Realizing that we are souls and not bodies

So why did we form whatever mental attachments we have? Kripaluji Maharaj says that it is because we understood ourselves to be the body. Now we should understand that we are the soul.  Then we could understand the true meaning of ‘self-interest’, and how the self-interest of your true self could be resolved.  Your true self is Divine, not material. So the happiness of your true self should also be Divine. For example, the subject of the eyes is sight, the subject of the ears is sound, the subject of the nose is smell. Similarly, the subject of the soul must be Divine. God has that Divine happiness. And you will receive that through a Spiritual Master, through a Saint.

When our intellect fully understands this knowledge, then we can start the ‘ABC’s’ of the spiritual path. But we are so naïve that even when we go towards God, 99% of us go to His door to beg for worldly things.   In other words, such people haven’t understood whether there is happiness in the world or in God. This is the first decision to settle in your mind: Is there happiness in the world or in God?  You will say, “Well, everyone knows that happiness is in God. This isn’t a complicated thing to know.” Really?

If everyone knows this, then why do you ask God for worldly things?  Especially when you know that there is sorrow in the world. The more of worldly possessions one gets, the unhappier one becomes. That is why God Himself clearly said, “Whoever I Grace, I take away his worldly attachments.  When his attachments end, he will look towards Me.  He will become spiritually benefited.”

In the Bhagwatam, Kunti asked for a boon from Krishn. God always says to His devotees, “Ask for a boon.” Krishn also said this to Kunti. She said, “Should I ask?” “Yes, ask. I will give whatever you request.” She said, "Why don’t people go towards God?"  Because they have pride.  Pride?  What is there to be so proud of in a human?  If a celestial being were prideful, it's understandable. Kamdev is so beautiful. Kuber is so rich. Indra has so much luxury. It's all right if these great personalities of the material world are prideful.  How could a human have pride? What does he possess?  He doesn’t have anything. Look at his intelligence. He was told 15 minutes ago, “You have to do this work,” and he forgot. “Have you finished the work?”  “Oh, I forgot!”  What do you mean you forgot? It has only been 15 minutes! The intellect is so weak.  What about beauty?  If you bring your nose close to someone, even if she is Miss Universe, she will smell bad. Even while taking a bath you start to sweat. This is the condition of the human body.  Even with respect to money, even someone like Bill Gates couldn't buy a city like Delhi. On what basis is a human prideful?  This is what is surprising.

Human beings become prideful over even insignificant things. A person doesn't have anything.  He has no money.  His mother and father died.  Everything is gone, but he still has one thing. “I am young. I am 18 – 20 years old.”  So?  Once there was a very unattractive girl. A celestial god appeared before her. He said, “Ask for a boon.” She said, “Give me whatever you like.” He said, “Alright, should I make you beautiful?” She slapped his face and said, “What... am I ugly?!” No one thinks of themselves as ugly at that age.  When she gets married and has a few children, whatever beauty she had comes to an end.  So great big things are not needed to become prideful. 

Someone asks, “How much education do you receive?” “Up to the eighth grade.” “Ah! I am a high school graduate.” He became prideful.  He asked the person sitting on his other side, “Up to when did you study?” “Well, I have a Masters degree.” “Really?” He felt deflated. This is how we live.

Someone is more beautiful than us, someone is richer than us, someone is more talented than us. Seeing that person, we feel deflated. When we see someone who has less than us, we swell with pride. So the more worldly possessions you have, the more prideful we become. Otherwise, think when you are by yourself, not talking with anyone, think when you are alone, “What is the reason that when I take God’s name I still don’t shed tears? What pride do I have? What do I possess? Do I have something that is greater than God?”  If you didn't give food to someone for 10 days, he would cry and ask for food, and since eternity we have been starving for happiness, yet while asking God for happiness we remain prideful.  We see the person sitting next to us is crying, why don't we feel, “Oh! Why am I like this? What kind of sinner am I?” Why don’t we feel like this? This is carelessness.

To desire worldly things from God is the most dangerous knowledge. It will totally destroy you. Because if we ask for something from God, He can’t give it to us. Why? Because we don’t yet have such a contract with God that He would listen to us.  You have gone to God out of your self-interest. If you had surrendered to God and attained God realization, then you could say, “Please do this work for me.” Then your relationship is solid. A beggar doesn’t have a relationship with anyone.  For example, a beggar stops a person going in a car. “What is it?!” “Well, I...” “You idiot! Crazy!  You stopped my car.” “I am begging!” The car owner won't give the beggar anything.  He doesn’t even want to talk to the beggar.

Our pride increases even more when we get more worldly things. The more of the world we get, the more prideful we will become.  We have to be very careful even during our devotion. If tears come and you think, "The person next to me is not crying and I am." Immediately you become prideful. There is a way to hide one’s tears. Great Saints hide their tears in such a way that even their sattvic bhao is concealed.

Lakshman and Bharat are fanning Lord Ram and looking at Him, and seeming to be unaffected. The fans aren't falling from their hands. Their bodies are not shaking. They have controlled themselves. Saints have so much power. Before this, when Sutikchan Maharaj found out that Ram was coming to the forest, he was so overwhelmed he fell unconscious. In the beginning, when someone receives some special devotional bliss, he isn't able to control it. But as he progresses, he gets the power to control his devotional expressions, and when he receives God realization, he receives the Divine power of yogmaya. Then he does whatever he wants.

During the devotional period, Krishn says, "I take away the material attachments of the one who I Grace so that He will look towards Me." Whatever things we are proudly attached to we should give away in charity.  God says, “To wherever you are most attached, give it away as charity.”  As a result your mind will become free. Instead, we especially don't want to give those things in charity. If someone wants to improve his spiritual life, he should give. If he has money, it was given to him by God.If he doesn’t do this, if he is afraid to give charity, then Ved Vyas asks what should be done with a person who has money and doesn’t give it in charity, and who instead accumulates and increases it?  Tie a big stone around his neck and throw him into the ocean. Such a severe punishment! Yes! He doesn't know that just as there are laws of our worldly government, for example, someone who doesn’t pay his income tax will be caught and have to pay a penalty, so the Divine government also has laws. You have the right to keep only that much wealth which is required to fill your stomach and maintain your physical needs. If you keep more than that, you are considered a thief in the Divine world and you will be punished after death. Why did you keep more than you needed?

You have the right to keep only that much food and clothing which is necessary. This is the spiritual law, God’s law.  If you say, "Well, I don’t agree!" Then you will be punished. "We'll see what happens!" You won’t get to see anything.  You’ll suffer in the 8.4 million species of life.  It is said in the Mahabharat that if one has money and doesn’t give it in charity, after his death he will be reborn as a poor person. He will be reborn in a poor family. Since he will be poor, he will commit sins just to find enough food to fill his stomach. He will steal and rob, and by committing these wrong actions he will go to hell.  The one who goes to hell will be reborn later in a poor family. Thus, a chain of suffering is created for him.

These are God's laws. It’s up to you to obey or disobey the laws. But the punishment isn’t up to you. It’s up to God.  We are free to perform actions but we are not free from their consequences. We have to bear the consequences.

So don’t ask God for the material world. There is no true happiness in this world. This is the reason we went towards God. Why did we realize the need for God? Because there is no true happiness in this world. So then would you again ask God for the world? This is like standing at a sweet shop and saying, "Hey shopkeeper! Give me slippers!" The shopkeeper will first think, “Is there some sweet named slippers?” He will ask, "What kind of sweet is slippers?" "It’s not a sweet. Slippersare worn on the feet." "Sir! Do you have a normal brain? This is a sweet shop and you are asking for slippers?”