How should one constantly contemplate upon God?

For this, Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj discloses a secret.  He tells us to chant the divine name of God with every breathe that we take.  Our mind needs a base to which it can get attached.  Otherwise, how will you attach your mind?  So the solution is to firstly, chant his divine name.  When you chant his name, your mind will naturally think about God.  So, chanting of God's name is a very good means of absorbing your mind in God.  Besides chanting, you can also visualize and meditate upon the divine form of God.  The third point is to think and sing the glories of God's qualities.  He is the friend of humble souls and purifier of sinners; He is the ocean of mercy and Grace, more beautiful than infinite cupids.  He is the soul of our soul.  By contemplating upon these qualities of God, we should divert our mind towards him.

You should think about the leelas (pastimes) of God - He is sitting, we are fanning him while he rests, he is sitting on a swing, etc.  You can imagine any leela of God as per your wish and meditate upon it.  In addition to the leelas, think of his divine abodes.  If you are unable to concentrate upon God then you can think about Vrindavan.  Think that the tree nearby is a divine tree from Vrindavan.  From every leaf, the sound of chanting of 'Radhey Radhey' is emanating.  Or, you can meditate on the form of the Guru.  The main point we have to remember is that God has infinite Names, infinite Forms, infinite Attributes, infinite Pastimes, and infinite Associates, and that are all one.  They all reside within each other.  Therefore, God's divine Names, Forms, Pastimes, Abodes, Qualities, and Associates, all belong to the divine realm of God.  By meditating on any of these areas, your devotion is strengthened.  This is the foundation for practicing devotion.  If you attach your mind to any of these divine attributes, it is divine and you will get the divine result. 

Satsang - Explanation by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

 

You would be familiar with the word satsang.  Sat means "Saint" or "Divine Personality" and sang means "to associate".  If sat, the Saint, is genuine and our sang, association with him, is also genuine, then we will attain our ultimate goal of God-realization and divine bliss.  The Vedas state:

                                            tadvigyānārthaṁ sa gurumevābhigachchhet
                                   samitpāṇiḥ śhrotriyaṁ brahmaniṣhṭham (Mundakopanishad)

A true Saint is one who has complete knowledge of the scriptures, and also practical realization of God.  He should be able to impart to us the theoretical knowledge of the Vedas.  Furthermore, he should have attained divine vision of God.  He must possess the treasure of divine love bliss.  If someone has a cheque book but nothing in the bank, what can the cheque book achieve?  If one merely talks about God, without having surrendered to him and having attained divine love, then that talk will merely increase ones pride.

What do we mean by sang or association?  It can be of three kinds.  We possess three things: body, mind, and soul.  Amongst these three, what must we associate with God and the Saints?  Scriptures say that we must associate all three.  The surrender must be complete.  God says we must offer all that we have in our possession.  It is true that whatever we have is impure and dirty, but we must offer it anyway.  God does not expect us to offer him divine things from Golok.  He says, "Whatever you possess, offer it all to Me."  Of our three possessions, the mind is the most important.  This mind has two states: mind and intellect.  The advaitis (monists) mention four states, but that is not important.  In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna has himself mentioned only two states of the mind: 

                                                    mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya

"Arjun!  Offer your mind to me, and offer your intellect also to me."  Arjun thought, "The mind is one, then how is he is asking for two things?"  Shree Krishna said, "Yes!  Yes!  There is only one mind, but it has two states.  When it thinks, it is called the mind, and when it takes decisions, it is called the intellect."

Thus, it is mainly the mind and the intellect that must associate with the Saint.  And of these two, the intellect is more important.  The mind is a mere servant of the intellect.  It simply does what the intellect tells it to do.  You people say time and time again, "Oh!  My mind does not want to think of God.  My mind is telling me to sleep.  My mind is telling me to go away from here."  Granted the mind may be telling you to do all this, but you must learn to control it with the intellect that God has given you.

God Alone is Ours

Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj says that God has declared in Vedas that he alone is everything. All the souls belong to him. All of us who think that our worldly relations with our mother, father, husband, son, etc. to be true are actually ignorant. This is because they are temporary and stay with us until the point of death. We will again create new relationships in our next and subsequent lives. We may take birth as not just human beings, but other lower species too. In that case, a dog, a cat or a bear can be our father! In the same sequence, we have already made infinite fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, etc., in our past infinite lifetimes. We can't trace them now. We can't reach them. So how can they be truly ours?
 

Just as waves are born out of an ocean, collide with each other and separate after sometime. The relation of a wave with other waves is temporary, whereas the relationship of a wave with the ocean is perpetual (it comes out of ocean and it merges back into ocean). Similarly, the soul, which resides in our body, will transmigrate into another body after death.  We will have a physical mother of that body again. There are 8.4 million species of life and we (soul) have traveled from one species to other because of our good deeds and sins. This human form is received very rarely.  It is scarcely available even to the celestial gods of heavenly abodes. 

                                      divyo deva eko nārāyaṇo mātā pitā bhrātā suhṛit gatiḥ

“O souls! I alone am your mother, father, brother. Not even this but everything you can imagine!” 

The material world and material relatives are all temporary. None of them are truly yours. You get deceived in every life by believing that your father of this current lifetime is your real father. It is nothing but a play-act of limited time period. So we should contemplate upon this fact repeatedly that we are eternal souls over and above our physical body. Soul is our real identity. So if this knowledge is firm, our mind will be detached from the worldly relations and we can attach our mind towards God with ease who is our true relative!!!

Detachment

jaga mahañ sukha dukha dou nahiṅ, asa ura dhari le jñān
sukha māne dukha milata hai, sukha na jagat mahañ mān

Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj explains the true meaning of the word ‘detachment' and attachment’.  Most often the word ‘attachment’ is associated with love.  But this is not the complete meaning of the word.  Attachment means absorption of the mind.  This absorption of the mind can either be through love or even through hate.  Thus, whether it is through feelings of love or feelings of hate, or in any other way, the absorption of the mind in all cases is referred to as attachment.  When there is neither attachment through love nor attachment through hate that state is referred to as detachment or Non-attachment.

Ved Vyas ji says:

kāmaṁ krodhaṁ bhayaṁ snehamaikyaṁ sauhṛidameva cha
nityaṁ harau vidadhato yānti tanmayatāṁ hi te

“Whether the mind is attached to God through lust, anger, fear, love or through any other emotion, the result is attainment of God.”

Saint Kabir said:

kabirā khaṛā bajāra meṅ, sabakī māṅge khaira
nā kāhū soṇ dostī, nā kāhū soṅ baira

Detachment is living in the hustle and bustle of the world without feelings of friendship or enmity towards anyone.

Once you detach your mind from the material world, only then you can think of attaching it to God. We have only one mind and there are two areas where it can be attached-either in this material world or in God. There is no third realm where it can get attached. If our mind is engrossed in the thoughts of this material world, how it can love God?

The mind is attached to the world, because it is the firm decision of the intellect that there is definitely happiness in the material world.  In order to detach it, our intellect should make a resolution in every possible way and accept the fact that there is neither true happiness nor sorrow in the world.  When you think that worldly objects are the source of happiness, then, in their absence, you will feel sad.  Accept this fact that there is no real happiness in the world.

 

SHED TEARS FOR GOD

Shedding tears will purify your mind, everyone remember this, memorize this statement of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj. Cry out to God like an innocent child, Shree Krishna (God) will come running. Throw away all your knowledge, all the dirt-garbage that you have accumulated. When you realize yourself to be an insignificant, weak, shelter less, humble, fallen sinful soul, from within, then tears will start flowing incessantly, then your mind will be purified, and then Guru will Grace you. With the Grace of your Guru, you will see Shree Krishna (God), you will receive the Love of Shree Krishna (God) and you will be blissful forever. 

MIND - THE PERFORMER OF ALL ACTIONS

There are just 2 areas - Divine God and the material world. The mind alone is the performer of all good and bad actions. If the mind is attached to God, you will attain Divine Knowledge and Divine Bliss. If your mind remains attached to the material world, you will continue to suffer in ignorance and misery.

Therefore, you should always practice detaching the mind from the world, and attaching it to God alone. For this, rupadhyana, loving remembrance of Shri Radha Krishna is absolutely essential. Attentively listen to the divine words of your Guru, strictly follow his instructions and engage yourself in devotional chanting, Sankirtana.

Always feel the presence of Shri Krishna and your Guru with you! Avoid committing spiritual transgessions.

INCREASE PATIENCE,HUMILITY AND MODESTY

Patience, Humility, Modesty are all divine qualities, you should increase these. The more these qualities increase, the more your Sadhana has progressed and one person tells you a sentence and you are feeling it from within then you have not done Sadhana. You are under a false impression. You are merely uttering Ram Ram, Shyam Shyam, Radhey Radhey, this is not enough. (Always remember to do Roop Dhyan, bring God in your mind). Increase so much humility that you develop this hobby that someone criticizes you and you do not feel it. Someone says in front of you that you are selfish, cunning, a cheat and a miser and you are feeling happy - Yes, you are right. Only Hari and Guru should remain in your mind, there should be no other matter of Raag or Dvesh (Matter of Love or Hatred) in your mind. You all practice this for your own welfare and it will also make Me happy.

FROM THE MOUTH OF JAGADGURU

There are just two areas- Shree Krishna and the Material world.

The mind alone is the performer of all good and bad actions. If the mind is attached to Shree Krishna, you will attain divine knowledge and divine bliss. If your mind remains attached to the material world, you will continue to suffer in ignorance and misery.

Therefore you should always practice detaching your mind from the world, and attaching it to Shree Krishna alone.

For this, Rupadhyana , loving remembrance of Shree Radha Krishna is absolutely essential. Attentively listen to the divine words of your guru, strictly follow his instructions and engage yourself in devotional chanting, Sankirtana.

Always feel the presence of Shree Krishna and Your Guru with You. Avoid Committing spiritual transgressions.

- YOUR’S KRIPALU