Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. Swami has said, and Vairat and Mahapurush, etc., understand the greatness of that 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 → Is this remaining? Is the eighth discourse remaining? The eighth discourse is remaining. And Chaitanyanand Swami says, "Once, Swami looked at me and spoke with great compassion, 'Do not keep even an atom of affection for the worldly five sense objects; it is an obstacle on the path of liberation.'" And Vairat and Mahapurush, etc., understand the greatness of that 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 answer to that question is, "They connect because they are devotees seeking divine powers, whereas a wise devotee would not connect. That is why in the Gita, Lord Shri Krishna Krishna 1) An avatãr of Bhagvãn. He incarnated in the svarup of a cowherd. This is considered to be a greater avatãr than the others, as Shree Krishna possessed all of the powers of Bhagvãn, whereas other avatãrs possessed less power. Shree Krishna conveyed the message of love and humanity to the world. Also, He recited the epic poem, the Bhagvad Geetã, to Arjun in which He stated: ‘Whenever dharma declines and adharma increases, I shall incarnate myself as a human to save the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, and to establish dharma. I come into being from yug to yug’. 2) In the Vachanãmrut, Shreeji Mahãrãj also uses the name “Shree Krishna” to describe Bhagvãn Purushottam Nãrãyan. Tap to open in glossary → What was said? Just as a wise devotee worships God, God also worships such a devotee. It is in the whole discourse. Virat, etc., Virat, etc., worship, they are seekers of divine powers, seekers of divine powers, and the wise devotee is superior to all of them, he wants nothing. What was the conclusion of both? Virat and Mahapurush, etc., know the greatness of God'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 → Does Brahmaji know more of God's greatness, or Shukadevji and Sanakadik? Brahmaji. Then why does Brahmaji not connect? Huh? Because he is interested in divine powers. To him, who has how much knowledge and who has how much power, it does not depend on that. It depends on who has how much interest. Where is it like that? I may have a lot of knowledge, I may have a lot of power, so if there is power, one might not connect with God. There were many others with power like that, who could not connect with God. But what about the one who has a lot of knowledge? And what kind of knowledge? Knowledge of greatness. Knowledge of God, that is. The one who has knowledge of God, he does not connect with God, see. So the one who does not have knowledge of God, he connects with God. So what difference came out of both of them? The other one has a lot of knowledge of God. Virat... we spoke about Brahma. But Maharaj... Swami has taken a higher point than that, that beyond Brahma is Virat Narayan. Beyond him are Prakriti and all those. So they would have a lot of knowledge of God. All activities of knowledge, have originated from Brahma. Because Brahma is the preceptor of the Vedas. Truly, how to propagate all the Vedas first, their propagator is Brahma. So can that Brahma be said to be absorbed in God like Sanakadik or not? Cannot be said. Why? Why does it not happen to him? He does not want to do it. His jiva has been drawn elsewhere. We may have knowledge, and power, so our jiva would be drawn only to God, that is not necessary. We may not have power, and we may not have knowledge, so we would remain deprived of connecting with God, that is also not the case. It depends on who wants to connect with God and who has the interest. What a beautiful point Swami has written. That Virat Narayan and Mahapurush, etc., understand the greatness of God'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 → They understand the greatness of 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 → More than anyone else. They understand more than all others. They understand more than all others. All the jivas that have come within this creation, they understand the greatness more than all of them. That they know the greatness of God exactly as it is. It is not just that they understand, like we just deliver a discourse, and by the time we stand up from the discourse, nothing has stuck. So it is not like that. So which one is important? Which one is said to be important? One's own inclination. It is the interest. Towards what our interest is directed, that is the interest of life. Many may be completely ignorant, knowing nothing. They may have no power either. That can also happen. One may be a minor devotee and have no power. And no knowledge either, while we turn pages of books back and forth, back and forth, the biggest books of all. So turning big books does not mean one develops affection for God. Even if they turn all the university books, it still won't happen. If he does not want to do it at all. What kind of power was there? That Hiranyaksha, the elder brother of Hiranyakashipu. He, the Earth, folded it twice or thrice, and just like engineers roll up a map, he rolled it up and brought it. Such a one, and, the great ocean was only knee-deep to him. And he always had one desire, what? That I find someone to fight with. He always had such a desire. That someone satisfies me, someone to fight with, I am not getting satisfaction. Now if someone comes and gets knocked out in one slap, then how can he get satisfaction? If he gives one slap, they get knocked out. So he was not getting satisfaction. Look what kind of power he had. That the entire Earth, rolled it up, and putting it in that pipe, he would carry the pipe under his arm. Going to the netherworld. Taking the Earth from the depths of the ocean, he would return. He had that much power. How much power must Jaya-Vijaya have had? They were God's personal attendants. They were seated at the gate of the divine abode. And the one who has more power, that means he would develop more affection for God, that is not so. We find in Narad Bhaktisutra, actually in Shandilya Sutra. "Na jnanam" What should be called devotion to God? So, knowledge is not devotion. Knowledge was possessed by Shishupal, Hiranyakashipu, and all of them, and Kansa, that this Krishna Krishna 1) An avatãr of Bhagvãn. He incarnated in the svarup of a cowherd. This is considered to be a greater avatãr than the others, as Shree Krishna possessed all of the powers of Bhagvãn, whereas other avatãrs possessed less power. Shree Krishna conveyed the message of love and humanity to the world. Also, He recited the epic poem, the Bhagvad Geetã, to Arjun in which He stated: ‘Whenever dharma declines and adharma increases, I shall incarnate myself as a human to save the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, and to establish dharma. I come into being from yug to yug’. 2) In the Vachanãmrut, Shreeji Mahãrãj also uses the name “Shree Krishna” to describe Bhagvãn Purushottam Nãrãyan. Tap to open in glossary → And they even recognized that this is indeed He. No other. They recognized Him as such. So having knowledge does not mean affection develops, affection develops only in the one who wants to have it. No matter how much others wander around, no matter how much power they have, no matter how much knowledge they have, affection does not develop through that. It happens like that. Even if they make any amount of frantic efforts, it still won't happen. The one who has power can make more frantic efforts. The one who cannot even shoo away a fly, what frantic efforts can he make? If he wants to shoo away his own fly, he has to say, 'Brother, please come,' 'Sadgun Swami, a fly is sitting here.' 'Let me shoo away the fly.' The one who cannot shoo away a fly, what frantic efforts can he make? Who makes frantic efforts? The one who has power makes a lot of frantic efforts. Making frantic efforts does not mean one develops affection for God. If he does as prescribed by the scriptures, then, we find the same in that, in Narad Bhaktisutra. How does affection for God develop? No matter how much knowledge one has, affection does not develop. No matter how much power one has, affection does not develop. No matter how much skill one has, virtues, compared to all of those, affection for God is different. So it does not happen all at once. If acquiring knowledge leads to affection, then what does that mean? Knowledge and affection, both, are equal, right? Are one. If having power leads to affection for God, good power, not weak, not like Ravana or Kansa. Like Jaya-Vijaya. Jaya-Vijaya were God's personal attendants and they only served God, what else did they do? What was God doing in the divine abode? Jaya-Vijaya. They only served. Then why did they not develop affection for God? At least Jaya-Vijaya must have stayed for a long time. They stayed in service for a long time. In one of the sutras of Narad Bhaktisutra, it is also said like that. That service is not devotion. It is said so there too. Why? Because of 'rajasevadi vat' (like serving a king). A king may have two servants. And both of them, are appointed to their duties. Sometimes both, have the same duty, that you wave the whisk from this side and you wave the whisk from that side. Waving the whisk equally from both sides, they are appointed to such a duty. Yet the king understands that this one is a devotee and the other one is a servant. So what difference was there between the two? Huh? One does it with devotion. The other one serves, but in service, not all service becomes devotion; service has to be made into devotion. It does not happen without doing it. Both wave the whisk. And yet the king understands that this is my royal devotee. And this is not my devotee, this is my servant. He does like that. So devotion is so deep. Developing affection for God, just because we jump around and say we have a lot of affection, all that is just to please people. It is not equivalent to pleasing God. If one wants to please God, it cannot happen like that. So, "na seva" (not service) was stated. In Shandilya Bhaktisutra, since Shandilya Bhaktisutra is according to the scriptures, it is written like that. "Na kriya" and "na jnanam" Sage Shandilya gave the definition of devotion to God, "Sa paranuraktirishvare" He stated such a sutra. Naradji gave the definition, "Sa tvasmin paramapremarupa" What should be called devotion? So, 'asmin' means in God, in the manifest God, there is supreme love, intense love, like that of the Gopis. Like Gopalanand Swami and Sachchidanand Swami, love like theirs. Then call it devotion. Then again, Sage Shandilya felt a spark, lest others understand it wrongly. So he also wrote like this. That "na kriya, na jnanam, na seva." Then he also gave examples. That 'na seva' is like 'rajasevadi vat'. A king may have two servants, and assigned the same duty, yet is the king's satisfaction equal from both? Both are given the duty of waving the whisk. Suppose all of us serve, you all serve. So does equal satisfaction come from everyone? So the service is indeed the same for everyone. Then why does satisfaction not come? Why does God not get equal satisfaction? Service, the action, is all the same; the drill is all the same. But if the other one does a little drill, God is satisfied. So that is called love. So how beautifully it is written, "And Vairat and Mahapurush, etc., understand the greatness of 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 why do they connect with Maya? And regarding greatness, how did Swami write that they understand the greatness of 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 → They understand the greatness of God. And yet they connect with Maya. They understand the greatness of this, and connect elsewhere. Greatness, we sing praises, don't we, 'Aho, aho, aho'? Singing praises, they even praise a person, "Guruh stotavyah pratyakshena" (Gurus should be praised in their presence), it is said so. Praising the Gurus, should be done directly. And praising the disciples, should be done when they are away, when they go far away, that is. That they were very great, brother. They were very great, praise them like that, it is said so in the scriptures, in ethics. "Guravah pratyakshatah stotavyah" and "shishyah parokshena stotavyah" Praise him when he is absent; do not praise him much as long as he is present. Do not praise as long as he is present. Later when others come, introduce him, that our, Aksharbhagat, there is no devotee like him in the world. But Aksharbhagat should not hear this here. Otherwise, Aksharbhagat's mind might change a little. His head might swell, that there is no one like me, so now if I pinch the nose, his mouth will open. So, do not praise in presence. Then why was it said to praise Gurus in their presence? Why was it said? All those secrets Sadgun Swami knows. Why was it said? From Guru Guru A teacher. He will guide you on the path of kalyãn. Tap to open in glossary → 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