Om Avtarine Shri Swaminarayanaya Namo Namah
Shri Harikrishnaya Namo Namah
Shri Purna Purushottamaya Namo Namah
Vachanamrut Gadhada First Chapter Number 60
To attain Ekantik Dharma, one must renounce desires.
Swaminarayan Hare, Swaminarayan Hare. On the day of Fagan Vad Pratipada of Samvat 1876, Shriji Maharaj was seated in the court of Dada Khachar in Gadhada, in the place of the Paramhansas. He was wearing a white dhoti and a white shawl, and on his head, he had tied a white turban, on which there were garlands of white flowers.
And around his neck, there were garlands of white flowers.
And in front of his lotus-like face, an assembly of sadhus and devotees from various countries was gathered.
Then Shriji Maharaj spoke,
Among all spiritual practices, renouncing desires is the greatest practice.
The way to renounce desires is such that,
one should reflect on how much desire one has for the five senses - sound, touch, form, taste, and smell - and how much desire one has for God.
One should examine whether the desire for worldly things is equal to or more than the desire for God.
And if the auditory sense is as much attracted to listening to worldly talks as it is to listening to talks about God, then one should understand that,
there is an equal desire for God and the world.
Similarly, one should examine all the senses of touch, form, taste, and smell.
And when one thus examines and gradually reduces worldly desires and increases desires for God, then one attains equanimity towards the five senses.
And after attaining equanimity, praise and blame seem equal, and good touch and bad touch seem equal.
Similarly, good form and bad form seem equal, and women who are children, young, or old, as well as dirt and gold, all seem equal.
Similarly, good and bad tastes and smells also seem equal.
When one naturally behaves in this way, then one knows that desires have been conquered.
And to live without desires is the dharma of an Ekantik. And if even a little desire remains, then even if one is in samadhi and the nadis and pranas are being drawn,
even then, desire pulls one back from samadhi.
Therefore, only one who renounces desires is an Ekantik devotee.
Then Muktanand Swami asked, "How to renounce desires?"
What did you remember?
To renounce desires.
Maharaj
How to renounce?
The desire for God, related to sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.
Keep increasing.
First, examine how much worldly desire I have and how much desire for God I have.
Keep increasing the desire for God.
He has equanimity.
How to examine?
What does Sadguru Swami say?
How to examine our desires?
How much do you like darshan related to God?
How much do you like worldly things?
Examine that.
How to examine?
The thoughts of the mind.
Like this.
Keep observing the thoughts of the mind.
How much greed is there in the soul of God?
Examine likes and dislikes.
What is vasana?
Like, dislike.
Like, dislike.
Examine likes and dislikes.
I like to listen to discourses.
Do I like to play on YouTube?
Do I like to remember God's darshan, or do I remember all that garbage?
Make a list of likes and dislikes.
Similarly, Maharaj says, do it for all five senses.
Do I like to eat alone, avoiding the line, or do I like to eat in the line?
Those are all likes and dislikes.
Examine all these desires and natures.
And examine the path of God, where our soul is drawn more.
To point them out.
To identify them.
Then Maharaj says, the talk of reducing comes later.
First, identify them.
Point out where my soul is drawn more.
Everyone's soul is drawn somewhere or the other.
Now, if it is drawn, is our soul still drawn to the path of God or not?
That's why Maharaj had started the chapters.
In that, difficult chapters.
Doing what my mind desires is called nature.
Doing what the mind desires is called nature.
So Maharaj said all those things, they come in the chapters.
To do bhajan while doing seva.
And to leave seva and do mischief.
Where is our soul drawn in that?
If two people meet, they will do mischief, right?
Or if two people meet, they talk about God.
What do they do?
What do the two Vishuddha Swamis do?
What do you do when you meet Narnarayan Swami?
Or do you not meet at all?
What do you do when you meet?
How much time do we spend on mischief?
And how much time do we spend on bhajan? Have you made a list for the whole day?
Maharaj, I will make a list for the whole day.
Likes, dislikes, and time spending.
How much time did I spend on bhajan today?
And on seva.
And how much of it is productive time, that is considered as God's desire.
Productive means when some service is being done on the path of God, or some bhajan is being done, or some command is being followed, that is called productive time.
How much of that, so do I like to spend that productive time, or do I like/dislike it?
Maharaj said, 'One should not waste time without devotion to God.'
Do not let time go to waste.
Wasted time means there is no production.
There is only mental pleasure and it's a time pass.
So do I enjoy that, or do I enjoy spending productive time? It's a like/dislike.
What do I get bored of?
Does anyone get bored watching YouTube?
If the mobile is good, does anyone get bored?
No one is bored.
The soul is drawn to it.
That is called desire.
Being drawn to a good mobile, or watching all the garbage on the internet and YouTube, and being drawn to that, all of that is called desire.
So Maharaj says, investigate.
Examine your own mind.
What do we like?
Do we like to remember God, or do we like to remember that garbage?
If there is a vasana, Maharaj says it pulls one back from samadhi.
Even if it's a little bit, mind you.
If it's a lot, then one won't even go there.
But if there is even a little vasana, it pulls one back from samadhi. It pulls one back from the happiness of God.
It pulls one back from the happiness of God.
Maharaj says that when samadhi occurs and this jiva connects with God, then God is such a thing that one cannot even come out of it.
How is it possible to come out? On what basis would one come out?
Maharaj said that.
We thought about it.
So, three reasons were given for that.
What are they?
Firstly, if there is any worldly desire.
Firstly, either one is very capable, so they come and go independently.
Or if someone else is capable, they forcibly pull one back from God, uprooting them.
And the third solution is this.
If there is even a slight desire left somewhere, they leave God and come running here.
There is nothing else.
The fact that we remember other things besides God means that there is desire.
God does not come to mind.
There is no interest in remembering God.
So, there is desire for things other than God.
How much interest is there in remembering God?
Who has no interest? How much interest is lacking?
And if we are very good, we do seva and nothing else.
That's it.
But how much do we remember God?
While doing seva, how much do we remember God?
Tell me, how much do we remember while doing puja?
We cannot remember God even while doing puja.
Then how can we do it while doing other things?
So Maharaj says, investigate.
Investigate your own mind.
It is said in the Vachanamrut about the list.
This is said in the Vachanamrut about the list.
To keep a list of desires.
Among them, some are called swabhav (innate tendencies).
One is called vasana (desire).
So, Maharaj has conducted chapters, and in them, all of these are tested.
Eating once a day is difficult.
It's very difficult for someone to eat only once a day.
Not sleeping during the day is difficult.
All of these are called swabhav (innate tendencies).
Desire is said to be above desire.
It is said to be above desire.
It is called desire.
But it is said to be above desire.
Not to get bored of seva.
Not to get bored of meditation.
Not to get tired of doing bhajan while doing seva.
So, how much interest do we have in that?
And how much interest do we have in the worldly subjects? Maharaj says to make a list of likes and dislikes for both.
And then, gradually reduce this.
And keep increasing the likes.
Then his desires will decrease.
Maharaj says, it won't decrease in a single day.
If one doesn't pay the monthly dues.
Then desires won't be paid off.
Does desire go away in a day?
Desire doesn't go away in a day.
One day we make a plan.
That we should do this and that.
But desire doesn't go away in a day.
Slowly, slowly, all these innate tendencies go away.
So Maharaj has said in the Vachanamrut that it is difficult for a householder.
He likes his family, children, and money throughout his life.
He doesn't like anything else.
If he makes a list of likes and dislikes, what will come out of it?
He gets bored with sadhus.
If he has to do anything related to God, he gets tired.
But he spends his whole life in that, yet he doesn't get tired.
And the secret is not revealed.
His interest is not fulfilled.
Where is our interest?
A list of likes and dislikes means interest and boredom.
Where do we get bored? In good things or in dull things?
No one gets bored of dull things.
If one wants to do bhajan of God.
If he says so, we say that these new saints, the old saints are said to have completed all their bhajans.
So, nothing can be said to them.
But if new saints are told, 'Come on, do bhajan while doing seva.'
If you sing kirtan, how long can you sing?
How long can one speak?
Even if you don't get tired,
He doesn't get tired, so Maharaj said that.
In those chapters that were taught,
Don't get tired while doing bhajan.
Don't get tired while meditating.
And go to eat in the row.
That vasana
Not going to eat in the row.
Skip the row.
Making any excuse and skipping the row, there is a vasana inside that.
Otherwise, it's fine, there's no problem with that.
But he skips any excuse.
He doesn't sit in the row.
So Maharaj says, this is a list of likes and dislikes.
Likes and dislikes are inside, aren't they?
So then, all the excuses are good and beautiful excuses, so he makes excuses and does that.
But Maharaj says that for those who
honestly want to become free from vasanas.
And want to recognize their own vasanas and reduce them.
They should make such a list of likes and dislikes.
Me
With whom, any good devotee of God, or
if there is a progressive saint, do I have likes and dislikes with them?
Or do I have likes and dislikes with those who are doing mischief?
He lists all of that.
Then he realizes, and then his vasanas decrease.
He has to make a list.
This is just like that other account.
Keep the name of your vasana.
Make a list of likes and dislikes.
And then every evening, check how much you liked and how much you disliked today.
Dislike whom?
To Maharaj.
How much did you dislike Maharaj?
We don't dislike ourselves, do we?
Make a list of our dislikes and likes.
And with that, Maharaj's and great saints' likes and dislikes.
Does Maharaj like what I am doing?
So keep checking that.
Then Maharaj says that vasanas decrease.
Otherwise, vasanas will not decrease.
No matter how much you think, vasanas will not decrease.
Then Muktanand Swami asked, "What is the way to remove vasanas?"
Then Shriji Maharaj said,
Firstly, one needs firm faith in the Atma, and secondly, one should understand the insignificance of the five sense objects.
What does it mean to have firm faith in the Atma? Maharaj, how should one think about firm faith in the Atma to remove vasanas?
The things we like in this world,
how much do they help in the salvation of my soul?
Let's say we watch garbage on YouTube.
So how much does that help in the salvation of our soul?
There, self-realization is needed.
Self-realization means
The good and bad of the soul.
The good and bad of the soul, what good will come to my soul from this?
If I skip the row, what good will come to my soul?
I have all these bodily habits, if I do what I intend, what good will come to my soul?
If one looks at it from that perspective, then one immediately sees that
Even if we have a very trivial point, with no production in it, we still cling to it.
What's the benefit of that?
So we cling to it, and Maharaj says, what good does it do for our soul? That is self-realization.
If one has thought about it, then it is said that one has thought about self-realization.
And the second
The triviality of the five sense objects.
To know the triviality.
Sometimes there are so many trivial matters.
Not being able to do seva without children.
All these are trivial matters.
That is a trivial thing.
But a person cannot give it up.
We, the saints, cannot give it up.
So, if one has developed certain habits, trivial habits.
If one has developed trivial habits, one should give them up.
Giving them up means understanding the triviality of this world, that what is the importance of this thing?
What is its importance when going on the path of God?
What is its importance on the path of God?
Nothing at all, it's completely trivial.
But to him,
Suppose, Maharaj talked about like and dislike, saying, 'Come on,' he said.
If it doesn't come in the line, what's the big deal? What benefit does he get from it? Come on.
Many saints, you know, they don't even sit in the line.
If they come in the crowd, they start serving.
But they don't sit.
He doesn't even have it in his heart to serve, ever.
In serving, but still, if they are in a crowd, they do that, but they don't sit in the line.
So, what's the benefit to him from that? Come on.
So, it's a trivial thing.
One should know the triviality of the world.
But for a person, that is called a vasana, isn't it?
How much of that do we have?
How much will we throw away?
And how much do we like and how much do we dislike?
Is that considered a vasana or a svabhav?
It's considered a vasana.
It's considered a vasana.
Svabhav and vasana are not different.
When a vasana becomes ingrained, it is considered a svabhav.
But if it's related to the body, it's considered a svabhav.
For example, if one cannot function without sleeping in the afternoon, then that is considered a svabhav.
Maharaj said that if one has to eat once, and cannot function without eating once, then that is considered a svabhav, a bodily svabhav.
It's done, it's become a svabhav, hasn't it?
But it's not like one cannot function without going in the line, or without missing the line.
Svabhav, you know, is something that a person often feels like a need.
Svabhav has taken the form of a need.
It's not a real need.
A person can adjust a need.
It seems to us that it's a need.
But it can be adjusted.
But if one feels that this is a need, and it cannot be adjusted, then that is called a svabhav.
And if it can be adjusted,
it's not called a need.
What is called a need is that one should get food.
Then, whether it's found in a line or elsewhere, it doesn't make much difference.
If one doesn't come in the line and goes to eat elsewhere, then one eats what's in the store, what else can one eat?
Some have to serve, that's something.
But there is a vasana that we eat what we desire.
We see what we desire.
If you watch what you need on YouTube, that's called a need.
But if you watch something other than what you need, that's called a vasana.
That's called a vasana.
On the internet and so on,
Suppose, the internet has become a need and also a vasana now.
But if one goes beyond the limits of need, that is called a vasana.
So, that activity is called a vasana.
So, how many such activities do we do by overstepping the boundaries?
Maharaj says, keep a list of that.
What one likes and what one likes, that's what one likes.
That's not a need; it's not like if it's not there, one would die without it.
If one doesn't eat, one will die.
So, it has taken the form of a svabhav.
That is called a vasana.
Without it, one can easily manage even if it's not there, and yet one runs there.
Then that is called a vasana.
And if it's a svabhav, it's a bit difficult to renounce it.
If one has developed a habit.
Then it's not just a vasana.
It has become a svabhav.
Because the head hurts a lot.
His head hurts a lot.
So, it's called a need.
So, it has come in the form of a need.
It's not a need.
One doesn't die.
But it has become a svabhav.
So,
I