Practical Advice for Spiritual Life
Devotion is performed by the mind, and the scriptures agree. In his Bhakti Shatak, couplet 19, Jagadguruttam Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj writes,
bandhana aura moksha ka, karana manahai bakhana. yate kauniu bhakti karu, karu mana te haridhyana
“The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation; therefore, the involvement of the mind is necessary in any form of devotion a person practices.”
If we desire to progress on our chosen spiritual path and overcome the challenges along the way, we must ensure that our mind remains healthy. A healthy mind is spiritually receptive. It enables us to minimise the effect of worldly challenges. We must strengthen our mind by thinking more and more about God and Guru, and less and less about the world. Shri Maharaj Ji gives lots of practical advice regarding how to care for the mind. Let us consider a few points, in brief.
Never be complacent
Never think that you have done enough. When it comes to the world, we should say, “Yes, I have enough. I have done enough.” A person traversing the path of devotion should always think that they have enough of the world. But when it comes to practicing devotion, we must never think we have done enough. In fact, we should become greedy to do more and more devotion. The mind should always be excited about seva, sadhana, and satsang. Never think you have heard enough, seen enough, read enough etc. until you have attained God. Be greedy for God, and not the world.
Choose your words wisely
Words are very powerful. They can take us to God, and they can drive us away from Him. Listen only to those words that inspire you to love God. When we hear the divine words of our Guru we become immensely inspired. His beautiful compositions and divine words work wonders for our mind. We must listen to those words that make us love God and Guru and take us away from the vices of the world. When it comes to speaking, we should only speak when it is required and not senselessly. If we speak indiscriminately, we not only harm ourselves (because we think before we speak) but the person listening to us too. By speaking sweetly and sensibly, our words will have a nice effect on our listener and on us.
Humility, generosity, simplicity, tolerance
Work to develop humility, generosity, simplicity and tolerance, four essential qualities that will ensure we make spiritual progress. It is said that humility is extremely dear to God and that He has an aversion to pride. Actively work to reduce pride by becoming humbler. Pride robs us of our devotion. Whatever we have gained is destroyed in an instant by pride. Accept that there is a lot of pride within. It is only when we are aware of our shortcomings that we can work to overcome them. It is only when we are aware of our vices that we can work on removing them.
Never pay lip service to God or Guru
Feel the devotional words sung or uttered in prayer or praise of God. Strive hard to live by them. If we just sing or utter them without the corresponding feeling inside, then remember that no one can pull the wool over God’s eyes. God is seated within, taking note of all our thoughts. Utter these words and be inspired to become more and more like them.
Eat for spiritual benefit
Everyone knows that the food we eat helps or harms our body. But do you know that it also helps or harms your mind? If our food is pure, vegetarian, not over spiced or over fried, that food is considered pure or sattvik and it will have a similar effect on the mind, making it easier to practice devotion. In other words, we are what we eat. The same is also true for every sense organ. We must be cautious about what we see, what we hear, what we touch, what we inhale and what we eat because all this influences the mind. It will either help or hinder devotion. We are not yet Saints who can live in this world and not be affected by it. We are affected by everything that we hear, see, taste, touch and smell. Therefore, an aspiring devotee should always practice discretion.
Keep the right company
We are beginners on the path of devotion. Even highly evolved spiritual aspirants have fallen back into the world because of the company they have kept. We should not think that nothing can harm us. We are easily affected by the company we keep, the foods we eat, the music we listen to, the videos we watch, and so on. Though we may not know it or feel any difference, it is affecting us.
Don’t be a spiritual window shopper
When we are already walking on the path of devotion; we have settled on a path, we have a Guru and our chosen form of God. We are happy with everything, and we are beginning to make progress. Why go elsewhere? Have respect for all paths and all forms of God, but do not go around listening to the discourses of others. Life is short and we must achieve our goal. Why go here and there? This will just cause confusion. Who goes shopping their whole life but never makes a purchase? By being here and sometimes there, we will end up going nowhere.
Do not read the scriptures
Every scripture has a clause that says not to read it unless you are a lover of God. In other words, only a Saint has the right to pick up a scripture. How are we going to learn the Vedas and the scriptures? Through the Guru, he is a Saint. He will simplify the concepts, reconcile the contradictions, and explain it all to us in such a way that we will understand. Is it not incredible how much we have come to understand already through Shri Maharaj Ji’s grace? Even children in his satsang have understood so much. We did not learn all this by reading scriptures. We learned only by listening, listening with faith to a genuine Guru. And this is what the scriptures say too. Learn from the Guru. Nowhere is it written that we should read scriptures on our own. Only a genuine Guru can make sense out of the scriptures, and he feeds that knowledge to inquisitive souls like a mother feeds her child. By reading scriptures, we will get nothing but confusion. The more we read them, the more confused we will become.
The scriptures we should read are Prem Ras Siddhant, Bhakti Shatak, Radha Govind Geet, Shyama Shyam Geet, and so on. We should read Shri Maharaj Ji’s books and listen to his discourses, but we should not read the scriptures.
If we follow these simple instructions, our spiritual resolve will strengthen, our mind will be protected from harmful intruders, and our progress is certain.
Jagadguru Kripalu Bhaktiyoga Tattvadarshan
