GF-37 Vasana to One’s Native Place

Central Insights:

• The power of attachment towards one’s birthplace.

Key Points:

1. Intelligent contemplation reduces attachment towards one’s birthplace.
2. If we make Māharāj and His Devotees the centre of our attachment and sentiment, we can eliminate our attachment towards our birthplace.

Explanation

In this Vachanāmrut, Shreeji Maharaj explains that an ignorant person, even if he has renounced the world, can’t easily let go of the love for his birthplace. This indicates that the person is still deeply attached to the body. Even if one adopts a life of renunciation, the internal pull towards the homeland doesn’t leave easily. When there is an attachment to something, it naturally leads to increased affection for related things and those memories persist. Hence, in today’s times, some young individuals may give more respect to their spouse’s parents over their own. The love they feel is significant, and detachment is hard to come by. This is not to generalize, but when there’s deeper attachment, such a scenario is possible. Similarly, being deeply attached to the body, memories of the birthplace persist.

As an illustration, Maharaj showed a scar on His leg from childhood and mentioned how it reminded Him of the tree and pond near His childhood home. Thus, detaching from memories of birthplace, relatives, and friends is quite challenging. However, this attachment can be mitigated by identifying oneself as the soul rather than the body. If one thinks about the birthplace of the soul or its relatives, one realizes that over numerous births, many relatives have been forgotten. In the same way, one can forget the parents of this birth through true knowledge and discernment.

Maharaj emphasizes that He holds no special love or attachment for anyone unless that individual has sincere devotion towards God. One’s qualities or societal status does not matter to Him if there’s a lack of true devotion. The deep-rooted attachments that pull a soul in various directions can only be overcome when the focal point becomes God and His true devotees.

Through this discourse, Maharaj advises that the best way to overcome these powerful attachments is to firmly believe in the divine form of God and His eternal presence, undeterred by various scriptures or beliefs that advocate otherwise. This strong conviction in God’s form and His true devotees is the anchor that helps overcome the overpowering tides of attachment.

In the metaphorical sense, Maharaj indicates that just as a soul lost in the illusion of attachment to the body and homeland gets further entangled, only a firm belief in God and His true devotees can bring it back to its original divine essence. This understanding, also termed as ‘pratyabhijnā’ or ‘recognition’ in scriptures, is of paramount importance. This text continues to emphasize the significance of unwavering faith and devotion to God and the importance of true devotees or saints in one’s life. 

The Pratyabhijñā scriptures describe the glory of ‘That’ (Te), whereas what we personally prefer or relate to is ‘This’ (Ā). However, when both ‘That’ and ‘This’ refer to the same individual, something extraordinary occurs. Muktanand Swami has expressed this
beautifully:

“Divya mānuṣa do’ū eka karī, chihnā alakh bhayo hai bāta navīnā.”
When the divine and the human unite as one, the unseen becomes
manifest—a profound and unprecedented realization.
Thus, when one truly integrates ‘That’ and ‘This’, attachment
to the physical body and birthplace naturally dissolves.

In the worldly sense, people strive to establish even the slightest connection with those in positions of power. They feel a sense of pride in linking themselves to authority, even if it means forcefully associating distant relations—“my brother-in-law’s sister’s husband’s elder brother…” even when such connections hold no real significance. Why does this happen? Because they perceive the person as ‘That’, someone of importance.

Similarly, when one realizes that Bhagwan and His devotees—who are glorified in the scriptures as ‘That’ are actually ‘This’, meaning the very same divine presence in human form before them, then their former attachments dissolve swiftly. The connection to their previous identity, including birthplace and bodily ties, fades away, and a new divine relationship is firmly established.

Maharaj says, ‘For me, God and His devotees are always in their physical form.’ Such unwavering faith isn’t affected by time or circumstances. Without a physical form, one cannot have devotion or surrender. Hence, to avoid worldly attachments and to focus on service and surrender, one needs an excellent alternative. Maharaj suggests that the devotees of God hold onto God as that alternative.

Furthermore, Maharaj says, ‘One should not consider anyone else as the doer in the world other than God.’ By seeing God as the center of existence, His glory becomes apparent. Maharaj suggests this is the right approach. Those who follow this are free from worldly attachments and associations. The essence here is that if one has such strong faith that it remains unshaken even amidst strong opposition, we must respect such saints and even desire their company.

However, Maharaj also says that those who lack this faith are considered ignorant and foolish. They can’t easily let go of their worldly attachments and relations. If one doesn’t have this faith and tries other means, they get lost among the masses. They can’t remain in God’s service due to worldly attractions and delusions. Therefore, Maharaj suggests that the vision of such devoted souls is equivalent to the vision of God. By their grace, countless souls are liberated. Hence, the numerous attachments of worldly souls break, and a relationship with God and His devotees is established. Without such devotion, one can’t form a bond with God.”

Glossary