SALVATION TOUR BY HIS HOLINESS
BABA HARDEV SINGH JI MAHARAJ
June
29, 2008
(Uttara Khand,
Mussoorie)
On June 29, 2008 addressing another gathering of devotees at Satsang Bhawan Mussoorie, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj stated:
“All of you heard the feelings of saints during the congregation. All the saints live their life imbibed with such feelings. Man attains bliss through such words. More than mere words, saints have always stressed upon the need to adopt the feelings inherent in such words.
In every age saints themselves lived an exemplary life saturated with such feelings and virtues; they lived a life surrendered to Truth, made God-Formless the basis of life, saw Him in every particle as well as body, adhered to every teaching that they received. The mind, when united with God, becomes pure and untainted. The feelings of reverence and surrender make the mind a fit vessel to absorb lofty teachings; otherwise despite the achievements of the world, mind remains empty. The one who treads the path of devotion lives his life with humility; instead of the feelings of ego and doership he nurtures non-doership. Such a one has no lust either for worldly riches or name and fame. He lives his life while constantly effacing his ‘I’; while considering God as the Sole-Doer of everything, he considers himself as ignorant and bereft of any wisdom and looks upon all as more knowledgeable and wiser than him. In this manner his mind gets suffused with humility. On the other hand, if while trying to render devotion to the One who does not like pride, man still does not let go of pride then what benefit will he derive from his devotion?
The virtue of humility is extremely significant on the path of devotion. Those who become humblest of the humble attain a lofty status. The proud and egoistical on the other hand, remain bonded and thirsty. They cannot attain bliss. Those who keep themselves safe-guarded against pride are truly healthy as their mind is healthy. Man’s pride whether on account of his body or mind or possessions, is only a fallacy. After all what is it that belongs to man that he should be proud of! Everything is created by and belongs to God. Man comes and departs from the world empty-handed. Man’s tall claims filled with pride at his achievements and procurements is nothing but empty and vain boasts. A devotee, on the other hand, remains conscious that nothing belongs to him and thus never falls a prey to pride. As a result he attains a lofty status and lives his life in bliss.
The malady of pride is so deadly that man can never know when it will strike. That is why constant vigilance is needed; such vigilance is attained by constant Awareness of God as well as remembrance of the teachings of ‘Guru’. A worldly man lives his life in pride whereas a devotee never considers himself perfect or superior, rather he constantly effaces his ego and lives in humblest manner. He gives credit for his achievements and glory to the Grace of God-Almighty.
The feeling of pride is the reason why man considers himself superior and others inferior. The malady of pride further leads to the malady of hatred. Man is proud of his own caste, hates and looks down upon those who do not belong to his caste and then goes a step further and exploits them! So one malady of pride leads to many vices.
That is why saints advise man to refrain from pride and adopt humility. A branch laden with fruit often bends down. The more one surrenders to the Will of Guru (Gurmat) the more fruitful his life becomes; the more one effaces his ‘I’ the fuller he becomes. There remains no place for ‘I’, only ‘Thou’ remains. A devotee always lives his life centered upon ‘Thou’, so much so that he lives his life hued in the hue of ‘Thou’ and imbibed with the virtues of humility as well as love, tolerance, contentment, large-heartedness etc.
Those who live their life in such a manner attain glory for themselves as well as make their contribution towards inspiring others towards the Mission with their humble demeanor of living. "
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