In this, Kashidas of Bochasen asked Shreeji Maharaj, "O Maharaj! One who is a renunciant follows the path of nivrutti nivrutti 1) Inactivity. State of quietness and obedience. Retirement from social duties and affairs. In this Tap to open in glossary → pravrutti pravrutti 1) Activity in the form of social duties and affairs. In this sense, often used to refer to the path of a grahastha. 2) Can also include all forms of activities and responsibilities, including religious activities, such as sevã in the mandir, and attending to bhaktas of Bhagvãn. A person increases bhakti and sevã rather than dhyãn and smaran. Tap to open in glossary → Maharaj means to say that just because they live in the world and have endless activities, it is not that they cannot keep their affection for God. There is no crossing between activity and affection, that if one does activity, affection goes away, and if one keeps affection, activity goes away, there is nothing like that, Maharaj means to say. Our common understanding is that if there is activity, now that we are doing this seva, how can we remember God? If we want to do seva, we cannot afford to remember God, right? So we have assumed that, but Maharaj believes otherwise. So, are affection and conviction different? Not at all. To have affection for God is conviction. To have a sense of ownership is called conviction. We have made a series in the first Vachanamrut of Kariyani, what is it? First, recognition, then discrimination, then comparison, then ownership. Ownership is conviction, and that happens in the ego. It happens in the ego, where ownership happens, then affection also happens there. Ego has only two functions, 'I' and 'mine'. That. So then everything goes forward, that is conviction. That conviction goes deep into his jiva. Maharaj says if it goes into the intellect, it goes into the jiva. Ownership descends into his jiva, and when it becomes mine, love develops for it. That is called bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → Wherever 'mine' is, does a person have love for what is good or what is mine? In mine. Huh? One has love for what is mine. Then, no matter whose good thing it is, but if it is ours, we love it. Everywhere. It is our work, our this and that, everything. A person develops love for it, so love for what is mine is called bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → No matter what circumstances, adverse circumstances come, even at the end of life, if it does not break, it is said to be faith. Lifelong. And then, even after life, after death, to give a commitment to Maharaj that, "No Maharaj, I will come there too and do that, do seva," then that is called upasana. So affection is, Maharaj said, affection is ultimate liberation. Affection is ultimate liberation. Doesn't affection mean atmabuddhi? Then, how thick or thin it is, depends on that. Call it atmabuddhi or whatever you want. Atmabuddhi does happen, right? Here Maharaj said that just because there are endless complications, it is not that they cannot keep affection. It is not like that. So it means it is not that they cannot keep their mind on God, right? Or it is like that. It is like that. Doesn't affection mean attachment? Affection indeed means attachment. Affection indeed means attachment, but gradually it converts into attachment, that affection. Thus, affection is, affection is, accountable, rather what do we say, that one can perform actions in it, whereas in attachment, action is not visible. It becomes very thick, so in grammar, there is a difference between action and noun. To run is an action and run is a noun. So how does a noun form from an action? It ripens. Huh? So the 'ghanya' suffix is applied to it. The 'ghanya' suffix is applied. So when the 'ghanya' suffix is applied to an action, it means that while performing that action, it takes a personified form. Action is not personified, but then it becomes like personified. Maharaj said that it comes to mind spontaneously, it comes to mind without effort. So while performing actions, for example, when a person is learning to drive, when he learns, he finds it very difficult, but when he learns it well, gets mastery, then no matter how much action he does, he does not make a mistake in driving. So it has become solidified, Maharaj says. By being repeated, it solidifies, meaning even from action, an abstract form is created. Even if action is not personified, by being repeated, a personified form is created, so it is called a noun. Similarly, when affection is repeated a lot, it becomes attachment and passion. If affection is repeated more, it becomes attachment, and if attachment is repeated more, then it becomes deep absorption. Deep absorption means one dies without it. If that is not there, one dies without it. Just as the Gopis, when they heard the flute of God and were not allowed to go there, their life departed and they went to God. So that is called deep absorption. Then, in better language, it is called premlakshana. If it is for God, it is called premlakshana. How should that householder understand so that his mind remains constantly focused on the form of God? Maharaj replied, "A renunciant has abandoned affection for relatives and worldly objects, so he can keep his mind on God. Similarly, if a householder also abandons affection, he can keep his mind constantly focused. It is not impossible. There is no need to abandon relatives and objects, but if one wants to keep his mind constantly focused on God, he must abandon affection." Parvatbhai kept his mind constantly focused, so was he a renunciant? He had major activities. He had sharecropping in three villages and had large-scale farming, at that time he was considered the king of farming. So it was that big. Brother Govardhanbhai was doing business, and yet he kept his mind constantly AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details