2011 Jan 1 Edition

(How many times have we heard the Divine words of our Lord with unbridled eagerness while we walked through the portals of the Institute? Indeed, every single syllable from His lips is a reflection of the Vedas themselves.

Our brothers of the 1996 batch were fortunate to hear one more such Divine discourse this year. Here is an abridged version of the discourse as provided by a brother who was fortunate to be there in the Divine presence.)

Embodiments of Love,
Right from the time of our birth we spend our time eagerly to see God and to experience Him. We go on pilgrimages to places such as Badrinath, Amarnath, and Kedarnath. Without experiencing God within, what is the fun of going around everywhere? In fact, God is present in all beings – He is within you. We don’t have to exert so much. Know yourself first – Am I the body? Am I the mind? Am I the intellect? Am I the senses? Who am I? Question yourself.

God has no specific name or form. In fact we get deluded by names and forms. The Bhagawat Gita and the Upanishads declare that God has no specific form. You do not find Him in manifestation, in a direct form.
Therefore be aware that God is within you.

You develop attachment because of the family, progeny, and kin around you. Wherever you go there is no place where God is absent. Do not be deluded that He is present in a distant land. NO! Be fully convinced that He is within you and there is no need to search anywhere else. God is installed in one’s own heart – the Hrudaya.

Therefore with all the strength and conviction, be convinced that God is within you. He is not only within you, but is with you. Bhagavan says YOU are GOD, he is within you, with you – and you are God!

For SATI the wife, PATI (the husband) is God
Great women such Satyavati, Draupathi, and Chandramathi have demonstrated to the entire human society as to who women are. The values and ideals they stand for is a demonstration for entire mankind.

It is enough if a wife worships her husband and serves him with devotion. Through this they can attain the state of eternity – immortality. Draupathi said that though she had five husbands, she could satisfy all of them and
attend to their needs. To do this, she relied on her true self and acted upon as it commands. She never complained against any of her husbands.
Draupathi said that her body had been spent in serving her husbands and it was sure to collapse some day. Nobody can carry the luggage of the human body along with them forever.

Sathyavati got her husband, Satyavanta back to life from Lord Yama. When Lord Yama, the Lord of Death, came to take away her husband, she stated, “I and my husband cannot live separately from each other. So if you feel that
you cannot spare my husband then take me also along with you.” She said this very firmly and with conviction. She could make Lord Yama shiver and fumble in front of her. Ultimately Lord Yama conceded to her demand and left him. The wife thanked Him for his kindness and for all the good things He has done for her. Lord Yama then asked her, “What is it that you want? She said she didn’t want anything. What she really wanted was not to be asked or to be sought after externally. It is always with me. When the whole universe is within me, what do I need from anywhere else? Pativratha is not mere chastity. A chaste woman is also a Satyavrata – a woman who practices the truth.

We find so many people claiming to be women of chastity, but we do not find any Satyavrata. In fact those women, the women of chastity, had in mind no one else other than their husbands. They did not even look at the face of anybody else. The performance of their duties towards their husbands was alone in their minds. They thought, “The pleasure of my husband is my pleasure”. Where do you find such women today? Where are they? Where do you find that height of chastity today?

Many challenges and problems of great magnitude like that of an ocean may come, but the power of chastity and prayer will help such women overcome them. Even the seven oceans will have to submit themselves to a woman of chastity. That is the quality, the height of women of character.

Queen Chandramati
The King Harishchandra felt miserable for he had lost his entire kingdom, property, subjects, everything… but due to Chandramathi’s prayers everything was restored. When he left his kingdom his wife followed him. They had a son called Lohitasya who followed his parents. Due to circumstances, King Harishchandra had to pledge his wife in a big assembly at Kashi. “Here is my wife. I am mortgaging her,” he said. He pledged her for a pittance! Having been a queen at one time, she was now doing performing household chores such as cleaning utensils, sweeping and mopping the floor, and other such household work.

Their son once ventured into the forest to collect Dharba – a special kind of grass used for religious rituals. But unfortunately the small boy died there. Chandramati went in search of her son – only to find him dead. She felt very sad. She was also worried as she did not have any money for the boy’s last rites.

Unknown to her, Harishchandra was working at the burning ghat. When she went there to cremate her son, he asked her for her Mangalasutra. Her Mangalasutra was such that it is not noticeable to anybody – it was visible
only to her husband and none else. As this person could see it, she asked him who he was. He replied, “I am Harishchandra”. At that instance, Lord Eashwara manifested Himself before them. The Lord said, “Harishchandra,
do not worry anymore. It was all the Divine will. Don’t feel sad anymore for you have passed our test.” This unity in diversity is experienced only by Chandramati.

Since then Chandrtamathi spent her entire life in constant contemplation of God. She was put to test by everybody and in every test she emerged successful.

However some commit mistakes now and then and they are different in conduct and actions. At times when things happen unexpectedly, we should develop the quality of adjustment. Adjustment is very necessary. Problems in the family and at the level of the society are due to lack of adjustment.

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After the divine discourse Bhagawan enquired to the gathered students, “Emi Samacharam….?”

In one voice they answered, “Thank you, Bhagawan. We love You!”

Bhagawan responded, “I LOVE YOU ALL!”