To Love HIM or To Not Love HIM - The surest way to reach God - by Swami Mukundanand
Main Points:
1 gyani says there is only one entity Brahman and nothing else, that this world doesn't exist, it's all an illusion, you yourself are God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=0 2 shankaracharya realized this problem, he says one must always (1) respect The Vedas, (2) must always respect the guru and (3) must always respect his material mother, is saying these three personalities even the sannyasi must respect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=90 3 so if the guru is there and we are there, we are already in “dvait” (,i.e., not one, but two) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=154
(reference on “dvait” (द्वैत, i.e., not one, but two): He is the supreme eternal. He is the supreme living entity. So the whole yoga system is to concentrate mind on the Supreme Self. We are not Supreme Self. That you can understand. Supreme Self is God. This is dvaita-vada. Duality. Duality means God is different from me. He is supreme. I am subordinate. He is great, I am small. He is infinite, I am infinitesimal. This is the relationship. https://vanipedia.org/wiki/Prabhupada_0656_-_Those_Who_Are_Devotees,_They_Have_No_Hate_for_Anyone
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Gyan yog sadhana has its limitations, through gyan yog sadhna, the gyani comes to know the self, however that gyani is still not liberated, gyani at his peak, has destroyed swarupa varika (like) Maya, he has not destroyed guna varika Maya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=167 5 Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita: Arjun this Maya will not go by gyan yoga, whatever you do it will only go by My grace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=199 6 so if a Gyani's Guru is a brahmagyani not an atmagyani, that Guru will say, yes beta now surrender to Shri Krishna, “Aham Brahmasmi” ("I am Brahman") - this will not take you any further https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=239 7 so the gyani at the very end, also surrenders to God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=293 8 Tulsidas ji he says in the Ramayan, this Maya is not mithya, it's not an illusion, it is a Shakti of God so you may keep on saying “jagat mithya”, but your work will not be done, only when Ram ji (God) does His grace will you get liberated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=370 9 the way to reach God is through bhakti, although there are so many paths, each path requires the addition of bhakti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=409 10 That yog is kuyog (bad yog) which doesn't have bhakti in it and then gyan is agyan which is not imbued with love for God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=540 11 somebody can say if bhakti is essential, then why are all the other paths there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=557 12 the reason is everybody's sanskars are different, based on sanskars many people are not able to develop faith in bhakti, bhakti is the easiest, what is the difficulty, it is lack of faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=591 13 I just need to love God and I will attain him - people cannot believe that how can it be so simple to attain God - so they unnecessarily look for cumbersome methods - listen to examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=617 14 God does not need us to sleep on a bed of thorns, He is ocean of grace and mercy, He says (first have faith in Me) close your eyes and run,but some lamppost or tree may come in the middle, Shri Krishna says don't worry I will maintain the yoga kshem ( https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/22/) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=762 15 although bhakti is so easy because people don't have faith in it that is why all these other paths are there but the day you develop faith in the grace of God, your bhakti path is clear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=792 16 so Jagatguru Ramanujacharya said: three kinds of people approach God : (1) the first are those for whom God is the means and the world is the goal ,i.e., such people say katha “सुख संपत्ति घर आवे , कष्ट मिटे तन का” such people never attain God (2) the second are those for whom the world is the means and God is the goal, by this yagya, I will attain him by this kind of practice, I will attain him, in other words, by my practice I will attain him so they also don't attain him and for the (3) third God is the means and God is the goal, their whole faith is in the grace of God how will I attain Him ? by His grace, it doesn't mean I just sit down doing nothing but I will put in my best effort to attract His grace but I know always that my effort is finite and unless His grace comes, I will never consummate (complete) this journey so that faith in the grace of God helps us develop Nishtha (faith) towards bhakti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=815 17 that nishta (faith) in God is very important - like digging of wells example (listen) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=929 18 what we have been doing in endless lifetimes, is a little bit of this and a little bit of that... (hence we are still not God realized) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=970 19 those who give up material desires and engage in Devotion to God, will cross over the ocean of birth and death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1064 20 Take the bow (धनुष) of vedas / upanishads and put on it the arrow of bhakti and let the edge of it be भाव (sentiments), with this, now you go to hunt for the Supreme Divine entity, in other words use scriptural knowledge to do bhakti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1131 21 there is one Bhagwad Gita which Lord Krishna spoke to Arjun and there is Udhav Gita which Lord Krishna spoke to Udhav (best & closest friend of Krishna since childhood), Udhav was a renounced paramahans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1158 22 look it is only through bhakti that I am Known, He says look Arjun, God is everywhere but by bhakti alone and no other means now (I am known), when He says by bhakti alone that should become good enough but Shri Krishna knows that these worldly souls will still do तर्क वितर्क कुतर्क so He says by no other means (other than bhakti) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1186 23 without engaging in Bhakti you will not cross over this ocean of life and death, this is an irrevocable Divine principle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1297 24 when Jesus was asked “you gave us so many instructions,tell us what is your most important instruction, so he said the first and foremost commandment is to love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and all thy might and all thy soul that is the most important commandment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1331 25 Veda Vyas, he wrote the Mahabharata which has the Gita embedded in it, he wrote the 18 puranas, he wrote the vedanta darshan and after all this he started thinking what is the conclusion of all these scriptures, to read all the scriptures you need a lifespan of 500 years,who can live till the 500 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1427 26 So Ved Vyas ji thought that let me encapsulate it and give it to all the people, it is interesting to know How Ganesh ji helped him write these shastras https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1479 27 in the 18 puranas, there are 4,00,000 verses & out of these there are 8,000 koot (difficult) shlokas, such verses which are so intricate that even Ganesh ji had to think, however look at the ability of Veda Vyas he doesn't even need to think, he just goes on speaking to Ganeshji https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1640 28 in the Padma puran Shri Ved Vyas ji is saying, our Lord, I have churned all the scriptures and contemplated over them again and again they are all telling us that we need to love God and attach our mind in loving absorption upon God & that is the conclusion of the scriptures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1663 29 Kabir ji's famous words “पोथी पोथी पड़ जग मुआ, पंडित भया न कोय, ढाई अक्षर प्रेम के पढ़े सो पंडित होय” he says reading the pothies (granths), the whole world passed away, nobody actually became a Pandit but these two and a half syllables of प्रेम Prem (Love) the one who understood and made it practical is the true Pandit, the Bible & the Quran Sharif also support same point https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex9yfGdNsNY&t=1708 Transcript 0:00 so the gyani the advice now remember advaith is not the only 0:07 interpretation of vedant advice 0:13 he says there is only one entity Brahman 0:19 and nothing else 0:29 so there's only one entity Brahman then what is this world 0:35 the gyani says it doesn't exist it's all an illusion 0:40 but then if there is one entity then there is God and there is me so we are 0:46 Two, the gyani says you are under confusion you yourself are God 0:53 so there is only Brahman and nothing else and you are Brahman 1:01 however if there is only Brahman and nothing else 1:06 then what are The Vedas from which you are getting Gyan of Brahman 1:14 because if you accept The Vedas then there is Vedas and there is Brahman so 1:19 there are two and if you say that The Vedas are mithya 1:24 then how can you get knowledge of Brahman from the mithya Vedas 1:30 shankaracharya realized this problem in his philosophy so he said before brahmagyan Vedas are 1:38 Satya and after brahmagyan Vedas are mithya 1:43 when we all know something that is Satya is always Satya 1:49 and second who is the guru then if there is only one entity then who is 1:55 the guru shankaracharya himself is admitting 2:11 he says as long as you live even this vedanti sannyasi must always 2:19 respect The Vedas must always respect the guru and must always respect his 2:27 material mother, is saying these three personalities even 2:34 the sannyasi must respect so if the guru is there and we are there 2:40 we are already in “dvait” (द्वैत) (,i.e., not one, but two) now we came to this point that (reference on “dvait” (द्वैत, i.e., not one, but two): He is the supreme eternal. He is the supreme living entity. So the whole yoga system is to concentrate mind on the Supreme Self. We are not Supreme Self. That you can understand. Supreme Self is God. This is dvaita-vada. Duality. Duality means God is different from me. He is supreme. I am subordinate. He is great, I am small. He is infinite, I am infinitesimal. This is the relationship. https://vanipedia.org/wiki/Prabhupada_0656_-_Those_Who_Are_Devotees,_They_Have_No_Hate_for_Anyone 2:47 through Gyan yog sadhana it's a genuine sadhana I am not saying it's wrong I'm 2:53 only giving its limitations, through gyan yog sadhna, the gyani comes to know the self 3:03 however that gyani is still not liberated 3:10 he has destroyed swarupa varika (like) Maya, he has not destroyed guna varika Maya 3:19 for guna varika Maya Lord Krishna says in the bhagavad-gita 3:32 Arjun this Maya will not go by gyan yoga whatever you do it will only go by 3:41 my grace, so the gyani in samadhi realizes 3:47 I have reached the last stage of this sadhana 3:53 and Maya is still there now what to do 3:59 so the manduk upanishad has got an interesting mantra 4:04 it says the mukt will have to get mukt 4:12 in other words he was thinking I will be mukt but he is not mukt 4:18 now he will have to get truly liberated by grace of God 4:24 so if his Guru is a brahmagyani not an atmagyani 4:31 that Guru will say yes beta now surrender to Shri Krishna 4:38 surrender but guruji you are saying just keep on repeating “Aham Brahmasmi” 4:45 Beta, this will not take you any further now you need the grace of God and for that 4:53 Grace you will have to surrender so the gyani also at the very end 5:01 surrenders to God hence I was telling you in the morning the bhagwan Gita says “verse” 5:16 this is the end stage of Gyan marg and what is the last one fourth line of 5:25 that verse 5:30 now he's doing bhakti and through bhakti, next verse, now he comes to 5:38 know God so Kripalu ji Maharaja is saying that look when that gyani does 5:47 Krishna bhakti by God's grace he gets 5:52 Brahma Gyan and in the path of yog we already 5:57 discussed patanjali has himself said it “samadhi 6:02 siddhari ishwar pranidhanat” that for siddhi you will have to surrender 6:10 and tulsidas ji he says in the ramayan, verse 6:23 he says this Maya is not mithya, it's not an illusion 6:32 it is a Shakti of God so you may keep on saying “jagat mithya” 6:39 Your work will not be done, verse 6:49 Only when Ramji does His grace will you get liberated from Maya so the gyani has to 6:57 do bhakti to complete the path, the ashtang yogi has to do bhakti to 7:03 complete the path and the bhakt doesn't need any other sadhana, verse, 7:20 in other words the way to reach God is 7:26 through bhakti although there are so many paths 7:33 each path requires the addition of bhakti 7:38 just like there is the mythical Amrit, Amrit is the Divine ambrosia 7:47 you drink it and you become immortal so if you like you take Amrit by itself 7:57 or if you like you mix it in water and take it you will still become immortal 8:03 or if you like you mix it in milk and take it you will still become immortal 8:10 but what is making you immortal is not the water or the milk it is Amrit 8:18 similarly bhakti you can mix with Gyan and it becomes full-fledged Gyan yog 8:27 or bhakti you can mix with ashtang and it takes you to the goal or else you do 8:34 bhakti by itself but if you remove bhakti then what happens 8:41 Yoga, kuyog - tulsidas is getting so annoyed he says verse 9:00 That yog is kuyog which doesn't have bhakti in it and then gyan is agyan which is not imbued with 9:08 love for God in other words bhakti is essential for 9:17 reaching God now this somebody can say if bhakti is 9:24 essential then why are all the other paths there 9:30 why is this complex part of gyan yog you go so high and then from there you do 9:38 bhakti and ashtang yoga why is this part so difficult why are all these paths created 9:45 why did God not just present the path of bhakti everybody do this 9:51 the reason is everybody's sanskars are different 9:58 based on sanskars many people are not able to develop 10:04 faith in bhakti, bhakti is easy 10:10 the easiest, what is the difficulty lack of faith 10:17 I just need to love God and I will attain him ah how can it be so simple 10:24 no no no no no no I'll tell you you leave your house and live in a cave in 10:29 the Himalayas and don't sleep on a bed you have to 10:35 sleep on a bed of thorns and you are not allowed to wear clothes otherwise everything will be wrong 10:42 and you should only eat dry leaves and for two hours every day you do 10:48 shirshasan you hang from the roof of your cave and you will meet God 10:53 ah this must be a wonderful sadhana , in other words if it's something is simple 11:01 we don't realize the value of it if it is complicated we think it must be very 11:08 special now if somebody says how do you do pranayama and I say you know you just do 11:15 the nasagra mudra and you do your pranayama so simple swamiji doesn't know anything 11:22 all right I tell you you take your left hand and you put it behind the back and 11:29 three fingers should be visible not the fourth otherwise it will be all useless and your right hand you take it over the 11:37 head and it must not cross the chin otherwise it will all be useless and now you do it 11:43 ah this must be a special pranayama right 11:50 see similarly somebody says how do you attain God 11:56 say love him and you attain him really ah, this is a bogus sadhna 12:01 love him and you attain him ? 12:08 Ok you do khand yoga I've read it in a book khand-yog means your meditation you have to split 12:16 your body into half and then you take out a lamp from there 12:22 and you offer that lamp to God and you will attain him, if God requires us to do those kinds 12:30 of things then he is not God he is a madman 12:36 if he is actually God why does he need us to cover ourselves with ashes why 12:42 does he need us to sleep on a bed of thorns God says 12:47 that 12:53 He is ocean of grace and mercy he says close your eyes and run 13:00 close the eyes and run but some lamppost or tree may come in the middle 13:06 Shri Krishna says don't worry I will maintain the yoga kshem you just come 13:12 towards me in other words although bhakti is so 13:18 easy because people don't have faith in it that is why all these other paths are 13:25 there but the day you develop faith in the grace of God 13:35 Now your bhakti path is clear, so Jagatguru Ramanujacharya said 13:41 three kinds of people approach God the first are those for whom God is the 13:49 means and the world is the goal 13:55 God is the means and the goal is सुख संपत्ति घर आवे , कष्ट मिटे तन का 14:07 so if God is the means and the goal is the world that is first category of 14:13 people they never attain God the second 14:19 those For Whom the world is the means and God is the goal 14:25 by this yagya I will attain him by this kind of practice I will attain him in 14:32 other words by my practice I will attain him 14:38 so they also don't attain him and for the third God is the means and God is 14:45 the goal their whole faith is in the grace of God how will I attain him by his grace 14:53 it doesn't mean I just sit down doing nothing I will put in my best effort to attract 15:02 his grace but my I know always that my effort is 15:08 finite and unless his grace comes I will 15:13 never consummate this journey so that faith in the grace of God 15:23 helps us develop Nishtha (faith) towards bhakti 15:29 and that nishta (faith) is very important you see people dig a hundred Wells 15:39 you dig in one place three feet water did not come out dig in the second place 15:45 two feet it's a bed rock out here water is not coming you dig in a third place 15:51 dig three feet four feet five feet you've dug a hundred Wells and water has 15:57 not come out anywhere and if you can make a firm resolve and 16:02 keep on digging in one proper place that water will definitely come 16:10 so what did we do in endless lifetimes a little bit of this and a little bit of 16:17 that swamiji I have been doing satsang for 16:22 the last 30 years how did you do satsang, every swamiji and 16:29 panditji ji who came to Dallas I went to listen to all of them 16:36 so then you must have got complete Clarity on how to attain God 16:42 what Clarity swamiji I am totally confused because one said that you yourself are 16:49 God the second one said that you do Homa (havan, yagya) and you will attain God and the 16:54 third one said that you attain nirvikalp (free from difference or doubt) samadhi and you will attain God and then I did a little of this a little of that 17:00 a little of this a little of that little I forgot little I remembered wrongly and little I made a khichdi of it all 17:08 so this is the example of digging a hundred Wells so through the scriptures once and for 17:16 all understand and fill it in every pore of your body how will you attain God 17:25 what do The Vedas say everybody understands what is upasana verse 17:44 those who give up material desires and engage in 17:51 Devotion to God will cross over the ocean of birth and death 17:57 and the shweta upanishad states yes 18:11 those who consider God and Guru as non-different and engage in their 18:18 devotion they shall get liberated from Maya 18:25 verse 18:51 Take bow of vedas / upnishads and put on it the arrow of bhakti and let the edge of it be भाव (sentiments) 18:58 Sentiments, with this now you go to hunt for the Supreme Divine entity 19:05 in other words use scriptural knowledge to do bhakti 19:11 and the bhagavatam says Udhav Gita 19:18 there is one bhagwan Gita which Lord Krishna spoke to Arjun and there is 19:31 Udhav Gita which Lord Krishna spoke to Udhav (best & closest friend of Krishna since childhood) so Udhav was a renounced paramahans 19:39 he is speaking to that renounced paramahans and he says 19:46 look it is only through bhakti that I am 19:52 known as 20:05 he says look Arjun God is everywhere but 20:12 by bhakti alone and no other means now (I am known) when he says by bhakti alone that 20:19 should become good enough but Shri Krishna knows that these worldly Souls will still do तर्क वितर्क कुतर्क 20:27 so he says by no other means (other than bhakti) now come to the ramayan 20:40 tulsidas he says come over to that Riverside 20:46 and they have an oil mill there is it a special oil mill yes they are 20:54 churning the river sand and extracting oil impossible how can oil come from Sand 21:02 then he says come over to my house I will give you butter 21:07 is it a special butter yes we churn the water and extract butter 21:14 again you will say impossible how can you get butter out of water 21:20 he says this impossible may become possible 21:37 but without engaging in Bhajan you will not cross over this ocean of life and 21:44 death this is an irrevocable 21:51 and irrevocable Divine principle so from The Vedas till 21:58 the ramayan every scripture has given us the same bhakti 22:05 and this bhakti is what the religions of the world talked about 22:11 when Jesus was asked you gave us so many instructions tell us what is your most important 22:18 instruction we cannot keep so many in our head so he said the first and foremost 22:24 commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy might and 22:30 all thy soul that is the most important commandment what to love God 22:38 is it so difficult to understand you are supposed to love God is it so 22:45 difficult what is the problem why can people not understand that you're supposed to love 22:51 God Shri Krishna says in the bhagavad-gita Veda is 23:03 he says Arjun by All The Vedas I am to be known 23:09 I am the creator of The Vedas I am the true knower of The Vedas and I 23:17 am the object of Vedic knowledge so what is the goal of all the Vedas to 23:24 know God now you can keep on doing your Kundalini jagran if you don't have faith 23:30 in God all right something is better than nothing but the day you have faith in God there 23:35 is no need of that you just do radhe radhe and keep trying to improve your 23:41 bhakti that is why you know this 23:47 story our panditji related a little while ago but just because it's topical 23:52 I will repeat it Veda Vyas he wrote the Mahabharata which has the 24:00 Gita embedded in it he wrote the 18 puranas 24:06 he wrote the vedanta darshan and after all this he started thinking 24:12 what is the conclusion of all these scriptures I have written so many scriptures what 24:19 is the conclusion of all these scriptures so to read all the scriptures you need a 24:25 lifespan of 500 years now who can live till the 500 years 24:32 dementia strikes by the age of 90 itself so even if we live we won't be able to read the scriptures the way it was 24:39 So Ved Vyas ji thought that let me encapsulate it and give it to them verse 24:51 I have churned all the scriptures and contemplated over them again and again 24:59 now I imagine if Ved Vyas starts contemplating what will be the consequence of that 25:07 because when he had to write the Mahabharata he did not need any contemplation 25:14 he said look I am not going to take a quill and write this 25:19 I will only keep speaking somebody needs to keep writing 25:25 who will write a scripture which has a hundred thousand verses 25:30 the people readied Ganesh ji is, The Giver of buddhi 25:39 Ganesh accepted he said I am prepared and I present myself you 25:46 keep speaking I will keep writing but 25:52 I have a condition you will not stop anywhere in between if 25:59 you do I'll put my quill down and I'll not pick it up again 26:05 and that was a challenge and with Ved Vyas felt a little doubtful 26:11 about himself I just keep speaking in case I need to think a little bit he'll 26:17 put the quill down and the scripture will become incomplete 26:23 Ved Vyas said all right Ganesh ji you have given me your condition 26:28 now I hear my condition I will continue speaking and you will 26:34 keep writing but whatever you write you will first understand the meaning of the 26:40 verse and only then will you put it down now he got some respite so he would 26:48 speak and Ganesh ji would understand right away and put it down, again would 26:53 speak Ganesh he would put it down but wherever Ved vyas needed a little break 27:00 he would compose a difficult verse so Ganesh ji would now start pondering 27:07 what does that mean and Ved Vyas would get respite he would go and do his 27:13 nityakarama his morning abolutions and take a little snack and return 27:20 that is why in the 18 puranas the 4,00,000 verses there are 8,000 koot (difficult) shlokas 27:30 such verses which are so intricate that even Ganesh ji had to think 27:36 however look at the ability of Veda vyas he doesn't need to think he just goes on 27:43 and on speaking that way that we are here in the Padma puran he's saying our 27:50 Lord I have churned all the scriptures and 27:58 contemplated over them again and again 28:07 they are all telling us that we need to love God and attach our 28:16 mind in loving absorption upon God that 28:22 is the conclusion of the scriptures and that is what all the saints said as! 28:28 well hence Kabir ji's famous words “पोथी पोथी पड़ जग मुआ, पंडित भया न कोय, ढाई अक्षर प्रेम के पढ़े सो पंडित होय” 28:38 he says reading the pothies (granths) the whole world passed away 28:45 nobody actually became a Pandit 28:55 and these two and a half syllables of Love Prem the one who understood and 29:02 made it practical is the true Pandit, who is the true pandit, who has learned 29:11 love for God although Veda said it, the Bible said it, and the Quran Sharif 29:18 it ends out here, verse 29:36 Allah has made you so that you love and 29:45 worship him one who does so is called insan and one who doesn't do that is 29:51 called shaitan so 30:01 your primary duty is to develop love for God and Guru nanak says a verse 30:25 there is no scripture like Gita, there is no personality like the guru and there is 30:32 no path like the path of divine love so how will you attain God 30:41 how will you attain God bhakti I thought we were all say in 30:47 unison how will we attain God that's right now the confusion of many 30:53 parts is all dispelled now we are firmly situated so he is 31:00 going to further elaborate on this path of bhakti we will see in the subsequent 31:06 verses
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To Love HIM or To Not Love HIM - The surest way to reach God Swami Mukundananda.mp4
