Nisaadhanta
Fourth Discourse - Page One

Naath sakal saadhan main heena
Kinhi kripa jaani jan dina
So kachhu dev na mohi nihora
Nij pan rakheo jan man chora

Let us once again , proceed towards the hermitage of Sharbhang, where Sri Ram along with Seetaji and younger brother Laxman have arrived.

Dekhi Ram mukh pankaj , munivar lochan bhrang
Saadar paan karat ati,dhanya janam Sharbhang

Yesterday we were acquainted with the scene, where Sharbhangji looked upon the face of Sri Ram which was as beautiful as a lotus flower.  Tulsidasji could not help exclaiming how lucky Sharbhangji was to have had the privilege of looking upon Sri Ram's face.  Tusidasji sings devotionally:

Nav kanj lochan, kanj mukh kar
kanj pad kanjaroonam

Which means: O Lord! Your face, eyes, feet are all as beautiful as the lotus.

A point to note, is that the place for the lotus flower is not the cupboard. Keeping it in a vase to enhance the beauty of your home may be alright, but the adequate place for the lotus flower is on the feet of the lord! But then you will enquire how to find the feet of the Lord?  For that you will have to keep waiting....keep crying....Keep looking upon the path from which the Lord will come!

Chitvat panth raheo din raati.  It would be wonderful if we could reach the lotus flower to the lotus feet of the Lord--but since that is not such an easy task--there is another solution--and that solution is to bring the Lord to your lotus heart, which is called: Mama hriday kunj.  How wonderful to bring the lotus to the lotus!

But then, how will the Lord find His way to our 'hriday kunj' (heart).?  Through our ears! By listening to anecdotes connected with the Lord's life (A katha). But there is one condition. As one listens to katha after katha, our ego which is like an unshakeable rock must melt away and allow the Lord to enter our heart.

Nisaadhanta does not mean to drop all your practices to achieve the Lord, it is rather to drop your ego, which claims "I pray", "I fast", etc.  But even when one tries to drop the "I" and the ego that goes along with it,  I feel that it is still the Lord's own Grace which is required in order to achieve Him.

Naath sakal saadhan main heena
Kinhi kripa jaani jan dina

'Jan dina' means to be ego-less, to have no false pride in all that you accomplish. Sharbhangji speaks rightly when he tells the Lord :" Until you come to us we are orphans."

My dear brothers and sisters, make the prayers, anecdotes and instances that occur in the Ramayana, a guide to your Spiritual life.

Nisaadhanta of Vibhishan

When Hanumaanji met Vibhishan (Raavana's brother) then the latter said:

Taat kabahu mohi jaani anaatha
kari ahi kripa bhaanukul naatha

Which means: "Since I am an orphan, I know that the Lord will one day think of me".  The above tenet is similar to 'Chitvat panth raheo din raati'.

Hanumanji asks Vibhishan "How come you believe that the Lord will have mercy on you when you have never even met Him?"

Vibhishan retorts that he has full faith in Tulsidasji who says:

Sunder saajan kripa-nidhaan anaath par.

which means that it is the Lord's nature to take care of one who depends on Him.

Once Bharatji was asked whether he knew how to run a kingdom. Bharatji replied that even though he had been taught, he had not paid much attention to it. (Probably because he knew that Sri Ram would ascend the throne. Besides he had full faith in Sri Ram) He claimed that he knew 'Raghunaath subhaau' ie Sri Ram's nature which was:

Apraadhi par koh na kaahu
Dev dev taru samish subaahu

Which means that His nature is to be merciful and love those who totally depend on Him. Vibhishan considers himself an orphan even though he has brothers like Kumbhakaran and Raavan and a nephew like Indrajeet! Vibhishan understands that he belongs to the demon (Rakshasa) race, and he asserts that he is not going to keep the above a secret! He is certain that the Lord is merciful, and the above will make no difference to Him.  After all if the Sun can rise in Lanka (the city of vice) as brightly as in Ayodhya ,then why would Sri Ram not accept him even though he belongs to the Rakshasa race.

Vibhishan knows that he is not able to reach the sun---but the Sun's rays do fall upon him........similarly he may not be worthy of the Lord but he is confident that the Grace of the Lord will descend upon him! Now Vibhishan says something similar to what Sharbhangji says:

Taamas man kachhu saadhan naahi

Which means that I have no means to achieve the Lord as I have a mind with negative tendencies.

When Sharbhangji says the next two lines he seems more dejected.

Priti na pad saroj man maahi

He claims that has neither the tendency to love nor the wisdom to pray. In such a case what can help but the Lord's Grace?

Suddenly at this point it seems like Vibhishan cheers up when he says the following lines :    

Ab mohi bha bharosa Hanumanta
Binu Hari kripa milahi nahin santa

Which means that now I have full faith in the Lord and His Grace as He has sent me a messenger in the form of a saint who is Hanuman himself.  The Lord generally introduces himself to his devotee through a saint, a guru ,a teacher. Hanumanji then gives further confidence to Vibhishan when he says: "Why are you worried about the fact that you are born in the demon race ? after all I belong to the monkey race which is restless and insignificant." Hanumanji stresses that even though he, and Vibhishan both may have no particular merits to achieve the  Lord, they must at least pray and take the Lord's name.

Vibhishan had to survive spiritually midst great odds and temptations (He lived in Lanka midst so much luxury as he was the brother of the ruler). Yet, when the time came to chose he opted to run towards Sri Ram. We also, at a time of adversity run here and there ,but we mostly move towards the wrong direction and not where Sri Ram resides.

An anecdote

I have told you this anecdote before. A certain saint went to Japan to give a lecture. Japan often experiences earthquakes, so there, they build houses which remain safe during such times. While the saint was giving his discourse, there was an earthquake. The people ran hither and thither while the saint remained in his seat undisturbed. When the earthquake subsided, the saint was asked how is it, that he remained unperturbed. The saint answered, "I also ran!" When the people claimed that they had not seen him go anywhere, the saint explained that while the people had run here and there, he had rushed within himself.

Similarly when Vibhishan found himself in trouble, he could have gone to Kuber, where he would have been well-received. But, he chose to go to Sri Ram. Vibhishan went to Sri Ram not desiring anything, and yet Sri Ram gave him the Kingdom of Lanka. Remember when you go to the Lord wanting nothing, He will embrace you and keep you close to His heart. He will fulfill you emotionally, materially and spiritually.

Become little

You might say that you are too materialistic to run towards the Lord. Then what to do? Then become little like Hanumanji did when he went to Lanka. To become small, symbolically would mean to become ego-less or to reduce ones ego. By becoming little, you will be able to enter Ravan's Lanka as well as the Lord's Heaven. Hanumanji met Seeta in Lanka. Ma Seeta said to Hanuman: "You are so small, how will you be able to fight against these big warriors?". Immediately Hanumanji's stature grew! This means that you may be little and ego-less, but you must at the same time remain big and strong to fight your enemies!

It is easy to hold a stone whereas it is difficult to retain a mustard seed. This means that when you become little, because of lack of ego and attachments, no temptation or desire will enslave you. You will be free!

Towards light

Darkness remains inside a room if you keep the windows closed. The minute you open the windows and allow the light to enter, darkness cannot stay!  Similarly even though you may have materialistic desires and tendencies, go for pilgrimages, move towards positive spiritual company, proceed towards the light!  Your desires and evil tendencies will burn away when they are exposed to the benevolent blaze of the Lord.

Mahaprabhuji says: "If you pray for material desires, it will take you, away from the spiritual world."   In fact one desire when fulfilled, gives rise to a thousand more.  But to say ,that we have no desire would be a falsehood-- So what to do now?  Surdas sings: 

Hamaare Hari
Avguna chit na dharo

Which means that "O Lord! I will accept the fact that You do not think of me, but then You must not think of my misdeeds either!".

Surdasji adds that a 'paaras' ( a philosopher's stone which has the capacity of changing any baser metal that it touches, into gold) does not make a distinction as to what it comes in contact with, it just converts it into gold--Then what to say of the Lord? Isn't He greater than the 'paaras'?  It follows that He would not discriminate between a sinner and a saint! Who-so-ever goes towards Him would become purified by His touch!  Does not a dirty drain become the magical, clean, Spiritual Ganga (river), the minute it merges into it?

As I was saying, the fulfillment of one of our desires gives rise to so many more! There just seems to be no end!  Mahaprabhuji provides another solution, he says:

Kaamna ko nishkaam
ya purna kaam mein lagaado

Which means: Make your desires move towards selflessness or towards complete fulfillment. The above seems to be an impossible task unless one gets attached to the Lord, who has no ego or desire, and is yet the perfect embodiment of  'complete fulfillment'. For example:  The gopis burnt with desire for Krishna, yet their desire posed no problem!  After you merge your desire into the Lord what other desire can arise?  So once you become desire-less there is no problem, and if you have a desire then, like Vibhishan run towards the Lord!