Swamini Aparajita Ma

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

As long as one has a ‘rescue fantasy’, one’s experience of SatGuru and God will be very limited.
A being who can rescue you from misery. Who can protect you when you feel unsafe. Someone who will love when you can’t love yourself. God and Satguru is and constantly gives all these things and infinite more. But He will first teach one to become so strong to be one’s own savior. So loving to rescue oneself from misery. So humble to protect oneself from all harm. So confident to be one’s own best friend. Become so truly loving to yourself that you can correct your mistakes without harsh self-criticism or arrogant ego. Simply with wonder at Bhagavan’s immense love and SatGuru Grace . This is the experience of God in your heart. He will free you fully from inside. And hold onto that experience, the values, qualities, and traits that led you to experiencing His unshakeable peace in your heart. Don’t let go of the inner qualities to now start experiencing God externally. The One who is everywhere infinite in quantity, who is the soul of your soul, who is present with form, name, and personality of His own. That One will also reveal Himself externally fully. Don’t ever doubt that. But don’t let go of the inner experience to hunt for the external, that will not work. Without the inner loving qualities, Bhagavan cannot reveal Himself in any way.

[Swamini Aparajita Ma @Diya108_]

@vishwananda @AngeloVesuviani Jay GuruDev! ❤️🙏

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The Guru does precisely how much is necessary for true positive change.
For example, if one is going to change one’s negative pattern with exactly ten points of pressure, the Guru applies exactly ten. Not nine, not eleven. He is only interested in bringing one to unconditional love as one has asked him to do. He will not do anything one has not asked. And he will not stop doing what one has asked. Until one changes one’s mind, until one’s decision changes. He will keep working the way one has asked him to do. He will always give his very best. The perfect servant leader. The perfect goldsmith, he knows how much a piece of gold needs to be cast as a beautiful bracelet. And how much another needs to be cast as necklace. It is what each one has asked him to do. One is always free to take back that request. If the change from negativity to infinite positivity is too difficult, one is always free to ask him to go slow or stop altogether. He is the perfect doctor. Like Guru Arjan Dev ji wrote, “Mera Baid Guru Govinda” - my doctor is Guru Govinda. He doesn’t do what will hurt one. But he won’t stop removing the poison that one has asked him to remove. However, if one refuses to take the medicine, he also will never force. His mercy and freedom knows no bounds. He takes the poison and the blame. But hands out only love and mercy. This is his eternal promise. The fortunate see his love and glimpse the Eternal One in his heart.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

When an atma leaves the world very suddenly, people say it was before its time, but what does that mean?
God helps everyone. He protects and takes care of everyone. No matter when the atma leaves this world, Bhagavan is there with everyone. Even if someone leaves suddenly, He will help them on their onward journey. He will help them to heal fully and realize His lotus feet in their heart. Everyone is loved and saved. Everyone can and will attain His feet. Each one moves at their speed which is known only to that atma and Paramatma. Bhagavan is the lord of unconditional love. In His heart, there is only love for all. His loving mercy and protection of every beloved atma is always present. Sometimes one can reach the ultimate goal in this life, sometimes it is waiting for one in a next life. Don’t judge anyone or worry about anything. Just do the best one can with love and kindness. And trust in Him. He knows how difficult things can get. He knows how hard the lessons are. He never leaves anyone alone. Others looking in may feel that one is not trying hard enough, but the atma knows and Bhagavan always knows. Always be filled with His love and know that He is the most merciful. There is no need to worry excessively. Trust in Him. Let the heart always be comforted in Him.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

In the moments before departing from this world, the atma is aware of all the secrets that were hidden inside itself.
The reason for coming to this world. The way it has lived its life. Who it has hurt. Who it has loved selflessly. Whose heart it has crushed. Whose heart was infused with comfort and warmth because of it. The atma becomes aware of the presence of the Antaryami fully. For a few moments. It has complete awareness. Those who have lived as true bhaktas, they carry this same state forward into their journey to Sri Hari’s lotus feet. But those who haven’t tried to walk the path of sincere and selfless love, this awareness brings them great regret and pain. The regret of not having lived well. The pain of having wasted such a beautiful opportunity to be born as a human in this world and yet having missed the opportunity to reach true freedom. Such an atma feels great sorrow knowing that that supreme awareness and knowledge will once again become dormant in a few moments. Because of its lack of ability to handle it. And it will have to start over again in a new life. The lotus feet of Shriman Narayan are extremely difficult to reach. Don’t think that the simple label of a bhakta, wearing a tilak or mala for some years, can bring you to Him. Not at all. The arduous process of removing everything except for endless love from one’s inner state is the most difficult thing. One is not guaranteed a place at the lotus feet of Bhagavan without one’s effort. Grace is always there. Especially when one has the great fortune to meet the SatGuru. But how you take that grace, how you handle its radiant beauty in your life, how you grow it and make it shine on all. That is what will change everything. The SatGuru’s grace, His love and mercy are everflowing and overflowing to all. But only those who have polished themselves to perfection through constant inner work and true positive change will reach that most exalted place. Allowing the SatGuru to lift you up towards Bhagavan is the greatest gift you can give Him. But this deep inner willingness to be humble and surrendered, and keeping that willingness always alive, is the choice of the jeevatma. The world cannot understand how much the SatGuru yearns to bring everyone to Bhagavan’s feet, where one can find everything one has ever longed for. And how much it hurts His heart to see that most are unwilling. So He just waits, seeing valuable time passing by, opportunities being wasted. And the jeevatma hurtling towards its own greatest misery; further disconnection from Bhagavan. Yet He cannot do anything because that is the jeevatma’s free choice to make. This is what the atma sees fully in the moments of its departure from this world. And for an atma that has made itself fully golden through its endless love and kindness, those final moments are filled with the most exquisite peace and joy. Blessed are the true bhaktas who have allowed their hearts to become endless fountains of selfless love to all

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

With the SatGuru, one realizes the heart of the Sanatan Dharma.
That there is one focus, to love all unconditionally as a part of God’s eternal self - whether it is a small atom or the cosmic planets, a rock, a river, piece of dust, a tree, an animal, a human, oneself, a situation, a feeling, a thought, a direct vision of God, anything and everything - at all times. All bhaktas should learn this simple yet powerful truth of the path with the SatGuru. Unconditional love. Take a deep breath and let it sink in. As one holds onto this truth with stronger and stronger deep inner knowing, the external rituals start to make sense as well. Atma Kriya Yoga. Puja. The Deities. One develops a genuine relationship with all the seemingly external things. Because one doesn’t see them only outside anymore. They become fully internalized. One realizes the joy and deepness of God in the external rituals, without making them a thing to become dogmatic about. The inner transformation is the foundation, the path, and the destination. The external is a temporary play which also reveals God in His full glory. He hides and appears in His creation. It’s just that most lack the eyes to see Him in the exterior world. When love cleans the eyes with humility and selflessness, it makes them capable to see Bhagavan. Start feeling the joy in the external rituals. Your every action in this world, from the simplest to the most complex, can become an act of worship that finds Bhagavan everywhere.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The SatGuru’s only lesson is love. It is an inner knowing, a truth that one either authentically feels or doesn’t.
No one is forced to understand that or experience anything. One is always free to walk away. The SatGuru will never ask for anything. He doesn’t need it. People like to say and think many negative things, because it allows them to feel they are being controlled or deceived. Believe it or not, it is much easier to live with the feeling that someone is “pushing me, forcing me, testing me”; than it is to take responsibility and live life the way one fully wants to. So many people have come and gone from the path with the SatGuru. No one has been asked to come, no one has been asked to stay. One is always free. Free to be with Him. Free to not. It is each one’s own life. That is the way Bhagavan created all. Free to choose. This is the way one always is. Free. If the Creator Himself doesn't force anyone to do anything, there is no question of anyone else being allowed to do so. The path with the SatGuru is simple. If one wishes to learn, one is welcome. If one wishes to stop learning, one is free to leave. Most people don’t like to choose for themselves, they prefer blaming someone else. And if one’s free choice is to leave the SatGuru, there won’t be any obstacle that He puts in the way. His repeated and only lesson is genuine and unconditional love for Bhagavan. If it is coming across as something else to someone, they can freely choose a different way that leads them where they wish to go. Each person is a beautiful spark of God, all should live the complete life they have come here for.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

So many people don’t remain kind and decent people when walking their so-called ‘spiritual path’.
This is the biggest hypocrisy and source of very dangerous spiritual ego. One gives oneself the license to behave anyhow, speak anyhow, and think anyhow. Simply because one has stuck a label or role of ‘spiritual’ on oneself. But it is exactly like sticking a label of gold onto an empty package and then trying to sell it for the same value as real gold. Isn’t this what many people are doing? Because one feels one has achieved something, one slacks off. Doesn’t bother looking at oneself anymore. Do you genuinely believe that anyone gets close to God this way? Has one deluded one’s mind so much that one is obsessed with the outside and kept all loving qualities of the inside away? There are nearly countless ways that hypocrisy arises again and again in the mind. A little bit of unwillingness to clean oneself of negativity and the hypocrisy finds a way to grow within. All qualities exist with everyone always. It depends on each moment what choice you make. Enlightenment is very easy but do people keep it easy? No. Because their choices are contradictory moment to moment. One says one wants God-realization but the next moment one puts the mind in an opposite thought. One is only wasting one’s own time and fooling oneself. The label of ‘spiritual’ means something. It isn’t simply a word to throw around and act like one knows. Spiritual means to live from the inner spirit. To act in such a way that the inner spirit of everyone becomes strengthened, joyful, and light. Spirituality should make you more and more wonderful to be with for everyone. The world should long for your company because you are so caring, happy, cheerful, humble, and loving. This is what Sant Kabir Dev ji meant when he said that when you enter the world, you cry and the world is joyful. But when you die, you should be laughing and the world should cry. You are laughing with joy at death because you lived every single moment in love and care for all, for God in all. And the world cries at your death because they will miss the extraordinary energy of kindness, humility, and most of all love that they felt with you. Before putting the label ‘spiritual’ on yourself, you should be doing the moral work that comes with that lofty state. To reach the inner spirit within you, first at least start cleaning your conscious mind of its many impurities.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

What is your effort today?
To reach somewhere, to get to the goal, to find your genuine place on the spiritual path, you have to move. You have to make your efforts. To expect that something of the outside will change or that someone will come to rescue you are useless desires. Because such desires will disempower you and keep you stuck in one place. To truly make progress, to truly find the great peace of the inside that everyone longs for, you have to become your own champion firstly. You have to learn to get up when life has knocked you down. Again and again and again you have to get up. And never give up until the end. And how you get back up. Is it through bitterness? Is it through anger? Is it through despair? Or. Is it through immense faith in your innermost strength? Is it through a deep connection of the inside which remains even when everything else is lost? How you get back up matters. It matters a lot. In fact, that is what makes all the difference in the world. Because when you’re stuck in your own negative space, you can’t even see Bhagavan’s, the SatGuru’s, help entering your life. You can’t see how much He wishes to be your champion. You won’t see that He is helping you through the various opportunities that life presents. And everyone gets opportunities. Everyone gets endless opportunities. Day after day after day Bhagavan sends help. But one doesn’t see it. One doesn’t grab it. What has been your effort today to see God’s grace in your life? What has been your effort today to make life more beautiful, more loving, more peaceful for yourself and others? What has been your effort today to move closer to the SatGuru’s unconditionally loving heart? Be sincere with your answers to these questions every day and change what needs to change to keep growing in life and love.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Many people know about love, very few people behave with love.
This is very similar to what Duryodhan says in the Mahabharat. “I know what is dharma but I do not act accordingly. I know what is adharma but I cannot stop myself from acting that way.” People always think that they are the best and others are the problem. But how many people can truly look in the mirror and meet their own eyes without feeling guilty, ashamed, or regretful of the way they have behaved, spoken, or thought? Not many. Because most people allow the negative qualities to grow within them. They feed the wolf within that likes to take one away from love, not the one who takes one to love. Whichever wolf you feed will become powerful and active within you. But does one truly behave with love? This is a question to be asked and answered within yourself every day. “Am I genuinely behaving with love or am I only thinking about love while my actions, words, and thoughts are still stuck in my own greatness?” Sometimes the ones who are acting the most loving on the outside, are also the ones who are most hypocritical inside. They preach to others and point out their faults, but never turn the scalpel of their judgement on themselves. The SatGuru has never given anyone the work of correcting others. He has always given everyone the work of correcting themselves. If you wish to be a leader then lead by example, not by words. And if you wish simply to love, then stop worrying about anything else. Just behave with love in every moment of your life. Such a life will be its own greatest reward, without even counting the infinite closeness one will achieve with Bhagavan through this. Bhagavan is only won over by those who love humbly all the time and serve all joyfully without judgement.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Often people wonder, “if one was already with God at the beginning, then what is the need for creation, for coming here, or for going on the spiritual journey, just to go back to Him one day?”
This question only comes to those who have still not understood life. How extraordinary is this gift given by Bhagavan. That one is eternally with Him yet has the experience of separation, just to see how truly glorious He is. That Great Being which the atma loves with all its heart. In a simple way; when one identifies so much with the body, can you have gratitude for its divine origin? How perfect is its every organ, bone, and vein. How strong yet delicate it is. How the five elements come together so perfectly, that science has not been able to understand even the smallest atom of it. In the same way, to truly know Bhagavan, how sweet, how loving, all-pervading, omnipotent and omniscient He is - one takes on this illusion of separation for a short while. This is life. The atma willingly takes on this veil of forgetfulness so that in remembering again, it is struck with greater wonder how amazing Paramatma is. How amazing its relationship with Paramatma is. The atma is never separated from Bhagavan, but it consciously humbles itself into a forgetful little being, so that it can gaze up in wonder towards its Beloved. The one who it serves with love constantly. Even a small moment of this realization is so blissful that the atma is willing to go through anything just to know its dearest Bhagavan’s infinite prem. To be a servant of that Great Being, the atma is forever ready. The flow of creation from and towards Bhagavan is prem and bhakti themselves. Don’t look down upon this gift of life that one has been given. No matter how difficult things may seem in the moment, they are nothing in the face of Unconditional Love’s eternity. Enjoy thoroughly, love fully, and share your gratitude for God’s presence with all. Then all of life’s misery will flow away as one takes a dip in the innermost Sangam of prem, bhakti, and sharanagati.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The instinct to know more about everything is a fundamentally human characteristic.
For thousands of years, humans have been exploring everything. From the ocean, to space, to the development of trees, to other human minds and their behaviors. Curiosity about the self and the environment around the self is the growth of consciousness from simply existing with basic instincts of food, shelter, safety, care, and reproduction - to higher levels of consciousness like logical reasoning, delayed gratification, costly altruism, all the way to self, life, and God-realization. This inner fire to grow in joy, to learn and be inspired, to question and humbly realize should be kept alive within you. It is the way the atma interacts with the world. It is the way one keeps expanding the consciousness. Anyone who tells you to stop questioning within your heart and not follow that deep and true intuition within you is a deluded person. Become curious about the intuition, the inner voice of the self. Where is its origin point? Does it feel like the guidance from love and wisdom? Or does it lead to fear and ego? With this repeated questioning of the self, one can polish the intuition. Allowing it to submerge into the will of the atma. Allowing one to let go of the egoistic illusion and emerge steadily into the eternal reality of Bhagavan. With the SatGuru, in the Sanatan Dharma, one is not taught blind faith. One is taught to use every resource to its highest potential with love. One is taught to respect and care for all beings like they are each a part of one’s own heart. One is taught that nothing is greater or lesser than the other. Not even other paths are judged as inferior. One is encouraged to understand one’s own deep inner intuition and follow it towards Bhagavan. And to bring that inner vision, that unrealized dream into concrete actions and intentions. Through working on the self, one helps the world. And through loving everyone, one helps oneself. Love is a beautiful upward spiral of existence.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

People keep questioning why they are receiving pain, why there is so much suffering in the world. Why doesn’t God, Guru take it away?
But do you know that the true fight is always inside? It feels like it is outside, people, situations, and so on. But it is always the One energy which is in movement everywhere. The Oneness that is manifest within and outside you. And the fight can never be fought, won, or lost on the outside. It is always inside. What did Bhagavan Sri Krishna show Arjun? That it is the inner state which has to be controlled to actually win the fight inside and outside. It is the atma itself that is fighting the lower parts of your psyche which are strangling it. The karmas one doesn’t pay any attention to, that one is happily creating mountains of, they are like thorny vines. They strangle the tiny plant which is the atma. They compete with it for food. They steal its nutrients. They look for ways that the gardener which is you, don’t look at the tiny plant of the atma. Because it is filled with so much joy, love, and devotion that you will never look at the weeds and thorny vines ever again. You will be in so much bliss with the atma which is revealing Bhagavan to you, that you will never want to look at anything else. When you try to walk with love on the spiritual path, you give strength to that tiny plant of love inside you. The atma is strengthened to fight against the vines that are trying to keep it silent, trying to subdue its presence using any means necessary. And with your small sparks of love and devotion, the atma fights off the vines strangling it, so that you can finally have peace and love. This is the true pain that everyone goes through. The outside is always only a mirror. It is never the true battlefield, no matter how much it may look like that. The fight within is the battlefield you must enter and win. And yet who is blamed for any pain? The Paramatma who is further locked up inside the atma. Like a seed in a fruit. He is blamed for one’s pain. He has been locked up and forgotten inside since the moment the atma was formed. But does anyone care about His pain? How much He longs to jump out from within and reveal His endless love to you? A love that has been strangled and suffocated, hidden away and forced to go through so much. Yet He only loves all the time, deep and enduring love that has faced so much violence from the other parts of one’s psyche. The atma causes the self pain when fighting the inner demons so that it can free itself and release the Paramatma locked up within. But is the atma to be silenced again because you can’t handle the pain of the medicine it is giving out? Does one want to continue living in misery, in shackles, in darkness and forgetfulness of everything that’s truly good and joyful? Because that’s the outcome of silencing your atma. Look at the mirror of the outside and use it to strengthen your love and devotion. Allow your atma to finally be free. Let the Antaryami come out and walk with you after all this time of being forgotten.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

People like to go into fantasies because real life can get so difficult to live.
But with the SatGuru, real life becomes better than the wildest dream and greatest fantasy. With Him, one lifetime can reveal the ultimate path for the atma which is hidden behind nearly countless veils. Twenty years can show you that you never knew how life worked at all but that it is more beautiful than you ever imagined. Ten years can show you how extraordinary the strength He has placed inside you really is. One year can show you that your dreams can come true so quickly. One month can feel like eras have passed because the One you prayed for has arrived in front of your eyes. One week can show you how every day has such beautiful facets of Bhagavan and His worship. One day is enough to change the course of your life forever. One hour in His company can remove every sorrow from your mind. One minute can transform into a thousand because He has given you Darshan. And one single moment of blinking the eyes and a fraction of focus on His lotus feet being lost, feels like one was separated from the Antaryami for a millennium. Time changes completely with the SatGuru. Long years pass by so fast. Few moments stretch into eternity. That which people only hear about but do not believe. The prophesies of the scriptures. The greatness and closeness of Bhagavan. The sweetness and infinity of His love. All becomes manifest in a bhakta’s life through just trusting and loving the SatGuru. Waiting for His divine right time rather than impatience because of one’s own timeline. All is received in a moment and also a lifetime is not enough to spend in the divine relationship of love. When your waking moments become better than your most desired dreams, when they stay like that all the time. When you give thanks in every moment because He has made life so good, so filled with Bhagavan. When you don’t know how to stop serving because you see how much He has always served you. Then you will know. Then you will walk with love no matter how hard the path may look right now. Because you know, not just believe, but you know that all is the very best with Him. And you never have to worry because He is with you and loves you infinitely.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Without constant meditation on Bhagavan’s lotus feet, one can never hope to know what is His will, the will of the atma in entering this life.
To have any hope of making this life successful, where the atma does not repent but instead leaps with joy when death comes, one has to work very hard. Focused and constant work on the self to submit one’s ego and selfish will to the will of the atma which is aligned with the greater Will of Bhagavan. Every atma plays a small part in His eternal play of love. But whether one wants to play a good role or a foolish one. Whether one wants to act unconsciously or consciously. Whether one wants to hear Him when He speaks and follow word for word with love and dedication, or one wishes to put one’s own interpretation to what He says. These are some of the choices that make up one’s life. These are the eternal choices that your atma carries with itself. The choices made in one life are not forgotten nor do they become immaterial on the other side. They always matter. They stay forever. Just like Sri Ram showed so beautifully the eternal nature of a single word spoken years ago when He wasn’t even born. Every choice the jeevatma makes, stays with the atma. The atma bears it either as a burden or as a blessing. Depending upon whether one’s selfish will was held onto or it was repeatedly surrendered to Bhagavan. Only by knowing Bhagavan’s will for the atma, one’s life can become successful here. Meditate on His feet and keep working to transform the self. Don’t stop this work. Let it become your joy and freedom. Through your work, it will become the greatest path.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

If one does not understand the urgency with which to move when the SatGuru is here, then one has truly missed the point.
Surprisingly many people think, “It’s ok, I’ll just meet Him again since we have heard that the Master or Bhagavan comes again and again”. Or, “There are so many gurus in the world, i will simply meet another Master to help me on my path.” Do you genuinely believe it is so easy? So random? So indifferent? Do you believe this is the attitude with which one can secure the eternal place at Bhagavan’s lotus feet? You have to be filled with a burning with passion for your spiritual path. It should steal the sleep from your eyes and make your heart tremble to lose even one moment to grow nearer to Him. How many days do you think are left in this short mortal life? So few. And yet most people are still fast asleep. Your atma is constantly straining to wake you up. But one is ignoring its call again and again and again. Do you know what a struggle it is for the atma to depart after living a mediocre life where love and God weren’t a priority? It regrets and repents the poor decisions made by the jeevatma so strenuously. If you could glimpse this struggle during your life, you would never waste even the blink of an eye. But usually people choose not to wake up. They want to remain asleep. And they wake up only when the atma no longer has time in this world. If one feels it is so easy to meet the SatGuru again and again, then one is truly deluded. It doesn’t matter who you were in your last life or lives, it doesn’t matter at all. What matters is what one is doing now. This present moment is so important. Wake up and walk with utmost dedication and focus upon your spiritual path before your atma has to lament in misery for a life wasted doing useless things.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Your sangha, the people, all beings, they are the dearest gift from God.
When you truly love, you will know. Know that opportunities to give genuine and unconditional love are so few. Where you will receive nothing from the other person or being. Where it may cost you a lot to be kind, but you do it anyway. The sangha is one such great teacher. It will become your divine mirror if you truly wish to know unconditional love and heartfelt kindness. The SatGuru gives Adesh sometimes which may seem like it is contradictory between people. But He never says to let go of your love and kindness to follow His Adesh. To follow His Adesh is of utmost importance, but if you try to do so when becoming hard of heart and mind, you have failed anyway. How you follow His Adesh can lead you to either break hearts or to become a part of His love that heals hearts. The sangha shows you that. It shows you which qualities cause pain and which comfort the soul. Which cause suffering and which cause healing. You cannot blame the sangha for being the perfect mirror. You have to learn what is the lesson for you hiding in the reflection you are seeing. No matter who one thinks oneself to be, in reality no one is greater than the other. Only the SatGuru. Only Bhagavan. He is greater. Greater than all. Everyone else is on the same level. Keep your eyes on His lotus feet always. Never doubt or be sad. Never lose hope or drop your faith in Him. He will deliver you from every pain and free you forever. But only if you hold onto the qualities that made the saints extraordinary. Those who have done wrong, trust that the SatGuru sees it. Trust in Him that He will heal the hurt and make things better than you can ever pray for. But faith only works with patience. Deep and enduring patience that allows His will to manifest in divine right time.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

The SatGuru always reminds that the external rituals are for growing in love, but does one behave like that?
After some time of meeting the SatGuru, many people reverse their thinking. What do they do? To perform the ritual, one gives up on love. To be in front, one forgets humility and kindness. To get glory, one forgets their initial unconditional decision to follow the SatGuru. One lets go of love to receive a chance to do the external ritual. But this is the opposite of what one should do. It becomes more important as time passes on the spiritual path to be more loving, more kind, more self-sacrificing, more joyful towards all. Do not let go of the beautiful inner qualities to get to perform the outside rituals. Hold onto the positive qualities that helped you meet the SatGuru and see His loving divine self. But the mind doesn’t cooperate if you don’t constantly train it and then even calling oneself a bhakta, one lets oneself fall. But by acting in this way, one may receive the outer glory, but one would have lost the SatGuru’s heartfelt closeness. Holding onto love may not get you in front. It may not make you look impressive. It may not make others like you. But you will have everything because the SatGuru will delight in love being your first, your only priority. And the world will slowly change its ways towards you also. But only if you hold onto love that fiercely. Like a tiger holds its newborn baby in its mouth, when protecting it from predators. That’s how to hold onto Love. Constantly on guard. Using your full strength but with utmost carefulness. Infinitely aware of danger but with single-pointed concentration on the baby. That is the behavior of a bhakta towards their love for God. Only love can get you to Him. You may have performed thousands of external rituals for Him, but that doesn’t matter to Him at all if you don’t value love within them. One single instance of genuine love keeping everything else aside, that will make you His. He will stop at nothing to pull such a bhakta into His heart, never letting go.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

People most often interpret something written down as fixed in a particular language, understanding, and context. But Divine Words are always alive.
What the SatGuru is giving in the present moment is just as vibrantly and divinely alive as His ancient Word that formed all the universes. The full grace of Paramatma is just as available today as it was in eras gone by. There wasn’t a better or easier time to attain Bhagavan in the past as compared to today’s day and age. He is present, close, and just as much in love with His creation now as He was at the purest of beginnings. Because for Him there is no past, present, or future that is unknown. To honor His beautiful presence in this way, our spiritual path with the tadatmya vedanta, places equal importance on wisdom shared by the SatGuru personally right now as well as that which has been recorded in the past for the use of future generations. The ever-new and the most ancient, both, given by the SatGuru. All time is a different facet of Love. This is why the mind needs to be infinitely flexible. Because the ways of God are completely mysterious. This is why wisdom and love always go together. Because you have to learn to accept that which you find unacceptable out of love, and you have to purify your love in the fire of wisdom for it to capture His heart fully. If you cannot love and respect all, you will never grow close to God. If you cannot bow down to this greatest and humblest Truth, then you have forgotten that God is Love itself because love is the all-inclusive force uniting all with God. This is the great truth of the tadatmya vedanta that the SatGuru wishes to bring to everyone. When you start to love all, without judgement and without limits, God will reveal Himself to you fully. And you will see this closeness you have earned with God reflected exactly in your relationship with the SatGuru. Even before you have understood, accepted, or embodied that truth, the SatGuru will deepen your experience of closeness with Him. Before your mind can even process the realization of Love, Love has already walked close to you. He does not waste a single second. He yearns only for unconditional divine pure love. This is the great wisdom that you need to learn through your studies. If you remember the SatGuru with a single word, my prayer is that the word always be Love.

[Swami Vishwananda @vishwananda]

Guru Purnima is the day when the jeevatma is reborn in its pure state as the atma.
It is the day of celebrating all the teachers in one’s life. And when one is with the SatGuru, one should remember that every moment is a celebration of Guru Purnima in your life. The SatGuru’s presence in this world is against all odds. The possibility of His incarnation is almost impossible. Yet He comes here breaking all the cosmic laws and rules. Just for love. To give everyone who wishes to receive, the unending bliss of God’s presence and love. The best gift one can give in return is to not take Him for granted. We have been discussing learning about the path over the past few days. By deepening your studies, you need to ensure that your life becomes a testimony of love and care for all. Read about the lives of the saints. They became living proof of their Guru’s divinity, love, and mercy. And the bhakta who are with the SatGuru have with them everything they need. In so many ways the SatGuru has reached out to everyone. Have you allowed it to touch your heart? Have you experienced being unable to stop the tears of love from flowing till your eyes burned? Guru Purnima isn’t a festival only of worship and respect, it is a blossoming of the inside. Transformation into the depths of devotion where one’s being itself becomes longing for the SatGuru’s lotus feet. Longing is always exceedingly joyful, not an ounce of misery can remain. If one has not experienced Love that feels like the heart would just burst from one’s chest, then life has not shown its greatest colors to you yet. A single drop of Bhagavan’s love would burn everything you know until only bliss and surrender remained. Blessed are those who wish to be consumed by love because they have known God truly. On this radiant full moon day of the Guru, give the SatGuru the gift of your joy and remembrance. He has everything He needs but He wants you close to Him, so that your atma can fulfill its desired goal. Blessings and much love to everyone.