Lectures and Sermons of Shree Shree Bijoy Krishna Goswami (Gosaiji)



Sadguru Shree Shree Bijoy Krishna Goswami (Gosaiji)

Sl. No. 29 - Sermon - (My Eternal Savings)

Dhaka - East Bengal Brahmomandir.
Sunday, 19th Pous 1293 Bengali Calender [1888 A.D.]

A fakir went to a king and handed over a box. The fakir did not live at one place. He used to roam around various places. After handing over the box to the king the fakir said, “The box has to be returned to me wherever I want and in whatever condition I may be in. Moreover, I also want the iron needle that I have kept inside the box. I shall not take anything else if it is lost. I shall not take even a thousand golden needles in replacement. You have to give the box and the needle whenever and wherever I want them back.” The king took the box to the queen for consultation. On hearing the full details that this had to be returned wherever he wanted this to be returned, the queen asked, “What if he wanted it back in the other world (paralok)?” The king came back to his senses on hearing this. Being worried he returned to the fakir and asked him, “Must I return it even if you ask for it in the other world?” The fakir said “Yes”. With amazement the king asked, “How can this box and needle be taken to the other world? You are saying something surprising!” The fakir replied, “How is that? You are such a big king, so many servants, soldiers, so much of wealth, such a large kingdom will go with you and still my needle cannot go?” The king said, “Nothing accompanies us after death.” The fakir then said, “Then why all these? Why so much of pride and luxury? Why do you hurt the sentiment of so many people, killing so many lives, destroying so many countries?” Wisdom now dawned on the king. He thought, “Nothing will go with me. I am indeed working like a fool.” Thus the king started introspection.

Like that king, we too are drowned in the samsar senselessly. We keep moving on the basis that we shall live eternally. When Dharma in the form of a Bak (crane) asked Yudhisthira, “What is the most amazing thing?” Most of us know the answer he gave; he said that people do not think of their own death inspite of witnessing hundreds of deaths everyday. What can be more amazing than this?

Out of so many people living, so many have gone. The one I see today, is dead tomorrow. The one I have seen in the morning is gone by the afternoon. Even the person with whom I had a talk an hour ago, I hear is no more now. People see these incidents daily. But all the same, they think they will not die. Still more surprising is that I am attached to so many objects as my own! I had nothing when I came. Nothing will go with me on the day of my death—not even a blade of grass not even an iron needle. I came alone, I shall have to go alone. Who am I? Where have I come from? Where shall I go? What is mine? If such thoughts arise in my mind then only am I fortunate. Grave thoughts arise even from negligible incidents. Like Lalababu, who woke up to wisdom on hearing “Time is passing by”, many people can develop consciousness even by the cawing of a crow or the bark of a dog. But everybody does not listen to the call of this auspicious moment. We think we are at peace with money, servants, and various enjoyments. Just then thoughts of the other world crops up in the mind and I think who am I, where have I come from, where shall I go, I realise that there is nothing that would accompany me. Everything is left behind. Where are they today, all those with whom I have played together, studied together, enjoyed together? Those buildings, playfields everything remain intact but where is that friend? The seat that he was sitting upon remains the same, but where is he? Aha, how much dear wealth, how many loved ones leave us, engulfing the heart with darkness! Everything like their playthings, place of play, things they loved remain as they were, but where are they? In fact nothing will go. Then who brought us here? What is that we should carry along? These questions appear in human minds at an auspicious moment. When searched with an honest mind, the answers appear within the mind itself.

My eternal companion, the Supreme Lord is my creator, protector, ruler, the kind friend of the wretched, and I shall have to stay with Him eternally under His shelter. He is my savings only if I can recognise Him, identify Him. I am nothing without Him, I own nothing otherwise. We take money to travel two miles, to cross a river we take coins for the boat ride, and when we cross the river of the world, where we have to move endlessly, we find no fund to help us. Can we stay without thinking about it? We can do so as long as we are ignorant; but how can we rest after realising this matter? Life becomes meaningful only when we can recognise the only one companion and support, the master, the Lord of the lowly, friend of the wretched, otherwise who is as destitute, as sad, as poor as me? I cannot take along any external object, not even a single coin or a single needle. Who is as penniless as me?

How do we make Him our resource? Where is He? He is not outside. He is very much within our heart. Why do all these talks and sermons we hear around us, not touch our soul? Why don’t the lies, deception, evil deeds leave us, inspite of our reading so many scriptures and talking so much about dharma? We say something—do something else. Well, why is the condition so poor? Actually the seed of dharma embedded in our soul has not germinated even today. Everything is hidden in the soul the way the tree is hidden in the seed. By the grace of Brahman, when this germinates at a good time, we see him at the base of the tree of love and then we achieve the resource. A thousand books, a thousand sermons cannot release that root. How then does the seed germinate? The plant emerges when the seed rots and dies—not till it is alive. The seeds of paddy, barley, mango, jackfruit rot at first. Subsequently they produce thousands of fruits when the trees grow. The actual summary is “nothing can happen before perishing”. To open that door one has to be dead while living and then establish His kingdom. What am I? He alone is life, the life of the whole universe, all other bodies are but shadows. He is deploying everybody.

The seeds of the paddy etc. germinate and get beautified by flowers and fruits when His power works on that rotten seed. He alone is the resource. Both inside and outside are one in Him. He is inside, He is outside. Both the world and the world after are one, not far away; have no fear, rejoice. Anandam brahmano vidyan na bibheti kutaschanah. Meaning, one who knows the Absolute Bliss Brahman is never afraid. Nothing is achieved by any means as long as I am immersed in ignorance, if I do not develop thoughts of paralok, soul and its resource and if I cannot destroy my pride. When that Truth is manifested, the devotee, like musk deer, cannot identify the direction from which the fragrance comes, gets overwhelmed by his own fragrance. That is an amazing state, but it cannot be achieved until the ‘I’ is dead. He does not come until the ‘I’-ship goes. I am learned, I am religious. Fie! fie upon it. What is that which I can do? What am I doing? A fool, an idiot, I do not know myself. I do not have the capacity to know even a blade of grass or a grain of sand. Fie upon me! What is there to be proud of? When man gets immersed in that eternal wealth, then he is in a state of death. To achieve that eternal resource we have to continue spiritual practice all the time with extreme yearning. With every breath we have to look up to Him with beseeching eyes. According to me, one who does not do this and wastes even a single breath as life goes on every moment, is a self killer. We must achieve that wealth. Only then we shall be able to see paralok in all these buildings, the universe and in everybody. The only master of the entire universe is prevailing in the heart of all men and women. When we can see the entire universe in Him, when He manifests as the King of kings then we find so many rivers, hills and mountains, so many suns and stars, so many gods and godesses, so many lives belonging to this world and world beyond existing in Him. Everything is present, everything is present,everything is present. This world and the world beyond are one.

“It is He alone, He alone”. “Truth alone triumphs, not untruth.” It is not just talk—no imagination. True, true, true—here is the other world before us. You cannot take a needle away, but I say it is possible to take along the entire universe to the other world. He is the creator of the universe. Everything rests in Him. But the realisation may not come unless we destroy our ego, and if we can, then now itself we shall be happy to see our relatives, friends in the world beyond before us. I could not establish His reign by destroying myself, by eliminating the ‘I’ in me. I shall be blessed to see the kingdom of immortality instantly if I can say even for a moment “you, you”. No sun or moon exist there, no groupism or community, no honour or dishonour, no hunger or thirst exist there. What exists there are only truth, love, purity and paripurnamanandam, paripurnamanandam (absolute bliss) and we can see that just now. We can see that even now, if we can destroy egoism and establish the rule of the Master. The kingdom of dharma has no place for disease, grief, old age or pain. I do not want a verbal dharma, I want that true dharma. I beg of you, I pray to you, that I may be able to go to that kingdom of dharma. I shall be blessed to achieve and see Brahman, enjoy the bliss of Brahman, absolute bliss and bliss for all time there. All of you please bless me so that my ego be shattered. Kick me on my head; this ego prevents me from seeing that kingdom. Kick me on my head so that I may become dead while living. With total sincerity and simplicity I pray at the feet of all, that on seeing the kingdom of Truth I may be blessed.