Mayaram’s enquiry about the means to devotion.
Mayaram said:-
O The great preceptor Swaminarayan ! I salute you. You are full of mercy. You have evidenced your mystic powers by ridding the human beings, who have surrendered to you, of the three fold sufferings. You are the incarnation of joy, you are the pure supreme spirit, and you are the bestowed of happiness. 1.
O Shri Hari! You are the omniscient Lord. You are the wish yielding divine tree to the devotees on this earth. You are a God who has assumed a human form for the welfare of all living beings. 2.
By your grace I came to know that devotion to you alone promotes highest happiness in all the living creatures on earth.That’s why, O great one, I request you to tell me by what means we will be able to stimulate devotion for the fulfillment of our desired goal. 3 - 4.
Narayan Muni Said:-
O, good Brahmin! Generally devotion undefeated by obstacles will only serve to fulfill the desires of human beings immediately. 5.
Two-fold creation of Brahma - Dharma and Adharma.
The very first interruption while initiating devotion is the existence of anti-religious elements. Righteousness can be established only by great efforts. 6.
The creation of the demoniac natures is considered to be harmful. And the second, that of divine, is considered to be virtuous. 7.
O, great Brahmin! If one wants to reinforce devotion, it will be only by conquering anti-religious elements and adhering to religious ones. 8.
Suvrat Said:-
‘Brahmin Mayaram was very much pleased to hear the nectar like speech of Lord Swaminarayan, but he again requested thus to Him who was the eliminator of all doubts’. 9.
‘Please tell me the details how these two (i.e. religious and anti-religious) elements came into existence, how they are identified and how one can differentiate between them. 10.
Suvrat said:-
‘When in assembly, that religious Brahmin asked Him thus,the Lord spoke in a way that it appealed to the multitude of devotees present there’. 11.
Sri Narayan Muni Said:-
‘O Brahmin! In ancient times Brahmadeva took birth from the lotus, the navel of Sri Vishnu. Then he meditated on Vairaj(the primordial form) in His own Self and commenced the creation of the world. 12.
He created the gods, demons, human beings, serpents and all the animals and birds along with immovable (like tree, creepers)and movable things etc. as in the previous cycle. 13.
From the back of Brahma, Adharma, in the form of spiritual ignorance (i.e. Maya) arose, and with the help of co-mates, he became powerful and pervaded all over the universe. 14.
It proved to be the cause of unhappiness and the cause of birth and death of people. It was nothing but a vicious wheel,churning them in delusions of birth, old age, disease, death etc.,and at the end pushing them towards hell. 15.
Falsehood, jealousy, anxiety, envy, desire for worldly pleasures, pride, false expectations etc. are the powers of anti-dharma which are very difficult to overcome by inept men. 16.
Treachery, greed, jealousy, lust, anger, fascination for worldly pleasures, harshness, arrogance, undue attachment, ego, falsehood,dispute. 17.
Malice, impurity (of body, speech, mind), faithlessness, theft,the act of drinking liquor, unkindness, gambling, pride, dis belief in god, crime, wickedness, the lust for things which are beyond reach. 18.
Anger, enmity, fear, sadness, ignorance, addiction for the prohibited things, insulting speech, cheating, violence, sins, torture and death are the pedigree of the Adharma. These are favoured by the people of demoniac nature. People of divine nature should avoid them. 19 - 20.
Each one of the vices mentioned above is equally powerful and effective. Hence a devotee of Shri Hari should never get himself trapped in any of them. 21.
Brahma the creator having observed his subjects being distressed by those irreligious vices, thought in mind to guard their welfare. 22.
When he was thinking of how they will be happy attaining their desired ends, all of a sudden a flash of light appeared in his heart. 23.
Then from the heart of Brahma emerged Virtue who was Sattva incarnate in the form of a sage in whom resided Lord Narayan Himself. 24.
He was looking beautiful with lotus-like soft and elegant feet,hands, face and eyes, was fair in complexion, was dressed in white,was adorned with white sandal paste and had donned fragrant flowers. 25.
Being endowed with religious and spiritual knowledge, he cheered up the people, brought divine happiness to them and paved way for their emancipation. 26.
He had powers like faith, peace, mercy, intelligence,satisfaction, culturing of the mind, progress, friendship, endurance,bashfulness, decisive power, idol-worship, observance of rites and vows, progress in the path of salvation etc., which invariably caused people to serve him with utmost obedience. 27 - 28.
Now I shall tell you predominant features of dharma. They are: knowledge, dispassion, prowess, fearlessness,straightforwardness, austerity, truth, purity, happiness, welfare,stability, courage, gentleness. 29
.…satisfaction, control of sense organs, abandonment of the fruits of action, yogic practices, performing sacrifice, tranquility,self-restraint, worship of the Lord, abstinence, belief in God,forgiveness, remembrance. 30.
…luster, propitiousness, auspiciousness, self-study, modesty,joy, meditation, equanimity, attainment of knowledge of the supreme spirit, sweet speech, diligence and mobilization & utilization of money for good. 31.
So far I have enumerated the vices or Adharma vis-à-visreligious merits and also I explained the qualities born of righteousness. 32.
The nine modes of devotion like listening etc. are pre-emanating the line of dharma which I have delineated earlier. 33.
All the sages, gods and human beings desirous of bliss have followed these virtues wholeheartedly; so have the liberated ones as well as the seekers of liberation. 34.
All these divine qualities have, by overcoming the creation of Adharma, pervaded the universe with their splendor and have given happiness to all the people who have taken recourse to them. 35.
Each of these is equal in valor and power to that of dharma,wherefore one who is desirous of salvation should not neglect any one of these. 36.
Both dharma and Adharma in their formation stick to the irrespective inherent virtues and vices separately. In the same way both these positive and negative qualities take shelter in both dharma and Adharma respectively. 37.
It is like the Banyan tree existing in its seeds and the seeds in the tree, thus both are giving room to exist mutually. 38.
Thus I have told you the two-fold creation of religious and irreligious practices. The vices are off-shoots of Adharma, and the virtues that of dharma. Only those who overcome vices with the help of virtues, and turn their mind in devotion to Shri Hari will attain the highest happiness. Not others. 39 - 40.
Exerting oneself hard, abandoning all rustic pleasure and taking recourse to virtues, one should conquer vices the enemies. 41.
Five main flaws.
Among all these vices, five prominent vices are to be conquered categorically. It is certain that if these are conquered it will be as good as getting victory over all the evils - Greed,passion, enjoyment of worldly pleasures, undue affection and ego are these five inner enemies, which should be overcome by pushing oneself hard. 42 - 43.
These evils are the obstacles in the path of those who desire salvation. Even a small mistake on the part of a greatly accomplished person can cause him to slide from his attainment. 44.
If any one of these vices is predominant in a person, other four vices will follow that one. 45.
O wise one, in the Puranas it is explained in detail how a single vice is at the root of all evils and, left to itself, becomes invincible. 46.
Hence, by all means, these influential evils are to be conquered. My followers should always be alert and devote themselves to Krishna. 47.
Do not take it for granted that they will not do any harm to the devotees like us, pure in their hearts. Even a slightest trace of any of those enemies will cause sorrow. 48.
Allusions of men fallen due to imprudence.
Even great devotees are doomed, if they commit a small mistake due to overconfidence. 49.
There are great devotees who were overpowered by vices like greed etc. I tell you their names in brief.
The very pious Brahman, the great sage Vasistha, the great powerful king Kartaviryarjuna who was condemned due to excessive greed are among the prominent names. 50 - 51.
Brahma, Indra the king of gods, the sage Saubhari and king Nahusa were very religious persons. But because of their over attachment for passion, they were defamed and had to suffer miserably. 52.
Rushyashrng and many other great sages, Brahmins and kings defeated by their passion for worldly comforts and pleasures have fallen from spiritual path. 53.
Rsabhadeva’s son King Bharata who had renounced his sovereign power due to his undue affection for the fawn of a deer lost his merit of austerities. 54.
Daksa prajapati and the sage Durvasa, the son of Atri had to face instantaneous defeat due to their ego! There and many other gods, kings and great sages who were felled by their own passion and had to face great calamities. 55 - 56.
O king, such being the predicament of those great men, what may be said of these modern people who are overconfident? Are they not prone to corruption too? 57.
Therefore, my followers should control their minds, and always keep themselves alert, conquer the evils and worship Shri Hari. 58.
They that abandon irreligious ways, take to the path of dharma and nourish devotion unto Shri Hari will indeed attain desired
bliss. 59.
Thus ends the tenth chapter entitled ‘Description of virtuous and vicious tendencies in the world’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 10
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