&& Aja‘² Ah§àJQ> nwéfmoÎm‘ñdê$nñ¶

Xmgmo@pñ‘ &&

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Being Akshar, I am an instrument in service of my Guruhari,

the present manifest form of Purushottam

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Today is the fourth day of the Shibir. In the first two

days there was a shibir for the Santo, after that you have all

joined us. To have darshan of your enthusiasm, energy and

devotion, truly gives us great joy! It is such a great thing that

God has joined us in His work, through these Santo!

In 1952, Yogi Bapa began to establish Satsang mandals and

yuvak mandals. During vacation time, he would gather 5 to 50

youths to stay with him and travel with him in vicharan . Bapa 1

would say, ‘I want to initiate 51 educated youths as Sadhus.’

Everyone had love for Bapa but not the confidence that this

would happen. Everyone would think – how will this happen?

When will this be possible? People would say at the time, that

there is no increase in the number of sadhus, over and above

50. Whenever a new sadhu was initiated, a previously

initiated sadhu would leave – and so the number of 50 sadhus

would remain stuck. So how could there be 51 sadhus? And

on top of that, how would the youngsters – who are like an

army of monkeys – join in this?

The greatness of Kakaji, Pappaji and the senior bhakto was

their devotion towards Yogi Bapa. Once in Mumbai, Pappaji

gathered all the youths together. At that time, Jawaharlal

Nehru was the Prime Minister. Pappaji said, ‘If you received a

letter tomorrow from Jawaharlal Nehru – from the Prime

Minister ’s office, appointing you as a Minister and

summoning you to come to Delhi – what would you do?

Would you wait, or would you go immediately? You would

become so pleased! You would think how fortunate you are

to be selected for such an elevated position! By receiving just

one letter from the Prime Minister, you would become so

happy, you would feel like the whole world is yours – so when

the ruler of countless universes calls upon you to become his

secretary, why are you not jumping at this opportunity?’ In

this way, Pappaji would speak of Yogi Bapa’s glory, and would

say, ‘You have such a great chance – it is such a great blessing

that Yogiji Maharaj has selected us to become partners in his

work! We don’t have to do anything. We just have to join,

immerse ourselves, give ourselves wholly in his work, and

surrender to Him. After all, He is the all-doer; what were we

going to be capable of doing?’ In this way, our Santo and our

karyakartas must become God’s instruments and you must

make your conviction firm in this!’

When Bhagwan Swaminarayan received initiation from

Ramanand Swami, He asked for a boon : ‘May all who take our

refuge, never suffer from a lack of food, clothing or shelter.’ In

this way, God has already given us these comforts. ‘.….and if

one who has taken our refuge is destined to suffer the pain of

one scorpion sting, then may the pain of a thousand scorpion

stings come to me, but do not allow their destined pain to

come to them.’ He gave us all the comforts of food, clothing

and shelter, and removed our suffering. But what did Maharaj

actually say? He said, mara aashrit – (the one who has taken

my shelter); meaning the one with firm conviction! Such a

person has unshakable conviction.

Jinabhai Darbar of Panchala, fell ill with a fever. The fever

continued for three to four days, and so his sister said, ‘Bhai,

let us go to the tantric, so he can tie a black thread on you with

his mantras, and get rid of your fever.’ Jinabhai said, ‘Let my

fever stay, but I do not want to get rid of my fever by tying

some black thread. I have taken my refuge in Bhagwan

1 To travel from place to place with the sole aim of carrying out

God’s work

- -

Spiritual EssenceDivine Discourses of Sant Bhagwant Sahebji

Original Discourse in Gujarati Transcreated by :

Bhavisha Tailor

Vratdhari Santo and Karyakarta Shibir

2 December 2017, Shri Yogi Pragatya Tirth, Dhari

Swaminarayan, and I do not believe in anyone besides Him,

and will not go to anyone besides Him.’ One morning, four to

five days after this conversation took place, as Jinabhai was

brushing his teeth, his gaze fell upon a black thread tied round

the white straps of his outdoor bed. He asked, ‘what is this?’

The servant replied, ‘Because you said no to the black thread,

your sister had it done and tied it to your bed.’ Jinabhai

immediately called for Adiba and said, ‘Take this thread off,

this very second! Give it back to the tantric and tell him to give

me my fever back. I do not want my fever to be cured with this

thread.’ Remember! This is what you call having taken refuge;

this is what you call conviction! All the karyakartas must have

this type of firm conviction. No matter what happens in your

life, you must accept that whatever has happened, is

happening and will happen, is only by the will of Bhagwan

Swaminarayan. ‘Everything that happens in my life is only by

His will’ – this is the type of firm conviction we must have.

Together with firm conviction in one’s Ishta-dev and love for 2

one’s Guru, one must also equally keep divya-bhav and

nirdosh-bhav .3

When we used to do weekly Thursday sabha in

Vidyanagar, Manikaka (Mahant Swami’s father) would come

from Anand and discourse to us. When the sabha would

finish, we would walk him back. On the way, we would have

spiritual discussions, and he would talk to us about Shastriji

Maharaj and Yogiji Maharaj. In this way, he told me many of

his own personal experiences. One of which was this : He said,

‘In Vadtal, Shastriji Maharaj was so revered and respected;

everyone was in awe of him. However, for the sake of Akshar

Purushottam Upasana, he kicked all of this aside and left. At

that time, he only had the support of a handful of bhakto –

and those bhakto were not wealthy; they were simple

farmers. On top of that Shastriji Maharaj would have to take

interest in their daily material lives, and give them so much

respect and only then did we all gradually give ourselves to

Shastriji Maharaj’s work.

At that time, 400 – 500 acres of land was procured in

Purushottampara, near Radu. Shastriji Maharaj would gather

bhakto together and get them to farm the land. Shastriji

Maharaj has really toiled so hard to improve the daily

material lives of bhakto, but the bhakto would not look after

their affairs and so they would fall into debt. For that reason,

a common saying arose for Shastriji Maharaj, that, ‘whoever

becomes Shastriji Maharaj’s bhakt becomes penniless.’

Manikaka said, ‘Even I fell into the trap of these words.’

Manikaka was one with absolutely solid conviction. When

in Anand, Shastriji Maharaj would always stay at his home.

Manikaka had kept the upper floor of his home aside specially

for Shastriji Maharaj and Santo. At that time the BAPS

organization did not exist and there were no mandirs; and

Shastriji Maharaj and Santo could not set foot in the mandirs

that fell under the administrative umbrella of Vadtal.

Therefore, the only place Santo could stopover was at the

homes of haribhakto. Manikaka had 25-30 acres of land in

Lambhvel. In the Charotar region, this was considered the

best land, but because he was so immersed in devotion, the

farming would become neglected, and so there would be no

income, whereas there would always be farming expenses.

Therefore he too fell into debt. Manikaka thought, ‘what

everyone is saying seems to be true. While performing

Shastriji Maharaj’s seva, I too have fallen into debt – so I

should separate from this Guru.’ But how would it be possible

to separate from such a Guru, when it was the Guru himself

who had stuck to him! Shastriji Maharaj himself would come

to his home, so where could he go? But Manikaka thought, ‘I

am in debt and I can only come out of debt if I leave Shastriji

Maharaj, so I have to separate from him.’ Manikaka himself

told us this. He thought, ‘Let me move to a place that Shastriji

Maharaj cannot reach,’ and so he moved to Jabalpur in

Madhya Pradesh. Pujya Vinubhai – Mahant Swami was

therefore born in Jabalpur. Manikaka started a dairy business

there. There in that unknown place, he had no friends or

family. He stayed there for twelve to fourteen years. He had

moved there to dissociate himself from Shastriji Maharaj, but

he could not get to grips with the business and so he made a

loss there as well. After so many such experiences, it dawned

on him that, ‘There is no fault of Shastriji Maharaj in this; it is

only me that is to blame.’ From this introspection, he realized

that this Guru is divine.

Once Manikaka had this realization, he came back to

Anand and cried to Shastriji Maharaj. His faith was so firm. At

2 One’s chosen deity or form of the Lord3 Divya-bhav and Nirdosh-bhav refers to the inner perception

and conviction that God and all of God’s devotees are divine

and faultless.

- -

that time Shastriji Maharaj had started building the first

mandir in Bochasan. The slab had gone up where the murtis’

were going to be placed, but everywhere else it was open and

Shastriji Maharaj installed the murtis. Even before the

building work of this mandir was completed, Shastriji

Maharaj started the building work of Sarangpur mandir – and

while this was going on, he started the work of Gondal mandir

and then Atladara mandir. There were so few devotees and

obviously money was needed for the bricks and labour. There

was only Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj and Nirgun Swami

who could go on vicharan, the remaining Santo had to be in

seva. The devotees had immense surrender, but with so much

mandir building work going on, there was a lot of pressure on

Shastriji Maharaj!

One late night at Anand mandir, Shastriji Maharaj was

speaking with a few bhakto that were there. There was

Manikaka, his brother, Moti Bhagwandas and one or two

other bhakto. All of a sudden Shastriji Maharaj started crying

loudly and started saying, ‘Why did I start all of this in my old

age? Why have I done this! I have started all these mandirs

and no one is giving money. No one is giving seva, what will I

do?!’ Just think about it! If a devotee listening to this did not

have firm faith, he would leave wouldn’t he? Once Shastriji

Maharaj was quiet, Manikaka and Moti Bhagwandas said,

‘Shastriji Maharaj! Whether you laugh or you cry; whether

you are asleep or awake, but you are the divine, manifest

swaroop of Akshar Purushottam; and there will not be even a 4

hair’s breadth of a difference in our belief in this.’ Shastriji

Maharaj immediately broke into a hearty laugh! This is what

you call conviction! They passed a very difficult test.

This is how unshakable our conviction should be. In the

world, people will say all sorts of things, will try to divert you

onto countless other tracks, but for your Ishta-dev Bhagwan

Swaminarayan, for Akshar Purushottam Upasana or these

Santo –whether they are from BAPS, Vadtal or Haridham –

you should never, ever listen to any form of negative talk.

Especially you who are the core volunteer force – you must

remember this! This is a discipline, it is what makes us what

we are. Our life should be a constant. Even if one of our

volunteers’ is speaking on the side with anyone, it can never

be negative, maligning or criticizing. The true karyakarta is

one who will not even stand in the presence of anyone who is

speaking in such a way!

At present, it is good; but previously when there were

large sabhas, groups would form immediately after the

sabha. Smokers would immediately gather in one group, the

tea-drinkers would gather in a group and so on. Those with

similar likings would immediately gravitate to such groups.

Similarly if you stand with those who gossip or speak

negatively, what should one understand? People would

consider you to be like that as well. Therefore, one should not

even stand in the company of such a person.

Gunatitanand Swami has said, ‘If one follows this Sadhu,

then his thousands of years of sin will be burnt to ashes, and if

one follows a kusangi , then his thousands of years of spiritual 5

merit will be burnt to ashes.’ One would have to be dumb to

destroy one’s spiritual merit; so our karyakarta should not do

this. One absolutely must, must, must recognise both

external kusang as well as the kusang present within the

satsang. You must keep the company of those who are

speaking of faith in God, the all-doership of God, the glory of

God, Santo and bhakto – you should stay with such bhakto.

But to those who are speaking negatively about someone

else, or criticizing someone else, even in a very polished way –

you should simply say ‘Jai Swaminarayan’! Karyakarta must

take special note of this. Our core force should be as solid as

concrete, not weak. If five people are speaking negatively

about something, then one thinks, ‘Oh, if they are all saying it,

then it must be like this.’ No matter if five or fifty people say

something to you – and if you fall into that, then what kind of

conviction do you have? What sort of faith is that?

If Ashvinbhai, Shantibhai and these Santo had gone into

the world – they were geniuses – they could have had all of

the worldly comforts and enjoyments. There was no need for

them to become sadhus. In their studies, they were getting

first-class firsts, and they were also getting so many offers of

marriage. They were being offered scholarships, and they

came from good, comfortable homes. If you were to look into

the lives of each of these sadhus! They have kicked aside all of

4 Swaroop is a composite of the words ‘Swa’ – which refers to

ones self, and ‘roop’ meaning form. Swaroop of God, therefore

would refer to one whose own identity has merged with that of

God, and who is at one with God.5 One who is negatively inclined; negative company.

- -

those comforts, and because of Bapa’s love, have set off to

worship God. Now if someone speaks anyhow for such

Sadhus, how can you listen to it? Would you let it pass? If you

do not have the courage to stand up for them, then move

away from there. The reason is, when you yourself are

positive and full of mahima , you will not accept such talk, but 6

when you are under pressure, you will remember that and

think, ‘What so and so was saying seems true,’ and because of

that you will fall into negative perception.

All the talk Manikaka heard at the beginning – he didn’t

believe. He felt ‘no, Shastriji Maharaj is true and right.’ But

when he himself went into debt, he remembered what

everybody else had been saying and decided he wanted to

leave Shastriji Maharaj. That is why, when you at some point

are under pressure, you will certainly, certainly, certainly fall

into manushya-bhav because of things you have heard in the 7

past. That is why you should never, ever listen to such talk or

fall into any such discussion. Karyakartas should have

unshakable conviction, and complete nirdosh-bhav. If anyone

speaks anyhow of a devotee in our mandal, you should not

accept it. You must always take the side of the devotee. All of

us devotees and karyakartas should learn to endure. If

anything happens, you must do dhun-bhajan-prarthana.

Bhagwan Swaminarayan has said, ‘If the one who has

taken my refuge, is destined to suffer the pain of one scorpion

sting, then give me the pain of a thousand scorpion stings, but

do not allow that pain to befall my devotee.’ So many times,

the question must arise, ‘why are we suffering from such

troubles?’ God has taken away all of the suffering that we

were destined to have through our own previous karma, but

it is the destiny we give rise to in this lifetime through our

current actions, that is getting in the way.

There are three types of prarabdh : purvanu, sanchit and 8

kriyamaan. Sanchit means the destiny you are carrying

forward from your previous lifetime. Purvanu means the

destiny we give rise to from the moment we were born.

Whatever actions we have carried out in the past give rise to

our destiny, or consequences we have to endure. Kriyamaan

prarabdh refers to whatever we are doing at present. With

God’s grace, our sanchit and purva prarabdh has been

washed away. Our karyakartas should not fall into astrology,

or vastu-shastra – nor should you ever fear it. Remember! Do

not give rise to kriyamaan prarabdh. What is kriyamaan

prarabdh? Remember you have taken the refuge of Bhagwan

Swaminarayan. If we cross the boundaries of the moral and

spiritual disciplines He has given in the ‘Shikshapatri’, then

that will become kriyamaan prarabdh, which you will have to

wash away. The most dangerous kriyamaan prarabdh that

arises is when you fall into maligning, spiting or slandering

God’s sadhus or devotees. Just think about it, why do some

bhakto suffer so much? The reason is because that bhakt is

unnecessarily falling into such things; is relishing such talk.

Karyakarta must remain alert that they do not give rise to

such prarabdh. That is why we must do half an hour of dhun

every single day, to wash away the prarabdh that we

knowingly or unknowingly give rise to.

It is Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s promise that, ‘I have come

to fulfill my devotees.’ If you look at the eight years of Nilkanth

Varni’s vicharan, wherever he went, he gathered what was

necessary for the liberation of our souls. How much grace has

He showered upon us! And then He said to all devotees, ‘You

are said to be mine, so I do not want even an atom’s worth of a

flaw to remain in you. I have come to give you ultimate

fulfillment.’ So then why do bhakto still suffer? The reason is

that they are not looking towards God. They are not crying

out to God to help them, they are not praying, they do not

have the goal of living their lives in a way that pleases God,

and on top of that they fall into negative talk. Then how can

God be pleased with this?

How many of you eat onions? Be honest and say it. May I

ask you a question? If you do not eat onions, then will you

have no flavor? Bhagwan Swaminarayan has prohibited

onions and garlic, so do you think He is our enemy? Many

over-smart people will say, ‘all of these items are created by

God, so why should we not eat it?’ Well, in that case even

poison is created by God, why aren’t you eating that? How is it

possible for us to take that which our Lord has prohibited? It

should feel like poison to us! My Lord, my God has said no,

6 The glory of God, Santo, bhakto7 Doubt in the divinity of God or the Satpurush – to think of Him

or His actions as human and not divine8 Simply put, refers to the consequences which one has to

endure as a result of one’s previous actions. With respect to the

law of karma, it means deeds whose consequences are already

set in motion.

- -

and that’s it, I cannot take it. God wants good for us.

Remember! Out of the entire world population of billions,

those that really, really wish the absolute best for us, are our

Lord, our Guru and our parents. We must listen to what they

say. If our Lord has said no to something, prohibited

something, then can we eat it? Say it… no we will not.

How many of you chew tobacco? Raise your hands.

Excellent, well done! None of you. How many of you do not do

Ekadashi? Raise your hands. Now say…that you will do

Ekadashi. Those that are overweight should do nirjala 9

ekadashi. Who has told us to do Ekadashi? Is it me –

Ashvinbhai – Shantibhai? Bhagwan Swaminarayan has told us

to do this! We are His followers, so if we follow His aagna , 10

then we are His true followers. So now everyone repeat, ‘We

will do Ekadashi.’ Excellent! Those that are young, those that

are under fifty years, should not even take any farar . You 11

may take fruits if you wish to, but you should not eat farar.

Yogi Bapa used to make us do nirjala fasts.

This message is especially for the youth – in our lives,

there is no-one who wishes our good more than our Lord, our

Guru and our parents. Remember this! If you are walking on

the street and you fall, your Guru will be praying for you, your

Lord will be there in your protection and your parents will run

to your aid, and nurse you. These are the only three who will

suffer in your pain. Now would they ever do anything that is

not to your benefit? If they say no to something, then behind

it there will only be your good in mind. Remember this! So

when our Guru, our Ishta-dev or our parents say something,

we must accept it immediately. Make sure you abide by this

completely. If you do this, then you will see the results and

later realize what a wise thing you did. Draw strength from

prayer.

Bapa gave Ashvinbhai the aagna that, ‘as soon as you

receive this letter, come into our seva immediately.’ This

message had come on a postcard. At that time, if Ashvinbhai

had written back to say, ‘I have just paid my fees for my M.Sc.

and I am going to study for my Masters, so how can I come?’ If

he had said this, what would Bapa have said? Bapa would

have called someone else. Did Bapa have scarcity of

anything? If you or me did not do God’s work, do you think

God’s work would come to a standstill? If you say, ‘I am going

to shut my eyes and stay asleep, and then let’s see if there will

be light tomorrow?’ Do you think the sun won’t rise? If you

keep your eyes closed, it is you that will stay in darkness, but

the sun will definitely rise. Even if you or I do nothing at all,

God’s work is still going to continue. In doing God’s work, in

performing seva – remember - it is our liberation that is going

to happen! So for that we have to keep our faith firm, and

whatever instruction we receive from Guru, meaning

whatever he has given Dilipbhai to undertake, and so

whatever instruction we receive from Dilipbhai, we should

carry through.

Secondly, wherever you go – you must, must, must bathe

and do your pooja. How many of you do not do pooja? Those

who do not do pooja, raise your hands. Do you not have a

pooja? Or do you not have time? Wake up half an hour earlier,

but you must do your pooja. Everybody say it, ‘I will do pooja.’

Karyakarta must do pooja and when you go out of station, you

must take your pooja with you. You must bathe, do your

pooja, apply the tilak-chandlo and then start your day’s work.

No matter where we go, we must do the arti in the evening,

do dhun and bhajan. Whichever place you go to, you must

look after that place.

Shastriji Maharaj and Yogiji Maharaj were truly

exceptional beings! They so deeply revered the places that

had been made sacred by Shreeji Maharaj’s presence. Shreeji

Maharaj had created six mandirs in His time, the first was in

Amdavad (Nar-Narayan dev). If Shastriji Maharaj were to be in

Amdavad, he and Yogi Bapa would certainly, certainly,

certainly go for darshan, even amidst immense opposition.

Once, Shastriji Maharaj, Yogi Bapa and Santo went for

darshan, and with them were 15-20 bhakto. With strength in

numbers, some devotees got carried away and called out at

the top of their voices – Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai!

Akshar Purushottam Maharaj ni Jai! At that time, the sadhus

of that mandir were just going to lunch – and when they

heard this, they thought how have these Akshar Purushottam

castaways come here! So they ran to beat them up. Shastriji

Maharaj realized that because our devotees have called out

9 Complete fast, with no intake of any food or drink, not even

water.10 Aagna refers to any instruction given by God or Guru, which is

always for our spiritual benefit.11 Foods which are allowed on fast days such as potatoes,

moraiyo etc.

- -

the ‘Jai’ there is going to be confrontation, so grabbing the

hand of one of his sadhus, he immediately exited the mandir.

All the bhakto also ran out. But Yogiji Maharaj was standing

there doing darshan with two other sadhus, and they were

beaten up. Bapa had to run. So who was it that had called out

the ‘Jai’ and had Bapa beaten up? It was the foolishness of the

devotees! We must not do this. Wherever we go, the

karyakarta must take care.

Bhagwan Swaminarayan has said, ‘Your faith should be

completely solid.’ Your love and faith towards your Guru

should be completely solid. But if you go somewhere, where

you have to give a discourse and if you were to call Bhagwan

Swaminarayan the Supreme Lord and if that would create

problems in that place, then do not obstinately hold onto

that. Bhagwan Swaminarayan says, even if you do not state

that I am God, it does not mean I stop being God. In your

heart, I am your Supreme Lord and that is enough. But you

must always speak with your audience in mind. Karyakarta

must take special care in this.

There must be one standard. In our arti, general samaiya,

or general sabha, you must have the murtis of Shri Akshar

Purushottam Maharaj, Bhagatji Maharaj – Jaga Swami,

Shastriji Maharaj – Yogiji Maharaj. You must have the murtis

of Kakaji – Pappaji, Pramukh Swamiji – Mahant Swamiji –

Hariprasad Swamiji. This many murtis – you absolutely must

have. And when you call out the ‘Jai’ – you must call out the

‘Jai’ for all of them – remember this! ‘Akshar Purushottam

Maharaj ni Jai, Dham-Dhami-Mukto ni Jai and Saheb ni Jai’ –

No, you must not do this. If you do not call out ‘Saheb ni Jai’ it

is one hundred percent ok, but after Akshar Purushottam ni

Jai, you must call out the ‘Jai’ of Bhagatji Maharaj, Jaga Swami,

Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj, Kakaji, Pappaji, Pramukh

Swamiji, Mahant Swamiji, Hariprasad Swamiji, Aksharvihari

Swamiji and all. There must be a standard and karyakarta

must abide by this discipline.

You should never be prejudiced. Whichever Guru you are

joined to; whichever Guru you have love for, you must

maintain total nirdosh-bhav in him, and follow his aagna, but

that does not mean the other Santo are in any way ordinary.

They have God within them, so your respect and reverence

for them must be the same! Remember! There should not be

indifference towards them. Karyakarta must take note of this.

Never ever fall into the comparison of Gurus. Which Guru is

bigger and who is smaller – that is not our subject at all.

Whoever we have atma-buddhi and preeti for, Ashvinbhai – 12

Shantibhai, then it is he who is our Guru, and we must

personally follow his aagna. Remember! It is only his aagna

that you must follow. But Mahant Swami, Hariprasad Swami,

Aksharvihari Swami and these Santo are also so great – so you

absolutely must have respect, reverence and divya-bhav for

them. When they come to our homes for a padhramani, we

must welcome them with love, bow to them respectfully and

give seva; this much we must have in us. We are the followers

of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. After 5 – 15 years, there will be

someone else after us – this body will not stay forever; but

Bhagwan Swaminarayan, Akshar Purushottam is eternal. And

Hariprasad Swami, Mahant Swami and all of them are the

manifest swaroops of Shri Akshar Purushottam. Our respect

for them should be equal, and not in the slightest bit less!

Understand what I am saying to you.

Follow your Guru’s aagna. Do exactly as your Guru says.

But when this Guru tells you off – you go off and find another

Guru, and when he tells you off, you latch onto a third Guru.

Do not do this and waste your time. First you entered into Arts

college, then after a few months you take admission into

Science college; in this way you will wander from one place to

another your whole life, and achieve nothing. Whichever

Guru you are joined to, is whom you should complete your

journey with, but at the same time your love, respect and

divya-bhav for all the manifest swaroops of Akshar

Purushottam should not lessen.

Once Yogi Bapa was coming to the Chhatralaya. At that

time, Gordhandas Contractor was also going to invite a very

illustrious sadhu by the name of Gopalcharandas Swami. The

Chhatralaya was still being built and work had progressed to

the plinth level, and further work was going to begin. Bapa

was coming to see this, and so we set out special seats for

Bapa and Gopalcharandas Swami. But because we had

special love for Bapa, we kept his seat at a slightly more

elevated level than Gopalcharandas Swami’s. It just so

happened, that Bapa arrived and at the same time

Gordhandas arrived bringing Gopalcharandas Swami with

12 Atma-buddhi and preeti means to love the Satpurush as one’s

own soul, and thereby refers to a bond of inseparable loving

association.

- -

him. We were taking Bapa to seat him on the elevated seat,

when he let go of our hand and taking Gopalcharandas

Swami’s hand in his, he made Gopalcharandas Swami sit on

the elevated seat, and he immediately sat on the lower seat.

Without saying a word, Bapa gave me this understanding, but

it really hit me hard, and so I moved away, went to the back

and cried. It was because of my foolishness that Bapa had to

sit on a lower seat. After that, whenever we would make the

seats, we would take special care in this; we would make

them the same. No one is greater; no one is lesser. The one

whom we have divya-bhav for, the Guru whom we have love

for, is the one whose aagna we must carry out in totality –

that is our special Guru-bhav towards him. But you should

never try and show off that my Guru is greater and therefore

there is a higher seat for him, no-one else can sit on that seat;

you must not do that.

You are karyakartas’ and so when Santo come to your

home, or to our mandirs in Amdavad, Dehgam, Sathamba,

Vemar, you must welcome them with utmost respect. ‘Where

do you come from? What have you come for?’ Before asking

anything like this, you should welcome them and bow to

them. Then you should do dhun and honour them with

flowers or a khes. This standard must be upheld by all

karyakarta. With an open heart, sing the mahima of

everyone. If you speak of each other’s mahima, then your ego

and jealousy will automatically dissolve, you will not have to

do anything!

Bhagwan Swaminarayan showered this special grace

upon us, without sending us to the Himalayas, and without

getting us to sit in caves. He has kept us in the world and given

us the exceptional opportunity for transformation while we

go about our daily business and our daily lives! If you use your

physical body in the work of developing the satsang, then all

your shortcomings will dissolve. If you use your skills and

talents for this, it will dissolve your ego as a result. If you use

what you have for this work, then the attachment you have

for those things will go. There, see! While doing this, you will

become more and more joined to God, and consequently, the

inner entanglement with the material world will loosen, and

you will not even notice. Just look at Manojbhai. His

entanglement with the material world is gone; he has not had

to leave it. How did this happen? Because of his exceptional

love for a sadhu like Shantibhai, he did all of his work and used

all of his talents and skills to his fullest capacity, according to

Shantibhai’s aagna, and so his attachment to the world

simply dropped away. In worldly life, he achieved the highest

positions, as Vice-Chancellor but this never got in the way of

pleasing his Guru! That is grace! God is getting us to do seva,

so that He may give this to us. Remember just how fortunate

and blessed we are! God has showered his special grace upon

us and selected us to do His work! As a consequence, the

more sincerely and honestly we do His work, with unity, the

greater the immense gain that we will have. Bapa used to say,

‘we have won the lottery!’

We want to do this work in the best possible way. And in

every field of our work, there should be a standard that is

maintained, a uniform method that is upheld. The ‘Jai’s’ that

are said, the murtis that are placed in sabha; all of this should

be uniform across the board. In whichever centres our

mahapujas are taking place, where there is arti, dhun, bhajan

taking place, there should be one uniform style; there should

be continuity. Mahapuja’s should all be done the same way.

There should not be more shlokas being sung in one, and less

shlokas being sung in another. Also when discoursing, one

should not sideline Bhagwan Swaminarayan, Akshar

Purushottam Upasana, Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj and

overly focus on the mahima of just one. Swaminarayan is

Swaminarayan! Remember! No-one is greater than God and

nor can anyone ever be greater than God. And that one God is

Sahajanand Swami, all the others are the swaroops of God,

they are not God, remember this! Our karyakartas really need

to understand this. All of the others are Sant-swaroopo, and

through them God gives us His darshan. ‘Sant te swayam

Hari…jena pujanye Shri Hari pujay,’ but still God for us is the

one, Swaminarayan only! He is the Supreme Lord for us, but

do not fall into any comparison whatsoever, whether the

other forms are Gods or not etc. We are Swaminarayan

satsangis, so we want to worship Swaminarayan single-

pointedly. Remember, the only mantra we chant is

‘Swaminarayan’!

So now come, in the manifest and most sacred soils of

Dhari, let us do dhun, so that we may live our lives with this

aspiration, and for that may God eternally grant us strength,

and with these prayers…. Swaminarayan…. Swaminarayan….

Swaminarayan… Swaminarayan…. Swaminarayan! G

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‘Meera Bhakti’ Utsav : Anoopam Mission UK Baal

Mandal’s enthusiasm was evident on Sunday 2nd

September during their excellent production of a

musical play, ‘Meera Bhakti’ in the divine presence of PP

Shantidada.

This play came about because the children had felt

they wanted to give a contribution towards the second

phase of the building of Anoopam Mission’s community

facility. They came up with the idea of doing a show and

raising funds through a ticketed event. With the

immense support of Pujya Minooben, who was the

Director, and P. Dhaneshwari and P. Minal who run the

Baal mandal activities the show was a great success. The

help of P. Manishaben Patel in training the children, P.

Meghnaben in doing the choreography and countless

other volunteers, made the evening truly memorable.

The children managed to raise over £5000 and offered

this bhakti to Shri Thakorji and Guruhari Sant Bhagwant

Sahebji! G

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“Bra onthly Postal Reg. No. - / - 303 Date of Dispatch : 5-9-1 Office of Origin : Vitthal Udyognagar hmanirzar" M RO VDR AND * 1 8 *

Editor : Shantibhai F. Patel * Published by : Shantibhai F. Patel on behalf of Anoopam Mission.* Published at : Mogri 388 345, Gujarat

Printed by : Pradip S. Giri * Printed at : Prizam Printers and Publishers Ltd., Amdavad 3 0 0088

*If Undelivered Please return to :

Anoopam Mission, Brahmajyoti, Yogiji Marg, Mogri-388 345. Gujarat, India

Phone : (02692) 230483, 230544 Fax : (02692) 235660

email : amindia@anoopam.org * website: www.anoopam.org

Brahmanirzar Monthly R.N.I. New Delhi No.: 69476/86 * Po. Regd. No. /303/201 - AND 8 20

* Date of Publication:14 of each Month th

th * Date of Posting : 15 of each Month* Posted at: Vitthal Udyog Nagar Post Office

To,Regd. News Paper / Air Mail / Book Post

, -.. . ... -

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