Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. Then Shukmuni asked a question, "All our sadhus abide by the vows, yet what is that characteristic in them by which we may know that even if they face difficult times, they will not deviate from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → Then Shriji Maharaj said, "One whose vision is constantly fixed on all the small and great words of God, and who finds it extremely difficult to step outside those words, and who does not act beyond those words by stepping further, nor acts less than them—know that such a person will not fall from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → He explained the nature. That is, if one's focus is on God's command, on His word, he will not fall from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → What is the question? Who does not waver from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → Read it again. "All our sadhus abide by the vows, yet what is that characteristic in them by which we may know that even if they face difficult times, they will not deviate from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → So what did Maharaj say? What is the essence of the question? What is the essence of the question? In normal situations they behave well, but in difficult times, what characteristic is there that prevents them from ever falling? What is the essence, what is the essence of the question? They may observe the five vows fully, but still, what is the reason based on which they do not fall from the vows even in difficult times? If he observes the five vows, then if he goes out, he will observe them. Meaning, even if there is a situation where the five vows might be breached, what is the reason based on which he does not waver from them? Read the question again, please. It is still not quite right, I am not satisfied. "All our sadhus abide by the vows, That means they live within the traditions of the Sampraday. Abiding by the vows means they live within the boundaries of the Sampraday. That is why they observe the vows. "All our sadhus abide by the vows, yet..." Abiding by the vows means they live within the boundaries. If they live here, for example, if they are in the Gurukul, they stay within the boundaries of the Gurukul. They observe those rules and dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → They do observe that. "All our sadhus abide by the vows, yet what is that characteristic in them by which we may know that even if they face difficult times, they will not deviate from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → Meaning, even if he goes outside, he does not deviate from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → He might have gone outside the boundaries of the Sampraday, or even while living in the Sampraday, observing it during difficult times, meaning when adverse times and places arise, he still observes it. Such... what is that characteristic? Read the whole sentence. "All our sadhus abide by the vows, yet what is that characteristic in them by which we may know that even if they face difficult times, they will not deviate from dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → What is that internal characteristic in a sadhu? In a sadhu or a devotee, what is that innermost characteristic within him? This which he observes, because of whom does he observe it? Huh? He observes it because of external arrangements. There is the external arrangement of the Sampraday, Maharaj has set boundaries that if one wants to live here, he must do this. He observes it because of that. Then what is within him? What is his internal characteristic? Which, even if there are no arrangements or boundaries, he still observes. Or even if adverse times and places arise, he still observes it—what is that characteristic? What is that internal thing? What is internal? His focus remains on the small and great words, and he does not act more than the words spoken, nor does he act less. What are the small ones and what are the great ones? Huh? He did say, brother, small and great words. So what are the small ones and what are the great ones? Meaning every command, like a general command or a special command. But since Maharaj said small and great, there must be small and great ones, right? Or are they all the same? What are the small and great ones? In which there is a small effort of giving up the body, and a large effort. You must have made that up yourself. What is meant by small and great words? Its meaning is derived by connecting it to what Maharaj has said elsewhere. Has Maharaj not said elsewhere that if there is a lapse in the great vows, then you perceive a flaw in them, otherwise you do not? It just came up in our previous Vachanamruts, a little while ago. Regarding the five vows. The five vows are the great commands. Small and great—they are called the great words. Nishkam, Nirlobh, Nirman, Nihsvad, and Nihsneh, and Nirman. Those are the great words, right? So what are the small ones? What are called small ones? Huh? What are called small words? To spit here and not to spit here, practical ones. The small commands Maharaj has mentioned as general dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → To spit here and not to spit here. To wake up at this time and not to wake up at this time. To do this and not to do this. Those are all small words. If one maintains connection with Maharaj's command in those, then it remains in the other ones. Often, someone might observe all the small ones and let the great ones go. Many observe the great ones and let the small ones go. So Maharaj says to observe both words. He does not allow any lapse in the great words, and likewise, he does not allow any lapse in the small words. He performs atonement for the great words, and he does it for the small ones too. Not that he treats both as equal, though. Atonements are prescribed differently for each. But he does not find peace until then, thinking, 'Maharaj forbade spitting here, yet I spat,' so he does not find peace in his mind. And that rankles in his mind. That is his internal, personal matter. Staying within the boundaries is not personal. If you want to live here, you must live like this, otherwise leave. So he observes it, he observes those vows, but in that, he does not observe them out of his own personal preference. A little personal preference and a little boundary, it all comes together. He likes it, there is no problem. But he does not observe it solely out of his personal preference. He does not do it entirely on his own strength. He does not do it by his own strength. In that, he gets all this support and observes it, so he is good. Now Maharaj said, if he has gone outside of Satsang Satsang 1) True company. The practice of associating with Bhagvãn’s sant, other satsangis, the ãtmã, and the sacred shãstras, and also observing vartmãns and niyams. 2) Also refers to the sampradãy, which is the presence of good company. Tap to open in glossary → or if there are adverse times and places, then this boundary or environment does not help him, saying, 'Now you do this.' Instead, the environment pulls him down. Even then, if he has the preference, then he does not get pulled down. If he has the preference from within and has decided in his mind, then he does not get pulled down. But now, in that preference, if it goes, let it go, come on. Maharaj said to go to the evening arti. That is a general command, right? It is not a vow, so if he did not go to arti, it cannot be said that he breached a vow. But now, whether he missed it or not, does he feel regret in his mind or not? So these are all general, routine commands. To sit in the row for meals. To go to the evening arti. Those are all rules, commands—they are all general commands. If one has missed any of those, do we feel relieved or do we feel disappointed? Do we feel relieved or do we feel disappointed? What happens? Then those will not fall either, Maharaj says so. The great ones will not fall either. There is no preference from within. He has no preference from within, no attachment to it. In doing that, if he should have some preference in his heart, he does not have it. Therefore, he will not be able to observe the great words. If he holds the small and great words properly in his heart, and if they seem good to him. If he follows them just because of the boundaries, it does not mean that when difficult times come, he will observe them. Even while staying within the boundaries, if they are breached, then where is his preference at all? What preference can that be called? What did his preference amount to? Maharaj said that even if adverse times and places arise, and he has gone outside the boundaries, and yet, still, he never falls. If there is preference from within, he does not fall. Maharaj says, the one who has that... what has been said in one place? It is said in the Vachanamrut, right? That 'ishak' (intense love). If there is ishak, then no one can stop him. If there is ishak, times and places do not stop him. If there is ishak, can anyone stop him from going to arti? He does not have ishak. Similarly, there is no ishak to observe Maharaj's command. He does observe it, but this observing of his, what about it, brother? He observes it. External boundaries. Out of public shame, within boundaries, or if a method has been established, of the Sampraday, of the institution, and of the environment, of the group—that method has been established, so we do it. Is there that much power within? Is there that much power within or not? Even if there isn't, Maharaj says it grows; it's not that it cannot be there. But we have just not determined whether we have the power or not. We have decided that we are good, we are very powerful. We are better than everyone else and we are powerful. So where did his power come from? But whether it is there or not, he has never investigated. Whether there is power within to observe the commands or not, he has never investigated. Maharaj says, small and great words. Meaning small and great words—if he finds it difficult to breach even the small words, then how could he ever breach a great one? Both seem difficult, equally so. Not more or less. Not that the small ones seem harder or the great ones seem harder, nothing like that. Both seem equally difficult. Such is his natural preference. Then Maharaj says, even if difficult times come, he does not fall. Right. Excellent, the question itself is very good. Read it again. So in this, Maharaj spoke of difficult times, adverse times and places. And elsewhere Maharaj has said that if he has gone outside the boundaries of the Sampraday, goes to other countries, comes into contact with wealth and women, even then, his love remains excellent. He does not become slack. It happens so. By what is he protected? By what does it happen? By the internal... by the internal intent. It happens by the internal intention. If there is an internal intention, he protects himself. If there is no internal intention and there is a vacuum, then while things are going on, it works. But if some difficult times or circumstances arise, then since there is no intention, since there is no intention, it does not happen. 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