How to move forward in our devotion to God

We must keep on moving forward in our devotion to God inspite of our weakness, our sins, and our repeated mistakes.

Q.  How to do that?  The question comes to our mind, how to do that when we have so many weaknesses and we keep on making same mistakes over and over.

A.  According to our beloved Pujya Maharajji is to ask Lord Ram to forgive all our sins until now (Kshma Karo mere Ram Raghunath, Ab Tak ke Saare Apraadh – dhun sung by him in USA Open Satsang).  He adds in his pravachan elsewhere: Another way is to again and again go sit at the feet of loving devotees (Sant Mahatmas – our Gurujans are definitely them) and lose yourself in their devotion and love of God.  We are surely to come back with a positive difference and move forward in our devotion and in our life with Guru Kripa.

Listen to audio

Rome Rome Shree Ram Pukare – Happy Mahatma Gandhiji’s and PremJi Maharaj’s Birthday

Mahatma Gandhiji and PremJi Maharaj not only share the same birthday (October 2nd) – both of them were devotees of Lord Ram.  So many of Sant Mahatmas like them must have bhavana, attitude and feelings such as ” Rome Rome Shree Ram Pukare ..,” that most of us can’t even imagine.

Hum par bhi aisi kripa karo mere Ram.  Hamara rome rome bhi Shree Ram Pukare ..aisi kripa karo mere Ram.  (Bless me Lord Ram so that every atom of my being calls for Shree Ram.. yearns for Shree Ram).

Our Gurujans tell us that for this to happen we must do our practice consistently and also attend Satsangs (where Sant Mahatmas  and true devotees are present).  We need to and must go again and again and learn from Sant Mahatmas how they lead a life of selfless service, express love and devotion to God, and impart knowledge in spiritual discourses, etc.

According to Shree Swamiji Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhiji used to recite Sthitpragya Ke Lakshan (Shreemad Bhagvad Gita – second chapter) with heart at both times of his daily prayers.

We can learn from the lives of Mahatma Gandhiji and our Gurujans by following their advice and may be one day with Ram Kripa we will also be blessed with similar bhavana and bhakti.

May the following dhun sung by Maharajji evoke similar devotional feelings in us.

VIDEO CLIP – Rome Rome Shree Ram Pukare

Mere Ram, tera pyara naam. Your loving name my Ram.

Har kaam se pehle aur har kaam ke baad,

mein japoo tera pyara naam, mere Ram.

(Before everything, and after everything may I recite your loving name .. my Ram)

Aise hi ho Parmaatma.  Jab aise hone lag jayega tau aisa lagata hai ki pehle aur baad ke beech bhi tera hi pyara naam hi chalata rahega mere man mandir mein.

(May it be so O’Lord.  When this starts happening, it seems to me that in between before and after also your loving name keeps on ruminating in my mind)

Kripa kar mere Ram aisa hi ho.

(I ask for your Grace,  may this be so, my Ram)
Jai Shree Ram.

Shudh atma and Shudh Vichar, Shudh karma

Shree Swami Ji Maharaj in Pravachan Piyush mentions that we need to remind ourselves by saying, “Mai… shudh atma hoon” and also in Bhakti Prakash he has described Pavitra Bhavana.

We may remind ourselves of this and surely that helps. Listening to Pujya Dr. Vishwa Mitter Ji Maharaj’s pravachan it really strikes a cord that we also have to have shudh karma in our life and shudh vichar. This is not an easy practice to do in life but as advised by our loving Gurujans we must do it. We also need to remember that they have given us their blessings and Ram Naam, so we need to stay alert in all our thoughts and actions and keep them pure and honest.

We may make mistakes, not be alert all the time, but that is the whole point of sadhana. Making effort over and over again and as Pujya Maharaj Ji says, “When we make a mistake we say sorry to people in our lives … do we say sorry to Ram Ji?” We can ask Shree Ram to forgive us our mistakes and remember that our Gurujans are always with us helping us and protecting us.

Sab par Ram Kripa sada bani rahe – Guru Kripa tau bin maange hi milti rahti hai.

Ram Naam ki Ganga

Gurujano ki kripa se baih rahi hai Ram Naak ki ganga !

Tu naha lai uss mein, tera sab kuch ho jayega changa !!

With Guru Kripa Ganga River of Ram Naam is flowing,

Take a bath in it and everything in your life will be glowing.

Getting back on the spiritual path with determination

When we may not be doing the sadhana as advised by our Gurujans or when we get off our path, we may want to connect with our loving Guru and ask for help or advice.

If we can’t be with Guru Maharaj physically, we can connect in our meditation or mental communication – while doing so we need to pay close attention and truly get Guru Maharaj’s message. Maybe Guru Maharaj is telling us “Vaapas aa jayo marg par” – just to return to our sadhana or spiritual practice. We may notice when we do come back to our spiritual practice of Ram Naam and start changing our behaviors back to positive ones, we may experience happiness and bliss. Again listen carefully to what Guru Maharaj is saying “Anand aa raha hai na vaapas aane ka aur Ram Naam japne ka” – Aren’t you receiving happiness and bliss by coming back to the path and doing Ram Naam jap?.

My beloved sadhaks, it is only with Ram Kripa we get to do the purushaarth of sadhana, as a bhakta thinks, and also mentioned by our loving Gurujans many times. It is with Guru Kripa that we get our connection stronger with Paramatma and we experience happiness and bliss in Ram Naam.

Let us do “adhik se adhik jap”, satsangati, sankirtan, and some swadhaya also to get back on our path with determination not to get off it again. Remember we promised our Guru Maharaj at the time of diksha that we will not do that. May Shree Ram give us all the strength to stay on our given and chosen path.

Last two days – the practice and disappointment in self

Over the last two days the practice of Satsangati by listening to discourses and feeling the presence of Gurujans is going fairly well. The disappointment is in my not exercising self-control in eating habits … not eating on time, and eating in between meals, and also watching TV a little too much (although it is much less than before).

Pujya Maharaj Ji says in his Pravachan not to loose hope. I not only trust that Satsangati along with Jap is going to help with sanyam or self-control, I am already seeing signs of Guru Kripa and Ram Kripa in that matter. In my understanding the seeds of Satsangati and Jap are sown and fruit will be in the form of sanyam or self-control, simran, and whatever else Shree Ram wishes. Together they can help any sadhak’s practice. I pray that all of us have love for Naam and the Naami.

Jai Jai Ram.

This may be of help to Sadhaks – Lessons and inspirations

As Pujya Vishwa Mitter Ji Maharaj (Pujya Maharaj JI) says that Sab Ram Karta Hai – Lord is the sole doer, keeping that in mind Shree Ram made it clear this morning to this child that Satsangati and Sankirtan are very important for every Sadhak. As mentioned by Pujya Maharaj JI in one of his discourses of Naarad Bhakti that to have Sanyam, Sadaachar, Seva, and Simran in our lives we must have Satsangati – or association of Sant Mahatma, Satpurush, Sadguru, etc.

Sadhaks must have faith that the Satsangati and Sankirtan will definitely help us lead a life of self-discipline and self-control over our negative habits and behaviors, in addition to that we will have the opportunity to serve others with nishkam bhav or desiring no fruit of our actions, and last but not least the Simran …. Ram Naam Jap with love, devotion, and feeling of connectedness to Paramatma Shree Ram.

In Bhakti Prakash reading yesterday, a message from Swami Ji Maharaj was crystal clear – that is to simply surrender to Shree Ram and even forget about Sakaam or Nishkam Karma. That is the same thing mentioned in his Gita Saar and also Pujya Maharaj Ji mentions that in one of his discourse … Lord Krishna telling Arjuna that Chhor sab ye Karmyog, Gyanyog, Bhaktiyog, aur sab yog, meri sharan mein aa ja, Arjun tera aur mera ghar ek hai. (Lord Krishna,”Arjun, leave all the paths of yoga such as Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, simply surrender to me and know that your home/abode and my home/abode is one and the same”)

For those of us who can’t be with our Sant Mahatmas in person for any reason, distance or lack of physical health, we can simply remember what Pujya Maharaj Ji told us at the time of diksha that our Gurujans are always protecting us and helping us in our sadhana. So we can simply choose to do Sankirtan and Simran while feeling that our Gurujans are with us, I believe this will help us become better human beings and our sadhana will progress with Ram Kripa and with Guru Kripa.

Please let others Sadahaks know of your understanding, experiences, and thoughts about same or similar subjects. It will also help me if you add a comment below.

Jai Jai Ram.