Parichay Essays

Essay 1

Vachanamrut Reflection: The Secret of Developing Profound Love in Satsang

If a businessman works day and night to save millions of dollars but then goes to a casino and loses all his wealth in gambling, then what would one find in his accounts at the end of the year? What happens if someone mixes a drop of poison in a sweet milk prepared with sugar, almonds, pistachio and saffron? Something similar happens to us after coming to satsang. We our all-in mind, body and wealth. Yet we do not harbor the same profound love for the Satsang fellowship as we do for our own body and relatives. What is the reason for this? In Gadhada I-1, Harji Thakkar asks the same question to Shriji Maharaj. Replying to this Shriji Maharaj says, “Such a person has not fully realized the glory of . Consequently, when the Sant - by whose association God’s glory is fully realized - talks to him about his swabhavs, the person is not able to overcome them. Instead, he bears an aversion towards the Sant. It is due to this sin that he does not develop intense love for the Satsang fellowship.” In Gadhada I-44, Shriji Maharaj further explains to Somla Khachar, “As well as associating with me, you also associate with the world. As a result, intense love for God does not develop”. Therefore, in Vachanamrut Gadhada I-8, Shriji Maharaj emphasizes that one must shun bad company in their life along with maintaining association with the Sant. After joining Satsang, we try not to associate with bad company or go against our panch vartmans. However, many times unintentionally, we start seeing flaws in the Satpurush. Once, a farmer devotee entered sabha with muddy feet during monsoon season. Gunatitanand asked the devotee to wash his feet before coming to sabha. The devotee was offended and stopped coming to mandir. met him on his way one day and asked why he had not been coming to mandir lately. The devotee sarcastically replied, “I will come after washing my feet”. This way, how is progress in the spiritual path possible if we see flaws in the Satpurush for small matters such as this? The real reason for seeing the flaws in the Satpurush is because of our own flaws- our own ego. Shriji Maharaj states in Loya 6, “The force of lust, anger, arrogance, matsar, egotism and other vicious natures is trivial.” Explaining the nature of the egotism, Shriji Maharaj explains in Loya 16, “An egotist perceives faults in a sadhu. This is because it is the very nature of someone who is egotistical that if someone praises him, even though that person may have hundred faults, he would overlook them and would instead greatly highlight a single virtue. Conversely, if a person does not praise him, then even though that person may have a hundred virtues, he would overlook all of them and highlight an utterly insignificant fault. Consequently, he would initially spite that person mentally, then verbally, and ultimately physically as well.” Mothers often have to give bitter, unpleasant medicine to their children so their illness can be cured. Just like that, Sadhus sometime might give us advice or might scold us for something, but it is only because they want us to progress in Satsang. They want us to try to get rid of our own flaws such as lust, anger, ego, and greed. If we learn not to see flaws in a sadhu, we could progress in satsang and develops profound love for God and the Satpurush. Shivlal Sheth was a rich devotee. One time, he was chewing betel nut during sabha. Seeing this, Gunatitanand Swami commented, "Who is forsaking the taste of such divine spiritual nectar in the form of these discourses and chewing bone?" Immediately Shivlal Sheth got up, went outside and washed his mouth clean. He resolved never to take sopari in his life again. He was constantly aware of opportunities to progress spiritually. He thought to himself, “How fortunate am I that Swami thinks of me as one of his own. He is able to let me know my flaws; otherwise, I would never be able to get rid of them.” Until we understand the greatness of God, we cannot develop love towards him. In order to understand the greatness of God though, seeking company of a Satpurush is a must. No one understands the greatness of God, the way the Satpurush understands it. Therefore, one must constantly keep aware not to see flaws in the Satpurush.

Essay 2

Shastriji Maharaj Has Never Opposed Anyone: That Is Special

Swamishri knew that such circumstances would arise only in accordance with the will of Shriji Maharaj. The troubles in Vadtal arose because he performed the function of propagating the true of Akshar-Purushottam. Hence, he did not feel sad about it. The only thing which, however, pained him was that even in such a consecrated and divine place of Shriji Maharaj, it was not permissible to discuss the doctrine of the true upasana of Shriji Maharaj. Swamishri, along with five other saints, stood before the idol of Harikrishna Maharaj in the temple and prayed to Him: "Oh Maharaj, we have no desire at all to depart from here, but if it is your will that we should separate, then do protect us and always remain with us." With five saints and nearly a hundred and fifty devotees, Swamishri left the temple from Hanumanji's gate. Vadtal was forlorn with the departure of such a great saint by whom it was embellished! On the way to the Gomti lake, Kishorebhai, a policeman, met them. When he came to know that Swamishri was forced to leave Vadtal, he rushed to the temple, and failing to find him there he proceeded in search of him in this direction. On seeing Swamishri he bowed to him and requested him: "Swami! Please give me the names of the mischief- mongers. I shall arrest them and lock them up in the Nadiad jail." Swamishri replied : "We do not want to do any such thing. We must promote the satsang by even suffering insults and by living in accordance with the duties enjoined to the sadhus." Kishorbhai was deeply impressed by the saintliness of Swamishri. Then Swamishri proceeded further. Bidding farewell to all those who had gathered there, Swamishri said: "Please continue giving donations in Vadtal to Thakorji (the deity), offering rasoi (food), and observing Poonam (a visit on the full-moon day for the darshan of Thakorji), etc. The temple and Thakorji are ours; we are not seceding from them." Swamishri reached Karamsad and from there he went to Bochasan. There were only five sadhus with him, but they were all valiant, prepared to lay their heads for his sake. On one occasion, visited the old mandir in . After darshan, he sat on a seat in the assembly hall. A senior sadhu from the walked into the mandir. His eyes fell on Shastriji Maharaj. Unable to bear the rising popularity of Shastriji Maharaj the brewing envy within him turned into a rage. At first, he started abusing Shastriji Maharaj verbally. Next, he started pushing and shoving Shastriji Maharaj, who remained calm. Finally, in a fit of anger, the old sadhu hit Shastriji Maharaj with his walking stick. He hit him so hard that the stick broke into two. Shastriji Maharaj quietly picked up the two broken pieces and humbly handed them back to the old sadhu. This was Shastriji Maharaj’s sadhuta. He could easily have retaliated, but he was not ready to stoop low and give up his principles of tolerance and forgiveness. Shastriji Maharaj once wrote a letter to the kothari of Bochasan mandir, “We should always think highly of others and behave in a dignified manner that is helpful to all, no matter what. One should never think of taking revenge for the hurt meted out to oneself because that is unacceptable on the path of sadhuta. Never take the stand of ‘an eye for an eye’. If someone insults us or demeans us, we should be pleased. Let that be God’s wish, because, eventually, the truth will prevail. Shriji Maharaj controls everything and rewards one and all with the fruits of their actions.” Such was the caliber of Shastriji Maharaj’s sadhuta. Because Shastriji Maharaj had such a staunch in Shriji Maharaj, he never saw oppositions as an issue. Standing up for the truth amid a barrage of opposition and at the risk of one’s life requires conviction, commitment, courage and character. Shastriji Maharaj had them in abundance and that is why he remained resolute and successfully revived the philosophy of Akshar and Purushottam as revealed by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in the Vachanamrut. Until his last breath, he endeavored to develop this true understanding in all. Shastriji Maharaj established five mandirs in in which he consecrated the of Aksharpurushottam Maharaj in the central shrine. He accomplished his mission amidst great difficulties, hardships and challenges. With only five sadhus and a handful of devotees he pioneered the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar- Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). A thousand prostrations to Shastriji Maharaj!

Essay 3

Vachanamrut: From the Viewpoint of History

In the Vachanamrut Bhagwan Swaminarayan deals with all types of questions faced by a spiritual aspirant, whether a novice or highly advanced. Many times, he would start a discourse without any questions being asked or he would ask a question initiating a discussion. Every discourse of the Vachanamrut in the very beginning mentions the year, the month, the day, the time, the village, the location, the direction of the assembly and the speaker, the dress and the names of important persons in the assembly. Even the village of the questioner and his caste is described. Thus, John Carman, former Prof. of School of Divinity, Harvard University, said, "I should also like to comment on a few things that struck me in the book (Vachanamrut) itself. One is so familiar to you that you may be surprised I mention it. Yet students of Indian religious history are constantly faced with the difficulty of the lack of firm and definite dates in this history. In this book, however, every discourse is precisely dated. This is a chapter of religious history which one might say is in the full light of day as far as our knowledge of history is concerned. It is a common Western misunderstanding of that there is no sense of history in India. I think that in what you hold dear as a community and what is called the Parampara, the succession of the , one sees that special sense of history which is important for the religious people in India” In short, the value of environment described in Vachanamrut has become invaluable. The details such as this cannot be found in most of the world’s religious scriptures. The followers of already know the importance of these details and are proud to call it their own scripture. However, did you know that Shriji Maharaj himself had told the writers to include these details for the future readers? Once, Shriji Maharaj was in Gadhada. At that time, came to Shriji Maharaj and told him, “There is a rento (tied on the head) and surval (trouser-like garment) being made with Swaminarayan and Narnarayan names being embroidered in them”. Shriji Maharaj then replied, “The embroidered names do not last very long.'' Muktanand Swami then brought the Vachnamrut scripture they had been writing and showed it to Shriji Maharaj. He asked, “Should we be adding anything in this?” Shriji Maharaj then replied, “You should include the time, year, tithi, and names of people who have asked the question in each Vachnamrut.” Shriji Maharaj then went to have his lunch. Up until now, we might have given all the credit of the Vachnamrut to the paramhansas who had written the Vachanamrut, but the real person deserving of the praise is Shriji Maharaj himself. Sadguru Adharanand Swami notes in his Vato, “Shri had given a command to Muktamuni that the talks that I deliver, you should listen carefully and write them down. Muktamuni would remember and memorize all his talks. Shri Hari would ask him about the talks. Thereafter, Shukmuni, Aadharanandmuni, Shantmuni and Daharmuni - would give him additional details and Muktamuni would then write everything meticulously.” In this way, Shriji Maharaj himself suggested to Muktanand Swami to note down all the details in Vachanamrut. Adharanand Swami noted this on Samvat 1876 Magshar Sud Paksh. The Vachanamrut discourses also start after this date, which gives another proof that Shriji Maharaj himself gave these instructions. Because of him, we have this scripture in front of us today. After compilation, the four paramhansas showed the collection of the to Shriji Maharaj for scrutiny. We glean this from Loya 7, in which Nityanand Swami shows the collection (as completed up to that date) to Maharaj, who examines it and is greatly pleased with it. Finally, Maharaj also testifies to the truthfulness of his talks on several occasions, by taking an oath on the names of his beloved paramhansas. In Gadhada III 2, he says, “I swear by this assembly of sadhus that there is not even the slightest untruth in this matter.” He has also similarly sworn by the names of the paramhansas in Gadhada II 13. Hence, among the of Sanatan , the Vachanamrut is unique from the point of view of its scholarly compilers, the dating and the endorsement by the speaker – Bhagwan Swaminarayan himself – about the contents.