There are three aspects of upasana, right? Constant factor, this constant focus, distinction from others, and the attitude of a servant. So, among these three, which is the primary and which is the secondary attitude? Maharaj has called the attitude of a servant as primary. If the attitude of a servant is always present, then the others will follow. God is such an entity that if there is more association with Him, then we begin to see Him as He truly is. Therefore, the distinction from others will automatically come. And as He begins to appear as He is, contemplation will also come. Therefore, the upasana that is quickly realized through the attitude of a servant, perhaps all three could be equally important, none being secondary to the other. But the upasana that is quickly realized through the attitude of a servant, is not realized as quickly through the other two. To say that complete upasana is realized, meaning the perfection that should come, comes as quickly through the attitude of a servant, Maharaj says the others do not have that power. There is that much power in this attitude of a servant. So, in the attitude of a servant, if one serves Him knowing His distinction from others, the attitude of a servant also, "Whom am I serving?" If there is such a connection, then that service itself becomes upasana. But the perfection of upasana that comes quickly through that attitude of a servant, through those other two, it is difficult and takes a long time. Contemplation, in any case, takes a long time. Because such contemplation does not happen easily or suddenly. So, if we survey Maharaj's view, the attitude of a servant is the most primary point of all. And that is why Maharaj has said in some places that if the attitude of a servant is broken, if the master-servant relationship is broken, then his upasana is said to be broken. He has not said so much about forgetting the remembrance, if one forgets for a moment, that his upasana is broken, He has not said that. And if his understanding of His distinction from others has decreased slightly, that his upasana is broken, He has not said that much. The attitude of a servant, so Maharaj said that if one does not believe in the form, upasana is broken. But the attitude of a servant and the form, Maharaj has linked these two. Because if there is no form, one cannot be a servant. Merely, now suppose believing in the form and believing oneself to be a servant, take only these two factors and compare them. So, someone believes in the form, but does not believe himself to be a servant, then what? Then there is nothing special. And if he believes himself to be a servant, then the form automatically, implicitly, implicitly must be believed in, because believing in it, he serves. So, of all the points, the final point is the attitude of a servant. And that Maharaj believed so, appears upon surveying. Because Maharaj said, "Tatra brahmatmakrishnaseva muktishcha gamyatam." We consider this kind of service, we consider it as liberation, and that is called upasana. The path of upasana. So, the attitude of a servant is given more importance. That attitude of a servant must arise from the jiva, which is why Maharaj also said, that even if he has become brahmacup, still, the master-servant relationship does not go away. His upasana of the form does not go away. Then it is called upasana, Maharaj has said this in the 40th Vachanamrut. So, regarding the attitude of a servant. For us, there is only one thing, which factor does the seeker grasp quickly and which one quickly, can be applied in his heart? Then there is none like this. The attitude of a servant. Rather than comparing with others, between Maharaj and ourselves, thinking about the relationship between the two, and deciding that we, in this, can make more progress. It is graspable, it is tangible. In the attitude of a servant, there is both tangibility and subtlety. Even if one becomes brahmarup, the attitude of a servant remains, that is its subtlety. And even if one is ordinarily attached to the body and still serves, then that is the tangibility within tangibility. So, there is nothing else like it. Constant contemplation is not graspable by those who are physically minded. That is a matter of the inner self. And a matter of the jiva. Distinction from others, is a matter of the intellect and the jiva, it is believed in the jiva, believed in the intellect. But service is not just that matter, it is not just a subtle matter. In the attitude of a servant, there is subtlety, and there is the other as well, both are present. So. So, what should we understand by the attitude of a servant? Maharaj spoke of the master-servant relationship. Meaning, "I am a servant of God." Should it be considered merely as a belief or something more? Believing it and also practicing it practically. Servant of servants, that to me, what did Maharaj say? "When we began to remain in our divine authority, then many divine powers began to appear. But we did not find much interest in divine powers." "No interest. Then it occurred to us that by remaining in divine authority, lest we might not be able to serve God, or serve God and His devotees." "Therefore, we relaxed our divine authority." Relaxing the divine authority meant bringing about bodily awareness. When divine authority is relaxed, bodily awareness comes immediately. And bringing about bodily awareness meant the divine authority was gone. There is no other third covering in between. So, in divine authority, "Lest God, lest another body is assumed," with that fear, we thought in our mind, "that assuming a body among the devotees of God, and performing whatever humble service, service is possible." "The interest we have in that, we do not have in divine authority nor in divine powers." He believed so. So, what is the meaning of His attitude of a servant? That if we relate to this world, we should perform some service that suits our nature. Because what suits our nature brings more peace. Any service, can be performed. But service that suits one's nature can be performed more. And it brings more, brings more peace to his jiva. So Maharaj, if we look in the Vachanamrut, Maharaj has used very simple words. That perform whatever service is possible. And there is nothing else like that. Taking birth among the devotees of God, and performing whatever service is possible. But, he does not maintain that belief until his last breath, that is his problem here in satsang satsang 1) True company. The practice of associating with Bhagvãn’s sant, other satsangis, the ãtmã, and the sacred shãstras, and also observing vartmãns and niyams. 2) Also refers to the sampradãy, which is the presence of good company. Tap to open in glossary → Imitation, like "He does nothing and yet he has become great and receives much respect." And "We keep working hard and yet we receive no respect." "He got authority," "He gets respect," "He gets his way." "And nothing happens for us." Going into such feelings, and service becomes secondary, and authority, respect, greatness, and getting one's way, man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → So, the purpose of serving has changed. The purpose of serving has changed, so it is no longer upasana. It has become worldly. So, it does not remain till the end. We have often spoken of the saints, the old saints, like Kothari Swami, or Mugat Swami, or Hariprasad Swami, or all of them, Shastriji Maharaj is considered great, but these, all of these like Narayan Bhagat, if they had one greatness, it was only this. They did not let their mind wander from it their whole life. Kothari Swami, being 92 or 94 years of age, having come at the age of 11, and his whole life, 80 years continuously, held onto the service of Shastriji Maharaj, or Maharaj, or the satsang satsang 1) True company. The practice of associating with Bhagvãn’s sant, other satsangis, the ãtmã, and the sacred shãstras, and also observing vartmãns and niyams. 2) Also refers to the sampradãy, which is the presence of good company. Tap to open in glossary → and kept doing it. That was his greatness. And that upasana, that is upasana. In any case, after death, it automatically goes into the realm of upasana. If one wants to bring it into the realm of upasana while alive, then his contemplation needs to be slightly, changed, that needs to be done. Then he performs upasana while alive, that is how it is. He is an upasaka. When we are performing service, then should we examine how much of the attitude of a servant we have, are there any steps or, how do we know? One feels joy. No rivalry arises. "Others are not doing it and" "I alone have to toil," he does not feel that. As much as is done, he feels, "No, mine is done, I enjoyed it." "Mine for today is done." If he maintains such a connection, then he feels that he is entering the realm of upasana. Then, even if there is some imperfection, his own shortcomings, bodily awareness, and such things. But when we are performing service, then he should believe, that "This is Maharaj's principle, and I have grasped this principle," and he should have joy in that. He should have joy. Has Maharaj not said, "that some jivas," "burn in the web of lust, anger, etc., in the world." "And God kept me in the association of saints like Shuk and Sanak." "So, seeing that, he, day and night, oh," "does not feel joy," "then," Maharaj says, "the seed is burnt." "It was sown in salty land, it did not grow. It was thrown in fire, it got burnt." So, he should keep that in mind. If a person has no interest in it, no understanding of greatness, then how can he hold onto one point for 80 years? Or if someone has served for 50 years, then how can he remain on one point? No one can. So, that is very difficult. And if he has found interest in that point, then he does it, then even if his actions change, the point remains the same: "I am serving on this pretext, I am serving here, I am serving here." If there is no interest, and no connection in his jiva, then it does not remain the same. So, for him, it never feels like the same old thing. He does not get bored. Like, "Oh, this I have," if we are serving in the kitchen, "I have served a lot in the kitchen and no one gives us much respect here. You want to serve in the hostel." Then if he goes to the hostel, "The hostel is fine, but now I want to become the head priest." If one becomes the head priest, one gets respect, but what if one is in the hostel? That thing, serving in the kitchen is also service, serving in the hostel is also service, and being the head priest is also service, if done with that belief. But, he has not grasped the point of being a servant, he has grasped all these tangible things. And grasping tangible things, tangible results are seen. If Kothari Swami had felt, "If I were the storekeeper," "then I would get my way." But since he did not have the desire to get his way, he remained as he was. And served. So, he grasped the point of service and found interest in service. If this person gets it, he still has no interest in service. Changing from the kitchen to the hostel, and changing from the hostel to the head priest, and changing from the head priest to somewhere else again. Changing from the head priest, "So now what about us in this, what is our security, what if we grow old?" So, all these, what does the meaning of all these points show? There is no attitude of a servant. Servant, servant, today he has not grasped upasana. He has not grasped upasana, meaning what should be grasped, he has not grasped that point. Has Maharaj not said that "This" "discourse seems simple, but still, if you do not pay attention, it will not be grasped." Maharaj has said this in one place. If you do not pay attention, then it will not be grasped. So, this point, is actually graspable, but still, if his goal is something else, then it is not grasped. To him, his desire, whether you call it goal or desire, is something else, so even if service is in his hands, he finds no interest in service. Even if service is in his hands, he finds no interest in service, because his desire is something else. 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