Devotion is love for the highest, and the lowest shall fall away by itself. Hence, surcharge your mind with noble thoughts of love for God.

Our heads are fitted with a tiny intellect, two fingers in breadth.  But due to pride, we use it even to challenge God and question His ways.

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Continuing from the previous edition...

You must be aware of the fact that ninety percent of the people in this world accept a person to be a Saint merely for the fulfillment of worldly desires like blessing them with wealth, son, etc.  If the arrival of a Saint at a materialistic person's home brings him good fortune, then that person starts praising the Saint by saying, "He is a descended Divine soul.  He is God Himself."  People accept this statement to be true.  This results in immense faith in your heart towards that Saint.  But during the Saint's next visit to that person's home, he suffers material loss due to his own karmas.  Then, that very same person's faith is shattered.  He starts criticizing the Saint, and is not even ready to accept the Saint as an ordinary person.

However, the Mahapurush, or Saint, does not have a clue that this person accepted him as God, and later thought of him to be a devil.  On the basis of fulfillment and non-fulfillment of worldly desires, people judge and criticize true Saints.  Due to this reason, they themselves commit naamaparaadh, serious spiritual transgression, and others who accept their opinion also become a part of this spiritual transgression.  In this way, far from attaining the Divine Bliss of God, people lose whatever we have gained in the spiritual realm.  And they end up committing sins and lose this precious human life.

 

Therefore, we should never accept a person as a Saint based on someone else's words, even if it takes the whole lifetime to recognize and accept someone as a true Saint.  According to the scriptures, it is better to be late in finishing the work in perfect form, than to be wrong.  Moreover, we cannot progress properly on the path of devotion without the guidance of a true Saint.  And, it is also said in the Shastras that if someone is devoted to a fake saint, then the Guru as well his disciple attain hell.  Thus, the most important task,before surrendering to God, is to recognize a true Saint.

 

In general, there are three types of behavior seen in a Mahapurursh:

 

1.  Baalavat, Simple and innocent as a child - This kind of Mahapurush has a simple and innocent heart like that of a child.  He likes clear and straightforward talk and behavior.  He is neither affected by abuse nor pleased by any praise.  In fact, a Mahapurush is pleased when one abuses him.   A man abused Lord Buddha the whole day.  Then, Lord Buddha said, "This person might be tired, give him something to eat and drink.  He will get some energy back and start abusing me again."  Hearing this, the man who was abusing Lord Buddha was shocked and remarked, "My abuses did not affect him at all."  He then bowed down in front of Lord Buddha.  Lord Buddha said, "If you give something to a guest, and he does not accept it, then with whom will that gift remain?"  The man replied, "It will remain with the giver."  Lord Buddha said, "So, you showered me with abuses, but it was of no use to me, so I did not accept it.  If you would have recited something about God, then I would have accepted it.  So, with whom will those abuses remain?"  Hearing this, the man who abused understood the truth and asked for forgiveness.

Tulsidasji says:

nindak niyare rākhiye, āṅgan kuṭi chhavāya |

nit sābun pānī binā, ujjval kare subhāya ||

"The person who criticizes should be given a place in the courtyard of the house so that by his abuses, we will continuously test us, and we will realize how much pride is within us."

 

We recite prayers in front of God saying, "O God! Nobody is as sinful and evil as I am, please bestow Your Grace and Mercy upon me."  But the moment we come out of the temple and someone calls us, "You are an angry person, you are a fool!" we are ready to fight with that person.  Usage of abusive language is such a seed that grows rapidly, but a saint is like dead soil, where no seeds can grow and all abuses go waste with no effect.  Abuses and criticism never affect him.

 

2.  Jadavat, uncivilized, oblivious of the social conventions of this world - The actual state of a Mahapurush is beyond the material world.  Because, his world is the Divine realm and he is not from this material world.  The mind of a Mahapurush is constantly absorbed in the Divine Bliss of God, while bodily he wanders in this material world.  Hence, sometimes he is not conscious of the social norms and conventions of this world, and his behavior appears to be like that of a madman.

 

3.  Unmattavat, like a madman, without bodily consciousness - The Bhagavat states:

 evaṁvrataḥ svapriyanāmakīrtya jātānurāgo drutachitta uchchaiḥ |

hasatyatho roditi rauti gāyatyunmādavan nṛityati lokabāhyaḥ ||

A Saint possesses the treasure of Divine Love.  It is the ultimate and highest attainment amongst all achievements.  It is the power through which devotees enslave God and make Him dance to their tune.  However, it is the nature of a Mahapurush to hide that Love. But sometimes, during the remembrance of his Beloved God's Name, Virtues, Pastimes, and Chantings, it becomes difficult to hide or control it, which causes his love to manifest externally.  He forgets that he is present in the material world, and starts dancing, sometimes crying loudly, laughing, singing, and jumping.  In this state, a Mahapurush behaves like a madman.  The scriptures mention the various states of these Divine emotions, as ashta satvik bhav.  By these bhavs, or Divine emotions, we can predict the depth of Divine Love within the Saint's heart.  From external appearance, this state of the Mahapurush is similar to a madman.

 

Now, for recognizing a true Saint, we will be discussing some direct evidences, some signs, which are generally seen in a Saint's behavior.

 

Once, there was a powerful king in North-west India.  His name was Raja Ranjeet Singh.  The famous Kohinoor diamond was owned by his kingdom.  Later, the British seized and took it away with them to England.  Raja Ranjeet Singh was blind in one eye.  One day, a small boy who lived in his kingdom was trying to hit a mango tree with a stone.  Unfortunately, the stone hit the king instead of the tree.  The king asked, "Who has hit me with a stone?" The king's servants pointed to the boy.  The king asked him to be brought to the court.

 

The boy's mother thought that her son would be now killed as the king would sentence him to death.  When the boy was taken to the king, he asked the boy what he was doing there.  The small boy replied that he was trying to hit the tree to get a mango.  The King then gave him a basket full of mangoes.  People were astonished and asked him, "You did not get angry with the boy?  He hit you, and why have you gifted the boy with a basket of mangoes?"  The king said, "If the stone had hit the tree, it would have given him mangoes.  Am I even worse than the tree?  After all, I am a human being and my behavior should be better than the tree.  If the tree gives mangoes in return, then I should at least give a basket of mangoes." 

 

This shows that it is the nature of a tree to be tolerant and forgiving.  Here, Shree Kripaluji Maharaj tells us to be even more tolerant than a tree; to practice and apply this quality of tolerance in our daily lives.  Five hundred years ago, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji also said that devotees should be more tolerant than a tree. 

 

Since this is a material world, everybody is not a Mahapurush.  Everybody has three modes of Maya within themselves.  Some have - Sattvagun, quality of goodness, some have Rajogun, quality of passion, and some have Tamogun, quality of ignorance.  People will behave with you in various ways, and if you are not tolerant, you will tend to get angry saying, "He is like this; She is like that; He is very bad."  By doing so, our mind will get dirty and spoiled.  Due to this reason, to keep our mind in a healthy condition, we are being told to be tolerant.

 

There was a Saint named Ekanath.  He wrote the 'Naath Bhagavat', just as Jagannathji wrote the Bhagavat in Oriya.  The 'Naath Bhagavat' in Marathi is a suitable match for the highly admired Oriya translation of the Bhagavat.  Saint Ekanath was a very sincere and intense devotee of Shree Krishna.  There was an incident in his life which was very unique. 

Saint Ekanath used to bathe in the holy river Narmada in Maharashtra.  One day, after bathing, as he started to come out of the river, a Pathan stood close by and looked very irritated.  When the Saint Ekanath came out, the Pathanspat on him.  Saint Ekanath said, "Jai Shree Krishna" and went back to the river to bathe again.  When he came out, the Pathan spat on him again.  Even after this, Saint Ekanath did not get angry or upset.  He quietly went back and took bath again. As soon as he came out of the river, the Pathan spat on him again.  It had now turned evening and this event had continued since morning.  People gathered around the banks to find out who would lose.  As of now, nobody was winning, neither the Pathan nor the Saint. 

The Pathan finally lost patience and asked the Saint, "Are you made of wood or stone? I spat on you so many times, but you did not even ask me why I am doing this to you? You did not react at all." Saint Ekanath replied, "Your actions have not harmed me.  Instead, you have acted as my well-wisher.  Because of you, I took bath in the pure and sacred waters of Narmada so many times.  Then why should I get angry with you?"

The lesson that we get to learn from this is that there are many people in this world who will oppose us.  But, if we learn to become more tolerant, our heart will get purified.

 

So, what is the key to purify our heart?  Find a person who keeps on finding faults in you and criticizes you.  Put a tilak on him and keep him in the courtyard of your home.  It means, respect the person who keeps finding faults in you.  Let him criticize and oppose you continuously.  Tolerate him patiently and silently.  This will help purify your heart at a very fast rate.  This practice of tolerance is for your own benefit.  By becoming tolerant, you will speedily progress in the spiritual realm. 

 

Shree Kripaluji Maharaj tells in the next line, never to look for any respect.  Expecting to be praised is also a material desire.  It is called as bhaktijaat anarth, of impurity arising in the heart due to devotion.  The desire to be appreciated for practicing devotion is a big disaster in the spiritual realm.  When others praise us for being a devotee, we start liking it and begin to expect admiration.  People start thinking what they should do so that people start respecting them.  "How should I get respect?" this becomes the primary aim and, "How should I practice devotion?" becomes a secondary thing.  In temples, people donate appliances and get their names written on them.  Not just their name but, they also get their father's and grandfather's name written on it!  If we ask them, that you have given Rs.1000, but why are you getting your name written on it?  They say, "We get our names written so that people should come to know that we have donated money."   What will they get by letting others know about their charity?

The spiritual principle is the reverse of this:

ghitasya bhavet vṛiddhiḥ kīrtitasya bhavet kṣhayaḥ

 If you do something good, there is no need to announce it to the world.  Only then you will get the fruit of your good deeds.  By telling others of your good deeds, their value gets reduced.  Once, due to this, the king of Heaven, King Nahush, had a spiritual downfall.  He was evil by nature.  All the celestial gods and sages wanted to get rid of him.  Everyone decided to make him speak about all his good deeds.  They asked, "O King! What good deeds have you performed in order to acquire the seat of Indra?"  The king then got excited and started narrating all his accomplishments.  He said, "I did this yagya; chanted these mantras; performed fasting for long periods; and gave so much charity."  As he kept saying them, the pious results of his good deeds diminished.  When the importance of his good deeds ended, they told him that his tenure as Lord Indra had now ended and he would have to leave.  He had to leave heaven and come back to this material world as a human being.

 

So the principle is - Do good deeds but never speak them out.  When the desire for seeking respect gets into our head, then the feeling of devotion gets finished.  We should always stay away from this.