Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. On the third day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra Chaitra Tenth month of the Ãshãdhi Samvat year, normally falling between March and April. Tap to open in glossary → 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 → Shree Shree 1) Name of Lakshmi. 2) Used before the names of Bhagvãn and devs to signify their high status. Tap to open in glossary → Then Shukmuni asked Shreeji Maharaj, "There appear to be two means by which one does not have vasana for any other worldly objects except God, and has vasana only for God. One is love for God, and the other is vairagya with knowledge. These are the two means. But is there a third way for someone who does not possess these two means to an extreme degree, yet has faith and trust in God, to still have vasana only for God and not for other objects?" Then Shreeji Maharaj... He has faith in God, but does not have vairagya. That means, because there is no vairagya, there is vasana. He does not have vairagya, but has faith and devotion. He has love and all, so how can he develop vairagya? What wonderful questions he has in his mind. When people have an inner curiosity to do something, Maharaj has provided all those questions. He has arranged all these solutions. Then Shreeji Maharaj said, "That question is valid. And it is true that only through those two means does one retain vasana for God alone and not for other objects. And if those two means are not present, then his vasana for objects other than God will not be eradicated. Therefore, he remains miserable while alive, but because he has faith in God, God grants him liberation when he dies. And just as there are those two means to eradicate vasana for objects other than God, there is also a third one. What is it? It is to diligently observe the rules prescribed for oneself. What are those rules? First, the rules related to one's own dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → And observe the rule of not listening to talks about women. In this way, one should firmly and vigilantly observe the rules regarding the renunciation of the five sensory objects. And physically serve God and the devotees of God. And listen to the discourses of God. When one observes the rules related to the nine types of devotion, then auspicious thoughts also begin to arise in his mind. If one behaves according to these two types of rules, then even if he does not have vairagya and love for God, they will develop, and he will become extremely strong. And his inauspicious vasana for worldly objects will be eradicated, and his vasana for God alone will increase day by day." So, one has to maintain a balance. One has to keep the rules related to renunciation, and also keep the rules related to devotion. If one maintains a balance, in the long run, even if there is no vairagya, vairagya will develop. If there is vairagya, do rules follow, and if there are rules, does vairagya follow? Vairagya... Vairagyam doshadarshanat. And there is another aphorism, right? Vairagyat doshadarshanam. Does vairagya arise from seeing defects, or does seeing defects arise from vairagya? It is both. If vairagya arises from seeing defects, and that vairagya... without vairagya, seeing defects is not possible. And if there is no vairagya... if one does not see defects, vairagya will not develop. So what is the way for both? What is the resolution? First, keep a little vairagya and... That is not necessary. Even if there is no vairagya, keep it through these rules. What is called practice? "Abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena cha grihyate." It is said so, but what is called practice? Even if it is not there, one achieves it. Eh? Long... Is repeating again and again called practice? Worshipped today, did it tomorrow, did it the day after. In this way, fasted once, fasted a second time, fasted a third time. Performed Chandrayan once, did it a second time, did it a third time, did it a fourth time. That is called practice. But mere repetition alone is not called practice. Suppose... for example, there is a small child who is learning to walk. In the old days, when today's devices were not available. So the child stands up on two legs and then sways and falls. Again stands up, sways and falls. That happens. Or some people might hold its finger and teach it to walk, otherwise it tries on its own. So that child is practicing walking. In the practice of walking, it falls many times, and takes only a few steps. Most of the time, in the beginning, it lacks balance, so it falls. Again it walks one or two steps and falls four or five times. So what was repeated more? Eh? Falling. So is it learning to fall or learning to walk? What is it learning? Learning to walk. And it eventually learns to walk too. So what is the difference between repetition and practice? If done with intention, then it is practice. One must have an intention, that 'I want to learn to walk from this'. And the child has a strong intention. Seeing others, it has a strong desire that 'I want to learn to walk quickly, I want to learn to walk quickly'. So even though the other thing is repeated more, it is still practicing walking. Similarly, just because a person repeats something, it does not become practice. Along with repetition, there must be a strong intention. So observing rules is like repetition. That is a practice of vairagya. One who observes rules, 'I do not want this'. If his intention aligns with that, then Maharaj says he will develop vairagya. For a long time... otherwise it is just, what do you call it? It becomes like a drill, right? Exercise. It becomes an exercise. Rather, it becomes mechanical. One just does it, but it does not touch the jiva. When we are doing this repetition, we recite those rules daily, we recite 'Pratham Pratham First. Tap to open in glossary → But we never experience its essence. 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. 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