Darshan: Acceptance of One’s Faults
June 01, 1977 am
Flowers that have a beautiful fragrance that touch your heart, the flowers that look that touch your eyes. In India the fragrance is very beautiful, most of the flowers, but here due to the climate, most flowers don’t have that fragrance. Bapuji was noting that these flowers look so beautiful, but they don’t have fragrance.
[Bapuji chants Prabhu Aganita Avaguna Mara]
[Gurudev translates]
The title of this bhajan is acceptance of one’s own faults. You can accept your faults in two different ways. In the first, you bring God or Guru in the front. Second, acceptance of one’s own faults happens in self-analysis. In that, there is no presence of anyone. Both manners and methods of acceptance of one’s own faults are best.
You can also say that there are not two, but only one method of acceptance or finding of one’s own faults. The sadhak who is able to see their own faults by self-analysis and self-observance can only arrive to the guru and accept the guru and God.
From this point of view, finding or accepting of one’s own faults is only of one kind. There are two other methods of accepting or finding one’s own faults. In the first, after finding out one’s own faults and problems, one goes into the effort of removing those faults and problems.
In another, after finding out one’s own faults, there is no effort to remove them, that is another kind. When one accepts one’s own faults in front of guru or almighty God, the feelings in the devotion have altogether different feeling.
In that the sadhak has made his effort to observe his own faults and has wholeheartedly tried to remove those faults with pure heart. Even after finding out one’s own faults and after great effort he finds that he is unable to remove those faults, then he requests or prays at the feet of the Lord in order to remove those problems.
This way there are many different methods and manners in which one can remove faults and they are all interrelated. From that point of view, we can say that there is only one way of removing or accepting one’s own faults. By the sadhana of a sadhak.
When physical and mental purity begins to take place, at that time he begins to see his faults and his good qualities very clearly. This is the sign of your spiritual progress. The individual who cannot see their own faults and who cannot see the good qualities in others, has not progressed on the spiritual path.
When a sadhak is progressing on the spiritual path, his openheartedness and acceptance becomes as good as a saint, begins to get as good as a saint. In this prayer, the individual, the sadhak, is expressing at the feet of the Lord his own difficulties, his own faults.
First, he enters his meditation room, then he bows down at the Lord’s feet. As he is bowing down, he is filled with the tears. His one eye is on the face of the Lord and another eye on his own faults. He sees innumerable faults of his and then again he cries heavily.
By expressing his faults, he says to the Lord, that my first fault is that my mind is running after the wealth of others, desiring the wealth of others. The individual whose heart is after wealth, to whatever extent his heart is in wealth, to that extent his heart is away from God.
Here the sadhak realizes fully that I am not fully attracted to the feet of God. The devotion to God will not bloom as long as the attraction to wealth is not reduced because the highest wealth of a devotee is the Lord.
In accepting his fault, the devotee says to the Lord, that my mind and all the modifications of my mind, are running behind wealth for wealth. One who can see his faults should know that now the fountain of knowledge is springing in my heart.
Ordinarily, it appears to us that knowledge comes to us from the outside. By proper analysis and understanding it becomes understood and known to us that knowledge comes to us from within and it flows to us as soon as the covering is removed.
When the best sadhak or an ordinary sadhak, listens to the spiritual discourses, he naturally says that what you say is absolutely true. Then the experienced saint says instantly and almost automatically, what I know, you also know. If you did not know, then how would you be able to say that what I am saying is true?
That means you know the truth and intentionally or knowingly you are going in the direction of the lie. When the devotee sees the truth, then he does not go into the opposite direction. This is the real truth. By accepting another fault, he is saying that Gurudev, I am attracted by wealth and I’m also attracted by the opposite sex. If one is attracted to one’s own wife from one point of view, it is accepted, it is proper. But when there is an attraction to another’s wife, it can be said to be a very big offense.
‘There should not be an attraction for the wealth, which I have. Secondly, there should not be distraction from women, and that too I have.’ After saying this much, the sadhak’s head is lowered, his eyes are filled with tears and he becomes greatly depressed or unhappy. Under such circumstances, how can you find God? After few moments, again he collects himself. He says, my Lord, there is no place in my heart. There is no bhakti in my heart. It is without bhakti. On one side you can say that this statement is correct. On the other side you can say that it is not true. It is true because in whatever way he is able to see his faults, in that way there is a lack of devotion. But when he is able to see his faults, and express his fault at the feet of the Lord, that means he has some bhakti in him already. Here he is incomplete in his bhakti but he is desiring that his bhakti may flower, so he is expressing his feelings to the Lord. What he said “I do not have bhakti in my heart” for saying so he has reason also. He says that the flames of desires that are burning in me, they are coming into my eyes and my eyes are full of lust.
This is why I have said that my bhakti, my devotion, is lacking. Bapuji says, it can happen, that lust may come from the external surroundings and can effect you or it can go from you and impose it on the external surrounding, the lust, so they both can happen at the same time also.
If I have true devotion in my heart, then why should there be lust, the flames of lust in my eyes? When Muslim Sadhu, Swami if you want to call him, the Muslims are known as fakir so he was offering his prayers to Allah in his mosque in the evening.
Before offering his prayers, he had spread his little cloth and he was sitting on it. As he sat for his prayers, a woman entered and she quickly entered and put her feet on the cloth and passed by him. The fakir got very angry. How ungrateful, how awful this woman is, that when I am praying she just put her feet and walked away.
This fakir’s prayers continued for a long time. As soon as he finished his prayer, just about that time that woman returned. As soon as he saw that woman, he recognized her. When she came very close, he spoke harsh words to her,” You cruel woman, as I was about to start my prayer, you walked over my prayer cloth.”
With great surprise this woman kept gazing at the fakir’s face and asked, “Were you really praying? If you really were praying to the Lord, how could you see me? That means you were not praying, you were just looking at things around and the people walking around.”‘
“Now I’ll tell you my own story”, she said, “I was going to see one person whom I love very much. I was so eager to see her that I did not even see you or your cloth.”
We know how to meditate like this. But we can only do it on things we like, and not on God. This fakir could not pray properly because he did not have the true devotion awakened in his heart. His prayer was on the surface of his mind. Sadhak has to protect his mental peace.
When mind has something that is extremely exciting either way, it is called disturbance. The happiness and the unhappiness, they both create the disturbance of mind. The mind does not stay calm and peaceful because of that. Happiness is one excitement and unhappiness is also an excitement.
Our mind is calm and peaceful only when it is not attracted by happiness or unhappiness, then only it is still. Whatever are the distractions of the mind, they create disturbance in the mind. My Lord, as I told you about my lust, I have also a tremendous amount of anger in my mind.
When we like someone’s actions and thoughts, we become attached to them. When we do not like someone’s thoughts or actions, then we begin to create a dislike for them, and when the dislike becomes intense, it creates anger.
Then krodha, means anger, is also a fault (a wrong quality). Into the ocean of the heart, which is filled with the nectar of peace, when this poison of anger mixes into them, then it creates a great disturbance.
For mental peace, the sadhak must remain constantly aware. I will explain to you the highest siddhanta which I’ll explain to you very clearly. When an individual is sexually aroused, or at that time he does meditation and he becomes one pointed. Same way, when we are, when some loved one dies and we cry heavily, at that time also we are one pointed.
When we are angry at someone, at that time also meditation happens. The gnan gnana meditation happens by one pointed thought line. Then only you become one pointed. Eka agra. Eka means one, agra means pointed, means one pointed. So we already know how to meditate. Only we have to change the direction of meditation, that is all we have to do.
The key for it, if there is any key for it, is the devotion and pure love for God. Then how to bring this love for God, how can this devotion be created? The answer for that is satsanga the company of the saints or the [?]. Sat represents the Lord and sang represents the company or the friendship.
In whoever you find, through whoever you find love for the Lord, that becomes the satsang. But this devotee says to the Lord, that my Lord, to me satsang appears like a big cobra. I don’t like it in other words. So I keep away, I’m afraid of it. And the wrong company appears to me like a garland of flowers.
Oh, my Lord, I just feel that if I were the true devotee, I should always be saying truth, instead every moment I lie, as if I have taken a vow not to speak the truth. This way, my Lord, I have innumerable faults, how can I describe it to you?
To do your devotion and to follow any form of self-restraint, and discipline appears to be like a darkness or lack of knowledge. In other words, I don’t like to do them. I like life completely free from any disciplines, I love it.
Or, I like it wherever my mind takes it, I like to do that. Here, the devotee is asking that if the flow of your grace comes towards me, by your grace only all these impurities and faults can be washed away.
This explanation of this bhajan is complete. Dhun means eka agra. Eka agra means one pointed. In Gujarati, the dhun means one who is crazy about something and then his mind goes straight into it and this is why the dhun has this meaning. It helps us to become one pointed.
[Bapuji chants Ram dhun]
Something that is worth knowing that mother or father kisses the child’s cheek for hundreds of times. And when they get angry, they slap on the cheek also. But one must remember that whatever is the total sum of the love of hundreds of kisses is outweighed by the love of one slap.
That is another form of love. One who can take the slap is the true lover, is the true son, is the true disciple. I won’t slap you.