In the Samvat year 1876, on the fourth day of the bright half of the month of Margashirsh at night. Shreeji Maharaj was seated in the residential place of the saints in the Durbar [royal residence] of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put on all white garments-Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before Him in an assembly.
Then Shreeji Maharaj asked the assembly a question, “Out of all the means of realizing God which one is the most difficult? The saints and the devotees tried to give the answer according to their understanding but no one could give a satisfactory answer.
Thereupon Shreeji Maharaj said, “Come, I will give the answer. There is no means more difficult than to concentrate one’s mind without interruption on the divine image of God. It is also said in the Holy Scriptures that there is no greater achievement for a devotee than such an uninterrupted concentration of mind on the divine image of God. The divine image of God is like a Chintâmani [a wishing stone]. Anyone who is in possession of a wishing stone is able to achieve whatever he desires. Similarly he who can concentrate his mind without interruption on the image of God, can also visualize immediately the nature of Jeev [soul], Ishwar, Maya, and Brahman if he so desires. He can also visualize the various divine abodes of God such as Vaikunth, Golok, Brahma Mahol, etc. if so he desires. Therefore such an uninterrupted concentration of mind on the divine image of God is the most difficult of all the means of God realization. And there is no greater achievement than that. Then Sheth Govardhanbhai asked Shreeji Maharaj, “What is the nature of Maya?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, “The thing that comes in the way of a devotee in his meditation on the divine image of God like a veil is called Maya.”
Then Muktanand Swami asked, ‘What form of body does a devotee assume when he goes to the divine abode of God after leaving this mortal body composed of paanch bhoot – the five basic physical elements, earth, water, light, air and space ?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, “The devotee who has taken refuge in ‘Dharmakul’, the family of Dharmadev, assumes a body of the nature of Brahm by the grace of God. And when such devotees leave their mortal bodies and go to the divine abode of God, some go riding an eagle, some mount chariots, some go flying in a Viman [a heavenly carrier] and such other divine modes. The yogis in their transcendental meditation can see them personally.”
Then Harji Thakkar asked, “Some people move in the company of saints for a long time and yet they do not feel such deep affection for the Satsang [holy fellowship] as they do for their bodies and their relatives. Why so?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied. “It is so because they do not know the infinite greatness of God perfectly. And if the saint through whom he comes to know the greatness of God reprimands him for some weak aspect of his nature, he begins to find faults with the saint who thus reprimands him but he is not prepared to give up his nature. And because of this sin he does not feel deep affection for the holy fellowship. It is an eternal truth that sins committed at other places are redeemed in the company of saints. But the sins committed against the saints are never redeemed by any means other than the mercy of the saints. It is also said in the scriptures that:
“अन्यक्षेत्रे कृतं पापं तीर्थक्षेत्रे विनश्यति|
तीर्थक्षेत्रे कृतं पापं वज्रलेपो भविष्यति ||”
[Sins committed at other places are redeemed in a place of pilgrimage. But the sins committed in a place of pilgrimage stick to the sinner like a strong plaster of cement and iron.] . Therefore a devotee will feel deep affection for the holy fellowship, he does not find faults with the saints.”
