Swaminarayan Hare, Swaminarayan Hare.
On the ninth day of the bright half of the month of Magshar in Samvat 1876, Shriji Maharaj was seated in Dada Khachar's court in Gadhada.
And everyone was wearing white clothes, and in front of his lotus-like face, a gathering of sadhus and devotees from various countries was seated.
Then Shriji Maharaj said, "Those who are discerning in this satsang, they see their own faults day by day.
And they see virtues in God and in the devotees of God.
And when God and the sadhus speak harsh words for their benefit, they consider it beneficial and do not feel hurt.
Such a person attains greatness in satsang day by day.
And those who are indiscreet, as they engage in satsang and listen to talks about satsang, they attribute virtues to themselves.
And when God and the sadhus point out their faults and speak to them, they take those words in a negative way.
And they find fault with the speaker, and thus they decline day by day.
And they become disgraced in satsang.
Therefore, by abandoning the pride of their own virtues and becoming brave, if they place their faith in God and God's sadhus, their indiscretion is removed.
And they attain greatness in satsang.
Thus, the sixth Vachanamrut of Gadhada First Chapter was completed.
Expounded subject.
The discernment of what is beneficial and harmful for spiritual aspirants.
Main point.
Those who are discerning in satsang see their own faults.
And the devotees of God, discernment is of many kinds.
If one knows what to say here and what not to say there, that is called discernment.
If one knows what to do and what not to do, that is called discernment.
How to address important people?
How to talk to them?
That is called discernment.
It is of many kinds.
What does Maharaj mean by 'discerning' here?
Beneficial and harmful.
Is this beneficial for me, or is this harmful for me?
One who knows this is called discerning.
What is considered beneficial in that?
If someone praises us or someone criticizes us, what is beneficial for us?
Why?
That is beneficial.
Then we all will only find your faults.
So?
Take the fault of that Swami.
It becomes a fault.
We all together will do good for you.
Huh? Say it, it will happen.
It would be beneficial, but a fault.
If he believes it.
If it is believed, if it is not believed, then it won't happen.
If he believes that this is beneficial for him, then that is what happens to his mind.
So, do you want to do good for yourself or what do you want to do?
What?
Well, do good for him sometimes.
Right.
Those who are discerning in satsang see their own faults.
And they see virtues in the devotees of God.
The word 'vivek' is derived from the root 'vich' in the sense of 'vichir pruthak bhave' (to separate or distinguish).
The root 'vichir'.
It is the root 'vichir'.
And its meaning is 'differentiation'.
That which differentiates is called 'vivek' (discernment).
And one who has the power of differentiation is called 'viveki' (discerning).
The word 'vivek' applies to many subjects.
Shriji Maharaj has used this word in the Vachanamrut in different contexts.
The discernment of the body and soul, meaning the differentiation of the body and soul.
The discernment of the real and unreal, which in other words is called the differentiation of perishable and imperishable substances.
As well as the discernment of what is beneficial and what is harmful.
The differentiation of which action is beneficial for one's liberation and which action is harmful.
This is called 'hitahit vivek' (discernment of beneficial and harmful).
Similarly, country, time, company,
The word 'vivek' is also used in subjects like etc.
Here, Shriji Maharaj has particularly shown vivek in relation to the vivek of what is beneficial and what is not.
Devotees in the initial stage of their spiritual journey have a lot of eagerness and enthusiasm towards the path of moksha.
But they do not have the vivek of what is beneficial and what is not.
Therefore, even after working hard, they do not get the desired results, and sometimes they even incur losses.
Here, Maharaj has discussed that vivek.
Maharaj has said that one who is discerning in satsang sees their own flaws and the virtues of other satsangis.
One's own benefit is contained in this matter.
To acknowledge one's own flaws and to acknowledge the virtues of others does not mean that one has no virtues and others have no flaws.
In reality, we may have virtues, but it is certainly not in our best interest to dwell on them, because contemplating one's own virtues leads to pride, arrogance, and contempt and disdain for others.
Because by contemplating one's own virtues, pride, arrogance, and contempt and disdain for others arise within oneself.
Therefore, it is a reality, but there is no benefit in it.
Just because something is real doesn't mean it's always beneficial.
It is a reality that we have virtues.
But still, it is not in our best interest to dwell on virtues.
We have fewer flaws, others have more.
Still, acknowledging our own flaws is beneficial for us.
And if others have flaws,
Even if it's a reality, contemplating the flaws of others is not in our best interest.
Maharaj spoke of such discernment.
If one acknowledges their own flaws, the more they acknowledge, the more discerning they are considered.
If one doesn't acknowledge their own flaws, they are considered foolish.
That is called the foolishness of vivek.
Because by contemplating one's own virtues, pride, arrogance, and contempt and disdain for others arise within oneself.
Therefore, it is a reality, but there is no benefit in it.
In the spiritual path, things are different. Not all realities are beneficial.
Similarly, to acknowledge the virtues of others does not mean that a satsangi has no flaws.
But contemplating their flaws is detrimental to us.
Therefore, it is discernment to accept what is beneficial for oneself and to renounce what is not beneficial.
To acknowledge or hear about one's own flaws feels very bitter.
And to acknowledge or hear about the virtues of others feels very bland.
Therefore, one cannot walk on that path.
If it's one's own, it feels very bitter.
If it's someone else's, it doesn't feel that bitter.
Huh, it feels bland.
The virtue of another.
To acknowledge the virtue of another, to acknowledge the flaw of another, that feels very sweet.
And if one feels virtuous, then there is no end to the joy in acknowledging one's own virtues.
But it doesn't lead to benefit; it leads to harm.
To acknowledge or hear about one's own flaws feels very bitter.
And to acknowledge or hear about the virtues of others feels very bland.
Therefore, one cannot walk on that path.
Similarly, to acknowledge one's own virtues feels very sweet and delicious.
And to acknowledge the flaws of others feels very harsh.
There is a lot of addiction in that.
To acknowledge the flaws of others, that is called addiction, isn't it?
Among the 18 addictions, slander is an addiction.
Without drinking tea, one gets a headache; in this, one gets a headache.
In this, one gets indigestion and a headache.
One gets into the habit of slandering others or finding fault with them.
If one hasn't done it, one gets indigestion.
If one eats, it doesn't digest.
One gets indigestion.
Just as one gets a headache from tea, one gets indigestion from this.
So, slandering others and praising oneself, both become an addiction.
That is an addiction.
So, when one's own praises are sung, it's like taking a shot of tea.
He will have lamps lit in 75 chambers.
He is very addicted and has found a late companion.
And then if he takes one puff.
What happens to him?
Similarly, if one praise comes, then lamps are lit in 75 chambers.
And if someone slanders him, everything becomes bitter, everything becomes deep.
He is addicted.
It's an addiction.
He has not called his own slander, that is, his own praise, an addiction.
But it's called the opposite, isn't it?
It's called two contradictions, isn't it?
Slandering is called an addiction.
It is called an addiction.
In Shikshapatri and in the eleventh canto of the Mahabharata, it is called an addiction.
Maharaj has written in Shikshapatri that there are 18 types of addictions.
It is written in the dharma of the king that one should abandon 18 types of addictions.
In that, slander is called an addiction.
If slander is an addiction, then listening to one's own praise, slander is only to be done of others.
He has not called his own slander an addiction.
His own slander is not an addiction.
If one wants to slander someone else, that is called an addiction.
Similarly, praising oneself is called an addiction.
Praising others is not called an addiction.
No problem.
That can be done.
Just a habit.
Just a habit.
It's not a habit.
Habits are physical habits.
The more habits there are, the more physical addictions there are.
In the mind, it's not that much; in the mind, everything is stored in a knot.
But it changes the mind.
The mind, you see, does not quickly incline towards one particular mold.
It becomes a physical habit, he has to drink tea.
He has to smoke a beedi.
He has to eat gutka.
These are all habits.
It's an addiction.
Similarly, it is called an addiction if one has to slander.
Similarly, one has to listen to praise.
But the addiction to praise, it doesn't run regularly.
Someone needs to do it.
We can make tea ourselves.
And we buy gutka.
In this, someone needs to do it, someone.
So, when the doers gather, then he feels the craving.
Otherwise, he won't feel the craving.
It's not like he'll crave tea at 3 o'clock, and he'll crave praise at 4 o'clock.
But when he sees the assembly, he feels it.
If two or three people gather, then it feels like that.
If he sees a mic, he feels it.
If he sees a mic in someone's hand, he feels like these two or three praises are for him.
That craving arises.
To accept or hear one's own faults feels very bitter.
And to accept or hear the virtues of others feels very astringent.
Therefore, one cannot walk on that path.
Similarly, accepting one's own virtues feels very sweet and delicious.
And accepting the faults of others feels very harsh.
In this way, such naturalness resides in all human beings.
Whether he is a devotee or a non-devotee, the naturalness is always like this.
Only if he removes it with effort can he progress on the path to moksha.
Therefore, in this Vachanamrut, whatever matters, it's not like it came from this prisoner.
It's eternal, isn't it? The causal body is eternal.
How did it come?
But if one pays attention, it goes away.
That's what he said.
Therefore, do not assume that this Vachanamrut is not within us.
But if one pays attention, it decreases.
He pays attention that he wants to reduce this.
If we drink tea four times, and we want to do it twice, it happens.
If one eats 15-20 gutkas, eating five is fine.
So, in this, gutka can be completely stopped, but this cannot be completely stopped.
This remains wrong.
Otherwise, someone will keep speaking only our faults.
If he never learns to praise, then he won't remain completely wrong in life, he won't remain wrong, there will be no interest.
So.
If it's a little bit sometimes, it's fine.
If he takes gutka once a day, it's fine.
Those gutkas can be completely stopped, but this gutka cannot be stopped.
The gutka of praise.
Whether you like it or not.
The sadhus and Swamis like it, but no one does it for us.
Jai Swami, do you give gutka to anyone or not?
They all take it off, but no one gives gutka.
Feed these devotees one gutka at a time.
Such naturalness is present in all human beings.
Whether he is a devotee or a non-devotee.
But naturalness is always like this.
Only if he removes it with effort can he progress on the path to moksha.
Therefore, whatever matters are mentioned in this Vachanamrut are for spiritual benefit.
What is forbidden is harmful in the spiritual path, therefore it is forbidden.
It is said that the swan bird has such an inherent quality.
That it has the ability to separate water from milk and drink only milk.
This milk container is filled and it dips its beak in it.
So the milk becomes lumpy and it eats the milk and the water remains.
A swan has such a capacity.
This is its supernatural power.
Someone told the swan that truly, you possess an amazing virtue.
You separate milk and water and consume the milk, for that, thank you.
Then the swans gave him a very beautiful answer.
What you say is true.
But there is no need to thank or praise me for that.
The segregation I do is for my livelihood, for the sustenance of my body.
If I don't do that, I'll starve to death.
So I do it to live, you know.
It's not for pleasure, it's not for addiction.
They don't do it for addiction.
That's not my addiction.
It's not greatness.
But I do this to live.
If I don't do it, I'll die.
It's my livelihood.
I'll starve.
The segregation I do is for my livelihood, for the sustenance of my body.
That quality is the basis of my life and the support for the sustenance of my body, that's why I do it.
The swan gave a very good answer.
That a devotee of God needs to think about this.
Taking virtues from others is necessary for one's own progress.
It is not for the progress of others.
It is for one's own benefit.
Taking virtues from others is necessary for one's own progress.
It is not for the progress of others.
Therefore, there is no question of taking pride.
Therefore, one should take one's own flaws and the virtues of others, as well as the saint's
One should respect the teachings or beneficial words spoken by the saint.
Then progress is definitely made in satsang.