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Nashik
By Light of the Spirit Monastery
To this, I answered as follows: “You have asked a very good question. This
question often troubles many thoughtful people, especially when they find
‘saints’ sprouting up like mushrooms on all sides.
“No doubt this is all true. But it must be remembered that Paramartha is a thing
which is to be achieved by one’s own efforts. If anyone, therefore, has a sincere
desire to obtain it, he should, instead of entering into discussion regarding it,
and instead of visiting various places in search of reputed saints, approach a
real saint who has attained Self-realization with due humility and reverence.
Because only such a saint can lead others to the right path.
The path which leads to the true knowledge of this “I” and to the realization of
oneness with it, is the path of spiritual progress. He who desires to go by this
path must naturally practice self-restraint and keep himself detached from
material pleasures. Abandoning of material pleasures outwardly, or abandoning
them by merely forcibly curbing the mind, is of very little use. The
renunciation must be mental: the mind must gradually develop a dislike for
these material pleasures. If you will try to immerse your mind in the continuous
contemplation of the sound of Soham, this renunciation becomes easy. The
mind becomes one with Soham, and then the ajapa japa begins. In this stage
our whole worldly existence becomes full of happiness. The mind of a person
who attains this stage goes beyond pleasure and pain. It becomes full of
universal love, and he feels nothing but love in this material world which to
others is full of pleasure and pain.
Only saints like Jnaneshwar and Tukaram obtained Paramartha. When this state
of everlasting joy is reached, this world, the next world, heaven or hell–which
to an ordinary person appears to be full of contrasts of pleasure and pain–
becomes nothing but universal, all-pervading joy and bliss incarnate. This stage
is what is known as Paramartha.
To obtain this Paramartha is the goal of human life, and you can obtain it by
your own persistent and honest effort. Efforts are necessary to obtain any object
in the world. Are we not required to put up strong efforts to obtain money or
learning? And are our efforts always crowned with success? But do we on that
account abandon efforts to obtain these things? Similarly, we must continually
make strong efforts to obtain the realization of the real “I.” The various
difficulties and obstacles which arise in this path must be removed, just as we
do in worldly matters.