The subject of discussion is the attachment to relatives. Key points: Attachment to relatives is like a cactus plant. It flourishes even without nourishment. By establishing a true relationship with God, that is, through the upasana of Maharaj, it is removed. There is a sense of possessiveness in the body, and a sense of ego, and all that, attachment. That goes away if the attitude of being Maharaj's servant comes. Otherwise, it will not go away, by any means. So even if one keeps contemplating, "I am Brahman, I am Brahman, I am not the body," still it won't happen. The only remedy for it is the attitude of a servant. By honestly becoming a servant of God and wearing out this body, then possessiveness and ego will go away from it, otherwise they won't. This Vachanamrut is the Vachanamrut of the cactus plant. Even if one just does seva, it won't go away, which is why Maharaj said to do it after becoming Brahman. One should do seva by separating oneself from the feeling of the body. If one just keeps doing seva, on the contrary, body-consciousness increases, the bodily feeling remains. It becomes "I, I, I." "There is no one like me, I am doing this well and others are doing it badly. I can do it so well and no one else can." That happens, even if one does seva. So one must separate oneself from the body. Gunatitanand Swami has written in very simple language. As one performs actions, mentally one should remain separate from the action, then body-consciousness goes away. And if body-consciousness goes away, then the attachment to relatives is eradicated, otherwise it is not. This Vachanamrut is the Vachanamrut of the cactus plant. Maharaj says that the attachment to one's family members in this world is like a cactus plant, or a branch of a banyan or pipal tree. Even if it is cut off and separated from the root, lying on the ground, it does not fail to sprout. Even if there is a stone or a hard surface and a piece of cactus is lying there, and remains in the sun's heat without water for a long time, still, when it gets a favorable environment like water, it sprouts and becomes a tree. It does not dry up. It becomes green, like that. If a person does not get water, he should dry up, but it does not dry up. If it gets water, it becomes green. Such is the nature of the cactus. Such is the attachment to relatives. It is not that it needs soil-rich earth at its base. Even on hard ground, it makes all the necessary arrangements for itself. By itself, it arranges for the soil. Dust blows in on this ground, and it gets nourishment from that. What a wonderful illustration Maharaj has given! The cactus plant, the banyan tree. Where indeed does a banyan tree grow, way up high above the ground. On this ground, there might be a cactus plant, some dust might have blown in. How can it be up on a wall? And way up on the terrace of a house, from where would there be water, what arrangement? What arrangement for soil? Still it grows. And once it grows, it breaks the wall. It does not dry up itself. How strong it is! So it breaks down all devotion and such, like that. Devotion is a very elevated thing, even if one has reached a high level, if the cactus plant comes, then everything is broken. It is not that it needs soil-rich earth at its base. Even on hard ground, it makes all the necessary arrangements for itself, we do not have to make them for it. Similarly, the attachment to family members is like a cactus plant; this applies more particularly to tyagis. That is why, in Vachanamrut Gadhada Last Section 19, Maharaj has spoken the entire Vachanamrut on this matter specifically for tyagis. Maharaj has listed among the bad qualities of a tyagi, stating that one who has affection for his family members appears to Us to be like an animal. Animals do not serve their relatives. Moreover, among animals, if one faces trouble, it is not that its family members run to help. All this is in humans. Even so, if we look at a cow's newborn calf, the cow runs to attack us with fury. A female dog's newborn... It would kill. If one has touched the calf, even by mistake, it would surely kill. Yes. In the beginning, when we started the gaushala, once I went to show a lot of affection to a calf. The cow had just given birth. So I, I had not gone right next to it, I had gone near, and stood there. So the cow, and she ran, but fortunately Pappu was there. Pappu shouted and... still she barely turned back. Also, because she was a Bharwad cow, she turned back; if it were any other, she wouldn't have turned back, she would have hit me. If we go near a female dog's newborn puppies, she bites our calf. No matter how, no matter how docile a dog she is. One should not trust her then. When she has given birth to puppies, when she has given birth, she should not be trusted. How strongly Maharaj has put that! He put the attachment to relatives strongly. Animals have no intellect, so in them, it is seen very clearly. This human has intellect, so he hides it, saying, "I don't have any [attachment]." And those animals cannot hide it, so how strong it is, it appears as it is. That is why Maharaj called it animal intellect. It has come in Gunatitanand Swami's talks, hasn't it, that Parikshit... Shukdevji started narrating the discourse, so Shukdevji told Parikshit, "Abandon your animal intellect." "I... the serpent will bite me and I will die," and the ego and possessiveness in the body, abandon that animal intellect, leave the animal intellect. Whether it bites or not, it doesn't matter. Abandon the animal intellect, meaning... The ego-consciousness in the body is animal intellect. And Maharaj called the affection for relatives animal intellect there in the 19th Vachanamrut. And in the Shrimad Bhagavatam, the ego-consciousness in the body is animal intellect. Because there is ego-consciousness in the body, there is possessiveness towards relatives, otherwise there isn't. If we go near a female dog's newborn puppies, she bites our calf. Why does she do this? For what benefit or by what calculation of the rule of three she does it, she has no thought. She does it out of infatuation or because of such a mechanism of God. Similarly, the tyagi's affection for relatives is affection born of animal intellect alone. It is the affection of the mechanism, the affection of animal intellect, the affection of the mechanism. How much we are swept away by the mechanism, that is what we have to think about. The affection for the body is the affection of the mechanism; is the affection made by some calculation? It is not so. That "if we keep this much affection in this, then this much devotion will happen," "so it is to our benefit, this much minus and this much plus." If we do it by doing that, if we do it, it might happen, but they do not do this by doing any such thing. That "we take care of the body in the body," then devotion happens. If one has seen this much, then this much devotion happens. Does anyone keep affection for the body with such a calculation? That "if we take care of the body this much, then this much seva will be done, this much devotion will be done, this much worship of Maharaj will be done," "therefore we must do it, we must take care of it this much." Is there such a calculation? If they sleep all day, then do we take care of it? Maharaj has said in Vachanamrut Gadhada I-34 that, God has wound up such a mechanism that He does not have to make an effort for creation again, and the creation keeps increasing. If one thinks and calculates, the effort and hardship a parent undergoes and the care they take for a son, even a tenth part of that effort, good sons do not get the opportunity to make, nor do they make it. If one calculates, this is what happens. But it does not happen by calculation, it happens by God's mechanism. One who is not swept away in the flow of that mechanism can become a devotee of God. Therefore, Maharaj has given the title of an animal to a tyagi who has affection for family members. An animal has no thought as to why we run after the calf. Similarly, in a tyagi also, there is such animal intellect. Therefore, after renouncing... if a tyagi maintains attachment to relatives, then to him, it is called thoughtlessness, meaning animal intellect. Animal intellect means thoughtlessness. A person does not know why he is running, like that. Similarly, in a tyagi also, there is such animal intellect, which is why even after renouncing, the attachment to family members cannot be forgotten. Maharaj says in Vachanamrut... Maharaj says in Vachanamrut Gadhada I-37 that, to forget one's birthplace and relatives is very difficult. It can only be forgotten if one forgets it through knowledge. Here also Maharaj says the same, that by understanding oneself as separate from the body, those impressions have been formed in the mind and jiva, they cannot be erased in a single day. So the impressions make him remember. There are impressions, knowledge born of impressions is memory. Memory. The impressions make him remember. And if I want to erase the memory today, if I want to erase the impressions today, they cannot be erased just like that. So contrary to that, contrary impressions must be formed. And if contrary impressions are formed, it happens only when they are formed over a long time. So Maharaj told him to do it through the path of knowledge. When he remembers, he has to recall those contrary impressions. Maharaj said in many Vachanamruts, didn't He, that many births must have been taken, this is one of them. If that becomes vivid to him as he practices, then it can be forgotten through the path of knowledge. Still, he does remember it. Maharaj said, "We remember it, so if you do not remember it, speak up," like that. But through the path of knowledge, its attraction, its poison, is removed. If one is a tyagi and his relatives have come, he does not feel, "This is not my relative." The impressions are already there, he feels, "This is my relative." But there should be attraction; the mechanism Maharaj spoke of, if he is not swept away in that mechanism, then it is done. Maharaj says in Vachanamrut Gadhada I-37 that to forget one's birthplace and relatives is very difficult. It can only be forgotten if one forgets it through knowledge. Here also Maharaj says the same, that by understanding oneself as separate from the body, if one holds the image of God, and maintains a relationship with the image of God. The householder and the whole world serve the relatives of the body. In the same way, if one serves God and God's devotee, then that other attachment is eradicated. If one does it very honestly and from the soul, then that other is eradicated. This attachment is seated in the soul, so if one does it in the soul, then that other moves, otherwise it won't move. So relationship from the soul... if one does seva from the soul, then... otherwise it won't be eradicated. Maharaj said, didn't He, "know in this way," the meaning of knowing is, to become such a servant of His. Here also Maharaj says the same, that by understanding oneself as separate from the body, if one holds the image of God, and makes an effort by abandoning all kinds of pride, then the attachment to family members is eradicated. There is a proverb that even if a camel dies, it looks towards Marwar. Its meaning is... it is about the attachment to relatives. Even if a camel dies, it looks towards Marwar. One might have remained a sadhu for 30-40 years, and then if he does not feel comfortable here in his mind, then where does he go? They go home. So for 40 years, did this cactus plant dry up? It did not dry up. It kept its roots. At 40 years. There are plenty who have run away after 40 years. We must remember those of 20 years, who stayed for 20-20 years, and then they leave. They go home. They go home and suffer. So if it happens like that, it means that for that much time, it was completely gone, a gap was created in between, then the cactus plant, if it were to dry up, would dry up. Because it does dry up, doesn't it. But this did not dry up; this went even further than the cactus plant. So it means that currently there is no relationship, so we should not assume that the cactus plant has dried up. Currently we have no relationship, so the cactus plant has dried up. What if it comes alive after 40 years? So knowing that it is green, one must keep digging it out. So Maharaj told this method of digging. In this way, considering oneself separate from the three bodies, and if one serves God, serves God's devotee, and keeps strengthening the relationship with God. If one keeps strengthening the relationship with God's devotee, then that other relationship goes away. One must keep digging. One should not assume that it has dried up. If it does not dry up in 40 years, how can it dry up now? In two to four years. When does one find out whether it has dried up or not? One finds out when it rains, doesn't one. There is a proverb that even if a camel dies, it looks towards Marwar. Why? Towards Marwar. Because it is its birthplace. There are camels in Marwar, they are prominent there, so it is its birthplace, which is why it looks there. Its meaning is that the birthplace is not forgotten until death. One might have remained in the ashram ashram 1) Stage of life. There are four ãshrams in total, each with their duties and responsibilities – brahm-chãrya, grahastha, vãnprasth, and sannyãs. 2) Hermitage. Place where tyãgis live. Tap to open in glossary → then even after 30-40 years, family members are remembered. Therefore, they are very difficult to remove from the heart. That can only happen if, understanding Maharaj's glory, one makes an effort as shown by Maharaj, then by the grace of God and the saints, that attachment is removed. Moreover, Maharaj says that the liberation of the soul and the soul crossing over maya to become Brahman-realized, the cause of that is indeed the knowledge, meditation, kirtan kirtan Divine songs about Bhagvãn and His charitras, usually sung to the accompaniment of musical instruments. Tap to open in glossary → Purushottam Purushottam God. Supreme being. Bhagvãn. He is unparalleled, omnipotent and the all-doer, omniscient, omnipresent, the ocean of all forms of bliss, does not have any attributes of Mãyã, divine, always taking birth on earth for Tap to open in glossary → Through that, the soul crosses over maya, attains great greatness, and attains Akshardham. Self-realization, vairagya, and dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → But without devotion, they alone... they should be maintained, like that. One must manage them, right. Even if a driver is driving a car, he does it by managing. How much fuel to give, how much to apply the brakes, which way to keep the steering, if he manages all that, then. If he just gives fuel and goes fast, then he will crash. So in this, even if one increases the fuel of vairagya, still he will go fast and crash, like that. And even if one increases the fuel of dharma dharma 1) Universal law or principle that 'sustains' or 'upholds' the entire world. Righteousness, morality, religion, Tap to open in glossary → They have to be managed. There are several instruments, so like that. So they have to be managed. How to manage them, Maharaj has told. If one does not understand anything and the car has come into his hands, the steering has come into his hands, and if he just presses the accelerator to fuel it, then what happens? He crashes. Then still he won't know properly which way to drive, right. If he has no sense of applying brakes, no intelligence that brakes should not be applied at all. So he crashes, like that. So in this also, fuel... in this also, discretion should be maintained. As to which one to keep the most, like that. To keep devotion to God. The services of God, those are more. And those others are also needed, again. To keep them as much as needed. 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