HARMFUL VIBRATIONS

Swajan : Mota, I did understand from your previous talk regarding praying to God and asking for His help to recognize and remove my faults. Is it harmful if I still see other's faults?

Pujya Shree Mota : You are the one who experience harm first. Is it less harm when you experience sadness yourself? Moreover we experience boredom and our peace is disturbed. This boredom and disturbed peace is the biggest harm and this is the result of these vibrations. We get uneasy and agitated when we think of other's faults. Moreover our mind gets agitated and angry at the person whose faults are seen and thought. Our mind gives utmost importance to the person against whom we are angry or irritated. At that time our mind is active in finding faults of others and sends the vibration of these faults to them. This results in the impressions in the mind of other person of similar accusatory vibrations regarding us. We plant the seeds of our future pain in the mind of others. We are unaware of this subtle process.

Swajan : This is really extraordinary and subtle matter.

Pujya Shree Mota : Moreover when we see or think contrariwise of others, not only we make them unhappy we get unhappy ourselves. In this manner we spread these negative vibrations around larger and larger atmosphere and with increased intensity. So the real way to remove faults is to be free of faults ourselves. It is a matter of ignorance to be restless with anger for somebody else's faults. If we understand the conditions of the set up of the circumstances with appropriate knowledge and understanding in a matter of fact manner, we will not be unhappy. Do not get agitated as it is the characteristic of our worldly affairs to have faults.

Pujya Shree Mota
Sukkha No Marg
Edition 7: page 16 - 17.

PRACTICING GOODNESS (SADABHAVA, સદભાવ)

We get many opportunities to train ourselves to develop many good qualities in dealings with the world. The condition required is the turning of our attention, vision and natural tendencies towards that goal with complete understanding. How can we utter even single bad word about any soul in front of the other soul if we are convinced of the above matter? We should know that if we utter any negative of any soul then our idea of practicing sadabhava and not talking negative of others is all imagination. The soul that has started practice for developing sadabhava and started to put in practice even on a smaller scale, increases its importance personally as he goes forward with the practice. The reason being the development of peace, equanimity, happiness and simplicity in his life as the sadabhava is practiced with understanding and knowledge. Mind does not get flung around in all the directions. With this practice of goodness mind never gets worried, impatient, conflicted, suffocated, distressed or anguished and that is experienced by the soul that practices goodness. As a result soul feels appropriate to stay in that condition.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pokar
Edition 4; page 19.

INTERNAL FIGHTS ARE HARDER THAN EXTERNAL FIGHTS

If a negative tendency arises regarding anyone in our mind, always try to remember that particular soul's best side instantly. Try to remember about that souls's good wishes, conversations and good work for us. Instantly be aware and wake up as soon as any negative tendencies arise within you. If that happens then we should surmise that our mind has the desire to get rid of its habit of seeing negative side of others. If that happens repeatedly then know for sure that this particular soul will experience God one day. There is a saying" people with awareness are always happy". This can be interpreted differently in different circumstances. We should pray to God to free us from these negative tendencies whenever there is such an instance. Bhava of prayer produces inner strength. It is not an easy task to be consciously aware, face, fight and remove such inner negative tendencies when it arises within us. This work requires much more courage and effort than showing courage in a physical work. This soul (Pujya Shree Mota) has the heartfelt longing for you to always act in such a way. I pray that you always show the courage with thy grace to face inner negative tendencies by always being aware and offering mind, prana, buddhi etc with love and devotion at thy lotus feet.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pokar
Edition 4; page 75.

ATTAINING PEACE AND HAPPINESS (3)

Now I will come back to original subject. We need to do naam-smaran, read holy books and learn the art of behavior so that there is no friction when we come in contact with others. To achieve this we need to make an honest effort with faithfulness, love and devotion. Together with this we also need to learn to be our own observer. We will need to see our mind and other inner instruments. By doing this we develop the strength and understanding that we are actually different from them. We do not become one with them because of this understanding and become the witness to them.

Realized soul (person) does not have any difference in his mind, intellect, chitta, prana and ego. If we make an effort to merge with his heart with heartfelt sincerity then we can experience some of the natural virtues of his heart like peace and happiness. It requires an effort from our side though.

Divine consciousness has many characteristics and all these prevail at the same time. These characteristics are experienced by the realized souls. Start with watching the mind without becoming one with it and keep praying at the same time. We will definitely reach our destination with this kind of effort. Help is around the corner if we pray with humility and heartfelt emotions. This kind of condition is achievable with an effort. If we can do self observation (introspection), merge with the heart of the realized soul and pray with humility; it is possible to maintain peace and happiness. Further directions for progress open for us then.

Pujya Shree Mota
Maun Mandir Nu Haridwar
Edition 6; page 118.

ATTAINING PEACE AND HAPPINESS (2).

All these (quieting mind with equanimity) is not possible till there is continuous, irrepressible and constant longing. Even prayers and bhajans become ineffective if we fail to understand the purpose behind it. It does not yield best results. So the persons who stay in Maun Mandir  need to give importance to self knowledge to light up the Bhavna. Just by staying in the Maun Mandir for one, two or three weeks is not going to make the mind quiet but there will be definite impressions on it. It is also definite that this soul will be active in his pursuit of the goal when these impressions rise up and manifest. He will also develop understanding of his behavior in his daily life. So the person must decide his aim first. Not everyone is going to experience the God. That is beyond the capacity. There is no capacity or arrangement to emancipate everybody.

It is of no use to stay in Maun Mandir with the thoughts of realizing the divine if our behavior does not match that thought. Every person has to make an honest, sincere, constant and creative effort with awareness to stay peaceful. Only then one can progress by one's own efforts. This step may appear to be small but it is a huge step. Keep the aim of keeping constant peace and happiness.

There should be a plan to act and behave in certain ways to be peaceful and happy. The reason peace and happiness does not stay for long is within us. The reason peace and happiness do not last is our own desires, anger, greed, infatuation and attachments. We are associated with other people due to our past associations. We develop attachments with them because of our expectations, greed and desires resulting in conflicts. If we develop the attitude "this will not happen to me" our peace and happiness will not be disturbed.    -------  (continued)

Pujya Shree Mota
Maun Mandir Nu Haridwar
Edition 6; pages 114 - 116.

ATTAINING PEACE AND HAPPINESS (1)

There are two kinds of mind : (1) conscious (જાગૃત) mind through which we can understand thoughts and emotions. (2) subconscious mind (અજાગૃત). When the activities of the conscious mind gets quiescent, the activities of the subconscious mind flows into conscious mind. Subconscious mind is deeper than an ocean and the its contents are inexhaustible. Contents of this subconscious mind come up in the dreams when the body is a sleep but mind, intellect, chitta, prana and ego are awake. The body needs sleep to survive. The thoughts and vrutties spring up in the dreams from the subconscious mind with force that can damage the wellbeing of the nervous system of the body.

We can quiet the conscious mind by cultivating our ways in such a way that it does not produce the friction in the mind. Things of the subconscious mind come out only when there is peace in the conscious mind. If there is no peace in the conscious mind the dungeon of the subconscious mind does not come out. When we quiet the conscious mind there is rush of things (thoughts etc) from the subconscious mind and we can let it pass through only if we can maintain the mental stability with awareness. This tremendous rush feels as if it is endless. But if we let it pass through, it does flow through like water rushing through the pond into the ocean via canal, making the mind empty.

There is a possibility of making subconscious mind quiet only when the conscious mind is quiet and chitta can observe the flow of the things from subconscious mind with equanimity and without being affected by it. Our subconscious mind has so much impressions and feelings from many births and it seems endless. Humans have the capacity to make conscious mind quiet and peaceful but do not have the capacity to quiet subconscious mind. At present human does not have the capacity to become divine by only self effort.        -------     (continued)
                                             
Pujya Shree Mota
Maun Mandir Nu Haridwar
Edition 6; pages 113 - 114.

MAKING GOD ALIVE AND ACTIVE THROUGH PRAYERS

How can a soul do sadhana if he cannot keep heartfelt harmony with the souls that are near and dear to him? There has to be some characteristics of the soul that does sadhana or we just make believe that we are doing sadhana. We just do not become merchant by carrying a small piece of ginger root. One can do away with lots of requirements in life but in the field of sadhana one can never progress by cheating one's self. If the sadhak is honest, has heartfelt good intention and is faithful to his path will definitely get stinging pain if he does something bad or wicked. He will also do self narration at Thy lotus feet (with His grace and increasing determination in his heart) that there will not be the repeat of such thing in the future and carry on with his life feeling relieved. He will ask for His grace and forgiveness for his faults may times with prayers, thus making Shree Bhagwan alive and active many times in his daily dealings and behavior!

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pokar
Edition 4; page 58.

SADHAK NEEDS TO DO AT LEAST THIS MUCH

Sadhak needs to have knowledge and awareness of the bhavana of the person (who is going to mould his life) and express it in his daily dealings and behavior. He should be mentally prepared with heartfelt cooperation to express and be guided by such bhavana. Our mind, buddhi, prana and ego are very obstinate and expect to be catered to its demands, expectations, wishes and desires.We need to be completely separate from these with knowledge. We need to reject various kind of our weaknesses. We need to acknowledge our smallness. We have all kinds of narrow mindedness regarding numerous fields and we have to make an effort to remove and be free from it with the grace of God. In spite of being absolute ignorant of things, we keep on believing with ego that" we understand everything, we have the skills, we do this and do that etc,". Our mind, buddhi, prana and ego carry on with all kinds of stunts. We need to have this awareness right at that instant, reject it and ask for the help and grace with heartfelt prayer. If we want to continue with our old perception and concepts of sukkha and dukkha then we might as well forget to follow this path. If there is no desire to change with enthusiasm and knowledge, it is not possible to follow the path of improving the life. I am writing above mentioned things to you after coming in close contact with many swajans.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pokar
Edition 4; pages 54 - 55.


My two cents -- Pujya Shree Mota clearly mentions the work that needs to be done by anyone who wants to improve his or her life. This was written in a letter to explain the responsibilities of the sadhak in order to get the guidance and help from Guru (person accepted by the sadhak to mould his or her life).

LET GO WITH PLEASURE

March 21, 1953.

If we have decided firmly regarding certain definite goal in life and to behave in certain ways, it is worth understanding that it is not proper to have hard feelings or feel dejected if we need to reject certain negative attitude within us or from someone else.

There should be immense pleasure in our heart if we encounter an incident where we get a chance to be free from the effects of attachments and infatuations, since we do not want to go towards that path and want to be free from such things. Whatever we want to do need to be done with firmness, heartfelt determination and honest intention. Our honesty and faithfulness should be transparent. The ideal that we want to follow with certainty requires the constant flow of bhava from the heart resulting in appropriate behavior and life style. If we feel difficulty or uncertainty of the mind, then we should know that there is still some kind of hesitation or lack of conviction. We have not gotten rid of human attachments completely or there is still lack of deep understanding and aspiration. Oh, Soul! Why this difficulty and hard feelings? If we find a scorpion on our body we try to remove it at once and get rid of it. We do not let it be there even for a second. We should never entertain the negative forces of the human soul. All these need to be done with complete understanding. Know for sure that heartfelt honesty between the two, devotion, purity, unity and love are not expressed in its true sense and in appropriate manner wherever there is conflict, disquiet, lack of understanding and confusion.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pokar
Edition 4; page 7 - 8 

EQUANIMITY IS THE BASE

If conscious awareness* spring up equanimity and sense of discretion is the result. Equanimity is the mother of sense of discretion.

It is not possible to do any kind of analysis without equanimity. So equanimity is needed even to be peaceful. When inner natural tendencies spring up, awareness to be separate from it is needed and this will happen only if equanimity is present. 

Equanimity is sensitive, executional and also provides the force to move forward. Equanimity makes us sensitive and aware (in mind) and also executes the correct decision in practice while providing the force needed at the same time. Success in life comes from this kind of equanimity. Naam smaran provides inner strength that results in peace and happiness. Just as money is useful in life, naam smaran is also useful in life.

* ચેતનાત્મક જાગૃતિ

Pujya Shree Mota

Maun Mandir Ma Prana- Pratistha

Edition 5; pages 62 - 63.

ART OF BEING AFFECTIONATE (ચાહવાની કળા)

Swajan : Mota, you tell us to like and being affectionate to our relatives and aquaitances to create, develop and increase goodness and loving kindness (સદ્ભાવ). Please explain this to us so we can better understand it.

Pujya Shree Mota : We want to like and be affectionate to others with our hearts and in our hearts. There cannot be any preconditions in our sincerity to be affectionate. If there is any such pre conditions demanded then there will be a great defect in our endeavor. Only open and free heart can truly be affectionate. There is freedom for us and the persons towards whom we want to be affectionate when there is true spirit of affection.

To like and be affectionate means two hearts (with true spirit and intentions) get to meet, know, be one, be intimate and dissolve in each other. It is only possible to have hearts of both to be in this spirit of loving kindness in spite of having different personality and in different directions of life, when they have true intensions that results in spirit of equality with goodness. This spirit of loving kindness results from such intense desire to love other person with open and sincere heart. The initial level of loving kindness develops from such liking and being affectionate. It is not possible to develop such loving kindness without first having sincere affection of the heart. It is possible to reduce attachments and jealousy with such affection of the heart. There is no place for any expectations or wishes in such affection. I sincerely wish from my heart and pray that we always keep our affection by paying focused, living, active and constant attention to it.  

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 4; pages 117 - 118.
  

EVALUATION OF NAAM- SMARAN

Swajan :  Mota, Recently when I was doing naam smaran in a solitary place, there was lots of pleasure and happiness.

Pujya Shree Mota : There should be certain results accomplished by such pleasurable naam smaran. It includes certain effects on the mental status and also effect on mind when performing daily works. Certain qualities like mental peace, confidence, simplicity, equanimity and other good qualities are maintained while performing daily works. Circumstances that can affect mental peace ordinarily, do not bother the mind and there is no tension in the mind during these stressful circumstances. Mind can stay above these tensions like a floating piece of wood in the water.  If the sadhak can experience these kind of results in his life confirmed after thorough impartial evaluation of himself then only he should surmise that naam smaran and the pleasure out of naam smaran is appropriately from sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 4; page 86.

SUKKHA -- DUKKHA (સુખ - દુઃખ) AND ATTACHMENTS (આસક્તિ) ----- (4).

Life is a process of flowing of consciousness energy of the soul (that has come with past impressions of the innumerable births) through the human body. Life like the flowing river, changes at every moment and yet these changes are connected to the older order. Old impressions have created a path for the flowing of the life's direction and newer impressions that are created flow in this path with natural ease. Under the rule of the senses, human beings come in this world with heaps of old karmas and impressions and leave with even larger heaps of the same Only a rare person has a strong desire to attain a position where he leaves these heaps of old impressions in this world and leaves without any kind of bondage to the world. This kind of person with strong desire tries to control his senses from taking interest in their respective areas. As a result this kind of blessed soul continues to develop equanimity (સાક્ષીભાવ) towards the interests of the senses and becomes free of the attachments. Eventually his habits and tendencies of the senses start sublimating and then it is easy and natural for him to keep the equanimity of the senses. The vrutties ( natural inner tendencies) start flowing in the cold flow of the non attachment (entirely different pathway), meaning the old impressions gets purified completely, breaking the old attachments of the karmas. We achieve the true sense of discretion only when the senses get to be non attached. Our decisions are made by our buddhi (બુધ્ધિ) before we open our eyes to this sense of discretion. Since our buddhi is stained with the innumerable impressions of our past births, to believe that its decisions are completely true is like throwing the rocks in the path towards God. So it is not proper to live our lives by these kind of decisions. We must understand and believe that the decisions made by our buddhi that is laying in the dirt of infatuations and attachments are not completely true. Once we start being guided by this kind thoughts as sadhana progresses, we will experience that we get more and more guidance and energy to act appropriately (not following the same path of being directed by the senses) in spite of the pull from the senses. In short we possess this subtle art with the grace of God.

The meaning of living life appropriately is "having an effortless habit of having constant awareness and equanimity at the time when the senses work and take care of business in the world". We will develop equanimity when there is tendency of a reflex reaction to evaluate the working of the senses automatically. When we have the equanimity constantly our buddhi will gradually submit to thy lotus feet. We need complete humility, faith and trust to have this auspicious union of buddhi. All these will happen as we deepen our practices of japa, dharana, dhyan, prayers, surrender and constant offering by the grace of God and as it progresses we will experience the bhava of God in all our works.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 224 - 226.

SUKKHA -- DUKKHA (સુખ - દુઃખ) AND ATTACHMENTS (આસક્તિ) ------ (3)

We do have the power to think and understand impartially but many times this power stays hidden. As a result we act carelessly at the times when the seeds are sown for sukkha and dukkha (pleasure and misery). We tend to ignore the adverse circumstances and go along with it. Deers may be grazing at any place but they always have the fear of the predators. That makes them alert all the time and can save themselves from the attack. This is the result of their awareness. If we want to save ourselves from the grips of sukkha and dukkha, we must oppose our attachments, desires, thoughts and works when they attack our senses (sometimes attacking in a hidden way), with ever flowing divine love. It is possible to oppose such attack naturally and with ease if we have the conscious awareness all the time. It becomes possible to oppose such attacks and keep constant equanimity at such times, only with the grace of god.  

The subtle desires of the senses are so sweet and strong that we get sukkha only when they are satisfied. Human being who is immersed up to the neck in the daily affairs of the world has no understanding of the subtle tricks of the senses. There is no way he will have the comprehension of opposing it. It is very necessary and important for all human beings to be on guard with introspection for their own well being. After practicing introspection for sometime, there may be a condition when the senses will return to its appropriate place after touching the appropriate field as needed, without creating any excess happiness or unhappiness in the human being. Only then it can be said that there is no defect in the working of the senses in its appropriate field. It is possible to destroy the cycle of sukkha and dukkha only when the senses are brought in a condition when it act with wisdom and not for its own benefit. We will be able to act appropriately in all circumstances only after not allowing the senses to take interest in its own field. We must make a constant effort to remove the thoughts that spring up, to create equanimity towards it.

                                                                          (continued)

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 222 - 224.

SUKKHA - DUKKHA (સુખ - દુઃખ) AND ATTACHMENTS (આસક્તિ) ----- (2)

Human beings will keep on increasing attachments for all the things that can be enjoyed with their senses since they always have attachments of some kind at the subtle or the subtlest level. The result will always be dukkha (misery). As mentioned above attachment has a natural inner tendency to encourage and support the subtle desires. As a result human beings always spend their life time in satisfying one or the other desire, even without having its awareness. If we go little deeper and investigate, it is evident that our eyes, ears, skin, tongue etc, (our senses) and even the thing that we identify as "ourselves" in its totality enjoy the unfathomable sweetness and pleasure rising out of this attachment. This sweetness is produced by the senses and it is for their pleasure. So until we make an effort to change this habit of senses and make it selfless, the senses will continue to enjoy their selfish interests. Many human beings have no idea regarding their senses keeping interest in their own field and keep enjoying it. As one enters deeper in sadhana it is recognized that what was thought as  innocent activity so far, had its roots in the subtle attachments meaning it is from the tendency of senses to enjoy on its own terms. That is the reason we need to change the direction of this tendency with awareness. Failure to do so will result in the senses continuing to follow the pleasure on its own terms. This will result in our destruction just like the spider creating the web around the victim and sealing of the escape rout resulting in the destruction of the victim. Senses get such a tremendous pleasure in its own field that human being continues the activity in spite of having thoughts about misery behind such an action. We do have some understanding regarding bad or undesirable activities  and when the senses are attracted towards such activity, it supersede our objection and still carry out such undesirable activity. Gitaji (Holy Hindu Scripture) mentions that such pleasure is of Rajsic nature and the end result is always misery. It is important to make great efforts to cleanse our chitta (effects of our past thoughts and actions on the mind) to prevent such Sukkha and Dukkha.
                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                        (continued)

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 221 - 222.

SUKKHA -- DUKKHA (સુખ-- દુઃખ) AND ATTACHMENTS (આસક્તિ) ------ (1).

If we look at the root of the sukkha and dukkha (even the feeling of), it is apparent that the attachment is the root cause of sukkha and dukkha. Attachment means affection and partiality towards certain feelings generated towards anything. Passion and hate rise out of this attachment creating the duality between sukkha and dukkha at all the times. Nature of the human being is such that it keeps on looking for happiness for themselves. While keenly searching for happiness, humans develop the attachments towards many things in this world. In the end this leads to destruction of the human being just as the capsized vessel drifts in the ocean and sinks eventually. If we analyze ourselves seriously with calm mind it becomes apparent that there is always some subtle attachment involved in all of our works. If the human looks within, there is no denial of this fact since attachment is bound to the body. Ego is completely dissolved when there is no attachment since attachment springs from the ego. At the same time there is no way the body can survive when there is no ego. Shree Ramkrishna Paramhansa said that to maintain the body even saints like Shankacharya kept SATVIC ego to spread the true knowledge. Similarly any kind of work is not possible without the some kind of attachment. Work or the activity is not possible without having the desire first. Desire is one characteristic of the attachment.
                                                             (continued)

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 220 - 221.

TURNING THE MIND INWARDS

When mind's attention, tendencies and interests tend to be extroverted, it is very important for the sadhak to gently prod, stir up and wind down the external activities of the mind and return it inwards. These three processes are important for the sadhak but it is not possible to achieve this without having the vigilent awareness first. This kind of work cannot be done by just talks, discussions or such measures. It requires fierce and tremendous effort in sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Life and Works
Edition 1; page 475.

LOVE (3)

Trichinapally
September, 1943.

True love is completely detached. It is not necessary that only saints can appreciate the very subtle difference between love and attachment. Most of the time what we call love is attachment. Love is not a something that comes suddenly with a tremendous force and then leaves with equal suddenness.  Love is a bhava that is quiet, thoughtful and flows constantly with the determination of the waters of the deep ocean. It is as wide as space and has the depth of the ocean. It can be better compared with the space than the ocean. The reason being the presence of space in the whole universe and still being unattached. If there is any element of prakruti that is beyond universe, it is space. Attachment brings about downfall of the person while love uplifts. Sadhana is to nurture, develop and receive such love. It is understatement even if it is considered an important part of the sadhana.

Just as developing love is the aim of the sadhana, it is also the achievement. It is impossible to behave and act appropriately without developing the clear vision from detachment. It is mandatory to act appropriately for the one who always wishes the best for the loved one. At appropriate times one needs to keep meaningful and sincere behavior. One neither achieves this instant comprehension (સૂઝ) of appropriate behavior by reading the books nor by following the saint as a routine. This instant comprehension is also not achieved by so called efficient intellect working in the worldly affairs. In fact it can be obstructive if one fails to keep the purpose of sadhana behind using intellect in achieving efficiency in worldly affairs. This instant comprehension gets to be better by keeping a definite aim to achieve only pure love and then acting in an appropriate way. Not only that, it is one thing to have instant comprehension and another to concretely manifest in life.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 165 - 166.

READING OF "JIVAN PAGLE" (જીવન પગલે).

Swajan :  Presently I am reading "Jivan Pagle" that contains your letters in poetry format. I try to harmonize my mind with it and understand myself. When my harmony is disturbed while reading the book, I try to find the faults in my nature. It is not easy to know and understand one's own self.

Pujya Shree Mota :  One does not reveal one's mind and heart easily, in fact one can not. Shree Bhagwan puts one in such circumstances so mind can understand its own nature. This gives one a chance to understand, critically evaluate, experience and conclude one's own way. Just like Bhagwan, one tends to keep one's inside concealed. One can not reveal one's inner instruments (mind, intellect etc) as clearly as one's image in the mirror. One's nature is exposed when put in such relevant circumstances. More over these kind of circumstances are created where one is the cause of such instances. That is why such instances, circumstances and works have important, mysterious and meaningful purpose. With complete equanimity one can definitely figure out the the real purpose of the work or an instance. Not only that one can evaluate one's nature and have a real sense about it. It is pleasure to see that you follow "Jivan Pagle", harmonize your thought process with it and try to understand the defect in your nature. This will definitely have beneficial results for you.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 4; pages 87 - 88.

DEFENDING ONE'S FAULTS

Not only you fail to see your own faults but don't even have inclination to look for it either. I consider this as a sign of biggest misfortune. One who never finds one's own faults and looks to defend it with all the might and excuses will never improve.

Pujya Shree Mota

Muktatma No Premsparsh

Edition 4; page 61.

CARE AND CONCERN OF PUJYA SHREE MOTA

Swajan :  My wife is having bad infection and at such times the thoughts about spirituality gets to be weaker

Pujya Shree Mota :  If your wife is having such a problem then she needs appropriate care and treatment. Without any hesitation let me know if you need any monetary help for her treatment. Do not get worried and confused. Keep me informed about her health. Do this not because I am telling you, but with the understanding that it is your duty to do so.

It is true spirituality when one fulfills one's duty towards people who have come in one's contact with knowledge, love, devotion and with the clear understanding that the work is done for the love of God.  One's duty in life and spirituality can never be separate. Our society's downfall is precisely because we tend to separate spirituality from our duty of functioning in society with love and wisdom. Believe for sure that spirituality will never spring up in the heart of the one who fails to perform one's duty towards the aquaitances. Such is my understanding of spirituality. You can do whatever is appropriate for you.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 4; page 55.

WHEN THINGS DO NOT WORK OUT THE WAY YOU WANT

Swajan : Mota, I get disappointed when the things do not work out the way I want. There are obstacles in this world even between brother and sister resulting in mental stress and emotional pain. What kind of attitude and spirit need to be affirmed in this kind of situations?

Pujya Shree Mota : It is never possible to accomplish all that we want and aim to achieve. This happens as everybody's need to achieve the same is not there. So we need not get disappointed in this matter. We can and should put forward our best effort. At the same time there needs to be great care taken to see that we  do not get disappointed in our efforts. Try to maintain the enthusiasm by all means. We ourselves are the losers if we get disappointed when things do not work out the way we want. Things working out the way we want or obtaing the results we want do not depend solely on our efforts.

I greatly value the unique love and feelings that your brothers and sisters have especially when I observe the lives of other worldly persons. I have also observed that many times there is mental anguish between people as a result of minor worldy matters and problems. This is the weakness of human life. There are very few souls that can appreciate and maintain the goodness of the lives that they come in contact and enjoy the fragrance of these lives while living their own lives. The life is for happiness and life is meaningless without happiness. If we realize that we have come in contact with each other for happiness, we will not give any importance to these small infractions of others. We would have our lives worth lived if we do not give any importance to any such difficulties or infractions while stressing the importance of the happiness in our lives.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 2; pages 113 - 114.

IMPORTANCE OF HARMONY

Swajan : My son is becoming irritable and angry. The other thing is that my husband is very forgetful and has absolutely no sense of social interactions. You tell me to be understanding and not get upset with him but there is no way around this but to get upset.

Pujya Shree Mota : Please see that this conflict does not lead to misunderstanding and quarrels between two of you. Also continue to sing bhajans while performing your works. Never get upset. The nature of the child is the reflection of the nature of wife and husband. It shows the state of disagreements and quarrels between two of you. Your husband needs to think about this too. You should not get upset with your husband because of his forgetfulness and ignorance of social interactions. He should also keep his mind peaceful and try to inspire the bhavna of sadhana with heartfelt love for each other. Bhava of Bhagwan is very loving and affectionate. I pray to you to keep complete awareness of not being the victim of helplessness and stupidity in your actions while trying to experience such love.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premsparsh
Edition 2; page 70.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

Swajan : Mota, Please tell us about the life of the departed soul after death.

Pujya Shree Mota : Departed soul stays in the atmosphere of the place of attachment for thirteen days. Since he is in the subtle body he can hear and see but cannot speak or experience, the reason being the absence of elements of water and earth in subtle body. During this period of thirteen days we should not cry for the soul or get angry. We should pray for the soul, do constant naam-smaran, perform good deeds (donate after the departed soul) for his benefit and perform the works that the soul liked. This will impart peace. Departed soul will be sad and unhappy at our crying.

Pujya Shree Mota
Janma Mrutyu Na Ras.
Edition 8: page 20.

FOR YOUR OWN SAKE

Hari Om

February 21, 1953.

You can definitely work to sell the books written by me. But this work should not be done for my sake. It needs to be done with the clear understanding that the work is done to increase your own bhavna of love and devotion and for your progress in sadhana. By the grace of God, I do not believe in accepting or keeping anybody's obligations. All of us will like your work of selling the books. You can definitely do that work without any hesitation. We will never have the negative thoughts about others if we do the work with the spirit and wisdom that the works are done not for others but are done for the sake of God and to improve and progress in our sadhana. It is very important to see that there is no sprouting of any negative thoughts in our mind.

Pujya Shree Mota

Pagle Pagle Prakash

Edition 4; page 51.

DANGERS OF FINDING FAULTS OF OTHERS

Hari Om
January 16, 1958.

It is not our job to point the faults of others. Our first duty and dharma is to find the faults and deficiencies of our own prakruti and nature. It should hurt us like a sting. We should try to figure out ways to improve our own prakruti. There is a danger of becoming unwelcome to others by showing their faults. It is proper for us to love our friends with sincerity rather than find faults with them and interefering in their duty and interactions.

Pujya Shree Mota
Pagle Pagle Prakash
Edition 4; page 114.

EFFECTS OF BHAVA (ભાવ)

Swajan : Mota, can we free ourselves from thoughts and inner natural tendencies if we have ignited bhava in our hearts towards you?

Pujya Shree Mota : When bhava develops in the heart by the will to inquire regarding development of spiritual life, there is a change in the inner instruments like thoughts, feelings and natural tendencies. It is not like we get freedom from these vrutties. It gets sublimated naturally as the bhava takes the hold in the heart just as kite can be flown easily if there is a force of the wind behind it. This is not just the matter of inference but can be experienced.

There is harmony in the vrutties, thoughts etc when bhava develops. It is not true bhava if that does not happen.When bhava is produced one gets engrossed in it just like when someone gets angry and looses the awareness of the surrounding. Usually our understanding and talk of the bhava is not believable. So it is better if we realize and be alert regarding evaluation of bhava. If there is real bhava in your heart towards me, you can definitely help me. In my understanding real bhava can never be just in thoughts but needs to be executed in dynamic fashion.

Swajan : This seems to be entirely different from my understanding of bhava.

Pujya Shree Mota : Yes, bhava is dynamic. Dynamic means the condition that guide us towards the sublimation of vrutties and then enters this process of sublimation of vrutties. We will go nowhere without this kind of bhava. It is not bhava if it does not touch mind, thoughts, etc.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma no premsparsh
Edition 4; page 140 - 141.

SUBLIMATION OF INNER INSTRUMENTS (અંતઃકરણો)

Swajan : Mota; mind, intellect, chitta, prana and ego are very powerful. We get swept away and defeated by them. How can we master or sublimate them?

Pujya Shree Mota : If we want to win we need more strength than the person to be defeated. Sadhak needs to defeat these inner instruments. Nature of the mind is to think. We can defeat it by not thinking (developing silence). Nature of intellect is to arrange thoughts according to habits, practiced learning, understanding, imagination, beliefs and traditions. We have to stop using intellect in that manner. Nature of the chitta is to accept all that happens (as memory) and then throw back at appropriate time. So we have to make sure that whatever we do needs to be done without attachment and without expecting any results. We also have to pay attention that works are done for the love of God. Nature of prana is to desire so we should not cooperate or give our consent to fulfill desires. Ego needs to be destroyed by being extremely humble. So we should use our life force in opposing direction all the time with care and constant awareness.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma no premsparsh
Edition 4; page 29.

CONDITIONS FOR FLOURISHING OF NAAM-SMARAN

Someone may ask; "Mota, you are just bluffing. We do naam-smaran but it does not seem to have any effect". My answer is; there is a need for certain level of progress for flourishing of the naam-smaran. So if we are really doing naam-smaran it requires fulfillment of certain conditions. It requires the awareness of right and wrong with the sense of discretion in our behavior towards others. So there has to be reduction in attachments and hatred (રાગદ્વેષ) for flourishing of naam-smaran. We have been constrained by all kinds of prejudice, ego and jealousy. There will be fast progress and flourishing of the bhavna of Bhagwan if we reduce these constraints. So if we really want to taste the fruits of our efforts of naam-smaran, we must reduce the grip of attachments, hate and prejudice. There is no way out of this but to reduce attachments and hate to enhance the naam-smaran of Bhagwan. We need to look for and find these constraints within us to reduce their grip on us. So the genuine sadhak needs to have eagerness to be free of these restraints, be aware of it and make an effort to be free from it.

Pujya Shree Mota

Maun Mandir Ma Prabhu

Edition 5; pages 12 - 13.

AWARENESS OF THE PURPOSE

The work of visiting the temple to pray does not help us if there is absence of the conscious and living awareness of the purpose to visit the temple. It is helpful only if we have conscious awareness of the purpose. We pray for half an hour and forget Him for the rest of the day. Even if there is some effect it is minimal. We divide the time and in the process encourage hypocrisy. So behaving like this does not bear the fruits. Sadhana will be successful only if we have the awareness of the purpose all the time.

Pujya Shree Mota

Maun Mandir Ma Prabhu

Edition 5; pages 9 - 10.

WORK AND SOLITUDE

Whatever work we do, it is for the improvement (sublimation) of our prakruti. We can benefit a lot if we realize that the work is for the expression and improvement of the bhavna behind the work and for the cleansing of mind and intellect.
We can be aware of the things that is collected in our minds and intellect only in solitude. One has no time to understand his own nature with its multilayer complexities in the hustle of the outside world. All these layers of the nature bubble up in the solitude of the Maun Mandir. Some get uneasy with this revelations. We will be satisfied if some fortunate soul will understand this and improve himself since we know that the whole world is not going to improve. So cleanse your prakruti and nature.

Pujya Shree Mota
Maun Mandir Ma Prabhu
Edition 5; Excerpts from page 42.

My two cents -- Pujya Shree Mota used to give a small talk to in going and out coming sadhaks from the Maun Maunders in Hari Om Ashrams. 

DO NOT JUDGE OTHERS AND BE INTROSPECTIVE

 Unless you quit the habit of judging others, you will be very unhappy. You should never entertain the thoughts like "I am not fit for this (sadhana)". In fact you need to be free from this inferiority complex. There can be many reasons for this inferiority complex like "Others are better then I at practicing the tools of the sadhana". So there is a distinct possibility of developing inferiority complex from the habit of judging others. We need to strengthen our will power to produce lively and vigorous energy that is also capable to do just that (develop self confidence). Who can help us to remove this uncertainty but ourselves? The very desire that encourages us to be like certain other person has to be rejected completely. Our consciousness has to grow from within ourselves so do not get discouraged by these thoughts about capabilities of others. Not only that you cannot judge the level of inner sadhana of persons by their external efforts and certainly it is not possible to judge their degree of development spiritually. We will do injustice to ourselves if we try to judge others in this situation, resulting in grief and discouragement. We need to understand our own perceptions, inclinations and inner instincts regarding others and use it to develop our own introspection. After observing our defects, work and effort is needed to move forward from the prevailing situation. We need to use the tool of prayer at the same time to achieve the desired results.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; pages 146 - 147.

APPROPRIATE PRAYER OF FORMLESS (GOD, DIVINE) BHAVA

If  a soul cannot express the bhava for the God in his satguru meaning he cannot embodiment this bhava for God in the form of his satguru, is it still possible to express this bhava genuinely with prayer full of feelings and sincerity (bhavna)? When it is thought further it is apparent that these feelings may be produced by some incident, reaction and counter reaction to an incident or the memory of the person who is supportive and helpful in spiritual development (satguru). Also it may be produced by the desire to pray at the time of difficulty or sorrow to get the solace. But to generate sensitivity in the prayer, there must be feelings and sincerity of the purpose at the root of the prayer.
For some it may not be possible to express the divine bhava in the form of the satguru, meaning it may not be possible to visualize the image of his satguru even though he has heartfelt feelings, sincerity and devotion towards him. The feelings and devotion is considered appropriate and genuine if there is an expression of this support and help of the satguru in actions and behavior. The prayer is considered appropriate and genuine only if feelings and devotion (towards satguru) is expressed in actions.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8, pages 260 - 261.

UNDERSTANDING THE DEATH -- (2)

Humans have always feared and disliked death. The reason behind this is their static mental attitude. Human nature likes to stay in the same position without the change if it is possible. Death comes in the way of this nature. We know that everything changes in this world and yet we wish to keep our surroundings as it is without change. Death is necessary transformation in this situation. Even though the purpose behind the death is for the good of the humans, they fail to welcome the event. How can the humans tolerate death when they have spent all the energy behind their lives making and executing the plans; have taken enormous interest and pleasure with lots of expectations and all these vanishing completely in an instant? We developed attachments as per our nature, took interest and thought that all these belong to us. We cannot bear this transformation that happens as per natural order. It is absolute ignorance and blindness in not accepting this necessary transformation when it is a natural order of the things. Habit of taking interest in this illusory world made up of bones and skin has caused this pathetic situation while forgetting the reality.

There is lots of attachment behind expressing grief, sorrow and lamentation and there may be unknown and deep selfishness too. Our feelings get awakened due to the attachment with the deceased. Sometimes we see the death of the swajan conflict with our gross or subtle self interest and we cry for our own self interest. We even do not realize this since we have not developed inner wisdom and keep on believing that our grief is due to true love we had towards the deceased. There is no sattvic (honest and truthful) quality behind the grief. There is no new creation or development of life from these negative feelings. So we should continue to use constructive feelings for the development of our lives. If we can keep equanimity towards these negative feelings at the time death then we can make good use of it in our sadhana. Since we cannot keep equanimity towards negative feelings in the beginning of the sadhana, it is safe and easy to keep constructive feelings for development of our  lives.

Death means great necessary (and unavoidable) transformation.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh,
Edition 3; pages 236 - 238.

UNDERSTANDING THE DEATH -- (1)

Death itself is not as dreadful as believed by the world. People identified death as a horror in the weakest moment in their lives. They also supported this thoughts and feelings and saw it as a catastrophe. All these shows mere ignorance about death. In this ever changing universe death is equally if not more important condition. Life and death, their practical form is the same. Where there is life, death is present for certain and vice a versa. In other words everything changes at every moment. Old gets destroyed and new is formed instantly. So life and death is the same version of the life eternal. We humans have separated these two as sky and deep abyss of earth and have made this death as something terrible instead of ordinary and natural condition. This shows how ignorant is this world regarding death. Death is as auspicious as life eternal.

The reason for the fear is the inability of humans to comprehend the reality behind death. Humans are afraid to jump at the unknown due to their fearful nature. They try to comprehend death but have no clue about it. When they fail even to have a glimpse of it, they declare it as something terrible. Humans are fearful and hate death when they fail to understand what happens to soul after death and before birth. By nature humans fear death. They tremble at the thought of this unknown transformation and unimaginable consequences. They are used to live in stable condition and hate to change into different condition. Poor humans do not understand that death is as natural a condition in the universal order as a birth. Humans know 'anything with name is always destructible' and yet always ignore this truth and keep on living their lives.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; pages 235 - 236.

PRAYER AND FOLLOW UP

Karachi,

April 28, 1940

Dear brother,

Fix up three special times for the prayer, in the morning, mid day and at bed time. Tell HIM everything you want to say at that time with heartfelt feelings, concentration and love believing that HE is present right in front of you. If you want anything for others ask there and then. Offer Him everything that you have done at the time; thoughts, feelings, purpose, behavior, work done and interaction with others. Try to keep mind peaceful at other times. If you have egoistic thoughts or any other contrariwise emotions remove it right there and then. Do not collect and keep any thing in the mind.Always carry love for others in your mind. We should keep lot of love towards others who have antagonism towards us. We do not need to appease them ( Yes! I may appease my loved one and make up if needed) but need to keep love flowing towards them. 

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Pagaran

Edition 3; pages 150 - 151.

HARI ॐ -- AARTI

                             
                                                              HARI ॐ

                              ॐ, ACCEPT MY SURRENDER AT THY FEET

                                                               (AARTI)

Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet, God accept my surrender at Thy feet.
Save this fallen soul, oh God. Hold my hand and accept me in Thy wings.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! Let the true spirit of my mind and speech be expressed in all my karmas.
May your grace bring harmony to my mind, speech and heart.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! Let the loving kindness spring up in my heart for all who come in my contact.
Let the spirit of love fill me up even when insulted.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! With your grace help me make an effort to oppose and sublimate my impure vrutties and make me fit for your acceptance.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! May the impurities of my mind, vrutties and the doubts of my intellect be
immersed in Thy lotus feet.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! Help me see myself the way I am. Shine the light in my intellect to clearly
understand my true self.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! May I always express my inner feelings truthfully and act on it.
Grant me the clear intellect to see that I never do the opposite.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! May my heart always settle where there is virtues and true spirit of Thee.
Grant me the devotion in my heart for virtues and true spirit of Thee.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.

Oh God! Let my mind, intellect and prana be immersed in the fervor of the devotion for Thee.
May Thy devotion in my heart surge like the splashing waves of the ocean.
Om, accept my surrender at Thy feet.


Pujya Shree Mota


My two cents -- Many thanks to my wife Shama, daughter Anisha and swajan Vatsalbhai for their insightful suggestions and help in translating the aarti.

APPRECIATE THE BHAVA OF BHAGWAN (GOD) WITHIN A PERSON

Whenever we feel the goodness towards a person at the time when that person expresses a virtu or good behavior towards us, we should believe that the feeling of goodness within us is not towards that person but it is towards the expression of bhava of Bhagwan in the form of virtue and good behavior. We should train ourselves to see and appreciate the expression of bhava of Bhagwan in this fashion. We should also understand that when and wherever we experience this expression of goodness and virtues and the resultant flowing of bhava in us, is a form of expression of bhava of Bhagwan within us. With practice we will appreciate the glimpsis of bhava of Bhagwan on concrete and solid bases with open eyes. Once that attitude takes hold we will develop more and more interest.

There are also some other gains with keeping this attitude. Since we will be expressing the Bhava of Bhagwan in this way the ego of " I " will not be there in you as well as in other person. Other person will be humble because of this attitude and we will never be attracted towards an individual or the cult. We will never be blindsided by the greatness and dazzling personality of any individual since for us the person's greatness is just a small part of the vast and immeasurable bhava of Bhagwan.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; pages 9 - 10.

USE FREE WILL TO ACT ABOVE THE MIND

I never insist that you must follow my directions. You will not repent in future if you think independently and then decide your course of action. Write down all the arguments that your mind presents (just as you are writing it to me) and then try to understand the deeper meaning and motive of the mind behind it. You will then see the real reasons behind the arguments. We should use our own free will and not be just guided by the mind. Even if you are going to do what your mind tells you to do, do not do it at that time. Do it after a while as if you are using your free will to do it and not following mind's decision. Once you practice this way you will get lot more understanding of your efforts to act above the mind.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; pages 109 - 110.

TRUE PURPOSE BEHIND SELF SACRIFICE (ત્યાગની ભાવના).

July 26, 1963

Swajan :  Mota, Our relatives and aquaitances never appreciate us even though we bear with them, let go stuff or endure difficulties for them. Why do I feel that all these self sacrifice (let go for others) is useless and does not help?

Pujya Shree Mota : There is a saying in Upanishad" keep enjoying while sacrificing at the same time" and humans have such capabilities for self sacrifice. But the human being cannot appreciate the importance of such self sacrifice since his heart does not feel the longing for it or has understanding that true happiness can be the result of self sacrifice. Until that happens he cannot self sacrifice with the joy of his heart and enthusiasm. We humans knowingly or unknowingly cannot live without sacrificing for each other. But this kind of self sacrifice is from their helplessness. Humans have to sacrifice unwillingly for each other lots of times due to certain circumstances and that kind of self sacrifice causes mental distortions and perversions. This causes mental stress, conflicts, irritation and disturbed peace in the mind. There is always infinite peace in mind with true self sacrifice. The self sacrifice that is done with clear knowledge, love and devotion and when this knowledge, love and devotion stay with constant awareness in his heart while performing the self sacrifice, has a far superior value. Our hearts, mind and intellect gets to be wide, generous, forbearing and full of goodness towards all the souls that come in our contact.

It is the characteristic of this worldly affairs that leads to conflicts. One who wants to be above the conflicts and wants to be alerted and saved from this conflict, gets the desire in one's heart for self sacrifice. The person whose heart desires peace and wants to maintain the peace during conflicts can easily and enthusiastically self sacrifice for others. In general humans have to sacrifice for others grudgingly. So why not do it with understanding and for our own happiness and peace. When it is done with this understanding it produces both happiness and energy. One gets new insight and enjoys
the life fully when one acts with the understanding that it is for one's own good.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma No Premspersh
Edition 2; excerpts from pages 105 - 107.

POWER OF GRACE LIES IN EFFORTS

Swajan : Mota, you told me once that I should remember you. When I close my eyes and try to see you, I see the light. Is it good?

Pujya Shree Mota : We should never give importance to such events. When such events happen to ordinary people they feel as if they have achieved something great and feel blessed. We should continue to introspect, see our selves as it is in clear light, watch the desires, keep sublimating our inner natural tendencies, check sincerity of the purpose while performing works, find our shortcomings and try to improve it. Know for sure that when such efforts are made with heartfelt sincerity, power of grace lies therein. You also had experience of oneness with me. So perform all actions with the bhavna of Shree Bhagwan within you.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatma no premsparsh
Edition 2; page 77.

SADHANA AND KARMAS

We have to undergo two kinds of opposing processes in performance of our sadhana. On one side our interaction with others should not be with carelessness, without interest or ignorance believing that all these (sansar, worldly actions) are false and unreal. We should accept every situation and circumstance with love, devotion and without any resentment or boredom, believing that it is given to train and test our bhavna for the real progress in our lives. If we perform our actions in this manner it is appropriate code of conduct. On the other side we need to keep our mind, intellect, prana etc, in the practice of tools persistently to stay in the bhavna of the sadhana. This is to prepare the stage to stabilize the grace of Bhagwan within us. In addition we should interact with harmony, goodness, love, compassion and goodwill in dealings with our contacts, keeping the bhavna (sincere belief, spirit) that all is for our own progress. Our attachment and hate will get less only if we accept the perceived injustice done to us by others with eagerness and consider it as a kind of penance. Know for sure that the force of duality in our prakruti will get less only if we act in this way with wisdom and love. We should interact with others for whom we have dislike or apathy with even more love in our hearts and make a special effort for that. It is possible to turn inwards for introspection with this kind of sadhana. There is no way without this introspection. Just as there is a process for sadhana, it is also equally important to interact with others in the manner discussed above.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Darshan

Edition 8; pages 191 - 192.

ARROGANCE OF THE MIND

What a wretched soul that boasts the arrogance of the mind while watching his mind indulge in imaginations, when in fact he is not prepared to make any effort for spiritual progress! I am really sad when we are in condition where we want to be somebody but do not want to make any effort. By the grace of God I can see that a person does not want to make a sincere effort even in places where he says he wants to accomplish something. He wants to be squeaky clean but keeps making himself dirty by falling in the dirty mud repeatedly and still takes pride in being clean. I am reminded of my Guru Maharaj when I see these things. He wanted to give me a stick (metaphor for being strict) but being a fool I did not accept it. He was right in his assessment and I was wrong in not accepting the stick. If I had the big stick by the grace of God, it would have been possible to rid people of this arrogance of the mind. It is not possible to remove all kinds of arrogance by just being strict though. It is possible they may not have come to me. It would have been better if they did not show up at my door. These people have come on their own but they do not want to work for the advancement. They have postponed to improve their mind , etc. The thing that bothers me the most is they're spoiling their minds instead of improving it. Instead of cleansing the impurities and removing the layers of difficulties, they keep on adding it. When there is improvement in reducing the grip of false understanding and beliefs etc, it is replaced with other kind of impurities in its place. We have to be very careful to see that when old is removed, new one does not replace it.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; Pages 175 - 176.

THOUGHTS

Never entertain long and extensive thought processes and the conjectures and inferences behind it. Do not be consumed and repeatedly think about the same thing. Contemplation and reflection is different from this.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Sanshodhan

Edition 6; page 240.

My two cents - I think there is some degree of equanimity in contemplation. 

BLESSING OF THE SAINT

Some people have the understanding that if they have prayed with certain sincerity of purpose to a saint and if that thing comes to a fruition then they assume that they have received the blessing of a saint. Lots of people run after these saints, sadhus and sanyasis (people who have renounced worldly things and affairs) for the fulfillment of their desires and expectations. We should be free from such delusional trap and never support this kind ignorance of the society. Some believe that the contact of a saint even once never fails. We are like blind people who cannot see the light of the sun.
It is very difficult to find a true saint in our society and even if you find one it even harder to appreciate him. Even if you appreciate him, it is even harder to understand him. Even if you understand him, it is extremely hard to study, follow and pursue his instructions for the advancement of our lives with wisdom, love and devotion. So instead of wasting time after these activities, it is best to try to understand and experience ourselves by ourselves.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; pages 252 - 253.

My two cents -- Pujya Shree Mota also explains in the next few pages about the exception to the above statements. He mentions that as a general rule saints do no interfere with the results of the karmas of the person. Some saints may help in the worldly life because of past associations (nimitt, નિમિત્ત). There is a possibility of this kind of help but it is an exception. He further states that we should not give importance to the exception to this rule.

PRACTICE OF NAAM--SMARAN WILL FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM US.

Naam-smaran is the best, easy and natural tool to keep our mind in the bhava of Bhagwan and maintain the awareness (mindfulness) for that purpose all the time. The influence of naam-smaran is limitless. If we use most of the time of the day and use most of our energy for that purpose, it is possible to achieve continuity in the bhavna of naam-smaran. When the bhavna of naam-smaran expresses in the life, it results in the sense of discretion between right and wrong. Effect of this goodness towards all always expresses itself in our lives. Just as when medicine is taken to cure the disease but it can end up helping rest of the body, this goodness towards all when exercised with wisdom and devotion affects the rest of the life also. When this goodness is put in action in life, it also produces other good qualities and energy. There is definite possibility to turn towards the path of spirituality when one develops the bhavna of naam-smaran with sincerity, love and devotion and tries to develop constant awareness of the purpose. The flood of the bhavna of naam.smaran can remove any and all obstacles either going through or around it (prakruti). But there is some problem with this logic. Just because there is bhava of Bhagwan, we should not ignore the prakruti. Prakruti is the sum total of our insistences, beliefs, habits, nature, mind, intelligence, prana, chitta, body etc, If we cannot transform the prakruti, sadhana in our lives is not much useful and not needed. If somebody says that we can realize divine consciousness without sublimating the prakruti, it is falsehood and illusion. It is very important to keep our constant attention to see that our prakruti is transformed and our attitude towards it is molded in that regard while we pursue our sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Sanshodhan

Edition 6; pages 245 - 246.

PRACTICE TO BE AWARE (MINDFUL) -- ALWAYS

We will find many examples of help from Bhagwan when we are open to Him with even half open eyes. The real problem and defect is that our eyes close repeatedly. We get the spark and the effect lasts only for a while. We stay the same as a result. So we have to be aware (mindful) repeatedly and start the process again and again. When this is practiced repeatedly awareness starts staying continuously and with same intensity.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan sanshodhan

Edition 6; page 244.

My two cents -- The next blog will explore naam-smaran and how it helps to keep this kind of awareness and change our prakruti as a result. 

START WITH A SMALL AIM

Start with small aim after considering your own level. Evaluate the kind of thoughts, desires and wishes spring up in your mind. Understand it and keep an aim commensurate with those. Try to achieve it first. As you do this your aim will get higher also. This bhavna of achieving your aim lights up your path and gives you thorough understanding of the direction. If you want to do the activity it needs to be done with a definite aim. Try to generate determination, persistence, care and unbridled enthusiasm to achieve the aim. You should be ready to sacrifice your life with eagerness. Without this eagerness you will not be able to reach even a small aim. You can even develop good qualities ( gunas, ગુણ) along the way if you have immense patience and great enthusiasm to achieve even a small aim. You should try to achieve the aim with exuberant joy of heart.

Pujya Shree Mota
Maun Mandirnu Haridwar
Edition 6; page 103.

ATTITUDE OF SADHAK TOWARDS KARMA (WORK)

There is always hoopla and activities going around in this world. Other people may have different attitude towards these activities than ours. Most people are interested in doing the work as best as they can, but we do that work for the God. We need to practice offering the work at the very instant it is done. That needs to be done with knowledge, love and devotion. So there is going to be difference in our thinking. Even though our mind, body (instruments, કરણો) are engaged in the works physically their inner attitude and thinking are going to be different.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; page 153.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE CONTACT WITH GURU -- CONSCIOUSNESS

We receive the true comprehension and solution of the problem when we contemplate about him in the beginning, middle and end of whatever we do. We experience that these solutions are coming from him. Some times we experience the active support from him when we feel sudden peace at the time of being embroiled in a problem, get sudden strength when being impatient, receive patience  when being impatient and receive immense happiness for no apparent reason. Believe and understand that somebody's divine consciousness is in contact with us when such experiences occur. Try to enliven these experiences. As we develop Bhakti (love and devotion) there is true understanding, solutions and comprehension of the various fields of life. His subtle involvement is present in these activities. We should also understand that receiving sudden and unknown compassionate support and inspiration is also from him. Whenever there is any conflict, trouble, problem, difficulty or disturbed peace in mind call on to him with prayer and with heartfelt sincerity. Keep his contact alive in day today life. Then with practice we learn to properly understand, experience and know him better.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; page 152 - 153.

DISTRESSED CALL OF SAT-GURU

Even by chance do not get drowned in the whirlpool of the society. The puzzle of the society is such that even the mighty get discouraged. There is a rare brave person that comes out of the game of the puzzle triumphant. Our heart is aching to see that day when you become such brave person. Our heart is always restless to see you to become such brave person and come out of the puzzle of life and society with flying colors with the speed of an arrow. Our mind's sentiment is always to see you succeed. We shine by your good behavior. Our heart starts trembling when it sees you embroiled playing games with your mind, intelligence, prana and ego. At that time we try to call you back with all the enthusiasm of the our heart. We have called lots of our swajans at such times in their lives. But who listens to the call of our heart? At times we express the sorrow and pain of our heart. I pray to you to listen and feel this sorrow and get inspiration from it. Continue with naam-smaran with all the love, devotion and enthusiasm. Life is for happiness. It is not for crying and weeping with restlessness. So be a courageous person with guts.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; page 94.

My two cents - This letter describes Pujya Shree Mota's pain at the stressful situation and the response of the devotee woman.

UNDERSTANDING THE PERCEIVED SUFFERING

We should accept the perceived suffering from other people as a tool to mould our lives. This needs to be done as long as we are in the our ordinary state. It also needs to be accepted with love, enthusiasm and with the spirit of penance. As long as there is love it does not become painful and oppressive. Mind does not get strained. The bhavna that our lives are improving gets stronger and effective. Treat any suffering from others as a gift of grace from God. You should believe that mind is somewhat getting better when you see that happening.

Know for sure that you are on right track when there is constant and always present awareness. Do naam-smaran of God with awareness, love and devotion.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; page 87.

My two cents -  This reply was in a response to a letter describing stress from family members in a joint family.