In the Samvat year 1876, on the second day of the bright half of the month of Falgun, Shreeji Maharaj was seated in the residential place of the saints in the Durbar 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 invited those who were able to conduct questions and answers, to ask one question each.
There upon Muktanand Swami asked, “Maharaj, what is the specific means of moksha [redemption]?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, ‘To know the divine personality of God and to know the greatness of God are the two specific means of moksha [redemption].”
Then again Muktanand Swami asked, ‘What is the nature of love for God?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, “There should not remain even a tinge of doubt in our love for God. If one loves God looking only to the good qualities, he is likely to falter in his love when he finds some faults in Him. Hence love for God should be kept steady as ever. Love for God should not be such as grows more or becomes less now and then. One should love God like a blockhead person. One’s love cannot be trusted if he loves God because of His good qualities only. One must love God as intensely as he would love
his kith and kin. Such a love can be called love with indomitable faith. But love that results from the knowledge of the greatness of God is of a different kind.”
Then Shivanand Swami asked, “We do really want to remain in the holy fellowship. But we cannot get rid of our nature which may be unworthy in some ways. Why is it so?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, “Can it be said that one really wants to remain in the holy fellowship so long as one does not develop a dislike for his nature that comes in the way of his becoming a true member of the holy fellowship? Has he ever considered his nature his enemy ? Let me illustrate this point. Suppose a certain person is our friend. Now if the same person kills our brother, his friendship comes to an end and we are prepared to sever his head, because love for one’s brother is thicker than the love for the friend. In the same manner if in spite of the fact that one’s own nature is likely to lead him to violate his sacred vows and cause him to fall from the holy fellowship If he is not fired by the spirit of enmity for his nature and does not hate it, then it is certain that his love for the holy fellowship is not true. If he really loved the fellowship as intensely as he loved his brother, then he should immediately get rid of his vicious nature. The soul is very powerful. The mind and the senses are his field of action and he is the master. Hence the soul can do whatever he likes.”
