Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. Swami has spoken. And in Kariyani, Maharaj asked Ramdas Vaidya, "Do you feel a lot of fear?" He replied, "Yes, Maharaj." On that, He narrated a story. God is the inner-knower of all, and everyone's pulse and life are in His hands. Saying this, He showed by putting a sparrow into samadhi. We had discussed this in the previous talk. The conviction that a jiva has in the objects attained, is not there in the spiritual path, not in the apta. If there is conviction in the attained, then it is not there in the apta. One does not have as much conviction in the words of apta purushas, Maharaj, or scriptures as one has in the attained. If a person gets something in hand, if money comes in hand, then because of money, he feels that he has become fearless. "Now we have no fear." If power has come in hand, money, whatever comfort and convenience has come in hand, then he becomes fearless. So, they are called attained objects. That does not happen in the apta. One has to keep faith in the apta. If Maharaj says, "You will attain moksha, I will come to take you at the end of your life." Then he has doubts in his mind, "Now, we are not like that, so how will He come to take us?" All that keeps happening, difficulties keep happening, doubts keep happening. So, are the attained objects greater or are the apta purushas greater? Who is greater? The apta is greater. The apta purushas are great, because of them the whole universe functions. If it is Maharaj, then see, He can put a sparrow into samadhi. The pulse and life are in His hands. He does not show it. Where to give what to whom and where to take what from whom, is in His hands. But he does not have such faith. Otherwise, to have faith in that is called astikta. What is the meaning of astikta? That whatever work we do, we will surely get its fruit. And these purushas, if we please them, they can change that fruit. Maharaj can do everything. But such faith... if Maharaj is in human form, or if Thakorji is in the form of a murti murti 1) Sacred idol of Bhagvãn used to offer worship. There are eight types of murtis that can be worshipped: stone, wood, metal, earth, engraved or drawn, sand, gems, and mental. 2) The form of Bhagvãn. Tap to open in glossary → True. So, if he is not fit to go to the Akshardham and he has doubts, then that is considered correct, right? It is correct, but he does not have faith in God. If there is faith in God, then He will make all the arrangements. He will not remain unfit to go to Akshardham. He will become fit to go to Akshardham. If one has faith in Maharaj, is it only that much faith? One would also have faith in doing as He says, right? So, what do you think, does a person go to Akshardham by his own strength or by God's strength? He goes only by God's strength, but if he lives according to God's command, he would feel so, right? Only if he lives according to the command, he will have faith, otherwise he won't. No matter what he does, he won't. If he does not live according to the command and he does not have faith, then is it not said that he did not have faith in the apta? That is what is said. 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