Lord Krishna mentioned in 12th chapter of 11th canto of Srimad Bhagwat that, “I don’t submit myself to those who perform Yoga, Yagna (fire sacrifices), Vrat (fast), Daan (donations), Tap (penance), Dhyan (meditation) like the way I submit myself to the association with Saints and Saintly devotees (i.e. Satsang).”
What is the meaning of Satsang? Satsang means to have immense attachment to a real Saint.
Who is a real Saint?
Once Naradji went to preach about God to the children of King Prajapati Daksh. Prajapati Daksh thought that Naradji is spoiling his intention of spreading the world through reproduction, and thought Naradji is spoiling his kids and misleading them. So, he gave him a curse. Naradji ignored the curse and went on to preach to other kids of Daksh’s kingdom. Daksh cursed him again for preaching to other kids of his kingdom.
A Saint can face any number of hardships to take a soul to God even if the hardships are baseless and worthless. He is busy every moment directing the souls towards God and showing them the right path to reach God. He keeps boosting the confidence of the soul to reach God.
He helps the soul and don’t expect anything in return for himself. If he expects anything for himself, he can’t be called a Saint. If he has any intentions other than pleasing Maharaj and His Saints, he can’t be called a Saint. His only inner desire is to serve Maharaj.
To become such a Saint is the essence of everything. To get such Saintly qualities is the essence of everything.
Primary quality of a Saint
In Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.4.68) the Lord clearly says: sadhavo hridayam mahyam — The Saint (or pure devotee) is always within the core of My heart.
God respects Saints. The Kingdom of the King is also the Kingdom of the Queen. The Kingdom of the God is also the Kingdom of the Saint.
A Saint’s heart is always filled with compassion to take a soul to Maharaj, and to tie the soul with Maharaj. His only intention is to tie himself to God and tie others to God. That is the unparalleled quality of a Saint. All other qualities are secondary. Without this quality he can’t be called a Saint.
Someone might dress like a Saint, but he can’t be a real Saint unless he has the above quality.
A Saint is better than wish-tree
If you wish something good under a wishing tree, you would get good outcomes. If you wish something bad under a wishing tree, you would get bad outcomes. A Saint would bless you with the rain of flowers even if you are destined for the rain of stones. A Saint would only do your good even if he is cheated.
In a village named Kotiya, Saints were beaten up by a person named Dasa Kamaliya. He beat Saints so much that their skin was peeled off. Yet, the Saints did Satsang for him and blessed him.
Could a wishing tree do so?
Even if you think bad of a Saint, he only blesses you good. Neither wishing tree nor Wishing Stone does so.
Trees, water, earth, rain, air, moon, sun, always live for the sake of others. They don’t use their valuable possessions for themselves. They live for the sake of others and for the good of others. Similarly, a Saint lives for the sake of others. He uses everything he has for the benefit of others.
Gopalanand Swami was so rich in qualities. Did he use them for himself? No. He hadn’t used any of it for himself. He used it to uplift as many souls as possible towards God.
A Saint destroys the difficulties of all the souls. A Saint is always helping other souls until his last breath. Even if the Saint reaches the divine abode of God, from there he continues to help the souls. If required, he would come down to earth to help us.
If a soul has completely surrendered to a Saint, whatever might be the situation, the Saint is going to help the soul.
Water purifies the living beings. It quenches the thirst. Similarly, the Saint purifies the soul by his presence and quenches the thirst of soul for peace and satisfaction. Water only purifies when you go and take bath in it. A soul gets purified by just looking at a Saint. The living being gets purified just by seeing Saints like Gopalanand Swami and Gunatitanand Swami.
Earth is always at the service of others. It provides house, land, metals etc., and serves all the living beings. Similarly, a Saint is the platform of happiness for all the souls.
A cloud makes itself ready for thunders, showers rain on earth, and keeps the earth green. Similarly, a Saint sows the seed of God into the soul and makes it ready to offer itself to God.
Sun god gives the power of seeing outer things. Similarly, a Saint gives the power of seeing things within and blesses the knowledge and intelligence to see the divine Lord.
Moon god gives a pleasant moonlight. A Saint blesses the pleasure of God which is above all the worldly pleasures.
Each of the examples has one unique quality. A Saint possess all the qualities of all these examples. All those examples are worldly. A Saint’s help is divine.
Maharaj said that the one who has immense faith and attachment to a Saint or a Devotee of God enjoys the bliss of trance that is equal to the dreamless trance (Nirvikalpa Samadhi).
A Saint’s heart is full of unconditional mercy
A single Saint helps a number of souls.
In the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagwat, Lord Shri Krishna told Uddhavji that, “If you go through all the scriptures, you would know that becoming a devotee of God and achieving God is possible only through the medium of a Saint or Guru or another Devotee of God. Without their medium no one has achieved God.”
Prahlad and Dhruv had Naradji as their Guru. Gopijis had Radhikaji as their Guru. Vibheeshanji had Hanumanji as their Guru. Every devotee got someone or the other as the medium to tie themselves with God. The soul doesn’t have the capacity to directly reach God. He has to go through the medium of a real Saint to reach God. Scriptures like Srimad Bhagwat know the importance of this medium. Lord Krishna and Shreeji Maharaj also know the importance of the medium very well, and they teach the same to everyone.
To achieve liberation or to be free from the cycle of birth-and-death is not the real fruit of the human body. To be bonded with such a Saint and to serve such a Saint is the real fruit of the human body.
Brahmanand Swami says that, “There is not a thing that could be equal to a Saint.”
Nishkulanand Swami says that, “It is the matter of faith and the matter of being blissful. To believe that you could achieve everything through a Saint is greater than following all the rules and regulations.”
Some people strictly follow the rules and regulations. They do Chandrayan Vrat and other Vrats, but they may not believe that they could achieve everything with a Saint.
If you believe in Saint, then rules and regulations would follow you and make you strong from inside. The other way may not be true. i.e if you follow rules and regulations externally, it may not make you strong from inside.
The soul is always disturbed by all internal desires, internal natures like self-pride, jealous, ego, anger, deceit etc., But the Saint who has realized Maharaj and has driven away all the internal enemies from himself, can drive away all the faults of uncountable lives.
Solid relation with God is not easy
To know God is easy. To establish solid relation with God is not easy.
To know God is easy. To establish solid relation with God is not easy.
The one who is filled with the divine form of Maharaj always uses all his senses in the service of Maharaj. He listens to the words of God. He touches the divine feet of the Lord. He speaks with God. He smells the sandalwood paste and flowers of God. The legs are enthusiastic to walk for Maharaj’s work. The hands are ready to serve Maharaj.
Anyone can use their senses in the service of Maharaj by training their minds. Even now we can use each of our senses in the service of Maharaj by training our mind. Even now we can make our senses to work for Maharaj.
Maharaj said in Shikshapatri that, “The self-surrendered devotees who performs all activities in relation with God is Nirgun (beyond the worldly attributes).”
What does ‘in relation with God’ means in the above statement?
It means to use all the senses to please God, to serve God, and to serve the devotees of God. And not to use them anywhere else.
If you use your senses in the service of God and Saints, and also in service of world, then it is not in complete relation with God.
Whatever service we perform for God and Saints is only for their sake and never for our sake. All the force of senses and conscience is only to do the works of Maharaj. All the intentions are to please Maharaj. That is the most enjoyable state. Using all the senses only in the service of Maharaj is the actual meaning of being in relation with Maharaj.
Shastriji Maharaj’s relation with God
Shastriji Maharaj became very weak in his old days. None of the doctors could find the reason of his weakness. To understand the reason of his weakness, a group of doctors formed a team. They found that there was no sickness or disease in him.
There was a lot of pain because of weakness yet there was no sickness. What was the reason?
The doctors explained, “This Saint has used all his senses so much that he extracted ten times more work from his mind and senses than its actual capacity. That is the reason of weakness and pain. Otherwise his health is all good.”
He took ten times more than the capacity of the senses and conscience for the sake of Maharaj.
To find such a Saint is very difficult in this world. There are uncountable so-called saints who does everything to fulfill their own selfish desires and intentions. But, the Saint who lives for the sake of Maharaj’s intentions, who follows the orders of Maharaj, who acts as per the wishes of Maharaj is very difficult to find in this world.
It is not easy to find them. You could find them only with the mercy of Maharaj.
Nishkulanand Swami says “Once you find such a Saint, have your complete faith and trust in him. Without him you can’t reach the ultimate goal of this human life. Without him you can’t reach Maharaj.”
As the times goes on, it would be even more difficult to find such a precious Saint.
Nishkulanand Swami says that once you get in relation with such a Saint, serve him completely without delay. Sins of all your previous births would be cleaned and you would be free from all bondages.
References :
Sarsiddhi Katha Part 28