PRAYER FOR THE DEPARTED SOUL

I pray for the complete peace in the heart and mind of the departed soul. Oh! God, enlighten the soul in all the possible ways. Please grant the soul complete freedom from all the attachments and relationships incurred in the past life.

Pujya Shree Mota.

My two cents -- Pujya Shree Mota has written this prayer to be recited at the time of the death of the person and for 13 days afterwards.

RECOGNITION OF A SAINT

If there is a slowing of the thought process, peacefulness in the heart, a feeling of happiness and a thrill in the mind, with your heart rate getting to be different and you just feel good by sitting near a person then that person can be recognized as a saint. You may get the resolution of a problem if that is put forward in your mind with a prayerful heart. This needs to be done with humility and with the spirit of curiosity, not with the intent to test the person. He may console you himself or through somebody and there will be satisfactory resolution of the problem in your mind. Sometimes there is quietening of the disturbed emotions or there may be the feeling of love in your heart and a feeling of being light and developing a keen interest in the surroundings.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan pagathi
Edition 6; page 47.

GURU-MANTRA (ગુરુમંત્ર્) AND ITS USE

Swajan :  can we improve our lives by accepting guru-mantra?

Pujya Shree Mota :   You cannot achieve anything by just accepting guru-mantra. One may accept it if one wishes to have one. But this in itself is a kind of ignorant fallacy. At times, the world follows blindly. In spit of this, if you want one you can have it. Thousands of mantras are useless until there is a fundamental turn in the direction of your life. Even God cannot help until there is great desire, eagerness  and willingness to reduce or remove desires, greed, sexual impulses, ego, attachments and jealousy.

There is always conflict, grief, anguish, sorrow, difficulties, troubles and worries in this world and its workings. No soul has the capacity to separate from it. We have to experience it. Know for sure that any one who faces this with unwillingness, fear and weariness will be troubled by it with a lot more intensity. Any soul that faces this with prayers to God with love, devotion and deep knowledge, at the same time believing that the root cause of these problems lies within himself will help himself. Guru-manta is useful when the soul experiences and burns the roots of infatuation and jealousy within himself and then turns these natural tendencies towards God and offers them.

We have seen lots of souls that have received guru-mantra who choose to make no effort in improving their dealings and works. This kind of guru-mantra is useless. It is all for show and comfort.What can guru-mantra do when there is no desire in the heart to change one's life in a fundamental way?

Pujya Shree Mota
Lagne hajo mangalam
Edition 1: page 232 and 238.

NAAM-SMARAN AND AWARENESS

Swajan :  Mota, you tell us to do naam-smaran and at the same time also tell us to be aware and ready. What should we be aware of and what kind of readiness are you asking from us?

Pujya Shree Mota :  Only the one who always wants to protect his aim in life and is aware and alert at the slightest hinderance in his aim, can get past this hindrance. We get the results of any work according to the level of effort that it is done with. So we should offer our works with intense joy, happiness, love, devotion, perfect concentration in our heart and with conscious awareness of "Hari om" in our heart and mind.

Only this kind of naam-smaran can be our real strength and make us aware of our nature. Any natural tendencies, our dealings, relationships and circumstances should be offered to Him with deep knowledge, devotion and awareness during naam-smaran. The soul that does this is always ready and aware. We should continue to offer all these with all our might in this Japa-yagna. We will definitely get the result of this Japa-yagna. Whenever old impressions arise in our mind from our past, do not get dragged in its currents. So be aware that these thoughts are from your past impressions and being entangled in it or it will lead you back to where you started. With this awareness, try to separate from the entanglements and offer them to God with a prayerful heart. Only this kind of practice will be helpful.

Pujya Shree Mota
Lagne hajo mangalam
Edition 1, page 230 - 231.