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



Sadguru Shree Shree Bijoy Krishna Goswami (Gosaiji)

Sl. No. 30 - Sermon - (Take shelter under that ‘Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’)

Dhaka - East Bengal Brahmomandir.
Monday, 20th Pous, 1293 Bengali Calender [1888 A.D.]

Once Devarshi Narada had gone to Shree Vrindavan. He found Vrindavan devoid of all its beauty. He thought as to why the atmosphere of the ‘abode of bliss’ was in this condition? As he was thinking of this, the wife of a Gopi came and asked, “What are you thinking, Oh Narada?” Narada said “Why do I find the beautiful Vrindavan, without beauty?” The wife of the Gopi then said, “You know arithmetic; with a zero at its side one becomes ten, ten becomes a hundred with the substitution of a zero, thus with addition of every zero its value increases ten times. Then if you remove the 1 from the left side, all these zeroes carry no value. Just as all become a meaningless zero without 1, similarly with our Krishna being taken away, Vrindavan has lost all its glamour.

The viewers of jatra* plays have noticed the presence of so much sorrows, disappointments, joys, dances and songs, but these do not remain after sometime. Similarly in the worldly life also, we may find pleasure by clinging to whatever that comes in our way, but soon afterwards these can no longer deliver happiness. They become old. People visiting the Himalayas watch the objects on the hill with great attention for a few days, but later they no longer feel like seeing them as they appear to be old. Thus everything appears to be like that zero without the presence of that 1 on the left side. But if we can place the Supreme Lord on the left side and comfort, pleasure, wife, children, families and other objects of the samsar on the right hand side, then everything will remain beautiful and graceful. But everything loses its beauty when we exclude God. The thing that gives me pleasure today will become an object of pain tomorrow. The source of happiness today, will disappear to become untraceable tomorrow. Thus all the objects of the world become like zero without 1 (one).

As long as a man is focussed on himself, he keeps thinking, “I am big. There is none like me in the whole world.” But oh dear man! rubbish to your useless pride! Even insects and birds are mocking at you. The ant is doing its work allotted by the Lord; you have no capacity to interfere there. The spider builds its own web, you just cannot apply your intelligence on its work. Insects and butterflies are accomplishing their due tasks and are ridiculing us! The honey bee says, “Look, oh men, you are happy to consume trifle like rice and pulses and I drink honey, live in the midst of honey; you wear ordinary clothes, I am well decorated by wearing God gifted dress.” The birds say, “You living beings are restricted by limitations, you have to stay at your own place, but I can fly anywhere I like.” Thus all the living beings ridicule humans. A man is blind as long as he thinks only of himself as big. This happens when he discards the Supreme Lord. Everything becomes beautiful when that ‘One’ is kept on the left hand side and all animals, birds, insects, rivers and mountains are added to Him. When that is done, everybody will speak about that Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, (truth, well-being and beauty)—Supreme Lord. Every one will say “Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram is my support.” I am nothing but zero. My existence is from that 1. I exist because He exists. My strength is caused by His strength. My intelligence is because of His intelligence. All that I have is derived from being linked with that One. Beauty is seen only when the support of all objects that ‘One’ is seen, otherwise the visible world appears to us as lacklustre as was seen by Narada. If you want to see everything in a state of beauty then add ‘one’ to everything, You will then find eveything turning beautiful.

Do not focus on yourself while doing anything, you will then find everything to be new. If however you do things focussing on yourself, you will find everything to be old. Trifle man! What strength do you have to do something, and be happy thinking of it as your own? Everything is devoid of beauty if you do not take shelter under that ‘support of life’. Therefore link anything you want to do with Him. First know Him if you want to mix with people. Link every work that you do with Him. All will become new. Instead, if you depend on yourself then everything is old.

We see various changes in this world. One who is rich today is poor tomorrow. A king today is a begger on the streets tomorrow. One who is religious today is not religious the next day. Gradual changes are thus taking place. Who can keep himself allright with one’s own strength, in such circumstances? There is no guarantee as to where one will flow away like the current of a river. If you wish to stay unchanged all the time then make that ‘Satyam, Shivam Sundaram’ your companion in every work, then nothing can affect you. Basic senses like lust and anger are pulling on one side, the samsar drags on to the other. Who has the capacity to save oneself from the pulls? Man has no such power by which he can save himself. But if a man remains happy in this way, then it can last for two, four or ten years; but later he will have to repay for all those happiness by the crushing of all his bones and flesh. Seeing such misery it is concluded that there is no way to save oneself without taking support of that one Master. No fear or danger exists on attaining God.

A goat can easily devour a plant when it is small, but if you protect it with a fence around and when it grows, even a wild elephant can do nothing to it. Similarly if you want to protect yourself, take shelter under that ‘Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’ and you will face no danger at all. Look at me, I have no power, whatever I do or say, all are His. If we can thus take His shelter then all the inherent vices will come under control. The senses like lust and anger are all myself and nothing but myself. My body and my ears mean the same; therefore me and my senses are the same. If you want to achieve dharma, take shelter under that One. Keep that One on your left and make yourself a zero. Without taking support of the Supreme Lord everything is zero and everything becomes full of bliss, every place becomes Vrindavan when you are able to attain Him. Everything is full of beauty, full of joy when you take shelter under Him. But achieving God is not just a matter of talk. Nothing is achieved just by uttering God! God! The bees and butterflies are so graceful because they are under the shelter of God. The person who has taken shelter under the Supreme Lord is really religious.

To take His shelter, extreme yearning is needed, mere talking will not do. Talking about God in the congregation (of samaj) but when outside, thinking ill of others, will not lead us to dharma. Associating with pious people for four or five days removes ill feelings and imparts practice of good feelings and so the question of fostering ill will cannot arise at all when one takes shelter under that Supreme Lord. We cannot really attain God, if we chant ’God’ verbally but hold ill feelings internally. Until I am able to see Him while putting aside everything, all are useless. He can indeed be seen directly. He is not a matter of talk. He is something to be experienced directly. Everything is zero, He is one. He is the person, all others are sheltered by Him, nothing exists without support from Him; He is dharma, everything exists by His support. He is my life. He is my strength, intellect; I am pithless, worthless. I have nothing belonging to me. My only shelter is He. The water falls in the pitcher, I am the pitcher and He is water. Filling me completely He exists in me. I am zero without Him. He is the carrier of dharma and slayer of sins. Everything is useless until I am able to take shelter under Him. He can indeed be reached. If men believe that He can be attained, then He can really be attained. We cannot forget to drink water when we are thirsty, when we are hungry, we cannot forget hunger unless we eat, people cannot forget the death of a son, then how can I forget the absence of the Supreme Lord? We cannot eat properly or dress properly at the time of mourning, and it is never possible to eat, to move about, to make merry without having Him with us. A man becomes restless when his soul is really desirous of attaining the Supreme Lord. He asks the river, the moon, the sun, the trees and creepers, “Tell me, where is my Lord? Where has He gone? Which route should I take to reach Him? I fall at your feet, please tell me. Have you seen Him?” He then becomes insensible due to his separation from the Lord. Does he care when people rebuke Him? Does his soul have any place for shame or fear? He runs to anybody; His mouth just emits the words, “Tell me where is He, the one who is mine. You abuse me, but do you realise the way my heart is burning? You may say as much as you like if you do not realise this, My soul will not rest by any means.” When shall my soul reach such a stage? When will such a day come that everybody will hurl abuses at me and I shall become mad in the name of my Lord, while falling at everybody’s feet, and I shall be blessed by all the dust of their feet. I shall go mad in His name and utter “My Lord, my Lord” and take shelter at peoples’ feet and ask them to tell me where my shelter is. I am unable to live without attaining Him. All of you please bless me so that I may attain the shelter of my soul by being subjugated to everyone, live as the dust of their feet.