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.