(Excerpts from Pujya Sant Shri Asharamji Bapu’s Satsangs)


The glory of Vedanta is amazing, Vedanta gives us enlightening vision. Vedanta removes the ignorance because of which the world appears to be real and stable and makes us realize the Supreme Self which is the Cause of world appearance. Vedanta is the pinnacle of knowledge, the highest spirituality. The man who listens to the Vedanta in the right perspective (non-dualist) and reflects upon it becomes fearless. He is not afraid of the creation or destruction of any person, thing or circumstance, so much so that he is not afraid of even death because he realizes, “My body will die, not me! I am the undecaying, immortal, and imperishable soul.” So if you want to progress only in the material world, then also, your life should be based on Vedanta. If you want to lead a healthy, happy life free from miseries and grief, if you want to become famous, if you want to understand the mysteries of Dharma the Vedanta invites you to adopt it. Understand the root (fundamental truth), then you will know the essence of leaves and branches.
It is possible to understand the Vedanta only when man makes self-efforts with devotion in order to give up the animal consciousness and attain the higher state of consciousness. If man is not devout at heart, then he is deprived of all goals. He does not accomplish all goals – sons become disloyal, health fails, nature becomes adverse, the flatterers turn away, then what! And when death strikes, everything is wiped out. So, Vedanta does not forbid you to do any business, to become a doctor, an advocate or a merchant. Vedanta does not want to make you a beggar but wants to seat you on the throne of the Supreme Emperor.
It is not that you have to abandon your children or your wife. Vedanta does not make any one a beggar. It only removes one’s ignorance. Vedanta removes the separation between you and God. Oh! There was an era when the Knowers of the Vedanta were so rich and prosperous that they used to eat in plates made of gold. If any state faced drought, flood or any other calamity due to any reason, and if the king of that state would seek refuge then they would give wealth and property to the king to bring the situation under control. Despite staying in the midst of worldly temptations, they would not get entrapped by them. The glory of Vedanta is such that they remained intoxicated with that.
If you also, through the knowledge of the Vedanta, reach the summit of non-attachment, then even you will remain uninfluenced by your worldly activities. Then any amount of wealth, opulence, poverty or failures may come, you will not be shaken. Vedanta does not snatch hundred rupees from you, does not snatch your position of a minister. Oh! If you understand the Vedanta in the right perspective, the Prime Minister will come to visit you and try to touch your feet. What do you think of Vedanta? Many ministers try to please the Prime Minister but that Prime Minister seeks refuge of the enlightened, pays obeisance and then becomes able to maintain his status. Vedanta does not give anything trifle.
Anandmayi Ma had realized the Vedanta. Indira Gandhi would go to touch her feet. The other ministers tried to touch Indira’s feet. The members of her party would also try to please Anandamayi Ma.
Among the then ministers of the central government, Indira was the supremo but she was nothing in the eyes of the enlightened one. Such is the wisdom of the Vedanta. It is our and their good fortune that we go to the saints.
The saints want to give us that thing which made them wealthy. If you do not imbibe the whole of Vedanta, if you do not attain it wholly, do not get complete Self-realization, get at least one fourth. It not one fourth, get ten percent. If at least ten percent of Vedanta you practice in your life, then you will laugh at your past, “Oh! What was I till this day?”
Emperor Bharatrihari says that when I heard a little “Satsang”, I learnt some things. When I was the king, I used to think I am so fortunate, so intelligent, have kept entire India under my control (rule). Now I have realized that I have not controlled my mind. I have not seen the ‘friend’ who abides in my heart and ‘the entire India is mine, I am her king’ – I used to feel so proud. Oh! The sun is a small star of the myriads of stars of the milky way, one of its planets is the earth, there are more than a hundred countries on the earth, India is one of them and so far many Indian kings have come and gone. I considered myself fortunate possessing a state which did not belong to anyone forever and none remained as its sole possessor. Now I realize I was a fool.
You also, strengthen and blossom your life with self-confidence, devotional faith, love and Vedanta with the help of “satsang” and spiritual literature of Self-realized great men. Learn how to put Vedanta in practice. Learn the art of living a happy life cheerfully, and become a jivanmukta, (one liberated while living).

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