Guruji

Golden Advice

Desire God alone. God-realization is your goal. Do not forget your goal for even a moment. You should make a promise for a disciplined life and a controlled mind. Observe carefully the rules of etiquette, purity and manners. Behave gently and speak sweetly. Never compete with others in luxury. Take simple diet and wear simple dress. Soak your mind in the Lord’s name. Mold your life with good qualities and divine motives. Do not give leniency to your mind. Keep it occupied with divine thoughts. Be mentally detached from everything except God. Love God and feel His presence everywhere.

Lead a pure positive life with an affirmative ideal. Prepare a routine and maintain regularity. Keep good company. Always obey the invaluable teachings of the holy scriptures. Do not forget that the sign of saintliness is humility and simplicity. Have as your motto, “Plain living and high thinking.”

Know that the problems of life can never be solved by empirical scientific knowledge. The solution lies in the domain of inner spiritual knowledge.

Live in this delusive world, but let not this world live in you. The subtle art of living is to act properly in accordance with the time, place and situation. Live in this changing world like a lotus in water. Imbibe all spiritual teachings coming from all sources, and sing the everlasting glory of the Almighty Lord.

Exert enthusiastically, carry discrimination intelligently, cultivate virtue gladly, practice meditation intensely and pray to the Lord fervently. Time once lost is lost forever. What you plan to do tomorrow, do today. What you want to do today, do at once. Realize the Self or God quickly and be free from mental tension, anxiety, confusion and ignorance immediately. Dance in ecstasy in the luminous field of felicity. Know Thyself. God is Infinity.

The changing can give only changing happiness. Don’t expect permanent value from impermanent sources. If you do, you are bound to be frustrated. Seek the permanent source of all happiness. Take shelter in the Self alone.

First you must control the body, then the mind, and then the Spirit within will reveal itself.

Search for God within your heart. If you do not find Him there, then you will not find Him anywhere else. God dwells in the hearts of all creatures as pure consciousness, bliss and peace. He is you whom you seek, and He seeks all of you.

What is Life?

Life is a play. The infinite unseen power is playing as the finite soul. The un

seen becomes manifest in atomic form. Life appears and disappears, cycling from subtle to gross and then from gross to subtle. Life begins its creation with the ether, followed in succession by air, fire, water and earth. It first creates the mineral kingdom, then the vegetable, the animal and ultimately man. Man is not only a rational being in physical form—real man is immortal and infinite in his fundamental nature. Man is the ultimate creation of the universe.

The goal of life is God. The value of life is freedom. The secret of life is time rightly used for the elevation of the soul. The glory of life is a balance between the physical and the spiritual. The greatness of life is service. The stupidity of life is absorption in sensuality. The wisdom of life is following the paths of the great souls. The consummation of life is liberation. Liberation must be sought by finding the Source within.

The Self

The true Self in man is eternal and infinite. It is all-pervading, all-permeating, only One without a second. The Immortal Self cannot be demonstrated, but can only be realized by direct knowledge in the ecstasy of intuition.

The Absolute Self is beyond all reasoning. He is far as well as near. He is beyond all appearances. In the Self there is no space or time. There is neither increase nor loss in the Absolute. He is ever the same. The Self has no cause. It is the uncaused cause of this universe. As waves, bubbles and foam are not different from water, even so, the universe emanating from the Self is not different from it.

One is bewildered and restless until Self-knowledge is attainted. Self-knowledge alone can free us from the clutches of maya (illusion) and from the wheel of birth and death. Knowledge of the Self comes to us as direct realization but only after deep meditation.

Inquire within your own self, “Am I this mortal body which is made of flesh, bone, blood and mucus or am I something else?” By this question and its real answer all the problems of your life will be solved forever.

Affirm, “In essence I am the Immortal Spirit. I am not this perishable body. I am not these inert senses. I am not this fluctuating mind. I am not even the intellect or ego. I am the Eternal Atman, the Self. I am the embodiment of peace, bliss and wisdom.

Guru and Disciple

The syllable gu means darkness and the ru means light. Guru means the dispeller of darkness. A person who leads his disciples, devotees and students from darkness to light, ignorance to Self-knowledge, bondage to freedom, humanity to divinity, confusion to solution, and perplexity to hilarity is a guru.

A guru should be endowed with divine qualities such as self-restraint, self–control, self-contentment and self-confidence. He should be free from doubt, worldly desire, question, curiosity and misery. He should also be happy and cheerful with his own practical spiritual experience and wisdom. His character should agree with his teachings.

Disciples, devotees and students should have deep faith in their guru and they should lead disciplined lives. They should pray and practice metaphysical meditation everyday, morning as well as evening. They should maintain regularity in their daily spiritual program. They should be simple, humble, honest and sincere. Those who do not maintain a disciplined life cannot be called disciples. Spiritual disciples should have no jealousy or anger and should be free from crookedness and hatred. Spiritual aspirants should obey the teachings of their guru and serve him sincerely. Then there is hope for success in life.

Prayer

Prayer is the master key that opens the gates of divinity. God appears through heartfelt prayer and self-surrender. Prayer is the wing that lets you fly to God. Prayer is the philosopher’s stone, which turns humanity into divinity, poison into nectar, sinners into saints and hell into heaven. Prayer is the panacea for pain, perplexity and all human maladies. Prayer is the best treatment for our mental anxieties, agonies, frustrations and dejections. You provide food for the perishable body but your primary duty is to provide food for the Soul. Prayer is the food for the Soul. As you take food everyday for the body, so you should pray to God everyday to attain peace of mind and a happy life. Pray to God before going to bed and after getting up. Do not miss prayer even for a day.

The Divine Name

All divine potencies are hidden in the Lord’s name. All maladies vanish by the Lord’s name. The name of God is the ferryboat to reach the other shore of this world-ocean. The divine name is an antidote for all our miseries, sorrows, depravity and malignity.

Sow a thought, reap a deed; sow a deed, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character and reap a destiny. Thought is all-important. Think only divine thoughts. Evil thoughts are your most dangerous enemy. Character is build by good thoughts and noble conduct. The highest thought is God. That unseen power can be called Father or Mother, God or Goddess. Always repeat His Name. Any name—Shiva, Krishna, Rama, Jesus, Mary, Kali or Om. Soak your mind with the Lord’s name. Merge yourself in the inner light and sound. That is the divine ground.

Meditation

The way to Self-knowledge is dispassion, discrimination, determination and meditation. If you meditate sincerely and seriously there is sure hope for success.

For beginners, a separate room, place or seat is necessary for meditation. Go to bed at 9 or 10 pm and get up at 4 or 5 am. Sit in half lotus, full lotus or in a high backed chair. Keep the body, back and head strait. Breathe slowly. Sit without any movement and with eyes closed. Concentrate upon the image of your holy deity and mentally repeat your holy mantra. Try to see forcibly the object of meditation through your mind’s eye. If the mind runs hither and thither, bring it back to the point of meditation again and again. If any other thoughts arise within your mind, do not try to drive them away. Rather try vigorously to fix your mind on your object of meditation. All other thoughts will pass away. Start your meditation sittings at a half hour and gradually increase the time to three hours. Have another sitting in the evening.

Practice is the only means to success. Practice makes man perfect. Do not change the method or object of meditation until success is achieved. If you do you will sustain a loss of energy and lose the ground that you have developed through so many days of culture. Do not slacken your practice until you attain Self-knowledge. Be sincere in your practice. You will eventually succeed. He realized quickest whose yearning and meditation are the greatest.

Health and Diet

To obtain the four legitimate goals of life, dharma (virtue), artha (prosperity), kama (enjoyment), and mukti (liberation), good heath is fundamental. Without a

sound body and sound mind, life becomes a burden. A life of self-restraint, self-confidence, moral purity and honesty is imperative for a healthy body and sound mind. As fresh air, wholesome food and pure water are indispensable for good health, so also are right thinking and virtuous actions.

Do some pranayama (breathing practices) and physical exercise daily and regularly to keep the body in a healthy condition. Both dynamic and static exercise is needed. Walking and running are dynamic and yogic asanas (postures) are static. One should maintain a balance between these two kinds of exercise.

Yogic exercise is the king of all systems of physical culture. The practice of yogic asanas keeps the weight of the body moderate and its structure normal. They give the practitioner an elastic spine and supple body. By yogic exercise blood circulates throughout the whole body and one’s vital energy is preserved and increased. The daily practice of asanas helps one lead an energetic life with a youthful mind and eradicated laziness and lethargy—the great enemies of discipline. All exercises should be done regularly and in moderation.

Keep balance in your diet and never overload the stomach. Overeating upsets all sadhana (spiritual practice) as well as brahmacharya (sexual purity). It also increases drowsiness, laziness and makes one dull-headed. Be a pure vegetarian. Avoid all pungent articles such as garlic, onion, meat, fish, eggs, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs. These articles do not lend themselves to a life of meditation. Milk and fruit are good for spiritual culture and help in concentration. Do not ask for extra salt or sugar at your meals. Sweets injure the teeth and salt the eyesight. Avoid all items that produce constipation, heat the system or irritate the stomach or mind. Eat slowly, cheerfully and chew your food thoroughly. Before eating your meal, offer it to God.

The idea of eating only for enjoyment is mistaken and simple foolishness. Eat to live and not for taste. Take food as medicine to keep your life going. It is best to wait 8 hours between meals. This, along with occasional fasts, give rest to the stomach and disciplines the mind. Fasting purifies the nerves and intestines and removes all defects from the body. Fast on ekadasi (the eleventh day of the waxing and waning moon) or every fortnight. When fasting one should drink water mixed with lemon juice and a pinch of salt. To break a fast, one should take hot milk and fruit (except banana). The unhabituated may at first feel uneasy, but one must have firm faith. All disciplines taste bitter in the beginning but soon give one the sweetest nectar. Fasting is the best medicine for all diseases. One should never forget that dietetic treatment is always better that doctors’ medicine. Do not forget that the purpose of good health is success in spiritual culture.

Brahmacharya

You should try your best to preserve virya (the vital force whose physical manifestation is the sexual fluids) as much as possible. Virya is the health and wealth of spiritual aspirants. Virya is the essence of fire, thought and intelligence. Virya

is the sun of the body. Preserve this vital force very carefully.

Freedom from all kinds of sexual enjoyment in thought, word and deed is called brahmacharya. The observance of brahmacharya is essential for both men and women. Through brahmacharya you can attain good health, peace of mind, strength of body, control of the senses and a strong memory. He who observes brahmacharya attains willpower, patience, tolerance and strength. Through the practice of continence one gets concentration, purity and long life. Where there is sense pleasure there is not peace. Where there is peace there is no sense pleasure. This is because sense pleasures are the enemy of true lasting peace. This is a great secret.

The practice of concentration requires great mental energy. Nobody can attain knowledge of the Self without observing sexual restraint. The Self-realized are ever free from the love of sensual pleasures because Self-knowledge gives the highest happiness, perpetual peace, immutable wisdom and eternal freedom. Perfect yogis know the invaluable glory of brahmacharya.

Deep devotion, intense meditation, fervent prayer and unswerving faith destroy the sex impulse. Think that all persons are the manifestations of your divine parents and mentally offer them salutations and adorations. See the One Almighty Lord in all and the many in the One. Always identify yourself with the sexless Atman, the Self. There is neither body nor sex in the Self. Dear spiritual aspirant, take the vow of continence and be endowed with unbounded joy.

Admonition I

Oh son of immortality! You are the divine dweller

You have come here as a stranger and a traveler

It is a domain of diversity and endless dilemma

Life is perpetually puzzling in its phenomena and panorama

Here there is always attractive and repulsive illusion

You may play or struggle but be detached from delusion

The life of sensuality is confused, deviated and fallacious slavery

The habit of mundane greediness is temptation and bad beggary

Be free from this changing farce and absurdity of duality

Don’t be blindly absorbed in this transitory sensuality

This mysterious dramatic stage is not your final goal

Play dispassionately and finish your ordained role

Go to the background of plurality, quality and quantity

Know that unity, Self-identity and inconceivable divinity

There is neither darkness or light nor nothingness

But plenum, super-consciousness and full awareness

It is not a mental conception, imagination or hallucination

But super-sensuous perception and Self-realization

It is the culmination of culture and the consummation of wisdom

It is the life of emancipation and the divine freedom

Admonition II

Oh dearest soul

Rise from animality, cross the realm of humanity

Taste the immortality and realize the eternal divinity

Refrain from ignorant sensuality, know your Self-identity

Dance in ecstasy in the innermost field of felicity

Go beyond the changing pleasure and pain, timidity and knavery

Control the stubborn mind and be free from empirical slavery

Through the inner sense enjoy the innermost light and sound

Transcend this profane world, recognize the provident profound

Internal existence is the embodiment of peace, bliss and wisdom

External perception is hallucination, delusion and bad boredom

The external force is the field of mysterious phantasmagoria

It is a tantalizing puzzle spreading like infectious bacteria

How wonderful is the perennial peace of celestial scenery

It is the fruit of yogic meditation and spiritual discovery

Be heedful and free from the life of corruption and pollution

Realize the Self and attain everlasting joy of blissful liberation

Go beyond good and evil, mind and speech, and the sensual bound

Dive deep into the river of rapture, reach the divine ground

If you be desireless, in the nothingness you may find

The ubiquitous, all-knowing, the super-conscious mind

The Self knows no anger, hate nor enmity

Self remains unchanged from infancy to maturity

He is beyond space and time, He has no form or hue

He is you whom you seek, he seeks all of you

He is the creator, destroyer and inner ruler

He is the all-sustainer and cosmic controller

Guruji’s Blessings

I pray to the Almighty Lord for your success in life. May you be successful in divine prayer and metaphysical meditation. May God grant you longevity to enjoy a free life of divinity. May God grant you good understanding and the ability to realize the Supreme Reality. May you be free from mental illusion, delusion and tension. May you drown in the life of peace, bliss, wisdom and freedom. May the Lord permit you to attain the knowledge of the Self. May you attain detachment, dispassion and mental renunciation. May you be maser of your mind and senses. May you attain divine freedom. May you attain the life of perennial joy, divine delight, perpetual peace, eternal wisdom. May you be free from terrestrial temptation and tantalization. May you be physically happy, worldly lucky and spiritually sparkling. May you dive deeply into the core of your innermost being and be ever happy with divine seeing. May you be endowed with divine enthusiasm, discipline and self-control. May you attain the best taste, highest happiness and transcendental crest. May you cross the ignorant mentality and drink the nectar of Divinity. May you taste immortality and dance in the transcendent field of felicity.

Hari Om Tat Sat

“The knowledge of Brahman that lies on the tip of the guru’s tongue can be realized only through his grace”

~Sri Guru Gita

Guruji