One with complete conviction experiences fulfillment and completeness. One with incomplete conviction has many doubts about their attainment. Maharaj, after thinking for a long time, looked at the devotees with a compassionate glance and said, "Today... today I want to talk about conviction, so listen carefully." In that Akshardham, which is as luminous as infinite crores of suns, moons, and fires, Purushottam Purushottam God. Supreme being. Bhagvãn. He is unparalleled, omnipotent and the all-doer, omniscient, omnipresent, the ocean of all forms of bliss, does not have any attributes of Mãyã, divine, always taking birth on earth for Tap to open in glossary → Meaning, that luminous form is indeed this form. When one realizes this through the association of saints and firm conviction is established in their jiva, then their jiva grows day by day like the crescent moon of the second day of the fortnight. That is, the jiva had a very feeble, very minimal power to detach its soul from the world and liberate it, but just as the sun's phases enter the moon of the dark fortnight, and the moon grows to reach its full capacity on the full moon day, similarly, the jiva also, gaining more and more power for its own salvation, through conviction... He is not left with just one means. He sees at every step, "Oh! If we do this, our liberation is assured, and if we do that, liberation is assured." He sees hundreds of means. And the other person sees none, thinking, "Where should I put my hand in this?" Like that. It happens. He gets disappointed everywhere. So he sees no means anywhere. He feels, "Oh! Maharaj, Swaminarayan Bhagwan has gone, the great saints have gone, now how will our liberation happen?" So what does that show? Just because they have gone, it does not mean that they are here and have come back. What does it show? It shows his lack of conviction in Swaminarayan Bhagwan. If there is conviction in Swaminarayan Bhagwan, then just because He has gone, it does not mean that others will appear. But in the conviction of Bhagwan, it shows his lack of conviction, that he has no conviction. He has not attained the conviction that "This is He." It shows a lack of conviction. That is why he has such thoughts. So are those thoughts wrong or what? If someone has such a thought, "Oh! Maharaj has gone, the great saints have gone, they have gone like this, Muktanand Swami has gone, Gopalanand Swami, Gunatitanand Swami have gone, Balmukund Swami, Narayandas Swami have gone," then is that wrong? Or is it right? It is not wrong. Yes, the intention is wrong. More than the intention, he lacks understanding. He has no conviction in Maharaj, that "This Maharaj said in this that the luminous form in Akshardham is indeed this form," he has not attained such conviction. Even though we sing of His divine actions, he has no conviction that He is indeed that same person. Even if He is not in human form. And if He is in human form and flaws appear in His actions, it means he has no conviction that this is He, and that the one performing the actions is indeed He; he has no such conviction. He has not attained oneness with Him, and it is not accepted in his jiva. Otherwise, none of this would stand. Body-consciousness would not stand. And Maharaj says, even if there is some flaw in oneself, still, the feeling of profound appreciation cannot be contained in one's heart. He has no anxiety about the world. And there is no sense of emptiness, like, "Oh! Now how can it happen in this?" Like that. So... do internal enemies not trouble him? Then why does he feel, "How will my... how will our liberation happen?" Like that. And those who have firm conviction, do internal enemies not trouble them? They do trouble them. They troubled these great ones, so would they not trouble him? What is his standing? But still, he attains conviction, by the grace of the other, "My liberation will happen." "My liberation will happen." Because the process of conviction that was supposed to happen has occurred in his jiva. For this person, it is pending; it has not happened. Similarly, as the moon grows and reaches its full capacity on the full moon day, likewise... Naturally, in some, the force of internal enemies is less. Body-consciousness is less, but if there is no conviction, then he does not experience that profound appreciation. And in some, due to past samskaras, this force is somewhat stronger. And if there is conviction, then he feels, "My liberation will happen." That thought which arises is related to the other. Because there is a deficiency in that, the thought arises. And because there is no deficiency in that, he experiences profound appreciation. Even if one performs bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → If there is no conviction? Still, it is possible that there is no conviction. That is indeed possible, abundantly so. That conviction... just because our Chandrayan vrata is completed, it does not mean conviction is complete; it has nothing to do with that. Even if one completes ten Chandrayan vratas, conviction is not completed. Discourse... even if one delivers discourses... delivers the best discourses about Maharaj Himself, still, it cannot be considered that he has attained conviction. Conviction happens in the jiva, whereas the discourse happens externally. For show or for livelihood, everyone has to do something... something has to be done. If you sit idle at home as a householder with a mala, who will give you food? Similarly, if this person does nothing, who will give him food? This is his business, occupation. Whether he has conviction or not, he... he himself has to see. From time to time, it becomes visible in actions. From time to time, if someone lives with him, they would know whether there is conviction or not. This is not conviction. If they live together, they won't know in just one day. When we get what we desire... then we know. When we get what we desire from Bhagwan, then we know. When something happens as desired or not, then we know what kind of conviction he has. When success or failure is met... then... then it is visible in actions. A slight reflection of it keeps appearing. Similarly, the jiva also, gaining more and more power for its own salvation, by the power of conviction, also attains the power to liberate other jivas. If a firmer conviction is established, then the power to liberate others also comes into him. He liberates others as well. Even if he is a devotee, he sends many on the path of Bhagwan. Thereafter, his senses, mind, or any worldly force cannot shake him from his conviction. Even if Bhagwan performs any kind of human actions, still, he perceives no flaw in Bhagwan. Thus, by realizing or having conviction in Paramatma along with His greatness, the jiva becomes fearless. On the contrary, if that same devotee, sometimes due to bad place, time, association, scriptures, etc., or due to body-consciousness, or due to attachment to some internal enemy like lust, etc., doubts Bhagwan's actions or Bhagwan's divine plays, and develops a dislike for Bhagwan... That is, it causes obstacles... he doubts Bhagwan's divine plays, just as Parikshit did. He develops a dislike for His actions. We said that, brother, Amba Sheth or Jiva Khachar developed a dislike for Maharaj's actions. In what Maharaj does, either their own self-interest is not met, or their body-consciousness is hurt, or there is pride and ego, or there is lust, anger, etc., so there is pride and ego, and Maharaj refutes that. Maharaj... those, Nirvikalpanandji and another saint, they arrived. Maharaj was sitting in an assembly. So Maharaj said, there won't be space in the front row. When Maharaj is there, it gets packed, right? So there won't be space in the front row, so Maharaj... they were all wandering around. Maharaj said, "Has anyone seen pride? Personified?" He asked. So Maharaj said... they said, "Maharaj, we have not seen pride personified." "If you want to see it, look, it is wandering behind there." So the other person would be utterly shocked, wouldn't he? The whole assembly looks, and Maharaj tells him that this is pride personified, so how did it feel? They left. That is, due to lust, anger, etc., one develops a dislike for Maharaj. If self-interest is hurt, then like Jiva Khachar, if self-interest is hurt, one develops a dislike. Dinanath Bhatt's self-interest was hurt, so he developed a dislike. Amba Sheth, seeing Maharaj's actions, developed a dislike, thinking, "If He is Bhagwan, why does He act like this?" Thus, he developed a dislike. So, for any reason, if one develops a dislike for Bhagwan's actions—perceiving divinity in His actions is very difficult, very difficult. Maintaining a feeling of profound appreciation for His actions is very difficult. If there is conviction in Maharaj, it happens; otherwise, it does not. Thus, by realizing or having conviction in Paramatma along with His greatness, the jiva becomes fearless. On the contrary, if that same devotee, sometimes... If there is a householder of old age, a grandfather playing with his grandson, and the child speaks with a lisp, then this grandfather also speaks with a lisp. "Look, a tili has come, a tili." He won't say 'kidi' (ant). So does anyone develop a dislike? Thinking, "This 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 → 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