In the Samvat year. 1876. on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Paush. Shreeji Maharaj was seated facing the west, on a wooden bedstead laid under the neem tree in front of the temple of Shree Vasudev Narayan in the Durbar of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put a white turban on His head, and .a4 tassel of yellow flowers was hanging from His turban. Two bunches of white flowers were studded over His eds. and a garland of white and, yellow flowers adorned His neck. He had covered His body with a white cotton shawl and put a white upper garment over His shoulder. Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before Him in an assembly.
Then Shreeji Maharaj said. “An ignorant person, even if he renounces this world, cannot get rid of his love for his birth place.” With these words Shreeji Maharaj displayed a scar on His thigh caused by the spike of a tree in His childhood and said. ‘Whenever I see this scar, I am reminded of the tree and the pond. It is very difficult to eradicate from one’s mind the memory of one’s own birth place, his own relatives and kinsmen. Now tell me frankly if anyone of you does not remember his relatives and his birth place. I ask you in the name of Lord Shree Nar Narayan to make a confession without any sense of shame.”
There upon all the saints made their confessions one by one according to their own experiences. Then Shreeji Maharaj said. “If we consider our soul to be our self, then where should we find the birth place of the soul? Who can be said to be the relatives of the soul? And what is the cask of the soul? If we have to think of our relatives we will have to take into account all the relatives of our innumerable ,previous lives and treat all of them equally. If we wish for the good of our relatives we must wish for the good of all of them. Just as we have forgotten our parents of our innumerable previous lives due to ignorance. we will have to forget the parents of this life also with proper understanding.
Personally I have no love for my relatives and kinsmen. Even if a person renders some service to me I cannot love him however I may try, if he does not worship God sincerely. He may be as virtuous as Naradji, I cannot love him If he has no devotion to God.
One Should have his heart full of devotion to God and should know that the Lord reveals Himself on this earth, and His devotees reside near Him and even at the time of the. ultimate dissolution God will remain Himself along with His devotees in the same manner. One should know that God and His devotees have divine forms. He should never think that they are Nirakar [formless] even though one may come across such statements in books written by scholars of the barren philosophy of Vedanta. One must know that there is no other creator of this universe except the Lord Himself. One must know that no one except the Lord is capable to turn even a dry leaf. If one has such a firm conviction regarding God having a divine form, as described above I shall love him even if he is an
ordinary devotee. Such a devotee cannot come into the clutches of Kal [times]. Karm [destiny], and Maya If at all he is to be punished, it is the Lord Himself who will punish him. He is under the rule of nobody else. If a person does not have such a firm conviction. I cannot have any feeling for him in my heart, though he may possess other virtues like renunciation. non-attachment, etc. A person who has such a firm conviction in his mind will not be shaken from his firm belief that God bas a divine form even if he comes across any sort of other scriptures, or may come into contact with any type of other people. He will never believe that God is formless like a huge mass of light. I would like to rub the dust of the feet of a saint on my fore head who has such a firm conviction. I am very much afraid of hurting the feelings of such a great saint. And would always crave for his sight. Other persons who have no firm conviction want to achieve
their good on the strength of other means of their own, but not on the strength of God. Persons with such a low intelligence who try to cross the ocean without a boat on the strength of their own arms are fools. Those who desire to achieve their good on the strength of God are like those wise people who try to cross the ocean in a boat. Those who possess the knowledge about the true nature of God will attain a spiritual form and
will always remain in His attendance after leaving this physical body. And those who have no firm conviction and are trying other means will go to the worlds of other deities. The sight of a true devotee is like the sight of God Himself. These devotees are so great that even innumerable ,fallen souls ate redeemed by their mere sight.” With these words Shreeji Maharaj concluded His talks, and asked the assembly to sing devotional songs.
