CONTENTS Foreword Preface Personality of Shri Gondavalekar Maharaj Sadguru’s Message Discourses for each day of the Calendar Year Discourses on special occasions • Shri Rama-navami ( 3 discourses ) • Shri Ramadas-navami • Shri Guru Pournima ( 2 discourses Glossary of spiritual Sanskrit terms ( Appearing in italics in the text ) About Gondavale ( Budruk ) Maps Marathi Audio of the “Discourses” available at : http://satsangdhara.net/shri/prastavik1.htm# http://satsangdhara.net/shri/jan01.htm Also see : http://www.brahmachaitanya.org/sri-brahmachaitanya-grid This PDF book offered at the lotus feet of Shri Sadguru Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavalekar on 27 th December 2013 the centenary of Shri Maharaj Samadhi. No copyright infringement intended. 3'd Edition Shree Dattajayanti 20th December 2010 © Publisher Shriram G. Damle (Trustee) Shri Sadguru Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavalekar Sansthan "Chaitanyopasana" Gondavale (Budruk) 475 540. Tat: Man, Dist. Satara, Maharashtra Ph.: (02165) 258292 English Rendering V. C. Kelkar N. S. Jamadagni S. C. Marathe V. T. Jumde Address for Communication "Chaitanyopasana" c/o Vishram Pathak 202, Saikunj, Near Kesariwada, 569, Narayan Peth, Pune-411 030. Printed by K. Joshi & Company Sadashiv Peth, Near Bhikardas Maruti Mandir Pune - 477 030 Ph. - 020-24471409 E-mail - [email protected] Price Rs. 65/- FOREWORD * Learned persons delivering discourses on spiritual matters are quite popular in Maharashtra. There are three types among them. The first type consists of liberated souls or persons who have attained self-realization; the second consists of seekers, studying the spiritual sciences on their path to attain self-realization and the third includes professionals in this field. Shri Maharaj belonged to the first type. These discourses have been delivered by Shri Maharaj for the benefit of those who were keen to lead a spiritually rich life, full of internal happiness and contentment, therein explaining what is a spiritually rich life and simple ways of attaining the same. We take immediate care of our body if it suffers from any disease. In fact we are dwelling in this body. Our mind is closer to ourselves than the body. The mind usually suffers due to sorrow, worry, fear and temptation. As a result, we lose mental peace and happiness. In spite of this, we do not care for the health of our mind. Observing that we do not even try to find a way for a healthy mental life, Shri Maharaj felt compassion. It is this compassion which gave birth to these discourses. Just as diseases damage the physical body, the human mind is devitalized by desires, anger, avarice, hatred, envy, worldly fame, selfishness, suspicion and perverse thinking and one becomes restless or perturbed. Shri Maharaj has explained through these discourses in extremely simple language, how to purify our mind from these undesirable factors and make it healthy to lead a relaxed, peaceful and benevolent life. Externally medicines and internally life-force are needed for the cure of bodily diseases. For the cure of diseases of the mind, a constant remembrance of God and a profound internal faith in God or the sadguru are required. The name of God stores in itself remembrance of Him. The confluence of name of God and faith in Him gives rise to devotion to God. Devotion means fondness for God and fondness means intense Love. The intense Love for God or sadguru is an elixir which is a storehouse of great energy. This elixir of intense Love reaches the bottom of the mind and by destroying the layer of ignorance existing there, embraces the pure self. It removes all the obstacles on the path of realizing God. These discourses contain extremely clear and dependable guidelines for achieving that intense divine love. Shri Maharaj used to say that in the heart of every human being is hidden a spot of mystic beauty, the luster of which never withers, the flavour of which is never spoiled. With the help of God's name human beings can reach it. The joy arising out of its vision gives divine light. The person then reaches the timeless stage. Death, ignorance, sorrow find no place in his life. There is no limitation or dependence for him. Shri Maharaj used to stress that everyone has a right to reach this divine beauty, this unbroken continuous happiness and this never-withering contentment; because that is our real se[f. These discourses confidently reveal the way, proven by experience, to achieve this end. * Translation of the Foreword to the sixth edition of the compilation of Discourses in Marathi. God or sadguru who responds to our true intense love is dwelling in our heart itself. We perform various deeds in Life by His power and inspiration. We, however, easily forget this divine string-holder who keeps us alive and makes us dance to His tunes. In order that we do not forget Him, Shri Maharaj used to urge upon continuous recitation of nama. In the day-to-day life of a common man, it is not easy to resist the powerful pull of the forces of greed and attachment. This pull makes us easily forget God and nama. We then turn our face away from Him and look only at this material world. It is rather ironical, that even while actually performing an act for God or sadguru, we do forget Him. It leads to the weakening of the intensity of spiritual attitude while performing this act. These discourses are of great help in developing a spiritual attitude in our mind and maintaining the same in our day-to-day life. The Language of these discourses is very simple, having an informal homely touch. Its content, however, is loaded with experience and is extremely practical. Shri Maharaj wanted to pronounce to the world that a human being can never feel really contented in Life without proximity to God. To achieve proximity to God, constant remembrance of Him is the only way. It is a great art of spiritual path to establish constant remembrance of God. There is no doubt that constant remembrance is accomplished by recitation of nama. If one is able to chant nama continuously without break, one can achieve the ultimate aim of self-realization, without disturbing one's temporal life or having any change in the external appearance; this is the essence of these discourses. The mind of the person who enjoys reciting nama, becomes pure and subtle. A pure mind gets comprehensive. This comprehension of the mind reduces the distance between God and nama. Ultimately, nama becomes so subtle that it becomes impossible to distinguish between God and nama and the person reciting nama either merges with nama or merges with God and starts saying "I am He". This experience is nothing but the stage of the ultimate attainment of a Siddha. The path of God's name is not for going away, it is for coming back; it is not an exit, it is an entrance inwards. If while reciting nama with love and fondness, I feel that God is with me, He definitely is with me. If, however, I do not feel that God is with me, then notwithstanding His presence, the same is negated. 0ne should, therefore, either cry aloud nama or taking recourse to nama, remain in complete speechlessness. Thanks are due to those three devotees who have taken pains to prepare this edition. Shri Maharaj will be pleased if everyone devotes his remaining life to nama Shri Maharaj is eager to bestow his blessings for this; very rarely some one comes forward with open arms :o receive the same. Malad, Mumbai 400 064 Shri Maharaj's obedient, K. V. Belsare PREFACE With great good fortune, I got access to the notes, made by some devotees, of the discourses of Shri Maharaj delivered in Marathi. I was charmed by the simplicity of language, the depth of thought, the straightforwardness arising from pure selflessness and direct experience, the skill of explaining abstruse propositions with the use of easy but appropriate illustrations, and words overflowing with love of God. I fell sure that this invaluable treasure would provide guidance to everyone, and so I found myself compiling these notes. In this undertaking, I received encouragement of revered Shri Tatyasaheb Ketkar, my respected father Shri Panditrao Gokhale, and some brother devotees. It took the present form of a page for daily reading, and saw the light of day in 1966. Readers favorably responded to these Discourses, due to the simple, practical approach and the relief they bestowed on the mind in the turmoil and confusion caused by individual problems. In many cases, the lifestyle of readers slowly changed in approach, and took a different turn altogether. According to individual nature and circumstances, the readers discovered guidance, and a sense of peace and contentment. Many readers were drawn towards chanting nama which they could easily do while outwardly continuing their worldly activity. This could be easily gauged from the increasing number of devotees coming to Gondavale. The true mark of having visited a holy place consists of an increased love for God, that is, more frequent remembrance of Him, and an increased desire to chant nama. Many sadhakas have testified that a visit to Gondavale creates, and eventually stimulates, the desire to chant nama. All the first five editions of this book, totaling 45,000 copies, have been welcomed by readers and read avidly. The book has since been translated and made available to readers in Hindi, Kannada, and Gujarati; the Discourses are therefore popularly read also outside Maharashtra. After the first five editions, the complete rights of this compilation were handed over to the Trustees of Gondavale Sansthan. The trustees accepted the rights, and decided to make the book available to the public in excellent quality at a rock-bottom price.