Ananyata - Exclusive Devotion to God

One of the most important requirements for spiritual progress is single minded devotion to God, i.e. Ananyata. 'Ananya' means 'no other', exclusive, or undivided devotion.

'Ananya Prem' means to love just one - God and nobody else.  If an individual's mind is attached to anyone or anything other than God, then he will not be called as an 'Ananya' follower. Loving God alone is what ananyata means.

We are attached to this world because we have forgotten our real identity.  We are eternal souls and souls are servants of God. Just like a machine in a car's engine. If a single wire is not in its place or the battery fails, the car stops working. Similarly, if our mind gets attached to this material world even for a second then we will not achieve our goal.

Let us use another example. Our mind is like a dirty cloth that has accumulated filth since innumerable lifetimes. Our aim is to wash it and make it completely dirt free. If we wash it with fresh, dirt free water, it will become clean.  But, if we wash it with dirty water, the cloth will become dirtier. What do we mean by 'clean' or 'dirty' water? All mayic objects are considered dirty in the divine realm. Only elements related to God are considered clean. Primarily, God and Guru are the purest and divine personalities.

We have only one mind and that should be focused on the divine, and subjects related to the divine only. There should be no place for anything or anyone else related to the mayic modes of sattva, rajas, or tamas. If we detach ourselves from all of these three, then our devotion will be exclusive and will be considered as 'single minded devotion' or 'Ananya'.  Hence, God asks us to be 'Ananya'.  To love God and God alone is what 'Ananya' means.

Materialism or Spirituality - Which way to choose?

According to materialists, the creation, development and destruction of the world are according to the rules of nature and not by the rules of God. They say that everybody wants happiness and by the fulfillment of every material desire, one can be happy. They believe that we are not eternal souls but mortal bodies, and by the fulfillment of the material senses one can be happy. The sense of seeing, hear, smell, touch, taste are five senses of our body. With the help of these senses we make use of this world. So, according to the materialists the means of happiness in this material world is this corporeal body. 

On the other hand, according to spirituality, we are eternal souls and not this physical body. This body is destroyable and is made up of five structural elements (water, air, fire, ether and earth) whereas, the soul ('I') is spiritual, eternal, and is an eternal part of God. Bliss is the other name of God and being a part of "Him", we naturally desire for 
happiness -

raso vai saḥ

Now which way to choose?

This is a very difficult question for an individual to answer. Every religion claims to be perfect in its own ways. The answer to this can be explained in the following way:

We have two entities - the soul and the physical body. It is true that we will achieve our goal of attaining supreme bliss only by surrendering to God, and that the soul needs God. Similarly, we have to realize that this body requires the material world because this body is made up of five elements and this world is also comprised of these five elements. 

No spiritualist can oppose a materialist, and no materialist can oppose a spiritualist. It is only with the help of this material body that devotional practice is made possible and without God-realization, mental afflictions, i.e. material desires, anger, jealousy, ego, etc. will never go away and we cannot have peace and happiness. Therefore, with the point of view of keeping our body healthy we have to do devotion. We have to keep our body healthy with the idea of serving and worshipping God.  If we don't provide the necessary proteins, minerals, vitamins and all the required nutrients to our body, we will surely fall sick and instead of remembering God we will only remember pain and misery.

To summarize, we could say that we have to follow spirituality along with materialism. This can be explained with the help of example:  

A nurse takes care of thousands of children in a hospital over her lifetime. She feeds and cleans them, gives them medicine, etc. She performs these tasks as part of her duty and not because she is attached to them.  Her love and attachment are mostly for her children and family. She does not love the babies in the hospital as much as she does her own. The sickness of her own child brings her anxiety and pain. She will do everything possible to bring her own child back to normal health at the earliest. 

But if a child falls sick in the hospital, the nurse will tend to it immediately and perform her duties well. Her reaction to the sickness will be quite normal and not emotional. She is not emotionally attached to the sick child.  In the same way, we have to perform our material duties without any attachment for sake of duty and not being bothered of the loss or profit. This is called as Karm-yog.

man hari meṅ tan jagat meṅ, karmyog tehi jān |

tan hari meṅ man jagat meṅ, yah mahān ajñān ||

 

Attaching our mind to this material world and worshipping God with our body and material senses is a sign of great foolishness.

Hence, both materialism and spirituality are necessary for us because we are spiritual by nature — soul and we have this material body. We need this material world for existence.

Who can bestow divine grace upon souls?

There is no personality that can even think of showering divine grace as long as they remain under the bondage of Maya.  Why?  A soul under the control of Maya cannot grace anyone as he does not possess divine love; how will he possibly give it to someone else?  Secondly unless someone is graced by God he cannot even dream of gracing others.  All our physical relations — son, daughter, mother, father, etc. are deceiving us.  Although they are devoid of any spiritual property and are like beggars themselves, they claim to give us love.  Until such time as they receive God’s divine love, they should not even dream of helping anyone else, for they have no divine property and hence they are not authorized to bless you with love.

Therefore, all souls under Maya cannot even understand the meaning of the word GRACE or GRACE of God, what to speak of helping anyone else!

सबै भिखारी जगत के, जेतिक नातेदार |
दिव्य प्रेम आनन्द के, तुम इक साहूकार ||

“All worldly relations are beggars, begging for love from each other.  O my master! My All-in All! Only you possess this treasure of divine love.”

Thus, God and his devotees (Saint) are helpless to do anything else but shower grace upon suffering souls.

Prem Ras Madira by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

The pastimes of the divine couple Radha Krishna have been depicted in these 1008 padas or devotional songs, that are divided into twenty-one madhuri’s or devotional sweetnesses in accordance with narrations in the Vedas, Puranas and other scriptures and the writings of the Rasik Saints.

An extraordinarily unique range of pastimes have taken place especially during the descension of Shree Krishna. These form the basis of these blissful, devotional chants recorded here. 

In this miraculous book, Shree Maharajji succeeds in evoking intense devotional sentiments in the reader by expertly taking him through the various moods of devotional love, including the sweetness of meeting and the sweetness of separation from Shree Radha Krishna. The words and their arrangement, together with the incredibly detailed intricacy of the descriptions of Shree Radha Krishna and Their various ornamentation, natures and behaviour is simply breathtaking.

This second edition in English (Vol I - III) of Prem Ras Madira is sumptuously presented over three volumes, and also includes an elaborate and helpful Appendix Section at the back of each volume.

To purchase this book online, customers (USA) click here.

Happy Father's Day

 

तू तो मेरा पिता हरि गोविन्द राधे।
एक बार मेरा सुत कहि के बुला दे।।  
An individual soul says, "O Shree Krishna!  You are my real, eternal Father.  Just once call me your son."
सब जीव भाई भाई  गोविन्द राधे।
सब का है एक पिता कृष्ण बता दे ||
All individual souls are brothers and Shree Krishna is the eternal Father of all souls.  

- Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

Guidelines for Practicing Devotion by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

Your ultimate goal is the attainment of divine love of Shree Krishna and his eternal service.

This divine love can be attained only through the grace of your Guru.  The grace of your Guru will be attained upon complete purification of the heart.

The purification of the heart is only possible through devotional practice as instructed by your Guru.

Shed tears of longing for the divine vision and divine love of Shree Radha Krishna, singing the glories of their names, qualities, pastimes, etc. along with roopdhyan. You are free to choose any form but whatever form you meditate on you must feel that it is divine.

Always feel the presence of Shree Krishna with you.

Abandon all desires upto the desire for liberation.  Practice devotion only with the desire of attaining selfless divine love.

Develop a strong faith that Shree Krishna alone is mine and intensify your yearning for him.

Avoid spiritual transgressions such as fault findings, etc.

Consider each moment of this human life as invaluable.

I will always be there to guide you.

                                                                                                             - Yours Kripalu

Who should we meditate on, Guru or God? Explanation by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

 

It is not that the Guru will grant more power upon you if you meditate on him, or that God will bestow less if you meditate on him.  The result is exactly the same whether you meditate on the Guru or God.  However, meditating on Guru is more convenient, in the sense that everything related to him is directly perceptible, whereas we have to make use of our imagination to meditate on God's divine pastimes and actions.

For example, if the Guru has given some prasad to you from his own hand, you will certainly derive great benefit whether you accept it with full faith or not.  It will help you in your devotional practice.  Moreover, the variety of actions or leelas that the Guru performs are done right before your eyes, and so you can easily recall them for meditative purposes and derive great happiness from doing so.  Since God is not yet perceptible to you, you have to imagine his leelas in order to meditate upon him.  In truth, it is much easier to meditate on what we can directly perceive with our own eyes. 

Nevertheless, a devotee is free to meditate on either, depending on his or her personal preference.  What is proper and the best option is that you should meditate on both Guru and God, since by doing so you will not give rise to any conflict in your mind while you are practicing sadhana.

Watch this video lecture by Shree Maharajji on the topic, "Who is a Guru" with
English Subtitles:

 

Happy Goverdhan Puja

Shree Krishna enacted the famous Goverdhan leela pastime upon the earth, in which he lifted the Goverdhan Hill on the little finger of his left hand, to protect the residents of the land of Braj from the rain caused by Indra, the king of heaven and the celestial god of rain. However, Krishna’s little cowherd associates were not impressed. In their eyes, Krishna was merely a lovable friend, and so they did not believe he could lift the hill.

When Shree Krishna lifted the Goverdhan Hill, his cowherd friends applied their sticks to the bottom of the hill, thinking that they were the actual lifters of the hill. At the end, Indra accepted defeat and came seated on his white elephant. He apologized for having sent the torrential rain, without realizing Shree Krishna’s supreme position.

Now, when the cowherd boys saw Indra, the King of heaven, coming and offering obeisance to their friend Krishna, they realized that Krishna is God. So, they began looking at him fearfully from a distance. Seeing their devotional sentiment change from friendship to awe and reverence, Shree Krishna lamented, “That loving exchange we were enjoying has vanished. They are now thinking I am God.” So by his Yogmaya power, he made them forget the significance of what they had seen, and they again felt that Shree Krishna was nothing more than their friend.

Why do we need a Guru? Explanation by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj

After detaching the mind from the world, and before surrendering to God, there is need of a divine entity, without whom one cannot attain the Supreme goal.  That entity is a God-realized Saint or Guru.  It is the Guru, who decides which path is best for each devotee to surrender to God.  Again, it is he who dispels all doubts faced by the aspirant on the path.  Mere detachment is not enough to attain God.

The Bhagavad Gita states:
                                 tadviddhi praṇipātena paripraśhnena sevayā upadekṣhyanti te jñānaṁ 
                                                                   jñāninastattvadarśhinaḥ
Shree Krishna says to Arjun, "Learn the Truth by approaching a spiritual master.  Inquire from him with reverence and render service unto him.  Such an enlightened Saint can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the Truth.”

The Ramayan also says:
                                        guru binu bhava tarai na koī”; “guru binu hoī ki jñāna”
“Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot cross over the ocean of material existence.”  Again it says, “Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot attain the knowledge of God.”  Thus, the unanimous view of all scriptures is that we must surrender to a Guru in order to know the unknown entity called God.

Watch this video lecture by Shree Maharajji on the topic, "Who is a Guru" with 

English Subtitles:

Happy Radhashtami!

  kīrtī ghara prakaṭīñ kīrtī kumārī
Shree Radha Rani has manifested herself in the palace of queen Keerti.

brahmādika svastyayana paṭha kara, astuti kari śhruti chāri
To celebrate this most auspicious occasion, Lord Brahma and other celestial gods are reciting the Vedic hymns and all the four Vedas in their incarnate forms are singing glories through their sacred texts.

nāradādi viradāvali gāvata, kahi jai bhānudulari
Sage Narad and others are singing her praises and proclaiming loudly, “All glories to the darling daughter of king Vrishbhanu.”

tāṇḍava nṛitya śhivaśhaṅkara, sudhi budhi deha bisāri
Lord Shankar is jubilantly performing his ‘tandav’ dance, completely oblivious of his body.

umā ramā brahmāṇī ādika, ārati kuñvari utāri
Uma (Parvati, wife of Lord Shankar), Rama (Mahalakshmi, wife of Lord Vishnu) and Brahmani (wife of Lord Brahma) are performing the arati of the daughter of Keerti.

lakhata ‘kṛipālu’ gyānijana ikaṭaka, puni puni kahi balihāri
Says Shree ‘Kripalu’, “The gyanis (worshipers of impersonal, formless God) are looking at Radha Rani spellbound. Out of ecstasy, they repeatedly shout, ‘Balihaar’ (We sacrifice ourselves on this personal form of God that is the source of supreme divine bliss).”

Shree Maharajji sings and explains the divine appearance of Radha Rani.  

Watch the video with English Subtitles.