In the Samvat year 1876 at sunset on the sixth day of the bright half of the month of Paush. Shreeji Maharaj was seated on a wooden bedstead laid in the veranda in front of the hall facing the east. in the Durbar of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put on a white head-dress on His head, and had covered His shoulders with a white upper garment. He had put on a red woolen jacket and had covered His body with a large white
double sheet of cotton. Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before Him in an assembly.
Then Shreeji Maharaj addressed the saints and said today I am going to explain to you the State of mind attained through knowledge. Knowledge is beyond Prakruti and Purush. When one acquires knowledge, one loses the consciousness of Prakruti and Purush and their creation. This is called Gnanpralaya [dissolution due to knowledge]. In such a state of mind me sees only the universal spirit uniformly pervading every where. Therein one sees only the image of the Lord, and no other mage is seen there. Sometimes even the image of the Lord is not visible and one sees only bright light. At other times
both the bright light as well as the image of the Lord are visible. This state of mind is attained through knowledge. Such a state of mind is attained by concentrating one’s mind
constantly on the image of God as He has revealed to him in person. The brightness of the light in his heart will grow in proportion to his realization of the greatness of God. He will also be able to hear the sound of Pranav [Mystical symbol of Hindu Trinity] in the same proportion. Vicious thoughts will also disappear from his mind to the extent, he realizes the greatness of God accompanied by full faith in Him. Once faith in God is firmly established and His greatness is realized, as it is all vicious thoughts will be banished from his mind altogether.
If a person sucks a small piece of lemon, his teeth will become slightly sour. But he will be able to chew roasted grams slowly. But if he sucks a whole lemon he will not he able to chew grams. But he may be able to eat boiled beans with some effort. But if he sucks a number of lemons at a time, he will not be able to eat even cooked rice. Similarly when the knowledge of the greatness of God along with firm faith in Him is acquired
by a devotee, all the four types of conscience and ten senses will become sour. His mind will not be able to enjoy the objects of the senses, as sour molar teeth cannot chew grams. His conscience [Chitta will not be able to think deeply about them and his intelligence [buddhi] will not be able to take a decision. His ego [ahankar] will not be able to feel proud about them. He will not be able to enjoy them through the five cognitive senses and the five co native senses. The senses and the conscience of a person do not turn back
from objects of enjoyment if he does not have faith in Him and does not realize the greatness of God . The divine image of God is beyond the influence of Maya and is unaffected by its attributes. But the Lord appears in a human form only for the
good of the souls. Persons with poor intelligence will find different types of human failings in Him. But He is free from all the faults. It is the fault of the intelligence of the person who thinks like that. This fault of the person will never be got rid of.
One who thinks the Lord to be lustful, himself becomes very lustful. One who thinks the Lord to be hot tempered himself becomes, highly hot tempered. One who thinks the Lord to be avaricious, himself becomes intensely avaricious. One who thinks the Lord to be jealous, himself becomes extremely jealous. It is like-a handful of dust thrown against the sun, The dust falls back into one’s own eyes. Whatever fault is ascribed in the Lord it appears in the person himself. who so ascribes and creates trouble for him. A person however vicious may be will be completely free from all faults if he thinks the Lord to be absolutely faultless.”
Then Brahmanand Swami raised another question. “Even though the senses are not carried away by their objects of enjoyment, and various desires do not arise in the heart, and there is firm faith in God. still it is felt that there is something lacking and there is a sort of void in the heart. What is the reason?”
Shreeji Maharaj replied, ”It is a great fault of the devotee that he does not experience perfect bliss inspite of his firm faith in God. It is sad that he does not think that he has been fortunate to have achieved everything, People in this world ate troubled by lust. anger, avarice, infatuation jealousy, hopes and expectations, etc. They are roasted by the three types of fires: i.e. physical, mental and spiritual miseries night and day. It is sad that one does not think himself to be so fortunate that Lord Purushottam has mercifully revealed Himself personally to him and freed him from all vices like lust, anger, etc, and placed him in the company of great saints of the stature of Narad, Sanak and others. He does not enjoy the bliss for all the eight quarters of the day. This is his great drawback. If we give chintamani [a wishing stone] ‘to a child, he does not feel joy of possessing such a valuable stone because he does not know the value of the stone. Similarly if a devotee of God does not feel the joy of the presence of Lord Purushottam before him for all the eight quarters of the day and he does not feet to have achieved everything, it is his great drawback.
When we find some fault in a devotee of God, we should think that such a devotee is fortunate that, because of some good deed done by him in his previous life or this life, he has come in contact with the holy fellowship and has remained in it inspite of the fact that he did not deserve to be in the holy fellowship because of his vicious nature. This is how we should think about an ordinary devotee. We should try to look for some virtues in him also,” With these words Shreeji Maharaj concluded His talks, uttering ‘Jay Sadchidanad and retired to his residential place.
