Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. On the day of Shravan Shravan 1) To listen to talks of Bhagvãn through the ears. 2) The term also means the initial intake of gnãn from any of the outer indriyas. In this sense, darshan, intake of gnãn through the eyes, is also considered a form of shravan. However, the intake of gnãn through the process of shravan (listening) must be strengthened with manan (thinking) and nididhyãs (remember) if it is to lead to the sãkshãtkãr (realisation) of that gnãn. 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 → Swami Shri Sahajanandji Maharaj, in Gadhada, mounted a horse from Dada Khachar's court and arrived at Shri Lakshmiwadi. And there, on a platform, He sat sat 1) True. Real. 2) Permanent, imperishable and unchanging. Is unbound by the past, the present, and the future. Tap to open in glossary → And He was wearing all white garments. And around His neck, He wore a garland of mogra flowers. And in His turban, He wore a tassel of mogra flowers. And in front of His face, a assembly of Paramahansas and devotees from various regions was seated. Then Muktanand Swami asked Shriji Maharaj a question, saying, "O Maharaj! A devotee who has unwavering faith in God, does any kind of obstacle come in his way or not?" Then Shriji Maharaj said, "One is yoga-nistha and the other is sankhya-nistha. Among them, the devotee of God with yoga-nistha keeps his continuous focus on the form of God. And the devotee of God with sankhya-nistha understands the happiness of humans, as well as siddhis, and the happiness of Siddhas, Charanas, Vidyadharas, Gandharvas, and deities. And he measures all the happiness that exists within the fourteen realms, thinking, 'This happiness is only this much.' And he also measures the misery that follows that happiness. Then, attaining detachment from that happiness which is accompanied by misery, he keeps intense love only for God. In this way, one with sankhya-nistha has the strength of understanding. And one with yoga-nistha has only the strength of keeping continuous focus on the form of God. But due to some adverse place, time, etc., if some obstacle comes, the focus that was on the form of God might get attached somewhere else. Because one with yoga-nistha has less strength of understanding, therefore, some obstacle indeed occurs. And sankhya-nistha and yoga... What is the meaning of 'having less strength of understanding'? Sankhya... the focus of one with yoga gets attached somewhere. Is that so? Please read that part again. And one with yoga-nistha has only the strength of keeping continuous focus on the form of God. But due to some adverse place, time, etc., if some obstacle comes, the focus that was on the form of God might get attached somewhere else. Because one with yoga-nistha has less strength of understanding. What does that mean? Having less strength of understanding means his focus indeed gets attached somewhere. In adverse place and time, his focus gets attached somewhere. And instead of that, it says that the one with sankhya does not get attached, right? That is what Maharaj meant. Instead, the focus of one with sankhya does not get attached anywhere. So what is understanding? Maharaj attributed understanding to the one with sankhya, not to the one with yoga, that... He emphasized the strength of continuous focus. "Nasti sankhya samam jnanam nasti yoga samam balam." So he keeps his focus by applying that strength. But he does not have that much strength of understanding. What does that mean? Understanding. [inaudible] What? What appears weak in people? What understanding appears weak? Mahima. Mahima is present in yoga too, right? It must be common in both. Because it is said of the one with yoga that in adverse place and time, his focus wavers from God. It gets attached elsewhere. The reason is that he has not understood the mahima of God as he should, and so he gets attached to worldly objects. So... This explanation does not seem very fitting. It is not about perishability. He lacks the understanding of perishability. What is the difference between sankhya and yoga? Eh? What is the difference in understanding between sankhya and yoga? That on the other side, everything appears perishable to him. To this one, it does not appear perishable. So if one learns to see things as perishable, then he would not get attached. Then he would not get attached anywhere. The question is very beautiful. In the beginning, Muktanand Swami asked a question, what is it? "O Maharaj! A devotee who has unwavering faith in God, does any kind of obstacle come in his way or not?" Yes, very nice. If one has unwavering faith in God, does an obstacle come to him or not? Read further. Therefore, some obstacle indeed occurs. And sankhya-nistha and yoga-nistha, if both are present in one person, then there is no problem at all. And such a devotee of God... Then he does not face any obstacle. God's faith remains unwavering in him. Such a devotee of God is never lured by any object other than the 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 → And he understands that the Akshardham of God, and the 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 → and the devotees of God residing in that Dham, other than that, whatever realms exist and the deities residing in those realms... This is called the Vachanamrut of choka-patla. What is choka-patla? Clean the kitchen floor, at least sometimes it happens, right? Have you ever cleaned the kitchen floor? Eh? What is called choka-patla? This Vachanamrut is called the Vachanamrut of choka-patla. It is the Vachanamrut of doing choka-patla. What is it, brother, choka-patla? This choka-patla, brother, has been put on Maharaj's head, so it goes on. No one goes to do choka-patla. What is this Vachanamrut about? It is about sankhya and yoga-nistha, and choka-patla. Of choka-patla, this Vachanamrut is about doing choka-patla. To do choka-patla every day. If we do it in front, you have to do it yourself. Just sweep with a broom. It is fine even if you do not pour water. Sadguru Sadguru A great sant. Tap to open in glossary → What is choka-patla in this? To keep different sections separated. No, no, to wash, sweep, and clean it up. Choka... what is called having done choka? Who is said to have done choka? Eh? You know what choka is, right brother? Where we cook. Now if you are there, you have to do choka there, right? If you have never done choka, then when will you do it, brother? Of choka-patla. Read it again. The last two lines. Such a devotee of God is... If sankhya-nistha and yoga-nistha are both combined, then choka-patla is done. That is what Maharaj says. If sankhya-nistha and yoga-nistha are both combined, then choka-patla is done. And otherwise, it is just forced labor, not choka-patla. They might do forced labor under the pretext of doing choka-patla. Otherwise, it is just forced labor. All that leftover food remains lying around. It remains so dirty that one cannot even step, and if they pour water, then all that which was on the edge also gets contaminated. So choka-patla is not done. no. If both sankhya-nistha and yoga-nistha are present, then choka-patla is done. That is what Maharaj says. Read. Such a devotee of God is never lured by any object other than the 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 → That is choka-patla. What is choka-patla? Eh? That is choka-patla. Read. And he understands that the Akshardham of God, and the 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 → and the devotees of God residing in that Dham, other than that, whatever realms exist and the deities residing in those realms, and the luxuries of those deities, all are perishable. That is said to be doing choka-patla. God and... God's Akshardham and the liberated souls of Akshardham. Knowing everyone else as perishable, then he is said to have done choka-patla. Until then, choka-patla is not said to be done, everywhere else. If the mind is attracted elsewhere, then he is said to have done choka-patla no. That is the meaning. What is the meaning of choka-patla? Eh? The meaning of choka-patla? Choka-patla means cleaning up after eating, scraping off and cleaning all the leftover food. To make it fit for sitting. There, to make it fit for sitting, if you do choka-patla, how does it become? When one does choka-patla, choka means to make clean, choka-patla means to make clean. The leftovers, to wash and clean them up. To make the place ready so that food can be offered again... to make such a place. To make a place where God can be served, that is its name. So, a choka-patla where God's service... service can be done, what is it called? Eh? What is it called? Everything other than God, God's Dham, and God's devotee is perishable. If one has no affection anywhere else, even in incarnations, then he has done choka-patla. Only then can Maharaj be served, right? If the kitchen floor is dirty, can any cooking... can another offering be made there? If the kitchen floor is dirty, can we make another offering, or make another offering the next day? First, it has to be washed and cleaned, only then choka-patla, then another meal can be cooked. So, only God, Akshardham, and Maharaj's 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 → and the liberated souls of Akshardham, except for those three, nowhere, it is said so, right? What is said? That he is not lured. Read again. The Akshardham of God... One is Akshardham. And the 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 → The 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 → And the devotees of God residing in that Dham... Yes. other than that, whatever realms exist and the deities residing in those realms, and the luxuries of those deities, all are perishable, knowing this, he keeps intense love only for God. That is said to be doing choka-patla. Except for the 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 → nowhere else, in any realm, in luxury, he has no affection, then he is said to have done choka-patla. If one wants to do choka-patla, what has to be done? Of sankhya and yoga, support has to be taken. If both are present, then choka-patla is done. And otherwise, if we go to do choka-patla, choka is left, and if we go to do choka, patla is left. Read. Knowing this, he keeps intense love only for God, therefore, such a devotee faces no obstacle at all. Thus Vachanamrut, in this way, the 24th Vachanamrut of Gadhada Middle Section is completed. Now it is small, so, eh? Choka-patla is very difficult. It is small, but choka-patla is in it. If all the leftovers are stuck, then even if rubbed, it does not go away. In the old days, clay vessels... they kept clay pots, and cooked khichdi in them. Then they had to scrape it off using a scraper. Khichdi gets stuck quickly. It gets stuck in that clay pot, it happens. Then, having put khichdi on the stove, if they went to milk the buffalo, then the khichdi gets burnt and stuck. Then they scrape it using a scraper. Have you seen a scraper? See, now what should I say? Have you seen a scraper or not? Eh? Have you not seen it? Have you seen it? Have you ever heard the name scraper or not? Khichdi That flat part of a spatula, it is just that flat part, without a handle. If there were a handle, how could it fit inside the clay pot? And it could not even move. Was it like these metal pots? These pots, pots. In the past, there were clay pots. Then, after everyone has eaten, they soak the pot, by pouring water and keeping it. They keep it for a while. And then, that khichdi which was stuck, they scrape it off with that flat piece, that is called a scraper. If this scraper is used, only then choka-patla is done, otherwise how can choka-patla be done? If all our attachments are stuck somewhere, then if a scraper is applied to all of them, it becomes clean. Expounded topic: Yoga-nistha and Sankhya-nistha. Main points: To focus the mind through practice and rise above pleasure and pain is yoga-drasti. To keep... to keep focus on God and forget everything else is yoga-drasti. To forget is yoga-drasti. Read. To learn to see that terrible miseries lie behind seemingly pleasant pleasures is sankhya-drasti. In this Vachanamrut, Muktanand Swami asked a question, does a devotee of God with unwavering faith face any obstacle in his devotion or not? Then Maharaj answered that faith is of two types, one is yoga-nistha and the other is sankhya-nistha. Yoga-nistha means faith made firm through the state of yoga. And faith made firm through sankhya thought is sankhya-nistha. How can unwavering focus on Maharaj be developed? Nistha means unwavering focus. No matter what place or time comes, he does not waver from it. And his flow does not turn elsewhere, that is what Maharaj calls nistha. If the flow turns elsewhere, and fills the ditches, then, the incoming water turns elsewhere. And instead of flowing where we made the channel, it goes into someone else's channel, the neighbor's, the water goes into the channel of the one who is sleeping. So it is said that the flow has turned. The flow does not turn, no matter what happens. If the flow does not turn from Maharaj to anywhere else, then he is said to have attained nistha. And to wash and scrub that faith to make it clean is said to be doing choka-patla. To wash and scrub Maharaj's faith and make it thoroughly clean. So that it does not remain anywhere else, and faith remains only in Maharaj, then he is said to have done choka-patla. So this is the Vachanamrut of choka-patla. But in writing, they have not brought anything about choka-patla, why is that? if it was dirty, then it had to be cleaned, right? It is the Vachanamrut of choka-patla. Read. Among them, the one with yoga-nistha keeps his focus on the 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 → He has less strength of understanding but more skill in practice. While the one with sankhya-nistha has more strength of understanding. He measures both the pleasure and pain of humans... Of perishability, the strength of understanding means perishability. We are going to perish, this body, like that. From there. What is the formula of sankhya? Gunatitanand Swami has spoken a lot about sankhya, so what is the formula of sankhya? Eh? "Nasmi, na me, naham." To practice that. "Naham" means I am not this body. "Na me" means all these relatives are not mine. "Nasmi" means I am not the doer. Do not have ego. To perform actions, to do devotion to God, but egoistic feeling, not to get attached anywhere in action. Not to become identified with the action. "Nasmi" means not to become identified with the action. While performing actions, separating oneself from the action, learn to keep the mind on God. So that is called "nasmi." And "naham" I am not this body. And "na me" nowhere else... this is of choka-patla, right? So not to get attached to any other identity. To get attached only to Maharaj. 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