Vachanamrut Gadhada Madhya Chapter 41 Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare On the day of Kartika Vadi Ekadashi of Samvat Samvat The calendar established by Indian emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain following his victory 56 BCE. It is a lunar calendar based on ancient Hindu tradition. The Vikram Samvat calendar is 56.7 years ahead of the solar Gregorian calendar. The calendar most commonly used is the Kãrtiki Samvat, which begins on the first day of Kãrtik. However, the Vachanãmrut is written using the Ashãdhi Samvat, which begins on the first day of Ãshãdh. Tap to open in glossary → Swami Shri Sahajanandji Maharaj was seated on a cot on the veranda of the west-facing room in Dada Khachar's court in Gadhada, and was wearing all white garments, and was wearing garlands of yellow flowers around His neck, and tassels of yellow flowers were tucked in His turban, and in front of His lotus face, an assembly of Munis and devotees from various places was seated. Then, Shriji Maharaj, out of grace, spoke while instructing His devotees, "One who wishes to worship God, when one gets the opportunity to serve God or God's devotee, should serve considering it to be one's great fortune. That too, should be done with devotion only for the pleasure of God and for one's own liberation, but not so that someone praises it. And the nature of the jiva is such that it likes to do only that in which it gets respect, but without respect, even worshipping God alone does not feel good." Respect means praise. If one gets praise, if someone praises, then one gets strength to do seva. And if while doing seva, we say, 'Brother, you have not done this properly,' then one does not get strength. Then the strength drains away. Such is the nature. It is a natural habit. "And the nature of the jiva is such that it likes to do only that in which it gets respect." There is a flow in it. Some things we have to do out of compulsion. Some things we do by being swept away in the flow. And if we do it by planning from the mind, or if we do it with understanding, then there is no need for praise. If we do it by being swept away in the flow, then it remains. And if we do it out of compulsion, then it is a different matter. That is... if we are swept away in the flow, like 'Come on, everyone is doing it, so let's do it.' Then there remains some desire for praise. If we are doing it thinking, 'Why am I doing it? I am doing it for the liberation of my jiva,' if we do it with that in mind, then whether praise happens or not, there is not much need for it. But mostly, as they say, how many people are there in this world? Out of them, everyone wants what is good. But what percentage of people have decided what their goal is and have written it down? So do all others not want a goal? They do. But they are careless. They do not decide and they do not write it down, what they want. They want a lot of things. But such clear clarity is not in their heart. In this world, only three percent of people have that clarity. They do it, they do it by being awake. And 97 percent of people do not do that. So this devotee society is also like that. It is not there in it either. Those who decide why they are doing it, even three percent would not be found in this. That is why God said, 'Among thousands of men, scarcely one strives for perfection; and of those who strive and succeed, scarcely one knows Me in truth.' They do not do it quickly. Even the seekers do not do it. Seekers, poor things, may have the desire, but still they do it by going with the flow. From the flow, a seeker may be there, chanting on beads, singing devotional songs of God, doing seva, doing everything. Performing austerities, observing dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → 'Everyone is doing it, so let's do it.' That is not in the mind. They do not investigate why they are doing it and why others are doing it. Therefore, all these worldly feelings catch up with them. It happens for respect and praise. It happens for respect. It happens for some material objects of this world. It happens like that. Gunatitanand Swami has written that all these activities 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 → But they use them for the sake of livelihood. Why do they do katha-varta? And what is the fruit of katha-varta and why do they do katha-varta? Katha-varta, Maharaj said, if there is extreme devotion and one has an addiction to it, then one does it for extreme devotion. And it also happens for respect. It also happens for livelihood. If they do not do katha-varta, then they would starve. So they must learn. That is why they do it. So all the activities 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 → They use them for livelihood, for respect and greatness, or for other such worldly purposes. No one does it for moksha. Like that. Even the seekers do not decide like this. So their desire... the desire is less. Their intensity is less. Otherwise, Nishkulanand Swami Nishkulanand Swami Disciple of Sahajanand Swami (Swaminarayan Bhagwan) and author of the Bhaktachintamani, as stated in the scripture's own closing colophon at the end of every chapter. Tap to open in glossary → If only guidance on the path of God is obtained, then I will remain as his sold slave. If guidance is obtained. 'I will offer my head to him,' what else is there in that? What else would the guru guru A teacher. He will guide you on the path of kalyãn. Tap to open in glossary → And the reason intensity does not come is by looking at others. Often there is intensity in them in the beginning. But then looking at others, 'If he is not in a hurry, then why should I be?' 'If he does like this, then why should I do it?' So it becomes like that. They forget. When everyone comes, the vairagya is indeed strong. Without strong vairagya, the home is not left in any way. Leaving home, it is not left without strong vairagya. But then all these... all these seekers have gathered together, those who would break each other's heads. So they are all just breaking heads, so I also start breaking heads. Since all those seekers are doing it, one feels, 'All these are seekers and they are just like me, and they are doing it, so what else different should I do? And why should I unnecessarily do any other hassle?' So by looking at others, it becomes like this. 'I have my own agenda,' no one feels like that. To me, my agenda is independent. When all these are together and someone has such an agenda, then it is good for me that there will be support. But leaving my agenda and merging into everyone's agenda, the general agenda, so it does not happen. So then, as one point becomes weak, interest comes in the other. In this world, there are many places of interest. That is, interest comes in praise. Seva is indeed a means of liberation, a means of liberation of the jiva. But they do it for livelihood. It happens like that. They do it for respect. Maharaj said that there was much interest in this, for praise. Just for praise, see. If one is a householder and is doing great sevas, then how much talk is there? If a garland was not offered in the assembly and the name was not taken, then one gets dejected and starts doing it elsewhere. And stops doing anything. See. "And the nature of the jiva is such that it likes to do only that in which it gets respect, but without respect, even worshipping God alone does not feel good." "And just as a dog takes a dry bone to a lonely place and gnaws at it," Maharaj gave an illustration, how nice He gave. Let us apply the illustration. What is a dry bone? And what does it do? What does it do? What is a dry bone? For us. Respect. This is the illustration Maharaj gave, like that. Maharaj gave the illustration to understand the principle. Maharaj says, a dog takes a dry bone to a lonely place and gnaws at it. Then blood comes out of its own mouth. Then it rejoices. And licks it. And rejoices. 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