ACCEPTANCE OF PRESENTED CIRCUMSTANCES

Swajan: At present all the circumstances in my life are adverse. I try to compromise somehow and accept the present circumstances. What else can I do anyway?

Pujya Shree Mota: There are all kinds of circumstances, situations, conditions of the body in life. By the grace of God, if we have the heartfelt desire to adjust and act accordingly to the presented circumstances, there is a possibility for us to have feeling of compromise in the presented circumstances. When a human passes through very difficult tests, he always has weariness, worries, conflicts, difficulties and obstacles. Even in these situations there is sense of compromise in the end and it is done very grudgingly after accepting the defeat. If a human being by his own understanding and will accepts the presented circumstances and accepts the heartfelt compromise with circumstances: he can still be fortunate enough to receive a small reprieve of happiness in these very difficult situation. I am glad that you have accepted the presented circumstances.

Pujya Shree Mota
Muktatmano premspersh (મુક્તાત્માનો પ્રેમસ્પર્શ)
Edition 2; Page 128.

THE ART OF YOGA --- (2).

The heart that is simple, easygoing, worry free from all aspects and free from duality is needed to immerse in meditation. We need to train the tendencies of our mind with awareness in our daily lives (interaction while performing our works) to achieve this. This is only possible if we conduct our karmas-relationships-interactions with awareness, knowledge and with the sense of discretion or the bhavna of bhagawan (god) is constantly alive and expressed in all the worldly works.

There is tremendous flood of the bhavna (heartfelt sincerity) due to devotion (bhakti). This bhavna creates an unbreakable castle like living and creative cover around us to stay in its own world without any disturbances. If it is not possible to maintain balanced mind with awareness at this time, then it is possible to be satisfied with this achievement. So there is a need to develop balanced mind. We need to train the mind to feel separate from everything in-spite of being in everything so that we are not attached or stick to the qualities of other souls; we have to make sure that there is no effect on our mind and are not influenced by the them in anything.

We have to carry out our duty towards all people that are connected to us in our lives. It is to be carried out in such a way that helps us to progress in life and also others as well. We have to be sympathetic to people who are not aligned to our way of life and activities of the heart (sympathy, love etc). Our mind should not be involved with them. Sometimes our response with heartfelt sincerity is construed by them as our consent in their actions. So we cannot condone the ignorance and approve it. Not only that the response to our love should make them aware of their ignorance. There should never be any sorrow, anger or any kind of contrariwise feelings from us.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pathaya
Edition 3; Pages 49 - 50.

THE ART OF YOGA ---- (1)

Karachi,
Jan 28, 1944.

Dear brother and sister,

When a human being gets angry he becomes anger himself due to the absence of the awareness at that time. Vrutti of anger engulfs him and he turns into the anger. There is no balanced mind or detachment (તટસ્થતા) from the anger at such times. Similarly if we forget ourselves and surroundings during meditation or get immersed in the bhava of bhajan (devotional songs); but if we fail to be detached or keep balanced mind then we will get trapped in the bhava pervading at the time and our progress will stop. For that reason we need to develop detachment from our field of action. It is important for the sadhak to be aware and careful of this fact. Then only he will progress fast.

Now in the worldly affairs if there is anger or there is certain habits and there is a tendency of insistence; just as the habit of anger takes hold of him, the insistence of his views and facts also takes hold of him and prevents his progress further. Such vrutties also prevent him from seeing and accepting far reaching independent opinions. For this reason sadhak should never keep insistence of his opinion in anything and anywhere. He needs to divert and train his mind to accomplish this.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pathaya
Edition 3; Pages 48 - 49.

TWO SIMULTANEOUS PROCESSES IN SADHANA

We need to pass through two kinds of processes. First whatever tools (like meditation, naam-smaran, prayer) we are practicing; there need to  be increased intensity of love, interest and sense of purpose in it. We also need to settle firmly in them. Second we need to be more introvert to create the appropriate  environment for the effects of the tools to be effective. This is as important as the first one. We will have to observe the games that mind play, understand it with close observation and keep the mind under complete control. At present mind is our leader. We perform the actions guided by the mind and our senses. They are the reason behind it and not us. We have been trained like that. Instead we will have to reverse the flow of water of the River Yamuna. We have become the servants of the habits of the mind and senses. They are so cunning that they do not even let us realize that we have become their slaves. Some realize that but they do not the strength to fight it. We gain that strength from our sadhana. This strength (energy) need to be used constantly to become introvert and increase faith, love , etc. Otherwise this energy gets dissipated like the clouds of the summer and we stay the same as before with empty hands. Not only that mind and senses get better-off us. So we need to use our acquired energy constantly in being introvert.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 235 - 236.

SURRENDER (શરણાગતિ)* -- THE METHOD

Trichinapalli
February 15, 1948.

One who completely accepts with knowledge and awareness, to surrender (follow and rely on), one always gets all kinds of benefits. Since one is following someone else's directions, one will get rid of many habits of one's mind. Insistences of the mind will also fade away. If one truly follows someone else, one's own understanding, calculations, measurements, happiness, ego, intellect and mind purify itself. If one passes through that stage, spiritual benefits are accrued to one. These benefits are far more beneficial than the whole worlds property. Surrender itself develops the life. There is absolutely no destruction of life. Such surrender removes lot of bondages of the soul one after the other. For the one who is seeking the eternal happiness, has no choice but to accept such surrender. One who cannot surrender in the field of sansar (worldly life); how can one surrender in the spiritual field? So the one who is seeking one's betterment needs to surrender to elders in very ordinary things. This needs to be done for one's betterment, improving life and for the welfare of the soul and not for pleasing elders. Such mature and true understanding needs to be instilled in our heart and act accordingly. Elders will never ask you to do things that are against your values. If we develop instant comprehension to surrender to elders in other things then only it is possible for us to surrender to God. One who has the habit of surrendering to elders, will understand the secret of surrendering to guru or any other spiritual truth, the reason being his past experience of being benefitted from the other field of action. Such experiences leads to expansion of field of direct knowledge. When we surrender to a realized soul completely with living awareness of the purpose, know for sure that our karmas in the field of attachments are going to be sublimated to karmas without attachments. At such times our mind, chitta, intellect, ego, prana etc, are sublimated automatically. Such transformation has to happen. This inner development of the sadhak happens only if he understands the purpose of the surrender and does it without feeling weariness or becoming sad and does it with happiness and enthusiasm and it becomes easy and straightforward.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Patheya
Edition 3; Pages 42 - 44.

* My two cents -- there is no appropriate word in English for શરણાગતિ (sharanagati). The closest one is surrender which implies some kind of force or coercion. The word sharanagati has no such connotations. The process is entirely voluntary and is done to improve one's self. It is described in many scriptures.

IMPORTANCE OF THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE KARMA (WORK)

Every work is an appropriate opportunity given to us by His grace to move us faster towards Him. Even then sadhak should not go for it blindly. His sense of discretion should be trained and alert so it can see clearly the inner purpose of the work, with the keen spirit that can distinguish between milk and water. He will not deny anything. He will enter the work for the love of God keeping in mind the purpose of inspirational divine consciousness that is present within the heart of all involved; so what is important to him is not the karma but the purpose behind it. He has the distinct feeling in his heart that karma is the preordained tool supporting and keeping God's remembrance alive awake and lustrous.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Page 219.

BHAVA OF SHREE BHAGAWAN

This soul (Pujya Shree Mota) prays to your heart with humility that you make your mind make a great effort to love and settle at thy lotus feet. Activities can be a tool of liberation or devotion only if it is possible to enter all activities with His bhava (spirit) alive in the heart. Otherwise we stay as the same sentient being as before.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Page 213.

KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS FROM CONFLICTS

The soul with heartfelt sincerity gets to realize and see clearly the level of his prakruti from the episodes of conflict. If that soul really wakes up and with faith and true sincerity of the heart tries to reach higher goal than such incidents of conflict are worthwhile. If we are forewarned, wake up and get strength and enthusiasm to reach a higher level from such conflicts then believe that god with his grace has shown us the real nature of our prakruti by putting us in those particular circumstances. Shree Bhagawan puts us in the conflicting circumstances many times. In realty there is nothing like; god putting us in certain circumstances. Our prakruti puts us in those circumstances. The soul that can truly see through and experience his prakruti from such conflicts and accepts it with heartfelt sincerity, stops evaluating, understanding, measuring and judging others who come in his contact, then he will realize, "Oh God, whole universe is your school". Then he will have such awareness and inner knowledge. If this happens then my such poem writing in "hraday pokar, હ્રદય પોકાર" can be true. God has created the universe to impart us knowledge, wake up and infuse us with divine consciousness.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 88 - 89.

KNOW YOUR PRAKRUTI ( NATURE, પ્રક્રુતિ)

The soul that is a real true observer of himself will definitely have the idea of the direction of his inner natural tendencies, feelings and intent. We also get to know the kind of prakruti we have (lower , medium or the best quality) by confronting it. If sadhak wants to progress in life he must clearly see through and acknowledge the level of his prakruti. He definitely knows his own prakruti from incidents and happenings around him either by the grace of god or from any other such incidents.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Pravesh

Edition 2; Page 88.

DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TYAG (ત્યાગ, RENOUNCIATION, GIVING UP SELF INTERESTS, LET GO)

We need to march forward as the inner knowledge of easiness, simplicity, happiness and sense of discretion manifest in our sadhana of life, no matter the kind of circumstances are present in our environment; at the same time we need to behave with the spirit of cooperation and harmony with the presented circumstances. Life is complicated and very complex. For the sake of developing our lives, we can let go whatever is needed to keep easiness in our surroundings with joy. We behave with understanding in such a way so that other souls around us get peace and happiness. We should not take an objection if we do not get peace, happiness or easiness from others. If we let go for others or for their happiness and peace with clear understanding that such tyag is for our own development and keep actual awareness and understanding at the time; penance of such tyag takes us higher in our development.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 85 - 86.

BEST WAY TO PRACTICE PENANCE

One who directs the twists and turns arising in the mind in an appropriate fashion, can withstand these forces in a constructive way. That is the best way to practice penance and it is the true sadhana. Such inclinations and tendencies arise in our mind off and on. It lives, goes away and yet enters again in a different form and produces the same kind of tendencies again. It is the greatest penance if one has the awareness about one's goal in life at that moment and makes an effort to utilize it for that purpose. The soul that accepts such penance with happiness can go much higher in his development.

The true Bhagawat* is expressed in the real life. This weekly discourse of Bhagawat is being played out in daily life. If we try to awaken the Krishna who is laying dormant within us by following and practicing the real bhavna behind the readings of Bhagawat; we would have used that week in the best possible way.

*Bhagawat is a holy hindu scripture. Some times it is read for a week and devotees try to follow its teachings in their lives.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 96 - 97.

HOW DOES THE FUTURE IMPROVE?

                                                                     HARI OM

Kumbhakonam,
July 29, 1952.

Building of the life for most part depends upon the way sadhak lives presently. It depends upon the kind of understanding, intent and usefulness in present life. It is very important for sadhak if he uses the same kind of evaluation of mind, intellect, chitta etc, in the form of self narration (aatm nivedan, આત્મનિવેદન) with love, devotion, knowledge and truthfulness of the present life just as his evaluation of past life. Sadhak must properly analyze and watch how the forces of duality affect attachments,  infatuations etc, and their play in mind, intellect, prana and ego. He must watch how these forces rise, affect and calm down in mind, intellect, etc. This is very useful for his future life.

When there is heartfelt faith, there is no need for such proof or confirmation. The objections and shortcomings are present only when there is no faith.

All that is present is born out of the past. The way we live in present results in our future. Thus time is one continuous and permanent entity. One who learns from the tendencies of the past by watching and understanding one's nature and then tries to improve ons's nature and learns one's lessons from the past, gets all the benefits in the present. It is important for the one not to keep rehashing the past repeatedly, while living in present. It is not that past life has no connection with the present life and yet sadhak need not repeatedly invoke old memories. He can do overall observation of the past but only for that time. If the past memories are invoked repeatedly, it can affect mental stability or make him do the same as he did in the past. If the sadhak keeps his sight on what he wants to become and gives it utmost importance, lives his life in the present with that spirit improves his future.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Prevesh
Edition 2; Pages 94 - 96.

TAKE CARE OF ONLY PRESENT

                                                                          Hari Om
Karachi,
March 3, 1940.

We need to offer all kind of karmas, thoughts, speech, vrutties, feelings, intentions, relations and contacts at Thy lotus feet continuously with awareness and devotion. Sadhak (of development of life) has to continuously and instantly offer and continue such effort at all the time. Then only he can become true devotee of God. Whatever happens, remember Him and offer at His feet at that very moment. If we can do this with true awareness and devotion, future or past just do not enter the consciousness.

So we should neither keep on remembering past events and lengthen the thread of that thought and feeling nor keep entertaining the thoughts " I will do this in future and this will happen then". We should not keep on mulling over such thoughts. We should not get confused with series of questions like "what is after death?", "how did the universe came into existence?", "why there is so much misery in the world?". Our intellect can never solve such questions. At the present level of intellect there is no possibility since there is not enough depth and energy in it. When we experience the divine consciousness such questions will not arise. We will accept any situation as it is then. So presently you should not concern yourself with questions like "why and how did universe came into existence?", "what comes after death?", "why there is misery in the world?". At present our most important work is to figure out our goal and how we want to achieve it. Never allow our attention to be diverted in any thing else.

Let us live in the present. We need to take care of the present. One who lives the life with awareness, love, devotion, keeps the aim of developing life and lives life in appropriate manner has one's future equally bright. Present contains past as well as future. One who accepts the present as training ground to be free from the intricacies of the past and gets inspiration to actually put and follow through in practice with love, devotion and awareness; has one's future always as present. One who lives present appropriately knows the right way to live life. One who lives the life in present appropriately with right intentions and awareness will not experience the past and the future will express in present automatically.


Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; Pages 46 -- 48.

MOTHER

                                                                      Hari Om

Karachi,
June 4, 1940.

Mother's place in the life is quite unique. Her bhava and affection pours inspiration, enthusiasm and life into us. There is no warmth and support like mother’s.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh,
Edition 2; Page 233.

BHAVA (ભાવ, SPIRIT, INTENTION) BEHIND THE WORKS

                                                                         Hari Om

Saayla,
April 11, 1943.


Whoever has met us in this life, is the result of our own inclinations towards certain works. If we continue to behave with such souls with the same nature in this birth, we will continue to carry the same burden.There will be no end of it forever. If those works are done with the spirit that these works are given to us to finish our destiny with them; such works should be done not with the spirit of soul nature but with the spirit that such works are for the worship of god. Our lives will have a higher purpose if such service to our relatives is done with the awareness, devotion and with complete attention. Most of the time we do not have much say in the matter and we have to do the work any ways. So please when such incident happens consider it as the opportunity given to us by god. The soul will develop higher if there is spirit of awareness and devotion in the mind and heart that these incidents of service are the indirect ways that god has bestowed on us to elevate our lives. The worldly life (sansar, સંસાર) is given to us as a stage for appropriate penance. We need to find our god in sansar and express in our lives. God is not separate from it. If we can accept this fact sansar need not be enjoyed in a worldly fashion but used as a part of the development of our lives with awareness and devotion. If the soul is fortunate enough to understand this, it will be very beneficial. This benefit is not, out somewhere. But the soul cannot maintain the creative awareness of the appropriate thought with knowledge and devotion, the reason being its failure to be careful and remember at the appropriate time due to the absence of complete and intense desire for self interest. Everything is very easy if such awareness is present. For this reason we have to keep and maintain living and creative purpose with firmness, while performing the works that come our way. When such practice is firmly grounded with love, devotion and it is thought of in a creative way; the soul will express its divine qualities.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 246 - 247.

YOGA OF WORKS (KARMA,કર્મ)

One of the gauges of the development of one's life depends upon the purpose and intent (bhava) behind the performance of the works. One cannot live without performing the works presently or in the future. So we must perform the works that come our way with the express purpose of fulfilling the intent and purpose of our lives, with and through the works. Performing the works in such a way is a powerful tool just like the meditation and prayers. One learns, knows and experiences a whole lot from such works. So it is my humble request to never get weary of working. If the work is done with weariness, such work will stick to us lot more and will be with us for a while. It is important to keep in mind to do any work for the love of God and find ways and bhava to fulfill that purpose.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; Page 157.

BEST SACRIFICE

We can sacrifice money, fame and beloved relatives but it is very difficult to sacrifice "our own so called possessions"such as accepted opinions, habits, calculations, evaluations, understandings and judging the importance of others. This can be done only when each incident is evaluated with constant awareness and convincing and developing the spirit of refusing any insistence in our hearts; at the same time believing that truth has many facets and actually behave in such manner at that time.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; Pages 170 - 171.

MIND IS ITS OWN GURU

Dayarambhai* has sung in one of his bhajans "If mind selects mind as its own guru, it will find true thing". In this poem he has shown the right key of the sadhana. We need to make mind as its own guru. How is that possible? One may ask. Mind tries to trap us in its fancy, imaginations, flights, thoughts, vrutties and feelings. Mind that is awakened can always help the lower level mind from being swept in its currents. Our mind is awakened when there is tremendous eagerness and desire for progress in the sadhana for spiritual development of life. In spite of this old impressions that are suppressed spring up and at that time awakened mind hints at and draws attention to it. Awakened mind can warn and prepare us to change the direction also. This experience is also a fact in the path of spiritual development.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8 ; Pages 248 - 249.

CHAIN OF THOUGHTS

Karachi,
March 9, 1940


Whenever thoughts arise in the mind during meditation see it with the spirit of a witness as if you are siting on the river bank and watching the water flow by. For example if a thought arise regarding a person or an incident, let it be. If you have succeeding and corresponding thoughts then you should know that you have an attachment to that thought regarding that person or an incident and you have taken interest in it. If a thought comes and it flies or passes by like a small sporadic cloud in the sky then it is all right. We have to see that no interest is shown in that thought and it is not followed by succession of deep and dark clouds surrounding the sky of our inner being (mind, intellect etc). We need to continue to practice that only one thought comes and passes by like a stray cloud.

You may ask "How can you perform works without the thoughts?". When there is continuous practice of not producing succession of thoughts with awareness, one gets the inner inspiration or urging from divine consciousness to perform the work in a best way with appropriate bhava. At this time there is no need for succession of thoughts for performing the works. There may not be a thought for performing a work. The bhava of thought expresses directly into the work and completes the work. When there is such lively and creative practice, the chain of thoughts disappear. So we should be expressly aware as soon as one or two thoughts appear and try to stop them from forming a chain of thoughts.We should be very careful and find the ways to prevent the formation of chain of thoughts.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Darshan
Edition 8; Pages 85 - 86.

POWER OF THE PRAYER

Sadhana's everlasting path is very narrow. In the beginning it is even clouded with deep darkness. It cannot be comprehended and one may stay in that situation. There is pressure from all the sides and sadhak does not have any idea regarding dealing with these problems. At this point sadhak who has living and creative faith in the goal of life, just does not sit with despair. He prays to his God within for grace-help with unbearable pain and with broken heart. The strength of the prayer is known to the one who has experienced it. It is like "when there is a fire in the house and he is trapped within, he struggles to be free from the fire with unbearable anguish and at that time he prays and cries out with distress". Soul that prays with such intensity and spirit experiences the help at that very time. The soul that experiences such help, never believes that he is alone or helpless anytime. The works in the dealings with the society is an essential tool for the development of the life. With that understanding in heart and with the spirit of yagna (offering all the time), we need to offer the works at the feet of the God. At such times when there are problems, difficulties, troubles and interferences express confidence with head held high, never give in, be more forceful and illuminated with brightness. In your heart and with the heart wake up the one who supports our lives, by the prayers in the heart and get the visible support of the one who is merciful. When that happens we will be peaceful and worry free for ever.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Murm
Edition 2; Pages 50 - 51.

BEHAVIOR WITH FAMILY-- REAL MEASURE OF THE BHAVANA (ભાવના, FEELINGS, INTENT, FAITH, TENDENCIES ETC)

If you want to understand the real measure of the so called reformers and persons with pride in their behavior towards others; if you happen to notice their behavior towards their wives you will see the stark difference with their measure of bhavana. No body's life develops without examining one's life, implementing the desired changes, penance, certain sacrifices and offering everything that is required at all times with the spirit of understanding. If we really understand the bhavana of the life with our hearts and minds, the real test lies in our own homes and our lives. Bhavana of our lives will be truly measured by alertness to behave harmoniously towards everybody related to our household and efforts to make it happen, commiserate with the bhavana of the goal of our lives. Our courage is being tested today. This is an appropriate time to shine the love-courage expression of the soul with opportunities and incidents. The soul that wants to uplift, save himself and wants to expand the bhavana will have to follow it in his own field of action. The bhavana of soul cannot stay hidden when the soul follows or tries to follow this path. So our first duty-work is to express bhavana of harmony with love-courage, generosity of the heart and compassion towards everybody that has come in our contact.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Murm
Edition 2; Pages 37 - 38.

KHANTA (ખંત, KHANTA IS A QUALITY THAT INCLUDES DILIGENCE, PERSEVERANCE, ENTHUSIASM AND HARD WORK IN A PERSON

Karachi,
1939.

It is very difficult to achieve anything by the person who does not have the quality of khanta meaning absence of the quality of persistence to achieve the goal. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is rather impossible to reach the goal in life for such a person. When there is no khanta, there is no enthusiasm or joy. That person will be passing the life as an idle and lazy person.

Person must have the passion, unshakable spirit of adventure and determination to finish the task. These associated qualities and tendency can never develop where there is no khanta. Even though the person has well thought of about the task on hand and has understood the need and appropriateness of the task; keeping purpose of the task on hand and eagerness of even dying (spirit of do or die) to achieve the goal springs up from the bhavna of khanta. There is care and determination to not abandon the task on hand when confronted with obstacles, This gives us comfort in any difficult situation and prevents us from being distanced--separated from our goal.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Murm
Edition 2; Page 4 - 5.

TRUE FAITH

To be persons of the faith we must work to be above or evenhanded regarding our different opinions, calculations, measure of the understanding and insistences. True faith can be developed then only. Faith inspires us to do whatever is needed to be done. It makes us understand whatever needs to be understood, sees whatever needs seen, whatever needs to go deep within sinks in on its own without any need for thinking. Whenever there is a call from true faith within, we get enthused and energized in our hearts and minds and feel the satisfaction when the work is done. Such faith that finishes its stated goal and then only returns to its abode, is the only true faith.  Faith is the eyes and the stick of the blind person; in one sense all of us are blind and faith shows us new things and guides us. Sadhak or anyone who makes an effort will not enjoy practicing any tool for his progress without faith. Understand that faith is strong, lively and creative in the one who has eagerness and longing for the task.  

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Murm
Edition 2; Pages 14 - 15.       

FAITH (શ્રધ્ધા, SHRADDHA)

Faith is an element of atman (soul). So it is best if it springs up on its own, somewhat better if it settles permanently after experiences and contemplation, is of inferior quality if it holds us back by making us dull and inert.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Murm

Edition 2; Page11.

SAT, CHIT, ANANDA (સત્ ચિત્ આનંદ).

We also engage in the activities other than "eating, drinking and sleeping". If our activities involved only that then how can we experience pleasure in life? Philosophically characteristics of sat, chit and ananda can be explained like this :

                                       Sat   (સત્ )   -----------------     Substance, Inanimate, Physical

                                       Chit   (ચિત્) -----------------     Prana-consciousness, Subtle

                                       Ananda   (આનંદ) -----------      Mind and behind it Hradayam (હ્રદયમ)
                                                                                        Here mind means it's purified form.

We desire to perform good deeds. There is interest in somebodies wellness. We feel it is good to be helpful to somebody. We develop compassion towards people who have practiced this kind of good wishes, good deeds and its spirit in their lives. Occasionally we also enter the ananda that is different from ananda of physical stuff. It means every element has different characteristics and nature.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 240 - 241.

My two cents: Wikipedia has an excellent explanation of the word "Satchitanand".

KEEP MIND ENGAGED IN WORKS

There is no other training in life better than keeping engaged with the activities and keep the mind busy in that fashion. There is nothing that can produce more energy and bhava than this kind of mental training. There is an element of idleness in our habits and living style and it has several subtle forms. If we engage ourselves continuously in something or the other with clear understanding, imagine how much gain we can have! I took advantage of my engagement in work this way. Imagine how much pleasure you will have if you master the art of using all the incidents and works in life this way with clear understanding? You must be very joyful.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 234 - 235.

LIMITATIONS OF JAPA

                                                                      HARI OM

Trichi

February 2, 1946.

The purpose of the japa is to maintain the living continuity of bhavana of shree Bhagwan continuously and with same intensity. Japa is only the tool. It helps to attain the goal and from that view point it is important. One who sticks to the tool only, never attains the goal. Only the one who maintains the tool with constantly keeping the goal in mind all the time, reaches the goal. The soul that does not practice any kind of tool or cannot maintain the spirit and thought of sadhana by any means will not be able to reach the desired goal. Even though, if it is not possible to do the japa with constant attention, tendency and inclination but if the purpose and spirit for doing the japa is kept alive during the workings and interactions during the day, it is japa only. Japa is physical but the bhavana arising out of it is important.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Pravesh

Edition 2; Pages 190 - 191.

MIND AND JAPA (NAAM-SMARAN, જપ)

Mind's innate nature is to think something and instantly think its alternatives (sankalp-vikalp, સંકલ્પ-વિકલ્પ). It is an inherent characteristic. Mind needs to be stabilized by penance. It is a stupid fallacy to think that mind can be stabilized by itself with some miracle. There has to be some kind of effort to achieve this. It is a universal experience that mind can be stabilized in any subject that is interesting to it. It is said that we need to reverse the flow of River Yamuna. Do not think or be fixated on the idea that it is not possible to do it just because it appears unconquerable.

Japa means continuous bhava of the divine consciousness for ever. When the mind is kept motivated by the bhava of goodness towards the divine consciousness is called japa yagna. If the attitude of the mind towards the divine consciousness become like a natural tendency of the love of a child towards his mother, then mind does not need to be thrust into the task, constructive attitude flows from it. Mind will act as it pleases without any direction till the mind develops to a point where its attitude towards divine consciousness becomes full of humility and distress. So it is best if it is practiced with knowledge and heartfelt goodness (સદભાવ). Mind will get trained with this practice.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pravesh
Edition 2; Pages 187 - 188.

LOVE AND INNER BEING

Perhaps the best tool for cleansing the inner being is cultivation of love. If bhava of love is cultivated with awareness and affection, nothing else will give you understanding and true knowledge like love. It is gained by appreciating the difference between love and feelings or passion by repeated observations of inner being. No one understands a child like a mother or a husband like a wife, the reason being love. If one wants to master any subject like spiritual or materialistic nature the first need is the interest (rasa, રસ) in the subject. If this interest is not love then what else?

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sandesh
Edition 3; Page 169.

SADHAK AND KNOWLEDGE FROM THE BOOKS

I have mentioned earlier that by the grace of God the work will be done better from the distance than being in proximity. I read about it just yesterday. I receive lots of such information but I do not think about it. For that reason I have advised you that there is no need for you to read about the path of sadhana at this time. We need to follow whatever is suggested with intense bhava of love, offering and surrender. This will lead to stability in these bhavas and God's bhava will develop within us. At this stage whatever we want to read can be read. I am not going to say no if you want to read about it. Whoever reads at this stage will be confused and can have obstacles in keeping his path open. He will be pulled by the mind in thousands of directions.Was my reading true? How about going for that thing? May be the other thing was good? Mind will speculate in multiple ways. Whatever we do should be done with complete understanding, faith, trust in God, surrendering and offering it to God. At the same time we need to be free of attachments, open minded and do it with ease and not as routine.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 123 - 124.

ONE BIGGEST OBSTACLE

Karachi,
June 23, 1940.

Dear Bhai,

We carry with us variety of beliefs, ideas, understandings and insistences because of our atmosphere, relationships, influences of the work place in the form of thought process and methodology, past impressions, influences from our parents, worldly education, contact and relationship with the world, understanding from traditional methods, behavior of elders and respected persons , etc. These in turn try to influence and guide us secretly and in variety of ways. This is the biggest obstacle and it is not easy to be free from these influences. Only the grace of God can save us from these obstacles. For this reason I wrote you several times to not get entangled in these things. Stay separate from whatever  presents, happens or develops and perform appropriate action.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 185 - 186.

PUJYA SHREE MOTA'S THOUGHTS ON BEGINNER SADHAK ---- (3)

----------- Continued from previous blog

Sadhak should have such living, creative faith and trust in his heart for the goal of his life that nobody can deviate him from that goal. The soul that is bothered mentally by his present situation (condition) and feels intensely about it, can never stay in same situation. He will cry out loud from his heart. This crying out loud is the prayer. There is always faith at the root of the prayer. Prayer that is based on faith and devotion can ignite vitality in life.

One needs to create heartfelt bhavna to decide what kind of form and shape to give to his life to reach the goal. Sadhak must have determined attitude towards the goal of his life. There is nothing like despair in the life of the sadhak (from the upheavals in life that is certain to happen) who has his mind and heart set on his goal. At such times he will express and offer his inner feelings at Thy lotus feet.

One can never stick to the goal if there is no faith or the faith cannot be produced. In any field of work one needs appropriate faith and trust to stick to that field of work. Human relies on trust fundamentally to carry out transections and dealings in life. It is apparent that the interactions in other fields are also based on trust. There is trust at the base of most businesses. In this world most things work on trust. There is not much suspicion where self interest is predominant; and mind can stay engaged in the subject without waffling. So it is equally important for us to realize the importance and usefulness of someone where our self interest lies for the sake of developing our lives.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Preface, Pages 8 - 9.

PUJYA SHREE MOTA'S THOUGHTS ON "BEGINNER SADHAK" -- (2).

-------  Continued from last blog

The soul can easily and effortlessly enter the subject matter if he has intense absorption (લગની, Lagani) in that particular subject. One cannot develop liking and interest without having this absorption and without this absorption in the subject, mind does not settle into it. There is a possibility to develop this absorption if our attention, instead of being given to other works of life, is given to the subject of our interest only, with thinking, contemplating and daily practice of it. Intellect cannot claim to know the subject till it becomes one with the subject matter and it is not possible to know the importance of the subject matter without submerging the intellect in the subject. If intellect cannot understand the importance of the subject matter how can it accept it whole heartedly. It is a matter of our daily experience that nothing can be understood completely without complete acceptance of the subject. Thus the acceptance by intellect plays a large and important part.

In the sadhana to develop one's life it is essential to have awareness at all the time. One can be an expert in the subject in direct proportion to the level of awareness. This kind of inner awareness opens the eyes of the mind and heart and that can keep the sadhak on his toes all the time. Even if sadhak is in the state of serious disappointments and yet feels that he has the support of powerful entity and his heart is longing with ardent desire to reach the goal of life; such sadhak gets the indomitable strength. This strength helps him to come out of these serious disappointments.

                                                     ----------- Continued next blog.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 7 - 8.

PUJYA SHREE MOTA'S THOUGHTS ON "BEGINNER SADHAK" --- (1)

These thoughts are expressed in the beginning of the book --  Preface, Jivan Pagaran, Edition 3.

Harijan Ashram,
Sabarmati,
February 9, 1951.

These letters are written for the persons who are just making their feet wet in spirituality. It is understandable that it may not be appropriate for all, complete in its entirety or may not contain all the information on the subject.

It is very important for the beginner sadhak to not give much importance to the measures and manifestations of his own progress in spirituality since it may not be appropriate for his understanding at that level of progress. At the same time sadhak will have to figure out the measure of his own progress. It is appropriate that he continues to explore and measure his level. It is also important for him to completely stop measuring others.

One gets the return from the friends and companions depending upon the sincerity, thoughtfulness and intentions that were expressed towards them. Some sentient beings may not seem to be able to progress apparently, in spite of living close to very developed souls for a long time. This observation has led some to believe that some soul stayed with the certain soul but was not benefited. These thoughts are not proper. If natural and forceful efforts are made and aim is established firmly regarding the direction that one wants to pursue, nothing should matter and there should be no objection. Every sadhak has to find out what is objectionable to him.

                                                ---------------  Continued next week's blog.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Preface -- Pages 6 -- 7.

GLORY AND IMPORTANCE OF NAAM-SMARAN (RECITING AND REMEMBERING GOD)

We need to continue our work with interest, enthusiasm and happiness. There should be no idleness, indifference or weariness. We should also understand that we are on the wrong path if enthusiasm and happiness are not resulted from the naam-smaran. It means there is no real interest and immersion in naam-smaran yet. Naam-smaran is our foundation and we are going to build our palaces with it. It is our most important tool. Other tools are to develop concentration in naam-smaran. Even though naam-smaran is the main tool, afterwards we have to offer our selves to the energy that is produced from naam-smaran. For now naam-smaran is useful mainly in awakening this latent energy and developing interest in it. Real struggle starts after the awakening of this energy and then we get to understand all kind of things very clearly.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 227 - 228

HOW CAN LOVE BE SHOWERED ON GOD WHILE STILL LIVING IN THE WORLD (SANSAR, સંસાર)?

Someone may ask, "Is it possible to laugh and eat dry powdered grain at the same time?" It is certainly possible to cary out all the functions in the worldly affairs and love the God, if we consider God to be more important than our own lives and love Him with heart and sincerity. Worldly affairs will continue to be done as such and our work will also be accomplished. We are not running away anywhere. We will stay put where we are presently. All we need to do is direct attention of our chitta (ચિત્ત), heart, mind and all vrutties from the other side towards this side. When we love something a lot than it does not take any time to change our mind, stabilize chitta and express our feeling of love and emotions from the heart. This is our daily experience. You love your husband and does it take any time to bring your attention to him with mind, chitta, heart? You experience happiness at that time! Do you have to work hard for that? If we develop love and affection for God then such  hard and laborious work is not needed.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Page 125 - 126.

MEDITATION -- CERTAIN BENEFITS AND FINAL AIM.

We can be aware of certain cunningness of the mind in lighter meditation. There is also benefit in the form of increasing energy, joy and freshness. Moreover there is also a slow change in our attitude and way of looking at certain things. There is always benefit of increasing faith and self confidence. But the most fundamental aim is to search for atma (spark of the divine) within. For this reason we should continue and not fall back from meditation till the experience of this positive creative force is experienced in our actual field of action in all the aspects. " o mind! If you search you shall find". Meditation is not just for sitting quietly although it does help a lot in making the mind quiet. That is the immediate benefit. When we turn within, the mind shows us the way and make us experience that we are above and separate from the mind. Meditation means search for our inner spark of the divine.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 80 - 81.

TWO METHODS OF MEDITATION (ધ્યાન, dhyan)

Both the methods of dhyan need to be done separately and it should not be mixed. Either do one way or the other. Keep attention at heart center; and chitta (ચિત્ત, ધારણા — dharana) in between eyebrows or keep drashti (vision) at the tip of the nose. In both methods attention must be at heart center. With these methods thoughts will diminish substantially.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; page 221.

FREEDOM FROM PASSION OR ATTACHMENTS (DISPASSION, VAIRAGYA, વૈરાગ્ય)

                                                         HARI ॐ
Karachi,
August 13, 1940.

Dear brother,

We have variety of ideas regarding vairagya. Ordinarily most people understand vairagya as separation from family, not performing ordinary works , etc. But that is not true. If we go deeper in the meaning of vairagya; it means a state where there is absence of attachment or dispassion. Virag and vairagya are two words with the same meaning. We have to perform all the works that belong to us. If we were not clear about aim of our lives, we could have created lots of new bondages. Since we have an ideal and know the purpose of our lives and have decided to follow it for sure; we have to be cognizant of the fact that we need to perform only appropriate works and that also without passion and attachments. It does not mean working without heart in it. Works need to be done without keeping the expectations of certain results in our heart. Moreover we also need to be aware of our limitations and responsibilities for that particular work and also keep doing it as it presents; also not think about it excessively before or after the work. We do this with unwavering mind. What ever work belongs to us, just do it without keeping in mind after it is done. We will get the real joy when we perform every work in this way with understanding and vairagya.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 222 - 223.

WHAT IS PRACTICE AND DISPASSION (VAIRAGYA, વૈરાગ્ય) -- IN REFERENCE TO MIND?

It is a difficult task to improve the mind in a hurry. Even in Gita it is mentioned "to control the mind is as difficult as holding on to the wind". Arjun asks Shree Krishna Bhagawan" O! Bhagawan, Please show me the way to control the mind". Shree Krishna replies -- Such mind can be controlled with practice and vairagya. Vairagya means to bring back the mind when it starts taking interest in other things. In my understanding there is a deeper meaning to it. It needs to be trained in such a way so that it does not take interest in other things meaning it should not be attached to anything with passion and try to keep it in that condition or create a habit to always staying above it (meaning mind does what you want it to do and not otherwise). This is possible only if we create a habit of keeping mind engaged in only one activity (regarding Bhagawan). In the beginning it is boring and mind rebels often. Mind will definitely be helpful if we create friendship with it and work with it with love and often correcting and commenting with understanding.

Keep increasing love and faith in Him. We have to always keep faith in Him in any kind of situation.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Pages 121 - 122.

MIND'S CUNNINGNESS

Our mind is such that it will argue in favor of what it wants to do beautifully and convincingly. For a while it will seems that mind is telling the truth and we should accept its conclusions. We should tread with lots of evaluations and thoughtfulness.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Pagaran

Edition 3; Page 78.

My two cents : It is age old advice to wait for 24 hours before making major decision.

LOVE FOR RELATIVES -- HELPFUL OR HURTFUL.

Memory of people we like, always give us happiness. This happiness that we experience from  emotions and feelings, if it is from physical love, is like muddled rain water on the ground with many impurities and contaminations. We will get sucked into the complexities and game of the mind if we continue to be gratified with such experiences. This love from swajans will definitely help us only if we have learned the art of extracting helpful force from the wave of happiness within us and when this happens automatically. We should not be the reason for it.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Pagaran
Edition 3; Page 76.

SEE GOODNESS IN OTHERS

I think it is proper and more constructive, as long as we are sentient beings and are engulfed in conflicts of attachments and jealousy, to try hard to get free from the successive thoughts that arise within us against another human being. It is better than telling that person about it. It is much better to recall good thing and experiences regarding that person or party when bad thoughts rise within us about them. You can evaluate both kind of thoughts then. At the same time you should not completely merge in the oppositional vrutties (tendencies) that arise within you. We can never throughly evaluate anyone till we have complete expression of evenhandedness, equanimity and witness consciousness within us. It is best for us to turn our face away, then see faults of others. We begin to start thinking improperly of others as a result of some impatience, anger, passion or some isolated incidence. It is ignorance and lack of generosity to think that the oppositional thoughts arising in us are appropriate.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; Page 114.

My two cants : This letter was written in response to devotee's oppositional thoughts regarding Pujya Shree Mota. 

ANGER IS BETTER THAN HYPOCRISY?

When anger takes over, hypocrisy vanishes. With anger whatever is within is expressed in the form of speech. Sometimes when the level of anger is minimal meaning its intensity is not there, we can suppress the anger and tell the other person in a different way. But when the intensity of the anger is great, whatever struggle is going within comes out with force and there is not much of hypocrisy in there at that time. Same thing is true for mercy and compassion although these are good gunas. The ease and simplicity is not expressed in its true sense as long as hypocrisy is present. Short tempered, uncontrolled tempered, full of temper and sharp tongued people spit out whatever is within when in the grip of anger. They do not have hypocrisy during that short period. Even these kind of people manifest hypocrisy in other incidents in life and express it in other forms. Not every soul is aware of hypocrisy that lies within and expressed. Only fortunate souls become aware of it. True sadhak must find out the incidents and matters where hypocrisy is expressed in real life. It is best if the hypocritical behavior is avoided right at that moment.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; Page 204.

KEEP TRUST IN GOD AND PRAY WITH HEARTFELT SINCERITY

                                                                     HARI ॐ
Kumbhakonam
June 20, 1951.

Offering (સમર્પણ) means -- there should be no related thoughts about the offered item after the offering is made. Then only it is considered the best offering. Whenever there is an onslaught of the thoughts remember God with all the force, love and devotion and pray with the spirit of humility and sense of urgency. Just as we will cry with pain if there is fire under the feet, prayer should spring up from our heart with the same kind of intensity. At these times mind is focused automatically. If our negative condition ( mental and emotional status) bothers us a whole lot, then it must result in pain regarding the situation. The prayer with humility and sense of urgency is possible only when such pain is present. There is a metaphor regarding God having thousands of arms, eyes and ears. Even then it is true. Our trust in God have not matured yet. If your trust in God was solid you could have offered the sister (recipient of this letter was facing quarrels with the members of the joint family and was upset at the time) at that time to God easily. By going to your sister you realized that building up of your base of spirituality has not started yet and the sentient nature is also full of incomplete understanding. The prayer when done without full trust in God does not reach Him properly, although naam-smaran or prayer when done without trust do not go in vain completely. It does help in creating the appropriate step in the sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; Page 199.

LIFE'S INCIDENTS PRESENT AS THE GURU

All incidents that result from our interactions in the worldly affairs are present to make us understand our true condition and act as our own guru. Just as Mirror shows our face when looked into, the incidents also show ourselves when examined. We know ourselves according to the kind of thoughts that arise in our mind. One who attempts to know one's self with clarity and consciously, then tries to get straighten up and tries to find one's self, always understands one's inner self. In fact the art of separating from anything is an essential part of the sadhana. Sadhana can never be successful without achieving this.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; Page 182 - 183.

HUMAN NATURE ( PRAKRUTI )

When we stabilize in sadhana, our own prakruti tends to produce oppositional tendencies in other people making them the apparent and seemingly the cause of our problem. This knowledge is imparted to the one who is alert and aware. These are the times when our effort is challenged. At such times the souls that act with heartfelt spirit of goodness towards other souls and stick with the their efforts, are the real brave souls and we need such brave souls in sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition; 3; Page 171.

MENTAL CONFLICT MEANS LACK OF MENTAL ALERTNESS AND AWARENESS

Whenever there is conflict with somebody, it is because the conflict can still touch and affect our mind. That is the law of anthropology. There is mental conflict because our mind has the world of its own with lots of likings and disliking and have different preconceived ideas regarding different souls.There is mental conflict due to such reasons. So we need to train our minds so as not to have conflicts in the minds for such and other reasons. We need to be alert and aware to accomplish this. Do lots of naam-smaran.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Mandan
Edition 3; Page 133.

WAY TO EXPRESS THE BHAVA OF SURRENDER (શરણભાવ) IN INTELLECT

It is essential to analyze our nature. Our belief that intellect has freedom is a kind of erroneous concept. Our intellect is colored with variety of different pre conceived ideas and it is full of understanding and beliefs from past impressions in our mind. At times it insists and believes that certain belief is the only truth. You should know that the intellect can think in that fashion. I consider intellect as a slave of the past impressions of our inner entities such as mind, chitta etc. Intellect has been gripped by lots of egoistic opinions and all these will come up during sadhana. It is of no use to suppress it, in-fact we will not get any benefit out of it. It is better to watch these ripples with balanced mind, be indifferent and detached from it and stay that way. So allow this upheaval with love to express bhava of surrender in the intellect.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; Page 92.

IT IS ABOUT BEING SINCERE AND STEADFAST TOWARDS THE GOAL IN LIFE

                                                                        Hari ॐ
Karachi,
September 8, 1939

We need to understand and act in a way so as to take away force and vitality (refuse assent and encouragement) from all kinds of vrutties that arise in the our mind. It does not help much to announce loudly or give certain instructions to follow like ' Control the vrutties' , ' control yourself', follow this or that method'. When a human has an ardent and heartfelt desire towards the goal in life and has genuine eager bewilderment (વ્યાકુળતા, vyakulata), then only the work of self development is really experienced. If we have real eager bewilderment towards our goal of life's development or God then other things will fall in place. I feel that teachings like ' do this or that ' usually takes us in a  wrong direction and for no reason makes it more difficult to achieve the goal when it can be done easily. If our heart gets absorbed in the goal of self development, it will become easy and natural to reject negative sentient vrutties whenever it arise. If we stick to our sadhana like the flow of river Ganges (continuous) at all times with heartfelt sincerity everything else will fall in place automatically. " Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all else shall be added unto you". This is the promise of Jesus Christ. We can derive the same meaning from the view point of sadhana.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; Page 37- 38.

GAUGE OF SADHANA

It is very important for the sadhak to train and develop balanced mind, equanimity, peacefulness and joy while performing all the works in the worldly affairs. Sadhana means our attention and awareness is directed towards training and developing  balanced mind, equanimity, peacefulness and joy while performing all the works in worldly life.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; Page 39.

LOVING GOODBY TO NEGATIVE VRUTTIES (વૃિત્ત, NATURAL TENDENCIES)

We need to master the art of saying goodby to the negative vrutties that arise within us (and there will be many in the beginning) when we react to the tendency and behavior of others. More over we also need to gain and understand the art of loving goodby to whatever is going on in our mind and heart. What that means is we should not create the chain of thoughts, vrutties, feelings and intentions with clear understanding and willingness. Be alert and aware to see them pass by. When this kind of effort with understanding matures there will be absence of actions and reactions in the mind. This will lead to increasing lively and powerful inward introspective movement. We need to step back from movements of the worldly life. This can never be achieved by artificial pressure on us. Please know that it is possible to act as above only if we are convinced in its importance in our heart, with clear understanding and importance of our goal in life.

Pujya Shree Mota
Jivan Sanshodhan
Edition 6; Page 24.

WHEN BHAVA (ભાવ, SPARK OF DIVINE) SPRINGS UP

                                                                    HARI ॐ
August 30, 1952.

When bhava springs up in the heart everything feels good. The joy in the life is of the higher category than the joy of sentient beings. It is very important for the sadhana to have this bhava constantly. If this bhava is intense, sadhana progresses in the best way. Everything seems to be fulfilled to the maximum. There is intense joy from an ordinary incidence. There is appreciation of others at all the times. There is clear understanding of others importance and their good qualities. When bhava springs up, our sentient nature is experienced to be elevated for the better. If that happens the observation of the worldly beings is experienced differently. If this bhava is used in the sadhana it keeps on intensifying. Do not just enjoy the joy from bhava, learn to use it. It is called using it when we go deep within and do naam-smaran with love and devotion and do not let our mind wander around.

Pujya Shree Mota
Pagle Pagle Prakash
Edition 4; Page 35.