Are we Superstitious, Emotional, or Practical?

As an acharya and guru I meet many devotees all over the world, who frequently share their realisations with me. Often it is hard for me to tell strangers my honest opinion because they have a preconceived idea about their devotional practice. Also the devotees’ beliefs come from emotions making them highly sensitive to anyone who might oppose or disagree with their views. This happens because they feel that they are highly qualified and understand bhakti or devotion better than me. To explain how one can confuse one’s own belief as a message from the Lord versus genuine realisations of the Lord, I will use two scenarios and some examples from experiences of devotees, whom I spoke to personally:

Some claim that they meet their Lord daily and talk with Him in their dreams. I do not deny such things but our Lord does not just come into a person’s dreams to have idle conversations. There is always a message in His interaction with people, whatever medium He chooses to communicate. Some of our disciples often have dreams, and when we decode them, they come to know the real meaning of the messages received by them. But many times, in my experience, those who claim that they talk to Him every day and He helps them or gives answers, are somehow disturbed in their lives, and in their dreams, they find that imaginary world which gives them peace and harmony.

 In unison, they both said, “We will talk to you tomorrow.”

The man finally ate that night. The next day he went to both acharyas and said, “Now I cannot see the Lord or His associates!”

“Your weakness from the austerities of heavy fasting deluded you into believing that you were having a realisation of the Lord because there is a strong desire to see Him. For this reason only we had asked you to eat,” they replied.

Some devotees suggest that the Upanishads (philosophical writings which form the theoretical basis for the Hindu religion) state that the Lord cannot be attained through studies, through the performance of austerities, or through the path of action. He reveals Himself to whomsoever He chooses. These persons also proclaim that the Lord is not the sole property of gurus and acharyas and devotees also see and experience Him in their own ways therefore one does not need a guru in one’s life. Gurus who belong to sampradayas (unbroken traditions of successive spiritual masters and disciples) know and follow the path that was realised through the devotional practice of their preceding acharyas and for this reason they ask devotees to follow them. What these devotees fail to realise is that gurus and acharyas were devotees first, in fact the finest devotees and later, by the Lord’s grace and their studies, they became spiritual masters and scholars.

The Shruti says, “Bhakti takes the devotee to the Lord and reveals Him to the devotee. Bhakti controls the Lord and it is the best and the surest way.” Bhakti is so powerful and complete that it has the power to madden the Lord with its own joy – the same Lord who is bliss Himself! On the contrary, nothing material can possibly have a hold over Him; no other path (the path of action, knowledge or disciplined contemplation) has this effect on Him. The behaviour of our Lord can be compared to that of a child. A child can find ways to take jewellery from concealed drawers and play with it. Even if his parents ask him to return the jewellery, he refuses. But when a stranger asks him, he hands the jewellery over to him without hesitation. No one can make the child do what they want or give an explanation for his actions; only the child can. Only he knows his own reasons and in some cases even he may not have an idea himself. In the same way, the Lord’s will is free. He cannot be influenced by any other force except that of devotion (bhakti) unto Him.

What was relished by those who saw or experienced the Lord? On many occasions, even demons received an audience with Him but what did they relish from such a momentous event? The natures of these demons did not change. When one does not understand the meaning of such realisations and experiences, seeing and experiencing the Lord is like a fleeting insignificant moment. Does one even have an understanding of what one is attaining by merely seeing Him? A simpler example can be used to show this point: a tribal man sees an iPhone for the first time and he has no idea how to use it. How useful is it for him to just hold it in his hand without an idea of how it works? Similarly, those who realise the Lord can be compared to the tribal man. They are not capable of understanding the messages behind their realisations.

One who has wealth can give wealth; one who is knowledgeable can give knowledge and one who has sacred love for the Lord can offer the Lord and His love to others. In the midst of a crowd, we see many faces, but all are unknown to us; maybe there are very few faces which we know and recognize from some place. People who see the Lord daily without the help of a guru can be compared to those who see faces they recognize in the crowd; they take a little time to try to place them – how do I know them? Where have I met them? Do we share mutual friends? And so forth. These people pause briefly to dive into their subconscious mind with the hope of retrieving some memory. Whether they recall these faces or they do not, they just carry on with their lives as normal.

Similarly in devotion, many are still far from the right understanding. Personally, I do not recall any of these people telling me that seeing the Lord was their sole purpose and goal in life. Their idea and experience of seeing Him is similar to that of a window shopper who walks by a magnificent display, pauses and then carries on. Gurus guide us to make a relationship with the Lord, in order for Him to play with us. This bond can be one where Krishn is our friend, our son, our Beloved, and so forth. The Lord resides in every tiny particle, to the smallest particle (an atom) and we see numerous particles every day. Therefore we can say we ‘see’ the Lord. But in reality, seeing Him and meeting Him are two different experiences. By their experience, gurus work out the real meaning of one who meets the Lord. Gurus guide the devotees to follow what is essential. In certain cases, devotees receive direct realisations that convey clear messages/instructions, which do not require interpretation from a spiritual master.

I personally know many of our devotees and followers. One of our disciples was struggling financially and he wanted to overcome his situation. He was in the business of selling paints but his shop was in the outskirts of the city where he lived. He came to Radharamanji. Unable to hold back his tears, he asked Radharamanji to help him. At the very same time, a man came to our disciple’s shop in his city and gave a large order for paints. The disciple’s son dealt with this customer. His son asked for the delivery address and the customer replied that he came from the Radharaman Temple in Vrindavan and this paint would be used there and in his guru’s home too. The bill came to three hundred thousand rupees. After paying the bill, the customer left. After one or two days our disciple returned home and enquired about the financial status of the shop. The disciple was left speechless and his entire body was covered with goose bumps when he found out that a customer came to the shop whilst he was begging Shri Radharaman Dev to help him. After this incident, by the blessing of Radharamanji, the devotee started to earn a good income and he became a wealthy businessman.

There are innumerable realisations that are not founded on emotions or on false connections. Serious Bhakti makes us encounter such realisations. I will mention a few of them now. Recently, on Vasant Panchmi 2013, I was busy and did not get a chance to eat or drink anything that morning. In the afternoon, when I went for Yamuna aarti, Raakhee joined me and afterwards, by mutual agreement, we decided to go to the Katyayani Temple for darshan. Whilst we were walking towards the temple, Raakhee offered me some biscuits but I needed some water too because it was 6:30pm and I had not drunk a single drop of water for many hours. She said she would buy a bottle but we were walking on a path with no shops in sight. I knew I would not drink water and eat food until I reached home late that night. Whilst walking, I had a thought; I could go to the acharya of the Katyayani Temple and ask him to feed me food offered to Her and blessed by Her (prashad). We were like family anyway. But I felt that it would not be right to directly ask my respected elders, and in my entire life, I had never asked anything from them in such a way.

My home was nearby; I really did not have a good excuse for not eating. Whilst walking and churning these thoughts within my mind, I reached the temple campus. Before entering, I thought to myself that only by Katyayani Maata’s invitation, I would eat there. After I took darshan, I glanced over the residential area where the acharyas used to live, but I did not find anyone. I wondered how an impure soul like me would get Maata’s mercy through her prashad. While taking Saraswati Maata’s darshan in the campus, I met Acharyaji’s family members who insisted that I meet him. Without hesitation, I agreed and after meeting me and asking his most favourite question, “When will you marry?” he started talking about Radharamanji’s prashad and asked me to marry so that he could celebrate by having dinner at my home. All of a sudden, he called one of the devotees and asked him to prepare plates and asked me to sit there and take prashad.

I said, “I will not take. Some devotees are waiting at home and I am running late.”

He replied, “I will not take no for an answer and you will upset me if you will not eat Katyayani Maata’s prashad.”

I was simply stunned! I felt most blessed; he had never asked any member of my family, including me, to eat prashad at the temple.

Whilst rejoicing in Katyayani Maata’s blessings, I reached home to find Vishnupad Anuragi waiting for his first initiation. He came along with his friend, Akash who was like an elder brother to him and also belongs to our Radharaman family. With curiosity, I asked Akash why he took shelter of the Radharaman Temple when he was so fond of Swami Haridas, the founder of the Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan. Akash explained that as soon as he became spiritually active, many devotees started asking him to take diksha (initiation from a guru into a particular sampradaya). Thereafter, he went to Barsana and asked Shri Radharani to send perfumed cotton from the deity room if She felt that he should take diksha.

He said to Radharani, “I will sit in courtyard amongst hundreds of devotees and I will not approach the Goswamis of the temple directly. If the perfumed cotton will not come to me, I will take it as a sign that you do not want me to take diksha right now.”

Praying for an answer, he went and sat down amongst a group of devotees. The darshan curtain closed and a Goswami of the temple came out and waved to call Akash over. Some other devotees also stood up and went to Goswamiji, thinking that he was calling them. But Goswamiji kept calling Akash. When Akash moved towards him, Goswamiji offered perfumed cotton to Akash and said, “Whatever you asked Radharani, here is Her answer and act fast.” This act of mercy was beyond Akash’s imagination and anything he had ever experienced before; he wanted to cry tears of joy.

A similar story was told to me just a few weeks ago, whilst I was working on my writing. One of our ODev (Ocean of Devotion) devotees phoned me and with a cheerful voice, she shared her recent experience with me. She said that she wanted tulsi (holy basil leaves offered to Lord Krishn) from the Radharaman Temple, but in the months of January and February, the Radharaman Temple struggles to get tulsi. So the temple Goswamis are unable to give tulsi to devotees. She went there and did not ask anyone but still had a desire to get tulsi from Radharamanji. The Goswami who was serving Him came from the altar with handful of tulsi and called her to come and take it all. He gave her all of the tulsi even though there were many devotees there. She was overwhelmed by the experience of this love from the desire-fulfilling Lord. I was happy to see that her bhakti was heading in the right direction; just in the way I had hoped. She was getting her realisations every now and then.

Nowadays, for the sake of having a realisation, people confuse visions that are strongly rooted in their wavering emotions and label them as realisations of the Lord. Many so-called gurus even support such experiences to make themselves more popular. We should not become foolish in our misunderstandings and we should remain practical so that our realisations can make sense. Everything happens for a reason. In the same way, every meeting with the Lord or realisation has a meaning. Sometimes a devotee is unable to understand what a guru can. Maya clothes beliefs as authentic truths so that they are accepted without question. On many occasions, these false beliefs and God-realisations appear to be one and the same and only a guru can differentiate between the two; not just any devotee. Becoming superstitious and over emotional can lead to a path that is very distant from one which leads to the Lord. One may waste many years before one realises this fact. A devotee should remain practical, seek good guidance and cultivate that relationship with Krishn, where the Lord will be captivated by the devotee’s love for Him and become a part of his daily life; a life where the devotee, by Krishn’s mercy, becomes less boastful and more humble.