You have all heard many times....

You have all heard many times that we should worship God and Guru continuously. Even so, we fail to do this. Why? We forget that we may or may not live to see the next moment. No one knows when this body will be taken away. This doesn’t only affect souls under Maya – even God realized Saints must leave their bodies when their time is up. Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya left this world at the age of thirty-two. A Saint may leave his body at will and go to the divine abode, but he still has to go. One may go via a pushpak viman, a celestial vehicle, or one may be dragged off while being beaten by the servants of Yamaraj – but everyone must go. This point we have forgotten. If we were to remember this continuously, we would always remember God and Guru.

Wherever your mind is attached at the time of death is what you will attain after death (Chandogya Upanishad, 3/14/1). If your mind is in the world at the time of your death, after death you will attain the world. This is why if we remember every moment that death could be imminent, we won’t waste time or be careless.

When a child takes a test in high school to qualify for a B.A. or M.A. program, as the time draws closer for the test, the child thinks, “Now only 10 days are left!” He drinks tea and stays awake studying. He is not being careless. Now only five days are left, and now it is taking place tomorrow! He thinks, “I have to stay up all night reviewing what I studied!” Someone may comment to another student, “You haven’t studied at all since July.” He says, “I have already studied a lot. What’s the rush?” He thinks this because he is careless.

So if we were to always think that we may or may not live to see the next moment, then we will remain ever-vigilant. We won’t waste time or be careless. If you have some free time in which you have nothing special to do, then remember God. Take Radhey name. If you don’t do this, it means you are not thinking about death, and that is why you also don’t think of God and Guru. Therefore, keep all three in your awareness.

Hari guru aru mauta Govinda Radhey,

teenon ko ik kshana bhi na bhula dey.

There are 3 kinds of bodies.....

There are 3 kinds of bodies. Sur is a celestial body, nar a human body, and asur is a demonic body. Why are there three kinds of bodies? Because Maya has 3 qualities: sattvik produces celestial bodies, rajas produces human bodies, and tamas produces demonic bodies.

  

BrahmaOnce the leaders of each of these three went to Brahma, the creator, who is the father of every living being. At the very beginning of creation, Brahma emerged from Lord Krisnna. From Brahma emerged these three types of personalities with three types of bodies and temperments – sur, nar, asur. The leaders said, “Oh, creator of this world! We are all your children. We desire to hear some teachings from you.” Brahma looked towards all three and said, “Da, da, da” and then left. The lecture was finished. No one understood what Brahma meant so they all felt restless. They decided to go back to their respective Gurus for an explanation.

The celestial gods went to Brihaspati. The humans beings went to their individual Gurus. The demons went to Shukracharya.

Brihaspati said, “Listen all of you. You have all become extremely materialistic and desirous of all kinds of comforts. It is true that the celestial abodes have inconceivable luxuries that are beyond the reach of a common human being. But when your punya or the consequences of good actions you earned as a human being that enabled you to enter here come to an end, you will be thrown back into mrityuloka, the earthly abode. There your nature will remain the same because of this bad habit. This will prevent you from practicing devotion to God. So da for you means dam – control your senses.”

The Gurus of the human beings told them, “Da for you means daan, give charity. This is because your greatest attachment is to money.” Just see that even the richest people in India are fighting each other in the supreme court over money. Everybody is anxious to have more money, and this is because all the enjoyments of the five senses are purchased with money. It is a separate point that the quality of these enjoyments varies from one living standard to another. The Gurus said, “Give daan, offer this wealth in charity.” Charity will cause you to undergo one of four kinds of consequences, depending on the quality of the recipient it is given to: (1) charity given to God and Guru, who are divya or divine, produces a divine consequence; (2) charity offered to a sattvik person produces a sattvik consequence; (3) charity offered to rajas person produces a rajas consequence; (4) charity offered to a tamas person produces a tamas consequence.

There was a story on the news recently that in a foreign country there is a dog that is worth millions of dollars. That dog has its own mansion, cars and drivers, special lawns and outdoor areas for all its activities, insurance and sixty servants. All this luxury is the consequence of charity given by that soul in its previous birth. But at the same time, it also did something very bad, which caused it to take birth as a dog. There is this much power in charity or daan.

Shukracharya, the Guru of the demons, told the demons, “Da for you means develop daya or compassion and overcome your violent nature which causes you to harm others.”

Sur nar asuran Govinda Radhey,

‘dam’, ‘dan’, ‘daya’, teenon brahma bata dey.

O ungrateful mind....

" O ungrateful mind! I curse you. You are mean, miserable, wretched and yet God is so kind to you that he took you under his protection. And you have the audacity to ignore His Grace, to cause Him sadness. It is true that as He has crossed all limits of kindness and forgiveness, you have on your part crossed all limits of meanness and sinful acts. Why don't you take a pledge from today iteself to devote yourself completely to make Him happy? And the only way to make Him happy is again to take a pledge that –

Our Guruvar Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj is grace and kindness personified. It means grace is all around, both inside and outside. This is how he truly is. The word Kripalu itself means one who showers grace and kindness all around. One may come to him with good intention or bad he will impart his grace on all regardless of their intention. It seems the whole existence of our Guruvar is made of grace. Every moment of life whether he is sleeping or awake, he is bestowing his grace on all living beings. The day we accept him as hundred per cent Kripalu, the Embodiment of Grace, we will attain our goal. 

 

 Are man! sun guru-tatva-vichara.

O mind! Listen about the importance of the Sadguru. The Guru is one who can dispel the darkness of ignorance. Though, according to the Vedas and other scriptures, God and the Guru are one and the same. If either of Them can bestow grace on you, you will get the nectar of love. Yet the secret is that it is impossible to attain God without the grace of the Guru. Whereas Shri Kripalu ji says that it is absolutely possible to receive the nectar of the bliss of love and grace of the Guru and divine love bliss even without worshiping God. Many many solutions to such a Sadguru..

Ik nazar unko dekha .......

Ik nazar unko dekha gazab ho gaya,

hale dil ab to mera ajab ho gaya.

A devotee says, “I looked at Krishna once and a sweet, loving disaster happened. I lost my heart to Him with that glance. Now my heart and mind are acting very strangely.” “One more strange thing has happened. The effects of whatever actions I performed and whatever worldly attachments I had all vanished in one moment.” “My brain is perplexed because my body and mind are no longer under my control. Another disaster is that the pain of my separation from Krishna is always increasing.” “But Krishna had no sympathy for my pitiable condition. He did not give me His vision a second time. This is like a calamity for me”. Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj says in the words of a devotee, “In spite of all this, the pain of separation from Krishna is so sweet that now I will tell everyone about my condition and that something wonderfully unusual has happened to me.”

There are two kinds of people.....

There are two kinds of people in the world – the souls under the bondage of Maya (mayadheen) and the Saints beyond Maya (mayateet). Saints are very few; mayic souls are more than 99.9% of the total. Whether Saint or soul, whoever comes into this world, one day must go. A Saint leaves according to his own will. A Maya-bound soul is a prisoner and is taken away. You don’t remember from your previous birth how much pain you experienced when you left your body at the time of death. A person thinks, “Oh! My father! My son! My daughter! My house! I have to leave all this? And I’m going alone? What is happening to me?!” This pain can’t be explained. So one must leave this world and this applies to everyone. Even the time that supreme God descends on this earth is fixed. When that time arrives, Yamaraj respectfully approaches God and says, “My Lord, Your time has come. I am only reminding You. If You wish to remain longer, please do so. I am only doing my job.”

Yamaraj also appears before a Saint at this time and says, “If it is your wish, please stay longer. I am just reminding you that the time fixed for your leaving has come.” Saints do not violate God’s laws.  We see Jagadguru Shankaracharya left this world at the age of 32. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left at the age of 48. Some leave at the age of 50, some at the age of 80. There is no fixed age for a Saint to leave. Rather a Saint’s prarabdh or destiny due to his past actions also determines the time of his leaving. So just as souls are bound to undergo their destiny, Saints also undergo a destiny. The difference is that if the Saint’s son dies or all his wealth or property is stolen, he remains ever-blissful, “My Lord, this is only your desire. Please do as you wish!” We mourn these losses with great pain, “Oh! My son left this world!” Yes, but everyone knows that whoever comes in this world must leave this world.  Don’t you also know this?

You may not have studied the Vedas and scriptures, but just have a look at the world around you. You see a child dying before his father. You see these things daily – why don’t you accept it? This is the state of our intellect. We see these things but we don’t accept them. We think, “I’m not going to die. I’m only 50 years old!” But now you have become 80 years old. “So what! I’m not going to die now.” If you pretend you are going to wring the neck of a person who is so elderly he can no longer sit up or a person who is terminally ill, they will shout, “Hey! What are you doing? I don’t want to die!” If you say, “But I want to put you out of your misery.” They will say, “So what! Let me suffer.”

So those who come into this world must leave. Saints leave according to their own will and souls who leave must return to this world. As long as a soul hasn’t been liberated from Maya, he must return to this material jail. What kind of form one receives is a separate point. The one who has practiced devotion and wholeheartedly rendered service to God and Saint will obtain a human form. The one who has merely satisfied his senses and wholeheartedly absorbed himself in the world will go into a lower birth. So whoever comes into this world must leave – regardless if it is a soul, a Saint, or even supreme God when He descends. Lord Krishna remained on this earth for 125 years. Lord Ram remained on this earth for 11,000 years. Lord Narsingh remained for only ten minutes – but however long anyone remains on this earth, he will have to go eventually. You should keep remembering this philosophy and be prepared. Don’t look to your age and think you are still young. Remain alert all the time.

A person is driving in the city. On the road there are also many other vehicles. He remains extremely alert – what is behind him, what is ahead of him, what is happening to his left, what is on his right. He also has to remember the way and his destination. He keeps all this in mind because if he makes the smallest mistake he will have an accident. Remain ever-vigilant because you could go at any moment. And what we receive after death is determined what we are emotionally attached to at the time of our death. If you have your father in mind at the time of your death, you must go to that father afterward. If that father is reborn as a dog, that will also be your destiny.

Yanti devavrata devan pitrin yanti pitivratah.

Bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti madyajinopimam. (Gita, 9/25)

In your next birth you will return to the one with whom you were attached in this birth. In this regard, there are a total of four consequences. If you are attached to a tamsi person, you will receive a tamsi consequence (narak or hell). If you are attached to a rajsi person, you will receive a rajsi consquence and remain on this earth. If you were attached to a sattvik person or celestial god, then you will receive a sattvik consequence and enter the celestial abode or swarga for a limited time. If you love God or His Saint, you will attain Golok, God’s divine abode. Decide what your final goal is and love accordingly.

We can’t delay the moment of our death for even ten minutes. You may not even have left your house when this happens – so many people have heart attacks while sleeping. When we have to go, we must, and no one knows when that time will be.Therefore, every moment remain vigilant.

गहो रे मन ! श्याम चरण शरणाई ।
अंत समय कोउ काम न अइहैं मात पिता सुत भाई ।
काम क्रोध... अरु लोभ मोह मद इन सों कछु न बसाई ।
यह जग मृग तृष्णा सम दिखत सुख लवलेश न पाई ।
धन यौवन तन छन भंगुर सब ज्यों कपूर उडि जाई ।
बहुरि 'कृपालु' न नर तनु पाइय बिगरी लेहु बनाई ॥
 

O mind! Take shelter of Shyamsunder's soft Lotus Feet. Ones you call your own: mother, father, brother and son, will not accompany you after death. Moreover, there is no other way of escaping from the clutches of demons like Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment and Pride. This world is like a mirage, containing not even a trace of happiness.. Wealth, youth and life are temporary, disappearing like camphor. Says Shree ‘Kripalu’, “O mind! You will not be blessed with a human body again and again. Therefore, do not delay in improving your pitiable condition.”