01. Why should we know who is not a saint?

For the one who is on the path of moksha, it is very important to know the purity of the saint or devotee he is associating with.

For that matter, if we find a true saint or even Bhagwan and if we don’t understand who exactly they are, then that true saint or Bhagwan will be of no help in achieving our kalyan.

Yadavas, for example, were directly related to Lord Sri Krishna, yet they couldn’t attain their kalyan. Lord Vyasji had said in Shrimad Bhagwat that,

दुर्भगो बत लोकोऽयं यदवो नितरामपि ।
ये संवसन्तो न विदुर्हरिं मीना इवोडुपम् ॥

durbhago bata loko ’yaṁ yadavo nitarām api
ye saṁvasanto na vidur hariṁ mīnā ivoḍupam
[Shrimad Bhagwat (SB) 3.2.8]

Definition: This universe is very unfortunate, and the members of the Yadu dynasty are even more unfortunate as they could not identify Lord Shri Hari as Bhagwan.

Yadavas are the most unfortunate as they couldn’t attain kalyan even by being the closest relatives of Lord Krishna.

Yadavas lived with Sri Krishna and had the best benefits of this world; no enemy could cast their eyes on them as they were directly and continuously protected by Balaram and Krishna. Yet they couldn’t achieve the ultimate benefit of living with Bhagwan—their kalyan.

One will not be able to reach Bhagwan by simply living with Him or with a saint. He will reach Bhagwan only if he understands who exactly they are.

Every individual who recognized Lord Krishna as Bhagwan attained their kalyan; Arjun, Uddhavji, and Draupadiji, for example, knew Him as Bhagwan and attained their kalyan.

Others, like Sishupal, lived with Lord Krishna, yet couldn’t achieve their kalyan. Arjun and Sishupal were related to Lord Sri Krishna in the exact same way. Yet Sishupal couldn’t achieve the kalyan that Arjun could achieve. If kalyan happens by living with Bhagwan, then both would have attained kalyan, isn’t it? But it doesn’t work like that.

Arjun is worshipped with Sri Krishna in the form of Lord Narnarayan. People praise them with chants of “Narnarayan Dev ni Jay!” On the other hand, Sishupal is not even considered a good human, let alone worship him like Narnarayan.

One cannot recognize Bhagwan by living with Him; one recognizes Bhagwan by truly understanding Him as He is.

The same goes with the association of a true saint. Even if we find a true saint of Bhagwan and stay with him for our entire life, we will not be able to value his saintliness unless we understand him as he is.

If one truly understands Bhagwan Swaminarayan, then his realization of Bhagwan Swaminarayan would be fruitful. If one doesn’t understand Him, then what is his realization? And what is the benefit without understanding? Yes, he will get some worldly benefit of eating a variety of good food from different festivals celebrated at temples, but not more than that.

When one merely says “Shreeji Maharaj is the greatest of all,” has he realized the truth of it?

If one describes the great qualities of Shreeji Maharaj and talks great about attaining kalyan and serving Maharaj without understanding and realizing the deeper meaning of those words, it is of no use neither to him nor to others.

Our heart should be bold enough to say “I don’t have any other place to go other than Maharaj. I don’t even need to go anywhere else. Whatever I need to achieve with this life is achieved here with Maharaj.”

If someone understands and believes so, then he has truly realized Shreeji Maharaj. In the same way, if someone truly understands a saint, then he has truly realized that saint.

It is difficult to differentiate between a true saint and a fake saint

Is it easier to see the positive qualities that one possesses? Or is it easier to see one’s negative qualities?

If a person is an expert at a particular task, he is likely to show off his expertise to everyone possible. However, he will never display his negative qualities with the same energy. Who is going to willingly display their negative qualities? Everyone hides their bad qualities and tries to display their good qualities. In fact, many people try to display positive qualities that they don’t even possess.

As a result, understanding a person’s bad qualities is a difficult task. This is the reason it is difficult to distinguish between a fake saint and a true saint.

A fake saint is an obstacle in the path of kalyan

A true saint tries to hide his virtues. A fake saint tries to hide his faults. There is a huge difference in the amount of effort they put in to hide their respective qualities. The effort that a fake saint puts in to hide his faults is multifold higher than the effort a true saint puts in to hide his virtues.

Nand Santo always hid their virtues; none of them ever displayed their greatness, yet a true saint becomes happy when someone realizes his virtues. Gunatitanand Swami, Gopalanand Swami, and other great saints always hid their virtues, yet if a soul comes to know about them and understands their greatness, the saints were pleased with him for being able to understand a true saint. One always receives spiritual benefits when he understands a true saint.

When we don’t know about a fake saint, we would get the fruit of their fakeness by their deceit to us. When we realize their fakeness, and when the fake saint understands our realization of his fakeness, then we would receive his curse. That is the mutual benefit of associating with a fake saint.

If we are unable to recognize a fake saint, he can ruin our life in every possible way. So, if we want to live a happy life, we must be able to understand both the true saint and the fake saint.

To attain kalyan, we must free ourselves from eight elements of nature: earth, water, fire, air, space, ego, mind, and intelligence.

भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च ।
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥

bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
[Bhagavad Gita (BG) 7.4]

Definition: Earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence, and false ego—these eight comprise My (Bhagwan’s) separated material energies.

One who wants to reach Bhagwan must overcome the influences of these eight elements. Without overcoming these elements, if he attempts to directly go to Bhagwan, those elements will block his path to Bhagwan for sure.

The other obstacle in the path of Bhagwan which is not mentioned in Bhagavad Gita is the fake saint. A fake saint is a bigger blocker than the natural elements mentioned above. So, if we cannot understand a fake saint, we will not be able to free ourselves from the influence of a fake saint.

We need intelligence along with faith

The divine souls who take the path of Bhagwan have a lot of faith in Bhagwan and great saints, but they are very weak in terms of intelligence.

In Hindu philosophy, there is a heavy emphasis on faith; in the name of faith, many things are forcefully pushed into the heads of people.

If a person attempts to know if something is real or fake, should we consider him an atheist? On the other hand, in the name of faith, if a person doesn’t care to know if something is real or fake, should we call him a devotee?

If a person doesn’t care to know if someone is real or fake, it doesn’t mean he is a devotee. He should at least check if the object he sees is in fact the object he wishes to see.

The directions of faith and intelligence are quite opposite: with faith, we close our eyes; with intelligence, we wide-open our eyes.

An aspiring soul who had closed his intelligent eyes with a cloth called faith and who roams in all directions in the name of faith is like a blind person stepping around in all directions without being able to see.

When an aspiring soul closes his eyes in the name of faith, a fake saint can obtain all kinds of luxuries and worldly objects from him. If he keeps his intelligent eyes open, the fake saint has no way of using him to fulfill his worldly desires.

In the subject of faith, one should never close his eyes blindly but should close the eyes only after verifying the truth of what he had obtained.

To achieve kalyan, we need intelligence as much as we need faith. If we have blind faith, we will never be able to reach Bhagwan.

Nishkulanand Swami tells us about the qualities of a fake saint

Sadguru Nishkulanand Swami, the author of Chosathpadi (the scripture on which this book is based), provides us the required intelligence by clearly describing both true saint and fake saint.

Whatever topic Nishkulanand Swami chooses to discuss, he always discusses both the good side and bad side of the topic. That was the technique followed by Sadguru Nishkulanand Swami in all his works. For example, when he talks about detachment, he elaborates on the qualities of both attachment and detachment. When he talks about saintliness, he also elaborates on unsaintliness. Providing both the good side and the bad side of a topic is a unique strategy of Sadguru Nishkulanand Swami.

Bhagavad Gita doesn’t provide a significant amount of information on saintliness and unsaintliness; Shrimad Bhagwat doesn’t either. Their primary focus is on the greatness of Bhagwan and saints.

Chosathpadi is all about the qualities of saints, the greatness of associating with a saint, and the benefit of such association. However, most of the scripture is focused on the qualities of fake saints, their intentions, their state of mind, their mastery, their actions, and the consequences of associating with a fake saint.

It is very important for a devotee who wants to make progress in the path toward Bhagwan to make sure that his path toward Bhagwan is not diverted or blocked by a fake saint.

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