Volume 5 Issue 1

||Shri Swaminarayano Vijayate|| Inspirer: Param Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj January 2012 Nilkanth Content

A meeting was held in Gondal to decide the location of Yogiji Mhrj s Amrut Mahotsav. At that time there was a scarcity of water in that area. Hence many of the senior sadhus and haribhakto suggested Bochsan or Atladr. Then everyone asked Yogiji Maharaj where he desired the utsav to be held. He answered, Ask Pramukh Swmi. Swamishri wondered, Why ask me amongst all these elders? Then he realized that it was Yogiji Mhrj s desire to celebrate the utsav in Gondal. So Swmishri stated that whatever is necessary should be done, but we should do the utsav in Gondal. Mot Swmi, Maganbhai and others scolded him, but Swmishri confidently spoke, that if it is Yogiji Mhrj s desire it will all go well, the water will come from somewhere. Once they left the meeting Yogiiji Mhrj s told him Bahu sru km karyu! and gave him two dhab and shirvd. After this, all of Swmishri s doubts and worries were erased.

As we listen to the katha we need to ask ourselves that we may not always understand Swmishri s anuvrutti, but we do know his gns. Yet still, we have difficulty following them, what is one thing you can think about or do to strengthen our guru bhakti and follow his gns? Let us make a concerted effort this year to increase our niyams so we can grow closer to the satpurush.

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Page 2- Vicharan

For the last six months Swamishri has spent his time in Mumbai. To start off the year we will be taking a look at two Prasangs of the Haribhaktos that have great Jdan with Satpurush. Due to his health, Swamishri has been unable to give a pravachan, or personally meet with haribhakto. Swamishri comes out of his room for darshan in the Mandir, which only allows only 15 minutes for the Haribhaktos to have Darshan. This article will focus on two Haribhakto that will do anything to be at Dadar Mandir during this 15 minute window. There is one Haribhakta from Bahrain, UAE. He left Bahrain at 4 AM, landed in Mumbai at 7:30 AM just in time for Shangar Arti. He had Swamishri s darshan from afar, and then took the noon flight back to the United Arab Emirates so he can go to work. Another Haribhakta from Vasai (60 KM from Dadar Mandir) wakes up at 3:30 AM, reaching Dadar Mandir at 7:30 AM, does his security seva, has Swamishris Darshan at 9:15, and then goes to work at 9:30. Both Haribhaktos go through so much for just 15 minutes of Darshan. If Swamishri comes to our center for a week or ten days, it is easy to have that kind of enthusiasm, but after six months only those with true Atmabhuddhi are able to continue to be as enthusiastic. Many of our very own kishores have this level of Jodan with Swamishri. Kishores left the day after their exams, and returned right before classes started again. The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we develop that kind of Jodan with the Satpurush?

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Page 3- Satsang News- Yogi Cup

Players, teams, referees, Coach K, Air Jordans, competition, delicious food, Samp and Jodan. These are some of the words that initially defined the Southeast s 10th Annual Basketball Tournament. This year s tournament took place in the Atlanta Shikharbad mandir. The purpose of these tournaments is to increase and maintain the samp and unity throughout the region. This year was something special for Southeast region because it was the 10th annual tournament. The nation s first tournament was held in Atlanta, and the Southeast has kept it as tradition for a continuous 10 years, making it the longest running Basketball Tournament in our Sanstha. Many teams throughout the region participated in this tournament. This year, the total number of teams flew to 54 and total number of volunteers was around 40. One of the best players in the southeast, Kunj Pandya, was playing just a regular 3-on-3 game when mistakenly his kanthi broke. He refused to continue the game without having a kanthi around his neck. As all this was happening P. Amrutnandan Swami was watching this player s mahima of his kanthi. So looking at this, P. Amrutnandan Swami surprisingly took off his own personal kanthi and gave it to Kunj Pandya to wear and continue the game. The MVP Award is the highest award an individual player can receive. Our high school division MVP Award this year was awarded to Dipakbhai Patel from Orlando. Dipakbhai possesses many great skills from dribbling, driving to the hoop, to shooting a 3-pointer. During one of the games Dipakbhai faked a three, provoking the defender to jump; however, the player fell on the ground. At this point in game, Dipakbhai was wide open and had the perfect chance to shoot. But instead, he stopped and helped his opponent get off the ground. The shot could have been easily taken earning three points for his team, but instead he made a sacrifice for the betterment of samp.

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Page 4- Satsang Theme- Satpurush

Every person in this world lives by the single phrase, I m not perfect. They wear it like a raincoat and use it to excuse themselves from taking responsibilities for their flaws. But it s a cowardly outlook on life. As Satsangis, we have witnessed perfection. Perfection to such a minute detail that we are inspired to float towards it unknowingly and without effort. We have seen a life lived with such attention to detail when it comes to perfection that without realizing it, our own lives become that much closer to perfection. P.P. Swamishri s life is perfect because for him, nothing other than Shriji Maharaj and his beloved guru exists and that is why he is Akshar, Brahm, Gunatit, Ekantik, Moksha nu Dwr, Brahmaswarup, i.e. the Satpurush.

When Shriji Maharaj came down on Earth, he came with 6 things he wanted to accomplish. One of the six was to establish a lineage of Gunatit Satpurush. Today that Gunatit Satprush is our beloved guru P.P. Pramukh Swami Maharaj. The way his life has always been, let s the rest of us accept that perfection is not a mirage but only a matter of time for us.

Shrijij Maharaj s fundamental principle is that anything worth doing in Satsang the Satpurush is the only answer. How can we develop dradh priti in bhagwn? In Gadhada I-43 Shriji Maharaj says Satpurush no prasang. How does one develop sakti in bhagwn? In Gadhada II-29 Shriji Maharaj says to do sev of the Satpurush. How does the gateway to liberation open? In Gadhada I-54 Shriji Maharaj says it opens by doing the prasang of the Satpurush. How can one attain ekntik dharma? In Gadhada I-60 Shriji Maharaj says it is only possible from he who is ekntik. How can you experience the peace like you would get from nirvikalp samdhi without actually attaining samdhi? In Gadhada III-11, Shriji Maharaj says that if one develops tm budhi towards the Satpurush, then without samdhi, one experiences peace. How can one have the darshan of the tm and Paramtm? In Vadtal 11 Shriji Maharaj explains that dradh priti in the Satpurush is on the only means of having darshan the tm and Paramtm.

There is no escaping the fact that Satpurush is everything because everything we want to get out of Satsang can only be gotten through him. Therefore let s make 2012 the year we continue our journey towards perfection- the year we develop even more jodn with the Satpurush because

Satpurush, prn chh.

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Page 5- Campus Corner- Let Ya Game Speak

From December 25th to 28th, BAPS Southeast region held its annual 3 on 3 Kishore Basketball Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia. However this year s tournament was a special one as it was a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the Yogi Cup. The theme of the tournament was Where Samp Happens and in the 3 days while the tournament lasted, one truly got to witness the concept of samp on and off the basketball court. Broadly defined, samp is working together to accomplish a common goal. One saw this in the way that the players dived around on the floor for loose balls, made a conscious effort to make the extra pass, worked together on offense executing plays and on defense yelling out to their teammate to watch out for picks and screens. Furthermore before and after games, one could see older college players mentoring younger high school players about what to do to succeed. It goes without question that to succeed in the tournament, samp was required. However, to help your team as an individual contributor, it required a different kind of mentality, a mentality that can be summarized by Michael Jordan s famous quote, Let your game speak. Ultimately, this statement says that actions speak louder than words; that what you do on the court has a greater impact on your teammates, the opposing team, and the spectators. One can draw a similar parallel in Satsang: that the people who truly earn Swami Bapa s raajipo are the ones that do more, and talk less. Let s go back in time to a few days before London Mandir Murti Pratishta 2005. As per tradition, the plan was to have a Nagar Yatra throughout the city to showcase and celebrate the building of the first BAPS Mandir outside of India. After years of hard work, sacrifice, and patience the Haribhakto couldn t wait to proudly carry the Akshar Purushottam Murtis around the city. However, the London police refused to allow the Nagar Yatra to occur with the murtis being showcased because of possible opposition by the predominantly Christian public who didn t believe in God possessing a form. P. Santo and Haribhakto tried their best to persuade the police officials, however they stood firm in their decision. Two days before the Nagar Yatra, P. Santo and Haribhakto asked the police to come for a meeting in a last attempt to persuade them. However, before the officials entered the conference room in the mandir, they witnessed two balaks devoutly performing dandavats in front of the new murtis. Seeing their bhakti and faith, at such a young age, the police were convinced the Nagar Yatra should not face opposition. So what knowledgeable Santo and Haribhakto couldn t do through persuasion, two small balaks did with their actions. From this prasang, you get the idea: that to make an impact in satsang, to further improve yourself, and ultimately to earn Swami Bapa s raajipo it comes down to your actions. P. Santo always preach that Vartan Vaato Karshe. We don t have to know every Swami ni Vaat or have the Vachanamrut memorized. We just have to know enough to behave in the right manner. It s a new year. A new Semester. A new chance. As our Winter break slowly comes to an end, let s be resolute in making the following resolution: let s promise

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together to let our game speak. That in this new year we amp up how hard we study to do better than we did last semester, that we come to sabha more regularly, that we continue to or start to read the Vachanamrut daily, that we introduce more of our friends and family to Satsang- the list goes on and is different for all of us. But ultimately let s keep this thought in our mind: that it s our actions that will lead to our success on the basketball court, in school, and most importantly in Satsang.

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Page 6- Aagna Shstriji Mhrj gave Pramukh Swji an gn to study Sanskrit, and told him, if he finished, he would give him Shriji Maharaj s prasdi mla. One day Yogiji Mhrj noted to Shstriji Mhrj during his puj that he should give the ml to Swmishri. Shstriji Mhrj gave it, but also told him to take good care of it, and that it wouldn t stay in his possession always. Swmishri kept it in his puj and did darshan of it daily. After Shstriji Mhrj returned to Akshardhm, a haribhakta named Chaganbhai from Mumbai was gathering prasdi items. He asked Swamishri to borrow the prasdi ml to allow other haribhakta to do darshan of it. However, he never returned the ml, even after continuous follow up by haribhakto, Swmishri and even Yogiji Mhrj. One day Chaganbhai came from Mumbai, Yogiji Mhrj brought him by the hand to where Swmishri was doing puj. He then told Swamishri, not to ask for the prasadi mala back and that Chaganbhai would take care of the prasdi item now. Once this was said, Swmishri never thought of the ml again. He realized, that Yogiji Mhrj was the one who brought the ml to him, and he is now the one saying to let it go, and that Swmishri would have satsang nu sukh in other ways. Every day as Swmishri performed his puj, he remembered the ml, especially since it was not only Shriji Mhrj s prasadi, but Shstriji Mhrj had turned that ml, and it was through Yogiji Mhrj s wish that he received the ml. But after hearing the words of Yogiji Mhrj all these thoughts stopped. He remembered that Shstriji Mhrj had told him many times to make Yogiji Mhrj rji. So that s what he did. Ekaj vichr, Yogi Mhrj rji thy, em karvu. At that time Swmishri also remembered a prasang in which Shstriji Mhrj had given away Shriji Mhrj s charnvind to his gurubhai, simply because Bhagatji Mhrj had asked him to do so, on behalf of the gurubhai. He learned the lesson, Mot purush ne rji kariye em anant sukh, from Shstriji Mhrj. Manan Points 1. If you were asked to give up something precious to us by our guru, could you do it? (niyams, possessions, titles, time, etc) 2. Swmishri s life revolves around making his gurus happy. What is one thing you can start doing this month to earn Swmishri s rjipo?