Swaminarayan Hare Swaminarayan Hare. On the day of Aso Sudi Punam Punam Full moon. The 15th day of the light half of an Indian calendar month. Tap to open in glossary → Samvat Samvat The calendar established by Indian emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain following his victory 56 BCE. It is a lunar calendar based on ancient Hindu tradition. The Vikram Samvat calendar is 56.7 years ahead of the solar Gregorian calendar. The calendar most commonly used is the Kãrtiki Samvat, which begins on the first day of Kãrtik. However, the Vachanãmrut is written using the Ashãdhi Samvat, which begins on the first day of Ãshãdh. Tap to open in glossary → at night, Swami Shri Sahajanandji Maharaj was in Shri Gadhada, in the court of Dada Khachar, at His residence, in the middle of the courtyard, seated on a cot that had been laid out, and was wearing all white garments, and in front of His lotus face, an assembly of Paramahansas and Haribhaktas from various regions was seated. Then, Shriji Maharaj kindly spoke to all the devotees, "A devotee of God should perform the mansi puja of God daily. The method of performing that mansi puja is as follows: one should perform different mansi pujas according to the three seasons: summer, winter, and monsoon. Among these, during the four months of summer, one should perform puja in this way: first, bathe God with good, cool, fragrant, and pure water, and then offer Him a washed, white, beautiful, fine, and thick khes khes Piece of cloth that can be worn as a shawl to cover the upper body, or worn as a dhoti to cover the lower body. Tap to open in glossary → and then, to God who is seated on a beautiful seat, on His various limbs, beautiful Malayagir chandan, which has been rubbed and kept in a bowl, should be applied. First, apply it on the forehead and behold the forehead intently, and apply it on the hands and behold the hands intently, and on the chest, thighs, calves, and other limbs, apply that chandan paste repeatedly and behold those respective limbs, and apply beautiful kumkum on the top and bottom of the lotus feet and behold those lotus feet. Then, offer garlands and ornaments like bracelets, armlets, and a cap made of fragrant flowers such as mogra, jasmine, rose, and champa, and place a garment on His head that is white like a mogra flower, fine, and not very heavy, and drape a beautiful, white, fine, and light pachedi over Him. Then embrace that God—embrace Him once, embrace Him twice, embrace Him as much as love arises within oneself, and press God's lotus feet to one's chest, and place them on one's head; and through that embrace, the chandan from God's limbs clings to one's own limbs, and by pressing God's lotus feet to one's chest and head, the kumkum clings to oneself, and the marks of the flower garlands, etc., that cling to one's limbs should be retained. That is, one should feel, 'The prasadi chandan, kumkum, and garlands of God have touched my limbs.' To retain means to become loving, like that. That feeling, to cultivate a deep feeling. And during the four months of winter, one should perform puja in this way: first, bathe God with warm water, and then offer Him a white khes khes Piece of cloth that can be worn as a shawl to cover the upper body, or worn as a dhoti to cover the lower body. Tap to open in glossary → and then have Him wear a surval and a dagli dagli Waistcoat with inner lining, usually worn in cold weather. Tap to open in glossary → and tie a heavy, saffron-colored rento with golden threads on His head, and tie a heavy rento around His waist, and place a heavy rento on His shoulder. What is a rento? A khes khes Piece of cloth that can be worn as a shawl to cover the upper body, or worn as a dhoti to cover the lower body. Tap to open in glossary → Just a khes khes Piece of cloth that can be worn as a shawl to cover the upper body, or worn as a dhoti to cover the lower body. Tap to open in glossary → To place a rento on the shoulder, meaning to tie around the waist and drape on the shoulder, which is just a khes khes Piece of cloth that can be worn as a shawl to cover the upper body, or worn as a dhoti to cover the lower body. Tap to open in glossary → And adorn His various limbs with different kinds of ornaments made of diamonds, pearls, gold, and rubies, and offer Him a pearl necklace, and after dressing Him in garments and ornaments, behold the various limbs of God intently, and apply a kumkum chandlo on God's forehead. And during the four months of monsoon, one should perform puja in this way: imagine that God has arrived from some village and all His white garments are drenched, or He had gone to bathe in the river along with the Paramahansas and has returned drenched from there; then, having removed those drenched garments, offer Him all saffron-colored garments to wear, and apply yellow kesar-chandan paste on His forehead. And when it is summer, visualize God as being seated in a courtyard, an open space, or a flower garden, and when it is winter or monsoon, visualize God as being seated on some fine upper story or inside the house. And what food items should be offered to God to eat? Then, whatever foods to be chewed, swallowed, licked, or sucked that one likes to eat in one's own mind, should be visualized for God; and even if God does not like such foods, one should still visualize the foods of one's own liking for God; and other offerings like dhoop, deep, and arti should be offered to God appropriately. Do as prescribed in the scriptures. Offering food should be done as it comes to one's mind. The other should be offered as prescribed in the scriptures. The other should be done according to the season. If all three are combined, it becomes proper; the mansi puja becomes proper. In this way, if one performs different pujas in the three seasons, that devotee's love for God increases, and his jiva experiences great peace." That means keeping three things in mind. First, keep the season in mind, second, keep in mind what one likes, third, keep the scriptural method in mind. That, brother, dhoop and arti, etc., should be performed, as given in the scriptures; this is called puja, this is called shodashopachar puja, like that. So, to bring shodashopachar, that scriptural method was in the mind, like that. And what one likes, even in the scriptural method there is a choice, to do this or that, see. So in that, do what you like. In offering food. In dressing Him, do the same. But in that, there remains a little difference; in eating, there is not much difference, as Maharaj ate the same and we also eat the same. In wearing clothes, we might wear different ones, and Maharaj might wear different ones, so there is a little difference. But to dress Him in what one likes, that is again decided. And to keep the season in mind, meaning, as it is said, 'Yatha dehe tatha deve' (as is the body, so is the deity). If one feels hot, then imagining that Maharaj also feels hot, one should mentally serve God. If one feels cold, then Maharaj also feels cold. In mansi puja, if one wants to offer pants and shirt, etc., can it be offered? It can be offered, and the scriptural connection is also mentioned. There is no objection to offering; one may offer pants and shirt, but then, a person might slip into a completely worldly feeling. They might make Maharaj play cricket, in mansi puja. So, okay, brother, no problem; since they like it very much, they make Him play. But in that, does a worldly feeling arise, or is the body-consciousness forgotten? Huh? A worldly feeling arises. A worldly feeling arises, which is why it is said to also keep the scriptural connection in mind. Maharaj is Rajadhiraj, so it is said in the scriptures. So, how does He look like Rajadhiraj? Keep that connection in mind as well. Do not keep only the connection of what we like, like that. Regarding what we like, Maharaj specifically mentioned it for food. Even in food, if a devotee is a glutton and gobbles up onion pakodas, and if his mind is drawn to that, then he should not offer that. Therefore, one should keep one's liking in accordance with the scriptures. Do not keep one's liking by forgetting the scriptural connection. We offer in mansi puja, but the scriptures have not opposed it, right? Or is it fitting with the scriptures or not? Visualize mentally like that. If one performs puja with such a connection, our respect for Maharaj, for Maharaj's personality, increases, and if one offers what He likes, love increases, and Maharaj's pleasure increases. If one offers pants and shirt, there is no objection to it; since Maharaj said 'what one likes', it is included in that. But it does not fit with the scriptures for Maharaj, it does not fit. Therefore. Even otherwise, those people do like that. Like that, some people were saying. That to Maharaj, in that, in mansi puja and in this, we do offer Him ornaments, so offer ornaments to the sadhu as well, like that. Offer ornaments to the sadhu, as he likes ornaments very much, and Maharaj said to perform puja of whatever one likes, even then, love arises in him. But the scriptural connection was lost. The scriptural connection was lost. Therefore, we perform the mansi puja of God, and Maharaj said that conviction in God comes through the scriptures, so the connection that we are performing the mansi puja of God should remain. The meaning of the connection of God's mansi puja is that we are performing the puja of Rajadhiraj, that connection should remain. We are not performing the puja of some dandy. Or if someone is modern and everyone says that they bring out new fashions and we offer them to Maharaj and feel very happy. So, many times people have that feeling, that they like that very much. They might like fashion, they might like playing cricket, they might like watching matches, then in Maharaj's puja, in mansi puja, we make Maharaj play a match, and if it rains, Maharaj runs away. If we make Him play like that, then does love arise or not? Love arises, but respect does not remain. Scriptural respect does not come. Even by performing mansi puja, ultimately we want to lead to that, right? That God is there, how do we want to elevate Maharaj's personality in our heart? In our heart, the personality of the other should arise, and accordingly, respect should be felt, and accordingly, love should be felt for Him. If we make Maharaj completely like ourselves, from being Rajadhiraj, and then perform puja, 'Yatha dehe tatha deve', not like that. Do not keep it that way there. Do not keep the feeling that Maharaj is like us. Maharaj is Rajadhiraj, we are His servants. 'Yatha dehe tatha deve' is true, but where? If we feel hungry, then He must be feeling hungry. If we feel cold, then He feels cold. If we feel hot, then He feels hot. So, cultivate feelings accordingly. Cultivate feelings, but do not devalue Him by thinking that He is completely common like us. He is Rajadhiraj. He is the Lord of infinite millions of universes. And all, like the deities Brahma and others, rub their crowns at His feet. So, keep that connection in mind as well. Then we develop conviction in Maharaj, love arises, affection grows, and the mind becomes engaged. By doing this, the mind might get engaged in worldly feelings. We make Maharaj play cricket, make Maharaj play that, offer chocolates to Maharaj, and dress Maharaj in this pants and shirt, coat, tie, wear like that, then does our mind get engaged in the world or in Maharaj? It does not get engaged in Maharaj; it gets engaged in worldly feelings. All these feelings belong to the world. The others also belong to the world, yet they are appropriate for Him. That creates a difference, showing that we and Maharaj are distinct; Maharaj is Rajadhiraj. Even though Rajadhiraj is a worldly word, a word of the world, still He is Rajadhiraj; He is not like us. So, there should be a difference. Maharaj or 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 → Fearing that they might become equal, God made God with four hands in the scriptures, shown as chaturbhuj. Why? Because other forms and this should not become equal. There should be a difference. So in the mind as well, only when there is a difference in the jiva does it manifest outwardly, right? There should be a difference in our jiva regarding Him. And if it is not in the jiva, it has to be instilled. That these two are not one; we and He are not one, like that. And again, the difference should be according to the scriptures, not imagined by the mind. If we play cricket, we might not score even a single run while Maharaj hits only fours and sixes—not that kind of difference. Maharaj's difference should be according to the scriptures. The prescriptions and prohibitions in the scriptures regulate premlakshana bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → That is why Maharaj said, 'what one likes in one's mind'. But prescriptions and prohibitions—what one likes in one's mind often drags us down and turns Him into worldly objects, do not keep it like that. 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