Swami Shreeji! Volume 5, Issue 1 Satsang Times January, 2015 Vachanamrut Gems: The Fundamental and Innermost Principle In this issue: 1. Once, Dolatrambhai of Nadiad asked Shastriji maharaj, “Swami! Do you wish Vachanamrut Gems! to one day rejoin Vartal?” Swamishri replied, “If they acknowledge the true meaning of Vachanamrut Mahapooja! Gadhada Middle-21, then I do.” Mahapooja Rituals! The Main Principle, Vachanamrut Gadhada Middle 21: "In addition, if a Divine Realization of person realizes the greatness of manifest God and His devotee-saint in exactly the Bhagatji Maharaj! same way as he realizes the greatness of past incarnations of God such as Rām, Krishna, etc., as well as the greatness of past sāints such as Nārad, the Sanakādik, Shukji, Jadbharat, Hanumān, Uddhav, etc. - then nothing remains to be understood on the path of liberation. "Whether this principle is understood after being told once, or after being told a Divine Days: thousand times; whether it is understood today, or after a thousand years, there is no option but to understand it. Even if one were to ask Nārad, the Sanakādik, February 15: Shukji, Brahmā and Shiv, since they are wise, even they, using many different Aksharvihari Swami’s techniques, would point to the manifest form of God and the manifest form of the Birthday! saint as being the only granters of liberation. They would also explain that the February 17: Shivratri and greatness of the manifest form of God and the manifest form of the saint is Jyotiben’s Birthday! exactly the same as the greatness of past forms of God and the saint. "A person who has such a firm conviction has grasped all of the fundamental principles. What is more, he will never fall from the path of liberation. Brahmā, Summer vacation will be ending and soon it will be time for students to go back Shiv, Bruhaspati, Parāshar, etc., may have fallen from the path of dharma due to to school/college. It is said that a good beginning indicates the work is half lust, anger, etc., but because they had the same conviction in and knowledge of Note from the Editor: done already! Having a goal is the best way to make any beginning a good the greatness of the manifest form of God and the manifest form of the saint as Please contact us at beginning. To achieve the goal, we need a plan. The plan is a guide to take they had of their past forms, they did not fall from the path of liberation. Thus, [email protected], steps and get closer to our goal. Out of grace, Dinkar Uncle, in one of his the essence of all of the scriptures is this very fact." or discourses, described our goals as a student and as a human, and the steps we [email protected] should take to achieve them. This discourse is outlined below. 2. One time, Pramukh Swami Maharaj was asked, “ Swamiji, what is your with any feedback. favorite Vachanamrut?” “ Gadhada Last 7”, Pramukh Swami Maharaj replied. “When we came to the USA, we had 2 main goals: the first was to earn money From Chicago, and the second was to preserve our dharmik sanskar (values). In this country, An Iron Nail, Vachanamrut Gadhada Last 7: “Thereupon Shriji Mahārāj said Parixit and Richa’s it is difficult to maintain our culture due to the western influence. It was a to all of the devotees, "I shall now tell you My innermost principle. For a person Jay SwamiNarayan challenge to protect our kids from the bad influences and keep them in a good who desires his own liberation, nothing in this world is more blissful than God direction. That's why the satsang is important and we should have goal to keep and His saint. Therefore, just as a person is profoundly attached to his own body, a priority of satsang in our life. he should be similarly attached to God and His saint. One should also remain Additionally, we should have 2 spiritual goals: absolutely loyal to the devotee of God. But in no way should one abandon one's 1) To become Brahmaroop. loyalty to God and His devotee, even if while keeping that loyalty one's 2) To serve Parabrahma (the highest God). reputation increases or decreases, or one is honored or insulted, or one lives or When someone dies, why do we miss them? The body is still there, is it dies. In addition, one should not allow an aversion to develop towards them. not? But we don’t want the body, we want the soul that was there, that made Furthermore, one should not have as much affection towards one's body or bodily the person walk and talk, gave personality and action, etc. When we leave our relations as one has towards the devotee of God. For a devotee who behaves in body, the entity in the body has left and people don't want to be in the same this manner, even extremely powerful enemies such lust, anger, etc., are unable room afterward, because the soul has gone, which was the controller of every to defeat him." action. Satsang Times, Volume 5, Issue 1 Mahapooja The Vedic culture is the culture of yagna (sacrifices and offerings). Through yagnas, devotees offered devotion to God and deities to appease and thank them for their benevolence on mankind. In order to pay our debts to them, yagnas prevailed in the ancient times. Then, our sages prescribe the rituals of daily worship as a form of a yagna as they sense that devotees would not be able to perform the yagnas in future. Lord SwamiNarayan also has instructed His devotee to do daily pooja every day. The daily worship can be of different forms such as offering food, flowers and aarti to God and His saints, doing prostrations and pradakshina, applying sandalwood paste to them, listening to discourses, meditating upon them, remembering their divine incidents, etc. Shreeji Maharaj further instructed devotees to perform yoga-yagna and gnan-yagna daily, by withdrawing 10 senses and mind from the worldly things andattach them to God, and keeping one’s vrutti towards God (Gadhada Middle 8). This daily worship is the framework of the mahapooja, an updated veriosn of pooja. In the pooja, we worship God and gunatit saints, while in the maphapooja, the sentiment is to remember God, gunatit saints and all devotees of past and present. Today, in every SwamiNarayan temple, the mahapooja has become an integral part of the temple and is performed every day with great reverence. In the SwamiNarayan sect, the first mahapooja was performed by Gopalanand Swami on Jeth Sud Ekadashi, 1886 VS (Wednesday, June 2, 1830 AD) in front of Gopinathji in Gadhada. Due to Maharaj‘s returning to Akshardhaam on Jeth sud 10, 1886 VS. Dada Khachar was grief struck. To console Dada Khachar, Gopalanand Swami first performed this mahapooja. However, it didn’t become much famous after. Although, the real credit of making it a part of daily ritual goes to Gunatitanand Swami. Sheereji Maharaj has commanded devotees to visit and stay in Junagadh for one month every year. Obeying this command, every year, Gopalanand swami visited Junagadh. In 1901 VS, when Gopalanand swami visited Junagadh, Gunatitanand Swami requested him to perform a mahapooja to obliterate bad fate, poverty and sadness, improve livelihood, and bring prosperity to devotees of Saurashtra region, so they can easily feed those visiting the Hari-mandirs and temples. Expert in Vedic rituals, Gopalanad swami arranged God and His saints and devotees on a flat wooden board covered with special cloth (Yantra Pat), which he used for his mahapooja and demonstrated the ritual of mahapooja. On Jeth Sud Ekadashi, 1901 VS (Monday, June 16, 1845 AD), Vasudevanand Brahmchari performed the mahapooja in the divine presence of Gopalanand Swmi and Gunatitanad Swami. On this occasion, Gunatitanand swami talked about the great glory of the mahapooja and gave blessings that whoever will conduct a mahapooja in his/her name; God will fulfil all his/her desires. Gopalanand Swami gave blessing that by the mahapooja, devotees would be rid of sadness, poverty and pains of the body and mind. From then on, Achintyanand Brahmchari did mahapooja in the presence of Gunatianand Swami. Since then, mahapooja has become customary to all SwamiNarayan temples. Gunatitanand Swami spreaded the profound glory of mahappoja in the surrounding region. Devotees also experienced divine miracles by performing mahapooja. The benefits of mahapooja are tremendous. Gunatitanand Swami often prescribed a mahapooja as a solution to devotee’s problems. Once, Vallabhbhai of Una town was legal dispute while managing the financial affairs of the town. His life, fame and wealth were at great risk. He persevered for long time, but he wasn’t finding a way out. Agonized, he consulted Gunatitanand Swami. Gunatitanand Swami asked him, “Accept Lord SwamiNarayan as the supreme God and conduct mahapoojas for 4 months. By the grace of Maharaj, all your miseries will be removed.” Vallabhbhai readily agreed. Just as when he determined to do mahapooja by accepting Lord SwamiNarayan as the supreme God, on the same night, the king of Junagadh called Vallabhji and dictated a letter to grant some rights to Vallabhbhai. He also made an arrangement for the honorably welcome of Vallabhbhai in Una. It was nothing but the blessings of Gunatitanand Swami and mahapooja. That same trend was continued by Yogi Bapa. On January 1, 1965, Yogi Bapa spoke: “The pioneer of mahapooja was Gunatitanand swami. Achintyanand brahmchaari would do (mahapooja) and Swami would listen. Shastriji 2 Satsang Times, Volume 5, Issue 1 Maharaj propogated it in Vartaal.