All of you have lived countless lifetimes. Countless times you have attained this human body. Countless times you have met any number of Saints, and countless times you have gained the knowledge of those Saints as well. This was the best and last thing you ever attained. But countless times you have committed the same mistake; one and only one mistake. Even after attaining the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas, you listened to your mind. You followed the dictates of your mind.
And now you are here, attending the satsang without engaging your mind in it. You are simply sitting here and in between times feeling like taking a nap. All the while you are thinking, What will I say if Maharaj Ji catches me? I know. I’ll just make up some story like I’m not feeling well or something of the sort. Some of you attending the satsang behave like this. Then there are those who simply sit and keep thinking of their family all the time. There is no urgent work that needs to be done at home; there is no important court hearing that they must attend and nor do their family members require them to be at home; they are not even the main breadwinner! Yet, they sit here in satsang and keep thinking that they must go back to their son, daughter, wife, or husband to whom they are attached. And when they do go back and find their family member to be selfish and manipulative, they regret leaving the satsang and denying themselves of the benefit.
Leaving aside common people, even great yogis are driven by the dictates of their mind. They who have practised austere spiritual discipline over long periods to acquire siddhis, supernatural powers, like anima, laghima and garima etc. fall prey to the vagaries of their mind. They have disgraced themselves.
There is a story in the Bhagavatam where the siddhis approached Lord Rishabha, who asked them who they were and what it was that had brought them to him. They told him, “We are siddhis and you are a devotee of Shri Krishna. We have come to serve you.” Rishabha replied, “You doing service? Why don’t you say that you have come to destroy me completely! To win you, even the greatest yogis have fallen into the trap of maya. Go
away!”
The Bhagavatam states, 5.6.3 and 5.6.4, that if you care for your well-being, never trust your mind, and never follow its dictates. Remember this always, in every moment of your life. Even the greatest yogis have not been spared. The yogis in Satyayuga as well as in the other ages, had controlled their senses and even their breathing. For thousands of years, they have held their breath, but even they could not control their mind. Such a ferocious enemy is this mind. It is not that you are hearing this only today. In all your past lives the Saints told you this, and during all those times you realised its importance, but then your mind led you astray. You began to doubt, thinking that all they taught you was true, but . . . Your thinking that was headed in the right direction was abruptly checked using this ‘but’. As a result, you deviated from your path of devotion to God.
All of you need to think that once this kind of thought enters your mind it will soon turn into a stream, with a current that will rapidly flow to strengthen your decision to become attached to worldly things. So, make a vow not to follow any command of your mind for it is your number one enemy, being the son of maya, which hinders your onward journey
towards God.
The same mind that has been diverting you to this material world since time immemorial can lead you to God, provided you follow the path as shown by the Vedas, Shastras and the Guru ignoring what your mind suggests. This is all you have to do.
All of you have lived countless lifetimes. Countless times you have attained this human body. Countless times you have met any number of Saints, and countless times you have gained the knowledge of those Saints as well. This was the best and last thing you ever attained. But countless times you have committed the same mistake; one and only one mistake. Even after attaining the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas, you listened to your mind. You followed the dictates of your mind.
And now you are here, attending the satsang without engaging your mind in it. You are simply sitting here and in between times feeling like taking a nap. All the while you are thinking, What will I say if Maharaj Ji catches me? I know. I’ll just make up some story like I’m not feeling well or something of the sort. Some of you attending the satsang behave like this. Then there are those who simply sit and keep thinking of their family all the time. There is no urgent work that needs to be done at home; there is no important court hearing that they must attend and nor do their family members require them to be at home; they are not even the main breadwinner! Yet, they sit here in satsang and keep thinking that they must go back to their son, daughter, wife, or husband to whom they are attached. And when they do go back and find their family member to be selfish and manipulative, they regret leaving the satsang and denying themselves of the benefit.
Leaving aside common people, even great yogis are driven by the dictates of their mind. They who have practised austere spiritual discipline over long periods to acquire siddhis, supernatural powers, like anima, laghima and garima etc. fall prey to the vagaries of their mind. They have disgraced themselves.
There is a story in the Bhagavatam where the siddhis approached Lord Rishabha, who asked them who they were and what it was that had brought them to him. They told him, “We are siddhis and you are a devotee of Shri Krishna. We have come to serve you.” Rishabha replied, “You doing service? Why don’t you say that you have come to destroy me completely! To win you, even the greatest yogis have fallen into the trap of maya. Go
away!”
The Bhagavatam states, 5.6.3 and 5.6.4, that if you care for your well-being, never trust your mind, and never follow its dictates. Remember this always, in every moment of your life. Even the greatest yogis have not been spared. The yogis in Satyayuga as well as in the other ages, had controlled their senses and even their breathing. For thousands of years, they have held their breath, but even they could not control their mind. Such a ferocious enemy is this mind. It is not that you are hearing this only today. In all your past lives the Saints told you this, and during all those times you realised its importance, but then your mind led you astray. You began to doubt, thinking that all they taught you was true, but . . . Your thinking that was headed in the right direction was abruptly checked using this ‘but’. As a result, you deviated from your path of devotion to God.
All of you need to think that once this kind of thought enters your mind it will soon turn into a stream, with a current that will rapidly flow to strengthen your decision to become attached to worldly things. So, make a vow not to follow any command of your mind for it is your number one enemy, being the son of maya, which hinders your onward journey
towards God.
The same mind that has been diverting you to this material world since time immemorial can lead you to God, provided you follow the path as shown by the Vedas, Shastras and the Guru ignoring what your mind suggests. This is all you have to do.
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