Happy Datta Jayanti

They say that God is formless – nirguna and nirakar i.e. one with no characteristics and no form. He is One. However, he wished to become many and so, he created this universe. He created 84 lakh species. And then the creation stopped. The final creation was human being. After creation of human being, nothing remained to be created.

During soul’s journey, they say, it progresses from mineral (khanija), to tree (vruksha), to animal and finally as human being. When soul reaches human birth, it gets an opportunity to merge back into the One, a stage called as parameshwar prapti. That is why they say that human birth is very precious and should not be wasted in pursuit of desires other than the desire for parameshwar prapti. Parameshwar prapti is the primary goal of human birth.

Humans are the leaders of this universe. In their pursuit of achieving the goal of parameshwar prapti, not only they benefit but even the animals and other species benefit. That’s why during sankalpa of any puja when we list the participants of the puja we also include animals in the house, if there are any, because they also get benefited by earning punya from that ritual.

If the goal of parameshwar prapti is not achieved or not pursued in the human birth then one is at great loss. However, the journey of achieving goal of parameshwar prapti is not easy. For those who try on their own, this journey is like the game of snake and ladder. One never knows when one can go back to the level zero and start all over again. However, for those who surrender to the Guru the success is certain. The surrender has to be whole-hearted, though.

That is why Lord Dattatreya, Guru of all Gurus, incarnates time to time, for two reasons. One – to remind the people who have deviated from their goal, and second to give darshan to the people who are pursuing the goal of parameshwar prapti. He is called Datta because his primary characteristic is to give. He is called bhukti mukti dataa, as he gives all essential things to his devotees so that they can fulfill their duties, as well as blesses them in their goal of achieving parameshwar prapti.

Lord Dattatreya first took birth to Sage Atri and Mother Anasuya. They say that He never ended his avatara. However he changes his form as suitable to the time. First he took form as Lord Dattatreya, then as Shripad Shrivallabha in Pithikapur, then as Swami Samarth in Akkalkot and then as Saibaba in Shirdi.

Today is Datta Jayanti. We are celebrating it by performing Datta puja in our temple in Dapoli. May this puja bring you all most auspicious gains and help us all in our goal of achieving parameshwar prapti.

Why do we do, what we do?

 

Why do we do, what we do? To become happy - sukhi. Is it not? That’s the prime most goal of every living being. There is no living being on earth that does not strive to achieve happiness.

 

In general if we attempt to define happiness it could mean combination of many things. Happiness could mean – to be able to safeguard self-esteem for self and family by becoming self-sufficient; to be able to make parents happy; to be able find good life partner; to be able to raise, feed and maintain family; to be able to get a good food on the table for self and all dependents; and above all, to be able to earn good name for family and lineage. In fact earning good name is the tip of happiness as the good name is what we leave behind at the end of life.

 

After doing all hard work if one is not able to achieve these goals, then something is missing. And that is punya. All material earnings including the ability to earn material wealth are the result of punya, merit. Wise say that to achieve all above goals one should focus on earning punya.

 

To achieve punya, wise recommend to have just one goal. This one goal can help to earn punya which in turn helps to achieve all of the above goals. And that goal is, to make God happy by serving Him.

Service is very important in life. Without service we cannot earn anything in life. That’s the most common known true fact of life. One has to dedicate body and mind, without any complaint, to an organization who gives food or essentially salary to purchase food.

If this is the case with organization that gives remuneration to keep up the body and bodily relations, what about persons who gave birth to this body itself or the higher power who has provided us all necessary things for living such as air, water, vegetables, material for shelter, rain, breeze, light? How can we forget to serve that higher power which is introduced to us through our parents.

The beautiful fact is that to serve that higher power, called God, one does not have to do any extra effort. Just remembrance, while performing all mundane tasks, is enough to make him happy. What an easy task?

Saints have given a very simple solution to remember God. Choose any one from his thousands of holy names, be it Shrirama, be it Shrikrishna, be it Sai and go on chanting it incessantly while performing all tasks.

 

Name of God is a very powerful resource available to mankind. It helps to remove all faults in one’s own personality, it helps to get a speed in progress and above all it helps to earn the base of all happiness, i.e. punya – merit.

The best recreational activity

Mind, when it gets tired by engaging in day to day routine activities, needs recreation. Do we not long for weekend to come? Weekend is a time when we engage into recreational activities that help refresh the mind and make ourselves ready again for the routine essential duties. Routine duties, though essential, may not always be pleasing. One has to interact with so many people of different personalities. All this interaction puts a heavy stress on mind.

That is why recreation of mind is necessary. It is necessary for every family to spend time together in some recreational activity along with family friends. Without it the life will be boring. Festivals, occasions are meant for recreation and strengthening family and societal ties in happy mood.

To ever keep the mind refreshed and happy, wise and experienced people recommend an additional recreational activity that can serve multiple purposes. It can give equal joy to all, irrespective of their age, and so, all family members can perform this activity, together. They recommend to take some time from your routine duties - होऊनी क्षणैक संसारावेगळे – and spend it in reading and listening to beautiful stories of saints. This recreational activity is so simple that it does not require any costly paraphernalia. What is needed is just a strong desire for uninterrupted happiness for self and others. That desire alone can give one inspiration not only to read these stories but to inspire others as well.

Mere reading and listening, attentively, to the stories of saints, purifies the mind of all involved in reading and listening, and they receive most auspicious gains that are usually received by visiting holy places or by observing vows of fasts.

The great escape, go slow and steady

When Bhaskar Patil, beloved devotee of Shri Gajanan Maharaj, was bitten by dog, other devotees, out of love, requested Shri Gajanan Maharaj to save Bhaskar from death. Maharaj asked Bhaskar what he wanted. Bhaskar, a completely surrendered devotee of Maharaj, requested Maharaj to do what He, Maharaj, thought best for him, Bhaskar.  Shri Gajanan Maharaj, pleased by Bhaskar’s answer, explained other devotees in detail why Bhaskar’s death was inevitable and how he, Bhaskar, was destined for The Great Escape namely moksha.

The desire makes one go through the cycle of birth and death. Any desire left at the time of death becomes a reason for the next birth. But Bhaskar had no desire left. When one achieves such a stage one does not take birth again for fulfilling one's own desire, but rather takes birth as per God's will. Maharaj, himself a God sent satpurusha, advised Bhaskar to spend his emaining time in remembering God till he, Bhaskar, faced his natural death and requested others not to stop Bhaskar from his escape from the routine cycle of birth and death. 

The birth and death are in themselves, they say, an illusion. In theory one may understand this but it’s not easy to bring this understanding into practice. Unless one gets rid of moha (greed) from its root, it is not possible to bring this understanding into practice.  

This is where paramartha has been recommended by shastras. Paramartha helps one achieve a state of desireless-ness, slowly. But paramartha may not be that easy.

Hence shastras recommend balance of prapancha and paramartha. They say that only those who are adept in living balanced societal life by keeping their mental equilibrium are qualified for paramartha and slowly they achieve the state of desirelessness and hence moksha.

Prapancha is where one gets an opportunity to fulfill all their desires. If one leaves prapancha without fulfilling desires, those unfulfilled desires will eventually become roadblocks in moksha. So they do not recommend doing paramartha by leaving prapancha.

On the other hand if one does not do any paramartha while doing prapancha they may end up in a miserly state of getting entangled in perpetual, never ending cycle of desire. So they recommend to do some paramartha while doing prapancha with the help of which one can naturally set ceiling on one’s own desires.

Even at times prapancha may not be that easy as it seems. When going gets tough, people think of ending their lives to get rid of the suffering. But shastras say that performing suicide is nothing but postponing the suffering. One way or the other that suffering will come back. On another occasion Bandutatya, a simple hearted Brahmin from Kherdegaon, unable to bear the suffering being caused in the prapancha due to lack of money, decided to commit suicide. He lost all his wealth and so he lost his value in the family and society. He realized that person has value only till he has wealth, once wealth is lost nobody gives a respect. He could not bear the abuse by his family members and society and so decided to commit suicide. Shri Gajanan Maharaj, all knower of the happenings, made Bandutatya to come in his presence and stopped Bandutatya from committing suicide. He explained him how suicide is sin and it is nothing but postponing the suffering. He revealed to Bandutatya’s about hidden treasure lying beneath Bandutatya’s home that even Bandutatya didn’t know about and advised him to be cautious about spending money henceforth and do prapancha with care and to be always grateful to Lord Shrihari, bestower of wealth.

Happy Diwali

Wishing you all a very Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year. May this Diwali bring you and your family most auspicious gains.

Click here to view 2012 Diwali Greeting from Shri Sainath Maharaj Trust.

With blessings

M. V. Raghupathi
Managing Trustee
Shri Sainath Maharaj Trust
Om Shri Sadguru Sai Seva Trust

Chandani Sugandh - biography of Shri Chile Maharaj

Our associate Shri Gajanan Bhide has published a book "Chandani Sugandh", a biography of Shri Chile Maharaj, Kolhapur. It is written by Shri Dr. Babasaheb Gupte, one of the main disciples of Shri Chile Maharaj.

Front Page

Back Page

Assurance 3 of 11 Assurances of Baba

Assurance 2 of 11 Assurances of Baba

Assurance 1 of 11 Assurances of Baba

बाबांची अकरा वचने  (लेखक: श्री दादा पवार, सौजन्य: श्री ज्ञानेश राजे)

साईबाबांची अकरा वचने म्हणजे एक आध्यात्मिक प्रवास आहे. संस्कारक्षम आणि अध्यात्ममार्गामध्ये प्रगती करू इच्छिणाऱ्या मुमुक्षु जीवांचे एका अनन्य भक्तामध्ये रुपांतर होण्याची प्रक्रिया म्हणजे साईबाबांची अकरा वचने. ही प्रक्रिया सुरु होते शिर्डीची वाट धरल्याने आणि या वाटेवरच्या प्रवासामधील अकरा टप्पे, अकरा स्थित्यंतरं, अकरा अवस्था म्हणजे बाबांची अकरा वचने.

पंच ज्ञानेंद्रिय, पंच कर्मेंद्रिय आणि प्रत्यक्षात इंद्रिय नसले तरी या दहा इंद्रियांवर अधिसत्ता गाजविणारे अकरावे अंतःकरण.

वचन पहिले :-

शिर्डीस ज्याचे लागतील पाय | टळती अपाय सर्व त्याचे || १ ||

मुळात ज्यांचे शिर्डीला पाय लागतील ही शब्दरचना का? तीर्थक्षेत्राला गेल्यानंतर भगवंताच्या चरणांचे दर्शन घेण्याचा उल्लेख बरोबर वाटतो. भगवंताचे पाय महत्वाचे, आपले नाहीत. आपण एवढे पुण्यवंत, भगवंतही नाही की आपल्याच पायांनी हा चमत्कार घडावा. मुळात शिर्डी काय आहे? बाबा काय केवळ शिर्डीतच आहेत? या विश्वाची माउली फक्त शिर्डीगावापुरता संकुचित विचार करू शकेल काय? म्हणजेच शिर्डी नावाचे मूळ शोधणे आवश्यक ठरते. शिर्डीचे मूळ नाव आहे शीलधि वा शीलधी.

शीलधि: - शील + धि: - धि म्हणजे आशय, साठा
शीलधि - शिलांचा साठा अर्थात शीलवाला, शीलवंत
शीलधी - शील + धी(बुद्धी, मन, विचार, कल्पना)
शीलधी - शील + बुद्धी
धी - सत् असत् विवेक बुद्धि, सरसर विवेक

शिरडी नावामध्ये शील, साठा, बुद्धि हे तीन मूळ घटक आढळतात.

ज्याचे शील शाबूत आहे, बुद्धी स्थिर आहे, आत्मनाआत्म विवेक जागृत आहे आणि जो शीलाचा साठा आहे, तोच शिर्डीची वाट चालण्याचा अधिकारी आहे.

* भक्ताला भगवंताकडे घेऊन जाणारी कडी हीच साईनाथांची शिर्डी *.

साईभक्तीचे हे pre-qualification आहे. "लागतील पाय" पाय लागणे म्हणजे त्या मार्गावर चालणे. शिर्डीची वाटचाल करणे म्हणजे दोन दिवसाचे कपडे घेऊन उठसुठ शिर्डीला पळणे नव्हे. शिर्डीला गेले अन् शिर्डीच्या भूमीला आपले पाय लागले की आपले अपाय दूर होतात एवढा साधा सरळ अर्थ या वचनाचा नाही. भगवंत एवढा स्वस्त आणि सहजप्राय नाही. शिर्डीची वाट धरण्याची योग्यता अगोदर अंगी आणावी लागते. केवळ शिर्डीला हा देह नेल्याने अपाय टळले असते तर आज भरताच्या काना कोपऱ्यातून देशभरातून हजारो गाड्या शिर्डीला येतात. त्यातून कोणी येवो न येवो, दोन व्यक्ती हमखास येतात. एक ड्रायव्हर आणि दुसरा कंडक्टर. अगदी न चुकता दोघे शिर्डीला जातात. मग त्यांचे सर्व अपाय टळतात का? साईचरिताच्या १३व्या अध्यायातील ओवी येथे लिहाविसी वाटते. "पाप ज्यांचे विलयाला गेले | ऐसे जे पुण्यात्मे वहिले | तेची माझे भजनी लागले | खुण लाधले ते माझी ||". साई भगवंताची भक्ती करण्याची ओढ, आस लागणे म्हणजेच शिर्डीस पाय लागणे, शिर्डीच्या मार्गाला पाय वळणे. मुळात शिर्डी कोठे आहे हा प्रश्न पडला पाहिजे. बाबांनी याचे उत्तर साई चरितामध्ये दिले आहे. "हा सच्चरित मार्ग धोपट | जेथे जेथे याचा पाठ | तेथेच द्वारकामाईचा मठ | साई ही प्रकट निश्चये ||२१८|| तेथेच गोदावरीचे तट | तेथेंच शिर्डी क्षेत्र निकट | तेथेच साई धुनिसकट | स्मरतां संकट निवारी || २१९ ||. साई सत्चरित ही एक उपासना, आराधना आहे आणि जेथे साई सत्चरिताचा पाठ, साई भक्तीपाठ चालतो तेथेच "द्वारका माईचा मठ" अर्थात शिर्डी आहे. साई भगवंत तेथे निश्चितपणे प्रकट होतात. हजर असतात. तेथेच गोदावरीचे तट, तेथेच शिर्डीक्षेत्र आहे, आणि तेथेच साई भगवंताचे स्मरण केल्यास संकटाचे निवारण साई भगवंत करतात, म्हणजेच "टळती अपाय सर्व त्याचे". येथे टळती अपाय म्हटले आहे. भगवंत साईनाथ टाळतात म्हणून संकटे टळतात. आता प्रश्न पडतो की, पूर्वायुष्य दुषित असेल तर? शिर्डीच्या वाटेवर, भक्तिमार्गावर चालणे म्हणजे शुद्ध झाल्यातच जमा. चारित्र्यवान, शीलवान, मुमुक्षु जीवांचा प्रवास स्वतःच्या पायाने येथून सुरु होतो.

|| ॐ साई राम ||

Love – the most nutritious ingredient

Out of all things that make life healthy and livable, the most important thing is food. Nutritious food – food with appropriate content of vitamins and minerals - helps live long and healthy life. The strength that one achieves through nutritious food helps perform duties with high and complex responsibilities. Intake of nutritious food at regular intervals goes long way in maintaining high energy level that helps to face all challenges in life.
 
After nutritious food the second most important thing is the desire to offer and partake nutritious food. One may have the most nutritious food in the world, but if one does not have desire to eat that food, what’s the use?
 
That’s where comes the importance of the most nutritious ingredient of the food – love - that helps develop desire to prepare and partake nutritious food. Even the simplest food can become rich in nutrition when prepared and partaken with love. This ingredient – love - enters the food when one remembers the original provider of the food and ultimate consumer of the food.
 
They say that to bring this ingredient of love in the food, first offer food to the ultimate consumer – paramabhokta – of the food, i.e. God and then partake the food. The process of thus remembering God transforms the food into prasad. It is a belief, and there are numerous stories in scriptures that support this belief, that prasad never runs short. Nobody in the surrounding can remain hungry when the food is partaken as prasad.
 

They say that the food should be partaken in happy mood. It is better to avoid insistence for eating excessive quantity food. Such insistence can lead to displeasure and loss of fun of eating. Ananda, happiness, is the real form of God. Food brings ananda and ananda brings food. There can never be scarcity of the food in the house where food is partaken in happy mood. Getting all family members together, praying and thanking God for food before partaking food and then partaking food in happy mood goes long way in keeping family together, happy and healthy.

Yogashakti - the power of all powers

 

Out of all shaktis (powers) the most important power is Yogashakti - power acquired through Yoga. Yoga is popular throughout the world. It is mostly popular as a method to achieve balance of mind and body. Yes, it is true that yoga helps in maintaining balance of mind and body to experience tranquility. And one should always perform yoga to keep body and mind healthy. But yoga is much broader than that. Word “yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit root “Yuj” meaning to associate, to join, to unite. So yogashakti is the power that is acquired through association, through union with Yogishwar – the lord of yoga.

 

It is a known fact that once one establishes close relationship with the powerful, one need not worry about anything. Mere close association with the powerful removes all worries and fears. Saints are the people who establish intimate relationship with God by incessantly remembering His form and His name. Through this association they also inherit the powers of God. However they use these powers only to again promote devotion to God and welfare of society. They never use it for their personal benefits. Through yogashakti yogis work in unison. They can meet and help each other by remaining in their own places.

Sheikh Mohammad was a saint who resided in Shrigonda village near Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Once he was performing kirtan (praising God by singing His glories) with great love. All present at the kirtan, including great Brahmins, were joyfully listening to the kirtan with great concentration and were totally absorbed in the thoughts of God. However, in the middle of kirtan, Sheikh suddenly stopped, jumped and rubbed the cloth covering the mandap (a structure like a hall erected by placing vertical bamboos on four sides and then covering them with a big cloth for shelter). All present in the kirtan were amazed by the act and asked Sheikh, with great respect, what he was doing. He told them that Tukaram Maharaj was performing kirtan in Dehu and torchbearer, while totally absorbed in the kirtan, didn’t realize that his hand went up and touched the cloth covering the mandap and the cloth caught fire. So by rubbing cloth of the mandap, in Shrigonda, he (Sheikh) extinguished the fire in the mandap at Dehu. However people couldn’t really believe that answer. They asked how nobody from the people present there noticed the fire. Sheikh said that everybody was so absorbed in the kirtan that they just forgot about what’s happening in the surrounding as their minds were totally focused on God and his name. Out of curiosity people asked further that how could even Husband of Rukmini (Lord Vitthala), the subject of the kirtan, couldn’t notice and help extinguish the fire. Sheikh said that even Lord Vitthala was totally absorbed in the kirtan of Tukaram Maharaj. God and his bhaktas had become one. So who will protect whom? Sheikh said he could understand, through his yogashakti, the subconscious state of God as well as His bhaktas and so he (Sheikh) immediately rushed to extinguish the fire. Satisfied by Shiekh’s answer the villagers developed curiosity to hear more about that beautiful phenomenon and so they wrote a letter to the officer of Dehu village requesting to describe the incident of fire in the mandap where Tukaram Maharaj was performing kirtan. The officer in his reply asserted that mandap did showed indication of fire (a hole) in the corner of the cloth covering mandap and looked as if it was extinguished.

That’s the power of yoga. Saints are considered as God in human form and so through association of saints one can acquire such a power and again follow the path of saints to use that power for welfare and upliftment of society.

The need for detachment

Family and societal life is very important for every human being. It is in family life that one learns the virtues of tolerance, love, forbearance, forgiveness. Not only that, it is in family that one finds all joys of life and a feeling of fulfillment. It is not possible to stay disconnected from family and society for long. Even sanyasins – persons who have renounced all desires of material pleasures - stay connected to families and societies as they find fulfillment in helping people to stay focused on higher goals of life prescribed by sanatana dharma.

For having the best experience during family and societal life, sanatana dharma recommends to follow chaturvarnashram paddhati – system of four ashramas or four stages of life (bramacharyashram – a stage of student, gruhasthashram – a stage of family man, vanaprasthashram – a stage of reclusion and sanyasashram – a stage of renouncement) and four varnas to be followed during gruhasthashrama stage (brahmin – a role of teacher, kshatriya – a role of protector, vaishya – a role of professional and shudra – a role of serviceman). This system is currently in doldrums due to the failure to understand the goals and benefits of this system. This system is meant to maintain harmony in families and society. However, there is a complimentary practice that is required while following this system and that is - the practice of performing yadnya – making offerings to god of fire through a process of havan – instantiating a fire and then making offerings. It is yadnya that really binds all in love and harmony. Yadnyakunda – a structure where fire is instantiated for performing yadnya - in a temple, is a very important and pious place. Yadnyas performed in temples help maintain harmony in society.

Out of love for all fellow beings, sages and saints researched about yadnya and found simpler ways of performing it for individuals.



The most joyful activity common to all is eating, is it not? They say, this action of eating can be transformed into yadnya by simply chanting the name of Lord Vishnu – be it Shrihari, be it Shriram or be it from thousands of His holy names. The fire in the belly that inspires one to eat is nothing but a form of God – Vaishwanar. By chanting the name of god while eating, one automatically performs a process of havan and hence it results in performing yadnya.

Whereas yadnyas performed in temples help bring peace in society in general, yadnya performed by chanting name of god helps individual to find fulfillment of life. For an individual, Yadnya helps to develop detachment by developing attachment to God. Detachment breeds mental peace much required not only here but hereafter as well. That’s why they recommend developing detachment slowly from the early age of life so that one can enjoy all pleasures of life yet be detached from the world, making leaving this world painless. The more a person is detached and hence at mental peace, the more are chances of not committing any sin and hence, more are chances of not getting entangled in the cycle of going through 84 lakh types of births.

They say that the achievement of detachment and the mental peace finally helps at the time of the last moment.

Families, friends, wealth are all good and give joy only till last breath. However none of these can accompany at last moment. At the last moment when eyes are losing their ability to see, the tongue is losing its ability to utter a word, ears are losing their ability to listen any word, there is nobody, but only Self and the King of Death. In worldly affairs one may receive company and help from the families and friends, but during encounter with Yama, King of Death and Yamadutas, Yama’s army, there is nobody to give the company. That encounter has to be faced alone. The practice of chanting name of God incessantly and the mental peace achieved through that practice are the weapons that help to face that encounter and make it a friendly encounter.

Blessings received through sincere service to Guru help in long way to get firmly established in practice of chanting the name of God.

Wisdom quotes by Bhagwan Nityanand Baba (Ganeshpuri)

Business Continuity and Resiliency Planning

Businesses spend large of amount of time and money to develop Business Continuity and Resiliency Plan that describes actions to be taken to quickly recover from disaster. The idea is to have minimum or no impact on business operations in case of disaster - be it a natural calamity or market crisis.

Life is also like business. Anything can happen in life. Those who have thought about and have prepared for the worst are the ones who survive through the disaster with minimum or no impact on day to day life. There is a saying that "when going gets tough, the tough get going". This toughness is a result of deep thinking about life from all angles.

Whereas paying too much attention to threats of life can destroy joy of life, paying no attention can pose the great risk of getting heavily impacted by disaster. There is a saying in marathi "पश्चात्तापापेक्षा ताप बरा" meaning it is much better to have stress of thinking before action than the stress from the undesirabe result of an action.

However, there is an easy way to get secured from all threats and yet enjoy the life to its fullest. And that is – follow dharma.

One who protects dharma gets protected by dharma. To protect dharma, one has to know dharma well. The real dharma is swa-dharma. Every being has a role to play in the life ecosystem. A man, during his life has to play many roles such as - a son, husband, father, citizen, professional, friend. Similarly a woman has to play roles such as – a daughter, wife, mother, citizen, professional, friend etc. All these roles have their codes of conducts. Following these codes of conducts is dharma.

Pandavas and their consort Draupadi are classic examples of dharmic (religious) persons who faced unforeseen dire calamities throughout their life and yet in every calamity they were protected by creator of dharma i.e. Lord Shrikrishna. Lord Shrikrishna always stood behind Pandavas. Relation between Lord Shrikrishna and Panadavas demonstrates how protection of dharma protects the protector of dharma. Pandavas never ignored their Guru’s i.e. Lord Shrikrishna’s warnings and promptings. For them Lord Shrikrishna’s word was final word. Whereas Duryodhana and his brothers ignored warnings of Lord Shrikrishna and so they met a painful end.

Pandavas received immense knowledge from their elders and Lord Shrikrishna himself. All that knowledge is available to all human beings through the story of Mahabharata.

After kurukshetra war, Pitamah Bhishma, lying on a bed of arrows, explained to Yudhishthira, eldest of Pandavas, all dharmas that a king is supposed to follow. Though Yudhisthira received very valuable knowledge from Pitamah about running kingdom, he still had some doubts in his mind about dharma that is common to all human beings. He asked six questions to Pitamah Bhishma in relation to this, one of them was

O Pitamah, in your opinion, which is the best dharma (righteous deed) among all dharmas (righteous deeds)?

Pitamah Bhishma, exhilarated by Yudhishthira’s questions, answered

In my opinion, the best among all dharmas is to worship lotus eyed Lord Vishnu by incessantly chanting his thousand holy names.

After answering such, Pitamah Bhishma narrated all thousand names of Lord Vishnu to Yudhishthira and they were then compiled by Sage Vyasa as Srimad Vishnusahasranama.

One who incessantly chants or listens to thousand holy names of Lord Vishnu gets easily protected from all calamities.

Not only that, by chanting these holy names, or by just chanting Rama nama, which is equivalent to chanting thousand names, all dharmas of an individual get automatically followed. 



Guru - the ultimate guardian

One day, Mother Parvati, mother of universe, out of concern for her children, requested Lord Shiva, who was engaged in intense meditation, to answer her question. She asked “O Swami, what is that way by which all jivas can attain a state of unsullied and uninterrupted happiness which is a state of parabrahma. Lord Shiva said “O Devi, you have asked really a good question, in favor of all jivas. Such question was never asked by anybody. O Varanane, for one who wants to attain a state of parabrahma, the easiest and best way is to serve Sadguru. By serving lotus feet Sadguru, one can easily cross the ocean of Samsara.”

This dialogue between Mother Parvati and Lord Shiva was recorded as Gurugita in Skanda Purana. Indian culture or rather Sanatana Dharma lays a very high importance on serving Guru. In fact Sanatana Dharma highly recommends not to remain without Guru. Person without Guru is a like a boat lost in a sea. To become secured in all aspects it is in best interest for every human being to have Guru.

If Guru is available in person then one should serve Guru. However if Guru is not available in person, then reading stories of Guru e.g. Saptashati Gurucharitrasaar, Saisatcharita with utmost devotion is also a service to Guru.

Gurupournima is an auspicious day when one can resolve to start a discipline of reading stories of Guru or refine already started discipline.

This year, Gurupounima falls on Tuesday July 3.

A less known but important responsibility

Responsibility – a word that starts bothering everybody as the age progresses and becomes intense after having family and assuming professional positions that demand greater responsibilities of making tough decisions and carrying on operations and delivering results efficiently and on time.

The scope of responsibilities, for most of the time, is known to span family, profession and civic duties. Yes, it is very true. The duties towards all these are of high priority and have to be performed diligently. However, there is also a greater responsibility for every human being. This responsibility is usually less known and it gets less attention. And that is - maintaining the name of the lineage that one belongs to and helping ancestors to progress and liberate through the bonds of birth and death. They say that a person, whether man or woman, can, by their devotion, help their ancestors, from past 42 generations, to achieve consummation and to liberate from bonds of birth and death.

To execute this responsibility one need not do any gigantic task. What is needed is devotion to Guru who is a form of Lord Dattatreya. Shri Gurucharitra, storybook of Guru of Gurus, was written by Shri Saraswati Gangadhar. It is considered as fifth veda by Maharashtrians. It is an authentic book that explains duties for men and women.

Reading these stories with devotion is in itself a service to Guru. However, reading of Shri Gurucharitra has some restrictions. A strict routine observing control on thoughts and action is needed while reading Gurucharitra. To simplify this requirement Shri Vasudevanand Saraswati aka Tembe Swami summarized Gurucharitra in Saptashati Gurucharitra Saar so that it can be conveniently read or listened to by all. Reading or listening to the stories in this book purifies the mind and puts one on the path of liberation.

One who wishes liberation for self and their ancestors should consider reading, or listening to narration, of this book with utmost devotion.

Effortless Effort

गुरु योग्य असल्यावरी | वायां न जाई सेवा खरी |

कामधेनु असल्या घरीं | कां न इच्छा पुरतील? ||
                                        - अध्याय १३ - श्री गजानन विजय

संत सांगतात की ज्यांना आयुष्यात सर्व सुखं विनासायास (effortless) मिळवायची असतील त्यांनी गुरुसेवेचा सोपा मार्ग अवलंबावा. माता पार्वतीने आपल्या मुलांच्या, म्हणजेच साऱ्या विश्वाच्या, काळजीने जेव्हा भगवान शंकरांना विचारले की कुठल्या अशा सोप्या उपायांनी तिची मुलंमुली सर्व दु:खांपासून मुक्त होऊन, सर्वसुखी होऊन, परमपदाला पोचतील, तेव्हा भगवान शंकरांनी सांगितले की गुरुसेवा ह्या एकमेव सोप्या उपायानी सर्व दु:खांची निवृत्ती होऊन न भंगणाऱ्या सुखाची प्राप्ती होते. हा माता पार्वती आणि भगवान शंकरांमधला संवाद गुरुगीता ह्या नावाने प्रसिद्ध आहे.

खऱ्या खऱ्या संतांची | सेवा न जाई वायां साची |
परी निष्ठा मानवाची | जडणे तेथे अशक्य ||
                                          - अध्याय २० -श्री गजानन विजय

गुरुसेवा घडल्यावर सर्व सुखांची प्राप्ती होते हे खरं असलं तरी माणसाची गुरुवर निष्ठा जडणं हे खूप आवश्यक आहे. प्रथम गुरुसेवा घडायची म्हणजे गुरु पाहिजे. आणि गुरु प्राप्त होण्यासाठी गुरु प्राप्त होण्याची इच्छा पाहिजे. इच्छा तेथे मार्ग अशी मराठीत म्हण आहे. गुरु प्राप्त होण्याची प्रबळ इच्छा असेल तर गुरु कधीना कधीतरी नक्की प्राप्त होतात. माणसाचा पहिला गुरु म्हणजे माता. माता आपल्या मुलामुलींना पिता ह्या गुरूशी ओळख करून देते. माता आणि पिता ह्यांची सेवा घडली की आपोआपच सेवेची वृत्ती वाढते आणि त्यातूनच गुरुसेवेची इच्छा उत्पन्न झाली की गुरूंची प्राप्ती होते. असं म्हणतात की अशी मनाची अवस्था झाली की गुरूच शिष्याला शोधत येतात.

म्हणे दास सायास त्याचे करावे | जनी जाणता पाय त्याचे धरावे ||
                                                                   - मनाचे श्लोक

एकदा का गुरु प्राप्त झाले की त्यांचे पाय कधी सोडू नयेत. सर्व सायास हे गुरूंच्या सेवेसाठी करावेत. आता मुख्य प्रश्न पडतो तो म्हणजे गुरुसेवा कशी करावी. जेव्हा गुरु आपल्या सान्निध्यात असतील तेव्हा गुरूंची सोय पाहणे म्हणजेच गुरुसेवा होय .गुरूंची सोय पाहताना   गुरु हे आपल्या बरोबर अजून अनेक जणांची काळजी वाहत आहेत हे लक्षात घेऊन गुरूंना त्यांच्या सर्वांची काळजी वाहण्याच्या कामात मदत करावी. आपल्याबरोबर बाकीच्यांना पण गुरुकृपेचा लाभ व्हावा अशी इच्छा धरावी. अर्थातच हे सर्व करत असताना गुरूंची मर्जी राखावी. गुरुंसमोर कुठलीही गोष्ट, अगदी आपले गुप्त विचार पण, लपून राहू शकत नाही हे जाणून गुरूंशी प्रामाणिकपणा राखावा. आपल्या वर्तनातून आपण आपल्यापेक्षा लहान व्यक्तींना आणि आपण ज्यांचं हित चिंतितो त्यांना गुरुसेवेचा बोध द्यावा. शब्दांपेक्षा वर्तन पाहून माणूस जास्त लवकर शिकतो.

गुरु सान्निध्यात नसतील तेव्हा गुरूंनी सांगितलेली कामे काटेकोरपणे करणे ह्यालाच गुरुसेवा म्हणतात. गुरु आपल्या शिष्यांना स्वतः शिष्यांपेक्षा जास्त चांगल्या रीतीने ओळखतात. ते प्रत्येक शिष्याचा स्थायी भाव जाणून त्याप्रमाणे त्याला किंवा तिला योग्य अशी उपासना करायवयास सांगतात. ही उपासना काटेकोरपणे नित्य चालू ठेवणे म्हणजेच गुरुसेवा करणे. मग ती उपासना म्हणजे कुठला अध्याय वाचायला सांगितलेला असो किंवा घरच्या देवाला नैवेद्य दाखविण्यास सांगितलेला असो किंवा घरच्या देवासमोर दिवा लावण्यास सांगितलेला असो किंवा मंदिरात जाऊन दर्शन घ्यायला सांगितलेलं असो, गुरूंच्या उपदेशावर कुठलीही शंका न घेता ती उपासना काटेकोरपणे नियमित पणे पार पाडावी.

स्वतःच्या कल्पनेनी केलेली उपासना आणि गुरूंनी उपदेशिलेली उपासना ह्यातला फरक लक्षात घेण्यासारखा आहे. गुरूंनी उपदेशिलेल्या उपासनेत गुरूंचे आशीर्वाद अंतर्भूत असतात. त्यामुळे गुरूंनी उपदेशिलेली उपासना अगदी साधी सरळ सोपी असली -उदाहरणार्थ रोज देवापुढे दिवा लावणे  - तरी ती स्वकल्पनेनी केलेल्या उपासने पेक्षा जास्त परिणामकारक असते.ही उपासना करत असताना मनात ही भावना ठेवावी की ही उपासना आपल्या सर्वांगीण विकासासाठी असून, अंती समाधान देणारी आहे. जेवढा विश्वास दृढ तेवढं जास्त समाधान. सुखापेक्षाही समाधान हे जास्त काळ टिकतं आणि सुखापेक्षा अनेक पटींनी जास्त आनंद देतं.

शरण मज आला आणि वाया गेला, दाखवा दाखवा ऐसा कोणी |
                                                                 - साईबाबांची वचने

आत्तापर्यंत योग्य गुरु प्राप्त होऊन त्यांना शरण गेलेल्या माणसाचं आयुष्य वाया गेल्याचं ऐकिवात नाही. किंबहुना गुरूंना शरण न गेल्यामुळे आयुष्य वाया गेल्याची अनेक उदाहरणं इतिहासात सापडतील. आयुष्य खूप छोटं आहे आणि अनिश्चित आहे. सध्याच्या जगात चांगले गुरु भेटणं हे पण कठीण होत चाललं आहे. त्यामुळे योग्य गुरु प्राप्त झाले असतील तर त्यांच्या आज्ञेत राहून त्यांची सेवा करून आपलं आयुष्य सावरणं हाच सुज्ञपणा होय.

माता धन्य पिता धन्य | ज्ञाती कुल वंश धन्य |

धन्य वसुधा देवी धन्य | धन्य धन्य गुरुभक्ती ||
                                                          - गुरुगीता

खरोखर, ज्या स्त्री पुरुषांच्या हातून गुरूंच्या चरणांची सेवा घडते त्यांचे माता पिता धन्य होत. ते आपल्या वंशाला आणि कुळाला धन्यता आणतात. तेवढंच नव्हे तर ते पृथ्विमातेलापण धन्यता आणतात. धन्य धन्य ते गुरुभक्त आणि धन्य त्यांची गुरुभक्ती.