Selected 100 Letters by Shrimad Rajchandraji

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra,
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Prabhavak Trust Hubli

Page 56

SELECTED 100 LETTERS
SELECTED 100 LETTERS
50 (522)
Mumbai, Bhadarwa Sud Third,
Sunday, V.S. 1950 When a man knows well a spiritually enlightened saint his long standing afflictions like anger, pride, delusion or infatuation and greed begin to soften down or lose their force or attractive powers and gradually they are on the path of elimination. In such saintly contact growing stronger, a man knows more and more his spiritual guide and thereby his prejudices, wrong beliefs etc. get weaker and weaker and he begins to see his own faults and he feels no interest in wrong statements, talks or beliefs and he develops an understanding of their fruitlessness. He considers all worldly things as impermanent and as he withdraws himself from them and, collecting all strength to his command becomes firm about the evanescence of all worldly objects. This means that he after knowing a spiritually enlightened saint, reasons that he then does not feel attached or attracted to enjoyments of the objects of his five senses as he did before meeting the said saint, and gradually all such attractions fade away and as a result he develops total non-attachment to all worldly life and he realizes that after meeting his spiritual master, self-realization or liberation is not difficult to obtain. Still a man cannot think of his self without keeping full faith in his spiritual master and in his instructions. He should love him and his teachings and also his intentions behind his teachings. He should be devoted to this in all ways; and if he does not act this way, then it is difficult to admit that he has really contacted a spiritual saint.
After meeting a spiritually enlightened master a man must feel that all his previous efforts for welfare or liberation were misleading,
fruitless and they were like arrows released without aim. He should feel that only now his efforts for liberation under the guidance of his living spiritual master will bring success in his joumey to self-realization or liberation. He should realize that whatever means he adopted following public opinion for liberation was a fruitless toil and now he should keep awake to his spiritual master's instructions and knowing this well, he should be bold enough not to waste the golden opportunity he has got and proceed to realize his permanent self. He should avoid the obstructions in his spiritual path such as I know everything; I have pride of my learning and knowledge of the scriptures, I know my family religion well and how can I stop doing what my predecessor have done as a part of their religious life, following public opinion about devotion to spiritual master and withdrawing affection, respect for his spiritual teacher on finding some undeserving or wrong or faulty action of his spiritual master and believing that he should follow such family action as he found in his teacher etc. etc. All these obstacles of spiritual path are summed up under indefinite anger, pride, delusion, and greed. All this should well be understood by a spiritual aspirant. Here I have written about it what I could
About Quiescence, stoppage of destruction and Kshayik Samyaktva. Whatever brief definitions I had given similar to that is already remembered by Tribhovan.
Wherever this living soul has taken birth he has adopted or assumed the various kinds of worldly life and there he has behaved with pride of that birth, without removing such pride the soul has left his body and objects related to his body. Therefore he has not eliminated his pride by the help of self knowledge and such wrong dispositions of his, still continue to work in his present birth and this