Amdavad-8

Amdāvād-8

On Fāgun vadi 8, Samvat 1882 [31 March 1826], Swāmi Shri Sahajānandji Mahārāj was serving food to the sādhus in their residential hall, north of the mandir of Shri Narnārāyan in Amdāvād. He had tied a beautiful, white pāgh around His head and was wearing a white khes. He had also placed a khes over His left shoulder and had tied one of its ends around His waist. A large garland of roses adorned His neck as well.

While serving lādus to the sādhus, Shriji Mahārāj said, “A sādhu should renounce anger in all respects. What is anger like? Well, it destroys all virtuous qualities such as gnān, the performance of austerities, the chanting of the name of God, etc.

“Now I shall identify the motives from which anger arises. Anger arises when sādhus are engaged in a question-answer session amongst themselves, or if there is an argumentative discussion. It can also arise from the giving and taking of particular objects, or when reprimanding someone, or when someone tries to maintain partiality towards one’s attendant sādhu. Also, anger can arise when one is insulted, out of jealousy, over where to sit or not to sit, or even because of the unequal distribution of God’s prasād. In this way, there are many reasons for anger to arise.

“If a senior sādhu or a junior sādhu becomes angry, he should first prostrate to whomever he has expressed his anger upon and then please that person by speaking pleasant words to him in a pleading, meek and sincere tone. This is My command.

“If anyone else, due to a malignant intellect, harbors an offensive thought towards a sādhu, he should confess and himself voice his offensive thought by saying, ‘Mahārāj, I have harbored an offensive thought regarding you.’ Then, in order to atone for that thought, he should fold his hands and pray for forgiveness.

“If a sādhu becomes angry on a householder devotee, then he should verbally pray and bow down to him from a seated posture; but he should not prostrate before him. If sānkhya-yogi women become angry amongst themselves or on karma-yogi women, they too should pray verbally and bow down from a seated position. Sānkhya-yogi men, on the other hand, should do as the sādhus do if they become angry upon anyone.

“In general, whenever we become angry on someone, we should realize that person to be a devotee of our master, Shri Narnārāyan, and instantly forsake our arrogance, bow down to him and pray. However, one should never maintain a superficial perspective by believing, ‘I am senior and better than him; whereas he is not senior but a mere junior.’ One should not entertain such a feeling. In fact, even our Ishtadev, Shri Narnārāyan, does not keep any arrogance or anger; so as his followers and the members of this Uddhav Sampradāy, we should renounce all forms of anger and arrogance.

“Shri Narnārāyan will be greatly pleased upon anyone who performs the atonement that I have prescribed for becoming angry. As a result, that person’s antahkaran will be purified, and all of his vicious natures such as lust, anger, egotism, avarice, arrogance and matsar will be destroyed. Conversely, he who does not perform atonement for becoming angry should be thought of as a snake, not as a devotee of God.”

Shriji Mahārāj thus delivered this discourse. The sādhus as well as all the male and female devotees who heard this discourse were extremely overjoyed.

On Fagun vadi 8, Samvat 1882 [31 March 1826], Swami Shri Sahajanandji Maharaj was serving food to the sadhus in their residential hall, north of the mandir of Shri Narnarayan in Amdavad. He had tied a beautiful, white pagh around His head and was wearing a white khes. He had also placed a khes over His left shoulder and had tied one of its ends around His waist. A large garland of roses adorned His neck as well.

While serving ladus to the sadhus, Shriji Maharaj said, “A sadhu should renounce anger in all respects. What is anger like? Well, it destroys all virtuous qualities such as gnan, the performance of austerities, the chanting of the name of God, etc.

“Now I shall identify the motives from which anger arises. Anger arises when sadhus are engaged in a question-answer session amongst themselves, or if there is an argumentative discussion. It can also arise from the giving and taking of particular objects, or when reprimanding someone, or when someone tries to maintain partiality towards one’s attendant sadhu. Also, anger can arise when one is insulted, out of jealousy, over where to sit or not to sit, or even because of the unequal distribution of God’s prasad. In this way, there are many reasons for anger to arise.

“If a senior sadhu or a junior sadhu becomes angry, he should first prostrate to whomever he has expressed his anger upon and then please that person by speaking pleasant words to him in a pleading, meek and sincere tone. This is My command.

“If anyone else, due to a malignant intellect, harbors an offensive thought towards a sadhu, he should confess and himself voice his offensive thought by saying, ‘Maharaj, I have harbored an offensive thought regarding you.’ Then, in order to atone for that thought, he should fold his hands and pray for forgiveness.

“If a sadhu becomes angry on a householder devotee, then he should verbally pray and bow down to him from a seated posture; but he should not prostrate before him. If sankhya-yogi women become angry amongst themselves or on karma-yogi women, they too should pray verbally and bow down from a seated position. Sankhya-yogi men, on the other hand, should do as the sadhus do if they become angry upon anyone.

“In general, whenever we become angry on someone, we should realize that person to be a devotee of our master, Shri Narnarayan, and instantly forsake our arrogance, bow down to him and pray. However, one should never maintain a superficial perspective by believing, ‘I am senior and better than him; whereas he is not senior but a mere junior.’ One should not entertain such a feeling. In fact, even our Ishtadev, Shri Narnarayan, does not keep any arrogance or anger; so as his followers and the members of this Uddhav Sampraday, we should renounce all forms of anger and arrogance.

“Shri Narnarayan will be greatly pleased upon anyone who performs the atonement that I have prescribed for becoming angry. As a result, that person’s antahkaran will be purified, and all of his vicious natures such as lust, anger, egotism, avarice, arrogance and matsar will be destroyed. Conversely, he who does not perform atonement for becoming angry should be thought of as a snake, not as a devotee of God.”

Shriji Maharaj thus delivered this discourse. The sadhus as well as all the male and female devotees who heard this discourse were extremely overjoyed.