I am in seclusion since February 2007 but the Trustees and workers proposed to me that since I was completing my eightieth year and entering into the eighty-first, I might come out and meet the spiritual family and speak to them. They explained that they wished to celebrate the occasion by weighing me in silver as is our custom.

All of you wish to celebrate my birthdays but as each birthday approaches I only remember the work that I have to do and that is the attainment of the divine body. Anyway, I agreed to come out for the occasion and meet you all and speak to you. This is what gives us all a chance to get together.

All of you together have today weighed me in silver, not once but many times. How many times – did you count? I too did not keep a count but I do know that I had to do many a ‘squat-and-stand’. When we were small and at school, this was a form of punishment – we held our ears and had to squat and stand, squat and stand. It was tiring business. At school the master administered this punishment. At the age of eighty I have done it again today at the bidding of my Master who is above. He commanded it, so I have done it. You have applauded this, no doubt, but you won’t understand it.

Lord Lakulish has entrusted two works to me. One is the attainment of the divine body and the other is the resurgence of India’s eternal culture. Lord Lakulish has assigned the goal of the divine body to our spiritual lineage. The attainment of the divine body by the yogi – that is complete yoga. This is the main principle of our lineage. Swami Pranavanandji endeavored for it; Swami Kripalvanandji also endeavored for it and I too am making the same effort. From this you would have understood that this is not an easy task. Pranavanandji made the effort but the task was left unfinished; Muniji, that is Kripalvanandji, also tried but the task remained unfinished; I am also making the effort but the task is hard. But it cannot be said yet that the task has remained unfinished (applause). I hear your applause and this so increases my enthusiasm that I shall certainly complete this task.

You have applauded, but I have a request to make of you – do not bring me out of seclusion again. The task of attaining the divine body is difficult for me because I am not getting the continuity of sadhana that it requires. My goal is certainly attainable if you can let me remain in peaceful seclusion without any mental concerns. It is not impossible, but it becomes difficult if you make me go through these periodic exercises. If attaining the divine body were my only task, I would not do these exercises; but Dadaji has given me the other task of resurgence of Indian culture also, so I have to do these exercises.

I need no help from you in the first task of attaining the divine body. I am telling you since the start that the spiritual practice for that is something that I have to do myself, personally and individually. But in the other task, the resurgence of Indian culture, that is certainly one in which your help is needed. This is not a task which any one individual can accomplish, even if he is a sannyasi and a yogi. Resurgence of culture is a task for the people, one that the people have to do, and one that will be done by the people. Some sannyasi attaining perfection through yoga does not make the people cultured. Cultural resurgence requires the contribution of the people; it also requires their preparedness to become cultured. This task can be accomplished only through their cooperation. True, a sannyasi can be a guide, but the work itself is something that the people have to do.

I had raised this question before Dadaji (Lord Lakulish). Read the book if you haven’t read it. My question to Dadaji was – does the sannyasi do his sadhana or take on the work of cultural resurgence? He said, “Do both – do your sadhana but also do the other work of cultural resurgence which I have assigned to you. True, sadhana is the sannyasi’s main work, but, considering this other task the subsidiary task, it should also be done according to ones best capacity”. Well may this work entrusted by Dadaji be a subsidiary one but I have to accept it. Dadaji showed me the way too – establish a pravritty marg (the path of activity) he counseled, not just a nivritty marg (path of renunciation). Sannyas is nivritty marg the path of renunciation. Therefore, one who becomes a sannyasi should devote himself chiefly to sadhana. Sannyas means that he has not retained any connection with the world. In that case, what interest can he have in the world? His sadhana should be his sole interest. When someone gets interested in sadhana, then the world too must understand that now such a one should not be interested in us. So, while the nivritty marg is exclusively a path of renunciation and one on that path cannot devote much time to propagation of culture, he can certainly devote some time for guiding others about it.

We have set up a pravritty paksh (activity wing) as suggested by Dadaji. There is provision in it for shreyarthi, paramarthi and sevarthi diksha (initiation). All these are spiritual initiations of the pravritty marg but so far no one has come to me to receive such initiation. However, many are doing the work of cultural resurgence even without receiving such spiritual initiation. Many of you are doing the work which would fall to the lot of a sevarthi. Likewise, many among you are also doing the work which would fall to the lot of a paramarthi, even without receiving initiation. The initiated have to adopt forms of clothing suggested by Dadaji and maybe that is causing you embarrassment and it may be in your thoughts that others will make fun of you. Receive initiation once and see for yourself; you will see that no one will make fun of you because this is a tradition which Dadaji has established. Therefore, those with a desire for it can become initiated in the pravritty marg.

When we established Life Mission, I had said that I needed five persons who could render full-time service and I would guide them. Accordingly, five persons did come forward, joined the work of the Mission and continue to serve the Mission even till today. But none of them has taken initiation. They are embarrassed that you might perhaps make fun of them. If you assure them that you will not make fun of them, they will take initiation. (Applause). Do you give such an assurance? …… Sure? …. And if after that you make fun? Look at Haribhai. He left home sixteen years ago to come and join the ranks of those who are serving. He was the first person to join me. (Applause). That is why, ever since I established Life Mission, I have been saying, Whatever Hari (God) does is right’. But if I tell Haribhai, “Since you are doing the work of the Mission, why not do it clothed in a lungi?”, he replies “No, I am embarrassed”. All of you show him respect by addressing him as ‘Bapa’ (Father), so you are hardly likely to make fun of him.

It is necessary that a cadre of initiated workers should be raised. It is only through trained cadres that the work of the pravritty marg can be properly pursued. I understand that the weight of some embarrassment is coming in the way of many. But once even one person becomes ready to receive initiation, there will be a trail of many others desiring to be initiated. Then I shall have to choose deserving ones from among many. All willing ones will have to be properly tested. If you come early for receiving initiation, I may well confer the vestments on you without much testing. Like Haribhai, this Ranjitbhai is also doing the work of the Mission since years. Neither of them is doing any work relating to their households. Their sons are taking care of everything there. Like Haribhai, Ranjitbhai also experiences hesitation in adopting the lungi. Anyway.

What Dadaji has stated is that the work of the cultural resurgence is to be carried forward by the pravritty paksh. The sannyasi of the nivritty marg is merely to function as a guide. At the moment all of you seem to be of the belief that this work has been started by Muniji and so he must venture out and he alone must provide all the guidance. No doubt, Dadaji has entrusted this work to me and I aught to do it and indeed I do perform it as best as I can. But there is something else also which I have to do and establish before you. I have to attain the divine body. For this I should have seclusion and time.

All of you do give me your good wishes, saying, “All our good wishes for your earliest attainment of the divine body”. You also say, “May you be perfected soon”. This at least means that everyone feels that I have been delayed, otherwise why would you bring in the idea of “soon”? When you speak like this, I understand that this is some sarcasm intended for me, as if to say, “Can it take so long? At least now give it some seriousness”. I like this sarcasm, because when I hear this, I feel in me that now I will have to do something soon. It causes my enthusiasm to somewhat increase. S a matter of fact, I have never been discouraged; I live only for the attainment of my goal and I will attain it. (Applause). But you will have to become active in the task of cultural resurgence so that I am left free to achieve my own goal.

Speakers before me have mentioned this matter of your ‘involvement’ in the task of cultural resurgence. All of you do applaud every such mention but fail to get involved. You are clever. You think it is enough to go to every such function and applaud enthusiastically but do nothing till the next similar occasion. (Laughter). This has become your principle. This needs some change. I have prepared a framework for the organization of the pravritty paksh. This contains the framework delineating the organizational aspects of how this work is to be pursued right from the village level, through Taluka and District, up to the national level. Still, no recruit has offered himself to become initiated into this structure. You have all assembled here because the event of my 81st birthday celebration was announced from here and you were invited to come. It would have been ideal if, instead, it had been announced from here that on the occasion of his eighty-first birthday Muniji was giving spiritual initiations in the pravritty paksh and those who wish to join the pravritty paksh should come. (Much laughter). No one would have been visible here and Haribhai would not have had to apologize that so many had come and some flaw was left in the arrangements to receive such large numbers.

All of you need to take interest in the task of cultural resurgence. Cultural resurgence is not the sannyasi’s work. Culture is for the beings of the world; the sannyasi is detached from culture. He has to undertake the inner spiritual practice. Culture has significance for those who live in the world and amidst worldly social exchange. Culture is related with worldly life. Success in human life, not just in economic terms but also in social and moral terms is culture. That which imparts values for this type of success is culture. Thus, the work of cultural resurgence is something that all of you have to do together. This work does not involve mere worldly purpose but also involves the supreme purpose of human life.

There are two aspects to human life, one, the aspect of worldly purpose (vyavahar) and, the other, the aspect of the supreme purpose (paramarth). All of us have got so deeply enmeshed in the aspect of worldly purpose and are so clever at it that no one has had any need to teach us anything about it; but we are weak in the other aspect of paramartha, the supreme purpose. We are not even interested in this latter aspect. But we are not human if we do not learn the paramartha aspect. God may well have given us birth in the human species but we will not be able to lay claim on having lived as a human being if we have merely looked after the worldly aspect of human existence and have failed to learn the paramarthic aspect of life and living. The conventional aspect of interpersonal behavior is present even in animals, birds and insects and such life forms. The aspect of worldly purpose or conventional existence involves two endeavors – artha purusharth (endeavor or effort exerted for survival) and kama purusharth (endeavor undertaken to fulfill one’s desires). But for humans, Scriptures have ordained two additional purusharthas or endeavors – dharma and moksha. Thus, for humans, there are four purusharthas.

artha purusharth means the wealth or economic means we earn with our effort. By artha, we mean wealth. We earn wealth to afford our food and maintain our existence. Of course, we do not eat the coin or the paper of currency but that is what is needed and used to buy the food we need to survive. We need to earn in order to maintain ourselves and our family. This is artha purusharth. Just as we earn something and use our earnings to feed and maintain ourselves and our family, the birds and beasts also maintain themselves and their families. Which among the birds and beasts has the lesser intelligence? Why are you silent? Perhaps you may have feared that you might fail the exam, so it is best to say nothing! (Much laughter). In the case of a somewhat lesser intelligent person you might immediately describe him as an ‘utter ass’. The ass may not be in agreement about this. He would respond, ‘No, I have more intelligence than he has’. But from our viewpoint we think an ass has poor intelligence. In reality, even that donkey feeds himself. His progeny is also fed. Thus, the lowly donkey also undertakes artha purusharth.

The other purusharth is kama purusharth. We advance our lineage, produce children, that is kama purusharth. This the donkey also does, he also knows how to produce offspring. Every life-form from the tiny ant to the mighty elephant knows how to feed itself. They did not attend any of our schools to learn this. People think we understand how to fill our bellies because we impart education in our schools and colleges. But I believe that everyone, even those without an education, knows how to fill his belly. In the same way, everyone knows how to produce offspring. No one needs to learn artha purusharth and kama purusharth; God has implanted this knowledge in every living being. Birds and beasts have no school and yet they know how to feed themselves. The tiny bird leaves its night time shelter in the morning and goes and feeds itself then returns for the night to its night time shelter and goes to sleep. It does not store the next day’s food in its nest. But man has to store food. His self-confidence is less. He worries about what he shall eat on the morrow if his store should be empty. The tiny bird has no such doubt. She has confidence that just as she flew out one day and fed herself she will fly out again the next day and feed herself again. Consider – what is the problem if the human being’s store is empty? Who has the greater self-confidence, the bird or the human?

Tell me truly, if the food grains store in your house is empty, would you be able to sleep at night? I am asking the sisters. No, you will not get sleep that night. If I ask the men the same question, they will say, ‘yes’. (Much laughter). All they have to do is to ask the women for food – “we are hungry; do what you will, but give us food’. Birds and beasts have a lot more self-confidence than humans. Think about it. artha purusharth and kama purusharth are conventional behavioral aspects. This even birds and beasts do, and do it better than us, more self-confidently. We lack that full self-confidence.

There are many ways to the money we earn - direct, indirect, good, bad, many such ways. There is not a single wrong way among birds and beasts. They fill their bellies directly and honestly. A beast enters someone’s field and grazes there and the owner arrives there and wonders, “How has someone else’s animal entered my field to graze” and strikes him a couple of blows with his cane. But hasn’t the animal had his food, even if at the cost of a couple of blows of the stick? His work is accomplished. We graze in someone’s field and see that no one knows about it. This is the way it happens, right? We see in the papers these days that there is a growing demand for Government to recover the black money stashed abroad. If this could happen, it would reveal how many have grazed wrongly. We tend to be too clever in the worldly aspect. In doing so, we forget discretion and instead of conducting our worldly affairs in a true and honest way, we start doing so in wrong and twisted ways. Is this what God has given us an intellect for? God has given us an intellect not for going down the wrong path but for going up the right path. We have to go to the people and show them the right way. Being human, the first thing to do is to tread the right way.

If we are to show others the right way, first we ourselves should practice the way of dharma, and only thereafter exhort others to practice dharma purusharth. Dharma is the third endeavor. Dharma purusharth is not for the birds and beasts but only for humans. If I endeavor to deliver a discourse like this before birds and beasts, what do you think would happen? There is a saying among us – “Reciting the Bhagvat to a buffalo”. Would a buffalo become wise even if we read out the whole Bhagvat before it? Have even you become wise? How many times have you heard the Bhagvat? Many times, yes? Think it over, whether despite that have we become wiser? Then what is the difference between a buffalo and ourselves? If ‘the Bhagvat before a human’ has the same fate as ‘the Bhagvat before a buffalo’ what is the need for that futile exercise. If we are not to do this, at least the first example that we aught to set before others is that ‘we believe in Life Mission, in the command of Lord Lakulish, in the teachings of Swami Kripalvanandji’. So, first let us practice dharma and try to walk the path of righteousness and then tell others to walk the same path.

Dharma is worthy of being practiced by every human being. Dharma purusharth is man’s duty. It is said in the Scriptures, “Eating, sleeping, fear and procreation are ordinary endeavors done alike by man and beast; dharma is the additional and special duty of man; man without dharma is no better than a beast”. What did it say? We know eating well. Sleep is experiencing fatigue and going to sleep. Fear is something we all have, no matter that you might say, “I fear no one”. But aren’t you afraid of death? Does anyone like dying? Very well, get ready.

There was a Guru of the Sikh faith. He told his followers, “I do not require your wealth, nor grain, nor water, not even vestments and presents. All I need is ‘panj pyare’, five dear disciples. All responded, “We are so many and all are beloved to you”. The Guru replied, “No, not this way. You had better understand this matter. I need the head of any such who surrenders himself to me”. So saying, the Guru drew his sword from its scabbard and rose on his feet. “Right then” he said, “who is ready?” Just as thousands of you have gathered here today, there were thousands of disciples there too on that day. But who would muster the courage to make a move? There isn’t even a sword in my hand, and yet none of you is willing to move. Were there to be a genuine sword and its consequences, would anyone move in such a situation? Who would say ‘Muniji, take my head’?

We believe we are smart, but there is bound to be some fool too in this world. One such fool rose to his feet in that assembly that day and said, “Come, Muniji, I am prepared to give my head.” Muniji called him up to the stage. There was a screen on the stage there just like the one that you see here on this stage. Muniji took him behind the screen and emerged a few minutes later with a sword in his hand, dripping with blood. All the disciples understood what might have occurred behind the screen. Muniji said, “I have found one Pyara (dear one); is there another who is ready?”

Seeing the bloody sword in the Guru’s hand, who could venture to offer up himself? The first might have got ready by mistake, believing it hardly possible that the Guru was really going to behead anyone as he said he would do. But now everyone had seen the sword dripping with blood. Yet, a second fool did emerge. There is a saying that ‘over a pound there is a pound and a quarter’. Thus, every fool is followed by a greater fool. Muniji took this second one behind the screen and again re-emerged from behind the screen with a bloodied sword. He spoke to the assembled crowd, “That makes two; I need three more.” Thus, eventually the numbers were made up; five offered up themselves and five had their heads chopped off. All the disciples were stunned and thought, “Is this a Guru? Guru is one we go to for blessings when we are sick so that we might heal. Instead, this one has killed five healthy ones. Is there such a cruel Guru anywhere?

This Guru was not such a cruel one. He called out the names of all the five and all five emerged live from behind the screen. The assembled disciples were surprised on seeing all of them alive: “Muniji had killed them; how have they emerged alive again?” The Guru said, “I have not struck anyone with the sword. I merely dipped it in red paint”. There was a can of paint behind the screen. All five had been concealed behind the screen. Each time one was taken there, the Guru reemerged with a sword dripping with red paint to simulate blood. Honoring those who had offered up themselves, the Guru said, “These five are beloved to me; from now they are your commanders. They have courage which the rest of you lack. They are willing to offer up their heads to me”.

In this way, with the help of five brave disciples, the Sikh Guru raised an entire army. He desired no conquest over any territory but to protect the Sikh faith. This was the time when the Moslems had entered India and were converting in large numbers. At that time, this Sikh Guru raised an army for the protection of the Sikh faith. The task of raising armies is not the work of a spiritual Guru but it appeared to this Guru that the followers of the Sikh faith were getting converted and it was required that something be done to protect the faith. Is one to believe that the spiritual Guru acted wrongly? No; the Sikh faith survives soundly even to this day because this Sikh Guru raised an army for its protection.

Dadaji, that is Lord Lakulish, has commanded all of us that at a time like the present when the Indian eternal culture is threatened, all of us should endeavor to revive it again. True, Dadaji has not given me a sword; had he done so, I too would have shown you the drama of the can of paint. He did not give me a sword but said, ‘Explain to all our disciples what is Sanatana dharma and prepare them’. It is good for us that I do not ask for your head, nor your entire life, merely a few hours of your time. We are so many; if all give an hour each, how many hours could it all tally up to?

It is said that God has given us humans a lifespan of a hundred years. Some may live a hundred years while others live even more, but most live less than a hundred years. Every year of our lifespan contains twelve months; every month contains thirty days and every day contains twenty-four hours. Is it not possible that we daily take out an hour from all this for God’s work? God will ask us, “I gave you a lifespan and you did not even take out an hour for me?” You will say, “Lord, I did set aside an hour for you; I used to go to the temple every day”. God will say, “If Rajarshi Muni testifies that you used to take out an hour for me, I shall believe it”. Dadaji is going to tell you this. (Applause). I may say this in humor but whatever time you devote to the work of Life Mission according to Dadaji’s command, will be noted in his books of your account. This is your treasure for the next life.

If we desire re-birth in a well-placed family of means, wealth according to our desires, good samskaras, and all such, obviously we shall have to earn it all. It cannot all be attained just by the wishing of it. All this is possible if we have done something of the Lord’s work in the given lifetime. Recall the sloka ( stanza) from Scriptures I quoted to you earlier: “Eating, sleeping, fear and procreation are ordinary endeavors done alike by man and beast; dharma is the additional and special duty of man; man without dharma is no better than a beast”.

So, dharma is the additional, special, endeavor enjoined upon humans who are endowed with a reasoning intellect which other life forms are denied. We can be considered human only if we perform that additional endeavor enjoined for us by Scripture, otherwise we may well be counted among beasts. This is only fair – even if after being born human we live like an animal, what other result can there be? God is unlikely to give us human life again in a next birth. He will say, “I made you human once and ascertained that you have not performed dharma; I am little inclined to give you a second opportunity. You are like an animal”. This said, God would attach a tail to us.

I often say in humor that when our time on earth is over, messengers of Yama the Lord of Death will present us in his court. He will ask Chitragupta, “Has this Jiva (Soul) performed any dharma?” Do you know who is Chitragupta? He keeps an account of our every karma. He is God’s accountant. Just as our Chief Accountant here keeps an account of your every donation to the Trust, Chitragupta keeps a confidential record of our every karma. Just as it is worth cultivating acquaintance with our Chief Accountant here, it is worth cultivating acquaintance with Chitragupta there! He will be useful if perchance we should be in some difficulty in the other world. But just as our Chief Accountant here is beyond bribing and does not write false accounts, so too Chitragupta in the other world is beyond bribing and does not write false records.

So, when we reach the other world, God will ask Chitragupta for the account of our karmas and its profit and loss. Maybe, Chitragupta will say, “This one was a millionaire; he owned several houses, several cars, many servants to do his bidding, and much else”. God will say, “Oh, you have performed so much in life?” Filled with pride, we reply, “Yes Lord, I have performed many good works”. God will turn to Chitragupta and say, “It is all very well, whatever he may have done, but did he do any dharma?” Chitragupta will say, “There is nothing noted in his account under the head of dharma. That whole page is blank”. God will then say, “Very well, in that case pick up a tail from this heap and stick it on him”.

Thereafter, it is as in cricket. Our skipper Dhoni wins or loses a toss? You know Dhoni? I know Dhoni and you do not? (Much laughter). People say that the Captain of our cricket team hardly ever wins a toss. In the toss before God, this exactly will be our position also. We will not win the toss before God and God will attach to us whatever tail he pleases. Our luck may dictate a donkey’s tail, even a dog’s, or of a mouse or cat or monkey. No matter what tail it is, it is an animal’s tail and that is what we will become. If we fail to perform dharma here, we lose our right to be born human again in the next life. In short, we should do dharma purusharth so that in the next life we may at least be born as a human again.

Mere wealth and indulgence does not take care of everything in the given lifetime. That is not all that the given lifetime calls upon us to do. As we earn wealth here, we are also supposed to earn dharma. But we get so engrossed in earning wealth that we forget the obligation of also earning dharma. If we fail to earn dharma in this life, we shall have to become a dog or donkey in the next life. We do say that God is merciful. Chitragupta will feel pity for us and tell God, “Lord, you have attached a dog’s tail to this one, but in the last life he was a millionaire. He earned wealth so at least give him something that recognizes that effort”. God will say, “Yes, you are right, that too must be considered; he must be compensated for that”. So God rectifies his decision, “Very well, let us make him a millionaire dog”. (Laughter). Dogs are of many types. One is a ‘karodpati’ (master of millions, a millionaire) dog, another is a ‘roadpati’ (master of the road, a stray) dog. (Laughter). The one that travels in a car is called a karodpati dog. You have seen them, yes? When you next see a dog traveling in a car, remember that that was the one Muniji was telling you about. (Applause and laughter). Well may we applaud, but we may have such a fate too (Laughter).

The Scriptures say that dharma purusharth is the main endeavor for humans. There is another beautiful sloka in the Scriptures which is worth understanding. In essence, it says: “Our wealth was of the earth and shall remain on the earth; the cattle wealth shall remain tethered in the shed; the wife shall remain standing at the doorway; friends will not accompany beyond the crematorium; the body, not beyond the cremation pyre; the soul goes alone to the other world, but accompanied by its works of dharma”. Let us now expand this.

First, wealth. The wealth we earn is of the earth and shall remain on the earth. When we came into the world, did we bring anything along with us? If we do not know we can ask our elders, “Was there anything in my fist when I was born?” and they will respond, “No, there was nothing in your hands, they were empty when you were born”. When we depart from here for the world beyond, those that remain behind will make sure that our fists are empty and we take nothing with us. There will be nothing in the hands, of course, but perchance if there is a watch around the wrist they will remove that too, explaining that ‘where he is going, he has no further need to see the time”. Thus, those we call our own will ensure that we depart the same way we had come – with empty hands. Nothing is brought here from the world beyond; nothing is carried from here to the world beyond. This is a rule of creation, of nature. All humans come to the earth with empty hands and depart from the earth with empty hands.

The wealth of the earth is in the same quantity from the time the creator Lord Brahma created it. All of us who come to the earth merely move this wealth about, here and there. Everyday, wealth is in motion; every day, it moves – from our pockets to another’s, from another’s to a third’s and so on infinitely. Thus, wealth is ever on the move. It has never been anyone’s exclusive property. Wealth understands that ‘all those who think they own me shall leave; only I shall have to stay on here’. So, who is immortal? Not us, but wealth! Wealth shall remain here; it shall not depart; it is we who shall have to depart from this place.

Next, about the cattle in the shed, once a form of wealth. Cattle breeders of whatever kind, whether they breed sheep, goats, cows, buffalos or horses possess all these as their wealth. Typically, the animal is seen as kept on a tether in a shed or barn. So it is said, when we go we shall not be able to take this cattle wealth with us, it shall remain tethered in the shed or in the barn. When we depart, no loved one is likely to say, “He was fond of drinking tea; it is not certain if milk is available where he is going, so let us send a cow along with him to ensure a supply of him milk for his tea”. Even if someone was so considerate, would a cow accompany? It will say, “Why should I go with him; he has died and must go alone.” We believe that we own the cattle we keep; in reality nothing here on earth is ours.

Next: the wife shall remain standing at the door. This refers to family. How much attachment we entertain for the family! Not merely our immediate family but the generation next, and the next and the next, seven generations in a row. We may not have attachment for other persons of the world, perhaps, but everyone has an attachment for the family. Many times is it said, “I want to earn so much that my seven generations may live comfortably”. But have we ever quietly considered why we want to garner enough for seven generations? I have observed earlier that the little bird’s nest does not have tomorrows grain stored in it. But we want to store up not only for our own lifetime but also for our son, and his son after him, and his son after him, for seven generations altogether.

I tell you, quietly think about this a little. Why do you want to earn enough to last for seven generations? Your reply may well be “Because I understand that my son, his son, his son after him and his son after him will all turn out to be oxen by intellect. (Laughter) They will have no idea about generating wealth so I have to generate it for them before I go”. But, Brother, why not believe that the son shall be bigger than the father? He will do his work himself. Why do we need to worry so much about him? Because, in this situation, we are never free from the business of earning money. When will time be available for doing dharma? We are so busy chasing after wealth that there is no time left for the pursuit of dharma.

We want to earn wealth for ‘our’ family, that is, for selfish reasons, not for benevolence. We do not think that the wealth we earn is to be used for ‘paramartha’ (altruism). We think we need all our earnings for our family. We have nothing left over to surrender to the Lord’s service. But brothers, if we give even a little for the Lord’s work, that is dharma.

What is family? When does our family start? The family in which we are born, in fact, is not our family but our father’s family. We are its protected members. When does our own true family really start? When we become two from one, when we marry and a wife comes into the home. That is when our ‘family’ can be said to have been made. Then the children are born, and that is our expanded family. We labor all our lives to earn for this family. But none of those for whom we have spent our entire life will come with us to the other world when it is our time to go.

That is why the sloka says, “The wife, no further than the door”, meaning that the wife shall accompany us no further than the house doorway when we are carried out for the last time. That is the custom; she may not come even to the cremation ground. When we marry, the wife comes first and the family starts only thereafter. Thus, the wife is the first member of the family. Even this first member is not ready to come with us when we depart for the other world. As ordained by Scripture she can come only up to the house doorway but no further and certainly not to the cremation ground. She might say, “He has gone, so what is that to me?” (Laughter). She whom you customarily describe as ‘she of my house’ does not at the last moment leave the house to see you off. No one from among those for whom we have labored all our life will come with us, not even our son. If you are old and perhaps want to come here to Rajrajeshwardham, your son may tell you, “Bapa, you are old now so it will not suit you to travel alone, so I will come with you. You need some support”. Your son may come up to this place to escort you; but not even he will escort you to the other world.

Next, the sloka says, “sakha smashane” – the friend, will accompany unto the crematorium. Sakha means friend. How far can the friend accompany? Only till the crematorium. But no friend comes beyond the crematorium. No one’s friend has so far declared, “This one who died was my very beloved friend. Now that he is dead I shall go with him”. (Laughter). No friend has so far accompanied anyone to the world beyond – the farthest distance he will accompany is the crematorium. Once the funeral pyre is properly lighted and he makes sure that his departed friend is unlikely to rise again and come home, he takes a cold bath and goes home.

Now we say, “o.k., granted that there is no one left whom I can call my own, but my body is surely of ‘mine’? So, I shall not go to the other world totally alone. Won’t my body come along with me?” But this understanding, too, is false. After death, we have no further connection with our physical body. So it is said further in the sloka, “deha chitayam’, meaning ‘the body, till the funeral pyre’. This body which you call ‘I’, ‘Me’, which you love so much, which you pamper so much from morning to night, which you pamper with tea in the morning and breakfast a little later, then feed it tasty food again at lunch time, then evening tea and again the second meal at night, dress it well in the best clothes available, and even bedeck it with jewelry, but even this body comes as far as the pyre only. It will eventually burn with the pyre and turn to ashes. In reality, we are not the body. We are Soul, the Jiva which is in the body; that is who we are. We go to the other world as this Jiva.

So it is said further in the sloka, “the Jiva travels alone on the path to the other world, accompanied only by dharma”. When Jiva goes to the other world only dharma follows him. The dharma we have earned here on earth goes along with us to the other world. Dharma is subtle; it does not need to be stuffed in the pocket and carried along. You need a wallet if you want to carry your cash with you to the other world because it needs to be placed in the pocket. But dharma does not require to be placed in a pocket or a wallet. The moment we perform any dharma, it gets instantly locked with Jiva, so that when Jiva goes to the other world, then all the dharma performed here goes along with Jiva. Then, when God sees Jiva approaching, he first takes note: ‘I had sent this Jiva to the earth as a human and it now returns; is he accompanied by any dharma or not?” That is all; that forms the basis of what we shall become in the next life, whether human or beast. If our Jiva is not accompanied by any dharma, a tail in the next life is certain, certain, certain.

So, every human being aught to perform dharma purusharth. It is dharma that distinguishes us as humans. We do not become humans only by performing artha purusharth and kama purusharth; with just those, we are only at the level of birds and beasts. For humans, dharma is a special purusharth. If we perform dharma purusharth, we will once again be born as human. I tell everyone to remain present for an hour in the Culture Centers we have established and do whatever everyone else is doing there. If everyone else is singing devotional songs, you also do that; if everyone else is listening to a reading of the Scriptures or some similar book, you also do the same. In our Centers, one person reads and the others listen. So, you also listen. If everyone else is doing mantra jap, you also do mantra jap. The Center is where everyone together is engaged in activities which will confer dharma benefits. Whoever goes regularly to our Centers will be born a human again in the next life and will not be cast into bird or beast species. (Applause). I guarantee you that (Applause).

Though attendance in the Sanskar Kendra (Culture Center) calls for just an hour’s time, many of you still do not go there. You explain that you do not have time. You will have plenty of it after getting a tail in the next life. Once we get a tail there is no shortage of time. Then we do not have to attend office (Laughter). The dogs roaming the streets do not have to go to an office or have a job to go to. All they have to do is wander freely in the streets, eat the occasional piece of bread someone may throw to them, sometimes suffer the lash of a cane or two. If we wish to be spared from a fate such as this, we should do dharma purusharth. This precisely is the purpose of the Sanskar Kendras we have established. If you make up your store of dharma there, it will serve you well in the next life. Not only should you yourself learn how to build your store of dharma by attending the Sanskar Kendra but also encourage your friends, neighbors, and relatives to do the same. There is not a single karma to be performed there which can be considered as wrong. An hour’s attendance there also implies that at least for that one hour that person is not engaged in doing any wrong. This too is a gain.

How will God consider us qualified for human birth in the next life if we fail to do even this little for dharma? In that case, all we have in store for us is rebirth as bird or beast. Gaining a tail is not the end of it then. We may also have to suffer some physical pain, suffer some lashes on the body and undergo suffering that way. Once our punishment in that species is over, then God may give us life again in the human species. If yet once again we make the same mistake, we again meet the same fate as before. This is why our ancestors used to say “this samsar (world) is a round of 8.4 million species”.

There are 8.4 million types of yonis (species) in this world. Scientists are yet to discover them all but our Saints and Sages have firmly confirmed this count. From small insects crawling on the earth to majestic elephants, birds in the air, aquatic life forms, deva (lesser gods), danava (demons), humans, all these together make up 8.4 million types of yonis (species). Our Jiva goes on doing the rounds of these according to our karmas. These rounds go on for ages. Surely, it must occur to us some day to escape from these endless rounds of 8.4 million yonis. It is not something that should be left to a next life to consider. If we have properly understood the matter, surely the way to escape from these rounds is something that must receive our attention in this given lifetime and an effort made in that direction.

Now, if we do want to make that effort, Scriptures tell us two things: perform dharma purusharth or moksha purusharth. Moksha purusharth is the fourth purusharth. It has a different spiritual practice and it can gain us liberation. After that there is no avagaman (coming and going) in samsar. Jiva has no birth again so there is no question of again being caught up in the rounds of the 8.4 million yonis. That Jiva is forever liberated, he is free for all time. But this fourth purusharth is very difficult. For most humans it is easier to perform the third purusharth, dharma purusharth. Any human being can perform dharma purusharth; Scripture have not prescribed any restrictive rule or limitation for it. Qualification or want of it does not come in the way in dharma purusharth. Scriptures state that anyone who has a human body can undertake it.

Of course, moksha purusharth is the best but Scriptures have retained the rule of qualification for undertaking moksha purusharth. Only the qualified person can undertake it, not the unqualified. Scriptures have indicated that qualification too. That qualification requires vivek (discrimination), vairagya (detachment), mumukshuta (true longing for liberation) and shatsampatti (“Bouquet of six precious virtues”, namely, sham (dispassion), dam (self-restraint), uparati (detachment from the world), titiksha (endurance), shraddha (perfect faith), and samadhan (mental emotional composure). We must possess these virtues to be qualified to pursue moksha purusharth.

Now let us consider what is vivek. When we meet each other, we greet each other and exchange pleasantries, that is common vivek. It is our vivek of everyday currency. But the vivek that is necessary for qualification for moksha purusharth is paramarthic vivek. In the vivek of this special kind, we have to understand with our discriminating intellect what is true and what is false, what karmas are worthy of doing and what karmas are unworthy of doing. The understanding, discriminating knowledge of all these is paramarthic vivek. For undertaking moksha purusharth, we have to have this type of vivek.

The other requirement is vairagya. What is vairagya? It is not a mere matter of putting on ochre robes and shaving the head. Vairagya does not come by that alone. The ochre robes are to be donned only when vairagya emerges from inside, from the heart. This was the way it was in the olden days. But now Gurus confer the ochre vestments on anyone and everyone, irrespective of whether vairagya has dawned on him or not. Minds or hearts do not change merely be donning ochre robes. There is no objection to donning of ochre robes if mind and heart have truly changed. On the other hand, there is no objection to not donning ochre robes even if mind and heart have truly changed. But one advantage of donning ochre robes is that society thinks you have attained vairagya and so you have left home to attain God. So society gives you food to eat and that is a great benefit. Society gives food to the sannyasi because it understands that he has set out to do what the society is unable to do. This is society’s way of arranging that the sannyasi can continue doing what he is meant to do and does not have to exert to earn money to maintain himself.

Society makes arrangements for the sannyasi’s food, clothing and shelter. Resultantly, the sannyasi is freed from worry about these and can devote many hours to spiritual practice. You have made such arrangements for me too, and that is why I am able to do sadhana without any such concerns. If you tell me, “Muniji, make your own arrangements, we will not be able to give you anything further”, I have to once again revert to the world and start working for a living. There would be no time to do this sadhana. Moksha purusharth is a fulltime endeavor. Just as you have to work for seven or eight hours at your job or business so, in this too, you have to do sadhana for seven or eight hours. It is also true that if after becoming a sannyasi you give me food, clothing and shelter but I do not do sadhana, then that is not good. If I do not do sadhana, I deceive you and am guilty of deceit, which is a bad thing. The Bhagvad Gita has called deceit the first indicator of asuri sampatti or demonic assets. (These are dambha (deceit), darpa (vanity), abhiman (pride), krodha (anger), and paurushya (cruelty); one who descends into dambha is a demon, a rakshash or daitya.

The main activity of a sannyasi should be sadhana. In our lineage, this is a principle. Lord Lakulish gave the first initiation to Swami Pranavanandji. After receiving initiation, he remained in seclusion and devoted all his time to only sadhana. He made no disciples. When he left his body, Lord Lakulish entered that purified body. Thus assuming the body of Pranavanandji, he came to Mumbai and there initiated Swami Kripalvanandji (Bapuji). You know that Bapuji too devoted many years exclusively to sadhana. You also know that in 1971 Bapuji gave me sannyas initiation and I too have devoted the time since exclusively to sadhana.

Vairagya is when an individual should no longer have any interest in the world or in normal social interactions thereafter. If someone still retains some interest in worldly matters after becoming a sannyasi, then that is not true sannyas. It is not called sannyas even if he is doing service. After vivek and vairagya, the next in line among qualifications for moksha purusharth is mumukshuta. Mumukshuta means the sole and exclusive desire for liberation and no other desire or longing. Mumukshuta is total devotion to sadhana with the firm conviction that “I have nothing to gain from the world now other than liberation”.

The last characteristic of the person qualified for moksha purusharth is shatsampatti, that is, six types of endowments or wealth. You will say, ‘What, the Sannyasi too requires wealth?’ No, this wealth is not of the money kind. Here the wealth referred to includes sham, dam, titiksha, uparati, shraddha and samadhan. Sham is steadfastness of mind under all circumstances. Irrespective of the situation, whether good or bad, the mind remains ever peaceful and quiet. The other is dam or stamina or powerful pranic strength. (Prana is the inner vital force). The sadhak’s pranic strength should be powerful in order to keep the indriyas (sense organs) under restraint – that is dam. When we say ‘he, or this matter or thing, has no dam’, it means that the person or matter or thing referred to is weak, without power or strength. Sadhana requires powerful stamina because sadhana is done through pranic strength. Only the sadhak whose pranic energy is strong makes progress on the path of sadhana. One whose prana is weak cannot make progress in sadhana. Mantra jap, asan, pranayama, etc. are all means for making prana strong.

The third is titiksha (endurance). Titiksha is the strength to bear any kind of difficulty. When we are seated in the sadhana room it is not like being seated in an air conditioned room with a fan on top and not a worry in the world. The sadhak has to pass through very difficult experiences before reaching such a comfortable position. In the sadhana room, one has to fight a daily battle with death. It is not easy to conquer death through yoga sadhana. You may not want to die, but death accosts you in sadhana. You have to engage in battle with it and you win only if you vanquish death. Thus, the sadhana room is a permanent battlefield. One of the bhajans composed by me has a line that says: “I grasp the sharp sword of prana, pounce on the enemy with lightening speed, do yoga to attain the highest state”. This sadhana of the divine body is one in which a weak sadhak would leave sadhana and run away. Thus, this sadhana is not easy and requires a great deal of titiksha. The import is that the sadhak must have the capacity to bravely face the tormenting difficulties and pains that arise in sadhana.

The fourth treasure is uparati. Coming into contact with any object of the world, such as shabd (sound), sparsh (touch), roop (form), rasa (taste), and gandh (smell) causes us to be attracted towards the world. Uparamata or uparati is when one feels not the slightest attraction toward the objects of the world.

The fifth wealth is ‘shraddha’. All of you must often feel that Muniji is forever saying, “I shall be perfected, I do not wish to die”, but is this really possible? Does such a thing really happen? We see that no one has so far thus become immortal. Everyone dies. If such doubts arise in your mind, that is not shraddha. If such a doubt some day arises even in my mind, that too cannot be called shraddha. One without total shraddha cannot be considered a qualified sadhak. If my shraddha is not total, could I possibly so boldly proclaim that ‘I shall attain the divine body’? The qualified sadhak requires firm and total shraddha. Such shraddha is not merely something to be articulated as a mere thought; such firm shraddha arises out of whatever progress one may make in sadhana.

When the child learns to walk, he takes a couple of steps and falls down. After two or four days he walks a few more steps and falls again. Later, when he walks more steps without falling, he gains confidence that now he may fall sometimes but he will be able to rise again and walk. In this way, experience gives rise to the shraddha in him that he will learn walking one day. All of us have learned to walk on the basis of such shraddha. In this way, everything happens from shraddha.

There is great need for shraddha in sadhana too. Dadaji said, “attainment of the divine body is the fulfillment of yoga’, so keep shraddha. Swami Pranavanandji did sadhana but he was not perfected. After him, Swami Kripalvanandji did sadhana but could not reach perfection. Seeing this, should not my shraddha be shaken? But you see that my shraddha is perfectly firm and strong, it has not wavered a bit (Applause). The reason is that shraddha increases according to the type and quantum of our progress in sadhana.

Many disciples, men and women, come walking from their villages to this place at Rajrajeshwardham. All of them deserve praise. Many walk the long distance from Panchmahals to Jakhan (applause). The triune of Lords, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, in this temple must be so pleased with them. They own vehicles but they do the pilgrimage on foot rather than seated in their cars. As they walk, they keep an eye on the milestone to keep track of the distance covered. Their shraddha increases as the distance to their goal diminishes. Their faith keeps growing in the knowledge that soon they ‘will be there’. It is the same in this sadhana – our shraddha goes on increasing as the milestones pass and the sadhak goes on becoming more assured that he will reach his destination. The sadhak needs that firm faith in order to be qualified for this path.

The sixth ‘sampatti’ is ‘samadhan’. The normal meaning of the word samadhan is what you all know – to resolve or compromise a quarrel or disagreement. But there is nothing of that kind here. The word ‘samadhan’ is actually derived from ‘samadhi’. Once one attains samadhi, all truths delineated in the Scriptures are resolved (known through personal experience and thus realized, understood and confirmed). The sadhak realizes through samadhi that none of the things stated in the Scriptures is wrong. In the absence of personal experience, we are not sure, there is doubt.

It should be understood that one is qualified for moksha purusharth if one possesses the shatsampatti of sham, dam. Titiksha, uparati, shraddha and samadhan. Think it over! Seekers who come to me come seeking nothing less than this moksha purusharth, saying, “Muniji, I want to do only what you are doing’. I reply, “Before I undertook what I now do, I left home. You also do that first, and then undertake moksha purusharth”. To which they reply, “No, that we cannot do. You had to leave home because you are a weak sadhak but we can do moksha purusharth even while remaining at home”.

Brothers, well may you believe that the sadhana of moksha purusharth can be done even while maintaining the worldly life, but that is not possible. The sadhana of liberation is a fulltime job. The horse of samsar (worldly life) and that of sannyas (renunciation) cannot both be mounted at the same time. It is never possible to ride these two horses together. Choose one. I do not tell any of you to become a sannyasi and seek moksha. But I do exhort you all to do dharma purusharth. It is an easy purusharth and it is to your benefit. You will not be able to undertake moksha purusharth because it is very difficult. But you protest and ask, ‘Are we that weak? Granted that it is difficult, but that is what we want to do.’ Brothers, how will you do the difficult purusharth when you are unable to do the easier one? You do not consider how you are going to undertake moksha purusharth when you are not even able to undertake dharma purusharth! There are some robed sannyasis seated here – ask them how difficult or easy it is. Nothing is easy. Every goal calls for effort.

All of us have to observe the manav dharma, the human dharma and that has two aspects as I told you earlier – conventional social interactions and paramarthic or supreme objective. You are properly taking care of the first; there is no need for me to guide you in that. But you are not taking proper care of the latter. I say to you all, take proper care of that too. I will tell you now what you should do if you want to take proper care of the paramarthic aspect of dharma. It does not matter if you do not read even a single Scripture. I tell you as the essence of all the Scriptures – do eight types of karmas and that will constitute dharma. They are called vihit karmas. Vihit means prescribed for us by the Saints and Sages on the basis of the Scriptures. You are familiar with the word ‘prescription’. That is what the Doctor writes out for us when we fall ill. We consult him when we fall ill; he feels our pulse, taps our chest, and then scribbles out something on a piece of paper – that is a prescription.

The prescription states whatever our ailment is and prescribes the medication we are required to take for it to get well again. He even prescribes how many tablets, when and how – one tablet morning, noon and night, with water or milk. You take that prescription to a medical store and hand it over to the store attendant. The store attendant reads the prescription and delivers the prescribed tablets to you. You inquire about what it costs and hand over the payment and return home and start medication just as prescribed by the doctor, so many tablets per day, with water or milk or tea, just as prescribed.

Do you entertain any doubt about the prescription or the tablets you have been given? Do you even raise a question to anyone? You do not ask the Doctor what he has determined from feeling your pulse, or what he has written on the paper he has given you as a prescription, what will happen if you do not take the tablets prescribed. Have you ever done any of this? You took the prescription and went to the medical store and the attendant there gave you something in a packet. Have you ever inquired if the packet contained the very tablets the doctor has prescribed? You did not even question the charge and paid up whatever he billed you. Then you came home and took the tablets just as the doctor ordered. How much is your faith in all this – in the doctor, in the medication prescribed, in the packet the medical storekeeper hands over to you and even in the mode of consumption, morning, noon and night, with the exact liquid prescribed whether milk, water or tea or whatever? You do all this with shraddha, right? You have not entertained any doubt in any of all this.

We Saints are also Doctors for the people of the world for their disease of bhavaroga, the disease of existence, the malaise of being. We feel your pulse and advise you, “You are suffering from bhavaroga”, (laughter). After having reached this diagnosis after feeling your pulse, we tell you the medication you need to take for eradicating this disease. This medication is the eight types of vihit karmas. Do these twice daily, in the morning and evening. If you do this as advised, your bhavaroga will be eradicated.

But here you doubt. You start questioning. “Muniji, suppose we do not do all the eight vihit karmas? Suppose we do not do them twice daily? Suppose we have to go on a visit outside? You say do five rounds of the beads twice daily, but suppose on some days we cannot do so?” I say, alright, don’t do it, I have no problem with that, but this is for your good. You have faith in the doctor who treats your body because you want to eradicate your body’s disease. You want to take the medication he prescribes because you love the body. I give you medication for eradicating the bhavaroga of your Jiva (Soul) (applause) but you do not want to take it because you do not know the Jiva and you have not yet established a relationship of love with Jiva. You think it is not necessary to remember Jiva so long as the body is functioning. Let Jiva go its way to its own destiny. But, brother, after this body is gone, we are left only as Jiva. The Jiva is our true identity and it is that which you should be worrying about. Be concerned about what you have laid in store for this Jiva during this given lifetime. You have done everything here only for the body. Scriptures prescribe eight vihit karmas for the welfare of the Jiva. This prescription has been written by the Saints and Sages. We are all suffering from bhavaroga. If we wish to be cured of it, we are required to swallow eight types of tablets every morning and evening. I can even tell you the names of all these eight tablets.

The first tablet is ‘be astik’. This means, have faith in God, have faith that there is God, that God exists. Many in this kali yug have started saying, ‘I do not believe in God’. God might be led to think, “Alright, this time I have given you human birth, but it is now only a matter of time till you come back here. I have a tail waiting for you’. All of us have to return from here to our maker and if we say that we do not believe in God it is going to be very hard to answer him when we get there. If we lie there, “No Lord, I never said this there”, God will correct us, “Brother, twenty-five times have you declared that you do not believe in God, and now you tell me that you never spoke thus?” God does not require any witness; he is witness to all. Therefore, be one of faith, have faith, and do not be an atheist. Scriptures say that hell is the destination of the atheist. I say assuredly that the bus to the world beyond has already been reserved for the Jiva who says that he does not believe in God. God has reserved a seat for him in a bus and this bus goes directly from our earth to hell. There is a board on the bus saying ‘Earth to Hell’. God will place the atheist in this bus on the seat reserved for him so that he does not have to disturb any other passenger for a seat. He has to get down from the bus only when it reaches hell. This is the assured future of the atheist. So, be astik, one with faith.

You are all astik, of course. When you go to the world beyond and if Chitragupta says you were an atheist, then invoke my name as your witness. I will tell Chitragupta, “No brother, this one is a truly astik person; he used to come often to our Tridev Temple for the Lord’s darshan; he used to listen to my discourses (applause); further, if he was not dozing, he even applauded occasionally. So I will bear witness that you are a good Jiva. All of us have gathered here today because we are astik. So this is one vihit karma which is to our credit. So, this is one tablet we are consuming for curing ourselves of bhavaroga.

The second tablet is Dev Darshan and the third is Dev Pujan. Darshan here is viewing of an image of God either as idol or pictorial representation, etc. Pujan is worship. If we are astik and believe in God we should do darshan and pujan both in the morning and evening everyday. We do darshan when we go to the temple as well as when we are at home. We keep a picture of God in the house and maybe an idol also. We stand before them and join hands and that way do darshan and offer our obeisance. We should perform daily worship also both in the morning and evening. Should we go to a temple and should arati happen to be in progress, we get the benefit of having performed Dev Pujan. It may be that it is the priest who is performing the arati in the temple but he is doing so on our behalf. By remaining present in the arati, our act of Dev Pujan is noted in the Lord’s book. We merely have to stand there devoutly. It is the priest who is performing the arati but the Dev Pujan gets recorded in our account. I tell everyone, God keeps his eyes open for a short time while the arati is going on and takes note of all those who are present, takes a photo. There is a c.c.tv camera in God’s eyes; once a photo has been imprinted there, no further proof is needed!

In case we do not go to the temple but worship at home we should do it in the same way that a priest does in the temple, that is, with the prescribed ceremony having sixteen steps. If we do not know how this is done, we should learn it. That is why we encourage everyone to attend our Culture Centers. If you go there, you will get to learn all these useful things for that is what we teach in our Culture Centers. It takes ten minutes to complete the worship in the prescribed ceremony of sixteen steps and in those ten minutes we thus perform three vihit karmas – we display astha (faith) in God, we do Dev Darshan and we perform Dev Pujan. By now, we have thus swallowed three tablets.

The fourth tablet is mantra jap or repetition of mantra. For that, one has to receive a mantra from a realized Guru. Scriptures have established a rule that mantra initiation has to be taken from the mouth of such a Guru who has mastered a mantra. When the realized Guru articulates a mantra and you hear it with your ears, the vibrations of that mantra travel via your ears to your heart and get established there. If we do jap of a mantra received from such a Guru, we too can master that mantra in future. However, if we lift some mantra from some book or such source and start reciting it, it will yield us no fruit even if we recite it a million times. Concerning this there is a sloka in the Scriptures to the effect that ‘a mantra is not mastered if initiation is taken from a Guru who has not understood the secret meaning of the mantra, who has not experienced mantra chaitanya (activisation of mantra) and who has not attained yoni mudra in yoga sadhana’. Yoni Mudra is a mudra of yoga and it is achieved only in yoga sadhana. Thus, we should take mantra initiation from a Guru who has understood the secret meaning of the mantra, who has activised the mantra chaitanya and who has attained yoni mudra in his yoga sadhana. Only then will mantra jap benefit us.

In our spiritual lineage we have got all these three – mantra chaitanya, the mantra’s secret meaning and yoni mudra. Dadaji had passed on all this to Bapuji and Bapuji had passed it all on to me. (Applause). If you have shraddha (faith) in me, then believe that in our lineage we have a realized mantra. If you have taken mantra initiation in our spiritual lineage, discard all doubt, have faith and perform mantra jap with confidence. Whoever receives mantra initiation in our lineage is given guidance as to how many japas to do and how. So this then is the fourth tablet of the prescription.

The fifth vihit karma is trikal sandhya. This has two words – trikal and sandhya. Trikal means three times. What is sandhya? The word is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘sandhi’, meaning ‘to join’. Sandhi is the point of time when day and night meet. When does this happen? This happens twice daily – once when the night ends and day begins and later again when day ends and night begins. Both are called sandhi kaal or time of joining and represent the morning and evening times. There is yet a third sandhya which is the noon time of the afternoon representing the divide between the time before and time after noon. We should do sandhya puja (worship of the sun) at all these three times. Our life has been made possible because of the sun. There would be no life on earth without the sun. The sun is a life giving energy and we should worship it three times a day at the three sandhyas.

The sixth vihit karma is ‘vrat’ or the observing of fast. Fasting can confer great benefits. You may wonder what benefit there could be in remaining hungry - at most conservation of some food, but other than that what else? This is not the only benefit of fasting. Read the Scriptures to know the many benefits of fasting. I will tell you the benefit of just one prescribed vrat. You must all be observing the fast of the eleventh day of the two fortnights of the month (according to the lunar calendar). I am turning to the ladies and asking this question of them because I know they observe this fast and am not asking the men because I know that they do not do so. All the men believe that vrat is something that the wives and daughters must do, not themselves. They are partly correct, for there are certain Vrats like the Jaya Parvati Vrat, that only the ladies should do; but this Vrat of the eleventh day of the two fortnights of the moon can be done by all, men and women alike. Thus, barring the few Vrats prescribed only for women, the rest can be observed by everyone and everyone should observe them.

Concerning the benefit of the fast of the eleventh day, Scriptures say that if you observe this fast from the age when you understood the significance of its observance to the end of life, you gain heaven in the next life. Thus, you are saved from gaining a tail. (Applause). There is no question of going to hell. It grants you a direct entry to heaven. Is this an ordinary benefit? Will you all observe this fast now? (Audience responds from all sides ‘yes’. Muniji addresses the ladies next). In that case I shall now tell the ladies not to cook for the adult males of the family on the eleventh day of the two fortnights of the month! And, Brothers, in future do not hustle the ladies to give you food even though you become hungry on this day. They will remind you, “Not today, today is the eleventh day”. Your response is likely to be, “That was just something to say before Muniji but it can’t be taken seriously”. In turn they will remind you that once you have given your word here, it will be kept and you will receive no meal that day. Well, I have not told the ladies yet; you have time to consider the matter but now when you speak do so with proper understanding. (All the men say ‘yes’ to denote assent). Very well then, I shall now tell the ladies. (Muniji next addresses the ladies) From now on do not cook food for the adult members of your family on the eleventh day.

Sisters! You are observing the fast of the eleventh day since before, so you all have nowhere to go except heaven. The male members will come back here if they have left unsettled karmic debts. Brothers! All these ladies will go to heaven and you may have to come back to wander the earth again. Instead, do something to avoid that possibility. These Vrats are worth doing. They are not trifles; their reward is very great. Attainment of heaven is a very great reward. You do not seem to be tempted by this great fruit but I expect you to be quite tempted by a small fruit about which I will tell you and you will start observing the fast of the eleventh day in right earnest. Do you want me to tell you what the small fruit is? (All say ‘yes’).

You are all very clever, intelligently looking for a short cut, wishing that Muniji would show you some easy way. There is a short cut but not a genuine one. Suppose I tell you, observe this fast and as reward one hundred Rupees shall rain from your roof at night. I am certain that from the next eleventh day none of you would eat on that day! Today is the seventh day. Try this out on the fourth day from today. No money will of course rain from the rafters. But suppose God were actually to cause money to rain from the rafters as reward for your fasting on the eleventh day, would any one of you miss the opportunity of making some quick money? The point of the story is that we do want the reward of fasting on the eleventh day but as wealth (dhan) not as dharma benefit. The Vrat confers a dharma benefit that can gain us heaven. So all the prescribed Vrats are worth observing. Observe them with conviction.

The seventh vihit karma is satsang. First, let us understand the meaning of this word. It means association with Truth. What is Truth? Truth is Brahm; ‘Brahm satya, jagat mithya’ states a principle of Indian Scriptures, meaning Brahm is Truth, the world is untrue. Brahm means God, Paramatma, the Supreme Soul, who alone is True. For the rest, the entire manifest creation in which we run about is untrue, false, illusion. That being the case, with whom should we associate? Surely, with Brahm, with God, with Paramatma, with Truth, not with untruth, not with the created manifest universe. There is no benefit in association with untruth. There is benefit in associating with Truth. This is the meaning of satsang.

If we desire to associate with God, how can we do it? If God were to come here we would hold his hand and walk along. Walking with someone is called ‘sang’. But God is unlikely to come down from his spatial abode. But his idols are present in our temples and our homes. It is satsang if we sit before such an idol of God and worship and pray. It is satsang if we take ourselves wherever God’s glories are being sung and participate in the event. God’s glories are the stuff of the kathas that take place in our society. Wherever there are Ramayan or Bhagvat kathas, these are nothing but delineations of the character and works of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. It is satsang if we listen to these kathas. It is satsang if we participate through singing and clapping in bhajans and kirtans of God anywhere. If some saint has come to our village or town and is talking about dharma and spiritual welfare, we should listen to his discourses; that too is satsang. Thus, we can do satsang in many ways.

The eighth vihit karma is dana, charity or donation. This last tablet is one that all of you are familiar with. I know you make donations. You do not lag in this. You think it can replace the other tablets you do not take. You may say, will it not do if I do not do mantra jap myself and engage some Brahmin to do it on my behalf and compensate him for it? Is that not dana too? Brother, you believe that if the Brahmin does the beads on your behalf and you pay him for it, that should be enough. But there is no going to heaven without dying oneself first. Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagvad Gita, “The Soul itself has to ensure its own welfare”. We do not get the fruit of another’s effort even if it is done on our behalf and compensated with our money. We do not tell the Doctor, “This tablet which you have prescribed for me, please you take it on my behalf morning, noon and night. Here is the money for it”. Were we to do so, the Doctor might accept our money but is hardly likely to swallow our tablets on our behalf. He profits by the arrangement but we gain nothing from it. This is what happens if we try and get someone else to do the vihit karmas on our behalf. We will only be cheated and there will be no benefit. Vihit karmas are something that we have to do ourselves and also to do every one of them. Of course, dana is one vihit karma that you do yourself. This is a dharma karma worth doing.

We must consider the quantum of dana also. Scriptures enjoin that one should donate twenty-five percent of one’s earnings in Satya Yuga, twenty percent in Treta Yuga, fifteen percent in Dwapar yuga and ten percent in Kali Yuga. Now, consider, does the dana that you do compute to ten percent of your earnings of twelve months? Even if it computes to less than ten percent, it is good that you do dana dharma; many do not set aside anything at all for dharma but utilize all their earnings for themselves and their family. Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagvad Gita, “One who cooks only for himself out of his earnings and consumes it alone, partakes of sin”. There is nothing wrong about maintaining ourselves through what we earn through our sweat. But it is not in order if we utilize everything only for ourselves. This is like partaking of sin according to the Gita. Therefore spare something, ten percent if possible, out of your annual income as Gds share and donate it for some work of dharma. If we can do this much, we are not guilty of partaking of sin.

All of you do give dana no doubt, but this is only one of the eight vihit karmas. You are astik, so that makes two vihit karmas. You do Dev darshan sometimes but not daily. The number of those going to a temple daily for Dev darshan is small. You have kept a place for God in your house, no doubt, but you take little care to see his condition, whether is he hungry or thirsty, whether a lamp is lighted before him daily or not; all this the ladies worry about but not the men. That is why I say, heaven is a certainty for the women (Applause). Brothers, you have nothing to applaud here (Applause). The God seated in our home is not just the ladies’ God but God of the whole family. If we do not have time to go to the temple for darshan, this can be done at home too.

Dev Pujan should also be done daily. Not much effort is involved in going to the temple at the time of the arati; all we have to do is to fold our hands and stand there devoutly. But if we want to do Dev pujan in the house, we should do so according to the prescribed sixteen steps. We should go to the Culture Center and learn how to do this in the prescribed way. I believe very few of you must be doing trikal sandhya. This also needs to be done in the proper and prescribed way. This too can be learned at the Culture Center.

You will ask me, “Will it not do if we do not do all the vihit karmas and do just a few?” I say to you in reply, it is you who is suffering from bhavaroga. How can I have any objection if you do not want to be cured of it? But if you do want to be cured of it, you will have to do all this. All this is in your interest, for your own benefit. Our Culture Centers impart instructions about Dev Pujan, Sandhya and vrat or fasts – which are the prescribed fasts, which should be done in what manner and what is the dharma benefit of each, all this can be learned from our Culture Centers. This is why these Centers have been started. It is through these Centers that we have to endeavor for the resurgence of our sanatan Sanskrity or eternal culture. We have established a pravritty paksh for doing this work. You should become a part of it and render service in its activities.

I had gone into seclusion for the first time in 1979. I wanted to do nothing other than sadhana. I had no desire to do any other activity. I got sannyas initiation in 1971. Since then I was engaged in yoga sadhana. Thereafter, I continued to do sadhana in total seclusion from1979. I used to cook my own meals then and also wash my own clothes. So it was unnecessary for anyone to enter my residential quarters. At the time of Bapuji’s Maha Samadhi in 1981, the leaders of the spiritual family told me that since Bapuji was no longer there, there was difficulty in receiving guidance when this was needed. They requested me to come out of seclusion at least on three occasions in a year and meet the spiritual family – Guru Purnima, Shiv Ratri and Bapuji’s nirvan anniversary. I accepted this request and since then used to emerge from seclusion and give discourses to the family on these three occasions in the year. I remained in seclusion for all the other days of the year. This schedule remained undisturbed and unaltered till 1984.

In 1985 I experienced some difficulty in my legs. It was medically diagnosed that this problem had arisen because of ill-nutrition since I ate so little. I had to be hospitalized for treatment. In this way, Dadaji gave me a compulsory vacation. My seclusion resumed after I had recovered my health. In 1989 I had a relapse and once again had a problem with my legs as before and I had to be hospitalized once again. Thus, I got a second small vacation. Once more I became normal and again returned to secluded sadhana.

In 1993, Dadaji showered his grace on me and gave me darshan and commanded me to take up the task of resurgence of our ancient sanatan sanskrity and establish and manage a pravritty paksh. (Applause). When I started this work, I had said in my discourse that since Dadaji had assigned me this task I should do it and wanted to do it. “I am the only worker at the moment”, I said at that time. “If you would like to join in this work, give me your support”. You were all members of our spiritual family, but I did not compel any of you, nor insisted that though this task was assigned to me you should also do it. Instead, I said that I was the only worker, I did want to do the work assigned, but if you have interest in it and have a desire to give me your support, then willingly join in the campaign.

From that day on, all of you are no doubt lending me your support, but a little short of complete. You do attend all such occasions as the present one, but the true task of our pravritty paksh is that of resurgence of sanatan sanskrity and propagation of the science of yoga. None of you take enough interest in that. The work of the pravritty paksh has to be done by you, the non-renunciant members of the family; the nivritty paksh is for the renunciants, the sannyasis. The sannyasis will guide you but beyond that the work of propagation is something that you have to do. There needs to be a cadre of workers of the pravritty marg. If you experience embarrassment in wearing the vestments prescribed for the members of the cadres, then by all means wear normal clothes. There is no objection to that, but do take up the work. I am aware that many among you do wish to render full-time service but you are not aware of the service you are called upon to do. It will be arranged that you become fully informed about this. You have to go among the people and do the work required, which means you have to work wherever you happen to be located. So it is not necessary that all of you should stay at Jakhan to render service. If you need guidance about what and how to do, that too will be available. We will have training classes for this wherever necessary. Everything will be arranged, but first you need to demonstrate your readiness to shoulder this responsibility.

I started campaign work for cultural resurgence in 1995. Up to 2006, I traveled through many states of India and Nepal, toured the villages and towns not just in Gujarat but also Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and all the way to Nepal. I went to all the places where Gujarati or Hindi languages were understood and spoke to the people about culture. I do not know the southern languages, so it was pointless to go to the Southern states. That is why I did not go to South India. In February 2007, I reverted to seclusion again and resumed my secluded yoga sadhana. It is exactly four years to the day today.

Dadaji has again given me a short vacation. I have just returned from this short vacation of three weeks. I started the tour from Kutch and went up to Mumbai and Pune. All of you gave me so much love during the tour and helped the Life Mission with a great deal of enthusiasm, for which I give you my thanks. When I went into seclusion in 2007, I told Yogini Maiya to take up the work of propagation if that suited her. But she told me, “Muniji, I want to do only sadhana, I too am a sannyasini and I too wish to make progress on the same path as you”. I thought, if someone wants to be exclusively engaged in sadhana I should not say no. I will not compel anyone to engage in activity even against his or her desire for I myself do sadhana and I know very well that in this path you cannot ride two horses at the same time. So I told Yogini Maiya, “Alright, you do sadhana”.

Four years later the scenario has changed. There is need to organize and activate the cadres of pravritty paksh as ordered by Dadaji so that the work of the resurgence campaign can be implemented properly, speedily and widely. Now, if Yogini Maiya is prepared to take on the work of cultural resurgence, I can give her this authority. Yogini Maiya, are you ready? She consents. (Applause). All those in ochre robes seated here in front are also Saints of our Lakulish Family. They should also assist in this work. The work entrusted by Dadaji is my work and if I am the Guru, then my disciples should do this work, and with full dedication and application. I say to all of you, give me time, but if these people shoulder this work I will certainly get time for my sadhana. It is my wish that these initiated disciples and all of you worldly disciples together take up the work entrusted by Dadaji. If that happens, I can be free of worry and can further my yoga sadhana. I too wish to attain my goal. (Applause).

We wish that Dadaji inspire us all and give us strength so that we may devotedly apply ourselves to the work entrusted to us. May Dadaji shower his mercy and grace on all of us; may all our souls be blessed; may our future existences be better, and , if there is power in our sadhana, then well may Dadaji grant us liberation, such is my hearty prayer. May the blessings of Dadaji and Bapuji descend on us all. With this, I conclude my address.

With love, Jai Bhagvan to all.