BhajaGovindam - *** ## title: Book: BhajaGovindam - BhajaGovindam - Created: Jul 16, 2017 12:37 AM - Tags: Book, Klib - Updated: Jul 16, 2017 12:37 AM - [[email protected]](https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8\&camp=536\&creative=3132\&field-keywords=BhajaGovindam\&linkCode=ur2\&tag=llll1-23\&url=search-alias%3Dbooks) - 15 highlights - the material knowledge may be useful to you - for a livelihood or for satisfying [[curiosity]], for example; but the fact remains that the best of physical knowledge serves no purpose for a spiritual aspirant, though the story of the man who is still immersed in worldly pursuits, is different. - Knowledge is that which helps to realize God. The rest is ignorance. - “Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy our miseries for ever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a time. It is only with knowledge of the spirit that the faculty of want is annihilated for ever.” (Karma Yoga). - Knowledge pertaining to Iswara is the real knowledge. Branches of arts and sciences, logic, grammar – learning such as these usually confuse the understanding instead of clarifying it. Sacred books often function as shackles that prevent freethinking. All learning is good if it can ever guide man Godward” - Sri Ramakrishna. - Material science or knowledge indeed is great, but it is only a part of the Infinite knowledge of the Self. - For the man who wants to have the full knowledge which will solve ALL his problems, the limited knowledge of physical science is not critical. (Readers can [[Learn]] more on this in Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda). - The mental picture of such beautiful objects as mere combination of flesh, fat and other undesirable matter (for the sadhaka), will slowly develop a vairagya (renunciation) in the sadhaka’s mind. The reality behind many attractive things in life will often be shocking. This shock is necessary to develop ‘vairagya’ to cross the river of ‘maya’. But it is not easy. Lust is not easy to give up, because it is our animal nature. Hence the thought as explained has to be reinforced again and again (vaaram, vaaram). - A very bitter fact, indeed; but true: As long as we earn, family, relatives, friends, etc. are there with us giving us all affection. When we are old or incapable of earning wealth, all those who surrounded desert us. Son or daughter, brother or sister, mother or father: all care more for the person who earns money. The respect commanded is directly proportional to the money he has. - is satsanga: the company of holy people, saints, good men and women. This is the basis of all further steps. Very few people are self-made. Even most spiritual giants had teachers, gurus. In modern times, Sri Ramakrishna had several teachers, who initiated Him to various spiritual disciplines followed by them. Prominent among them was Sri Tota Puri, who initiated Him to sanyasa. - It is a well-known fact that good character is developed from the company of good people and degradation is likely to follow the company of the wicked. Hence the sadhakas desirous of God realization should attempt to keep only the company of really good people; if available, men who have seen God. - The Maya of the world fails to mislead such a sadhaka. When he meditates on the Lord with the mind thus purified, he is sure to reach a state of tranquility. The tranquil mind soon realizes Truth. The Yogi now attains freedom. Freedom from the chain of birth and death; freedom from ignorance, misery, transitory nature of the world. This was the aim of his sadhana. - Brooding on the objects of senses, man develops attachment to them; from attachment comes desire; from desire anger sprouts forth. From anger proceeds delusion; from delusion, confused memory; from confused memory the ruin of reason; due to the ruin of reason he perishes.” - He who is dead as it were when alive, that is to say, as desire-less as a corpse, becomes competent for Brahma–jnanam” -Sri Ramakrishna. - “All that can be learned by going through the whole of the Gita can be as well accomplished by repeating “Gita”, “Gita”, - Gita-gi-ta-gita, ten times; it virtually comes to be “Ta-gi” “Ta-gi” – a modification of “Tyagi”, “Tyagi”, which means one who has given up the world both outwardly and from the mind.” - In short, to escape from the cycle of birth and death, one should first [[Learn]] the spiritual principles from books such as Gita, struggle to attain this knowledge like the legendary Bhageeratha, and offer the Lord one’s own life in His worship.