2. Sri. B. Narasimhulu

We find the above observation of Revered Babuji Maharaj in His message “Love universal’’ delivered at Shajahanpur during January 1976 at the time of inauguration of Ashram Building at Shajahanpur.

He further reiterated in the same message that it is a hidden dictum of Nature that every soul must live a happy and restful life. If we do otherwise we are spoiling His world. It is since said that it is for love the whole universe sprang into existence and it is for the sake of love it is kept going.

To elaborate the above it is essential to note that everything in Nature is preoccupied with remembering and glorifying the Divinity. As one is engaged in remembering, praising and glorifying the Divinity one becomes at one with the entire Universe/Nature and then the gate for all goodness and happiness is opened and one lives in tune with the Nature.

There are any number of things in Nature, if closely observed, will make us happy and exhilarating. For example, let us look at the following.

a. Happiness is when one is enchanted by the beauty of Nature. There is infinite pleasure in watching the land, water and skies, the bewitching colours of the leaves and flowers, birds and bees, animals and humans, shapes and patterns in their intricacy and simplicity. Even the barren dunes of a desert became golden in the morning or evening, presenting a magnificent spectacle.

b. Happiness is a walk on the beach, palms swinging in the breeze, sea-birds scurrying across the shore, seashells scattered in the sand, the myriad patterns of the waves, and the setting sun transformed into a ball of fire with colourful hues in the horizon. Walking in the rain and splashing thro’ the puddles brings back the joy of our childhood. A walk thro’ the forest with the whistling sound of the branches and the crackle of footsteps on a bed of leaves gives us immense satisfaction. Reaching a peak after a long hike unfolds the panorama of nature, filling us with exhilaration. We are mesmerized by the waterfall, its appeal both aesthetic and spiritual. We are struck with awe as both steam and water shoot in the air from a hot spring on a cold winter day.

c. Happiness is a walk at anytime. Glorious mother nature calls out to you, the morning mist creating an aura of mystery, the noon sunlight, falling on shallow waters, transforming the blue water of the sea to pale, translucent forces.

d. Happiness is the morning sun glistening across a majestic snowcapped mountain peak. We are immediately transported to a magical, mythical world and soon became one with nature. The light filtering thro’ the leaves of the trees and the music coming out of the dancing leaves makes us realize why the Peapal tree is sacred. As we walk along the banks of river, the sacred sound becomes evident in the continuous hum of the water; the secret of life unfolding slowly. Watching the enormity of the ocean, its gigantic waves at high tide on a full moon night makes us realize that we are a tiny drop in the sum total of energy.

e. Happiness is the lotus rising from the pond at dusk. Droplets of water sparkling like diamonds on the leaves. The evening is a spectacle par excellence as the setting sun brings creeping shadows and countless stars. And, as the moon appears from nowhere our cup of happiness is over full.

The above only goes to confirm what has been said in the preceding Para 3. When Nature itself presents such a spectacular and soul stirring happiness, how much more bliss and happiness we will be blessed with when we realize the creator of nature. Revered Babuji in all His compassion and love for whole of humanity had founded a system, “Natural Path” which, if practiced, sincerely and devotedly, He assured us such a spiritual experience to one and all.

When there is orientation to life to the spiritual goal, it should become apparent to him that security and happiness depend not on what he “has” but on what he ‘is’. He then learns to dedicate all his actions to God/Master and accepts everything in life as due to God’s Grace.

True happiness begins when a man learns the art of adjustment to other persons and right adjustment involves self forgetfulness and love. Hence arises the spiritual importance of transforming a life of the limited self into a life of love.

Besides, happiness accrues to us when we work without expectation of reward. Further not by gaining the object of our desire but by the enrichment of the spirit within, which leaves nothing more to be desired, is true happiness found.

Man has to fight brute in himself, in order to annihilate it, he should struggle with the greed in his own nature, so that he may fit himself to live the higher, nobler, more enduring life of peace, goodwill and wisdom.

In Divine protection the fierce struggle with others is at an end, the competition of self interest is no more and the weapous employed are self-sacrifice and non-resistance.

Self interest, resistance to, competition with others are the most powerful factors in the purely human life leading to restless life whereas in the Divine life, self obliteration and deep felt sympathy with and compassion for others are the dominant motives which ensure a peaceful and happy life.

Man’s individuality is not his highest truth; there is that in him which is universal. If he were made to live in a world where his own self was the only factor to consider, then that would be the worst prison imaginable to him, for man’s deepest joy is in growing greater and greater by more and more union with all, which is bound to be a happy and joyous life.

Existence is a strange bargain. We owe to life everything. The only true happiness comes from dedicating ourselves for a spiritual purpose.

As a matter of fact everything in life is for our ultimate good. We have to learn their proper utilization so as to turn them to our advantage.

Dire distress, misfortune, sorrow, calamity-nothing can overwhelm the man who has tasted the joy which comes from transcending all sorrow by spiritual consciousness. It is indeed a cloudy dark day for the soul when man loses sight of Divinity and forgets thro’ doubt and self pity that he is of God, that his life is absolutely in God’s hands. No calculation or thought can bring this higher happiness. That rises only in the heart that is full of faith and selflessness.

Revered Brother K.C.Narayana Garu observes in Bodhayanti Parasparam Vol.IV, page 142, that “the problem of life is not just seeking pleasure or even happiness during our life time, but to seek permanent happiness that is attainable only thro’ freedom from our desires and wishes. Until we find this freedom, even as Swami Vivekananda put it, we do not know the joy of freedom itself. For this, one needs to be free or liberated from the bindings of desires and wishes. What is the way and how do we accomplish it in a practical manner? Master says “if one is to be brought to the stage of liberation”, method for it would be to direct his soul towards the Ultimate. The result shall be that he will go on developing till by the last moment of his life, he will finally reach the destination and obtain liberation”.

People run here and there in pursuit of happiness. They engage themselves in a variety of activities in order to be happy. They try their best to attain happiness. They not only fail to get true everlasting happiness, but their actions lead them further into innumerable difficulties. A spiritual life can only be a lasting solution to the problem of life. It inspires people to inculcate moral and spiritual virtues. It inspires man to give up pleasures and animal instincts so that he may manifest his inherent Divinity in his day to day life. Such a man sincerely observes laws of moral and spiritual life and thus leads a happy and harmonious life.

We can experience the joy and satisfaction that comes to us by reason of an effort to assist in making someone else more useful and more happy.

While Nature has provided us enough and more avenues to happy in our earthly sojourn, how is it Revered Babuji Maharaj mentioned that we should be “happy under all circumstances”. Does it mean to say that there are situations in life when most of us may not be inclined to feel happy? If so, what are they? The miseries sufferings pain, diseases we undergo in our lives as most of us feel do not contribute to our happiness. However, Revered Babuji asserted under those conditions also we should continue to be happy, if only we understand their purpose and necessity in our lives, since they are inevitable for an embodied soul. They are not punitive but reformative.

The inevitable reason why we should be happy under all circumstances as expressed by Revered Babuji Maharaj in His inimitable way is that we have come out from Divine Energy and it has become our base, where bliss reigns supreme. Since it has gone out of sight, we have to revive if we want to maintain ourselves. (SDG Page 38)

Revered Babuji further enlightened us about the importance of sufferings, miseries pains and diseases in our lives since they are bestowed on us by the all merciful and loving Divinity for our deliverance for which we should ever remain grateful and be happy.

Revered Babuji Maharaj stated that “sufferings and miseries have their own place in life. Everyone has his share of it. Even sages of eminence had their own. Had there been no sufferings in the world, man’s thought could never have gone up to the reverse side of it (i.e) the bliss. Thus man’s affliction offers him inducement for finding out means of emancipation. In other words they serve as stimulants. We know that coal can be transformed into diamond. That means that a change in the set up gives things a new appearance. A thing becomes useful and pleasing when its set up is right. While it becomes painful and ugly if it is wrong. Same is the case with afflictions. Our discriminative faculty is so much overshadowed by the hankerings of the mind that we have become quite blind to the real values of things concerned with in life. As a matter of fact everything in life is for our ultimate good; only we have to learn their proper utilization so as to turn them to our advantage. But unfortunately we have all along been going in the wrong way, led by the misdirected tendencies of the mind. We have been taking a crude view of everything, corresponding with the baser inclinations of the mind. Everything has gone on growing denser and grosser to our view. The heart and the brain being influenced thereby began to contact the same defect. Covering after covering began to set in, obscuring Reality from view. This will go on till accidentally a time may come when a gush of reality having blown into the heart may cause an awakening within. It is then man comes to a proper understanding of the real values and feels induced to resort to mending his disturbed state. (SS p 489 & 490) That Revered Babuji continued to advise us “One who in this world is sure to taste miseries. One cannot escape from it. That is why we try to get rid of these things by going into penance, and Rishis (sages) have devoted themselves thoroughly towards it. There is no remedy for overcoming these miseries except devoting ourselves towards Godly thoughts of purest nature. So the process we adopt is that we go deeper and deeper into the vast expanse. The force of going towards it draws in the water spreading into all corners towards the force of pious thoughts. The result is that the scattered superfluous things come to the main and supreme current which is now to flow towards the Almighty – the main goal and place of our destination”. (SS.507 & 508)

Revered Babuji was not tired of dinning into our ears any number of times stressing repeatedly that” the sufferings and ailments are indispensable for the body and they help much in the purification process. A great benefit which we derive from them is that in that case the watchful eye of the Master remains on the devotee and that means closer contact and nearness. Nature is the greatest healer, so they say. It is a clear proof to show that the sympathies of the Master are turned more towards an ailing brother. The world is full of sorrow and misery. To undergo them is like undergoing an operation by the highest for setting us in proper order. That means an affectionate motherly treatment. A man may have reached the highest summit in spirituality but that does not imply that he has gone beyond physical afflictions, unpleasant to his senses. The power of endurance, no doubt, also develops with it. These things do not touch the deeper layers of water. One of the commandments of our Master directs us to be thankful to God for all the miseries and troubles. There are reasons for it. When we are in thankful mood we touch the inner core of our being coming in closer contact with it. As a result every nerve of our body gets charged with that pious influence effecting all the uniform state all over. In this way man so cleverly turns hell into heaven for himself. (Sruti Vol.II pages 330 & 331).

Suffering, pain, sorrow are the necessary elements in our training and development. They are not permanent. If we examine partially, this may appear unconvincing. But if taken holistically, this appears to be true. Moreover, the Divine Power is not there to torment us, but to guide us in the path of spiritual development. We should not expect everything to happen according to our calculations. In times of distress we may surrender to the Divine Power, without giving up our effort. The Divinity gives us everything at the price of an effort.

Every experience of misery and agony comes to teach us a lesson we need to learn. But this becomes clear to him who joyfully accepts everything that comes to him, as a Divine gift, attempting to avoid nothing.

It is the part of courage, when misfortune comes, to bear without repining the ruin of our hopes, to turn away our thoughts from vain regrets. This degree of submission to Divinity is not only just and right, it is the very gate of wisdom. When we have surrendered all, our troubles cease; not that they have been eliminated but we have risen above them.

The sufferings and sorrows in life will help desperate and depressed man to rediscover his inherent potential, his innate and infinite greatness.

In spite of intense pain and agony due to His illness, Lalaji Maharaj despite entreaties from his disciples refused to get them cured thro’ prayers to the Divinity stating that “nothing can come to me, except from Lord! Therefore it must be for my good. can you refuse something which God sends to you”. He has shown us thus the way by his exemplary example.

We have to comprehend that all sufferings of men are right as effects, their causes being the mistakes of ignorance. Nothing can be more loving than that we should experience the consequences of ignorance and error and so become perfected thro’ suffering.

It is said that suffering is a part of life and suffering is a teacher. We would miss some of the best lessons of life, if suffering did not come to us. Many do not recognize this truth and do all they can to avoid a seemingly painful experience. But trouble can never be dodged. The unpleasant experience recedes only for a while, to return to us again, wearing a more formidable form. By avoiding trouble, we invite greater trouble at a later date. Unfortunately, some support their misery, nourishes it, takes care that it does not leave them because it is only their companion and also they have the leisure to bother about it.

Revered Brother K.C.Narayana Garu observes that “the attitude of taking miseries as blessings for our good is cultivated thro’ assiduous practice and this obviously is not a gift which many seekers somehow feel they are entitled to. Genuine spiritual life and the progress in the same has never been popular and never will be, because most people are unwilling to open to and accept pain. I feel Master’s greatness from a practical angle is the acknowledgment of pain or suffering or misery in life and sharing his agony and pain. This was the first noble truth of Lord Buddha. This acknowledgement of pain and suffering as true of life is fundamental to the spiritual growth. That these sufferings arise out of desires and wishes is the knowledge one gains in the process of spiritual development”. (B.P.Vol.III Page 155)

Revered Babuji Maharaj observed that “the thinking has become so rough that they (people) always add their own impure thoughts in the span of Nature. Complexities after complexities are there and it is the creation of human brain. They are responsible for these things because mind developed after the Energy descended from its centre for the formation of the world. Alongside the mind, wrong thinking also developed, but they hold God responsible for these miseries, pangs and sufferings of the world. So, they must destroy their own creation so that the world may become again glittering and shining. The process they should seek which may be the subtlest for the Subtlest and that can be “Yoga” alone. Our system which we call “Sahaj Marg” stands for it. There are researches in the field also and my Master Samartha Guru Mahatma Shri Ramachandraji Maharaj of Fategarh (U.P.) India, has remodeled the ‘Yoga’ in a way that somehow you many come into contact with the Divine speedily. The main feature of the system is that we get plenty of help from the Master. Simple meditation is prescribed, which helps all along in the spiritual pursuit”. (SDG Pages 150)

Revered Babuji in His message “Real Light” delivered at Hyderabad on 24.10.1974 observed that “the work of the Mission will save the humanity from its doom by carrying the teachings of Master to every heart. Mankind today is groping in the darkness of materialism. Fear, greed and jealousy have gripped the man and every sense of value is lost. Only the torch of spirituality can remove the oppressing gloom and restore the real man. Let the light of the Real shine in the heart of everyone so that he may rise up to the expectation of the Divine”.

This will ensure happiness here and hereafter.

Pranamams.