Amrit Nath Ji Maharaj
Babaji Maharaj
babaji Maharaj
Field where Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj did tapasya for 12 years
Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj at the time of Govindnathji’s samadhi
The cot on which Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj used to sit while talking to disciples
Shri Shraddha mandir at Laxmangarh ashram
Books
Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj wrote one book ‘Adhyatmik Sikshya’ or Spiritual Knowledge. Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj’s disciples have written number of other books on their beloved Guru Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj.
- Spiritual Knowledge
- Pure Love
- Eligibility of Disciple
- Sadhana (Spiritual Practice)
- Âsana
- Dhyan(Meditation)
Introduction
Since my childhood I had special love and devotion [shraddha] for saints and Gurus. I always respected and helped my parents and elders. They (parents and elders) also had special affection for me and their blessings have always been there for me.
My philosophy has always been that the man should first build a noble character. After building a good character, the man should fulfil his responsibilities with utmost commitment. Neither try to cheat nor mislead any one by giving false hope. Conduct yourself with honesty, openheartedness and truthfulness with everyone; then look for the divine truth within you. The path of love and honesty towards everyone is the easiest way to spirituality. I have always believed in building a noble character and hated bad habits. Who ever came to me with love and faith, I have guided him on this path and gave him affection. Mostly educated youth have come in my contact.
This spiritual knowledge will remain beneficial for everyone. After reading it, don’t throw it in the dustbin; adopt it in your life. It will especially inspire and guide the spiritual knowledge seekers. There is nothing mine or ours in this, whatever is there, it is because of the blessings of Shri Gurudev.
Shri Shraddhanathji Maharaj
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Spiritual Knowledge
Addhyātm vidyā sār hai, jivan kā adhār.
After acquiring true knowledge, the saints teach that; The spiritual knowledge is the essence of life.
Honesty, non-violence, celibacy, contemplation on God and having firm faith in the teachings of Sat Guru; the essence of these five is that a man should conduct himself with high morals considering the entire mankind as God. Among all the living beings, human being is the highest evolved specie; therefore a man must conduct himself with wisdom and good deeds. If by carelessness or due to certain circumstances a wrong deed is done, then it is not a sin but it is a mistake. However, if one goes on repeating wrong deeds and does not realise the mistakes, then it is a sin. By realising and accepting the mistakes, one brightens his future. One, who accepts his mistakes, should be forgiven. A man who follows a moral character, he only succeeds in the spiritual path. Speaking ill of somebody in his absence, is a sign of weak character. Whatever one has to say he should say it upfront and honestly. Nothing ill can happen to the one who is honest. It is always best to stay away from drugs, alcohol and bad company. Drugs or alcohol make your mind unstable and weak. Why does one need intoxicants when one is intelligent enough to know their ill effects?
By taking pure satvik food (i.e., vegetarian with minimal spices and oil) one is also able to control his senses and develop his intelligence. Always avoid bad company and bad karmas. A man should strive for celibacy as a celibate man has higher strength than a man who is just physically strong.
Celibacy develops intelligence, body becomes strong and one gets the inner strength. Practicing lifelong celibacy is superior, however, if this is not possible then while leading life of a householder and practicing controlled celibacy is also good. There is nothing impossible for a man who has control over his senses. Look at all women as you look at your mother. Do not read any pornographic literature and always avoid bad company. A person should first build a good character since in a man’s life a good character is his ever shining jewel. By adopting faith, devotion [shraddha] and love in your life, you should always remain steadfast on the path of truth.
Earn your living by working honestly and truthfully; spend your hard earned money correctly. Never waste even one penny of your hard earned money and always treat the money you haven’t earned as dirt. Spend a proportion of your hard earned money on charity and well being of others. Fill your stomach not your cupboards (paet bharo, peti nahi bharo). Be a man, don’t be an ant. You live and let others live. By living in hope, live like a strong man, don’t be a coward. You should walk on the path of truth and lead others also on the same path. Take what is due to you; don’t take what is due to others’. As you have the rights, others also have the same. You want to remain happy, others also want the same. If everyone is like us, then why do we want to hurt others? God has created everyone, then why do we differentiate between one another and why do we hate others? If we see goodness in everyone, then why would we be bad for others? If we are living on our hard earned honest income, then why should we behave like slave to others?
By rejecting what is not true, we should always take sides with the truth. Those who love us we should love them twice as much. Those who do not love us, we should not hate them. By having utmost faith in our deity, protecting the self [atman-raksha] is our first duty. Time is priceless. A man should always make good use of his time. Time which is gone will never return. Similarly human body is also priceless; it [human birth] is difficult to obtain it again. To ensure it [human body] doesn’t go wasted; enjoy the benefits of praying to your God while continuing to do good karmas. Never leave truth and love. He only can become great who remains unaffected under praise and criticism; loss and gain; suffering and happiness. Having sympathy and pity for poor and needy is a great religion. Perfect harmony between mind, voice and act is true austerity [tap]. Rather than aspiring to earn more money, earn friendship of your fellow beings by following the path of love.
Containment is the mine of all treasures, Renunciation is the crown of spiritualism, Without love the humanity is meaningless.
Having good conduct and pure satvik food is very essential for spiritual practices. Stealing starts with telling lies. One should give up stealing, telling lies, cheating, violence and lust in mind, speech and action. God has given this human body to help others. What good are those who do not help their nation and society? The one who works for the good of his nation and society is great. Great people do not live for themselves, but for others. After giving up the low thoughts of status and inequality, one should spread the message of love and service to others with a firm conviction of brotherhood. Treat your poor brothers, not as beggars, but as your brothers. Time changes everything. With time a poor can become rich and a rich can become poor. Everyone is helpless against time. This is God’s play.
A man should reduce his own personal needs and help others. Treat everyone equally with love. Be content in what you get. To remain content is a great asset. Greed is poverty. Hope is life. Despair is death. Peace is heaven. Hue and cry is hell. Ignorance is the cause of suffering. Attachment bounds a man. Freedom (from desires) is liberation. This world is a dream – dreams vanish when one opens his eyes, similarly what one sees with open eyes vanishes with the moment eyes are closed. Both these are dreams. Think why are you born? What is your duty? What are you doing? Is what you are doing correct? What would you be leaving behind when you leave this world?
That which perishes after being created is untrue. What is untrue has no significance of existence. Truth does not lose its significance of existence over time. Lying diminishes the power of speech and as a result one loses his power of self. That which is everlasting is truth. A truthless man lacks wisdom and discrimination (‘aviveki’). Knowing the truth is called wisdom and discrimination (‘vivek’; ‘vivek’ can also be defined as clarity and awareness). Such persons with wisdom and discrimination are called ‘Satpurushas’ or Men of truth. One with self-confidence (‘atmavishwas’) is a theist. Of all the powers, strength of unshakable will power (‘atmashakti’) is the greatest power. One, who attains the strength of unshakable will power, always succeeds in every task. Mostly the grace is of three types:
- God’s grace
- Guru’s grace
- Own grace
Life is short and hence treat it as invaluable and spend some time in contemplation of God. Believing deity as omnipresent, one should always feel his presence everywhere. Always have full trust in your Guru’s teachings and always follow his instructions. Liberation can only be attained by the grace of Guru. This spiritual knowledge is valuable and needed for everyone, but it is specially needed for the younger generation as these are the pillars of the society.
Society follows them and hence they have to take the lead on the spiritual path. Those youngsters, who do not perform selfless service, have no love and lack spiritual knowledge, are worse than the hopeless & lazy old people. Look! – one is a fool and the other works and behaves like a fool; is there any difference between the two? Both of them are fools. Greatest foolishness is that a man forgets righteous actions and turns towards his downfall. A clever man is the one who keeps his character clean. Knowledge is that which is full of humanity and without ignorance. Until the man follows spiritual knowledge, the society and the country will not make any progress. Every man should consider his duty to follow spiritual knowledge – he should adopt the teachings in his heart (soul), should wake up without any fear and become brave. By realizing God as omnipresent, the man should have firm faith in God. Through spiritual discipline he should enjoy the bliss (atmananda). If you have truth, devotion [shraddha; shraddha also means wholesome inner disposition of the mind], faith, selfless service attitude and love, then you have greatest of the great strengths with you.
Today’s youngsters should take interest in spiritual knowledge as spiritual knowledge, in combination with physical science, will be more interesting and relevant – similar to the way a full moon night is decorated by the shining moon. You should take a firm pledge from today itself in the core of your heart to follow these spiritual rules and instructions strictly.
(After giving a due thought, take strongest pledge within you that you will never waiver from this path irrespective of the circumstances encountered on account of place, time and type of people around you).
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Pure Love
Man should have pure love towards each and every human being. Love is the top most attribute of the man. Love is one thing that is dear to one and all. Love affects all human beings. One may have any nature or attribute but love makes its own place in his heart. The level of influence of love depends on the nature and thinking of man, however, I will say that man should have love towards all living beings and one should never think ill of others. Have pure love towards God Almighty and Satguru. Even if one is ignorant of this, one should love all human beings. Some people feel physical love is the true love but that is not true. Love is from the soul. Where there is slightest tinge of selfishness in love, then it is not love, it is an attachment (moha).
Love should be selfless and from the core of the heart (soul). There are no ifs and buts in true love. True love, once it is there it never breaks. If it breaks, it is not true love, it is artificial love. Once water is mixed with water, the duality vanishes. Whether water is sweet or saline, once mixed cannot be separated. Love in humans is like fragrance in flowers. A man without love in his heart, is like a flower of Rohit in a forest which has no fragrance but it looks beautiful. Regarding love, Lord Christ said, “In human beings only love is like a divine light in the sentient soul which enlightens all around like the sun”. Many other great souls have also narrated that a person devoid of love cannot succeed in anything.
Only a person with love in his heart can become peaceful devotee and a Yogi. Virtues like perseverance, forgiveness celibacy, service, kindness, benevolence etc can only be acquired by a heart full of love. It is my firm faith that love should never be forgotten. In this path of love, even if we have to face hardships or sorrows and a person develops enmity with us due to his ignorance or misunderstanding, then also we should love him. Our love will transform his enmity feeling into love towards us. Even if he does not part with his enmity in any way, he will not be able to harm a person having a heart full of love, provided the love is true and pure. I have seen many people who seem to be devoid of love but sprouts of love are present in their hearts too.
Soul is always thirsty of love therefore the love should be at the level of soul to soul. It may happen that a person may try to harm another person due to some misunderstanding or ignorance. This is not a subject of argument; it is a matter of realization. It is not a matter of surprise if a person speaks ill of and tries to harm a true lover, even then the heart of a lover will never be empty of love, it will always be full of love.
In every heart the flower of love has a desire to blossom, but every one does not get the opportunity. The man whose petals of lotus viz heart are dried and wilted, the dew like drops of peace and bliss do not drip there. His heart remains void of love. The wind of unhappiness due to scorching heat of negative attributes like lust, anger, ego fear, jealousy, hatred, desire, selfishness, worry etc blows there. The hot blows of above negativities wilt the buds of love and no fragrance develops there. Then there is neither presence of love nor happiness felt around him. But those whose lotus viz heart is blossomed the nectar like drops of love and bliss keep dripping there day and night. By going in the vicinity or company of such a blessed soul, it is experienced as if a draught of cool, slow, sweet and scented air is blowing around there. There only, every soul gets a peace of mind and happiness. There can be another example of love like this , that a seed of a tree is kept for 12 years inside a covered utensil but no tree is seen in that seed. Is it that there can be no development of a tree in this seed? No it is not so, in fact, due to non availability of its diet the seed remained a seed. But, whichever seed gets the required soil, water, air and light, it slowly becomes a lush green tree. Like this every human heart is certainly having the seed of love but who ever does not get the diet of love from the company of Satguru and virtuous people, there is no development of love in his heart whoever gets the company of Satguru , love arises in his heart and he becomes a lover. The great souls have called this type of love as ‘Pure Love’.
Pure love leads to realization of God and liberation of self (soul) from the Bhava Sagar. My philosophy has been that who ever comes in my contact, I love him selflessly, guide him on this divine path and help him to become a true lover. My philosophy also has been that I love more than those who love me but those who do not love me; I am not averse to them also. If you have come to me, first be pure and selfless lover prior to learning my teachings. After becoming a pure lover, start loving all souls.
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Eligibility of Disciple
(While sitting in front of the guru the eligible disciple’s heart gets filled with love and body is immersed in joy such that he looses body awareness and blissful tears roll down from his eyes.)
When true disciple sits in front of his Satguru for sadhana (spiritual practice), he forgets himself. The waves of unlimited love start springing out from his lotus-heart. While contemplating when the disciple starts getting engulfed in the love of God, an ocean of love gets overflowed in his heart, which cannot be accommodated inside him. In this state of happiness his throat gets choked, he becomes overjoyed and speechless. His joyous heart starts evaporating and in the end it reaches to Brahmand (sahasrar/crown chakra, a lotus with thousand petals) through the agya chakra (a two petal lotus in between the eye brows) making him unconscious of the body. His state becomes like that of an immovable idol. To attain this state the disciple should have firm faith, determination, will power and heart full of pure love, which will take him to the true everlasting blissful state of Paramananda (unlimited, non-differentiated, peerless joyous state). This state only is called dhyan samadhi.
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Sadhana (Spiritual Practice)
(Body gets cleansed by taking bath with water and mind is purified by contemplating on the Sat (the everlasting truth). The self (atman) is purified by remembering lord Shiva and foolishness is removed by acquiring knowledge. )
In order to do Yog-sadhana (spiritual practice) there should be a lonely place with a pure (clean and serene) surrounding environment. For practicing spirituality make your life pure and pious. Understand how to sit, stand and speak. Speak little but slowly, sweetly in a low tone. Whatever you want to say, say it in fewer words.
Eat less, sleep less and lead a life with tolerance and contentment. Do not trouble others for the sake of your self-interest. Always remain happy within your self. Practice your sadhana regularly at a fixed time. Do not give up your Ishta (personal god) and principles of life. Do asanas, exercises and travels. Take suitable simple pure vegetarian food as per your body requirements. Do not eat dried mango parings, sourly, smarting and pungent stuff. Lead a balanced life with subdued passions and controlled celibacy. Avoid speaking ill of others and envy. Do not hoard more than your requirements. Love all but do not get bond aged in attachment. Have tolerance, forgiveness, kindness and contentment. Do contemplation on pure Conscious Godhood, maintain firm belief and faith on the words of guru and love him.
(Do your spiritual practices with love and enthusiasm, it will fulfil your aim of life. By the kind grace of the deity (isht) you will reach your destination of God-realisation.)
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Âsana
For spiritual practice an Âsana (posture) is very essential, because unless you master an Âsana it is impossible to achieve siddhi (mastery) in sadhanâ. Therefore the spiritual practitioner should certainly do âsana-sâdhanâ. There are two types of âsanas: – first types are done for keeping the body healthy and the second types are done for yog-sâdhanâ. The âsanas, which are helpful to the spiritual practitioner in achieving siddhi in his sâdhanâ and enable him to sit in one posture for a long time without any discomfort, are known by the names siddhâsan, padmâsan and sukhâsan
The Method of Siddhâsan
The practitioner should do sidhâsan at a clean and serene place. The place of âsan should not be flexible, springy and uneven. The neck, waist and spine should remain erect. The correct posture of siddhâsan is given below: -Place the heel of left foot in between the anus and penice, and right heel on the penice. Place right palm over left palm in the lap just below the navel region or place both the palms on the respective knees or keep both hands folded in the lap. If you keep your eyes open, then look at tip of the nose. Do not look at elsewhere If eyes are kept closed, then look at the pure light up above the mid of the eyebrows. Remember the word given by the guru and contemplate on the Ishtdeo. Always breathe through the nostrils and never be unaware of the breath going in and out at the nostrils.
Siddhâsan is the best of all âsanâs.It keeps sexual passion under your control, reduces flickering of mind resulting into mental peace, makes your heart and lungs strong and cures ailments like Asthma, cough, internal diseases, dyspepsia, diabetes, seminal disorders, bed wetting etc. A householder desirous of controlling his sexual passion and keen to progress in spiritual sâdhanâ can practice siddhâsan without any inhibition or fear of loosing sexual potency. It helps in pranâyâm, gives you control of your sexual energy without any loss of potency, enables to achieve controlled celibacy and a healthy mind in a healthy body along with spiritual advancement.
While practicing this âsan, the food habits and style of living should be as per laid down yoga rules and discipline. Practitioner should take extra milk and ghee in the diet and observe brahmcharya during sâdhanâ period. Practice of siddhâsan up to 15-20 minutes is very beneficial, however it should not be practiced beyond half an hour at a stretch.
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Dhyan(Meditation)
First of all the aspirant should prostrate and pay reverence to his satgurudev. He should sit in a lonely place in siddhâsan and start meditating after quieting his mind. He should dispel all subjects of senses from the mind. Turn the extrovert tendencies of mind into introvert. Fix the inner sight in between the eyebrows and have darshan (vision) of the pure light like glow there. Repeat the recitation of guru mantra.
Dissolve the self into the ever lasting, ever existing, pure, blissful, infinite, and conscious Godhood. This indefinable state of infinite bliss (Paramananda) only is called meditation. Fearless devotion, firm conviction and faith of being always merged with the infinite divinity and unwavering thoughtless state of meditation are the ultimate highest states of contemplation of Godhood.
Practicing this type of meditation for 15-20 min is very essential but if practiced for one hour daily as a fixed routine, it will take you to the final and perfect state of meditation; rest is dependent on the degree of love, devotion, faith, sincerity and perseverance of the aspirant towards his Isht and Gurudev Shri Nathji Maharaj.
Om! Peace (shānti)! Love (prem)! Bliss (ānānd)!
Guru Mahima Saar
Shri Shraddhacharit Amrita
