God is a Magnet

Hari Guru chumbak Govinda Radhey,
Man loha shuddhi matra so kinchva dey.

(Synopsis of a talk by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on January 16, 2011, in Bhakti Dham, Mangadh, India, explaining this new kirtan verse.)

A mother and father have four children. They all live in the same home, share the same environment and eat the same food, but the aim and interest of each is different. All four children went to see a Saint. One of them sincerely followed the Saint’s teachings. One half-heartedly following them and then stopped. One didn’t follow them at all. One criticised the family member who was practising devotion, “Why has he started this ‘Radhey Radhey’ in our home?” Why is there so much difference? This verse gives the reason.

Our mind is filled with the stored impressions of actions from uncountable past lifetimes. This is collectively called sanchit karma. During this time we have committed uncountable sins. There is no such sin, even one such as murder, that we have committed just two or three thousand times. We have performed such actions uncountable times. Because we have been in existence as long as God, we have had uncountable births. If we had committed one murder in uncountable lifetimes, then we have committed uncountable murders, because our lifetimes are innumerable. There is no such sin that we have committed in the thousands and millions; we have committed them all uncountable times.

When all of Dhritarashtra’s sons were killed in the Mahabharat War, he called Shri Krishna. Dhritarashtra knew that Shri Krishna was supreme God. He asked, “You know everything. What sin did I commit that all my children died?” Blind Dhritarashtra at that time was sitting alone and weeping. Shri Krishna said, “How many of your previous lifetimes do you remember?” Dhritarashtra said, “Three lifetimes.” Shri Krishna said, “What is uncountable minus three? Can you calculate this? You can’t even calculate the sins from three lifetimes.”

We only see the present, and even in the present we don’t understand what is a right action and what is a wrong action. Not even 1% of the people in the world understand this, including those who are very knowledgeable. During my lifetime, I have met many great scriptural scholars. They would come to me and ask, “What is sin? What is virtue? What is good? What is bad?” The definition of this is very simple.

That amount of time that we remember God or Guru is the amount of time that we do not commit sin. Everything we do apart from this is a sin.

Now a person can calculate how much remembrance of God he has done during the course of his lifetime. He alone is our only relation. It is for realising God that we were given a human birth. Why have we forgotten this and instead of loving Him we love each other?

So there is one philosophy that applies to sin and virtue: Whatever time your mind is absorbed in loving remembrance of God is the amount of time you are saved from performing wrong actions. Otherwise, we are always performing wrong actions. For example, you loved our mother. Is this wrong? When you go to the temple and say,

Tvameva mata cha pita tvameva tvameva bandhusch sakha tvameva,
tvameva vidya dravinam tvameva tvameva sarvam mam deva deva.

Do you know the meaning of ‘tvameva‘? It means ‘only You’, not ‘also You’. This prayer says, “Oh my beloved God, You are my only father, You are my only mother, and You are my only property and wealth.”

Yet if a hungry beggar comes comes to the window of your car and starts speaking to you, even though you have $10,000 in your pocket, you will turn your face the other way and say to the driver, “Let’s get out of here!” If you takes something out of your pocket for that beggar, you give the smallest bill you have and throw it at the beggar disdainfully, “Here! Take it!”

You have all been like this beggar in uncountable births. How must that poor person have felt when that money was thrown at him? Yet we have all heard and read and believe that God dwells in everyone’s heart. If you are going to give him something, even if it’s just a few pennies, give it with love. This is just your pride. The different ways in which you have hurt others is part of your sin.

So the amount of attraction one feels for God and Guru depends on the extent of the sin he has committed. This is proof positive of how sinful we are. Is our mind attracted to God and Guru or is it attracted to our worldly relations and property? When you are alone you can assess both and then you will know what is your status. It is our material attachment that has not allowed us to go towards God. If we did go towards God, we were just pretending. If we sincerely went towards God, we went some distance and then turned around and went back to our material attachments.

Take a magnet, for example. Place a variety of needles around it. Some needles are pure iron, some are 10% iron, some are 20% iron and so on. The needles of pure iron will be immediately attracted to the magnet. The ones mixed with another metal will be attracted slowly. The needles that have very little iron will remain where they are. Our minds are similar to the needles.

Papvant kar sahaj subhau, bhajan mor tehi bhavana.

You people are so lucky. You may be traveling by train or airplane and if someone says, “Radhey” even while yawning, you will immediately think he is a good person, “Oh, he said ‘Radhey’!” You have acquired this attraction through the grace of God and Guru. Otherwise you would never have these positive feelings. You might feel instead that God’s name was painfully piercing your ear like an arrow.

When we were building Shyama Shyam Dham, we set up loudspeakers to start playing kirtan at 3 am. I thought, “Everyone will hear God’s name and feel happy.” It didn’t take even a month before I started receiving complaints and that, too, from so-called holy men who have renounced family and home to live in Vrindaban, “Could you please request the Jagadguru Ji to change the position of the speakers so they are not facing in our direction?” It is only our sins that do not allow us to feel receptive to the divine name.

Yavatpapaistu malinam hridayam tava deva hi.

Our attraction to God and Guru is related to the extent of our sin. If one has a perfectly pure mind, he will be attracted immediately, and that, too, just by sight. So if in the future you wish to know how far you have advanced, you can use this as a measure.