The Pursuit of Bliss

Thaakur Yugal Kishor Hamaaro, Chaakar hum piya pyaaree ke. Guru sevaa hee dharm hamaaro, daas naa hum shruti chaari ke. A Braj Rasik (referring to a devotee of the form of God that did leelas in Braj - Vrindavan) says that Shri Radha Krishna are my only Lord and Master. In addition, I am also devoted to serving my Guru in the same way. These are the only three personalities I serve and follow. I am no longer a slave to the four Vedas either. Scriptures say - go and surrender to a Guru who is theoretically proficient in all the scriptures, and has practical experience in the way of God-Realization. O Souls! Wake up, go and learn from the Guru about who you are, where you have to go and how to get there. Surrender your mind and intellect, serve Him and learn from Him about the nature of soul, maya, mind, intellect, God etc. and only then will you be able to progress on the practical aspect of devotion. Tu lasi Ramayan says Guru binu bhava nidhi, tarayi na koi, jo biranchi shankar sam ho...

A Gyani and a Devotee are sitting next to each other on a long flight from Los Angeles to New York. The Gyani leans over to the Devotee and asks if he would like to play a fun game. The Devotee just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The Gyani eager to show his knowledge persists and explains that the game is real easy and a lots of fun. He explains "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $5." Again, the Devotee politely declines and tries to get to sleep. The Gyani, now somewhat agitated, says, "OK, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $50!" This catches the Devotee's attention, and he sees no end to his torment unless he plays, so he agrees to the game. The Gyani asks the first question. "What are the primary con...

Keeping the Heart & Mind clean We wash our clothes with clean pure water to cleanse them and rid of impurities. If we wash them with dirty water, they will only get worse. Similarly, we have to wash our hearts clean by inviting the pure personalities in. If we invite the impure into our heart, it will only get worse. The only pure personalities are God and Saints. Therefore, it is in our best interest to fill our hearts with God, His names, His forms, His pastimes, His qualities, His abodes and, most of all, His Devotees... the Saints! Ved Vyas Ji was once asked as to what in the Universe was most fortunate. His first response was - KaliYuga. Why? In SatYuga the spiritual benefit humans received from doing devotional sadhana for 1000 years is equivalent to the spiritual benefit from sadhana done for 1 year in TretaYuga. The same benefit is realized from doing sadhana for 1 month in DwaparYuga. And in KaliYuga the same spiritual benefit is received from doing sadhana for 1 day. S...

Cont.....A Short lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Yesterday it was explained that although God is causelessly gracious, He doesn’t grace everyone. Since eternity we have been under the control of Maya, due to which we have revolved in the cycle of birth and death in the 8.4 million life forms, and experienced unending suffering. Yet God has also graced some selected souls with His divine knowledge, bliss and eternal life. He even says, “Aham bhakta paradheenah.” “I walk beyond My loving devotees to be blessed by their footdust.” Once there was a great devotee of Lord Krishna named Ambarish. Ambarish was a king. Sage Durvasa, who had great yogic powers and also a very bad temper, went to Ambarish’s kingdom. Durvasa became so angry with Ambarish, that he created a kritya, a evil spirit, and ordered him to go and cut off Ambarish’s head. When God saw this, He also became angry and released His divine weapon, the chakra, and ordered it to cut off not only the demon’s head, but ...

A Short lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Great scholars and philosophers have pondered on how God is causelessly gracious. Causeless means to grace without a reason. In our world everyone is gracious with cause, no matter if it is our mother, father, son or neighbour. Gracing with cause is like a business transaction. We give something and in return we receive something from the other person. For example, when we go to a store, we give money to the shopkeeper and in return he gives us the goods we require. He doesn’t give us a discount for that, rather he takes the full price. If the shopkeeper were asked to give something worth $2000 for $200, he would say, “Have you gone crazy? Get out of my store!” It is necessary to pay the full price. This condition exists everywhere in this world. We did something for our mother, father, son, and so on. In return they graced us. This reciprocal business is found everywhere. As a result, people assume this also exists in the spiritual ...