IVY Swadhyay - November 2016

The IVY swadhyay for November was special since it was held on Gyan Panchami.

Starting his discourse, Brahmnisht Vikrambhai asked several questions to the young mumukshus present.

• Why do some people have a stronger sense of understanding than others?
• Why do we not have complete knowledge
• Why is it that even when we read books we do not understand the true meaning of it?
• Why are some good at studies while others at sports? 

Explaining the prime reason for this differential understanding, Vikrambhai said it was due to our Gyanavarniya Karma. When we disrespect gyan or knowledge in thoughts, words or deeds like stepping on paper, eating while reading or writing, we build gyanavarniya karma. This accumulated karma determines our understanding and perception of knowledge for our next life.

 Highlighting this principle with a story, Vikrambhai said: 

A king named Ajit Singh ruled over the town of Pasmapur. He sent his young son to a pundit for an education. Since the young student was the king’s son, the teacher took extra care while teaching his young ward, but unfortunately the prince could not remember a single thing. Along with this difficulty, he contracted leukemia and his whole body was covered in white spots. This made the prince sad and depressed.

In another near by town lived a merchant named Singh Das, who owned gold worth crores of rupees. He had a daughter who was unable to speak and suffered from several diseases. She was always sad, as no one was ready to marry her and her entire family was worried about her future. 

An enlightened and respected Guru once visited Pasmapur and the king with his family as well as Singh Das came to seek the Guru’s blessings.

The guru started his discourse: “O Bhavya people, if you want moksh you must respect and worship knowledge. Those who disrespect knowledge by thought will not be able to discriminate between right and wrong; those that show disrespect by word will not be able to speak and those that disrespect knowledge by action will contract several diseases like leukemia. "

Listening to this, Singh Das was quick to ask why his daughter was the way she was?

The guru replied, "Hey Singh Das. Listen to this story about your daughter’s previous birth. In Khetak was a rich man with 5 sons and 4 daughters.  When they were older, all the boys were sent to a Guru. But instead of studying, they would play and disrespect the teacher and if they were reprimanded, they would complain to their mother. Their mother, in turn would be angry with the teacher instead of her children.

Once in a fit of rage, she burnt all the children’s books. When her husband asked his wife, about the future of uneducated children or who would marry them? How would they earn a living? The wife replied that since he was a smart man he should teach his own kids.

In due course of time, the children grew up and were good-for-nothing.  No one was willing to marry any of them because they were uneducated. The man and his wife blamed each other. In his anger, the man hit his wife with a stone on her head and she died. The same lady is reborn as your daughter in this birth.”

Listening to this narration the daughter recalled her previous birth and agreed with the Guru about the sequence of events. Singh Das now asked for a cure for his daughter. The Guru said that doing aradhna of Gyan Panchmi would cure her. 

Now the king also asked about his son.

The Guru replied: "In Shripur, there was a man named Vasudev with two sons. Both of them were riding horses in a jungle when they saw a monk and paid their respects. The monk taught them about death and mortality of human life. The sons were so touched by his teachings that they took diksha. The younger brother happened to be smarter and thus became an Acharya with 500 disciples.

Once he was sleeping and many sadhus came to ask him their doubts. He started answering but in his heart he wanted to go back to sleep. He looked at his elder brother sleeping peacefully and envied him. At this moment he decided never to learn anything new nor teach anyone anything so that he could live and sleep peacefully. He took the vow of silence (Maun) for 12 years.  After his death, he was reborn as the King’s son."

The prince too recalled his past birth, and affirmed the sequence of events and asked for a cure. The guru advised that doing penance on Gyan Panchami would have the desired effect.

Gyan Panchmi is the day people undertake different penances (tap) to gain gyan, crush gyanavarniya karma and respect gnan to get all the five types of gyan. 

Following the guru’s advice both the girl and the prince overcame their problems, took diksha and were reborn as celestial beings (in Devlok), eventually finding their way to moksh. This story shows us the importance of Gyan Panchami.

What is Gyan?

True knowledge or the knowledge of one’s self is Gyan. When the mind becomes still, while meditating the body recedes from importance and only the pure soul gains sole, supreme significance. Remaining in this state is true knowledge. Any knowledge that doesn't help us reach self-realization is not true knowledge.

Vikrambhai ended his discourse with the profound verse:

જો હોય પૂર્વ ભણેલ નવ પણ, જીવને જાણ્યો નહિ;
તોહ સર્વ તેહ અજ્ઞાન ભાખીયું, સખશી છે અગમ અહીં;
એ પૂર્વ સર્વ કાહિયા વિશેષ, જીવ કરવા નિર્મળો;
જિનવર કહે છે જ્ઞાન તેને, સર્વ ભાવ્યો સાંભળો।

These lines highlight what Jain scriptures say - that even if we are educated with worldly knowledge but know not our soul, we do not have Gnan. Only that which teaches us about our soul and makes us peaceful is true knowledge. 

IVY Swadhyay - October 2016

Happiness = Love = Self-realised Soul

The quest for Happiness is inherent in every living being – whether a newborn baby, or a person on his death bed – each one is forever seeking happiness.

Evaluating the pattern of our ‘happiness-seeking’ behavior – like receiving a gift makes us happy, new clothes brings joy, winning a lottery would make us ecstatic, receiving an appraisal can bring pleasure, a new friend can be amusing.  However, this is not true happiness.  We mistake comforts for eternal happiness.  The happiness that is dependent on external objects, people or situations is not true happiness.  Happiness is an eternal joy, coming from within. It is not dependent on people, objects or situations. We are consumed by the overwhelming need for gratification and feeling of pleasure, we thus overlook the ephemeral nature of conditional comfort and we mistake comfort for happiness.

     ‘Happiness is not a destination, it is a journey’.

Young mumukshus have heard these words of wisdom many a times. Pujya Vikrambhai adds that ‘everlasting happiness’ should be our ultimate destination. To reach the desired stage, we must set immediate goals that will lead us to our final destination. Presence of an enlightened Guru in our lives has given us an assurance that there is ‘Happy Forever’ goal for all of us as well. ‘True happiness’ is not only realistic but also achievable. We are blessed to have all the rightful ways and means to be happy in spite any negative karmas coming our way.

The question is ‘are we going to make the best of what we have got?’ or ‘are we going to be ungrateful and lose on the most wonderful opportunity?’

If we choose to make the best of the opportunity we have got, all we have to do is whole-heartedly follow the road our Guru has followed and compassionately shown us as well.

So what are these cardinal rules of happiness that makes our Guru unperturbed in difficult times and happy each waking moment?

1. Set ‘True Happiness’ as your ultimate and immediate goal. True happiness comes and never leaves, but multiplies every single day and is not followed by any discontent.
2. Offer unconditional surrender at enlightened Guru’s lotus feet. Divine fruits can be gained only by increasing devotion towards him.
3. Be optimistic. Optimism is a happiness magnet. Staying positive draws good results.
4. Minimalism is the way! The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t want.
5.  Stay contented. Happiness isn’t getting all you want. It’s enjoying all you have.
6. Be relaxed and enjoy doing even the things that you dislike. This is the cornerstone to the art of being happy.
7. Be in the ‘Now’. Remembering the past brings tears and anticipating the future brings fears.
8. Appreciate and admire the other person’s beauty and virtues, avoid comparison, be grateful and importantly accept yourself.
9. Rejoice in giving to others. Sharing is caring.
10. Free yourself from I, me and mine.

Once we have programmed these rules in our system, we shall be more humble, enthusiastic, compassionate and fearless. We will be passionate, hard working, determined in devoting ourselves at His Lotus feet and be efficient practitioners of love, harmony and truth.

The quality of our thoughts will enhance, our thoughts will be channelized, our perspective will be goal-orientated, our actions righteousness, our attitude – positive.

TO HAPPY MEANINGFUL LIFE !!

IVY Swadhyay - Sept 2016

IVY Swadhyay

September 2016

‘To Worship is to perceive God in everything’

IVY swadhayas empower young mumukshus to have a spiritual outlook and positive approach in challenging times. A guru teaches everyone to have that kind of perception by being an efficient role model themselves.

The IVY swadhyay for September started with a short and beautiful poem on the 4 seasons. Though the poem was written in accordance to the weather cycle in the USA, Brahmnisht Minalben creatively amalgamated with it the 4 ‘Bhavanas’ and explained how our Guru has made these Bhavanas a part of their innate nature and how we must also do the same. The derived essence of the poem preaches the supreme importance of Friendship, Compassion, Appreciation and Equanimity in our lives.

• A Guru is like spring. He nurtures our soul, encourages us and fills our life with colours of amity. (Maitri bhavna).
• A Guru is like summer; he fills our life with light and brightens our day. His presence spreads happiness and contentment like the rays of the sun. The Sun and our Guru teach us to be compassionate. (Karuna bhavna).
• A Guru teaches us to appreciate the bright colours of the fallen leaves in autumn. He reminds us to focus only on the good qualities in others and the positive side of any challenging situation. (Pramod bhavna).
• Winter reminds us that no matter how hard it snows outside; we can always keep ourselves warm inside. Similarly, a Guru teaches us the art of equanimity; a method which can safeguard our soul from any harm. (Madhyastha bhavna).
• The poem ended with a line of gratitude to our Guru for his divine presence in our lives.

Minalben went on to explain letter number 143 in which Shrimadji, at the age of 23, enumerated 5 philosophies for every mumukshu to follow unconditionally:

1. By every possible means, one must get rid themselves of the 4 negative qualities: anger, ego, deceit and greed. The thoughts and deeds from previous births have formed binding karmas, which have come to fruition. Only when we cultivate a glad acceptance of every situation and person we come in contact with, will our karmas dissolve.

2. We must not succumb to material desires because the ‘so-called happiness’ they give us is temporary and they will eventually lead us to gloom over loss or damage. Eternal happiness can only be found within our soul.

3. We have been in the grip of an unending cycle births and deaths since time immemorial, and will continue to do so until we resolve to act and free our souls from all karmas.

4. It is important to recognize that joy cannot be derived from the transient world but cab be found in the infinite qualities of the Atma within us.

5. We must seek shelter of an enlightened soul and have unflinching faith in every word he says.

The point number 5 is the most important say Shrimadji.

Continuing her discourse further, Minalben shared a short story to explain better:

Once there were 2 princely brothers, who were best of friends and followed Jainism. Once, one of them developed a severe blister on his tongue. Doctors and experts from across four corners of the world tried to treat him, but to no avail.

As the blister aggravated, it started emanating a foul smell and no one could stand his presence. However, his loyal brother ignoring the putrid breath remained at his bedside. One day he put his finger in a glass of water and recited the holy Navakar Mantra. On sprinkling this water on his brother’s tongue, the wound started to heal, miraculously.

This incident fortified their faith in Jainism and the Navakar Mantra.

Once when the great Avdhi Gyani Acharya, Bhadra Bahu Swami passed by their city, the brothers questioned the saint about the reasons for the prince’s suffering?

The great Acharya replied: “In your previous birth, both of you were brothers and had witnessed a monk being bitten by a snake. This incident made this prince resolve to kill the snake. Your brother warned you about the bad karma you would accumulate due to such ill feelings towards another living being, but you were adamant. The painful blister was the fruit of this bad karma from your previous birth. Also, the karma-span was about to end, and this coincided with the chanting of the Navakar Mantra. Thus this chanting acted as a catalyst.”

The lesson that every mumukshu needs to take from this moral story was bad karmas from our previous births will certainly bear fruit and one must sincerely repent and seek forgiveness for all our sins – committed in thought, word or deed.

IVY Swadhyay - August 2016

The August IVY swadhaya was a quick recap of the kinds of Bhakti that Brahmnisht Vikrambhai had given a discourse on to young mumukshus earlier. Out of the 9 kinds of Bhakti - Shravan Bhakti, Kirtan Bhakti, Mantra Jap, Paad Sevan Bhakti and Smaran Bhakti were beautifully explained during the previous IVY swadhyay.

This swadhyay highlighted the essence of the types of devotion as follows:

1)  Utmost reverence for an enlightened Guru

2)  Attentively listen to the sermons of such an Enlightened Master; deeply contemplate on his words of wisdom and absorb them in our daily lives.

3) Surrendering the egoistic mind, body and soul at his lotus feet is what is expected of a true seeker; and this devotion will elevate our faith in the Holy Trinity – Satdev, Satguru and Satshastra.

4) ‘Practice, not till you have got it right; practice, till you cannot get it wrong’. With contemplation comes practical application. We need to practice, so that knowledge turns into wisdom and comes to our rescue during difficult moments.

5)  Appreciating and applauding the qualities of the Almighty in the form of bhajans or chanting their virtues on the beads of a rosary.

Vikrambhai also shared some sections from a discourse given by Pujya Bhaishree, during the UK Dharmayatra.

“Only when we have truly surrendered ourselves with utmost faith and reverence, can we focus on the virtues of an enlightened Master, with the sole aim of imbibing his qualities.  His shelter frees us from the endless cycle of births and deaths.  The disciple feels empowered, inspired and secure in the selfless love showered by the Master, connecting him to the divinity residing within his Guru.

Regardless of his external circumstances – wealth or poverty; ugliness, good looks or social standing, the disciple is now able to remain in a state of equanimity and glad acceptance. This contentment is evident when his goes about his daily chores or while doing his agnas.

Narrating an incident from the life of Raidasji (Guru of Meerabai), Vikrambhai said that Raidas, a saint full of devotion, was extremely poor and had no amenities in his hut.

A kind saint heard about Raidas’s abject poverty and offered him the ‘Parasmani’ (precious stone), but so steeped in devotion was Raidas, that he said, that the unconditional love he received from the Lord was far bigger then any worldly riches. It is such unflinching devotion and surrender that leads a disciple out of muddy waters.

The swadhyay ended perfectly with ‘Aarti’ and ‘Mangal Divo’, another reminder to young mumukshus to rejoice in the glory and virtues of the Almighty.

IVY Swadhyay - July 2016

This IVY swadhyay started with the importance of Father’s Day which we all celebrated in the month of June. We have been taught that we need to bow down, with all our heart, before our biological father and our sadgurus - Param Pujya Bhaishree, Param Pujya Bapuji, Param Pujya Krupaludev and Lord Mahavir Swami - our spiritual fathers.

Why do we say “Maa /Mummy” when in pain or in some difficulty? That is because she is there beside us in every circumstance whether happy or sad. That shows how much trust we have in her. Similarly, we should also have utmost faith in our Sadguru. Everything is temporary, people are going to come and go, situations will be favourable or adverse, but no matter what, our Guru is always going to be there for us, he will always love us, accept us with our good and bad qualities. He is going to take care of all our problems. He is always going to help us.  He is always there to give us strength.

Minal Aunty also continued explanation of last 8 points mentioned in letter 84 of Vachnamrutji. Her language being simple and understandable reaches out to each and every person sitting in the room. It taught us to give our best, live in the moment and feel the joy by sharing and giving. That is because, there are 4 unchanging characteristics of a soul – tendency to give love, stay submerged in happiness, and stay calm and be compassionate.

Since the significant occasion of Guru purnima was coming soon, Minal Aunty urged all of us to express our gratitude and love for our Guru in whichever capacity we can.

After that, Minal Aunty told us a short yet inspirational story. The story reminded the importance of unconditional surrender at Guru’s/ Lord’s sacred feet. Our Guru is ready to protect us all the time, in all the difficulties. If we surrender ourselves completely, whole-heartedly, there will remain nothing to doubt, nothing to fear and nothing to lose. We shall become happy, satisfied and peaceful. We must always thank Tirthankar Bhagwans for blessing our lives by giving us such a divine gift in the form of our Guru.  What more do we ask for?

In the end, we had an interactive session, a beautiful platform to share our thoughts, experiences, feelings; sing a bhajan, say a poem or anything the vibrant youth wants to make most of the opportunity. These sessions make us confident, expressive and bring us closer to Pujya Bhaishree, just like all these swadhayas do for us.

“We are not ordinary. We are extraordinary. We are born to do something different.”

- Mitanshi (13 years)

IVY Swadhyay - May 2016

During IVY Swadhyay in May, Brahmnisht Minalben continued to instruct young mumukshus from Shrimad Rajchandra’s Vachnamrut.

Giving a discourse from letter number 84, Minalben said, at the age of 23, Shrimadji was still in search of a Guru and the path to enlightenment, while also living his worldly life as a husband, son and businessman.  It was at this time that he laid down 8 points that would help him strive a balance between his worldly and spiritual life.  These same tasks can prove to be beneficial to mumukshus as well, said Minalben, and we should strive to indoctrinate them in our lives.

1. Remember our body and mind are separate entities, and what powers them is a third entity, our atma.  Our powerful mind is the creator to our thoughts, and this mind functions in the presence of our Atma (Soul).

We must use this concept when we are caged in worldly thoughts, whether good or bad. We can also use our thoughts to test if we are happy or sad and what is important here is that we are trying to find out if our atma is happy and not the mind.

2. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. We can control what affects us or bothers us, and no one else.  As long as we continue to be born in this sansar, pain in the form of karmas, will continue to torment us.  Many people do not understand this due to the lack of a Guru in their lives. The only way to escape this suffering is to rid ourselves of all attachments and to surrender to the holy trinity (SatDev, SatGuru, SatShastra).

3. This total surrender may seem impossible to attain but it isn’t so. That state exists and it can be experienced.  One can reach his goal of eternal happiness not by wishing away the sadness, but by inculcating detachment within, so that sorrow is incapable of upsetting us.

4. This state can be achieved by renouncing worldly attachments, and taking the shelter of an Enlightened Master.

5. Shrimadji compassionately instructs us that if renunciation is not possible immediately, one can still achieve self-realization by taking the refuge of a Sadguru.  Faith and following Guru Agna are the 2 master keys that will unlock the door and help us to move ahead on the spiritual path.

6. Every activity should be given its due importance. Just as we plan our diet to remain healthy, our day should be planned in such a way that we constantly feed and nurture the spirituality within us. A preset number of hours should be allocated each day to follow Guru Agna.

7. Recognize that our wants and desires are like a bottomless pit. What we have today, does not give us any pleasure tomorrow.  But if we wish to rescue our atma from the never-ending cycle of births and deaths, we must give up our attachments to transitory objects.

8. Life is very short and this human birth is all we have to save our soul.  But humans are surrounded by and immersed in their problems, such that they are not able to pursue their goals single-mindedly. And when one feels overwhelmed, one must remember the points below:

• Just as a lotus grows in muddy waters, we must also thrive spiritually in this transient, materialistic world. Above the dirt is sunshine and fresh air. We must learn to reside in the body but live in the soul.
• The nine-fold bhakti marg will help us reach higher and higher.  This bhakti marg (path of devotion) will help us connect to our Guru in different ways.

Narrating a thought provoking story, Minalben said:

Intending to get his daughter married, a king invited many princes and suitors to his palace and organized a competition to find the strongest man in his kingdom.  He said "I have a dangerous task for you. This river is full of crocodiles, whoever swims across the river, wins my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

No one was willing to take the risk. Suddenly, there was a loud splash. A prince had jumped in and started swimming. He swam as fast as he could and reached the other side!  The king was delighted to see him succeed and sent a boat to get him back.

The king congratulated the prince and asked him to address the people. The prince asked: "I would like to know who pushed me in?”

Sometimes circumstances force us into deep waters. We must bear with grace. For it is those challenging times that uncover the true potential within us.

We are all as strong as God from within! But that power remains unexploited.  We constantly try to live worldly lives comfortably – this is our biggest mistake.  Our goal and objective is wrong. Caged in the body we can never be truly happy.  Without our spiritual goal, our life will be derailed.

Worldly and spiritual evaluation is important.