HUMILITY (1)

Humility cannot be cultivated with knowledge and intelligence. It springs up from the heart when certain circumstances are created by the steady pursuit  of favorable and appropriate bhavnas ( like reducing ego, mental silence etc ).

There is always the inner tendency of "I"ness in all the activities of the life. There is reduction in this "I"ness towards the world only when there is realization in the heart that every thing that happens in this world is as a result of the wish of God and not ours. With that deep apathy and non attachment towards the worldly affairs is produced. True humility is produced from this deep understanding that even a leaf cannot move without His wish. With this realization we do not act with the force and guidance of "I". Nothingness is slowly cultivated then. This nothingness is a measure of humility. Nothingness means complete annihilation of ego or "I"ness. Humility springs in the one who has eliminated ego completely. Humility is a measure of the development of higher life of the soul.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 3; page 247 - 248.

EXPRESSING BHAVNA IN DAILY LIFE

The purpose of meditation and other modalities used in sadhana is to express the continuity of the bhavna developed during the practice of these modalities in our daily lives. Only then it is possible to have continuous and all absorbing bhavna in our lives. If bhavna is produced during sadhana and it is massacred during rest of the time, creates a kind of fault in our bhavna that destroys it in the end due to these mutually contradictory ways. It is for this reason that sadhak has to pay a lot more attention with awareness to the daily interactions in life than attention to practicing sadhana. His inclination and tendency has to work to achieve this with knowledge, love and devotion. It is of little importance to practice sadhana if this aspect is not carried out wholeheartedly. I consider the spiritual path as a way to be practiced and expressed in our daily lives and call it JIVAN YOGA for the same reasons.

Pujya Shree Mota
Life and works
Edition 1; pages 178 -- 179.

JAPA IN SHORT IS ______

Question :  Mota, How can we understand  JAPA in one or two simple sentences?

Pujya Shree Mota :  JAPA is a symbol of ever flowing infinite divine consciousness and JAPA is just a miniature tool to create awareness of this consciousness. Constant awareness of this divine consciousness is JAPA.

Pujya Shree Mota
Shree Mota Sathe Vartalap
Edition 2; page 29.

SADHAK'S CONDUCT TOWARDS SERVANTS (DOMESTIC HELP)

Sadhak will definitely have some idea regarding the bad habits of his servants. Even though improving the lives of his servants may not be of prime importance, he should never neglect that aspect. He should never act inappropriately and get angry at them for wrong reasons. It is our meanness to believe that servants has to be working all the time and that they should never be without the work. Servants have the feelings too and they may need the rest at times. In most places servants do not get to sleep till the main person goes to bed. Thoughtful person will always think that servants need minimum of seven hours of sleep. A servant will have feeling of goodness towards us only if we show the goodness from our heart at the time of his sickness by allowing him to rest, arranging for the medicines and making his life easier. To act this way is our duty. If someone is very particular regarding the way house needs to be arranged and one servant cannot manage it, he should make arrangement to hire another one. If he cannot do that for economical reasons then he should give only appropriate amount of work to the servant. There is a belief in some rich families that we should be very strict with the servants and that they should be fearful of us. This is pure ignorance. The servant may work for us because of need and circumstances but he will never have goodwill and love in his heart if we behave with this kind of harshness towards him. How bad will we feel if someone acts with this kind of harshness towards us in similar situation? We must think about it.

Eventually sadhak will stop treating him as a servant and keep the bhavna (attitude) as if the servant is his own relative. Sadhak should never fear or doubt that the servant will take advantage of his good behavior when his own actions are directed by goodwill, knowledge and understanding. His complete satisfaction lies in the fact that all of his actions were appropriate from all the angles and directed with goodness.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; page 203 - 205.

My two cents --  This is only part of the ideas Pujya Shree Mota expressed in the letter written in August 1943. 

HOW TO MAINTAIN HAPPINESS IN JOINT FAMILY

You may have mental struggles since there is interaction with many people while performing the given tasks. This may lead to mental strain, irritability and agitation. This in turn leads to loss of peacefulness in the mind. Bhavna and naam-smaran disappears from the mind. As a result we waste our hard earned precious achievements in our lives. Hardly any soul recognizes this effect. We will learn a lot if we make an effort with knowledge to learn to keep peace, harmony and equanimity in every work and circumstances in dealing with others and keep heartfelt goodness, love and mental generosity towards them. We may have to let go many times but this in itself is a kind of penance. Our lives will be shining beacon of light if there is pure bhavna (to let go) with the heartfelt love and devotion.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandaan
Edition 3; page 98.

My two cents  -- Pujya Shree Mota's answer to  a letter from a lady devotee married in a joint family.