma rasa soī chākhē rē
One who loves Shree Krishna in the conjugal sentiment as the Divine Beloved, in which the other four sentiments are naturally included, such a person, who abandons his or her personal happiness for the sake of the Beloved’s Happiness, tastes the bliss of Divine Love.
Let us here discuss the relationship with God. Our relationship with God is unique, because it is the only relationship that is permanent, our all other relations in this world are temporary. On the cremation ground, the pandit who performs the funeral rites gives a twig to each of the family members of the deceased, and asks them to break it. The family members snap the twig into two. The pandit tells them, “Just as this twig was so delicate and broke so easily, that was the nature of your relationship with the deceased person.” But we don’t realize it – that one day, this is all going to end.Part 11:
In continuation to his instructions, Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj states another gem of Divine wisdom for the benefit of spiritual aspirants. He states:"nahiṁ r̥iddhi siddhi ura rākhē"
“Such a devotee shall attain Divine Love who desires neither material opulence nor mystic powers.” We are all acquainted with riddhi, it refers to the material wealth and opulence. Everyone in this world wishes to possess riddhi, so much, that one is never quite satiated. There is yet one another thing in this keertan that Shree Maharajji draws our attention to. He talks about siddhis which refers to mystic powers. The mystic abilities are of two kinds: fraudulent and genuine.Part 9: Heaven And Hell are Equal
A devotee who genuinely aspires to attain God’s Divine Love sees no difference between Heaven and Hell. Celestial abodes may have far superior material comforts yet they are under the influence of material nature, and take the soul away from God.
Shree Kripaluji Maharaj in his keertan “jo piya ruchi mahaṁ ruchi rākhē”, summarized the essence of attaining Divine Love of God, which is the highest form of bliss one can ever achieve in this whole universe. Line after line, he gently explains the things we need to do or be wary of in order to purify our heart and receive the grace of God. Thus He goes further and states:jo swarga naraka sama jānē rē
That person who considers celestial heaven to be equal to hell will get Divine Love.
Often, people question if earth is the only planet where life exists. But it is interesting to ponder that, if life existed only on our planet, what purpose would innumerable stars in the sky serve? If God has created such an immense universe, it is very likely that there is life on other planets as well.