What are the qualities that define a saint? In
this chapter, we will discuss the list of seemingly saintly qualities.
If the external appearance of a person is great,
can we call him a saint?
All over the world, the external appearance is
given utmost importance. But can we truly determine if someone is a saint by
his external appearance?
Once, a carpenter challenged another person:
“Can you become a carpenter?”
The other person accepted the challenge and
started working on it. A few days later, the novice returned wearing a
carpenter’s uniform and carrying all the tools that a carpenter would have. He
also placed a pencil behind his ear the way a carpenter does. He looked exactly
like a carpenter.
The actual carpenter said, “You are not there
yet.”
The actual carpenter picked up a hard wooden
nut, held it tight between his thumb and palm, took out a wood chisel (a wood
cutting tool), and hit the wood chisel on the nut to break it into two halves.
He then turned to him and said, “Now can you do
that?”
How can anyone do that? Anyone can place a
pencil behind their ear and look like a carpenter. But to hit the chisel and
break a nut held with a thumb is not possible for anyone other than an
experienced carpenter.
Is appearance important? Appearance is in fact
important. In general, appearance should be gentle and not dazzling. But
appearance is not everything.
The world identifies a saint by his appearance.
If a person appears in the attire of a saint, with photos of Bhagwan in his
bag, then the world considers him as a saint.
Ravan dressed up as a saint to trick and kidnap
Sitaji. Kalanemi cheated Hanumanji by dressing up as a saint.
If appearance makes a person a saint, then Ravan
and Kalanemi are the best saints.
Thus, we cannot consider someone as a saint by
seeing his external appearance.
If a person is famous, can we call him a saint?
If many people believe in a person, can he be
called a saint?
People have different motivations to follow
someone. If we ask a person why he is following a saint, he will say that it is
because that saint has so many followers all over.
Once, a former student of Gurukul began to
follow a person who was a self-proclaimed God.
A saint asked him, “Boy, do you truly believe
him as Bhagwan?”
He replied, “Swami, there are so many people
believing him to be Bhagwan. There should be something special about him.
Otherwise, why would all these people follow him?”
If many people believe in a person, can we call
him a saint?
How many people follow movie stars like Amitabh
Bachchan? Can we consider them as saints?
In the Ramayan series directed by Ramanand
Sagar, Hanumanji’s character was portrayed by Dara Singh. By watching that
series, everyone started to believe Dara Singh as Hanumanji; people used to
touch his feet and take blessings.
Can we consider Dara Singh to be the real
Hanumanji?
A true saint is followed by many people. That
doesn’t mean that if a person is followed by many people, then he is a saint.
If a person has magical powers, can we call him
a saint?
If a person tells a childless person, “I bless
you, you will soon have a kid,” and say it happened. Can we call that person a
saint?
Even ghosts have magical powers. They too can
bless a child to someone, and a true saint might not bless a child.
Magical powers aren’t unique to saints. Anyone
can attain magical powers through penance and other spiritual practices, and
those practices can be anything from evil to spiritual.
When magical powers are present in a person,
then it is for sure that he went through necessary practices. But when magical
powers are present in a person, it is not guaranteed that saintliness is also
present in him.
This doesn’t mean that a true saint can’t have
magical abilities. So many great saints of our fellowship, like Gopalanand
Swami, Vyapakanand Swami, for example, have had unique powers.
Magical abilities of a person do not define his
saintliness, but for what purpose does he use his magical abilities define his
saintliness.
Many people who possess magical abilities use
them to gain attention and fame. However, a true saint only uses his magical
abilities to help other souls reach Bhagwan. Gopalanand Swami, for example,
changed the speed of the earth and the moon to prevent an eclipse from
occurring solely to save the life of a brahmin devotee.
Thus, a saint might have acquired some powers by
undergoing spiritual practices, but that doesn’t mean all people with magical
abilities are saints.
If a person has good virtues, can we call him a
saint?
Many people confuse virtuous people as saints.
That said, a saint is expected to possess good qualities. Otherwise, he cannot
be called a saint. Yet just because a person is virtuous does not mean he is a
saint.
When someone has good qualities but misuses
them, then we can’t call him a saintly soul. All through history, several
people had very good qualities but misused them miserably.
Can good qualities be misused? Of course, yes.
Jarasandh and Karna are typical examples. They
were better than Arjun in virtues. They were highly moral and highly caliber
than Arjun, yet they can’t be considered saintly.
Karna was great at donations. Jarasandh was
great at realizing brahm. Sukracharya
was great at moral values, and he was the master of the techniques of
immortality. Ashwatthama was great at realizing brahm, too. Yet they all can’t be called saintly.
Throughout history, Karna was one of the most
generous donors. He would always donate anything that someone asks even if it
meant risking his life. Even Lord Krishna wasn’t considered as great of a donor
as Karna.
Karna had such good qualities, and he was a
brave warrior too. With such good qualities and skills, should he be on the
side of Duryodhan or the side of Yudishtir?
It depends on his own intentions, and not on his
qualities and skills.
In contrast, Arjun did not have as good
qualities as Karna.
Arjuna didn’t like the fact that he would have
to kill all his relatives and teachers. He told Lord Krishna that he would
rather live as a beggar than kill his own family members.
Lord Krishna however told him, “I want to reduce
the burden of this earth by killing all sinful souls. You just become the
medium. I will do the rest.”
Even though he was hesitant, Arjun did exactly
what Lord Krishna told him to do and used his qualities and skills for Bhagwan.
Because of this, Arjun is considered not just a saint but Bhagwan Narnarayan
Dev.
So, saintliness doesn’t depend on what we do or
how great we are but depends on for whom we do.
If a person never made a mistake, can we call
him a saint?
Some people have never made a mistake in their
lives. Yet, they can’t be considered saints.
Karna never made a mistake during his life. In
fact, he even questioned Lord Krishna: “What mistake did I do?”
Of course, he took the side of Duryodhan, but
that was his choice.
Should I sit in this chair or that chair depends
on my choice. Is it a mistake to sit on this chair and not on that chair? No.
He never made any mistake like other rushis and munis (mentioned below), yet he
can’t be called a saint.
Naradji had a faulty desire. Later, he repented
for it and got freed from it. Though he made a mistake, it didn’t bring him
down from his saintly nature and he remained as a saint.
Shreeji Maharaj has said that great saints such
as Narad, Parashar, Vashisht have made mistakes in their lives. Yet those
mistakes did not block them from their path of saintliness. They were able to
attain kalyan and they also have helped countless souls to attain kalyan.
Scriptures too hail them as great saintly personalities.
They most certainly made mistakes. But their
intentions were always to please Bhagwan. And so, they were able to quickly
overcome their mistakes and came back on track of Bhagwan.
They didn’t proclaim that their mistakes were
right. They didn’t think “If I do something, it should always be right.” They
quickly repented for their mistakes and rectified them. That is what makes a
person a saint.
If a person strictly follows five vows of their
life, can we call him a saint?
A person might be following strict rules of
satsang to show himself as a great devotee. Can we consider such a person as
saintly?
Even following the rules could be centered
around show-off or self-respect which can nowhere be near to saintliness.
In Vachanamrut 6 of Loya chapter, Shreeji
Maharaj has said that “If we follow rules and regulations to show-off, then we
follow it more strictly and more attractively than those who follow without
such intention. Only then showing off would be successful, isn’t it?”
The only way that a person can attract the
attention of others is when he adheres to the rules in an extremely strict
manner. As a result, he follows the rules more strictly than a true devotee.
True saints know when to steadfastly observe the
rules and when it is alright to break them to please Bhagwan or a devotee of
Bhagwan.
Once, a group of saints led by Sadguru Muktanand
Swami was traveling and preaching through villages.
At one point during the trip, the saints had not
eaten anything for three consecutive days, and the next day was ekadasi, a fast
day.
As they reached a village in the evening, a
hari-bhagat requested saints to have prasad at his home.
In those times, Maharaj passed a rule to saints
that they should not eat anything derived from milk or sugarcane.
The hari-bhagat was aware that Shreeji Maharaj
had asked the saints not to eat ghee which is derived from milk. However, he
also knew that the saints became weak by not eating for three consecutive days.
He wanted to feed them something that would energize them.
So, he secretly added ghee to the Khichadi he prepared for the saints.
As he was serving the khichadi, the saints
smelled the ghee.
One of the saints said, “We can’t eat this
khichadi. It would break our rule that Shreeji Maharaj has asked us to follow.”
The hari-bhagat got worried, looked at all the
saints, and begged pardon. He said, “I’m sorry. You all have not had any food
for the past three days, and I want to feed you well enough. Moreover, saints
leaving my place without food is no good for me.”
To please the hari-bhagat and to not leave the
saints remain hungry, Muktanand Swami said, “It’s all right. We will eat the
khichadi that you prepared for us.”
Some of the saints objected, “But Maharaj will
be unhappy with us?”
Muktanand Swami replied, “If Maharaj is unhappy,
I will take all the blame. All of you eat please without any hesitation.”
Saintliness doesn’t depend on how many rules we
follow and how strictly we follow them. It depends on for what purpose we
follow a rule and for what purpose we break a rule.
If a person strictly practices spirituality, can
we call him a saint?
Scriptures define Sadhu as “Sadhanoti iti Sadhu”.
This means that whoever practices spirituality is called a saint.
Can we really consider a person who does sadhana—spiritual practices—a saint?
A saint must practice spirituality. Without
practice, he cannot be saintly. But the other way is not true. i.e., everyone
practicing spirituality is not a saint.
Scriptures mention that Hiranyakasipu, Ravan,
Basmasur, and such evil souls practiced spirituality more intensely than
saintly souls. They all performed unimaginable penance. Yet we can’t see their
names in the list of saints. In turn, they are considered utterly evil.
In everyday puja, Ravan used to cut his head and
offer it to Lord Shankarji.
Hiranyakasipu performed such an intense penance
that a colony of ants built an anthill on top of him.
Even when Valmiki Rushi performed severe
penance, ants built an anthill on him. If so, can we consider Hiranyakasipu
equal to Valmiki Rushi?
Hiranyakasipu’s intention of intense penance was
different than Valmiki Rushi’s intention of penance.
Valmiki Rushi’s intention was to please Lord
Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu’s intention was not to simply harm Vishnu but to kill and
vanish Him off.
When Lord Varaha killed Hiranyaksha,
Hiranyakashipu promised his mother and sister-in-law that he would perform
server penance and gain powers to take revenge for his brother’s death and to
kill Lord Vishnu.
Thus, if someone practices spirituality, it
doesn’t mean he is a saintly soul. A saint should for sure practice
spirituality. Without practicing spirituality, no one can get the qualities of
being saintly. It also doesn’t mean that everyone practicing spirituality is a
saintly soul.
Saintliness is above good qualities, spiritual
practices, and everything
If a person possesses good qualities, it doesn’t
mean he is saintly. If he is saintly, then there is no need for good qualities.
If a person has opulence (aishwarya), it doesn’t mean he is saintly. If he is saintly, then
there is no need for opulence.
If a person is famous, or has magical powers, or
flawless, or does rigorous spiritual practices, it doesn’t mean he is saintly.
There is something beyond them. Once a person gets hold of that, then he
becomes saintly. What is that? It is the intention.
When can we consider a person’s heart as pure?
Only when his intentions are pure. How can we see a person’s intentions? We see
a person’s intentions through his practices, qualities, appearance, in his
works, etc.,
Saintliness is like a flowing river with two
banks on each side. On one side is the intention,
on the other side comes all other qualities, in between them flows the river
called saintliness.
Now, which side of that river is stronger?
The intention side of the river of saintliness
is stronger. If intention starts to weaken or go wrong, then saintliness gets
polluted and all the saintliness will go useless.
If the other side, i.e., the qualities side of
the river of saintliness goes wrong, then saintliness would still be polluted,
but not as much as the intention side.
Among 64 qualities of saintliness, if one
quality goes wrong, then he will lose only 1/64th of saintliness.
However, if intention gets polluted, then 100% of his saintliness gets
polluted.
The stronger the intention, the stronger is the
saintliness.
Thus, saintliness is flowing between intention
and good qualities, and we should take good care of both intentions and good
qualities, though primarily we should take care of intentions.
References:
- Chosathpadi
Katha Part 10 (Pad 9).
What are the qualities that define a saint? In this chapter, we will discuss the list of seemingly saintly qualities.
If the external appearance of a person is great, can we call him a saint?
All over the world, the external appearance is given utmost importance. But can we truly determine if someone is a saint by his external appearance?
Once, a carpenter challenged another person: “Can you become a carpenter?”
The other person accepted the challenge and started working on it. A few days later, the novice returned wearing a carpenter’s uniform and carrying all the tools that a carpenter would have. He also placed a pencil behind his ear the way a carpenter does. He looked exactly like a carpenter.
The actual carpenter said, “You are not there yet.”
The actual carpenter picked up a hard wooden nut, held it tight between his thumb and palm, took out a wood chisel (a wood cutting tool), and hit the wood chisel on the nut to break it into two halves.
He then turned to him and said, “Now can you do that?”
How can anyone do that? Anyone can place a pencil behind their ear and look like a carpenter. But to hit the chisel and break a nut held with a thumb is not possible for anyone other than an experienced carpenter.
Is appearance important? Appearance is in fact important. In general, appearance should be gentle and not dazzling. But appearance is not everything.
The world identifies a saint by his appearance. If a person appears in the attire of a saint, with photos of Bhagwan in his bag, then the world considers him as a saint.
Ravan dressed up as a saint to trick and kidnap Sitaji. Kalanemi cheated Hanumanji by dressing up as a saint.
If appearance makes a person a saint, then Ravan and Kalanemi are the best saints.
Thus, we cannot consider someone as a saint by seeing his external appearance.
If a person is famous, can we call him a saint?
If many people believe in a person, can he be called a saint?
People have different motivations to follow someone. If we ask a person why he is following a saint, he will say that it is because that saint has so many followers all over.
Once, a former student of Gurukul began to follow a person who was a self-proclaimed God.
A saint asked him, “Boy, do you truly believe him as Bhagwan?”
He replied, “Swami, there are so many people believing him to be Bhagwan. There should be something special about him. Otherwise, why would all these people follow him?”
If many people believe in a person, can we call him a saint?
How many people follow movie stars like Amitabh Bachchan? Can we consider them as saints?
In the Ramayan series directed by Ramanand Sagar, Hanumanji’s character was portrayed by Dara Singh. By watching that series, everyone started to believe Dara Singh as Hanumanji; people used to touch his feet and take blessings.
Can we consider Dara Singh to be the real Hanumanji?
A true saint is followed by many people. That doesn’t mean that if a person is followed by many people, then he is a saint.
If a person has magical powers, can we call him a saint?
If a person tells a childless person, “I bless you, you will soon have a kid,” and say it happened. Can we call that person a saint?
Even ghosts have magical powers. They too can bless a child to someone, and a true saint might not bless a child.
Magical powers aren’t unique to saints. Anyone can attain magical powers through penance and other spiritual practices, and those practices can be anything from evil to spiritual.
When magical powers are present in a person, then it is for sure that he went through necessary practices. But when magical powers are present in a person, it is not guaranteed that saintliness is also present in him.
This doesn’t mean that a true saint can’t have magical abilities. So many great saints of our fellowship, like Gopalanand Swami, Vyapakanand Swami, for example, have had unique powers.
Magical abilities of a person do not define his saintliness, but for what purpose does he use his magical abilities define his saintliness.
Many people who possess magical abilities use them to gain attention and fame. However, a true saint only uses his magical abilities to help other souls reach Bhagwan. Gopalanand Swami, for example, changed the speed of the earth and the moon to prevent an eclipse from occurring solely to save the life of a brahmin devotee.
Thus, a saint might have acquired some powers by undergoing spiritual practices, but that doesn’t mean all people with magical abilities are saints.
If a person has good virtues, can we call him a saint?
Many people confuse virtuous people as saints. That said, a saint is expected to possess good qualities. Otherwise, he cannot be called a saint. Yet just because a person is virtuous does not mean he is a saint.
When someone has good qualities but misuses them, then we can’t call him a saintly soul. All through history, several people had very good qualities but misused them miserably.
Can good qualities be misused? Of course, yes.
Jarasandh and Karna are typical examples. They were better than Arjun in virtues. They were highly moral and highly caliber than Arjun, yet they can’t be considered saintly.
Karna was great at donations. Jarasandh was great at realizing brahm. Sukracharya was great at moral values, and he was the master of the techniques of immortality. Ashwatthama was great at realizing brahm, too. Yet they all can’t be called saintly.
Throughout history, Karna was one of the most generous donors. He would always donate anything that someone asks even if it meant risking his life. Even Lord Krishna wasn’t considered as great of a donor as Karna.
Karna had such good qualities, and he was a brave warrior too. With such good qualities and skills, should he be on the side of Duryodhan or the side of Yudishtir?
It depends on his own intentions, and not on his qualities and skills.
In contrast, Arjun did not have as good qualities as Karna.
Arjuna didn’t like the fact that he would have to kill all his relatives and teachers. He told Lord Krishna that he would rather live as a beggar than kill his own family members.
Lord Krishna however told him, “I want to reduce the burden of this earth by killing all sinful souls. You just become the medium. I will do the rest.”
Even though he was hesitant, Arjun did exactly what Lord Krishna told him to do and used his qualities and skills for Bhagwan. Because of this, Arjun is considered not just a saint but Bhagwan Narnarayan Dev.
So, saintliness doesn’t depend on what we do or how great we are but depends on for whom we do.
If a person never made a mistake, can we call him a saint?
Some people have never made a mistake in their lives. Yet, they can’t be considered saints.
Karna never made a mistake during his life. In fact, he even questioned Lord Krishna: “What mistake did I do?”
Of course, he took the side of Duryodhan, but that was his choice.
Should I sit in this chair or that chair depends on my choice. Is it a mistake to sit on this chair and not on that chair? No. He never made any mistake like other rushis and munis (mentioned below), yet he can’t be called a saint.
Naradji had a faulty desire. Later, he repented for it and got freed from it. Though he made a mistake, it didn’t bring him down from his saintly nature and he remained as a saint.
Shreeji Maharaj has said that great saints such as Narad, Parashar, Vashisht have made mistakes in their lives. Yet those mistakes did not block them from their path of saintliness. They were able to attain kalyan and they also have helped countless souls to attain kalyan. Scriptures too hail them as great saintly personalities.
They most certainly made mistakes. But their intentions were always to please Bhagwan. And so, they were able to quickly overcome their mistakes and came back on track of Bhagwan.
They didn’t proclaim that their mistakes were right. They didn’t think “If I do something, it should always be right.” They quickly repented for their mistakes and rectified them. That is what makes a person a saint.
If a person strictly follows five vows of their life, can we call him a saint?
A person might be following strict rules of satsang to show himself as a great devotee. Can we consider such a person as saintly?
Even following the rules could be centered around show-off or self-respect which can nowhere be near to saintliness.
In Vachanamrut 6 of Loya chapter, Shreeji Maharaj has said that “If we follow rules and regulations to show-off, then we follow it more strictly and more attractively than those who follow without such intention. Only then showing off would be successful, isn’t it?”
The only way that a person can attract the attention of others is when he adheres to the rules in an extremely strict manner. As a result, he follows the rules more strictly than a true devotee.
True saints know when to steadfastly observe the rules and when it is alright to break them to please Bhagwan or a devotee of Bhagwan.
Once, a group of saints led by Sadguru Muktanand Swami was traveling and preaching through villages.
At one point during the trip, the saints had not eaten anything for three consecutive days, and the next day was ekadasi, a fast day.
As they reached a village in the evening, a hari-bhagat requested saints to have prasad at his home.
In those times, Maharaj passed a rule to saints that they should not eat anything derived from milk or sugarcane.
The hari-bhagat was aware that Shreeji Maharaj had asked the saints not to eat ghee which is derived from milk. However, he also knew that the saints became weak by not eating for three consecutive days. He wanted to feed them something that would energize them.
So, he secretly added ghee to the Khichadi he prepared for the saints.
As he was serving the khichadi, the saints smelled the ghee.
One of the saints said, “We can’t eat this khichadi. It would break our rule that Shreeji Maharaj has asked us to follow.”
The hari-bhagat got worried, looked at all the saints, and begged pardon. He said, “I’m sorry. You all have not had any food for the past three days, and I want to feed you well enough. Moreover, saints leaving my place without food is no good for me.”
To please the hari-bhagat and to not leave the saints remain hungry, Muktanand Swami said, “It’s all right. We will eat the khichadi that you prepared for us.”
Some of the saints objected, “But Maharaj will be unhappy with us?”
Muktanand Swami replied, “If Maharaj is unhappy, I will take all the blame. All of you eat please without any hesitation.”
Saintliness doesn’t depend on how many rules we follow and how strictly we follow them. It depends on for what purpose we follow a rule and for what purpose we break a rule.
If a person strictly practices spirituality, can we call him a saint?
Scriptures define Sadhu as “Sadhanoti iti Sadhu”. This means that whoever practices spirituality is called a saint.
Can we really consider a person who does sadhana—spiritual practices—a saint?
A saint must practice spirituality. Without practice, he cannot be saintly. But the other way is not true. i.e., everyone practicing spirituality is not a saint.
Scriptures mention that Hiranyakasipu, Ravan, Basmasur, and such evil souls practiced spirituality more intensely than saintly souls. They all performed unimaginable penance. Yet we can’t see their names in the list of saints. In turn, they are considered utterly evil.
In everyday puja, Ravan used to cut his head and offer it to Lord Shankarji.
Hiranyakasipu performed such an intense penance that a colony of ants built an anthill on top of him.
Even when Valmiki Rushi performed severe penance, ants built an anthill on him. If so, can we consider Hiranyakasipu equal to Valmiki Rushi?
Hiranyakasipu’s intention of intense penance was different than Valmiki Rushi’s intention of penance.
Valmiki Rushi’s intention was to please Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu’s intention was not to simply harm Vishnu but to kill and vanish Him off.
When Lord Varaha killed Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu promised his mother and sister-in-law that he would perform server penance and gain powers to take revenge for his brother’s death and to kill Lord Vishnu.
Thus, if someone practices spirituality, it doesn’t mean he is a saintly soul. A saint should for sure practice spirituality. Without practicing spirituality, no one can get the qualities of being saintly. It also doesn’t mean that everyone practicing spirituality is a saintly soul.
Saintliness is above good qualities, spiritual practices, and everything
If a person possesses good qualities, it doesn’t mean he is saintly. If he is saintly, then there is no need for good qualities.
If a person has opulence (aishwarya), it doesn’t mean he is saintly. If he is saintly, then there is no need for opulence.
If a person is famous, or has magical powers, or flawless, or does rigorous spiritual practices, it doesn’t mean he is saintly. There is something beyond them. Once a person gets hold of that, then he becomes saintly. What is that? It is the intention.
When can we consider a person’s heart as pure? Only when his intentions are pure. How can we see a person’s intentions? We see a person’s intentions through his practices, qualities, appearance, in his works, etc.,
Saintliness is like a flowing river with two banks on each side. On one side is the intention, on the other side comes all other qualities, in between them flows the river called saintliness.
Now, which side of that river is stronger?
The intention side of the river of saintliness is stronger. If intention starts to weaken or go wrong, then saintliness gets polluted and all the saintliness will go useless.
If the other side, i.e., the qualities side of the river of saintliness goes wrong, then saintliness would still be polluted, but not as much as the intention side.
Among 64 qualities of saintliness, if one quality goes wrong, then he will lose only 1/64th of saintliness. However, if intention gets polluted, then 100% of his saintliness gets polluted.
The stronger the intention, the stronger is the saintliness.
Thus, saintliness is flowing between intention and good qualities, and we should take good care of both intentions and good qualities, though primarily we should take care of intentions.
References:
- Chosathpadi Katha Part 10 (Pad 9).