Faith, it seems generally that most jivas hear so much mahima of God's name, such mahima of God's name that if one name is taken, all this happens. And he doesn't see that, so it seems his faith in the name breaks. We 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 → He eats more, he eats more. There is no limit, he even eats beyond the limit. So if one has known God's mahima, then what should be his action-reaction? Is he eating beyond the limit or committing sins beyond the limit? One should eat beyond the limit. If arrogance is increasing beyond the limit, then he has not tasted it at all. If the taste has come, Maharaj said that God's mahima is such that he would not look back even while committing sins due to mahima. Maharaj said this in Vachanamrut 32. That due to mahima, one commits sins and due to mahima, one commits virtues. Mahima can even make a person liberated. And mahima can even make a person wretched. So what to do is in one's own hands. So what should be called true mahima? If it makes him wretched, then that is not mahima. That is the weakness of his heart, and it is wrong intention, wickedness. Maharaj said this. His intention is wicked; that cannot be called ashro. If there is ashro, then purusharth should also increase, and humility should also increase. Those who do not do purusharth under the guise of humility are part of dehabhiman. That is not part of ashro. It is deha-bhav, that's why he doesn't do it. And as long as there is deha-bhav, weakness does not go away. Until then, God's ashro does not come. Because does he nourish the body or nourish God? Does he nourish God's principles or nourish the body? Whose does he do? The body's. As long as there is dehabhiman, that (ashro) also does not let go. So if God's ashro happens, purusharth should increase instead, and humility should increase. Just as a tree with many fruits bends down and touches the earth. Similarly, if much purusharth is done, one should instead become like dust before God, humility should come. Only then is it called true purusharth. Otherwise, it is not real purusharth. If one does purusharth and then becomes arrogant, then that purusharth does not help him in ashro. If one does purusharth, it should instead be helpful in ashro. What did Maharaj say about this? That even a mosquito drinks ocean water, and eagles and all drink water, so... Whose mahima increases? The eagle's. The eagle's increases, that "Oh, so much water!" Whose mahima of the sky increases? Does it increase for the eagle or for the mosquito? For the eagle. Why does it increase? The capacity is more, the capacity is more. So purusharth increases, so his mahima increases. If our purusharth increases, what happens to us? Arrogance. That is the difference in ashro. If our purusharth increases and along with it arrogance increases, its meaning is that ashro has not been done or there is a flaw in it. As our purusharth increases, ashro should increase. And if ashro increases, purusharth should increase. Then it is called true ashro. Then our ashro is called true. Having taken ashro, now we can't do anything, can we? We surrender to God, we take God's name. It's a good thing, there's nothing wrong with it. Even if one comes tired, God is pleased. Even if someone comes tired, God is pleased, but that is not the original form of ashro. Sarva dharman parityajya mamekam sharanam vraja, aham tva sarva papebhyo mokshayishyami ma shuchah. What does "Sarva dharman parityajya" mean? One's own assumed mentality. To renounce the strength of one's own purusharth. Sarva dharman means to renounce the strength and arrogance of one's own purusharth in all ways. Not to renounce purusharth itself. One who renounces purusharth is called wretched; that is not called ashro. And if one does purusharth but God's ashro does not happen, and humility does not come, then he is called arrogant. That is ego. Now, if Maharaj sometimes helps us in difficult times, then our faith in Maharaj increases. So, does Maharaj help if there is faith, or does faith come if help comes? If we do something by mistake, God helps the first time. If we then become arrogant, He doesn't. If we do something by mistake, then God helps us to increase our faith. If one does something for God with a true heart, then God helps him. The arrogant ones do it with their own purusharth. It often happens that God helps and also that He doesn't. How late did God help Prahlad! Prahlad was challenging like that, and his faith in God was still the same. Even then, God did not rush to help him. God did not rush like Gajendra, thinking "otherwise what will happen to me, my honor will be lost." He came very late. Then he came saying "sorry, sorry," but he came very late. "Prahlad, sorry, Prahlad, sorry." God did a lot like that, but there is no need for Him to come early. Even if we don't have faith, let it be. He will never be wrong, because His biodata is such. His historical biodata is such that He doesn't keep anyone's debt. If we have done something, He doesn't keep ours. God does not keep anyone's debt. Thus, "Alpam anumaapyam matulam hi manyate." So, if He helps, only then do we have faith, and if He doesn't help, we don't have faith – that calculation is wrong. We should have faith by looking at His biodata in the shastras. Whom all has He helped, and what kind of people has He helped, and does He do it or not? And has anyone who surrendered to Him ever failed or returned disappointed? We should investigate that. There is no such person at all. "No one's honor has ever been lost by worshipping Hari Hari An avatãr of Bhagvãn. He incarnated in His four-armed svarup to save an elephant from being killed by a crocodile. He cut off the crocodile’s head with His chakra. Tap to open in glossary → Everyone says that. Famous in both the world and the Vedas. Not just in the world, and not just in the Vedas. In neither the world nor the Vedas has God left any room for anyone to point a finger at Him. So we should have faith in Him. Knowing this and having faith in Him, Maharaj said that if He fulfills our vows, then ashro becomes firm. And if He doesn't fulfill them, it completely goes away. So one should not do it for that reason. Maharaj says one should do it for the welfare of one's own jiva. But one should not take God's ashro with some worldly desire. And if one does it that way, his ashro does not become firm. Maharaj said this in Vachanamrut Pratham Pratham First. Tap to open in glossary → Maharaj, how does one's nishchay nishchay Unfaltering faith in Bhagvãn, no matter what is seen or heard. Tap to open in glossary → Nishchay Nishchay Unfaltering faith in Bhagvãn, no matter what is seen or heard. Tap to open in glossary → So Bhai Nityanand Swami replied that Maharaj, one should keep the company of a true sadhu. Renounce bad company, renounce bad company and keep the company of a sadhu. Nityanand Swami said that then ashro becomes firm. Maharaj said that there is still a need for some improvement. What? That one should do it without any desire. If one has worldly desires and God fulfills them, then nishchay nishchay Unfaltering faith in Bhagvãn, no matter what is seen or heard. Tap to open in glossary → And if God perhaps doesn't fulfill them, then that (nishchay nishchay Unfaltering faith in Bhagvãn, no matter what is seen or heard. Tap to open in glossary → But one should not do purusharth for worldly desires. That we get respect, that we get fame, that five people praise us, X, Y, Z. We make all the arrangements for this world. And for that, one does purusharth. So if praised, one does a lot of purusharth, we do more than others. And if not praised, we even dig up God's foundations. Then that is not called ashro. His ashro does not become firm. How much faith do we have in God? How much faith do we have in Maharaj? And on what foundation is it? And after that, a grip should come in our jiva. Just as a grip comes in our limbs. If someone has a grip on seva, he knows how to do seva very well. If someone has some other skill, he has gained a grip in that skill. Similarly, if we engage in this, such a grip should come that there is no problem. So Maharaj (or Swami) spoke of a grip on two or three things. Firstly, faith in the name should come. Secondly, faith in the person should come. Thirdly, faith in the title should come. So faith in the person happens when God is present, but God's name is always present. 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