Daily Devotion - Aug 12, 2025 (English)- The Rarest Blessings

There are three extremely rare things in this world -

1. Attaining a human body after thousands of births.
   janmāntarasahasraistu manuṣyatvaṃ hi durlabham -
   Why is it so rare? It is the dirtiest among all life forms. After death, the bodies of other creatures are put to some use, no matter how lowly they may be. However, the human body is of no use after death; in fact, it even causes an expense for cremation. And while alive, the body is impure - dirt continuously emerges from every pore in the form of sweat. The human body has nine openings through which waste is constantly excreted.

Yet, despite being the dirtiest, the human body is extremely important, because only in this body can you rectify your miserable condition. Only in this body can you make spiritual progress and earn spiritual merit. All other bodies exist merely to bear the fruits of past actions. In those bodies, you cannot perform new actions.

The celestial beings of heaven possess a divine body. Their body emits fragrance and is free from waste, urine, sweat, and so on. However, their bodies are also meant only to reap the fruits of past virtuous deeds. One attains heaven for a limited time based on merits of past lives. But even in heaven, vices like lust, anger and greed continue to torment the soul. People in heaven are, in fact, more indulgent than humans. Yet, their body is the finest.

In the remaining life forms, there is only suffering. Animals and birds spend the entire day searching for food and water. Even if they find food, they must search for water. Even if they find water, while drinking it, they may be attacked from behind by a lion or pulled into the water by a crocodile. Poor animals cannot even drink water peacefully; sometimes they die without drinking it. They have neither clothes nor shelter. There are thousands of times more insects, birds, animals, and other life forms than humans. Just one pond has innumerable insects and microbes. You have already suffered punishments for your sins in those lower forms. This world is God's prison.

Therefore, obtaining a human body is the rarest occurrence. However, if you do not make spiritual progress in this body -
sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvāya kalpate
You will be made to wander in lower life forms for billions of years.
kabahuṁka kari karuṇā nara dehī -
By His grace, God very rarely grants a human body. Even the celestial beings desire this body, thinking, "If I get a human body, this time I will perform neither virtuous nor sinful actions. I will only engage in devotion to God and become liberated from Maya." And yet, they receive the human body, they forget this resolve.

When you were in your mother's womb, you could not even turn around. After birth, if a mosquito bit you, you could not scratch it or tell anyone. In cold or heat, in every difficulty, you simply cried. In other words, you endured tremendous suffering in this human body. But the power of knowledge is predominant in humans - jñānaṃ hi teṣāṃ adhikaṃ viśeṣa:. If this knowledge is not used properly, that is, to tread towards God, it will be misused in the material realm in a most expert manner. This is because the mind cannot remain inactive even for a moment. Thus, the more knowledge a person has, the faster they will move in the wrong direction if they do not direct it toward God.

Now, even after obtaining a human body, who will tell you what you should do? You may say that the Vedas, scriptures, and Puranas teach you this. But these are impossible to understand - not only in Kali Yuga, but in any age. When God first revealed the Vedas, Brahma himself could not grasp their meaning. Then God entered his heart and explained the meaning of the Vedas to him - tene brahma hṛdāya ādi kavaye. Only then did Brahma understand the meaning of the Vedas and explain it to his children. So, how can you know on your own? Great scientists have attempted various methods to determine where the soul departs at the time of death. But no one has been able to find out. They do not even understand the "I," which is merely a part of God. Therefore -

1. Finding someone who can impart this knowledge to you. This is the second rare grace, receiving the association of a Saint who possesses true spiritual knowledge. Recognizing a genuine saint among a hundred thousand impostors with your material intellect is extremely difficult. But suppose you have identified one, and your intellect has accepted that this is a genuine saint.
2. The ability to understand the Saint’s teachings and to realize that you cannot attain your goal without following his instructions. Only one in a million reaches this far.

Your tendencies from countless past lives are referred to as sanskars. Your intellect functions according to these sanskars. Due to the deep-rooted worldly tendencies accumulated over countless lifetimes, you have not performed practical sādhana in any of your human births. You have kept postponing devotion under the pretext of education, jobs, marriage, children, grandchildren, and so on, until you died. You were meant to wed God, but you began marrying each other instead. The relationship between any two waves is momentary; a wave's relationship with the ocean is eternal. The meeting of individual souls is like passengers meeting on a train. Each passenger comes from a different place. Some passengers have been on the train before. During the journey, passengers get acquainted and converse. But when one's station arrives, they must disembark. Similarly, your mother used her intelligence to teach you, "I am your mommy." In the same way, all your relatives taught you to accept your relationships with them. You learned well and became attached to them. But one by one, their station arrives, and they leave. All those you considered "mine" are leaving, yet you do not let go of your worldly attachments. You develop new attachments to those who remain. Even after taking many to the cremation ground, you do not think that you too might have to leave at any moment. People think they will practice devotion after retirement. But after retirement, they begin searching for another job, be it a High Court judge or a millionaire businessman.

Thus, in every human birth, you keep postponing devotion until death.

Therefore, Shri Maharaj Ji says that you have spent infinite lives just saying, 'Bhajunga bhajunga,' meaning, "I will do sādhanā, I 'will' do sādhanā. I will dedicate my body, mind, and wealth to God." You have always said, "I will." And you continue to say the same in this life.

Anyway, what has happened has happened - leave your mistakes in the past and shape your future now. Even two days before death, you can make spiritual progress and attain your goal. How so? Because whoever your mind is attached to in the final moment of your life is whom you will attain. Therefore, do not think, "These are my last days. Everything is already ruined. How can anything good happen now?" You can still set everything right. God says, "Ask Me for forgiveness, and I will forgive everything. I will forgive your sanchit karma (accumulated since infinite lifetimes) and prārabdh (destiny of the current birth) and take responsibility for your kriyamān karma (current actions). But the only condition is that you must surrender completely, not just a little bit. You have done that partial surrender over endless lives. You will set your future right only when you surrender completely. The day you decide to fix your future is the day of your success. All the rest of the time has been wasted."

So, contemplate this and then bring it into practice. Do not procrastinate by saying, "I 'will' do sadhana." By adding 'will,' you have wasted countless births. Do it today, do it right now - just do it!

Recommended books by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj related to this topic:

Unveiling the Saints - English