Satsanga - the gift of God to attain Him
Teachings of Purana Kalidah's Kishori Das Babaji to Surendrajit Singh, Advocate -
An appendix to "Bhakta Balak Madanmohan", written by Jugal Kishore Goswami, p. 107-116
(English slightly edited for readability)
He is a very fortunate person who comes in the company of saints. Or for that matter you can say when he gets Guru Kripa, then he gets knowledge of something what is bhakti - without guru kripa, without satsang he cannot get it. (In that case) It is impossible for a person to get even glimpses of bhakti.
I remember, you told me a story about Akhbar Badshah and a Fakir which goes like this. One day Badshah Akhbar, who was a famous emperor, and ruled India for 52 years, was sitting in his fort, thinking with a little depression in his heart that he has lived in India and he has ruled India but he has not known God. Just at that moment he saw this one Fakir who was drinking Yamuna-water below the fort. He was looking much happier than Badshah Salamat Akhbar himself, who was the ruler of India. The Mugal king called his watchmen and ordered, "Go and bring this Fakir before me". When the watchmen were moving towards Yamuna river to bring that Fakir, Akhbar called them back and said, "Don't bring him by a longer route. Make him sit in the Jhula (sedan chair) and bring the Fakir up." The watchmen obeyed the orders. When the Fakir came up in that Jhula and presented himself before the king, Akhbar asked him one question, "How to get God?" The Fakir at once replied, "In the same way as I met you today." The King asked, "What do you mean?" The Fakir answered, "If I had desired to meet you, it would have been a pretty long story. I would have had to cross three gates before coming in front of you, and there was every possibility the watchmen would have stopped me from getting in. They would have repelled my request for coming in by saying, "No no you cannot go; the Emperor is sleeping. It is his rest time, and you have to try on some other occasion." In many more ways, they would have stopped my entry. But when you took fancy upon me and developed a desire to meet me you ordered your servants to bring me up. That is how I have come up and met you today. That is how God meets His beloveds when He so desires - when He takes fancy of them, when He becomes anxious to bestow kripa upon them. So it is He who matters and it is not me who matters. It is only when God wishes, then He lifts His beloved up unto Him and there is no other way to meet Him." That is exactly what Lord Krishna told Brahma in his catuh sloki teachings. Lord Krishna said, "It is only when I so desire and I wish to give my blessings and bestow my kripa, it is then alone that a person can meet Me, have My darshan and have the joy of reunion and there is no other way - no other way. That is why I am going to narrate in this article various features of bhakti which is an inside story.
The question again arose how to meet God. It is said that you should develop liking for matters and things which are favoured by the Lord and disliking for things which are not favoured by the Lord. This is the first step one must take before divine love is bestowed upon him.
Then the question cropped up how to be a devotee of the Lord's feet. Gurudev answered me saying that it is the company of (the Lord's) lovers which can develop this effect in you. Then I asked how to get the company of such lovers.
The answer was given that God's blessing (kripa) is the only way for getting the company of the (Lord's) lovers. In English version we have read "Divine love is God's gift."
I asked you, pujya Gurudev, whether by darshan of the Lord one can get priti (divine love). Quick answer was given by you that no, not possible. The only way for getting love is to get the company of the lovers.
To illustrate this proposition I would attempt to count the example of Lord Krishna telling His friend Uddhav to visit Sri Vrindavan. It is occurring in Srimad Bhagavat. The Lord said, "Uddhav, you are my beloved friend. You are in no way inferior to Me in any walk of life or in any respect, whether it is Gyan, Karma or Kriya." Though Uddhav was so near and dear to Lord Krishna, as a friend and companion, yet the company of the Lord could not bring him around to beget love. Then Lord Krishna told His friend Uddhav that you better go to Vrindavana and meet the gopi-mandal (gopi-circle) where you will get the gift (of prema). What I cannot do Myself, gopi priti will do. There you will find that they are depressed in life due to separation from Me. Whatever Uddhav saw in Brij dham, he realized the heartfelt sadness amongst the gopis and Radharani. One may read the 40 slokas narrated by Uddhav and gopi santana parikrama. (? It seems Kishoridas ji refers to chapters 46 and 47 of the 10th Canto) The first part of the sloka and the concluding part of the last sloka will indicate the frame of mind of Uddhav who was full of praise of gopi-prem. This is the highest of the highest in Vedant philosophy. Learned as he (Uddhav) was, equivalent to Lord Krishna, he had to admit frankly that gopi priti was much higher than knowledge.
So the natural inference of the aforesaid discussion is that Uddhav, when he was thrilled by the priti of the gopis, got that divine love bestowed which he could not get in the company of Lord Krishna Himself, though He was his dear bosom friend. So a thing which one cannot get merely by the darshan of the Lord, one can get by the company of those who love Him. It is company which makes a hero or a coward of a man. So sat sanga is indispensible in bhakti.
One person may ask a friend how things are going and the friend says, "Everything is O.K. in my family, by bhagavan's kripa." Believe me, kripa has no meaning in the welfare of a family. kripa has an entirely different philosophical meaning as aforesaid. Even after God has bestowed the gift of kripa upon His bhakta He does not appear to give him darshan. It is a very rare phenomenon, and He alone knows why. There is an example in the life of Swami Vivekananda, whose original name was Narendra. He was a disciple of Ramkrishna Paramahamsa. When Narendra asked his Guru why one cannot get the darshan of the Lord, or how long one must make efforts to get darshan of the Lord, Gurudev Ramkrishna Paramahamsa replied that it is His choice and He alone knows whom to select for darshan. Just as one person in the night is coming with a lantern and another person is coming from the opposite direction without a lantern. Now the person without a lantern can see the prakash (light) around the man coming with the lantern but he cannot see his face. It is he alone who lifts the lantern and shows his face. That is how the Lord appears or disappears according to His own wish. Therefore gyanis, yogis karmis and others have been able to understand the Lord through (His) bright illumination only. But if you would ask them whether they have seen the figure of the Lord, the answer will be in the negative. Therefore the Lord alone, by lifting the lantern, if He wants to show His figure, face or madhuri, He can do so. But there is no binding. He is absolutely free in that respect, in that choice.
Ties of love alone can be the base for getting that gift from the Lord, which can enable a person to get His darshan and His kripa. But without love, or priti, you cannot get Him - you cannot get Him.
The Lord's anugraha
But raganuga bhakti is an easy path to salvation. The only thing that one has to develop is love for the achievement of the object. It is called premamayi pipasa, thirst for achieving divine love from the Lord. It is just like a thirsty man asking for water to remove his thirst. That thirst cannot be fulfilled in any other way. Suppose you were to offer him emeralds, diamonds, pearls or other valuable things and tell him not to ask for water - tell him to finish his thirst by possessing these valuable articles, can he do so? No, he must have water; he will cry for water and his thirst cannot be satisfied by offering him valuable articles which he can possess. He can have pride of possession or security for his future life but thirst can be solved by drinking water and nothing else. So (if) a bhakta at any particular moment, starts feeling that he is thirsty for that divine love, for achieving love for the lotus feet of the Lord, the matter is solved and life becomes easy. In achievement of such an object, if your desire is utmost, there is a promise from the Lord that He will fulfill it. You have to develop the desire and leave the rest to Him.
The first step you have to take is to develop in yourself interest for things that are dear to the Lord, and detachment from things that are unreal, for which the Lord has disliking. This is known as ruchi pradhan marg.
Again there was inquisitiveness in my mind, so I asked pujya gurudeva to please let me know how it could be possible to get the Lord and His affection only by nam smaran. pujya gurudev answered "Just as a locomotive serves as power to carry the load of 10 or 11 goods wagons fully loaded, so also nam smaran serves as a power to carry the life of a person to its goal, though he is also fully loaded with vasanas, desires yet unfulfilled in life. Goswami Tulasidas, the reverend author of the book Ram Charita Manas, himself said - कलि युग केवल नाम आधारा The only substance in Kali-yuga is the name (of the Lord)."
