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Gadhada III

Gadhadã III 1→Swãminãrãyan asks how a bhakta can worship Bhagvãn without obstruction even amid unpleasant circumstances; He answers that this requires firm vairãgya and ãtmã-…
Gadhadã III 2→Swaminarayan raises the question of why a person's mind still fails to focus on Bhagvan and satsang even after recognizing the world as perishable and Bhagvan a…
Gadhadã III 3→Swaminarayan says compassion and love reside naturally in a bhakta's heart — love spreads like honey, and compassion extends even to animals, as when Bharatji's…
Gadhadã III 4→Even a bhakta with gnan and vairagya who has intellectually renounced attachment to worldly objects still carries "badhitanu vrutti," a lingering fear or uncert…
Gadhadã III 5→Muktanand Swami asks which type of bhakti offered to Bhagvan encounters obstacles and which does not; Swaminarayan quotes verses from the Shreemad Bhagvat's Kap…
Gadhadã III 6→Shreeji Mahãrãj teaches that bhakti offered out of jealousy toward other bhaktas does not please Bhagvãn; only bhakti offered purely for one's own kalyãn, witho…
Gadhadã III 7→Swaminarayan shares what he calls his deepest principle: for one seeking liberation, nothing is more blissful than Bhagwan and His sant, and a person should be…
Gadhadã III 8→Shreeji Mahãrãj asks the munis how a bhakta of Bhagvãn can remain eternally happy; after the senior sãdhus answer, He gives His own answer.
Gadhadã III 9→Describes the inner state of the senior sãdhus: they guard the "awareness" in their hearts like a king's armed sentries at a palace gate, refusing to let wealth…
Gadhadã III 10→A learned Brahmin from another tradition claims that certain holy places (Vrundãvan, and Kãshi per Shaivites) survive even the final dissolution of the universe…
Gadhadã III 11→Shreeji Mahãrãj asks whether the same method overcomes both the indriyas and the mind, or whether different methods are needed; when the senior paramhans cannot…
Gadhadã III 12→Shreeji Mahãrãj teaches that a person seeking his own kalyãn should hold no pride of birth, wealth, looks, or scholarship, and should behave as a servant of ser…
Gadhadã III 13→Swaminarayan poses a question to the assembled munis: since a jeev's bodily circumstances (health, independence, company of sãdhus) constantly shift due to karm…
Gadhadã III 14→Muktanand Swami asks why people don't develop deep love for Bhagvan despite Him being supremely important; Shreeji Maharaj answers it is due to lack of wisdom -…
Gadhadã III 15→Swaminarayan recounts a conversation with the women who cook for him, describing how a devotee sitting for mental worship or meditation often recalls times his…
Gadhadã III 16→Shreeji Mahãrãj is asked how a bhakta can avoid developing affection for a person with extremely noble qualities, since such affection naturally forms and is ha…
Gadhadã III 17→Shreeji Mahãrãj says no story in the Shreemad Bhãgvat is as remarkable as that of Bharatji, son of Rushabh-Dev Bhagvãn, who renounced his entire worldly kingdom…
Gadhadã III 18→Explains that the same worldly desires present while awake also arise in dreams, and that dreaming of things never seen or heard reflects desires embedded from…
Gadhadã III 19→Shreeji Mahãrãj identifies two negative traits inappropriate for a tyãgi in satsang: lust and affection for his own bodily relatives, calling a person who posse…
Gadhadã III 20→Dinã-Nãth Bhatt asks Shreeji Mahãrãj: if Kãl is the power of Bhagvãn and karma is the jeev's actions, what exactly is svabhãv?
Gadhadã III 21→Shuk Muni asks Gopãlãnand Swãmi how ordinary varna/ãshram dharma can be elevated to the level of bhakti, since bhakti alone seems able to cross Bhagvãn's Mãyã;…
Gadhadã III 22→Praises the intense, loving bhakti exemplified by Jhina-Bhai, Parvat-Bhai, and Mulji Brahm-Chari, saying such a bhakta loses all attachment to the panch-vishays…
Gadhadã III 23→Swaminarayan teaches the paramhans and haribhaktas how to perform mansi puja (mental worship) of Bhagvan, describing a different visualization for each of the t…
Gadhadã III 24→Muktãnand Swãmi asks what spiritual activities let a devotee earn Bhagvãn's sevã in Akshardhãm; Shreeji Mahãrãj lists sixteen, including shraddhã, svadharma, va…
Gadhadã III 25→Swaminarayan teaches that bhakti, upasana, seva, shraddha, and firmness in dharma should be performed without desire for reward, but a person should still keep…
Gadhadã III 26→Describes the characteristics of a sant worthy of seva equal to Bhagwan: he suppresses the actions of maya's three gunas (sattva, rajo, tamo) without himself be…
Gadhadã III 27→Teaches that all five kinds of sensory pleasure exist together only in Bhagwan's divine murti, while worldly vishays give only one pleasure at a time and are ul…
Gadhadã III 28→Describes two ways a person falls from the bhakti of Bhagwan: adopting shushka-vedanti thinking that considers Krishna's own svarup to be false like everything…
Gadhadã III 29→Maharaj poses a hypothetical to Shuk Muni: two equally qualified 20-year-old satsangis, one who married by prarabdha and one who remained unmarried (a "sankhya-…
Gadhadã III 30→Names two things that please him and calm his mind: firm belief that Bhagwan's murti eternally resides at the center of a mass of divine light, worshipped accor…
Gadhadã III 31→Swaminarayan reveals a teaching for those who practice dhyan, describing a mass of divine light like countless suns, moons, and flames, within which Purushottam…
Gadhadã III 32→Shreeji Mahãrãj asks the sãdhus to explain a shlok stating that sense objects recede for one who abstains from them, but the longing for them subsides only when…
Gadhadã III 33→Shreeji Mahãrãj observes that very few devotees in satsang remain unaffected by wealth, property, women, and children, naming Muktãnand Swãmi and Gopãlãnand Swã…
Gadhadã III 34→Shuk Muni asks whether there is a third means (beyond love for Bhagwan, and vairagya coupled with gnan) by which a person who has nishchay but lacks those two f…
Gadhadã III 35→In answer to how to recognize someone whose refuge in Bhagwan and His sant will never falter, states that such a bhakta believes only Bhagwan is truly great, do…
Gadhadã III 36→Shreeji Mahãrãj asks what the most extraordinary spiritual activity for guaranteed kalyãn is, and what the greatest obstacle to kalyãn is; when the assembly can…
Gadhadã III 37→Swaminarayan teaches that once a person has thoroughly attained gnan of Bhagvan, that gnan does not diminish even if desh, kal, kriya, and sang later become unp…
Gadhadã III 38→Reflecting on the Sankhya and other scriptures, Swaminarayan states his belief that all forms arising from maya are ultimately false because they will be destro…
Gadhadã III 39→Setting: Samvat 1886, Ashãdh vad 10 (25 July 1829), Shreeji Mahãrãj sits on the veranda outside Dãdã Khãchar's darbãr in Gadhadã, dressed in white, addressing a…