[Advaita-l] Sri Brahmachaitanya Gondavalekar Maharaj Pravachan

[Divya Meedin]

November 12
Difference between Baddha and Mukta

The baddha is of the world, tied down to its pleasures and pains, whereas
the mukta is free of them, and God is the only reality for him. Saints
completely dissociate themselves from the body; people ask, not about their
progenitors, but about the guru, the upasana. They are, for all practical
purposes unaware of the body; its awareness, ego, is all merged in God. The
baddha takes far more interest in the pleasures, the happenings, and
condition of the body and material existence; a lessening of such interest
indicates progress in the direction of absolvement; this becomes complete
when God becomes the sole reality.
We are baddha today because we take ourselves to be so; we identify
ourselves with this body, whereas we are, in fact, a part of the Basic
Reality. Consequently, the pleasures and pains of the body persecute us,
and are felt by us as real. The soul, actually, is unaffected, detached. We
take the soul and body both as ‘ourselves’, although we say ‘my’ arm is
aching or ‘my’ stomach is upset. Tacitly, therefore, we admit that we are
not the organs or their assemblage which we call the body, and the ‘owner’
or the ‘soul’ is different from, independent, of the body.
Our mind takes joy in sensual pleasures, so we have a soft corner for them.
But these pleasures being transitory, the joy, too, lasts only a short
while. Discontent also arises from dependence on other persons or things.
We should, therefore, never forget the true nature of our’ selves’.
This detachedness can only come from true devotion to God. An obstruction
to this comes from the ‘body-am-I’ conviction, which must first be ousted
from the mind. So let us ever carry the feeling that we belong to God, and
that whatever happens is by God’s will; this will gradually erode the
‘body-am-I’ belief. This does not call for penance, sacrifices, and such
other austerities, nor for relinquishing family life and retiring to the
forest, or any such other cumbersome and strenuous performance. Abandon all
doership, say you belong to God, and be happy and contented; this will
gradually attenuate the ego. Just as the ‘body-am-I’ conviction
consolidated itself into identity with the body, we shall recover our true
identity with the Ultimate Reality by repeating that we come from God.

On Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 4:23 PM Divya Meedin <divyameedin at gmail.com> wrote:

> Remember Only Rama, Forgetting all Else
>
> The only way to make God our own is to do everything without assuming
> doership. Harbour neither hatred nor jealousy towards anyone, see our Rama
> in everyone. Avoid slander and rather, look critically at yourself, to
> foster good qualities and eradicate defects and evil tendencies. Behave so
> with others that people hanker after you. This can be achieved if you have
> a liking for none but Rama. Rama’s grace will lighten even great physical
> pain. Rely on Rama as your saviour, and keep your mind from being affected
> by anything. Never entertain pride, and be fearless at heart. Whatever pain
> or sorrow Rama chooses to inflict, accept cheerfully.
> Leave the body to suffer its destiny; take care to see that you do not
> stray from your sadhana. To belong to Rama – let this be your unswerving
> goal. The body may suffer pain or pleasure under the sway of fate, but keep
> your mind fixed on Rama. Keep your knowledge concealed under the plea of
> ignorance. Look not for faults in others, but improve your own. Make it a
> rule not to harm anyone. Be devoted to Rama in your heart, and see God in
> all.
> He who holds Rama as his master should neither whine nor cringe. Never beg
> for anything; keep your faith firmly in Rama. Remember we have to turn even
> unpleasant things and situations to our good. Forgetting the Lord makes us
> succumb to temptation; so concentrate on devotion and nama; listen not to
> other “knowledge.”
> It is Rama who creates all circumstances; so see His hand in everything.
> Our thoughts will be on the right track if we remember that Rama is the
> doer of everything. Pay no more than casual attention to worldly gain or
> loss. Conduct yourself cheerfully in life, with unflinching faith in Rama.
> Strive for that, glorious moment when Rama alone occupies the mind to the
> exclusion of everything else. Give no quarter to any inclination or desire
> that does not pertain to Rama. Never forget that you belong to Rama, and in
> that thought always be contented. “Now that I truly belong to Rama, I feel
> perfectly blessed.” Stabilise this conviction, and you may be sure that
> Rama will be pleased.
> Nama is powerful enough to take and secure you to Rama. To this moment I
> have been asserting that your true interest lies only in nama.
>
> On Mon, 26 Oct, 2020, 10:15 Divya Meedin, <divyameedin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama
>>
>> From Sri Brahmachaitanya Gondavalekar Maharaj Pravachan:
>>
>> October 26:
>>
>> The Flood of God’s Grace
>>
>> When sowing, only pure, unrotten seed is selected. Devotion with some
>> ulterior, mundane object in view is like rotten seed. Pure seed has to be
>> carefully developed, evolved. One may begin by sowing available rotten
>> seed; similarly, one may start devotion with some mundane aim in view. As
>> one proceeds, one may realize the importance of undertaking devotion for
>> its own sake. God should be prayed for this purpose. After sowing, there
>> should be opportune rain. This is not in our control, but God arranges for
>> it. Now if the field is hollow, water may accumulate there, and must be
>> drained, lest excess of it decay the roots. The excess water may be drained
>> into the adjacent field, in all likelihood with advantage to it. To breach
>> the bund and let the water to the needy corresponds, in the case of God’s
>> grace, to benefaction. With spiritual progress, the sadhaka often gets
>> certain occult faculties; for instance, what he says comes true, he can
>> make out what passes in another’s mind, can go to another place unseen by
>> others, and so on. At such times he must avoid the temptation to use such
>> faculties for selfish purposes; he has to be specially alert in this
>> regard. If used at all, they must be employed only to relieve others’
>> distress, never for any selfish end.
>> It would obviously be wise not to base one’s happiness on other persons
>> or things or circumstances. This has to be learnt by practice. However, the
>> mind cannot remain vacant; it must be provided with some occupation. God is
>> that occupation. Because God is eternal, complete in Himself, and blissful,
>> these qualities automatically percolate into the mind that keeps
>> contemplating on Him. One can only imagine how sweet life must be to a mind
>> so soaked in Him. Have an abiding consciousness that you and all that
>> exists belong to Him; then life becomes such enjoyable fun!
>> The grace of God will be experienced if nama is chanted with a pure
>> heart. A sadhaka should do his duty conscientiously, and live happily,
>> leaving everything else to God, or to sadguru.
>> A thing comes or is lost as destined. Why should we then vainly feel
>> miserable or joyful? When we know that everything belongs to God, we can
>> leave everything to His care, and be carefree, joyful.
>>
>> Pravachan Grid:
>> https://sites.google.com/a/brahmachaitanya.org/www/sri-brahmachaitanya-grid
>>
>