By Sunil Sarpal

It is a hard and well known fact that one day everybody has to leave this mortal frame.  Life therefore be treated as a dream run.  Sometimes the dream is good and favourable but sometimes it is a bad omen.  One has to undergo both good as well as bad phase of life in a sporting manner.  

The hard lessons of life should be learned on a serious note that this world is fraudulent and on false footing.  

It is karmic to be rich with abundance of material things at your disposable.  Similarly, it is also karmic to be a pauper.  Being a pauper should not be considered a sin.  Sinner is the one who always look at the world keeping ‘maya’ up-front.  

The title of the article  –  MUN TOON KYON GUMAN KAREGA

Why should I be so much obsessed with what I have.  Whatever I have, has been given by God.  Why should not I be indebted to God for what I have and feel his gratitude.  

TUN TO TERA KHAK MILEGA

One day, your body will perish.  You will lose grip on its strength.  From childhood to youth to old age and this sequence  will happen with everybody.  

This is an inevitable reality of life and finally this frame will end up in flames.  

The ‘soul’ keeps on traversing in 84 lacs yonies in accordance with his karmic debt.  

A question often seekers ask to Satguru  –  knowingly if so much pain and sufferings one has to bear then why God sent souls to this world.  To which, Satguru gives a very ambiguous reply that without going into the history, I can show you the way forward, how to break the cycle of life-death-life.  

BHAJAN SIMRAN

Till the time it boils down to settling karmic account of a soul,  the soul keeps on traversing from one yoni to another.  Bhajan Simran has in it to clean up the karmic debt of a soul.  

In this yug which is called kalyug, people are so much entrenched in accumulating maya and in  mundane affairs that they do not have time going to satsang and listening to satguru’s teachings.  Satsang of ‘shabd guru’ is that forum where the nuisances of Naam Bhakti is explicitly explained in a systematized manner.  

Human form is considered top of the creation.  Breaking the cycle of birth-death-birth is possible in human form thru Naam Bhakti. 

By Sunil Sarpal

What is Santmat ?

Sant + mat  =  Teachings of Sant. 

Babaji often sums up in his discourse  –  NANAK KE GHAR KEWAL NAAM

What is Naam  ?

The words of Naam have been derived from the names of deities.  Above the eye centre of human being,  there are five Ruhani Desh and each Ruhani Desh has a separate deity.  So five Ruhani Desh have five different deities and the names of those deities form the NAAM. 

Satguru, in his satsang, explains that Naam  already exists within us, human beings.  The process of giving Naam Daan by Satguru to a devotee is just to channelise how to do bhakti.  How to sit in meditation and how to repeat those holy names, concentrating at the eye centre of forehead. 

In fact, the human body is the real temple of God.  But because ‘maya’ plays a pivotal role in human being’s life,  ‘mun’  has become slave to sense pleasure viz Kaam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Ahankar. 

Human beings remain in the process of satiating one desire after the other and in this process keep accumulating N number of karmas.  In order to repay the karmic debt, human soul has to remain in the cycle of 84 lac yonies.  In which yoni a soul deserves birth is decided by kaal on the basis of karmas. 

Kaal is the driving force in this creation in which we live in.  According to our ‘karma’  Kaal Bhagwan decides what our soul deserves, be it human form,  animal yoni,  tree etc. etc.  from the living beings. 

‘Mun’  by nature, keeps accumulating karmas and resultantly the soul remains entrapped in changing one yoni after the other and this cycle goes on unabated. 

Satguru ,  in his satsang, often says  –  KARM JO TOON KAREGA USIKO BHOGNA BHARNA. 

How to break the hudoo of birth-death-birth ?

NAAM BHAKTI

In human form only,  Naam given by time’s Satguru enables a human being to break the cycle of life-death-life by doing daily meditation.  

The soul then merges back to its origin i.e.  God wherefrom it descended to this creation. 

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“When Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi does the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Shri Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya, he would be representing every citizen of our great Bharat”.

“Shri Ram embodies the spirit of India. The true spirit of India and Indianness is discipline, truth, honesty, ethics, moral values, acceptance and celebration of diversity, respect for elders, strong family bonds and all such fine human values“

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SHRI RAM MANDIR – Fulfilment of a divine dream
The Original Unedited Article by Shri Lal Krishan Advani

I am elated beyond words that we are on the verge of realising my most cherished dream of having a grand Shri Ram temple at Ramjanmabhoomi, the birthplace of Shri Ram. On 22nd January 2024, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will install the idol of Shri Ram at the beautiful temple in Ayodhya, and I feel blessed that I will witness this historic occasion in my lifetime.

I have always believed that ‘faith’ is the foundation on which rest both a meaningful life of a person and the whole society at large. Faith not only infuses energy and confidence into a person’s life, but also helps give it direction. For me and for crores of Indians, this faith has been our deep reverence for Shri Ram.

Shri Ram embodies the spirit of India. The true spirit of India and Indianness is discipline, truth, honesty, ethics, moral values, acceptance and celebration of diversity, respect for elders, strong family bonds and all such fine human values and Shri Ram is the epitome of all these impeccable human qualities. Hence the title ‘Maryada Purushottam’ (an exemplar among good human beings) by which he is known. He is an ideal for Indians’ aspiration to live a life of higher values.

Shri Ram was also an ideal king- the living embodiment of ‘Dharma’. Hence the concept of ‘Ram Rajya’, the epitome of good governance, was extolled as the ideal for India. Although Shri Ram is the holy religious figure worthy of worship for the Hindus, he is a pre-eminent symbol of India’s cultural heritage and national identity -which belong to all citizens alike.

The story of Shri Ram’s life, the Ramayana, is both a source and a carrier of the continuity of India’s cultural traditions and has greatly influenced the Indian mindset generation after generation, century after century. Therefore, for the last almost 500 years, the reconstruction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has been a deep desire for countless Indians.

The Ramjanmabhoomi movement for the reconstruction of the temple at the Janmasthan of Shri Ram in Ayodhya proved to be a major watershed in the history of post-1947 India. Its impact on our society and polity, and on our sense of national identity has been tremendous.

In my own political journey, I have always said that the Ayodhya Movement was the most decisive transformational event, which gave me an opportunity to discover India anew, and in the process, rediscover myself.

I feel humbled that destiny made me perform a pivotal duty in the form of the Shri Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990.

I believe that before any event finally occurs in reality, it takes shape and form in a person’s mind. At that time, I was feeling that a befitting temple for Shri Ram in Ayodhya would indeed be a certainty one day, and that it was only a matter of time.
A grand Mandir for Shri Ram at Ramjanmabhoomi had been a desire and mission for the Bharatiya Janata Party. When in the mid-1980s the Ayodhya issue rose to the centre-stage of national politics, I was reminded of the time how political stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad and K M Munshi had, against all odds, effectively steered the reconstruction of another landmark temple in independent India- the Somnath Temple at Prabhas Patan on the coast of Saurashtra in Gujarat.

Somnath was both a witness to, and a target of, multiple foreign invasions during the medieval period. And reconstructing the Somnath temple was a proud testimony of India’s determination to erase the history of bigoted alien attacks and regain its lost cultural treasure.

Sadly, as in the case of Somnath, the temple at the birthplace of Shri Ram in Ayodhya had also become a target of attack by an invader, Babar, who founded the Mughal empire. In 1528, Babar ordered his commander Mir Baqi to erect a mosque at Ayodhya to make the spot a ‘place for descent of angels’- hence the name Babri Masjid.
It is widely believed, and later even confirmed by compelling archeological evidences that there was a pre-existing temple at Ayodhya which was demolished for establishing the mosque.

So in many ways, the Ayodhya movement was the continuation of the spirit of Somnath.
When the BJP decided in 1990 that I, as its President, should lead the Shri Ram Rath Yatra to mobilise people’s support for the Ayodhya movement, it took no time for me to choose Somnath as the starting venue of this historic journey.

On 12th September, 1990, I called a press conference at the party office at 11 Ashoka Road, New Delhi and announced my decision to undertake a 10,000-kilometre-long Rath Yatra, starting from Somnath on 25th September and reaching Ayodhya on 30th October to join the kar seva in Ayodhya, planned by the saints associated with the movement. 25th September was special to me as it is Deendayal Upadhyaya ji’s birth anniversary.
In my autobiography- “My Country My Life”, I have extensively talked about the Ayodhya Movement and the Shri Ram Rath Yatra that I undertook in 1990. On this momentous occasion today, I would like to recall some significant portions from it.
On the morning of 25th September 1990, I offered prayers at the jyotirlingam in Somnath temple. I was accompanied by the present Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi (who was then a promising leader of the BJP), Shri Pramod Mahajan, (who was the General Secretary of the party) other senior functionaries of the party in Gujarat, and members of my family. Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia and Shri Sikander Bakht, both Party Vice-Presidents then, had come to flag off the Rath.

Before the Rath was flagged off, we all paid floral tribute to the imposing statue of Sardar Patel just outside the temple. In my mind, I thanked and drew inspiration from all the great men who had toiled for the reconstruction of the temple. Amidst a large crowd that had gathered to greet and bless us, we climbed the Shri Ram Rath which had been decorated with marigold flowers. Then, to the accompaniment of the sound of the ceremonial conches and full-throated slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Saugandh Ram ki khate hain mandir wahin banayenge’ (In the name of Ram, we resolve: We shall build the temple there—at Ramjanmabhoomi—itself), the Rath rolled on. In subsequent days, these slogans became identified with my yatra and a song-“Ram Naam Mein Jaadoo Aisa, Ram Naam Man Bhaaye, Man Ki Ayodhya Tab Tak Sooni, Jab Tak Ram Na Aayein…” sung by late Smt. Lata Mangeshkar, India’s Nightingale, became the signature tune of the Rath Yatra wherever it went.

I was truly overwhelmed by the response to the yatra within the first few days of our journey in Gujarat. The Rath was received by tumultuous crowds everywhere—in villages, towns and even along roads where people from nearby hamlets would gather under trees eagerly waiting for the Rath to arrive. The response reached a crescendo in bigger towns and cities, where it would take hours for us to reach the venue of our meetings.

This response was as big, even bigger, in Maharashtra as well as in all the subsequent states that we travelled through. People everywhere greeted the Rath by erecting ceremonial arches and showering flowers. The most astonishing sight for me was the manner in which people, especially women, would come forward and perform aarti and throw coins, as if they were praying in a temple. What I soon realized, was, that for many people, I was secondary and incidental to the campaign. I was only a sarathi or a charioteer; the principal messenger of the Rath Yatra was the Rath itself. And it was worthy of worship as it was headed for Ayodhya for the sacred mission of construction of the Shri Ram Temple at his birthplace.

At this point, I would like to talk a bit about the ‘Rath’ that I travelled in. It was a actually a mini truck that was redesigned to take the shape of a Rath and was provided with basic amenities.

Travelling in a ‘Rath’ was indeed a novel experience for me, but it presented its own set of challenges. For one, it had a small room-cum–washroom at the rear of the vehicle, which could only be used when the vehicle was not in motion, otherwise it was very bumpy. So I recall standing most times on the platform of the moving vehicle, holding on to the front and side grip bars in order to maintain my balance. Of course, this also meant being constantly subject to heat and dust as the platform was open from three sides.

Also while in motion, it was impossible for me to sip water, juice or tea without spilling. So a special sipper bottle was arranged to overcome this issue. As for food, although arrangements were made that the dinner would come from some party worker’s home in whichever city we were to reach for night halt, invariably the last public meeting would only end up close to midnight. So I would usually have just a glass of milk with marmalade on toast.

Another problem we often faced was due to the height of the Rath. Although the party officials had circulated the information about the height of the vehicle to various destinations along the route of the yatra, as we moved through small towns and cities, one of the frequent hold ups used to be the overhead hanging electrical wires. So party workers then arranged for extra long wooden poles to get the wires out of the way and also started moving along with the Rath. Well, all these were really miniscule issues which form just a small part of the beautiful memory of my Shri Ram Rath Ratra.
The most touching moments of the yatra were witnessed in villages and remote hamlets where the piety on the faces of the village folk was of a purer and deeper kind than what I saw in cities. Many of them were either illiterate or nominally educated. They had not learnt about Shri Ram by reading; it was as if the knowledge flowed through them, passed on from one generation to the other, through folk tales or word of mouth, as usually happens in the Indian society.

At many places, I found an odd villager who would come quietly, without shouting any slogans, perform a puja before the Rath, greet me and walk away. I was truly humbled by experiences like these as it gave me a first-hand insight into how deep-rooted religiosity is in the lives of the Indian people. It was the Rath Yatra that made me realise that if I were to communicate the message of nationalism through the religious idiom, I would be able to transmit it more effectively and to a wider audience.

My speeches, delivered mostly from the specially designed raised platform on the vehicle were just about five minutes long, because I had to address nearly twenty to twenty-five such roadside receptions each day. In most towns and cities, I had to get down and address public meetings attended by tens of thousands of people.

I would explain the purpose of the yatra and the circumstances that compelled the BJP to actively participate in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. Although the people’s response to the Rath Yatra was mainly religious, the focus of my speeches was on nationalism, as I have always believed that the Shri Ram temple issue is intrinsically connected to our sense of Indianness.
A recurrent theme in my speeches was that the power of a positive approach to religious faith can contribute greatly to social transformation and nation-building. I stressed on the equal status that our Muslim brethren enjoyed in independent India as India chose to remain non-theocratic and secular. This, I added, was principally due to the age-old secular ethos of Hinduism. I also appealed to leaders of the Muslim community to respect the Hindu sentiments over Ayodhya.
My yatra was scheduled to enter Deoria in Uttar Pradesh on 24th October 1990. However, as I had anticipated, it was stopped at Samastipur in Bihar on 23rd October and I was arrested by the Janata Dal government in the state, then headed by Shri Laloo
Prasad Yadav. I was taken to an inspection bungalow of the irrigation department at a place called Massanjore near Dumka, on the Bihar-Bengal border.
This action invited angry and spontaneous protests all over the country.

This was a time when there were no mobile phones. The news of my arrest reached my daughter Pratibha, who was in Kolkatta then, in quite an interesting manner. She was looking to hire a cab on way back to her home when the taxi driver told her to hurry up. On her enquiring from him why he was saying so, the taxi driver told her that Advani “Baba” had been arrested and people were fearing a backlash in the form of riots in the city! Two days later, Pratibha spoke to Laloo Prasad Yadav ji, who facilitated her coming to meet me at Massanjore during my detention. I spent five weeks in detention before being released.

Thus ended my Shri Ram Rath Yatra, which was indeed an exhilarating episode in my political life. I felt happy that the Yatra helped in galvanising the aspirations, energies and passions of its countless participants.

A significant debate that started during the course of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was the difference between genuine secularism and pseudo-secularism. On the one hand, there was a groundswell of popular support for the movement. On the other hand, most political parties were shying away from supporting the movement as they feared losing Muslim votes. They succumbed to the lure of this vote-bank politics, and justified it in the name of secularism.

Thus, the Ayodhya issue, whose primary objective was the reconstruction of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple, also became a symbol of reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism.

It has been 33 long years since my Shri Ram Rath Yatra. A lot has happened since, including the legal battle which had implicated me and many of my colleagues from the VHP, RSS and the BJP.

However, after almost three decades, on September 30, 2020, the CBI’s special court acquitted me and others and released us from all charges.
It is pertinent to note that while on one hand the protracted legal battle was going on, on the other, not only I, but every karyakarta of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar continued working towards awakening the soul of Indians to realise this dream of restoring Ram Lalla at His rightful abode.

I am very happy that due to the decisive verdict of the Supreme Court in November 2019, the reconstruction of Shri Ram Mandir has happened in an environment of tranquility.

And now that the magnificent Shri Ram Temple is in its final stages of completion, I am filled with a sense of deep gratitude towards the present Government headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, all organisations, particularly the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Party, the countless people associated with my yatra, saints, leaders, kar Sevaks and all the people from India and the world, who made valuable contributions and sacrifices in the Ayodhya movement over many decades.

There are two persons who I am missing immensely today. The first one is late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had been an integral part of my life- both political and personal, and with whom I shared an unbreakable and everlasting bond of mutual trust, affection and respect.

The second person is my late wife Kamla, who had been the mainstay of stability and a source of unparalleled strength to me, not only during the Shri Ram Rath Yatra, but throughout my long stint in public life.

In the run-up to the upcoming special occasion of 22nd January 2024, the atmosphere in the entire country has truly become ‘Ram-maya’. This is a moment of fulfilment for me, not just as a proud member of the RSS and the BJP, but as a proud citizen of our glorious motherland. My greetings to all my countrymen!

When Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi does the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of Shri Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya, he would be representing every citizen of our great Bharat. It is my belief and my hope that this temple will inspire all Indians to imbibe Shri Ram’s virtues. I also pray that our great country not only continues to accelerate on the path of becoming a global power, but also presents itself as a sterling example of dignity and decorum in all walks of life.

I bow at the lotus feet of Shri Ram. May He keep everyone blessed.
JAI SHRI RAM!

Watch a documentary on LK Advani’s “Fulfillment of a Divine Dream”

by Sunil Sarpal 

BHAI AND BHAV

This is a very sensitive subject.  

‘BHAI’ (dar) stands for ‘fear’ from God and ‘BHAV’ (bhavna) stands for Love for God.  Since  God is all-pervading, one should always do his deeds keeping in mind ‘Will this act of mine be acceptable to God or is it just a waste’ ?  How I conduct myself, my life, perspective, and vision.   Is this what  God expects of me?   Am I intentionally hurting some body?   But why, what for, just to satiate my ego.  Is my ego more important than what God expects of me.

‘BHAV’ stands for love for God.   If we remain ‘selfish’ and evade from conducting menial jobs, then how can we please God. 

What if I wash utensils at home?  I was responsible for making them dirty so it becomes my duty to clean them.  What do I lose in the bargain?

‘SEVA’ conducting in any form, pleases God. God has bestowed on us with a healthy body and heart to fulfill any kind of seva with a smile. 

If our body is not in sync with seva, it is of what use.  We should always make best use of what God has bestowed on us.  

We always look skywards when in trouble.  Generally, HE does not disappoint us.  It is our own karmas which become ‘harbinger’ in our struggle to succeed in life.  

In nut-shell, we should always be good son or daughter of God so that HE should not feel disappointed with our act of omission and commission. 

Maya in Kalyug

The society in which we live in and boast off in fact is not worth living.  God created this creation unmindful of the fact that this creation will one day become full of filth.  There is huge disparity amongst people, their way of thinking, life, priorities etc. 

Firstly, do we remember God, the creator because of whom we exist.  Even if some worship him, it is because of some sort of reason only.  We consider the relationship with God as a ‘barter deal’.  In barter deal, the business revolves around ‘give and take’ in proportion. 

We are never satisfied with what we have.  We always yearn for what we do not have, unmindful of the fact that whatever we get is what we deserve according to our destiny. 

Satguru always emphasizes ‘Live in the will of God’.  Do not ask for more and HE shall take care of your needs. 

When God gave us human form, HE was under the impression that as human beings we will try and realise God in lifetime.  Generally, it does not happen.  Man started exploring happiness in maya and became forgetful of God and his realization.   Maya is so intoxicated that people automatically get swayed towards it. 

Destiny plays a very important role in human life.  It is a well- known fact that it is because of destiny a human being becomes a king or a bagger. 

Param Sant Kabir Sahib says :-

“Maya Mari Na Mun Mara,  Mar Mar Gaye Sharir

Asha Trishna Na Mari, Keh Gaye Das Kabir”.

It means   “Neither ‘maya’ dies nor ‘mun’,    only the body dies

Expectations and desires never dies.    This is what Kabir Sahib has to say in his message. 

Poor man does not realise the fact that one day he has to leave this mortal body.  Then why crave for maya and why not Ram.   Because he will have to reap the harvest of what he has sown. 

Only those who have worshipped ‘Ram Naam’ will merge back in God.  Other non-worshippers will have to come back to this creation yet again and who knows in what yoni.  The human form is very rarely achieved after completing the cycle of 84 lacs yonies. 

That is why lot of emphasis is laid to attending to satsang.  Schooling in satsang is so very important that it teaches the importance of maya and God realization. 

Guru Nanak Sahib’s Message

We are spiritual being under-going human experience.  This message is given during satsang by satguru. 

Today, what human being has turned out to be and being led to.  There is no point raising a finger towards others.   First and foremost, we should conduct our own introspection.  Do we act and behave like human beings.  What weakness we carry along and do we find ways and means to correct them or we consider them as an integral part of our lives.   Our lives should be led on the teachings of Guru Nanak Sahib i.e.

Kirat Karo

Wand Chako

Bhajan Karo

Kirat Karo  :  means to do work.  Guru Nanak Sahib emphasizes the importance that each and everybody should earn his own livelihood.  In doing so, one has to live in the will of God.  Do everything as if you are doing it for God.  There should not be any hanky-panky in conducting work. 

Wand Chako  :  to distribute your earnings with those who ‘have not’.   Consider every achievement as God’s parshad.  

Bhajan Karo  :  to lead a life in remembrance of God.  Attending to satsang, sewa, simran and dhyan should be accorded due priority in life. 

Do we fall in line with the above or always falter in life.   Human beings are slave to sense pleasure.  Till the time, our wishes are full-filled, we lead our lives accordingly and in order to do that, we make lot of compromises. 

In kalyug, there is hardly any mercy for others in the heart.  Dogs are more faithful then human being that is why mostly people keep dogs in their homes. 

Man, in order to meet his desires, cheat other human beings.  This has become a norm.  This has become a habit of human being. 

A Yuga Cycle (a.k.a. chatur yuga, maha yuga, etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) in Hindu cosmology. Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years[a]) and repeats four yugas (world ages): Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga.

(The above reference from Wikipedia is about Hindu ages. It is not to be confused with Buddhist, Greek or Jain ages.)

The Kali Yuga, in Hinduism, is the fourth and worst of the four yugas (world ages) in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Dvapara Yuga and followed by the next cycle’s Krita (Satya) Yuga. It is believed to be the present age, which is full of conflict and sin.

Ref:(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga_Cycle)

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KALYUG by Sunil Sarpal

Kali Yuga or Kalyug has taught innumerable lessons to human kind.

1) How to keep your elders and respect them

There are old homes for elders where they can live rest of their lives, away from the hum-drum of youth. Who is bothered whether they need anything, e.g. emotional stability, medicine, food, rest, peace etc. etc. At homes with their kids, they are treated like unwanted and waste furniture.

2) Mobile Phones and Laptops

Both use of mobile phones and laptops has distanced people from each other, friends, discussion, get-together etc. People have become slave to both mobile and laptop.

3) Widening gap between rich and poor and class distinction

The distance which already existed between rich and poor has widened further because of kalyug. The sight of poor is not tolerable to rich. In the eyes of rich people, poor people have become a liability.

Since rich and poor do not inter-mingle with each other, groups have developed which inter-act and inter-mingle among themselves. One more noticeable fact is people do not like each other. It was not the case before. Unless or until, the relationship revolves around ‘money’, it has no meaning

4) Behaviour of People

There is a drastic shift in the behaviour of people. They behave as if they have no emotions. Their only purpose of life is how to make money, whether hook or crook.

5) Corona Virus

With the arrival of Corona Virus, people have lost their near and dear ones. Corona Virus has taught how much value should be attached to human existence.

6) Three things rule the roost – Liquor, Non-veg., Money

It is a well-known fact that for the sake of liquor, one can go to any length in order to grab it. Non-veg food’s demand is on the increase. Kalyug’s human being does not shy-away from inflicting harm to animals.

Money makes the ma go. Money plays the central and pivotal role in one’s life.

7) Compassion-less Society

People have forgotten the meaning of ‘compassion’ in kalyug. People always look upwards and never towards downward. Extending a helping hand is the thing of past.

8) War Scenario

The news of one country invading the other is a common sight. Some countries fight for grabbing more and more land, whereas, some countries vie for show-casing their strength, so that they become a super- duper power. How much lives are lost and destruction takes place, nations are not bothered about it.

Whether you believe in the cycle theory of Yugas or not, one presumes that you will agree that as human beings we have to overcome negativity in our attitude and usher in the golden age of what is called The Satya Yuga Ed

Our desires and emotions – happiness, anger, sadness, greed, etc. come to us as thoughts only. Life comes to us in form of thoughts. Everything is related to thoughts and the mind.

As the mind and thoughts are so important, we got to take good care of them like other parts of the body. As we need to shut down the computer system for a few minutes when it gets hang up, likewise the mind.

You might say sleeping at night does that job. That is true, but the subconscious mind is always working. It is mostly our physical body which is resting during sleep. The mind can only be peaceful by making a conscious effort.

An image can be seen in still water clearly, not when it has many ripples and disturbances.

When I was young, people used to advise me to think positively and to be a good listener. It always puzzled me! Are they asking me to pretend? Because I don’t feel in the same way.  

Yet, I thought everyone cannot be wrong so I tried hard to hear others attentively but I got a headache. I started reading a lot of books on practical physiology. It mainly mentioned outer behavior, which seemed to be theoretical to me. Be open-minded, patient, calm, balanced, etc. I thought these all are inner qualities, not chocolate, you give me and I enjoy.

It also mentioned some simple breathing techniques, count 10, reverse the counts, etc. Mediation is not a side subject either. It is the main subject as we lack peace of mind, and inner love mostly. It needs our effort in an isolated way.

Mediation is much more than just breathing techniques. Kriya mediation technique provides a combination involving breath, awareness, mantras, energy centers (chakras) and observing own thoughts.

Gradually, it helps us to break our thought patterns in a natural way and takes the mind to non duality (and beyond) from where life came to existence.

The taste of the beyond brings the qualities of Him. The techniques make it all easy. The techniques are designed according to the nature of our complex minds. Techniques take care of all the elements in the most simple way. A practitioner just has to sit in one place with closed eyes and rest is done by the techniques.

Guided meditation is provided to initiate disciples. A step-by-step process, such as, when to breathe consciously, when to relax, where to take attention. All is done in such a simple way that 20 minutes are gone within no time.

The simplicity and effectiveness of the techniques make it remarkable. One can feel peace just after a single practice, and that is the motivation to continue the practice. No difficult postures and no hard pranayama.

By practicing consistently, inner struggles evaporate more naturally. Gradually one becomes independent to deal with inner conflicts. The absence of inner conflict makes the inner room clean and one can experience stillness. A calm mind becomes a natural listener, open-minded, receptive, and enjoys daily life and all its aspects. The mind has more space for creativity now, earlier it was occupied with many hidden conflicts.

The real knowledge flows inside out, not outside in. If it gets clear to us then the desire to mediate intensifies.

In mediation the knowledge of self is revealed; who we are, the purpose of life, and our existence. All these are experienced in mediation. One might not have heard anywhere else. It is beyond words and theories. Self- realization makes us fall in love with ourselves at first. Patience, tolerance, forgiveness, good listener, etc. are the product of growing inner love. This experience fills life with the light of happiness, contentment, and peace. All questions are answered, no more questions are left. Imagine the state of mind.

One gets knowledge from inside about the nature of mind, body, and purpose of thoughts, how to deal with them. One starts living in harmony with life and enjoys all aspects related to it.

At the end why talk about the taste of Ladoo better eat and know it for yourself.

Thoughts on Easter and Pesach by Raj Ayyar

First, a beautiful quote from that wise Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh:

Some people live as if they are already dead. There are people moving all around us, who are consumed by their past, terrified of the future, and stuck in emotions like anger and jealousy.
They are not alive–they are just walking corpses!
If you look around, you will see people going around like zombies.
We must practice resurrection. With an in-breath, bring yourself back to your body.
Joy, peace, and happiness are possible. You have an appointment with life, and that life is always in the here and now.

If one enters into the archetype of Easter, viewing the Resurrection story as great mytho-poetry, there is no conflict with scientific paradigms and language games. It’s only when religions assert their propositional truth (ex. the creationist dogma), literally that they embark on a collision course with science.

In that spirit, after the great bluesiness of Good Friday when there is a great emptying of the Christ, the immanent Logos on the cross (‘kenosis’ in Greek), there comes the light climax of the resurrection story.

On Good Friday, the Christian God incarnate is literally dead, and it is ironic that the great atheist Nietzsche (the child of a strongly Lutheran family), echoes the Good Friday motif when he declared in The Gay Science: ‘Have you not heard? God is dead.’

On Easter, Yeshua joins the pantheon of resurrected gods and heroes. including the Egyptian Osiris and the Greek Dionysus.
I think we all go through symbolic deaths and resurrections many times in one’s life–the loss of a relationship, a job, deep depression, and feelings of abandonment.

Resurrection is the symbolic transcendence of all that dead and deadening stuff, a new awakening of hope and joy.
Pesach or Passover is a Jewish festival that celebrates liberation from bondage, oppression, and dependency. In the great story of deliverance (Exodus in the Torah),

Whether you are Jewish or not, you may want to take inventory of all the circumstances in your life–connected to your job, relationships, career, academics, etc., that you find oppressive. What is the one toddler step you can take here and now to free yourself?

51. HAPPINESS & SADNESS.

Tukaram found it very challenging to explain to the mortals as to “how to deal best with these two extreme and opposite states of mind.”He also noticed that the state of sadness outnumbered the state of happiness in mortal’s life journey. The great saint realized that there were far more incidences, circumstances, events, moments, times, hours, days, weeks, months, years and in worst case scenario entire life time went in sadness for an unfortunate mortal! In short, Tukaram found that” in a mortal’s life state of happiness was rare and random whereas the sadness occurred frequently and at time with nagging regularity!” The great saint concluded that “mortals need to be guided as to how bravely to face sadness and not to get crushed or destroyed by it. Life has to be lived till it’s time to go from this world.” The great saint structured his bhajans to sooth the broken minds and fragile hearts of the mortals around him. He highlighted one hard truth that “the whole life is utterly temporary, unpredictable and vulnerable and therefore should not be wasted at all in pitfalls of happiness or sadness instead mind and intellect should be diverted to to do good karmas to attain moksha” In simpler words what the great saint says is to weigh happiness and sadness as two faces of the coin call ‘Life’and take it from then on to deal each with same mental strength of tolerance. He experimented this attitude with full success on his own self. He dealt with all his monumental losses and sadness with same ease and dignity as with his short lived happiness. It is authentically recorded that when Tukaram lost his young wife and son he profusely thanked God-Vitthal for taking away his distractions from him thus giving him more time to think of Vitthal and do some more kirtans! No doubt he paid the maximum price of self sacrifice to find true happiness and became greatest poet & saint ever in last several centuries

  Jai Hari Vitthal

I personally pray that if I have to be reborn again as a mortal I would like to be blessed by God to be given a female human form so I would be closer to attaining moksha / Arun Karkare

  Jai Hari Vitthal 51.

 52. FEEL & SEE GOD IN DAILY LIFE.

Tukaram fully realized that it was very difficult for a common and ordinary mortal in street to sit down and spend some time in prayers on a daily basis. The usual struggle to earn one’s living took all the energy and time leaving very little to spare to think of God even if one had the desire to do so. The great saint found the easiest way out from the tricky situation. In his kirtans and bhajans he gave a very clear message” we all mortals must feel, think and see God in all our daily work from sunrise to sunset. Dedicate all our actions, reactions, responses and behavior towards other mortals as if we are dealing with God.” It simply means that we would be able to worship, pray and live as per the wishes of God. This approach would reduce all our negatives to near zero. The elements such as anger, hate, animosity, jealousy, lust, selfishness etc would vanish and we will automatically help us to do good karmas. The common man found it very relaxing to hear the soothing kirtans of the great saint. The crimes came down in the villages where ever Tukaram visited. He advised the women to sing silently the bhajans of Vitthal while cooking food, washing clothes at the river banks, or working in the fields. This approach worked just wonderfully. Similarly, people greeted each other with words “Jai Hari Vitthal. The men folk too adopted the similar approach in their minds while at work in the fields and other places.

Today, the irony is that we mortals have the greatest benefit and comforts of every type of gadget and machines to give us high mobility in comfort and yet we do not have time to feel or see God around us. Is it that difficult to adopt the simple teaching of the great saint “Feel & See god in our daily life and its dealings “

  Jai Hari Vitthal 52

53. I begin with my prayers to Lord Shiva as today happens to be the most auspicious day in the Hindu almanac “Mahashivratri.” May his blessings to the world keep it safe and happy for all us mortals during our life journeys.

 ALL EFFORTS END AT GOD’s FEET.

Tukaram came to a miraculous conclusion that all the efforts done in doing good karmas end at God’s feet. So right he was in his assessments indeed. The efforts of all saintly and godly mortals have helped to elevate our lives towards attaining moksha. In fact the great saint has emphasized with crystal clear clarity that all physically and mentally able mortals keep doing efforts to do good karmas till they leave the world. He went on to say that the results of our various efforts end at God’s feet and the outcomes are according to the wishes of God.

 DONATE (DAN), MERCY (DAYA) & CONTROL (DAMUN)

Tukaram has narrated a story in one of his kirtans drawn from the mythology to convince his followers that there are few basic efforts to be done in life that can help lead us mortals to attain moksha. The story is as follows;

The universe created by the super creator was divided in three distinct areas , Heaven (SWARAG LOK), Hell ( PATAL LOK) and EARTH(BHU LOK). Gods ruled Heavens, the Demons ruled Hell and the Mortals (Manushya ) ruled the earth. The super creator told each of the created species one single advise as follows, to Gods the creator said “Do not misuse powers, to Demons he advised “Show mercy on others “ and to earthly mortals he said “Donate as much as you can “ . The great saint then went on to explain the logic of these advises as applicable to mortals. He says “just like Gods and Demons are bound by the advises so as we mortals too .He further adds “we have a choice of adopting additional advises as given to Gods and Demon! We mortals have been blessed with enough intellect to change our mind set that will help us attain moksha.” Tukaram succeeded through his kirtans to convince all the mortals of his times that one should not misuse his/her powers of positions, one should show mercy and empathy and one should donate anything and everything in excess of his/her needs .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 53

54. UNDERSTAND, AGREE BUT NOT PRACTICE

Tukaram could easily see the dilemma faced by ordinary common mortal in following his recommended path to moksha! The great saint was aware that those who heard his kirtans did understand and agree to the substance but had difficulties to follow the advised path. He found that all mortals were extremely possessive of their belongings, relationships and their surroundings. These bonds were emotional as well as physical in nature and hence extremely difficult to break or part with in spite of the naked truth that nothing belongs to us in reality of death. The irony was glaringly visible then and even today. We mortals have to understand Tukaram’s teachings, agree with its contents and implement in our daily lives to get the final result in our favor. To gain some thing we need to lose something. To convince the masses Tukaram told a very hard hitting story in one of his kirtans. The story goes as;

 One day a mortal asked his Guru “Sir Can you show me God? Only then I will adopt the path of attaining moksha.” Guru told him to come to the river bank at the break of the dawn. As agreed both met at the river bank. Guru asked his mortal follower to enter the river stream in waist deep water and take a deep breath and dip himself in the water in order to see God. The mortal did exactly the way it was explained but he came up gasping for breath shouting there is no God there! Guru said “repeat your action you will definitely see God!” The mortal repeated the action again but nothing happened. Now Guru said “I will help you now so that in your third attempt you will be able see God!” The mortal felt happy to receive help from his Guru. As soon as he dipped third time the Guru grabbed him by back of his neck and prevented him a little longer than his tolerance level from emerging back to surface. This made the mortal to panic and he pushed his Guru with all the force and freed himself to come up to surface in near suffocated condition. He shouted at his Guru “ sir you nearly killed me and yet I did not see God.” Guru told him to relax and then asked him “Tell me what happened when you dived first and second time?” The mortal replied “well I was thinking of all the worldly things I love and hoped that I will not be drowned accidently in search of God!” Guru smiled and asked again “what happened when you got nearly choked when I forced you a stay a bit longer that you could tolerate?” The mortal replied “I thought of nothing but God and prayed to him to save my life from your clutches!” Guru then told him that” finally you have understood that nothing you loved and cared could come to save your life except God. So now you know you need to feel God’s existence and then when you become absolutely pure in mind and spirit you will see God.”

The moral of the story is that the amount of valuable life time we spend on things we could never carry or bring with could be spent on following the path shown by Tukaram .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 54

 55. BE LIKE A SANDALWOOD( CHANDAN) TREE.

Tukaram found heavenly qualities in sandalwood tree. He noticed that any other plant that grew near or around a sandalwood tree would acquire its smell and overwhelming aroma till its existence in its close proximity! This natural miracle fascinated the great saint’s fertile mind. He thought if a mortal could choose to be in close company of a good and saintly guru then he/she could acquire all the goodness from him which would cause a change for the better and pave the way to attain moksha. To share his notion, the great saint told a very heartwarming story to his disciples through his kirtan. The story goes as follows;

Tukaram said “The sandalwood tree is very much loved by God –Vitthal. The paste(Gandha) prepared by rubbing a sandalwood piece on a stone sprinkled with clean water is sported on God-Vitthal’s forehead. The sandalwood tree felt very grateful and blessed for the quality and status given by God to it. The plants which grew in and around the sandalwood tree were also very thankful to the sandalwood tree as well as to God for blessings that allowed them to grow in the close proximity of the great tree. However, a nearby bamboo tree could not acquire the sandalwood aroma nor the smell like other trees could. The bamboo tree felt un- wanted and isolated. It decided to complain to God-Vitthal about the arrogance and partiality of the sandalwood tree! Bamboo tree pleaded its case “My dear respected God, I adore you for your fairness and I expect justice from you. This sandalwood tree has become very proud, arrogant and partial towards me. I have grown around it just like the other trees but it has not imparted its heavenly smell and aroma like it has done to other trees. Why so?” God heard with great patience, the complaint of the bamboo tree and with a smile he replied” You are as dear to me just like the rest of the plants and trees but the problem lies within you. You have not realized the blessings I have given you instead you are unnecessarily complaining against the sandalwood tree.” Bamboo tree was totally at a loss and further prayed “God please enlightened me for I confess I do not know my strength or weakness at all! I will be ever so grateful.” God said “Bamboo you have been blessed with unlimited strength in your body. You will be straight and upright throughout your life. Your smooth and nodded body will be used by the mortals, for building shelters to live in safely, to demarcate and secured the fields with barricades, for making rafts & crafts to enable mortals cross rivers and oceans and finally last but not the least you will have the honor to carry a dead mortal to his/her last journey. Why you are worried and upset about a small thing like acquired smell?” Hearing God’s words, Bamboo tree was overwhelmed with tears of gratitude. It went happily back to its place near the sandalwood tree and grew happily ever after serving the humanity till today!

The moral of the story is that the great saint tried to convey to ignorant mortals that God has blessed each of us with qualities if used correctly can help us attain moksha . We need to search ourselves first and be sure what we are and what we need to achieve.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 55.

56. BE USEFUL (UPAYOGI).

Tukaram realized that it is a better choice to become useful (Upayogi ) to other mortals than renounced the world( Yogi) for one’s own up lift only. He felt that the precious life given to us by God must be used in doing good karmas that will help the needy mortals. Therefore, great saint felt that he must give this vital message to the humanity around him. He said in his kirtans “that we must be ready to the best of our abilities to help others, be useful to others and do provide food, shelter, money and knowledge so that the needy persons are helped to recover from the bad situation. He was very clear “that one does not have to be rich to be good and useful to others instead one should be ready to develop the right mind set for becoming such a person. It was not as easy as it looked. The great saint had to set an exemplary code of conduct in his own self so that his followers would believe in such a divine doctrine. He was in money lending business. He never charged any interest on the loan given to needy farmers. He never set any time limit on his loans given to poor and needy farmers. Very soon these supreme monetary sacrifices made him bankrupt in his business. He struggled to support his own family but the God’s blessings kept him and his family alive throughout the life time. The people realized his goodwill and pious nature and they showered enough love, affection and respect on him. He sent a true message of ultimate usefulness “share, spare, distribute, giveaway anything and everything that we mortals have in excess”. The kirtans helped people to understand the message and there was far less hoarding of material things in those days. YOGI SE AACHHA UPAYOGI!

Today it is a fact that hoarding of food grains, essential goods and accumulation of ill-gotten money is order of the day! We must pray for another Tukaram to be reborn in this corrupt world to redeem us mortals.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 56.

57. Be like a fresh flower when prey.

Tukaram was very specific when he said “we all mortals should be like fresh flowers when we do Vitthal bhjan or prayers.” He went on to explain that “when ever we pray we offer fresh and full bloomed flowers and not the flowers which have gone dry and faded.” The great saint wanted to convince to his followers that we should be clean in mind and body when we pray. We should be in a happy state of mind and clean our body and sport simple washed clothes (whatever we can afford). The importance of this condition is common in all practiced religions existing today. The English saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is a pointer to what the great saint said seven centuries ago! Of course this applies to healthy mortals and not for sick and injured ones.

 Knots in mind.

Tukaram studied the complex nature of mortal’s mind in order to find ways and means to achieve peace and happiness. He found that an average mortal’s mind was full of knots thus preventing him/her from being peaceful and happy. The problems of a mind being full of knots and blockades resulted in unhappiness, disturbed state and indecision for the mortals. The great saint advised his followers to open the knots in their prayers to God and seek the help to simplify their daily problems help untie such knots such as lies, deceit, cheat, steal, loosing temper, abuse, kill, body harm, suicidal tendencies, jealousy, destroy and many such trends and tendencies mortals capable of. When we do self thinking ( Atmachintan)and analyze our faults in front of God we can get rid of them for better life .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 57.

58. IDOL WORSHIP (MURTI PUJA)

Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals around and near him were very much involved in idol worship ( murti puja ). The great saint also noticed that ordinary stones would be picked up then coated with deep orange color paste locally known as “Shendur” and placed under the shelter and shadow of a big tree to attract innocent villagers and passersby to be worshipped as God hanuman or Ganesha or Shiva! The stories were then spread by the goons about the miracles that occurred there to attract more crowds. It was nothing short of a big mony making racket! Tukaram decided to remove this fraud hurting the true believers of Vitthal. In one of his well known kirtans he brought out the futility of such stones being used as God’s image or face by unscrupulous Brahmin priests to make easy money. He gave a very logical explanation and rezoning to convince the masses that “It is an insult to a stone when we coat it with shendur paste and worship it as God. Instead we should give the stone to a sculptor who will chisel, scrape, and cut it and turn it into a beautiful carved figure of a God or Goddess that is pleasing to the eyes and satisfies our mind when we pray.” He brought out this concept to wipe out the blind faith of worshipping a plain orange color coated stone. Later he again corrected the course of idol worship towards good karma theory to ultimately renouncing of big and expensive pujas and prayers practiced by mortals. He finally succeeded to convince mortals that way to moksha is only through good karmas and self realization to purify once own soul at all times throughout the life.

 Unfortunately , in 21^st century we mortals do believe in all sorts of pujas and prayers and perform rituals in blind faith! Instead we could do donations of all that money for use of humanity.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 58.

59.  INTOXICATIONS IN MORTALS

Tukaram had a great blessing from God that he could easily notice fundamental human weaknesses. For example, the great saint realized that “there are four fatal prides a mortal could get intoxicated with and harm him/her during their life which in turn would prevent them from attaining moksha.”

Tukaram mentions them in his famous bhajans and kirtans and explains the fall out and harmful effects on a mortal’s life. They are as follows,

 Intoxication and Pride being young.

When we are young and full of vigor we do not care about of our social responsibilities, commitments, respecting elders, charity for a good cause and so many other things. It is a common fallacy that almost every young mortal thinks that youth is eternal! Most of the young mortals do a lot of bad karmas out of intoxication and false pride. Exceptions are always there such as soldiers, sport persons, artists, singers, instrument players etc.

 Intoxication and Pride holding a high & powerful position in society

Histories of many centuries have records to prove this fact. There are many stories of a single individual who has been responsible for acts of wars that changed the course of history and so on. In our daily life we see so many powerful mortals misuse there power of position. There are hardly any exceptions worth mentioning in this category!

 Intoxication and Pride being rich

The rich think that they can buy even God and perhaps moksha too! Less said the better about abuse of money by mortals.

 Intoxication and pride being a person of high and extraordinary intellect.

Tukaram faced this abuse from smart Brahmin community who be little the great saint many a times. He fought against them with a smile and humility. He won in his battle against their domination and managed to salvage the image of underprivileged mortals. He defeated them with his superior intellect and simplicity. We have such people in the society today who do not give fair and just credit where it is due. Instead of sharing knowledge they misguide their juniors to retain their supremacy. Unlike Dyneshwar who gave his knowledge for the upliftment of an ordinary mortal and help attain moksha.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 59.

60. FLOWERS & MORTALS.

Tukaram has made a very heartwarming and realistic comparison between flowers and mortals. The creator has left no stone unturned in the creation of incredible variety of flowers giving them basic rainbow colors and their combinations. The creator did not stop there but gave flowers different sizes, designs, patterns, smell, aroma and essence too. In short flowers are one of the nature’s biggest gifts to the Mother Nature. Similarly no two mortals are same looking out of over 7 billion of the species! The great saint has told an apt story in his kiratan to convince his followers,” In a flower shop, various garlands were prepared and kept ready to be sent to a temple as offerings to God. There were many other baskets full of other flowers to be used for making more garlands. The flowers in the baskets started to talk to flowers in the garlands! They said “how lucky you all are indeed. You will be placed around the neck of the lord and showered at the feet of Vitthal. You are really very blessed.” On hearing this, various types of flowers in the garlands woven with thread and needle replied” Yes we are indeed fortunate in spite of undergoing pains piercing of needle through our hearts and forced to be with many other types of flowers. The end result is we are at the feet of our creator and lucky enough to be around his neck and chest! The flowers in the baskets too started praying to be picked up by the floweriest to be part of the next lot of garlands due to be prepared for next prayers and offerings.

 The moral of the story is that we all mortals are like flowers of different faces , color, shape, size, sex, born and raised in the different parts of the mother earth in different environments. But we all should have one goal “ to be part of group those souls who mange to reach at the feet of our creator and finally attain moksha.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 60.

61-62. CULTURE Vs PROSPEIRITY.

Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals had wrongly linked happiness and satisfaction to being rich, prosperity and material well being and not to the cultural richness, being knowledgeable, well mannered, and doing good karmas. There was widespread belief that only money can bring ultimate happiness and satisfaction. To remove this fatal falsie from mortal’s minds he wrote dedicated abhangs and sang them in his kirtans to convey the right message. These two liners became all time greats with masses and are sung with ultimate reverence by 21^st century Warkari followers in their kirtans. In spite of knowing fully well that we mortals bring nothing to and take nothing from this world and yet we refuse to see the reality of life that only decency, honesty, good karmas, and good behavior towards people around us bring happiness and satisfaction. To get good night rest and peaceful sleep we need to have a happy mind and carefree outlook on life and not a luxurious bed! A tired farmer takes a good nap under a shady tree during hot afternoons by putting his head on the trunk of the tree. If this was not true then only rich people could sleep well.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 62.

63. GOD & CAT

Tukaram has given a very candid and perhaps practically convincing example of how God chooses to visit his favorite followers (bhaktas)in one of his well known abhangs. The great saint’s observations on mortals behavior and belief patterns must be marveled by we ignorant people. He says in his kirtan” Do not worry as to when and how many times Vitthal will visit you during your life. Just give him unconditional love and devotion and trust him fully forever. He will visit you just like a cat who knows exactly which house to go to drink milk and how to enter it without the owner’s attention and alertness.” Tukaram was so practical about his views and understanding about a situation indeed. The great saint’s intellect and purity of heart was in total unison whenever he talked about his Vitthal. He had also used an ant as a example to talk of God when he says “ Dear God give me the smallness of an ant who only eats sugar and rava and gets to it so easily with peace and ease!.

  Jai Hari Vitthal. 63

64. BLESSING & KARMA

Tukaram realized that the blessings from God can be only of use if we do good karma. As said many a times before in these articles, the great saint tried equally to the best of his ability to educate the innocent, the ignorant, the victims of wrong doings, the suppressed, the enslaved, the poor, the depressed and the deprived as well as all those in the opposite camp to understand a simple point that God’ blessings need to be put in to good use for doing good karmas otherwise we waste our blessings. For example, if we are blessed with ability to have good, plenty and tasty food every day of our life, then we need to have capacity to enjoy, digest and remain healthy. But in fact in reality it is not true at all. We have to do work to digest that food or share it with have not’s. If we are blessed with any talent then we must use it for the humanity at large. An unused blessing is being insulting to our creator.

  Jai Hari Vitthal . 64

65. MORTAL’S DOORS FOR DEMANDS

Tukaram realized that no mortal can ever be self sufficient in his /her life time. He /she have to depend on help from different sources available to him /her. The great saint had to analyze different sources from where demands could be addressed and help needed could be effectively procured. There are four types of sources where most of the mortals put up their demands when in need. They are almost in logical sequence as per practices prevailed then and even today in our country.

 Birth Right to demand from parents

 Relationship Right to demand from Siblings

 Friendship Right to demand from very trusted and close friends

 Extended Relationship Right to demand from siblings of the parents.

However, the great saint had to bring out the point that demands may be made but not necessary expected to be met or full filled! God has given every mortal basic intellect to cut the demands to the fundamental needs. One should not make any demand from any available sources out of selfishness or treachery or deceit. A demand free life is perfect life and way to reach moksha. Keep the demands at the lowest low level as we bring nothing, take nothing but we can certainly give away many things and that includes unnecessary demands from our dear near ones!

There is so much to learn and adopt from a mortal who came in this world nearly four and half centuries ago and gave his entire life to up-lift humanity from bad practices.

  Jai Hari Vitthal . 65

66. BEING REALLY RICH!

Tukaram had to redefine the state of being truly rich so that mortals could understand the real meaning of richness. The great saint took pains to explain that material richness is of no consequences except that it drastically reduces one’s chances of reaching moksha. He says what good is richness if it prevents you from breathing god’s name (Vitthal), thinking of God, and doing good karmas. The great saint convincingly spread the word through his abhang and kirtans that the excess wealth has negative effect on a mortal’s life. In all his kirtans the great saint has been consistent to convey that excess wealth is to be avoided in order to live life of simplicity, virtue and devoted to good karmas. He concludes that a mortal who is able to breathe God in each breath is truly rich.

It is a fact so true indeed and valid in today’s times. The society is full of evil of drug abuse, rapes, loot, and fraud and daily murders with guns. The lust for becoming rich in shortest possible time is the objective of the new generation of mortals and they leave no stone unturned to achieve their sinister goal.

TYPES OF DEVOTEES

Tukaram perfectly understood the psyche of devotion and prayers practiced by various devotees of Lord Vitthal. His deep thinking, research and intellect enlightened him to a fantastic conclusion and he incorporated that in his abhangs and kirtans to convey and share that “God too has preferences in accepting devotion from the devotees!

The great saint simplified his explanation as follows; There are four types of devotees in all mortals who only pray for help and blessings when placed in special circumstances during their life journey.

1. Those who only think of God and pray when in some dangerous, difficult, unusual and life threatening circumstance and situation beyond a normal mortal’s capacity.

The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Drupadi who asked for Vitthal’s ( Kishna’s) help when her modesty was publicly threatened in front of her helpless husbands!

2. Those who only think of God and pray when in great poverty and dire effects of it on the family and self. They pray for blessings of prosperity.

The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Sudama who calls at the doors of his very close friend Lord Krishna, the king of Dwarka state.

3. Those who only think of God and pray for extension of life span of their dear near ones when they are seriously sick or on death bed due to various causes such as accidents, deceases and injuries in war. The great saint sites the classic and very well known example Kunti who prays to Lord Krishna to stop the battle of Mahabharata between the cousins!

4. Those who have the intellect to understand that nothing belongs to mortals except the unconditional devotion to VItthal and they only think of God and nothing else! Such devotees surrender to God in full totality. The great saint sites the classic and very well known examples of Saints such as Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, Namdev, Swami Samarth, Kabir, Mirabai and other well known saints of India.

God embraces the category- 4 devotees and takes them in his arms and escorts them to moksha. Tukaram left the mortal world the same way.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 66.

67. BEING BORN A MORTAL

Fortunate to be writing this abhang today, the 30th 30th March 2021, because the dates 29^th,30^th & 31^st March are of great significance for those who are the devotees of the greatest saint ever born on this planet. These three days are locally known as “Tukaram Bij Diwas”. During this period the great saint got enlightenment came to understand the true essence and the very purpose of being born as a mortal (either as man or woman).His intellect advised him to renounce everything associated with being a common mortal such as attachment and attraction of human forms of dear near ones, personal material wants, fatal attractions such as lust, jealousy, enmity, dishonesty, robbery and treachery. It was not at all an easy task for an involved family man Tukaram! He had to perform the Herculean task of separating his soul from his human form during him being alive! He was slowly but surely convinced that we mortals are all born again and again to cleanse our soul to a point that it is so pure that God grants it moksha. Tukaram finally did that and left behind all the secrets to attain moksha through his abhangs and kirtans.

 BODY & SOUL.

Tukaram managed to study and compare Body and Soul of a mortal by experimenting first on himself. When he analyzed Body he got only negative feedback and impact too. The great saint has put down his brilliant observations in his work such as;

 Body is a serious liability rather than an asset as it is very vulnerable and fragile.

 Body ailments, pains & aches, body form faults, color, shape, facial looks, ugliness etc all are very hurting and humiliating to a mortal.

 Body is constantly changing towards degeneration as year of life passes by thus causing a very great discomfort in the mortal’s mind.

 Body’s aging process puts the fear of death in the mind of the mortal although it is an ultimate truth known to every mortal the day he/she is born!

 Body breeds more negative factors in life of a mortal than positive.

 Body never ever ends its attractions, attachments and wants till death destroys it forever.

 Body constantly encourages myths and confuses the Soul from remaining pure.

The above faults fully convinced the ordinary Tukaram to give up the Body in favor of the Soul. The greatest saint was in making now. When Tukarm lost his beloved wife he thanked Vitthal (God) to have reduced his attractions. When he lost his son he once again thanked God profusely to have him freed from family attractions. When he lost business and suffered unprecedented losses in farm productions he kept on praising the God to have helped him to renounce the world and its fragile life. Finally he could feel so close to his Soul and God that nothing mattered or bothered him anymore that would have otherwise!

The extreme choice which the great saint made may not be possible to so many of us but one could consider the midway choice of loving the Soul more than the Body.

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68. Equality at Birth

Tukaram pointed out to masses that all mortals are born as innocent, ignorant, pure and simple human beings. From the first cry we all begin our life journeys. Things change every day for each newly born mortal and we form ourselves into a single unique identity and live life on that basis. During our life time we do different types of karmas to achieve different objectives and goals. The good qualities at birth are slowly but surely lost without we being even aware of it! Why? The great saint took pains to ponder over it and found answers to each of his questions. The innocence is lost at the first instance as we get acquainted with our place of birth, parents and physical situation around us. The ignorance is replaced by types of knowledge, sights, surroundings, culture and environment we are exposed to. The purity and simplicity are lost in turn as we grow out of child hood towards state of adolescence. Tukaram realized that we all miss the opportunity of being guided and corrected at our young and vulnerable age by a saintly person (sage). He felt that there is a great moral obligation on him put up by Vitthal to offer sagely advice and guidance to the humanity and take them towards their moksha. He took upon himself this mission and renounced his own beautiful world of his family. First the great saint corrected everything wrong in him to utter perfection and achieved direct contact with God and then sat down to write his abhangs and sang his way to every heart by doing thousands of kirtans. Being a poet of great talent he could write two liners of deep wisdom that took hundreds of pages to be explained. His two liners stood the test of time of over 4 centuries without losing its contents and concentration. One of his most powerful abhang says” A pat from one single saintly person is far more satisfying experience than being carried over shoulders by thousand foolish persons”.

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69. WISHES OF KUNTI

Tukaram was overwhelmed with extreme admiration for KUNTI ( mother of five Pandavas) when he came to know her story ( through teachings of Dnyneshwar Maharaj) of her devotional feelings for Lord Shri Kishna. He picked up the powerful message of that story which goes as “Kishna was very impressed with devotion ( Bhakti) of Kunti. He said to Kunti “let me bless you with anything at all that you desire from bottom of your heart. It will make me very happy indeed.” Kunti was totally dumbstruck and was not ready to receive such a wonderful response from Lord Krishna towards her constant prayers for peace and happiness for her family. However her pure and simple love for her God and her ultimate trust in God came to her rescue! With folded hands, she said to Krishana “God I know you can give me any thing that I would desire, demand, ask or request for. I have not an iota of doubt on that score but I request you to bless me with pain, sadness, disappointments and setbacks so that I would not forget you ever during my living days on this earth because I fear that comfort, riches, success, luxury and worldly things will take me away from you forever.” These words of Kunti got engraved in the loving heart of the great saint till his end. They became his guiding light and he could easily deal with personal losses such as wife and son’s death, loss of business, loss of wealth and living as neighbor of nasty Brahamin Shatri . In one of his abhangs, the great saint has written; “Vitthala to reach at your feet at the earliest make me forget my parents, wife, children, friends, dear near ones, wealth, desires, needs ,wants and comforts so that I can then only be totally free to worship you ,think of you and my mind will have no confusion about my objectives

It is so true and ironic that we all mortals think of God only when we are in trouble! Why? We are selfish with God too. We could be more magnanimous and pious and pray in best of times and in utter comfort. Be grateful to God for the little mercies we receive daily without praying.

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70. WORSHIPPING GOD /SAGE.

 During his search for path to attain moksha, Tukaram reached the cross road where he had to choose between God and a Sage as his guru. Although he was personally convinced that the surest way to reach God’s feet was only through the guidance and advice of sage, he decided to analyze his observation and feelings. He was blessed with the right answer! By worshipping God directly one would be able to get rid of all the material desires, basic wants and be free from fatal attractions (Vasana mukta) but by following a sage a mortal would be able to achieve a total renunciation which will take him /her to God’s feet and finally to attain moksha.

Tukaram also found that there was no difference between God and A sage! In fact in his own humble way he felt that Vitthal was always present at all times by the side his Guru Shri Dyneshwar maharaj. He could feel their presence together. By following Dyneshwar he could renounce the world( Vairagya purti) easily and handover the burdens of a mortal’s life to God! when Tukaram was away for days on his kirtan tours his family was miraculously helped and served by unseen hands of Lord Vitthal. There are factual records of hundreds of miracles that happened in Tukaram’s household without he knowing nothing nor did he ever find out anything!

Tukaram was now sure that total renunciation( Vairagya) is the only way to moksha and complete detachment with every human bond would bring him in God’s orbit under the guidance of a Guru like Dyneshwar ji. The eternal peace and happiness for a soul of a mortal is being in constant and close touch with his/her Guru.Tukaram just did that and became what he is known as today after 450 years after his departure for heavenly abode ( Vaikunth).

There is true story about him becoming sage during his own life time without him realizing it at all. “One day while walking in the village to conduct a kirtan the great saint was approached by an old lady. She said to Tukoba “ If you are going towards the market please buy some cooking oil as I am old and disabled person. Today my son is not present at home.” Tukaram took the empty oil pot and brought her the oil as asked. The lady used the oil for almost twice the normal period that it should have lasted before refill requirement. She looked into the pot to take the inventory of balance of oil left. She was shocked that the pot was as full as before and showed no sign of the consumption has taken place! She went to the house of great saint to report the miracle. She said to him “Tukoba what magic have you done? My oil is not finishing in spite of daily consumption. Tukoba replied with a smile “Aai(mother)Vitthal has blessed you” and walked away. The story was told to all the villagers by the old lady. That night the villagers realized that God is living with them but they failed to realize! Needless to mention Tukaram became a living sage for them and they started to believe his abhangs and kirtans. Rest is history .

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71. MORTAL’S DESTINY IS BLESSED BY THE CREATOR.

Tukaram was enlightened by his guru Dyneshwar that ‘whatever happens in every mortal’s present life is the function of his/her destiny which in turn is the outcome of the sum total of the pluses & minuses of their past karmas done in their life. The great saint discovered that nothing happens without a reason attributed to its cause. He put down his observations in a logical sequence in the abhangs he wrote so meticulously but in very short and simple language so all can understand. Tukaram said a mortal’s life journey follows a carved path from the birth onwards based his /her past karmas. The great saint wrote “The soul gets the best womb it deserves through the designated parents. The quality of house and place is also as per blessings received. The siblings, life partner, friends, livelihood, comforts, money, riches, pains & aches, health, happiness, satisfaction, neighbor & neighborhood, successes & failures etc and finally type of death too are all received by the soul as function of their past karmas in their last life. To a common mortal this was not easily acceptable till they heard the kirtans of the great saint where he vividly explained that “everything a mortal gets, faces, possesses, feels, sees and craves for are the blessings in disguise for we all mortals. We need to count our blessings when tide is against us. A mortal may be miserably poor but if his/her partner is affectionate and full of love then the person is blessed. If you have wonderful siblings who shower love and respect you then you are a happy person indeed. So and so forth. The great saint managed to convince his followers that look at your own garden of life and admire the flowers it has rather than looking at others and feel sad for what you lack.We are accountable, responsible and cause of our happiness or unhappiness. Do not hold the creator for anything as we are only blessed and never cursed by our creator. Jai

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72. REAL RICHNESS

Tukaram realized that the society of mortals had totally wrong notion of being rich. Almost all of them thought that material richness is the only truth and nothing else matters in life time. Tukaram had to cause a revolution their minds that real richness lies in having noble thoughts. The great saint had to put up great efforts in his kirtans to convince his believers that unwanted, excess and unnecessary material richness brings more misery, problems, jealousy and restlessness in mind. It has a negative impact on life. It takes you away from your main goal of attaining moksha. The great saint wrote special abhangs on this subject. The mind should nourish only good thoughts that lead you to doing good karmas. The thoughts generate and initiate initial reaction to do any karma and therefore it follows logically that karmas will be according to the quality of thoughts generated in the our minds. How do one cultivate the art of developing good thoughts in the mind? The great saint had to find a convincing answer to this all important question raised by his followers. He did it so by experimenting it on himself. He had to develop a clear mind set to acquire, accept and nurse good thoughts. He cleansed his mind through his intellect and unshakable trust in his guru Dyneshwar. He renounced all the weaknesses (wants, greed, enmity, jealousy, cruelty, dishonesty, treachery and many other follies associated with a common mortal. Tukaram managed to convince the innocent and ignorant masses that once the mind is under control of intellect the good thought will automatically enter in your mind and that would be the beginning of your salvation through your good karmas.

SAINTS SET THE RELIGION

Tukaram was the first person to bring forth an important view point that had along term effect on the society of mortals. He said “ No saint follows the boundaries, limitations and restrictions set by so called the custodians of a religion but it is the way a saint lives his/her life that becomes a religion which masses follow for their struggle to attain moksha.” Is it not true that Dyneshwar started a way of life that became a religion (Dharma) in itself which was then followed by Tukaram and so many great saints?

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73. TO BE HELPFUL & OF SERVICE TO MANKIND.

Tukaram was fully convinced and sincerely believed that “God is with those mortals who are helpful and give selfless service to others without expecting anything in return.” He preached” SEVA ME BHAGVAN HAI meaning that when you help or give service to a needy person you are in unison with God.” It is so true even today. Our country is facing multiple external threats from hostile neighbors and internal terrorists. Every day we read about soldiers ((Jawans) dying in the fights with enemies. Then we have covid pandemic raging in our towns and villages where doctors, nurses and hospital staff are working round the clock against serious odds to save patients. We have the city police struggling to help keep peace, law and order in the society. The great saint conveyed to all his followers that helping and serving is the greatest religion in the world.

GENUINE FEELING IN MIND TO SEE GOD.

Tukaram was often asked by his believers and followers that “How can we see God?” In his famous abhang he wrote “Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev meaning that if one does not have genuine feelings for God in his/her mind then it is not possible to see or feel God’s presence.” To develop true feelings for Vitthal in one’s own mind one has to adopt the vision that Vitthal is present in all our actions, words, deeds and karmas. Everything must be dedicated to Vitthal during our life time.”

Story associated with Mira Bai’s life.

As we all know Mira Bai was an ardent worshipper of Lord Krishna (Krishna Bhakta). She was always open to charity and help to needy and poor people. One day a woman beggar along with her teen age son came at the door step of Mira’s potential home ( She was the queen of Mewad state in Rajasthan )and gave a cry for some money and food. Mira at once answered the call and came out to give money and food to the beggar. The teen age son of the beggar woman was totally bowled over by the serene and captivating beauty of Mira’s face. He was simply fascinated by her and in excitement begged his mother “ I want to marry Mira!”The bewildered beggar woman was red faced and apologized to Mira for the misbehavior of her son but to her utter surprise Mira agreed to marry her son but on a condition. Mira said to her “I will marry you provided you do seven days of nonstop prayers at the Kishna temple with absolute devotion.” To the young mind the condition imposed by Mira looked like a cake-walk and the young man agreed readily. As agreed Mira brought the young man to the Krishna temple and asked him to commence his prayers and left for her home. The beggar woman decided to wait at the place and made herself comfortable just outside the temple premises. Slowly but surely the week passed and Mira came to the temple to meet the young man and so as his mother too! Mira was calm, cool and collected was sure of the outcome but the beggar woman was totally confused in her mind. Mira called the young man to come out of the temple. There was utter silence and no response at all. Mira and the beggar woman entered the temple and what they saw simply froze them at the spot! The son was in total trance of Hari Bhakti (Krishna prayers). He did not feel presence of any one around him. He was shaken by the mother who said “Come on get up it is now seven days you have completed the promise to Mira bai.” The young man looked up and said “Ma, I do not want anything now in my life except Hari Bhakti. My mind is married to Krshna bhakti. Mira bai knew it all before and the beggar woman left the temple with peace and happiness.

Moral of the story is nothing is mine, yours, ours, theirs or for that matter everything belongs to Vitthal and no one else

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74. LIFE LONG COMPANION OF A MORTAL.

Tukaram had to remind us all mortals as to who is our constant companion during our life time from conception in the womb till we are cosigned to the flame or returned to the grave. The great saint was not at all surprised at the ignorance to the answer shown by almost all the people who attended his kirtans. Tukaram wrote special abhangs to prove and show that it is God who is with us from start to finish during our life journey but we fail to feel his presence due to our own faults, malpractices, ignorance chase of money and involvement in worldly affairs. The great saint pointed out how” God looks after the soul after it is being formed in the womb for the birth. The entire journey is scripted to the minutest details with the accuracy of an astronomical clock followed by the solar system. Tukaram gave many instances of how Vitthal came to the rescue of his worshipers in dire circumstances when near dear ones backed off! One of the famous stories is as follows;

A devotee of Vitthal took his parents on a pilgrimage to Pundharpur. On the way back home the family stopped in front of a rich man’s house gate where there was a large shady tree nearby. The devotee family was poor and needed some water and food so the young man called up from the gate “May we come in request for some food and water?” A ferocious watch dog, sitting on the drive way of the gate, came running menacingly towards the young man and knocked him down flat on his back. Now the young devotee was in dangerous situation with dog sitting on his chest and pinning him down. The young man had only one option that to ask his parents help to nudge the dog away from his chest! So he shouted as hard as he could but the parents were frozen with fear and did not make any efforts or move to save their son from the clutches of the wild dog. Now the young man collected all his wits and prayed to Vitthal for help. The Dog had not yet made any move to bite his neck and at that moment the owner came out and saw this ghastly sight of his dog sitting on the chest of the young man. He simply shouted”Vaghya( Tiger) come here.” The dog immediately jumped off the chest of the young man and ran loving towards his master! To his great relief the young man got up was grateful to God to have saved him in nick of time! But he was equally perturbed and upset that his parents abandoned him in time of his need. Needless to mention that the young man realized that Vitthal (God) came to help in the shape of the dog owner and that love of the parents for him had no depth.

Today the hard truth and reality of life is repeating itself when a covid infected patient is surviving on God’s help and there is no one else except God to see him / her through the end of the journey of life.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 74.

 75. SEARCH YOUR SOUL NOT GOD

As great Kabir ji said “Khudaki khoj jaruri nahi par khudhi ko khoj” He was so right indeed. Tukaram said the same thing in a different way, He said “Instead of searching God for getting blessed it is better to adopt godly ways to live life and attain moksha. Self realization and self cleansing of mind is the key to sainthood and that is what all the saints of the world adopted.” The great saint saw it all clear when he followed his guru Dyneshwar maharaj and the way he lived his short life of 21 yrs! Because of this belief Tukaram found all the rituals futile and waste of time and money. The great saint found that a mortal has only two choices as to what to adopt to live life given to him/her by the creator; either to live with daily worries and circumstances around or create a mindset that will overcome them and attend purity of mind through his/her intellect. Tukaram chose the second option that every saintly person adopts “ full and effective control over one’s own mind.” This made things very easy for Tukaram to reach sainthood and reach at Vitthal’s feet.

Stories of Ramakrishna Paramhansa & Vivekananda

Vivekananda followed Tukaram very closely when shaping his life. He preached that even the glory of moksha could be felt in one’s own life time if you challenge your soul to rise to the occasion. He got this guide line (diksha) from his guru Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. There are two very thoughtful stories from their lives.

“ Ramakrishna Paramhanse used to daily meditate on the river bank. One day, stranger came near him and disturbed him “Guru ji I want to cross the river to go to the other bank. I see two boats there. Which boat do you recommend so that I can reach in shortest possible time?” The great saint was rather amused as well as annoyed but he politely replied “It is your choice. One of the boats is a rowing boat and other is a sail boat. Normally the sail boat reaches in half the time as the wind is strong on the river front.” After hearing gurudev the stranger said “what if the wind does not blow and the oars break or slip off in water?” Gurudev realized the anxiety of the mortal wanting to cross the river. He advised go with the sail boat as God will never stop the wind from blowing where as manmade oars have no guarantee at all. So trust God and make your journey.” The stranger took the sail boat.

 Vivekananda ji was on the tour of USA. He had gone there to address the conference on Religions of the World. At the conference he noticed that various religious book were stacked up and kept on the dais table. He noticed that copy of “Gita” was kept at the bottom by the organizers. When Vivekananda was called upon to come to dais to address the gathering. He greeted the audience in the most perfect and unique manner” my dear sisters and brothers.” that drew thunderous applause from the congregation. But the next comment invited bigger and louder claps from one and all “I represent the philosophy of Hinduism which is apparently represents the policy of foundation of all the religions represented here at Chicago in this conference and perhaps rightly so the copy of “GITA “is placed at the bottom of all the religious booked kept here for the public review!”

After the conference Vivekananda ji was interviewed by the press. Here too an answer by him stunned the press. A reporter asked him “Sir, you are so handsome and good looking gentleman then why do you wear such a odd dress and of saffron color only?” Vivekananda replied with gentle smile “my dear man, here a tailor makes you look like a gentleman where as in my country it is the character and behavior that decides who is a gentleman!”

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 76. GET ENLIGHTENED NOT INFLUENCED!

Tukaram was convinced that one should not get influenced by his/her guru instead be enlightened. We should praise and adopt the work of the saintly people and not their faces! This was the right way to overcome one’s weaknesses mainly lust, anger and selfishness (kama, Krodha and Lobha).The great saint found that his guru had exclusively prayed to God to help get rid of these three evils. He saw the clear reasoning in doing so because he was fully convinced that these three elements made the mind a devil’s workshop. Tukaram slowly but surely got rid of the triple propensities from his mind but then there appeared the fourth and most potent and dangerous element of Ego/Pride (Abbhiman /Ahaankar).The great saint realized that” most of us mortals are an easy victim of ego. We succumb to it knowingly or at times unknowingly but it is not at all acceptable to our creator (God). When God sees Ego in the devotee he says “I go!” Tukaram found that ego/self pride is most destructive for a mortal’s mind and also most difficult to get rid of too. The great abhang written by the saint on ego riddance is worth its weight in gold indeed. So we need to get rid of the three devils and the ego in order to facilitate our road to attain moksha.

 The human history is proof of it. A single man’s ego has destroyed kingdoms, nations, families and societies at large. There are ample examples in the historical records of various religions and communities where the egos of so called important and influential leaders and Heads led to annihilation of a race, a kingdom and unnecessary wars. If we trace the Indian history from times of Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Muslim and British rules, we will be able see many examples of how a mortal’s ego has caused inconceivable destruction of life, property, culture and heritage.

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77. WHO IS REALLY POOR?

Tukaram brought dignity and reality to the word ’poor’ as applicable to a mortal. He had to correct the definition of poverty as was known and understood by a commoner in the society. The people at large associated being poor as having very little or no money and material needs. To a mortal poverty meant curse and punishment from God for his/her bad karmas of last life! The great saint studied the true meaning and brought out the definitions in words and expressed them in his abhangs. He says “those who could not get rid of their lust, anger and desires (kama, krodha and Lobha) are poor. Those who nurse ego and self pride are poor. Those who flow along and live with society of mortals with blind faith and rituals (andha wishwas /andha shradha)) are poor. Those who do good karmas but develop ego about it are poor. Those who donate, give, help and contribute for good cause but boast about it, have ego about it and talk about it are all poor indeed. In short the great saint bifurcated material poorness from spiritual ( adhyatmik) poverty. The great saint had to remove the serous anomaly in the prevailing psyche of the mortals as to what is poverty and who is really poor in life? In simple thinking process it means we are truly rich not because of our material richness or actual money but because of our riddance from real ills mentioned by the great saint or we are really poor if we have not been able to eradicate all those ills as pointed out by the great saint.

Tukaram accepted the material poverty in exchange and favor of spiritual richness to attain saint hood during his life time and then moksha after his death. We all mortals cannot become Tukaram but we can help ourselves to enlightenment from his works by following his path. This will improve our quality of life in true sense.

 Jai Hari Vitthal. 77

78. Tukaram was often asked by his followers “How you say that you can see and feel Vitthal (God) in everything you do in your day to day life?” Tukaram wrote a simple one liner abhang to answer such an important question by an ordinary and common mortal. He says “ Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev” meaning if you do not think of him then he cannot be seen or felt. He went further to explain” that a mother can feel presence or virtually see her child at all times during her life because she has huge and unlimited love for child. You need to develop deep attachment, desire, wish and love for God.” The great saint sent a very strong and an effective message through his very famous bhajan” Bolava Vitthal, Aaikava Vitthal, Sangava Vitthal, Ghyva Vitthal, Dyawa Vitthal” the sequential meaning would be as follows ; When you speak to others then think that you are addressing Vitthal, when you are listening then think that Vitthal is talking to you, when you are conveying something thing then think you are doing so to Vitthal, when you are receiving something then think that it is coming from Vitthal and similarly when you are giving something to somebody then think that you are giving it to Vitthal. When we mortals practically apply this approach of the great saint in our daily life it gets very simplified. It means that when we are in communication mode using various tools and skills such as ”talking, listening, conveying, receiving and giving we must feel as if we are dealing with God so that we remain decent, meek, unselfish, do no harm nor hurt any body’s feelings.

Today, the technology has brought the communication skills to a level of instant happenings and we are creating mass havocs, disturbances, destruction of life and property all because we have lost God’s presence in our life, mind and thoughts.

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79. INDEPENDECY & DEPENDENCY OF HAPPINESS.

Tukaram made a deep introspection on the subject of true happiness as applicable to a common mortal. After spending considerable time and energy his mind gave him the answer to this otherwise a mystery subject to an ordinary mortal. The great saint says “there are two categories or types of happiness out which a mortal can choose only one and pursue it and achieve it. The first one is worldly happiness through a set of three standard elements mainly circumstances around us, self being as a mortal and our material possessions. This type of happiness is totally ‘Dependent’ on these three things which themselves are constantly changing! The great saint convinced the masses that a mortal’s happiness of this type can never ever be b stable and permanent during his/her life time. He further explained that “we all (souls) are born in some family as a part of the blessings of God according to our past karmas. The mortal families on the earth live as per the above three elements and laws, regulations and ways set up by the society of the region. The great saint went on to explain further that worldly happiness is not the true happiness a mortal should pursue but instead he/she should search and work for total independency in the personal happiness and free himself /herself from worldly dependencies! Tukaram wrote simple and knowledgeable abhangs to show the masses the clear ways to achieve true and long lasting happiness totally independent of worldly elements. Once we overcome our basic weaknesses and worldly instincts by controlling our mind through our intellect and spiritual path shown by saintly Gurus we achieve Independency of our happiness .

In today’s times technology and scientific advances have increased the material comforts to an un imaginable level. Our living circumstances, our self being & personality and our mobility have changed to such an extent that we do have doubts about our creator, life after death and existence of re-birth cycle!

 But Covid-19 pandemic has brought back once again the harsh reality to lime light. Realty of futility of wealth, neo richness, technological & scientific advances available are of no real use to an individual mortal in a real need and emergency like covid! Look at where humanity stands toady? All over the world from USA to a poorest nation everyone is helpless. Why? A single virus has brought the entire world to its knees in less than a year! A mortal’s life remains very fragile, vulnerable and momentary in every sense of these words!

 We need to have faith our creator indeed.

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80. BELIEF IN CREATOR ERADICATES FEARS OF LOSSES.

 Tukaram penned down a classic abhang that gives a loud and clear message to us all mortals that “earlier one believes in our creator-God the faster one loses his/her fears about losses and death too.” Tukaram proved this theory by following the path of developing an unshakable, limitless, infinite and total devotion to his God Vitthal. His prayer to God was very simple” Vitthala you take over the reins of my family responsibilities and make my mind free of the worries of material and physical losses and deaths of dear near ones so that I can concentrate on my work to write my abhangs and do kirtans for the fellow villagers”. What the great saint meant “ that once we all mortals put our trust in God and have total and an unshakable belief in him we need not fear anything at all not even death which is unavoidable in any case!”

Tukaram also faced a direct threat like many others like him who were banned and thus prevented from visiting temples! This was so because the Brahmins were controlling the entries to all the temples and they persecuted the members from so called the lower casts or people belonging to low strata of materialistic society. The great saint started to pray and do his kirtans by standing outside the entrance of the Vitthoba temple! This further irritated and infuriated the temple heads. But they could do nothing about it. The great saint put a simple logic in his message” if we can’t enter the temple then at least Vitthal (God) could come out to meet us. Who will dare stop him?” It is here a miracle happened that stunned the arrogant temple head. Without entering the temple, the blessed worshippers who could not enter the temple for a darshan ( viewing the image) could describe the stone carved image (deity) of Vitthal with perfection and accuracy as if they were inside the temple! The eternal wait of oppressed worshippers ( saburi/pratiksha) had paid off. That is why the saying “ Bhagwan ke ghar me der hai par aandher nahi “ meaning ( God’s blessings may be delayed but never denied). We need to trust him fully and do our karmas. Faith can move mountains.

Why we need to follow philosophy and knowledge of saints such as Dyneshwar & Tukaram ?

The following story should be able convince most of us why we need to adopt, follow and practice the advice and guidance of Tukaram in our lives.

 A stable owner decided to do an experiment at his stable. He started raising some colts (baby donkeys) along with his horses in his stud farm. Over a period he noticed the colts had adopted to the behavior and habits of the horses. He also noticed that the stud farm grown donkeys could run faster than other donkeys! In short donkeys could adopt themselves to horses. Now the stud farm owner decided to do the reverse experiment, he stared raising foals (baby horses) with grown donkeys in a secluded area of his farm. To his great surprise, the baby horses did not adopt anything from donkeys they were living with! Horses remained horses but donkeys did change to a large extend to become horse like!

 The saints are horses and we all mortals are donkeys and we need to become horse like by being living close to them and in their constant company.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 80

81. Who is the most blessed mortal?

Tukaram was in the search of the answer for the question foremost in his mind “who is the most blessed mortal and why so? He found the answer in Dyneshwar’s life story and the ways the greatest saint spent his short life time in doing only good karmas. Tukaram realized that it is absolutely impossible for any human being to know the time, place and means the death will embrace him/her. The predictions by astrologers and palmist were either fake or highly vague and totally untrustworthy! Therefore, the great saint realized that one had to believe that past is gone forever, the present is the truth and the future is in the hands of the creator. To the great saint the present meant doing the right karma at the right time at the right place. He managed the three “R” in his life time. He could do so because he controlled his mind by his intellect and full trust in his God (Vitthal). Tukaram in his first ever appeal in his prayers to his Vitthal was “Help me to forget my devotion and love for my parents so that I can singularly think of you and you alone” What a supreme example of ultimate sacrifice for a mortal indeed! We all us mortals fully understand that the parental love specially that of and for mother is the strongest bond fortified by our creator through umbilical cord right from the conception and finally leading to our being as we are from birth to death. Tukaram’s unusual but very powerful prayer brought tears to the eyes of the Lord! No doubt Tukaram attained moksha during his life time because Lord Vitthal personally took him with him to his abode. As recorded in authentic records of history of those times the great saint walked over the hill to the oblivion never to return again to the place of his karma. The following story is the true account of the incident that proves the extra ordinary and super natural powers the great saint had been blessed with, without his knowledge!

The Brahmin priests and pundits were well aware of the abhangs written and completed by Tukaram. They were also disturbed by the fact that the general public was getting influenced by the contents of the abhangs. This was damaging to their ritual business and detrimental to blind faith dictums. So they decided to steal the bounded book copies of abhangs and throw them in the river. But some of them got scared of public rebuke so they changed their approach to destroy the great saint’s work! They challenged Tukaram’s unshakeable faith in Vitthal by asking him to sink his abhang books in the river “Indriyani “by tying stones to each bundle of the books in the public view. Tukaram had no choice but to yield to the pressure from the Village Head and his advisors. The crowds of devotees of Tukaram watched with great dismay this atrocity on the great saint inflicted by the cruel and jealous Brhamin community. As Tukaram walked into the river basin with his life time work tied to the stones to be sunk by his own hands he simply prayed his Vitthal for help. One by one the great saint consigned his work in the river waters and saw it sinking down to the river bed. After all the books gone Tukaram returned to his hut and sat down to rewrite them again! Next day the sun rose in the east as usual, there was knock at the door of the hut. Tukaram opened the door and what he saw simply overwhelmed him totally. There stood a fisherman who had all the sunk books in his hand “Tukaram I saw all these books drifting near the riverside this morning they are wet but the words are not wiped out. You can dry them in the sun light now and rebind the pages. Tukaram at once realized the reason for this miraculous recovery of the books. He thanked the fisherman who then went back to the village head and told him the full story of the recovery of the books. The whole village came to Tukaram’s hut to celebrate the blessing. Needless to mention that a strong message had gone around loud and clear to the opponents to keep away from Tukoba ji.

  Jai Hari Vitthal. 81

82. BAD DEEDS (Karmas) HELP INITIATE PANDEMICS

Tukaram too had to search for the answer for the question as to “why from time to time different types of pandemics such as plague cholera, typhoid, measles, tuberculosis, small.pox and other deceases attack the humanity at large with nagging accuracy killing hundreds of the mortals in large numbers in a very short time destroying the vary basic fabric of the human society”. The great saint saw plague pandemic wiping out village after village during his life time. Similarly, he faced the dangerous bursting of cholera (Mahamari) decrease in and around his village. He found a sound answer for such horrible occurrences. His studies and observations led him to conviction that whenever a society of mortals crossed the limits of human decency their bad deeds initiated the destruction through natural causes such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and pandemics. In his well known abhang “Pape Yeti Roge Rupe” meaning our sins return back as diseases and expanded and deeper meaning would be bad karmas destroy humanity. How right the great saint was 450 yrs ago can be seen by studying the world history records tracing from Ramayana & Mahabharata through fall of Roman & Egyptian empires and then several dynasties in India & China, fall of Alexander the great, Napoleon and then Hitler followed by the two world wars. The great saint was convinced that the creator cant tolerate ego and pride of the mortals and therefore, from time to time the creator sends a strong message to the human society to behave and mend its ways!

 It looks absolutely right and logical in today’s times that covid pandemic has hit every corner of the world and from the riches to rags every mortal has come down on his/her knees in a year’s time only. Money nor knowledge has been able to rescue us nor anyone can help each other in need of the hour . Even the last farewell and dignity has been denied to the dead. It is night mare indeed. Once again the great saint words have come so loud and clear “that life is too fragile, vulnerable and mostly full of futile deeds that takes you away from attaining moksha. We need to mend our ways for better quality of life. For doing good deeds very few people come forward to help. We have to use the gift of our bodies and the organs given there in for performing good deeds and help the humanity.

  82. Jai Hari Vitthal.

83. MEANING OF MOMENT.

 Tukaram has meaningfully defined “what is moment? in his abhangs. The great saint says the period from the very first time a mortal opens his/her eyes at the birth till he/she shuts his/her eyes at time of death is the true definition of ‘moment” (kshan) . He further explains “the time lapse between the natural blinking of eyes are mini moments. The great saint then sums up as: “a mortal’s life is nothing but a moment of being extremely fragile, unpredictable and open to instant end or termination (death) without any notice what so ever to the owner of the body!” Tukaram had to work very hard on his theory of moment to convince a commoner that a mortal’s body will last only till the moment the creator has destined it for. The great saint finally managed to convince the masses that human body is in possession of the soul only from birth to death and it is a very precious gift from God to mortals to do good karmas to help their souls to attain moksha. Hereafter, the great saint emphasized that a human body is an absolute and ultimate marvel of nature’s creativity and is priceless in every way. He further explained to the ignorant masses that we all have to use our bodies to the best of our abilities for only good karmas and not for bad karmas. The misuse of human form will be our own downfall indeed. So true he was then 450 yrs ago and so valid it is even in 21^st century. The vital body organs and parts replacement cost a bomb and it may not be a success in medical terms

Look at how most of the mortals misusing their bodies for, crimes, rape, murders, wars, destruction of environment, wastage of precious natural resources, terrorism, arson ,loot ,shoot the list is endless. Where will this all lead the human race to? Nowhere but to ultimate self destruction of our very existence. What happens then to our efforts to attain moksha? Only those who will keep out of all these evil acts will reach their goal for sure.

83. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 84. SIGNIFICANCE OF REMEMBERANCE

While searching the ways and means for the benefit of mortals to attain moksha (eternal peace) Tukaram noticed that people who did good karmas (deeds) are remembered for a long time and some forever and the average duration of being remembered by the society depending upon the quantum of good karams done by the mortal. The great saint traced the history of remembrance right from the characters depicted in epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata till his life time period. He spiritually felt that “if a mortal is remembered for at least 50% of his/her life time period then that person has gainfully utilized the human form for a good cause and purpose!” He was also convinced that those mortals who are always revered, worshipped and remembered on their birth days and death anniversaries have attained moksha! He felt that saints, sages and soldiers (who died for their motherland in wars) (Shahid) are never ever forgotten in the history and minds of common mortals.; In fact they all become role models, great motivators for the generations to follow. The great saint was so very right then in his judgment indeed and even today. We all remember the great saints, sages, brave hearts and all those wonderful men and women who did great work for the society at large. Tukaram himself is alive in him being remembered for last 450 yrs.

I considered myself lucky to have been blessed to write few words about the greatest saint ever born in the world in my own humble way.

 84. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 85. CURSES DETRIMENTAL TO HAPPINESS.

Tukaram was a very observant orator and reader of the human behavior and therefore he could make out the types of audience attending his public kirtans and bhajans. He divided them into four types as follows;

The first group was those who reluctantly attended the kirtans without any feelings (Bhakti bhava) and therefore wasted their time!

The second group was those who wanted to listen and implement the changes in them for betterment of their behavior but did not have the power of perseverance (intellect controlling mind).

The third group was those who wanted to listen implement and adopt the advice of the great saint in their life but could not choose between Happiness & Peace v/s Worldly life & Material comforts.

The fourth group was those who already had a guru to lead them and they simply loved the the kirtans and bhajans of the great saint dedicated to Vitthal.

In the words of Tukaram the first three groups were under curses or effects of their past sins and were being prevented from doing the right things during their life. The great saint felt that the mortals in these groups needed to be guided by a guru to do more good karmas so that they could be blessed by God to overcome the curses preventing them from achieving mental happiness rather than material comforts and richness. In practical life we all mortals have to realize that we need someone to wake us up from of our deep slumber and make us aware that everything around us is so very imaginary (Mithya) and so very fragile (Kshanbhangur) that we could lose it all in matter of seconds! We all need to be blessed from all these curses that prevent us from seeking moksha and happiness during life time .

85. Jai Hari Vitthal

 86. EXPERIENCE v/s IDEA (ANNUBHAV v/s VICHAR)

Tukaram came to the conclusion and rightly so that Experience is of higher value than Idea in the process of achieving moksha. The great saint’s reasoning was so very logical indeed. He says “ideas may crowd our mind but an experience is the most apt example for learning the truth. For a common and an ordinary mortal it was not easy to implement good ideas leading him /her to towards good karmas but it was easy to follow a saintly guru who already had the experiences that could be shared and learnt from! Tukaram applied this principle to himself in his life time as he made Dyneshwar his Guru. The great saint fully studied the Dyneshwari and the spiritual experiences of Sant Dyneshwar maharaj. This changed his life forever and the net end result was the emerging of the greatest saint “ Jagat Guru Shri Sant Tukaram” from an ordinary money lending farmer Tukaram! The great saint has backed the Experience over the Idea in his life time. Had he not followed his guru Dyneshwar, Tukaram would have died as an unknown like million of others. An experience is a great teacher, a motivator, hopes to live on with positivity. The great saint says “An experience has no age nor any religion or faith. The heavenly and super natural experiences felt and faced by many great saintly people from different parts of the world resulted in creating history by one single mortal! Jesus founded Christianity, Gatum Budha founded Buddhism, and Prophet Muhammad founded Muslim faith. Dyneshwar wrote Dyneshwari, which changed the course of Hindu Faith and so on. In short, what the greatest saint of the century meant that nothing can surpass or supersede or replace a spiritual or a miraculous experience of a mortal and it then can becomes a great teacher. In our ordinary day to day life we all mortals must learn from each other’s experiences and correct ourselves in time to save us from losses, bad karmas, sins and hurting the humanity.

86. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 87. PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE.

Tukaram derived the right definition of three constant stages that form the integral and main parts of the time span of a mortal’s life on earth. There is a past, present and future of every human being while he/she are living. The great saint defined the “Past “as Experience, “Present” as Implementation and “Future” as Thoughts. He further says “Experience” is a teacher and “Present” is a student and “Future is objective /goal of life! Tukaram was very sure that we only learn from our past experiences while living our daily lives and we need to constantly correct our wrongs and mistakes so as not to repeat them and suffer because of them. So we need to live in present times only. The great saint advises not to look or search into “Future “(Bhavishya) and waste time in doing so instead use your own intellect to control your thoughts and mind and make future happen through your good karmas leaving the fruits or the end reward in the hands of God (Vitthal). The great saint also says “don’t chase your “future” instead make it happen through your good karmas. “ What is the common ‘Future” for all mortals He asks? Obviously the answer is moksha. We all mortals from all walks of life and different backgrounds have a common goal to achieve in our lives that is to attain eternal peace and escape from repeated cycles of birth/death.

 Tukaram’s words do make a huge sense indeed in today’s time of despair brought about by pandemic. We are all confused about our future life. Well the best choice is to accept the present state of our lives and plan our future on positivity but the goal remains unchanged. Last one year’s experience of the first phase of the pandemic has taught us that a mortal’s life is very fragile and vulnerable and therefore each day is to be lived with happiness only thanking the lord for the blessings that we are still there to do some more good karmas.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 87

88. SUPPORT & SHELTER (Aadhar & Ashraya)

 Tukaram maharaj realized that every mortal needs support and shelter to survive his/her life no matter which geographical part of the world he/she lives in. The great saint also observed that when one mortal asks for support and shelter from another mortal it comes to him/her with a tag of either cost, service to be rendered or both in worst case scenario! Tukoba was well aware of the fact that every mortal was neither in a position nor fortunate enough to afford the tag attached for procurement of support and shelter by the society at large. He had to find a spiritual way to save these unfortunate mortals with dignity and honor and find the way to lead them. The great saint found a paradox in this situation that the rich and the poor both needed support and shelter! The rich mortals had physical support and shelter with all the worldly comforts and yet they did not have happiness and peace in their lives, where as the poor lacked physical support and shelter and yet they were happy and satisfied with their lot but needed God’s blessings to survive daily life! In short, Tukaram realized that a common remedy was needed by both the sections of the society; the rich and the poor. The great saint found the answer in his prayers “we all mortals need to surrender totally to God (Vitthal) and he wrote the wonderful abhang “ Deva maze mann lago tuzya charani” meaning “ God let my mind surrender at your feet”. To rich he says “surrender your ego” and to the poor “wants, need and worries of daily life” The great saint saw extreme richness as well as extreme poverty too and he therefore could see both the sides of one coin “Life” so to say. The common denominator for all mortals is seeking happiness and attaining moksha in the present life. The key of eternal happiness and satisfaction is to surrender our wavering and wandering “Mind “ at Vitthal’s feet using our intellect and path shown by the saints such as Dyneshwar maharaj.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 88

89. Creation of Life on earth.

Tukaram minutely observed and then analyzed the common qualities which every living creature has and as well as what special qualities the human beings are blessed with! The great saint first listed the basic four qualities of every living creature as follows;

 Every type of creature needs air, water and food to survive.

 Every type of creature has fear of death.

 Every type of creature needs sleep/rest.

 Every type of creature has capability and necessity to procreate.

The great saint then turned his attention to the human beings to find out all about the special and common qualities the creator blessed them with. He listed fourteen them as follows;

 Ability of Speaking /talking/writing to each other.(Communication skills)

 Ability of Smiling /crying (expressing joy & sorrow)

 Pair of Hands with a set five dedicated fingers to each hand. (ability for performing hand skills)

 Practices of Modesty (Lajja/Sharam)

 Ability to Think /Invent /Educate/Contemplate. ( Aachar/Vichar )

 Ability to Progress.

 Ability to experience Happiness/Satisfaction

 Ability to do work (Karama)

 Ability to judge right /wrong, sin and virtue and what is good and bad.

 Ability and use of Intellect /Intelligence to control mind.

 Ability to apologize/mend /regret.

 Ability to Change for better.

 Ability to sacrifice for good cause

 Ability and capability to attain moksha by way of sainthood. To be God like by doing good karmas.

The fourteen different qualities bring forth the very point which the great saint tried to convince the common masses as to how important and rare blessing it is for our soul to be born as a human being . The great saint has written several abhangs in praise of the lord for he/she being born as a human being. In all his kirtans we advises his followers to use all the abilities to do good karmas and attain moksha .

 Jai Hari Krishna 89.

90. MORTAL’S COMMITMENT TO BODY (DEHA).

Tukaram has brought out the importance of commitment to look after the precious human form /body blessed by the creator to each of us mortals. Whatever is the state of body/form given to us at birth must be kept healthy, and fit, with pure mind and in the state of happiness commensurate with the circumstances and place where we are destined to live during our lifetime. What the great saint meant that” unless our bodies are physically healthy and mentally fit only then we can do good karmas with constant ease and satisfaction.” A healthy body helps to develop sound and pure mind which in turn becomes easy to control by intellect. Once this loop is managed then it becomes easy to have disciplined and addiction free habits. When we mortals achieve all above then automatically decent behavioral pattern follows and it leads us to become a worthy mortal who can then search for a saintly guru to guide him/her to moksh while living his/her life. The great saint gave utmost importance to having a spiritual guru. Tukaram was convinced that” God is our father and Guru is our mother” and it is guru like Dyneshwar who could only guide him to Vitthal’s feet. That is why Dyneshwar is recognized as Dyneshwar Mouli in Maharashtra. Tukaram found four pre-requisites to reach God’s feet and then moksha. He has shared them with his followers,

 No attachments with any other mortal.

 No attachment with material things.

 No reaction to good /bad news.

 Full trust in existence of God. (Vitthal)

 Ability to talk/converse with God (Vitthal )

 Ability to shed tears for God (Vitthal).

Tukaram advises to live a detached family life while you are a family mortal with full trust in God and true feelings of love and affection for the Lord.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 90

The greatest of all things is to remember that scientific meditation means the withdrawal of current from the nerves, and .when you can do that, then sensations cannot reach the brain, and sensations cannot rouse perceptions and associated thoughts. Concentration and meditation both have two sides. (1) Disengage the attention from objects of disturbance and (2) put the attention on one object at a time. In the beginning you cannot make your attention stay on one thing. After you have attained that stage wherein you can control attention then you will find that you can accomplish much in the spiritual line or the material line.

• Paramhansa Yogananda

An Experience of God being with you!- A Miracle.

Miracle No 1.

I wish to share two experiences of God’s presence being with me in my need of the hour when things became almost life threatening and serious in real sense for me and my ship ! As a Merchant Navy Captain I have travelled all over the world in various types of ships under my command and I had the privilege of carrying my full family on board for the entire voyages. During one such voyage ( 1976) I had an experience which I would like to humbly call a miracle indeed ! The ship was sailing off the well known island of Cyprus ,on her way to UK & North European ports . I was not all comfortable nor at ease with the rough and seeming angry state of the sea around the area we were sailing. Ship was pitching( Upward/downward movement) and at times rolling heavily from side to side which could serious damage to the cargo and the ship structure too. It had been 48 hrs that I was standing on my feet on the Bridge ( Command/control point) watching every wave that came thundering down over the ship. Each wave seem to more ferocious and higher than the other . In those years there were no weather satellites unlike to- day to monitor meteorological data over the seas for safety of navigation at sea. We had to rely on shore based radio stations for weather reports. The falling barometer indicated more bad weather in the near vicinity and low pressure meant storm near by.

We had three other families on board excluding mine ( Chief Engineer, Chief officer and Radio Officer) . Permissions are given to other officers on turn system but the Captain is privileged by the shipping company to carry his family as and when convenient to him ! We had 4 women and 6 children on board that trip . My daughter Sujata (11yrs)and Sonia ( 3yrs) and other children were okay with ship’s rolling and pitching! It was fun for them but other 3 ladies were petrified with the rough seas. My wife was well versed with all this rough weather situation as she had already made several voyages with me . As the 3^rd day of bad weather arrived , things began worsening . My radio officer handed me over an SOS ( Save Our Souls) message sent by the Captain whose ship was only 5 miles away from my ship ! The state of the sea was now very bad and I stared having the apprehension of safety of my own ship and crew and families on board! I ordered the ship crew to secure every loose objects ( chairs , tables , drawers , etc) moving objects in their cabins . It was 10 pm local area time when I called the Chief Engineer on the Bridge. He was very nervous being his first promotion and his family being on board. I had decided to turn the ship back towards Cyprus and take refuge near the island’s lee side ( protected from winds) . I briefed the chief engineer to take all precautions in the engine room during this dangerous manoeuver ( whenever a ship is turn around in very rough seas , the rate of turn and rolling effect has to be carefully calculated in mind by the Captain in a manner that the hydrodynamic forces do not synchronize that the ship capsizes and sinks sideways! Overwhelmed by the huge wave trough that could be as high 50/60 feet in state of force 12 on Beaufort scale ( scale to measure sea state)

It was now getting to 72 hrs that I was glued to the hand rail of the Bridge looking into the darkness that was fully blinding and I could not see anything for judging my life saving action move to turn the ship around. I took the wheel in my hands from the steering Helmsman and closed my eyes to pray for God’s help at this crucial time. ( I prayed to Shirdi -Sai Baba )

Then it happened! . Believe me it did.! I will never ever forget the feeling of the warmth I felt around me as if someone stood behind me and I could feel a surge of power in my arms . I was acting under the total control of the super natural power ,—-“I was turning the wheel with great ease and there it was ,the ship stared to turn around very smoothly and astonishingly before I could recover from my heavenly bewilderment the ship turned safely without any expected /anticipated damage to life and property on board ! It was a miracle for a sailor. It was against all the principles of hydrodynamic forces that I was professionally taught and trained as a mariner.

We sailed for 12 hrs in the lee side of the island and when weather improved we resumed our original course to UK – London port

 Miracle No 2.

In the same trip, I was recipient of 2^nd miracle . Yes! It is true indeed! My second child Sonia was only 3 yrs old when she made her first trip on board with me. The ship docked in the Polish port of Gydansk . We were enjoying a week end in the port (Sunday no work in docks). At the breakfast time in the lounge , Sonia was running around with her toast piece in her . She was playing near the huge swing door of the dining room when suddenly her right hand index finger came in between the door frame and Time froze for me and my wife . We heard her painful cry and rushed towards the door. She was in the state of utter shock with no crying but tears rolling down only. My heart cried out Oh GOD ! has she lost the finger for ever as I could see the hanging part of the finger.! The blood on the floor indicated huge loss vital fluid. Being a Sunday, everything was closed ,yet God answered my every prayer .With great difficulty we could reach the Hospital and the Surgeon performed a very difficult and an intricate operation and stitched the hanging part of the cut finger and bandaged the wound. We returned to the ship. Sonia was under sedation and painkiller doze so she was fast asleep in the lap of her mother. Tears were rolling down my wife’s cheeks and she was blaming herself for the negligence on her part. My thoughts were drifting around the doctor’s last words before we left Hospital . He said “ Captain , Next 24 hrs are crucial for the baby’s wound if the attachment fails it will show white wound but if it is successful it will show pink color and amputation will not be required. The word “ Amputation “ was ringing loudly in my ears as the night came and we all went to sleep. At midnight I came near Sonia who was fast asleep . I looked at her beautiful face and feared the loss of the finger if the wound is found white in color! I sat and said “ God please be with me when the wound is opened in the morning” I will personally do the Abhishake puja at Shirdi mandir ‘ I will never forget you in my life time. “

Next morning at 8 am we were at the hospital. Yes! It happened indeed , A second miracle in the same trip. The doctor opened the bandage and there was seen the God’s intervention. The wound was nice and red and healing . Sonia did not lose her precious finger

  ULTIMATE FAITH IN GOD PAYS

 

SHRAVAN BHAKTI

Tukaram realized that the poor, common and ordinary villagers specially farmers , potters and other workers could not read , write and communicate easily because of lack of basic education which was monopolized by the rich and so called upper cast community ! The great saint brought Kirtan as the way to spread Dyneshwar’s godly words. The villagers would gather in an open space near a temple and listen with rapt attention Tukaram’s kirtan full of devotional (bhakti)bhajans and abhangs sung in musical ragas . To listen a kirtan with absolute attention and dedication is known as Shravan Bhakti and it surely reaches at Vitthal’s feet on your behalf . Slowly but surely even so called the educated and upper class stared attending the great saint’s kirtans. Even Shivaji maharaj could not resist the attraction of hearing the Amrit Vani of the great saint.

TUKARAM’S ULTIMATE BELIEF

The great saint was convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever;” God’s hunger for devotee’s love is infinite” He showered enough proofs on his devotees of his conviction and ultimate faith in his lord VItthal . In simple explanation and acceptable wisdom it means that all God wants that the devotees should develop ultimate trust and faith him . In return God helps to reach Moksha.

 WHO IS THE MOST FORTUNATE & LUCKIEST OF ALL WE MORTALS?

According to the great saint , “One who managed to totally surrender himself/herself at God’s feet during his/her life time “

GOD’S BLESSINGS & WISHES.

We mortals constantly search the answers for good and bad things happening to us throughout our lifetimes. Tukaram has answered this with greatest of ease ;

When something good , nice and happy things happen to us individually or as collectively then those are the Blessings of Vitthal But when something bad , sad and horrible things happen to us individually or collectively then those are the Wishes of Vitthal .But prima facie ,it looks very difficult to accept and adopt in our daily grind! That is why the true answer is found when we listen and follow the words of the great saint. Instead, a lot of precious time, material and money is wasted by we mortals in doing various specialized pujas and intricate ceremonies in order to win God’s favor to grant our wishes and bless us. Many a times it happens to us that we get blessed without asking or praying for it! Now that happens as per past karmas as explained earlier but when sad things happen we think God is angry with us , God is punishing us and we do not accept them as Gods wishes which are due to your past karmas too. We must accept with absolute clarity correct meaning of the words God’s Blessings and Wishes . When you win Rs 1lac lottery on Rs1 ticket it is certainly blessings due to you from your past karma where you may help have out helped out someone from a very bad situation which may not be a financial situation so blessing is received as fruit and a result of your action. Now think of a person who loses his entire family in a car accident where he was the driver of his car . The God’s wishes are simply incomprehensive to his mind and he goes mad with mental pains. But it is related to his past karma only. We can keep lingering on this subject but we have to conclude as follows,

 Whether we believe in karma theory , prayers , teachings of Dyneshwar or Tukaram or other great saints our life will have its own share of blessings and wishes of God and such events will form the necklace of moments for us .

Last but not the least God too needs the love of his devotees as the great saint believed.

EFFECTS OF MISTAKES/MISDEEDS IN LIFE OF WE MORTALS

Tukaram maharaj in his young days, fully realized that an ordinary common mortal was a weak minded human being and was very easily open and exposed to committing grave mistakes and misdeeds to satisfy and fulfill personal requirements during his/her life time . He took the difficult challenge of correcting this horrible social fault . Tukaram got the clue from Dyneshwar’s teachings and decided to proceed on the path of correction choosing Kirtan as the mode to spread the ways means to achieve salvation of the soul to reach Moksha. Tukaram brought much needed solace to mankind. He managed to convince humanity that ;

 Mistakes/misdeeds must be confessed and regretted by bowing down at the Lord’s feet.

 Mistakes /misdeeds should never be repeated in remaining life time

  MISTAKES/MISDEEDS-RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, MORTALS & ANNIMALS

 The great saint could convince the difference that lay between the thin lines separating God, Mortal & Animals in this relationship;

 God ——makes no mistakes nor commit misdeeds

 Mortals—— do make mistakes and commit misdeeds but have been blessed with Mind & Intellect to correct their mistakes by vowing never to repeat them and express their remorse and sorrow for their misdeed at the feet of Vitthal and gain strength to face the punishment .

 Animals .——–do not have any ability of Mind and Intellect at all to understand their actions and the consequences .

Tukaram maharaj highlighted the importance of the mortal stage of the soul and the final chance to elevate the karmas to such heights of purity that God will take your soul in HIS arms. During Tukaram’s life several hundred hard core criminals changed their lives for better by following the advice of the great saint.

ONLY THOSE WHO BEND SURVIVE!

Tukaram ‘s saying in Marathi “ Je waktat te wachatat” , in Hindi it would be “ Jo juktehye wo bach jate hye” has a very deep philosophy of life in it and needs careful understanding because it can be very easily misunderstood by we mortals because of our shallow thinking and narrow mind set !In literal sense it would mean those who surrender will only survive! In true sense it means;

 Be Humble in life . It pays to be so.

 Humbleness is Godliness in you .

 To be courteous to one and all ( rich /poor)

 Avoid false pride at all cost .

 Self respect is necessary and not self pride.

 Be a graceful giver when necessary

 Be a graceful taker when necessary .

 Avoid being selfish. Something God loves in mortals

 Be selfless at all times . God will give you Mokha earlier than due

In nature the great saying is well followed as one can see big trees fall in a storm , in floods and in Tsunami . The largest animals suffered early destruction and extinction from earth ‘s surface . Oldest survivals are small creatures. The rise and fall of Ravana , Kavravas , Alexsander , Nepoleaon , Hitler , Osama bin Laden and hundred others show that meekness does mean weakness!

You may recall the Abhang mentioned in earlier series where Tikaram prays to Vitthal to give him eternal smallness like an ant who only eats great food such as sugar and rava ! What he meant was to give him humbleness in life.

We all need to achieve the qualities mentioned above but remember it is easy to read it all in few minutes but it will be almost our life time by the time we reach our goal if at all.

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 15

In the name of Hari-Vitthal, I sincerely apologize for not been able to write down anything from 18^th Jan till 22^nd Jan as me and my wife made a trip to Statue of Unity put up on the banks of river Narmada ,in Gujrat near Kevadia village 100 kms from town of Bharuch . I request that whenever you find time to visit this great monument show casing India’s self reliance in every discipline and in national unity.

TUKARAM’s ADVISE ON FAMILY LIFE & IT’s BURDEN

The great saint was well aware of the problems of family responsibilities and associated short term and long term problems which often came in between him and his God –Vitthal . He had to find some way to give maximum attention to the Lord through his Bhakti –Kirtans . He finally came to a firm conclusion that the only way out was to fully entrust his family’s welfare and safety in the hands of Vitthal meaning do all the essential and commitment karmas for the family meaning providing ‘Roti ,Kapada , Makan and money essentially needed for other sundries linked with life’s existence. He left the outcome of his efforts to Vitthal and devoted his entire remaining life time for uplifting humanity to attend true satisfaction, happiness and peace of mind .

Mortal’s common take on ,

“ PUT BURDEN ON GOD “ by Full Trust in HIM

I am sure it is not all that easy as it sounds or reads ! We could say , How do we disown so easily our family burden (emotional & financial)in hope that God will take care of it all ! No! , it is not so; the great saint explains it beyond any reasonable doubt what so ever that we all do our duties towards our families but simply do not get burdened in anticipation of results of our karmas while performing our duties.

For example ;

When Tukaram observed hundreds of farm workers working in the field leaving their infant children under the shade of the tree, he wondered as to under whose trust or guarantee the children were left under the tree? When he enquired and asked the question to the farm workers ,they replied “ God will look after them “. The simple but thought provoking answer made Tukaram think deeply and found the answer. “ Total and unshakable trust in God will help us all in our lives “ conveyed the great saint in all his kirtans.

As applied or applicable to today’s times ,

Most of us so called successful mortals have a hidden desire that our children should not only adopt our professions but be more successful than us rather excel us in those professions. Many of us also crave , worry , be anxious about their successes and also disappointed , depressed,sad and seriously unhappy of failures or wrong results .Why so ? Most of us are able to provided everything to our wards to be success in their lives but if they don’t come to our expectations then Tukaram’s advise should be able to bring peace to our mind . If the result is in our favor then it is God’s blessing otherwise his wish.

Whatever we worked for to aspire is our karma but result is the final award . If you do audit of your karmas till date then you would know how many were planned by you and how many by destiny and whatever you are today is your full credit or combination of destiny and you. Therefore, for satisfaction and happy living better to trust the lord and live the life fullest.

Some well known sayings of the great saint.

( translation)

 Satisfaction is more important and essential in life than just comfort and happiness

Be satisfied rather than just be happy in life.

 For achieve purity of mind , behavior and conduct have to be impeccable .

 A sword can cut the neck where as word can cut your honor

 Mortals should be able see the difference between Love and Lust .

 Mortal’s mind must choose between “Body”and “God” because ,

Body gives pains , lust , bad karmas , selfishness and material satisfaction , where as

God blesses us with love , Bhakti , peace ,true knowledge and Moksha.

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 16

17. CHOICE : be a YOGI( Devotee) or UPYOGI ( help humanity)

Tukaram had to choose his path ;either become a yogi or upyogi to help humanity . The great saint felt that being yogi will mean being selfish !where as if he makes himself useful by serving humanity he will be able to achieve a selfless and large good karma . What a wonderful thought indeed. He chose the right path with right decision at the right time of his life. He realized that besides the commitments towards his family and business ,he had to divert his energy , time and resources to help the humanity to achieve Moksha ! In his words he says ,”It is better to be a upyogi than a yogi “.

What it means to we mortals ?

Tukaram has simplified it in all his writings and conveyed it through his kirtans. The great saint advises us all to spend our surplus ( after doing all our karmas for essential survival in life) energy , time and resources for uplifting of poor, deprived , incapacitated , starving , injured and uneducated humanity and also help correct those who are on wrong paths leading to bad karmas. He says ,” instead of wasting time in rituals , visiting far flung pilgrimage centers ,donating huge sums to manmade places of worships and reading religious books “it is better to spend precious life time in best possible way to serve humanity.

Following practical suggestions will clarify it further ;

 Spend time in visiting patients who long to meet people rather than in a place of worship.

 Visit old people’s homes on regular basis to give cheer and comfort to lonely and lost hearts .

 Help poor students with their fees , space requirements etc.

 Volunteer in community work that is beneficial to large number of people.

 Offer help and Serve in disaster affected areas.

 Celebrate so called land mark occasions in personal life by donating /sharing with have-nots The list is infinite ,we may think it is easy to do all above mentioned things but it is not ! One needs to follow Tukaram ‘s advise in total sincerity and then dedicate the efforts .

WAY WE LOOK & WAY WE ARE

Every soul desires beautiful face and strong body .We all want to look attractive but more important is how good human beings we are/have been during our lifetime. The great saint conveyed the difference vividly in his message , he says “being a good human being is far more important than having good looks!” Beauty erodes with each passing day where as goodness in us flourishes as we grow old.”

Strength, Beauty and Money are not at all essential blessings to have but it is absolutely necessary to be blessed with good thoughts , honest character and humane qualities .Our eyes , ears and speech are God’s best gifts to we mortals. If we use them wisely and for good karmas we reach at HIS feet . The great saint was fully convinced of these simple secrets of life. Following will explain it further ;

In one of his Abhang he says “ The mighty Ocean ( Samudra) is so vast and big ,all the rivers from land flow into it yet it is salty and its waters cannot be used to quench thrust! Where as a small river gives water to drink , help cultivate barren land to yield grain , vegetables and fruits so we mortals survive !

BELIEF IN GOD

Tukaram used tell his audience ,” Even if you do not have belief in existence of GOD , then at least believe that someone who is running this mighty universe could be called God !

  Jai Hari Vitthal 18

19.

OBLIGATION( Aabhar) & INDEBTED ( Runi)

Tukaram has highlighted importance and the meaning of the above words in lives of we mortals. The great saint realized that all of we mortals must accept our unconditional and total obligations towards the following four;

 Being indebted to Parents

 Being indebted to Soldiers

 Being indebted to Farmers

 Being indebted to Teachers.

Tukaram could not just ignore the importance of the role of each of these four people in life time of each every mortal . The great saint realized very early in his life that without any one of them being available will make the life very difficult to live normally. He says in his teachings “ we mortals are ever indebted and under obligations to each of these four people and which can never be returned or paid back .

Parents( Mata & Pita) are responsible for birth of our soul in mortal form .

Soldiers (jawans ) protect us from enemies of our land .

Farmers (kisan) grow food for us to survive

Teachers ( Gurus) teach us various disciplines and open doors of knowledge

Tukaram advises that besides God ,we must bow in front of these four people and treat them with greatest reverence and respect. The great saint generously points out contribution of each of these four to humanity and gives them the same status as Lord Vitthal . He has compared parents as (Matru dev Bhav/Pitru Dev Bhav )God like people . He goes on to say “ every soldier who dies in the battle field gets Moksha because of his extreme sacrifice for his motherland “. Every farmer( Aanadata) is dear to God and that is why Vitthal was born as a child-Krishan in a family of farmers. The great saint finally pays the highest tribute to his teacher ( Guru) Dyneshwar maharaj (mouli)who guided himto the feet of Vitthal .

In short the above mentioned four are the pillars of life and whatever we are today is because of them. When any one of them are missing in our lives the effect is seen very clearly and recorded so in our history .

DESTINY/FATE ( Naseeb/Kismat)

  Tukaram was always asked by his devotees to explain ‘What is destiny? There is confusion in minds of we mortals too. Brahmins brought out zodiac calendar ( Panchang) and made fate charts( Janampatri) )based on positions of planets on the day and at the time of the birth of a particular mortal to prepare and forecast the destiny of the person ! The great saint had difficult time to explain a simple thing to the humanity at large . He said “ That fate /destiny of a mortal is the result of his karma and nothing more ! “ But there was a rider to Tukaram’s explanation that the end or ultimate result of the karma is in the hand of our creator! (It has been explained in earlier write up)

If we look up our fate charts ( janampatries), we will be able to understand the great saint better and more convinced too. For examples how many events have occurred as forecasted and how many have resulted as a result of our actions ( karmas) . Do a fate/destiny audit and see for yourself and you will understand how true the words of the great saint are.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 20

20. Qualities ( Guna)

Tukaram realized that we mortals are born with blessings and wishes of the Lord. The great saint noticed that the children of the same parent had been blessed differently by the creator . Why? He soon found the answer and reason to this natural mystery! He shared the answer with the masses through his kirtans. He says ;

Qualities ( Guna) for the present life state are blessings given to the soul according to its good karmas of the past life . The qualities include physical features of the body form ( Deha)in totality (facial Looks , color of the skin and physical dimension of body form). Then comes the other qualities such as honesty, compassion , piousness, meekness, humility, humble, charity, fair , just and many others .We all see that each sibling is blessed differently. The great saint teaches us to utilize every given quality for the up-lift of others by doing good karmas in life. The great saint showed path to as many followers as he could to use the qualities in one’s own self by applying mind and intellect in unison and put them in practice to serve others.

Talents ( Pratibha)

The great saint explains the difference between talent and quality with ease and simplicity. The talents too are additional blessings but they are latent or hidden in us and they are only noticed and encouraged by others around and near you . Talents such as ability to sing, paint and dance, carpentry , art of carving & sculpture, and may other forms and types of talents must be used for good causes besides for earning living. Most of the kirtankars are good singers and speakers who developed their talents to perfection with hard work. A single talent like ability to sing a song that touches billion hearts and bring tears reaches at God’s feet too; Best example would be the well known singer (India), Lata Mangeshkar’s song “A Mere Watan Ke logo” . Tukaram had sweet voice ( Madhur Vani) and Vitthal would attend his bhajans by coming in disguise of a villager and so Raje Shivaji maharaj .

  It can be surmised that we mortals who are blessed with various qualities and talents should consider those as blessings from the Lord and put them in good use for the betterment of humanity at large . This is the best way show your love and affection towards the creator.

INTENSIONS IN KARMA

Tukaram found a close relationship between Intensions and Karma. He says it is very important to understand our intensions prior to performing our karma in that situation because our intensions decide rather are responsible for the final outcome of the result of our karma and the way it is judged by the creator. There are ample examples of the intensions /karma relationship so vividly explained by the great saint . He says;

 Any voluntary monetary help given to any person must be without any expectation in return.

 Any voluntary service given as help of any kind should have clean and just intensions .

 Help must be offered and rendered on its own merit with absolutely clean intensions .

 All karmas are to be done with best of the abilities and capabilities, total responsibilities, good and pure intensions and without expecting award , reward and type of results. Best example would be the karma of a Soldier who is ready to die for his country and the second best would be a farmer who keeps sowing his field every season .

Perhaps ,the following story will carry the point home;

In a town there lived a priest (Pujari) and a prostitute . It so happened that their individual homes were in close proximity and they could observe each other regularly. Priest used to conduct daily rituals , prayers and other religious activities to earn his living. Similarly , the prostitute had her customers visiting her place frequently . Priest used to think very low about the lady engaged in oldest profession to earn her living; Whereas, the prostitute had very high regards for the priest and his profession.

 However, the prostitute had one strict routine prior to each customer’s visit! She would pray in front of lord Shiva ‘s framed picture in her room and say” Oh God! Please save from this horrible hell and miserable life “ At the end of her day of work ,She would once again say the same prayer.

Life went along for both and due course they both died on the same day but at different times! (Priest died first and then the prostitute). The two souls reached at the feet of the lord . The soul of the priest had arrived earlier than the soul of the prostitute but for some reason no Angel ((Doot) of the Lord took notice of the soul of the priest till the soul of the prostitute too reached at the feet of the Lord. Now ,Angel came out and first invited the soul of the prostitute and then the soul of the priest! The soul of the priest was boiling with anger and despair and pleaded “Oh lord what an injustice ? I recited your name a million times in my prayers while doing my karma of a priest while this prostitute did lowest of the karma all her life and yet you took her in first ,Why ?” God just smiled and explained “ I agree that you took my name a million times while doing karma but that was your need as a profession and it was not your intensions ! whereas , this unfortunate lady took my name before and after her karmas and prayed that God lift me out of this Hell ( Narak). The difference is my name taken by you (Priest) and taken by her( prostitute)had different intensions !

Moral of the story is that we mortals should pray without any tags attached to it just pure prayers (Bhakti ) Intensions in the karma matters indeed.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 21

GOD NEVER LEAVES US

Tukaram had to do the most difficult task of convincing the mortals during his life time that “God never leaves us during our life time in our present human form ( Deha) nor when we are in form less state as a soul searching the next womb for the birth and death cycle “ He also was convinced that “God protects those whom the world rejects “. There are umpteen examples that proves this point of view of the great saint beyond any reasonable doubt what so ever. We have cases where human beings found themselves in hopeless situations with no help in sight and yet they survived! There are also stories of miraculous escapes from prisons , concentration camps and survivals in wars and natural disasters. The great saint further explains in his teachings that “It is we mortals who only remember God in times of need and not otherwise. It is far easier to think of Him at all times while dedicating our work (Karma) in his name. “ Tukarm has given wonderful and simple guidance to all we mortals that has stood the ground for centuries.

What has changed since the great saint’s time is the way of life and style of living of all us mortals. The science and technology has influenced our minds to such an extend that some of us have doubts about existence of GOD! But as narrated earlier, even today many persons of great genius, thinkers, renown scientists , doctors ,philosophers , sportsmen and artists have faith in the super power that runs our visible universe. Why ? The common answer is they all feel blessed for what they are and for the work they are doing.

God is in fact is the greatest mathematician, physicist, chemist , Biologist , Physician , Botanist and creator who created visible and invisible elements in the universe . So what Tukaram felt then is valid today too . How can we justify non recognition of God? Corona is invisible yet its existence is accepted by the entire world. God is invisible too but his creation is seen and felt then why not accept his existence . Tukaram wisely says “it is our responsibility towards us to recognize God within us and others around us to live with satisfaction. His teachings clearly point out one fact that “ Any amount strides of any magnitude will never take way the credit from GOD “ and we mortal will be indebted to HIM as long as our souls are in the orbit of Birth/Death cycle.

AVOIDANCE

 Tukaram very minutely studied the causes and reasons that contributes reversely to mortals during their transit passage of life on earth . He came to the conclusion that the best and the easiest way out for the salvation and peace of mind is “ Avoidance”. The great saint listed the following practices for avoidance to up lift one’s own self towards good karmas and attending Moksha;

 Avoid crossing the acceptable limits

 Avoid agitated and angry conversations

 Avoid lust ( Moha ) for money , women and world possessions

 Look at every other woman with the same respect as you would give to your mother /sister / daughter and other family women related to you

 Avoid any expectation from any relationship to be satisfied and happy.

 Avoid being unscrupulous in your dealings.

 Avoid resorting to Lies to save yourself .

 Avoid being unfair to others.

 Avoid being selfish

 Avoid being unfaithful

 Avoid being greedy

The list could be according to your own character and the way you are made up and brought up as a human being . The avoidance can be planned as part of your karmas

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 22

22.

Love for Country is love for God!

Tukaram told Shivaji that “God( Vitthal) will always be with you in your battles against tyranny and injustice inflicted by the invaders of the mother land . Your selfless love for the country is truly the most sincere prayer at the Lord’s feet. “ All those who died for their country as part of their karma get Moksha . The following is the true incident from the records of history that proves this point ;

Shaheed Bhagat Singh was sentenced to death by the British for rising against their rule in India. In the early hours of the morning of the day of his hanging, the British Jailor visited the cell to check on the prisoner Bhagat Singh. He was taken aback with what he saw! Bhagat Singh was vigorously exercising, his face was radiant and looked very fit and fine . The jailor said” Mr. Bhagat Singh Why you are exercising now? I hope you are aware that you will be hung today before the sunrise. By the way just tell me , what is the special purpose of you doing the exercising now? “ Bhagat Singh looked at the Jailor with piercing eyes and replied “ We Indians pray to God with fresh flowers .I too want to look fresh and radiant before being hung . After all I am dying for my mother land-India ( Bharatmata ) and for me she is my God and my body is a flower offered in reverence “ The words of the great Indian freedom fighter pierced the British Jailor’s heart like accurately fired arrows and he walked back with heavy heart and hidden admiration.

COLORS OF NATIONAL FLAG ( loving called TIRANGA)

Our national flag has three distinct colors ( Orange-White –Green)and the Ashok Chakra in the centre has blue color. So we could say that there are total four colors used in the flag. But in my opinion there is a fifth color on our national flag which cannot be seen by naked eyes but it can be felt by a loving touch of the flag that is the red color of the blood of our ancient warriors , freedom fighters , soldiers and many other unsung ,unheard ,untraced and unrecorded in historical records who died for their country . It is this RED color that must never ever be forgotten by any Indian no matter where he or she lives on this mother EARTH .

( Above is my opinion based on Tukaram’s blessings on my mind )

 SIMPLICITY & SINCERITY IN PRAYERS

The great saint observed that Brahmins and Pundits around gave more importance to pomp and show in prayers (pujas)and rituals conducted in the name of God! There was a distinct financial burden on the common man to follow the recommended ways of prayers ,pujas and rituals to reach near the Lord or procure his blessings for fulfillment of particular wishes or even expressing thanks to HIM! This materialistic approach was not acceptable to the mind of simple living high thinking saint of the century. He decided to rise against these blind practices and looting of the poor devotees. He incorporated ways and means of creating simplicity and sincerity in innocent minds of Vitthal devotees through his melodious and sweet worded Kirtans which are still remembered and sung today with great reverence by many top singers in India. I must mention the name of one of the finest of them all ,Late Shri Bhimsen Joshi . One must listen to his Vitthal Bhajans at dawn in a quiet corner at home or in a garden! It is heavenly indeed.

In the end I conclude ,”use the remaining days for good cause and selfless love for the God and Humanity at large “.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 22.

 23. AT THE END OF ALL HUMAN ENDEAVOURS ARE GOD”S BLESSINGS.

Tukaram searched the answer for “What lies at the end of all efforts of we mortals during our life time?.” He found the answer for all of us. We get food, shelter and clothing to survive in the present life time as per our efforts but some get it less and some get it more as per our past karmas too. The great saint was convinced that at the end of all our efforts are GOD’s blessings as a reward. He explained this logic in three simple words in Marathi language ( His mother tongue )” Prayatna (efforts) Anti (end) Parmeshwar (God)”meaning “Efforts end at God’s feet”.

The great saint derived that “if all human efforts and struggle of karmas end at Vitthal’s feet then why not put the burden of success ( blessings) or failure( wishes ) of our efforts on God’s shoulders!” He meant that “we mortals should load our mind with worries, problems , successes and failures etc but just do the karmas to live life peacefully and with satisfaction “ The great saint further reasoned “ With such implicit trust in God to help us and look after us we would be free from the burden and load of daily worries( Chinta) “. The following authentic story of an incidence of a miracle in Tukaram’s personal life will make it more clear for all of us.;

Tukaram was very forgetful of anything and everything around him ( in mind & body)when he was left alone ! It was because of his great love and reverence for his Vitthal . The great saint’s wife Jijabai was very worldly wise and practical lady very much involved in day today life of a mortal. One day , She reminded Tukaram of his obligations to honor the souls( Shradha) of his parents. The ceremony required a puja ( ritual)followed by distribution of home cooked food for large number of people in the their village. Tukaram was not rich at all to afford a huge burden of expenditure for a lavish ritual . He said to his wife “ we will call just 3or 4 persons for lunch and hold a small prayer “ His wife agreed to this and told Tukaram to bring few basic things from the market so that food could be prepared . Tukaram left for the market . While walking, he kept singing Vitthal prayers as per his habit . He found himself walking past a wheat growing field where few workers were harvesting the paddy. He walked towards them and said “May I help in your work ?” The workers were happy to have additional hand . The great saint totally forgot his obligation to bring all the essential things from the market for the ritual at home ! At the sunset he rushed home and frantically apologized to his wife for his utter failure. But instead of firing her husband Jijabai coyly and lovingly said “ What a wonderful lunch it was, Tukaram you did a great job today and what a great surprise it was for me and all the villagers . Thank you so much ! “ Tukaram was taken aback and slowly said “ JIja what are you saying? I never did anything today except help a famer in his field “ Jijabai now shouted with anger “ Are you gone mad ? Hundreds came and ate sumptuous meal and went satisfied blessings us all.” Tukaram came out and sat at his place of prayers and started thinking ! Suddenly it dawned on to him that it was his beloved God Vittahl who came in disguise of Tukaram and conducted entire proceedings of the day on his behalf completely fooling Jijabai to the core ! After all Tukaram had put all his burden of efforts on his GOD.

The moral of the story is if we live our life with full trust in our efforts and God the we are helped by HIM . Miracles do happen we have to be aware of them .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 23.

24. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BEING BORN AS A MORTAL?

Tukaram was confined ,in fact cornered by His Guru with the question” WHAT IS PURPOSE OF BEING BORN AS A MORTAL?”The great saint was speechless for a while before he replied, “I lived like a normal mortal for while till I read Dyneshwari and the teachings of the king of knowledge Dyheshwar maharaj and then my eyes open to the purpose of being born as a human being .I realized that it is my last chance to seek Moksha . I decided to dedicate my remaining life for uplifting the fellow mortals to reach the similar goal . Do kirtans to spread the teachings of Dyneshwar that help will humanity to reach the feet of the God-Vitthal while continue to live routine family life in the society as a mortal does during his/her life span. “ The reply of the great saint to his Guru stood the test of time and his life time work still stands tall till day.

APPLICATION OF “PURPOSE” IN LIFE

The great saint faced all the practical difficulties, daily constraints , public and family opposition when he started to make extremely sincere efforts to establish his purpose of being born as a mortal. His own wife would not support his quest to reach God , nor she ever believed in blessings of Vitthal ! Yet , Tukaram had to carry out all his family responsibilities towards his wife , children , friends and obligations towards the community and society . He had chosen the most difficult path of reaching his God –Vitthal by staying in the family and yet be aloof from its attractions and burden . Tukaram experienced that attractions and pitfalls were easy to fend off but burden of a family was very difficult to avoid or dispensed with! The great saint concluded that “ It is this “Burden “ which all we mortals have to carry during our life time that was coming in the way to reach the feet of Vitthal “ He stared to search the remedy to get rid of “Burden “from common mortal’s mind . And he was blessed with the answer. He reasoned ‘Why not put the onus of ‘Burden” (load on mind)on the Lord Vitthal so that mortals could be free to pray in peace and happiness!” The answer was doable and practical to the level of application . All it needed was to have full trust in God and leave the results of the karmas in HIS hands.After getting fully convinced ,the great saint applied it in his life in his prayers. Then he wrote about it and finally started to spread it through his kirtans.

The moral of the story is why not trust in our God and put all the burden of worries ( Chinta) on God and continue living life of only good karmas.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE BUT EARLIER THE BETTER !

Tukaram noticed that most of the mortals had one wrong notion in their minds that “ God is to be remembered only in the old age or when in any trouble “ He realized the dangerous folly in such low thinking of most of the mortals. (Situation is no different even today!)He decided to convince them by preaching that it is” IT IS NEVER TOO LATE BUT EARLIER THE BETTER!” The great saint conveyed through his kirtans the futility of worldly attractions and advised everyone to start trusting and praying the creator as early as you can so that He can bless you with satisfaction in your life and help you to do good karmas . The parents who impart good teachings to their children will appreciate this point because they have no burden of raising bad children! As adult mortals we have our own thinking process and mind set and we know what is good /bad for us and therefore we should be able to choose the best path to live our precious life

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 24.

25. WHAT IS TRUE WEALTH OF A MORTAL?

Tukaram thought deeply about this ambiguity of life . The great saint’s clarity can be seen in his analysis of his take on what true wealth is and who is a truly blessed wealthy mortal. The great saint says material possessions such as farm lands, house properties, Gold /silver /diamond jewellery and many other worldly possessions is not the true wealth of a mortal to be proud but having good & clean mind , healthy & strong body, good looks ,sweet tongue (madhur vani),having artistic talents such as ability to sing , paint ,oratory , play musical instruments and do good karmas are the true riches and blessings of God to a mortal . He observed that the so called rich and powerful mortals found peace and satisfaction only after coming in contact with saints and not in their riches! ( It is so true even today . We see all the mortals such as top film stars , sportsmen , corporate honcho, big business owners and even ill-gotten wealthy drug lords in search of a Guru or a saintly ( so called)person who will lead them to happiness and ultimate state of being satisfied ) The great saint has vividly described in his writings the futility of wasting precious life time in accumulating material wealth. Instead he has advised we all mortals to earn enough and adequate wealth with clean and good karmas to sustain our essential needs and also made it clear in no uncertain terms that excess wealth brings worries, pushes us into dark holes and corners of bad karmas , affects our mental and physical health and finally takes us away from our true goal and objective of life –Mokha .

 In today’s context, whatever the great saint advised is all so true! Most of the rich and the very rich ( millionaires & billionaires)mortals of the world are a troubled and unhappy lot .Why do they need to commit suicide with all the riches in their hands? There are more mortals who are living hand to mouth but they are facing the life with a smile and work in hope that someday they too will get rich with blessings of the lord. The great saint says ‘Be rich but do share and use the excess for the needy and have-nots.”

  IMPORTANCE OF TULSI PLANT FOR MORTALS.

Tukaram has very lucidly described the spiritual , medicinal and environmental importance of the heavenly plant “Tulsi “ ( Botanical name –Ocimum basilicum) in his kirtans. The spiritual status of the plant is simply supreme! It is the most beloved plant of Vitthal and that is why only Tulsi leaves are offered to Lord Vitthal in all prayers. The medicinal value of Tulsi leaves are well known all over the world specially in treatment of throat and chest cough. The environmental value is tremendous . The strong mesmerizing smell of a Tulsi bush keeps the air germ free and insects such as mosquitoes avoid the area around the Tulsi plants .Last but not the list the great saint says says “ Where there is Tulsi there is Vitthal “. So we mortals should keep the Tulsi plant in pot in our flat or have a nice big plant in the centre of the garden of the bungalow. Recite Jai Hari Vitthal with tulsi leaves in the mouth . It is so very soothing indeed.

LINK BETWEEN DIET AND BEHAVIOUR IN MORTALS.

Tukaram on his own observed that diet influenced behavior of a mortal ( Geeta has a full chapter devoted to explain the effects of different type of food and diet on human mind and body.)He explained the effects through his kirtans. A simple and healthy vegetarian ( Satwick)diet gives healthy body and clean mind with clean thoughts generating decent social behavior and sober out look . The good healthy diet keeps vital parameters in safe limits thus keep you away from worries of ill health issues.

 In the non-vegetarian food cycle, Tukaram brings out a great paradox worth mentioning that clears the point of view expressed by the great saint. He says,“ Scorpion’s poison is very dangerous to human life ,a lizard eats the scorpion with relish and in turn the chickens eat lizards with equal relish and finally all mortals who are non-vegetarians love to eat chicken daily in their diet ! The message is clear as to where the original poison from scorpion ended!

History has shown all along that all most all the uncultured and cruel races of the world , invaders , crusaders , conquerors , barbarians, colonial powers and short tempered and angry mortals are strictly meat eaters. In animal & Bird world the message is even more loud and clear, the Hunters are meat eaters and the hunted are mostly vegetarians!

  Jai Hari Vitthal 25.

26. KNOW THY SELF

Tukaram was once asked by his disciple” Guruji , I am confused about the meaning of good karma and bad karma. Please enlighten me and remove my confusion.” The great saint smiled and replied “ Let your day be so spent that when you retire for the night you will not be ashamed of yourself . And let your night be so spent that when you wake up you will not be ashamed of yourself!” What a wonderful reply indeed. It so true that if a mortal commits a bad karma, deed or an act during the day then he/she will feel guilty or ashamed or low while going to rest for the night ,similarly if a mortal commits a bad karma, deed or an act during the night then he/she will feel guilty or ashamed or low in the next morning. Our mind is very sensitive to both type of karmas the good and the bad because it is our intellect which is constantly awake and at work analyzing the effects of our deeds on us and affected persons. If we do some good karma we feel at ease, happy and satisfied but if it is bad karma we feel insecure, ill at ease and afraid. Daily self analysis of deeds and time spent will help us to change our course of life style for betterment and up-lifting our inner self. The great saint deeply recommends to all mortals to start their day with prayers and end it with prayers thanking our creator for all the mercies blessed on us.

IS IT DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW/ADOPT TEACHINGS OF TUKARAM?

Most of we mortals should be able to answer this question with ease. The great saint has already simplified the answer in all his 250 abhangs ( teachings) explaining that only true will and total trust in God is required to adopt and follow the simple principles of doing good karmas with good intensions and purpose but our bad portion of mind set super imposes itself over the good portion and clouds our thinking process. The tendency of preference for short term gains at the loss of long term benefits are the main causes that prevent us from doing more good than bad!

The choices we mortals make decide the course of lives . The earlier we understand this folly better will be our quality of life. All that glitters is not gold but yet we repeatedly do the same mistake. Education that we opt for only helps us to earn our living nothing else. Tukaram made it clear that all of us are blessed with some special talent but very often we fail to find it and when we find it then it may be perhaps too late as the time runs out on us. JAI HARI VITTAHL. 26

27. ABOUT THE GREATEST SAINT EVER BORN

Tukaram was born on 22^nd Jan.1608 at Dehu village in Pune-district . His full name as recorded is “ Tukaram Bholoba Ambile “ His father, Bholoba and mother, Kankai were a well to do farmer family and also had a side business of money lending to other poor farmers. Life became cruel to Tukaram at very young age . He lost his parents at the age of17 yrs! Then came the horrible famine of that time which wiped out his family business of farming and money lending. To add further woes, he lost his eldest son (Mahadev )in those difficult and trying times for him and his family. Tukaram’s mind was loaded with sadness , helplessness and hopelessness. He was in search of a spiritual guide and a Guru who would guide him through this rough passage of life. God gave him that relief and he soon met a spiritual master Babaji Chaytanya who set him on his course and mission of his life . Tukaram had large family of four children ,his wife and other three younger siblings too to care for as his parents died very early . One night ,Vitthal came in his dreams ( Drishtant) and blessed him with a mission to be a social preacher ( Warkari) and help a common mortal to salvage himself /herself from the worldly follies and futile chase of wealth and materialistic pleasures . Tukaram threw himself body and soul in his mission and became the greatest saint of the century and left behind the work of eternal value for mankind of his area and rest of the country. He died ( left for Vaikunth)on 19^th March 1650 ( lived for only 42 yrs. )All good mortals are loved by God and He calls them back as soon as their mission is over !

DIFFICULT LIFE & SAINTHOOD

It is very clear that most of the Saints had very sad, difficult and miserable family life in their early part of existence and they also had short span of life. There seems to be some kind of complex equation between good karmas & bad karmas and easy life vs. difficult life of a mortal. The easy , luxurious and comfortable life seem to take us away from spirituality where as sad, difficult and miserable life brings us closer to reality and futility of many unnecessary struggles in a mortal’s life and perhaps really help us to reach Moksha ! Tukaram called his difficult life days as wishes of Lord Vitthal and faced them with full faith in God.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 27

28. WHY SAINTS ARE BORN ?

Tukaram was a great social worker, thinker, poet and a teacher of spirituality. But when he was struggling to come out of the world of a mortal and seek God he met his mentor and guide Babaji Chytanya . Tukaram’s mind was crowded with many questions for his guru . One questionthat foremost in his mind was “Why saints are born in the world of mortals? It was not an easy question then and it is so even today! The reply from Guru simply captivated young Tukaram’s mind , “ God can not appear so easily to every mortal and therefore ,saints are born time to time all over the planet earth to guide the mortals towards Moksha. “ Tukaram was convinced that he was born in God’s most favored land where Dyneshwar maharj was born too! God had already blessed the soul of Tukaram at his birth. The great saint recognized his own self and the purpose of his birth (janma). He soon understood that all the saints had their karmas lined up by the creator and the time bound life time for each of them. The great thinker was also clear that that there was no extra time to deviate from the chalked out and chosen path for these representatives of Lord Vitthal. Tukaram was now very clear of his mission in life but he was chained like millions other mortals in family ties and responsibilities . He had to find a middle path to live life like an average mortal but never to deviate from the path of the mission written in his destiny . Tukaram fought his way out and invented the special platform of Kirtan ? Bhajan to achieve his objective . The great saint lived only for 42 years but his work has lasted over four centuries and even today mortals have not forgotten him.

GOD & SAINTS

The great saint noticed that mortals had confusion about “Are saints above ,equal or below God? He had to give a very bold and convincing reply to his followers.And he did indeed, through his shlokas, dohas, bhajans , pravachans and kirtans . He compared a saint ( guide )/guru (teacher)with GOD (Giver , Organizer ,Destroyer) in Hindi ( Bramaha, Vishnu, Mahesh). He preached that to reach at the feet of God one had to follow the route as shown by Dyneshwar maharaj . There has to trust ,belief , conviction and total honesty in our karmas to achieve total surrender at HIS feet. The efforts of the great saint changed the course of life of many mortals of his times and the mortals many centuries that followed after he attended Moksha.

Following is my personal observation based on Covid pandemic and its effect on we mortals;

Do we mortals need another great saint like Tukaram in today’s times?

We mortals have under gone a sea change of transformation in every aspect of the human race, be it looks, body stature , eating habits, living styles, behavior , social dealings , committing crime , standards of scruples , tolerance , humane qualities , and family life ,the list is endless really! What our ancestors were, we can’t even imagine leave alone the comparison. So in my humble opinion I feel that God is really upset with we mortals and he has already sent a corrector with different qualities to brings us all back to realize what is essential and what is non essential to live a satisfied life . The fast moving and ever changing world suddenly stopped to a grinding halt. There was lockdown of the planet earth. So called daily life style went for a toss for all the classes, Upper , Middle and lower . The have ones and the have-nots all came on one common platform consisting of Mask, social distance and cleaning of hands ! The loving hugs and kisses became distant dreams. The isolation with dear near ones was complete and watertight, near yet so far ! Suddenly isolation , zero daily activity and lack of effective line of sight communication etc made us think of real values of life that were lost over years, true value of human life , futility of having excess and perhaps ill-gotten money of many , worldly possessions and most of true value of human relationship! In technological sweep and modern living we mortals had totally forgotten that the life could be so very vulnerable, fragile in every sense and absolutely helpless and one could be so lonely and unimaginably isolated in sickness actually grasping for breath! Yes , corona is likely to leave us shortly leaving us more wiser , humane , polite and tolerant to poor people . Tukaram had taught us all the necessary things of life without anything being threatened .

  Jai Hari Vittahl 28.

29.

CREATOR( JANAMADATA ) & MOTHER (JANANI / MA)

Tukaram realized very early in his own life the importance of parents in a mortal’s life. The great saint could see,” how the creator had planned it all while creating mortals on this planet . The lord gave highest status and reverence to “Mother (ma)” . A soul searches and gets the womb as per it’s past karmas ( good/bad). Tukaram went deep to understand the role of a mortal’s mother. He found that the “creator has very thoroughly studied and created “mother” to perfection. In fact, the great saint discovered that Lord Krishna took birth as a mortal and was blessed by two mothers, one who gave birth (biological mother-Devaki)and second (Yashoda) who reared him. God experienced it “what it means to be born to one and reared by another! Tukaram concluded that “for a mortal his/her mother is supreme and God ( Vitthal )too wishes so “ That is why in Hindu philosophy, Mother & Father ( Mata & Pita )are given highest respect and greatest reverence and enjoy higher status than God! Tukaram ,through all his writings confirmed this belief as wish of Vitthal too.

Today we hear a lot of heart breaking stories about the neglect of aged parents by the modern generation of mortals all over the world. The selfishness of young mortals has crossed all the boundaries of decency, civility, kindness and obligation towards our parents in their hour of needs. It took a pandemic to restore some kind of acceptable and responsible behavior towards aged people. Covid also helped to bring back lost family values and ties But at what cost ?The great saint’s words of wisdom and kindness are still valid in all its glory and meaning . Is it not so?

EVERY CREATION HAS AN END

The great saint observed “All we mortals are very well aware of the universal truth that “ Every creation has an end “. Whatever creations we see or feel has to end sooner or later. Everything has a time/date aspect for its creation and end. Yet we all mortals waste our valuable life time to possess, search or lament on their loss. There is no end to our desire for material things . All our karmas and efforts are directed to acquire as many of these so called worldly goodies knowing fully well that coffin has no pockets. We come empty handed and go empty handed. Then why we knowingly do not take prudent way out to happiness and satisfaction by being less greedy and avoid excess and only accept the needs and some reasonable plus for a rainy day “. The great saint promoted simple living and high thinking for all the mortals and in his humble opinion preached the great reward open to us all.

SHARE & CARE

Tukaram practiced what he preached. He was a money lender and a rich farmer till the most destructive famine struck his region and wiped out his farming assets and he could not recover his capital money from his borrowers as the farmers became broke due failed crops. Yet , the great saint shared grain and money with his fellow villagers and needy farmers. He did this as part of his daily prayers to Vitthal -his god. Many of we mortals do share and care but there is enough room for others to join . Recent pandemic helped to bring the point home quickly and effectivelyBut again at what price? It seems we mortals learn our lessons at very high cost indeed.

 Why not do all the good karmas when things are happy and peaceful in our day to day life?

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 29.

30. THE FIRST THING THAT GREAT SAINT SHARED WITH OTHER MORTAL?

Tukaram ‘s first experience with self realization of the route to reach God’ feet is vividly expressed in his famous saying in Marathi Abhang” Ujayale Bhagya Aata” implied meaning “Luck shines now” for him. He felt that the realization was the greatest blessing from his beloved God Vitthal. He decided to share it with all others with tremendous happiness and satisfaction . The great saint advises all other fellow mortals to share their exhilarating experiences with each other so that others too can be helped to get happiness and satisfaction in their life . Tukaram shared everything that he owned and possessed , grain , wealth , house knowledge , teachings and love for Vitthal. He noticed that an average mortal is basically selfish and loves to hide things that would benefit others .This was mainly due to secret desire to deny others the befits and advantages to other fellow mortals! Tukaram vigorously worked to convince selfish people that the easiest way to reach God was to share , care, helpful and useful to others at all times.The great saint was fully convinced that such attitude and behavior will take every mortal to his/her final goal –Moksha.

DESTINY WORKS ON ITS OWN MERIT.

Tukaram bifurcated the fruits of destiny in two baskets of God , he named one basket as “Blessings of God “ and other as “ Wishes of God.“ The following story will perhaps make it clear ;

A farmer was tilling his land. He suddenly found a large metal pot buried in the field. He lifted it out of the pit and opened it. He was surprised to see hundreds of golden coins and rare jewelry in the pot. The farmer decided to take it home the next day in safe hours of early dawn. He came home and wanted to share the happy news with his beloved wife! He told her his plans of bringing the pot home .This conversation could be easily heard in the silence of the night . The farmer in the adjacent hut heard it all and decided to go to the field earlier than what owner of the pot had planned and so he went and stole the pot and brought it to his own home . The original owner was very up set when he found the pot missing from his field. He came home and tearfully told his wife” Its God wish that we lost the pot to a thief “ In mean time , the neighbor who stole the pot excitedly opened the pot and he nearly fainted after what he saw! A big cobra snake was sitting inside the pot . The neighbor got petrified with the snake’s presence and threw the pot in panic in the premises of the original owner who found the pot in his field. The snake jumped out of the pot as soon as it landed with the big bang and vanished in the darkness. The owner heard the noise of the pot falling in his yard . He came out and to his surprise he found his house courtyard strewn with jewelry and gold coins! He shouted in joy and called his family to help him collect the fortune God had blessed him with! The farmer and his family lived in comfort for rest of his and their life .

 Destiny had worked out its own complicated plan to make sure where the fortune was finally destined to reach. The players (mortals) played their part as wished by God and destiny delivered it. The moral of the story is destiny is part of we mortals journey ,things will keep happening but Moksha will come only through our good karmas and not as a gift from destiny . Tukaram understood this early enough in his personal life and did attend Moksha for sure but he helped others too to attend the same .

  JAI HARI VITTAHL 30

31. RESPONSIBILITY .( KARTAVYA) V/S ATTACHMENT( MOHA)

Tukaram keenly studied and understood the fragile and temporary value of blood relationship as practiced among the mortals ever since they were created and being born on earth. The great saint realized that each mortal had a life time obligation to each of his/her relative according to nearness and status of relationship. He graded them according to the intensity of the relationship. He gave the first place and highest status of importance to Mother-Child relationship. However, he clearly projected the futility and fragile nature of every relationship in a mortal’s life and gave Mortal-God relationship as the most fulfilling and satisfying relationships of all the bonds. In all his kirtans ,the great saint brought out very vividly the difference between worldly responsibilities towards dear ones and attachment towards them. Tukaram also noticed the wide spread sadness, pathos and grief in mortals whenever they lost ( death) their dear near ones. He had to convince each of them that birth /life/death cycle has to be conquered by good karmas and grief and sadness is part of a mortal’s life . The great saint’s bold but very correct statement that shook everyone to reality of life holds out even today after centuries have past and that is “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE “. He managed to convey most of the devotees that “only God belongs to everyone if you give HIM the place in your heart. It is only Vitthal (God) who accompany each soul from birth to death. We need to search HIM during our life time and stay close at HIS feet (Charan) However following story will carry the point home ;

A devotee of Lord Vitthal used to regularly attend the kirtans conducted by one of the well known disciple of Tukaram .He was confused about one point that “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE “(KOI KIS KA NAHIN ), So he decided to speak to the Preacher ( Kirtankar)at the end of the function . He walked up to the saint and said “ Your preaching(kirtan ) and devotional songs( Bhajans) were heavenly indeed but I do not agree with your statement “NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE (KOI KIS KA NAHIN). My family loves me most dearly and I too love them equally”. The preacher heard him patiently and said “Let us go to your home and find out the truth. After reaching your home you will have to act being sick and then pretend dead by holding your breath till all your family members express their sorrow at your demise “. The devotee agreed to stage the act of being suddenly dead! The devotee and the Preacher reached home and as planned the devotee complained of severe chest pain and collapsed . The preacher pronounced him dead. Now started the loud crying and expressions of deep sorrow and irreplaceable loss of the breadwinner! The preacher spoke with a loud voice, “there is way-out , I can make the dead man alive if any one of you offer himself/ herself to drink this glass of milk with poison” ( preacher had asked for a glass of milk in which he mixed a powder supposed to be highly poisonous !) There was a pin drop silence in the room. Each dear near one of the dead man gave a reason why he /she can’t volunteer to drink that glass of milk! The devotee pretending to be dead was listening to every reasoning offered by his wife , children , mother and father and even grand parents ! The devotee now realized how true it is that NO ONE BELONGS TO NO ONE (KOI KIS KA NAHIN). He was to totally wrong to think that his family loved him most dearly But in reality it was not true at all!

Therefore, Tukaram advised that we need to carry out our responsibilities towards family and society honestly and dedicate all those karmas to GOD but have no attachments as they are the main obstacles of distraction between us and God.

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 31

32.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE OURSELVES FOR BETTER

Tukaram understood the importance of change only after realizing the futility and meager happiness of worldly daily life of a mortal. He made all the efforts to be what he is known for by following generations of mortals .He took the clue from the nature . He saw that the people worshipped the Rising Sun and not the Setting Sun! Every morning brought new hopes to the mortals . The great saint took the task of accomplishing a very difficult mission “to help fellow mortals to achieve Moksha( Eternal Peace in Heaven) through good karmas and living a flaw less life to be satisfied and make other happy too. In all his Bhajan and Kirtans ( Prayers to God) he has tried to show the simple ways to a mortal how to be involved in life and yet to be aloof from getting engulfed in its pitfalls. He also broke the myth that one has to give up his /her duties and worldly commitments to seek God. Tukaram was/is the living God for we mortals for time eternity .

LINKAGE BETWEEN DEVOTION & QUALITIES

Tukaram discovered the strong linkage between Devotion and Qualities possessed by an average mortal . The great saint concluded that those who live with qualities such as , live as per needs eat for body requirement , wear simple and protective clothes according to weather , share with others , care for others , love animals ,love nature ,soft spoken , helpful , peaceful nature , being honest , dignified , respectful to elders , full of love & care for children and many other qualities that are blessed to mortals by God , are the people who are close to devotion for their creator –God .The great saint says that good qualities given to a mortal at his/her birth are blessings that will take that mortal towards Moksha . The devotion to God comes naturally to such mortals. Those who are not so blessed at the birth can choose the path of Change and develop devotion to Vitthal ( God).

GOOD HABITS ARE CLOSE TO GODLINESS!

We all know the saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Well! Tukaram new it’s full and true meaning in his time. He therefore, preached that keep your thoughts, mind, body actions, karma, and behavior clean and pure . He told the villagers that God will never ever be present in dirty place or impure mind . The place of prayers must be clean in all respect for human beings to sit and pray and the devotees must have clean and pure mind while praying . The great saint further pointed out that those who love Mother Nature live close to God. No doubt the Himalayan mortals are so devotional to God. The sanctity of a place of worship depends on its physical cleanliness and powers of prayers depend upon the purity of hearts that come to worship there!

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 32.

33.

TUKARAM WORSHIPPED AS “TUKOBA & VITTHAL AS “VITTHOBA”

It is necessary to explain that why devotees of the great saint of 7^th century fondly called him “TUKPBA Maharaj”in their worship of him. The word “Ba “ is a very apt word in Marathi when great honor and reverence is to be expressed for a saintly mortal . For example, Dyneshwar was also known as Dynoba and Vitthal ( God) is also worshipped as Vtthoba ! The word “Ba “ also gives parental status to the saint or the deity Vitthal meaning they become parents of the devotee. We all mortals are children of God and our lives are the mercy of the blessings and wishes of the Lord , “He giveth and He taketh”! This code of the creator is very evident in Geeta :“Not a leaf shall stir without my wishes” says Lord Krishna when he addressed Arjun to motivate him to fight against wrong and injustice . The reverence and affection felt by the devotees towards the great saint Tukaram earned him the name Tukoba .

ABOUT SAINTS.

The saints of mortal community living on this earth are very exceptional persons with extra ordinary qualities . They have no sense of belonging to any land , religion , other mortals , material world , wealth , physical or mental attractions or foods . They live very close to their souls and they dedicate every move , karma and action to their creator and expect nothing in return what so ever. Tukoba saw these qualities in his Guru as well as in his mentor Dynoba. In the modern world it is impossible to find a single mortal of that quality but there are exceptions in every century that come and goes into history . There are few great people who keep working for the humanity in a quiet manner without any exposure to publicity . Those are the saints of 21^st century who need to search them out follow them . In India Warkari pratha has kept up the good work of Tukoba and those who are exposed to that experience are very satisfied people. I am happy to say that I listen to the kirtans of Tukaram followers receive a lot of peace and solitude and I try to share it with you all .

FEELINGS ( BHAVA)

We mortals are blessed with a very powerful tool called “Feelings”. It has neither boundaries nor limits but it has a mechanism that allows us to control and convert our behavior , instincts , desires and karmas for a good cause. In worshipping God, feelings of the devotee are of paramount importance . The great saint realized this at very early stage of his life. Prayers without true feelings for Vitthal are totally useless and waste of time . This was the only one single folly that took Tukaram away from indulging in rituals promoted by Pundits , Shastris and Brhamins of his times. He noticed mortals developed wrong notions of reaching Moksha !He did his level best to convince the masses ( educated and non educated )that way to reach at the feet God was to have true feelings for HIM and pure intensions with no expectations for doing good karma .While practicing rituals and following blind faith we do not show true feelings of belief in God nor in good karmas and that is why we all fail in achieving true peace and satisfaction .

ATTITUDE ( Ahenkar /false pride)

Tukoba has amply made it clear in all his kirtans that we all mortals need to throw away our attitude at the earliest in life so that it becomes easy to adopt other virtuous ways that help us to do karmas and bring satisfaction . The false pride affects our speech , behavior , thinking process and the way we look at others and their life . The great saint was troubled , insulted , abused and harassed throughout his life till he proved that he was actually God in a mortals ‘ body!

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 33.

34.

PURE MIND ( Nirmal mann) & GOD

We mortals of 21^st century never tried to understand what is purity of mind means and how it influences our actions , thoughts, behavior and peace of mind ! The great saint of 7^th century Tukoba maharaj discovered the importance of purity of mind and wrote the way to achieve it but before that he realized that mortals with pure and clean mind be able to see God in true form and also feel HIS presence around them and I their personal life. Tukaram achieved the purity of mind so early in life that he could talk to Vitthal on daily basis. Namdev ,another great saint used to offer and share daily meals with Vitthal and of course the ignorant and mortals with impure minds called him madman ! Tukaram says “ God is very close to you but you have to have a very good Mind –Sight and not eyesight to see him . Vitthal can be seen by those mortals who have highest degree of pure mind. That is why when God blesses us with a miracle we can only see or feel the effect or outcome of the miracle but we don’t see HIM . The 21^st century mortals have made the environment of the earth so impure that we are grasping for clean air and searching pure water to quench our thrust But the impure minds of billions of mortals of today are responsible for committing host of unimaginable and ghastly crimes . Where is the place for God to enter our minds? Tukaram ‘s advise could still be followed and we could salvage our lives but alas! It looks an impossible dream .However ,there are some people in this country who have salvaged their life by following the great saint . I bow before them. In Tukaram’s opinion “ It does not matter where you live but what matters is with whom you live “.

Prevention of good karmas

The great saint faced an uphill task while trying to uplift the society from various pitfalls and prevent them from doing bad karmas . In his words he says “ to prevent anyone from doing good work is a sin (pap) “. In our daily life we see that anyone who wants to good work for the poor , downtrodden and have-nots he or she faces hundreds of hurdles to get the good work done ! This happens when we dealing with impure minds among us . The great saint says “ help those who are engaged in doing good karmas “ If we cannot do good work due to our short comings then at least help those who are doing it “

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 34.

35. WHAT MATTERS IS “HOW YOU LIVED YOUR LIFE” AND NOT “HOW LONG YOU LIVED”!

Tukaram got the clue to eternal happiness when he noticed that “Dyneshwar lived only 22yrs and out of those total years he spent 6 years(from 16yrs to 22yrs) for writing down “ Geetaai-mother of Geeta “ The great work became famous and is known as “Dyneshwari” which has lasted for 750 years and still continues to inspire thousands of we mortals to follow the path to Moksha. The quality of life lived by mortals has a huge edge over the duration of their lifetimes We mortals very often receive blessings from our elders ,”May God give you a long and happy life” knowing very well that those are hollow words ! Instead we should follow what Tukaram says “My beloved God (Vitthal) please help me to become a good human being during my life time and give me blessings to carry out good karmas till end ” .

LOOKS DO NOT MATTER BUT CHARACTER MATTERS.

Among all the gifts blessed by God to we mortals the most fragile and vulnerable to destruction are our looks(Face) and physical structure ( Body) .A single mishap or an accident can ruin it all for ever leaving us totally devastated for life time . And yet we love , adore and admire our looks and physique knowing fully well that each passing years fades them away to insignificance and non consequential to our lives . Tukaram spent his energies and time to teach we mortals the very futility of having beauty of face and body ,instead he preached “Face and Body is as per your past karma and soul is born accordingly in the present life but what matters is how we use our present form and for what purpose “. There is an absolutely absurd notion in we mortals that good looking people (with good face and physique) are naturally blessed , they achieve easy success and happiness in life, they are intelligent , they are achievers , they are talented and they are rich ! This is totally false. The great saint has emphatically stated in his glorious work that “ what matters is your character and your behavior towards others”

TECHNOLOGY & SOUL

 In 21^st century , the advanced technology and improved medical techniques can help change faces and bodies of we mortals but not the character nor the behavior! In fact in my humble opinion the technology has taken away more from the humanity at large than it gave in many ways . Today ,We are more like robots and auto machines totally devoid of all basic expressions and instincts of love , emotions , affections , human warmth, creativity , fine arts , and so many priceless blessings of God . Technology has brought all the horses and donkeys in one stable. It is helping mortals to do good and bad karmas on equal and common base line with no discretion and no discrimination and last but not the least it is destroying at a faster rate than creating. One can see now the ill effects of media technology on minds of common mortals . Tukaram must be pained to see it all from there.

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 35

36. In Loving Memory of my sister –in- law “Dr. KRISHNA”

Today happens to be the 1^st death anniversary of my sister –in-law , Krishna ( wife’s youngest sister) whom we lost due to cancer . She was an eminent gynecologist based at Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan ,India. She was an absolute devotee of lord Krishana and followed the theory of good karma in its minutest aspect. She lived a simple and satisfied life and raised a very high quality family of her own . Knowing her personally so well for last 57 years , I am fully convinced that her soul has attended Moksha. I offer my fondest and humble tribute to her soul.

INTELLECT and CHARACTER OF A MORTAL.

Tukaram was baffled by the fact that although an average mortal created by God has been blessed with sufficient intellect to be able to understand a good and bad karma and yet most of them continue to choose the path of bad karma to achieve only short term happiness! He soon realized that intellect could not directly control a mortal’s character nor the behavior but instead it could only support the mortal to carry out acts or karmas opted for! The great saint decided to remove this serious obstacle by some serious soul searching . He was well aware that “a mortal is blessed with highest quality ‘Intellect “ than any living species created by God and that a mortal has fantastic intellect to invent , discover and create anything. He contemplated “where is the blockade in we mortals for not using intellect to reach Moksha ?” His unshakable trust in Vitthal provided the answer that became the foundation of his message to us all mortals as to how to reach Moksha. The great saint came to the conclusion there is a latent and invincible organ called “Mind “ (CHITTA) in all of us which constantly wanders and wavers taking away our attention, disturbing our focus and blunting our thoughts . It is this “Mind” that has to be brought under total control of our intellect so that we can do better use of greatest blessing .

History of Bad Deeds

History of crimes and relevant records show that all criminal minds had high degree of intellect to commit those ghastly crimes such as well known robberies like “The Great Train robbery in UK, Murders of political figures all over the world, High profile kidnappings, Espionage & Deceits, Rapes, Genocide and many other crimes that exist in the society of mortals.

INTELLECT and QUALITIES in MORTALS

The great saint during his quest for discovering ways to reach Moksha fell upon a very important fact of life that intellect and qualities are two different types of blessings . A mortal may be blessed with high intellect but may lack many qualities which in turn would eclipse the intellect . The human beings are the first on the list of the creator to have been blessed with highest IQ but not the qualities which are seen in other forms of life. For example, for “Loyalty , affection, obedience and trust “Dog” comes first on list. A blind man trusts a dog more than a fellow mortal. Is it not true? But what is true as per great saint is “ Intellect can be used to control Mind which in turn can instill good qualities in us which we may lack or need to acquire to build a good character and behavior

  Jai Hari Vitthal 36.

37. CHANGE (PARIVARTAN)

Tukaram realized at very early stage during his quest for uplifting the quality of life of an ordinary mortal that the most difficult task is to cause any change for better in a mortal’s life. At the same time the great saint was also ware of the fact that any change must be timely otherwise it is ineffective to the cause. This added more woes to his humanitarian work for the fellow mortals. Therefore, the great saint preached the reverence and importance of timely change in us all mortals. He says in his kirtan “ability to adopt and accept timely changes for better is the surest way to reach Moksha in shortest time. The good karmas should never be delayed, postponed, avoided, abandoned nor obstructed by any one of us all mortals “ In Hindu philosophy there is an apt saying “ Jo Kal Kare SoAaj ,Jo Aaj Kare So Abb” meaning “what you wanted to do yesterday, do it today and what you want to do today ,do it right now”!

 The words “timely change “has a great and prudent message for us all. Tukaram has warned us all mortals through his valuable advice “that the life is fragile, vulnerable and most unpredictable and hence do all the good changes in your personal life and in lives of people around you”. The following story is from the great epic of Mahabharta that brings the point home;

Lord Krishna was once asked by his great disciple and devotee Arjun “ who is the most charitable person between Karna or Yudhishtir ?” ( Those who know the epic story will know that Karana was Arjun’s illegiimate brother and Yudhistir was his legitimate eldest brother. Both were known for their charitable nature!) Lord Krishna planed a cleverly planned plot to answer the question asked by Arjun. As per plan , they both disguised as two poor old men and visited the houses of Yudhishtir and Karna . First they went and knocked at the door of Yudhishtir and asked “We need some dry provisions to make our own meals and we also request some fire wood to cook the food. We are asking for dry wood because there is no dry wood available due heavy rains in the forest area. “ Yudhishtir immediately gave adequate amount of provisions but failed to provide dry wood for cooking sighting the reason that there is no spare wood of any type in his house! So the two men left without the dry provisions saying that it was of no use to them. Now they approached house of Karna and knocked at the door . Karna opened the door to them and asked with reverence (“ How can I help you?) Both old men asked the same things ,provisions and dry wood . Karna got the adequate quantity of provisions gave it to them but he was baffled for short while about the second demand of dry wood. But he had presence of mind and he thought “what good is his spacious sandalwood bed for if he cannot break it for a good cause at this time when those poor men need it to survive and cook their meals !” Karna told the two men to sit and wait till he brings the wood for them . He went to his bedroom and broke the sandalwood bed in nice small pieces for easy use and came down with the conveniently stacked wooden pieces easy to carry!. He handed them over to his needy visitors who happily went away with a satisfied mind . As soon as the old men came out in open they came back to their origin as Lord Krishna and Arjun . Now Krishna asked Arjun “Have you got the answer to your question?” Of course Arjun had no choice but to agree that Karna was far more charitable indeed. Karna had changed in the right manner at the right time for the right cause. The moral of the story is we all mortals to need to change as Karna did .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 37.

38. EQUALITY IN WORSHIP & DEVOTION.

While in search of the path to reach at God’s (Vitthal)feet , Tukaram noticed that the Brahmin Community had an iron chain hold on the common and poor devotees which he opined as totally unjustified and unreasonable . The great saint observed that many were prevented from entering temples and places of worship thus keeping them away from their prayers of devotions and worship of Vitthal. He was deeply pained and sad and decided to effectively deal with this atrocity .He stared to send strong messages and signals of relief through his sweetly sung and recited Bhajans and Abhangs through regularly conducted community kirtans in open spaces of the villages and small towns where simple , innocent and poor people lived . The great saint’s efforts brought magical relief and happiness to a common mortal who could afford high cost of rituals recommended by Brahmin pundits sitting in temples. Tukaram made it very clear that God does not want nor appreciates man made rituals but HE loves and blesses only good karmas done by the mortals . This irked the temple owners and operators and they all rose against Tukaram and his efforts. It all changed when Shivagi Raje ( king of Maratha kingdom)gave full support to Tukaram in his quest for enlightenment .

The great saint encouraged community kirtans ,bhajans , dohas and reciting of his abhangs which carried all the knowledge and wisdom of reaching at God’s feet with equality in worship and devotion. Tukaram succeeded to convince the masses of mortals that “ Not a single penny ( paisa )is needed to be spent for worshipping Lord Vitthal but only time with undivided attention is all that is required “ Today it is very unfortunate to see that blind faith and rituals have sprung up with vengeance and millions of rupees are spent on them . The coffers of all types of places of worship of different religions are overflowing with funds and donations which are apparently used for wrong causes and reasons! Most of the unrest in the world is due to such money easily available to bad elements of society. I pray that someday, somehow another soul like Tukaram would be sent down to this mortal world to salvage us all mortals .

WHAT’s in the NAME?

The great saint observed that many mortals named their children after the names of God , famous saints and well known historical personalities. In one of his kirtan’s, he brought out a well thought point that “A name must match the character and behavior of the mortal”. It would be highly ironical to know a person who is named after the greatest saint Dyneshwar is actually a big crook of the town ! It is logical to understand that some names have attended unparallel exclusivity of highest order so those names should be either be avoided in use or used with great reverences and matching karmas .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 38.

39.

GOD , SOUL & MORTALS

Tukaram has lucidly depicted the beautiful relationship and the bond that exist between the three distinct identities God , Soul and a mortal . The great saint was convinced that each soul is guided and escorted by God in each of the life cycle as a mortal right from birth to death till the soul attends Moksha . Therefore, the great saint spread a clear message through his kirtans that “Every mortal has God in his /her soul and we all mortals have to accept this fact and deal with each other .This conviction made the task easier for the great saint when he started his kirtans . He would tell all his followers “ No one is small or big , no one is superior or inferior, no one is rich or poor but we all owe our present state to our individual karmas ( good/bad) of the last life . he advised that every mortal to treat each other with respect , dignity , honor , compassion , love and serve with good karmas beneficial to everyone around .

 Today , all of us mortals have lost fundamental good as a result the whole world is in turmoil state of public unrest , fear , crimes and lack basic human dignity in day to day life on our planet otherwise a beautiful and peaceful creation of God for the mortals .

Birth, Life & Death Cycle.

At birth, Soul brings along with it the fruits of the karmas (mixed basket of good and bad) to live in a chosen human body form for a predetermined time span. During the life span, soul enjoys or suffers according to blessings and wishes of the creator. Every soul that is born is blessed with adequate intellect to improve and increase the count of good karmas during the living span. At death soul carries its own mixed basket of good and bad karmas done during its life time and is once again accompanied by God to be reborn again if necessary. We all mortals bring nothing to handover, nothing to take over and nothing to carry over! The great saint posed a valid question to his devotees,” Then why suffer so much of anxiety , despair , disappointments , sadness, pains , shed tears , fight , quarrel , have jealousy, enmity, be mean , be destructive , be disruptive and negative in our uncertain span of life time? Tukaram was so right and fundamentally logical in his thoughts that he had to find answers to these unreasonable secrets of mortals . He spent his life time and before leaving this mortal state he gave answer to each of the questions posed by his devotees and followers to their supreme satisfaction. The great saint’s stupendous work still serves the humanity even after seven long centuries. No doubt TUKOBA will be here forever till universe lasts!

SOUL – searching a must for every Mortal.

We all mortals practice theory of conducting audit of many things for betterment , improvement and fault finding etc ,then why not do audit of our karmas by doing some serious soul searching so that we can get the benefits of a true audit! The soul searching will help prevent crimes , and bring quality to daily life . It will influence our intellect to control our sick minds and net result would be more mortals will be able to do more good karmas than otherwise. Retreats from regular worldly affairs are certainly beneficial provided they are conducted in true spirit of soul searching.

WHO BENEFITS FROM TUKARAM’s KIRTANS?

Tukaram’s followers and devotees have cleverly answered this question as follows,

 There are four types of followers,

1. Those who come to hear but are asleep while kirtan is on !

2. Those who come to hear are awake but not attentive to words being said!

3. Those who come to hear are listening but their minds are in doubt !

4. Those who come to hear are totally engrossed in the kirtan and are determined to improve their well being by practicing the ways shown by the great saint

  JAI HARI VITTHAL 39.

40.

MORTAL’S LIFE IS A STAGE

Tukaram’s search for the way to achieve “moksha” resulted in his discovery that we all mortals have to play different roles during our journey from the day we are born till we die. He analyzed that further and explains to us that “while we play our different roles at various stages of our lives one common denominator is to do good karmas in doing those roles. The roles for every mortal form a common pattern; first role we play is we are born as a child to a set of parent. Then we become siblings of others, followed by becoming some body’s husband /wife, then in turn we become either father or mother of a child and if we live long enough we may become grandfather /grandmother too! In short according to our life span we keep changing our roles till our end. In each role there are society parameters set for responsibilities, accountability, conduct, behavior, character and we are expected to play our role well by doing good karmas while earning our living wages . The great saint noticed the catch and follies of each of the role as child , sibling , worker and a parent. The great saint observed that “There are serious and fatal attractions attached to each role and each mortal must steer clear of those in order to achieve moksha”. Tukaram fully understood the scenario of multiple roles of a mortal in one single life time and decided to search for remedy to irradiate the follies, pitfalls and fatal attractions leading to bad karmas in each role. The great saint wrote simple and easy ways to train we all mortals at all the stages of roles to apply our intellect to control devil in us –our mind and prevent us from doing bad karmas while performing our roles. That is why in his kirtans, bhajans , dohas and shlokas he has teachings foe every role and stage that mortal undergo during their life time . We all mortals benefit from the great saints teachings at all stages of life while in different roles.

BE LIKE SUGARCANE.

Tukaram was born and lived his entire life in sugarcane growing belt of Maharashtra state of India. In sugarcane plant he saw a message that he conveyed in his great teachings to mortals. Tukaram advises us all mortals to be like sugarcane. He says “Sugarcane is consistently sweet throughout its existence in spite of its rough and merciless journey from planting stage till is turned into sugar !To explain it further , the great saint describes “the journey of the sugarcane plant from the time it is planted in the field , then chopped off from its roots , then bundled into hips and loaded on the trucks and dragged to the factory , then squeezed to near pulp and then cane juice processed in a boiling pot to turn it into white sugar ! In spite all this, sugarcane retains all its original sweetness!”. The moral of the story of sugarcane’s journey to become sugar is that “we all mortals must never let goodness part from us no matter how bad the environment and circumstances around us are”

WOMAN IS MOST SUPREME

Tukaram has paid greatest tribute and respect to womanhood. He specifically conveyed to all his devotees and followers that even God( Vitthal) has placed the woman species at the highest platform of respect because it is not possible for even God to be born as a mortal without having the protection of the womb of a mother! The great saint has repeatedly said in his kirtans that we all mortals can never ever repay the debts of our mother in our life time. The great saint sights the following well known debts of a mother to her child;

 Life support from conception till delivery

 Supply of quality blood of adequate group irrespective of a match

 Sharing breathing and an uninterrupted supply of Oxygen while in womb

 Formation of body bones that last for centuries after we are dead

 Giving kick start to life –First Cry of The Baby before umbilical chord is cut.

And yet it is so sad that in 21^st century we male mortals inflict unimaginable wounds, scars and commit atrocities on our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters. How the hell we ungrateful male mortals can think of attending in our life time Mokha ?

  Jai Hari Vittahl 40.

41.

LISTENING (SHRAVAN) QUALITY IN A MORTAL

Being the Kirtankar with a great repute and of highest standards ( Preacher), Tukaram maharaj was always curious to learn about his mixed audience of sincere and not so sincere listeners .He says” there are four types listeners in my congregation , one that listens but are half asleep. Second that listens but also chats with person sitting next , third that listens but has enough doubts to adopt or implement a change for good and finally the fourth that listens , adopts , implements and spreads the essence of my kirtans! It would be wise for us all mortals to be in class four of the great saint if we want to attain moksha in this life. In 21^st century, we all are a distracted and disturbed lot with no peace of mind. There is no time slot in our daily routine for a simple meditation nor for saying a silent prayer dedicated to our creator . We seriously need to change it at our earliest .

MOST MISUNDERSTOOD MORTAL

While” mother” has been singularly given the highest place of honor in the society by all the preachers in all the religions practiced by the mortals ,”father “seems to get the place of the most misunderstood mortal in the society ! Tukaram is an exception indeed who gave a place of great honor to fatherhood . The great saint specially mentions the name of Shri Vitthala Pant ,(father of Saint Dyneshwar ) in many of his well known kirtans. The great saint identifies the sacrifices of a father , the struggles to earn adequate money to feed his family , the capacity to absolve the abuses of the society , to stand up to the great expectations of his children to rise in life and last but not the list the efforts required to to keep his family safe and sound in difficult times . The great saint further points out that “ a father can never shed tears to relive his pains , sorrow , sadness , disappointments , losses and many negative feelings . He has to show his braveness , and manliness in times of distress , disasters , dangers and even while facing death. A father has to stand steadfast in all adversities and face the situation head on.” Being born in a farmer ‘s family he noticed that “the an ox ( Bull) works far harder and in adverse conditions of winter , summer and rainy season in the open field along with the farmer in the open field while a cow stays in far greater comfort of a shade ! Some where Tukaram’s simple innocent mind found similarity between a father plight and a bull’s plight .It seems quite apt in a way . The cow’s milk replaces the mother’s milk in near perfect way while nursing a child so cow gets a valued status too. Tukaram concludes that a mortal is a silent sufferer in the role of a father and deserves equal respect and love from the society.

DO WE NEED A SAINT TO BE BORN TO SALVGE US IN TODAY’s TIMES?

In my humble opinion ,YES ! We do need Tukaram to be reborn to salvage us all from this treacherous world infested with druggists, thugs , thieves , mafias , political hoodlums , rapists . maniacs , psychopaths and hard core criminals . I am not at all a negative personality , in fact many of us are still able to live near normal lives even today is only because of the 10% of decency is out witting 90 % of indecency prevailing in all the countries of the world !

 I pray that we will soon change for better after been taught a great lesson by COVID -19 as to fragile is life and the mortal relationships are .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 41

42. TUKARAM‘s QUESTION TO HIS GURU DYNESHWAR MAHARAJ.

At the initial stage of his quest to reach at the feet of his beloved God ,VITTHAL , he was baffled by one question that is “why every mortal born has to complete his /her journey through a slotted pattern of life . He noted that no matter where the mortal was born he/she lived a very carved out life founded by the human society. There was no escape for any one from any strata of society(rich or poor) but live a typical worldly life of a family (close or extended relationship),do a job for earning living , feel sad for personal losses and elated for gains and pleasures , have friends and foes as per relationship , show love , hate, jealousy, appreciation and many such trends while living in the society till death . There was no room or time for showing love for the creator ( God). How could anyone escape from such a imprisonment of personal freedom and thoughts? ,was the question that was haunting the mind of the great saint . Dyneshwar simplified it for Tukaram “ You live like others do but do not attach your mind to any of the worldly things and dedicate your every karma and action to Lord Vitthal and expect nothing in return from any mortal you deal with “ The great saint took that so seriously that when he lost his first wife he profusely thanked God for reducing one of his fatal attraction! Similar was the reaction when he lost his riches , farms and his young son too. We mortals could think it as extreme cruelty on part of Tukaram the mortal But cruelty it was only to himself as an mortal but total submission to will and wishes of Lord Vitthal . The great saint’s famous abhang is based on his ultimate dedication to his beloved God –Lord Vitthal where he says “ See Vitthal , breathe Vitthal , Eat Vitthal , drink Vitthal , live Vitthal , smile Vitthal, cry Vittahl in short there is no karma and action without the God being with you at all times till you breathe even then he is with you ! This was the state of mind of the great saint when he started to sing his kirtans.

We need to believe in his every word if we wish attend moksha in least no of births and deaths cycles.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 42.

43. MORTAL’s OUT-LOOK TOWARDS LIFE & WORLDLY AFFAIRS.

Tukaram was once asked by his Guru “as to why he dislikes the worldly and routine family life of a common mortal?” Tukaram’s reply was simple but had a very deep meaning in it . The great saint replied” The mundane and routine life that a mortal lives takes more out of him /her than it gives back to them “. The guru asked Tukaram to make his reply more explicit which he did. He said “from the day we mortals are born till we die we are bound by society made social rules and set of parameters inculcated in our mind set and out-look prevents us from causing a change for better by changing our out –look and the way we do our daily family routine .” The great saint further emphasized” that it is absolutely necessary to detach and free our minds from getting chained in things which are ultimately useless to us and take us way from God and attaining moksha. “ . How right he was then and how right and valid his teachings are today in 21^st century. The only way to reach God’s feet is to do good karmas only and dedicate them to Vitthal and further do not expect any reward or awards in return.

Life is very fragile, unpredictable and cruel to we all mortals .

Throughout his life , Tukaram enlightened all the people within his reach “that a mortal’s life is very vulnerable , fragile , unpredictable and can be very cruel, pathetic and sad in literal sense. Therefore it is imperative that and prudent foe every mortal not to waste the precious life in trifle things and mend our ways for a better change so that we work towards attending the moksha .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 43.

44.

 HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO ADOPT TUKARAM’S GUIDANCE?

The foremost question in the mind of Tukaram was always as to “how difficult would it be for an ordinary mortal to adopt his advise and implement it in his/her daily life ?” He made up his mind to show the easiest and most practical way for the worldly involved and ordinary mortals of his times. The great saint was fully aware of his social responsibility that he must guide the fellow mortals towards attaining moksha and save them from birth /death cycle . It was an uphill task for the great saint to convince humanity at large to give up worldly possessions , pleasures and possessions earned from ill-gotten money by doing bad karmas . But Tukaram had great faith in his God & Friend (Vitthal )so he went ahead with his mission “Singing kiratns in his sweet melodious , affectionate and soothing voice carrying the message of love and ultimate trust in God. The great saint managed to convince many millions that one could be involved in his /her daily life but do not get attached o anything as we all have to go empty handed !

 Is it not a fact of life ?

  Jai Hari Vitthal 44.

45.

CLEAN MIND.

Tukaram once asked his guru “what is the most important and essential prerequisite a mortal should have to be accepted by God?” Promptly came the reply from the guru “a clean mind”. Guru further told him a story that fully convinced Tukaram. The story is as follows,“There lived a farmer and his family comprised of his wife and a two years old male child. The farmer was very fond of his son and used to pick him up in his arms as soon as he returned in the evening after toiling in the field. One day when he came home as usual the child came running towards him to be picked up! But the farmer brushed him aside shouting “why are you so dirty and unclean today? The bewildered child started crying loudly for his mother. The farmer’s wife rushed towards the child and picked him up in her arms. She angrily told her husband “why are you so harsh today to your child”? The farmer replied “Why is he so unclean and dirty today? Please wash him and put clean clothes on him so that I can take in my loving arms! The mother did just that and son was back in his father’s lap feeling happy and secured”. The Guru then told Tukaram that “God only likes those mortals who have a clean mind”. Tukaram carried this valuable message from his Guru in his kiratns to convince we all mortals that “ it is very important and essential for everyone to work towards developing a clean mind at the earliest part of their life time so that God accepts them at the earliest and blesses them to do good karmas.

CLEANSING OF MIND

Tukaram’s immediate mission was to find out the simplest , easiest and practical ways as to how to do cleansing of the mind while carrying out daily routine life of a mortal . The great saint fully realized the practical obstacles that hampered the process of cleansing the sick mind . In his kirtans , he tackled each obstacle faced by the mortals that prevented the process of cleaning of the mind towards purity. It was long and difficult journey for the great saint. He found that most mortals were victims of those habits that gave them quick riches , instant pleasures and immediate gains at the cost of sinful deeds and a life style of bad karmas . Tukaram convinced most of the mortals that short term gains earned through sick and unclean mind will give very short lived happiness and satisfaction in true sense where as by cleansing our mind we get moksha .

NOTHING BELONGS TO US.

Every one of us is fully aware of the fact that nothing belongs to us really and yet we pretend that our possessions are going to be with us eternally! Why can’t’ we accept the reality of a mortal’s life that “we came with nothing and we carry back nothing”. When we all attend the funeral and last rites of our beloved ones there is one foolish thought that blocks the mindset to face the reality that one day we would brought there for sure. And yet after returning from the sad reality we all are back at our games of life! Why do we not learn that even our own forms ( physical being –body) is on a time charter from our creator! Tukaram tried to convince the humanity at large but it seems he did fail in his noble mission because had he succeeded the proof would be a a happy and safe world to live with no crimes and no negativity what so ever .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 45.

46.

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM GOD.

“Gita” as spoken by Lord Krishna to the warrior Arjun at the battlefield is the single most document that accounts for God’s best advice to we mortals as to how to do right karma at the right time at the right place. Had Mahabharata not occurred we would have been deprived of Gita ! But if there was no Dyneshwar ever born, then knowledge of Gita would not have been available ever to mankind. What a loss it would have been indeed! The words of wisdom by Krishna were meant to simply motivate Arjun to pick up arms for the right cause at the right time and at the right place but Dyneshwar saw a huge sustainability in those words of God that had almost infinite potential for mortals to help choose right path to attain moksha .Dyneshwar simplified Gita so that common mortal could understand the knowledge and message in it . So he chose simple words to explain the very essential essence of the Gita that would guide any common mortal to live clean life leading to clean and good karmas which in turn result into attaining moksha. There is nothing static in the dynamic world created by God. So in comes Tukaram who picks up Dyneshwari and simplified it further into melodious and rhythmical bhjans sung in the kiratans. It worked like magic for mortals . They got drowned in the ecstasy of the words “ Jai Hari Vitthal and Jai Jai Ram Krishna Hari”.

SIMILARITY IN WORDS OF WISDOM OF KRISHNA AND TUKARAM .

The great Maratha king Shivaji was fascinated by the Kirtans of Tukaram . He used to disguise himself as a commoner of the village and attend the kirtans of the great saint . He wanted to take advise from Tukaram as to how to protect local Hindus from Moghul invaders . Shivaji was looking for a guidance as to how save temples , culture and traditions of Hindu community from total destruction . Tukaram advised Shivaji in no uncertain terms to raise and lead a strong and motivated army of Mavalas ( local people)to fight the enemy . The great saint almost repeated the same words as said by Krishna to Arjun . The effect on Shivaji was the same as on Arjun . Shivaji never again looked back and led the marathas against moguls with great effect.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 46.

47.

PRESEVING “NATURE” IS WORSHIPPING

Tukaram was very nature loving saint. He strongly promoted conservation of forest, prevention of cutting of young and healthy trees for cooking and construction work in those times. Through his daily kirtans in various villages, he would convey his concern for the Nature. Following heartwarming story would perhaps drive the point home; One day Tukaram was travelling through Kokan (Mango country). It was mango season and the trees were in full bloom with golden color (Alphonso-Hapus) mangoes. The great saint spotted a dozen children throwing stones at the trees loaded with the juicy fruit. He requested them not to throw stones that will cause scars to the tree trunk and branches. The some of the senior children recognized the great saint and apologized to him for doing wrong act! However, Tukaram requested all the children to sit down under the cool shade of the green mango tree. He then said “Year after year, this tree gives us sweet mangoes throughout its plant life , it gives us relief from the heat of the sun light and it protects us from the heavy down pour in the monsoon rains, In return it asks us only a small favor of minimum care and protecting it from unwonted destruction. It is our duty to protect every plant , every tree and the green grass so that we all can be healthy and live in beautiful surroundings.” The children swore in front of the great saint never to hurt a tree during their life time! Tukaram says”to help preserve nature , to nurse nature and to love nature is as good if not better than worshipping Vitthal in a manmade temple. ” The greatest thinker and philosopher of India Swami Vivekananda has the same message for we all mortals. At his Rock Temple at Kanya Kumari no flowers are offered at the feet of his statue. There is a strong message engraved “Do not offer flowers to me, they are meant to be left on the plants as per the wishes of their creator”

  Jai Hari Vitthal 47.

48.

GOD LIVES IN SOUL NOT IN STONE STATUE!

During his long, tiresome and arduous travels on his feet Tukaram traversed hundreds of miles to reach out the people and lead them towards God’s feet and help attain moksha during their present life. The great saint noticed a visible fault in the approach of the common mortal to attain moksha . Tukaram noticed that rituals and temple based worshipping was a preferred route adopted by every mortal. He noticed that this was mainly due to the wrong influence of Brahmin priests who had turned worshipping of god into a virtual business of great profit. They planned different types of prayers and rituals (pujas) for obtaining variety of blessings from God! Tukaram also observed that poor and less fortunate mortals could not perform these expensive rituals. He decided to step in to eradicate these absurd and meaningless notions once for all. It was an uphill task to change these malpractices but Tukaram managed to stem and reverse the tide through his bhjans and kirtans. He said “ Do not search God in manmade stone statues ( Murties) find him in your own self (soul).Vitthal is omnipotent and is present in every one of us mortals . We need to reach out to him through good karmas.”

At this point, I wish to share a true experience of one of my cousin who has been a Vitthal worshipper for many years . The following story is exactly the way I was told byArjun.

 “One day me and my wife decided to visit (unplanned) Pandharpur Vitthal Mandir. We took the first bus available from Nagpur bus stand . We reached Pandharpur bus stand at an unearthly hour of 1AM! There was no transportation available. We were both worried when suddenly a Tonga ( horse driven carriage)came towards us. The driver (Tongawala)was an old man with white beard and looked concerned about us . He said “ I am on my way to home .Can I help you to drop you at the dharamshala (Charity place) of the mandir where you could rest and then you can go for the Vitthal darshan in the morning.” We accepted the gracious offer and sat in his Tonga. We reached the dharamshala. As we got down from the Tonga and asked him for the fare to be paid for the ride he just smiled and said “I was on my way home so I just gave you a ride up to this place on the way.” Then he simply drove away and vanished in the darkness of the night with a promise that he will pick up us in the morning and take to the Vitthal mandir! We rested and in the morning were ready to visit the temple. We were waiting at the gate of the dharmshala for the Tonga. About half an hour later a three wheeler scooter rickshaw driver who was watching us from the road side came near us and said “what are you waiting for? I can drop you at the temple” We told him that we were waiting for the Tonga. He was amused and said” last Tonga that operated here in Pandharpur was almost 20 years ago! Which Tongawala could drop you here last night?” We were shocked to hear his words but in seconds we recovered from the shock and it dawned on us that God came in the disguise of a Tongawala and helped us in our need of the hour! Arjun and his wife sat in the rickshaw wondering was there any need now to visit the temple at all!

Arjun( my cousin) has been an absolute devotee of lord Kishna from hi searly childhood .We all mortals must believe in miracles that happen to us . I have already shared mine before but some miracles may be so personal that one need to share with God only.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 48.

49.

DONATION

Tukaram has explained in minute details the importance of donation in the life time of a mortal. The great saint encouraged to people to donate anything in excess, things we do not use after acquiring them, things we do not need but we possess them because we have wealth and so on. To donate in the name of God is also considered as a noble act or a good karma that helps you to attain moksha. Tukaram has classified and simplified the meaning of each type of donations and their effects on the mortal. He was able to understand and analyzed each act/type of donation that mortals could do in their entire life time.

As per the judgment of the great saint following are some well known donations by those mortals who are convinced that we bring nothing when we are born and we take nothing when we die;

 Donation for charitable purpose (Dharmarth Dan)

Mortals of different faiths give money to their charitable trusts or funds to help out the have not’s from various situations. This type of donation gives the donor society honor , respect and love of the people.

 Donation in cash ( Roak dan)

Cash rich mortals give cash for immediate relief for needy people. This type of donation gives the donor a sense of elevated feeling of helping others and brings fame and name to him/her in the society

 Donation in kind (Vastu Dan)

Whenever, we give away anything in kind it give s us a unique feeling of peace at heart for helping a needy fellow mortal. This type of donation helps us to reduce our false attachments to material things and teaches us to part with things we do not need and we also learn to sacrifice personal needs.

 Donation of labor ( Shrama Dan)

When we do not have cash to part with or we are not sufficiently well off to donate anything at all then the least one can do is to physically work for a good cause. The sweat and blood energy spent by the donor keeps our body healthy and clean. In return the recipients of your labor simply adore and admire you for ever.

 Donation of Knowledge (Vidya Dan)

When we have no other capabilities except to share knowledge and wisdom with other around us we do one of the greatest and highly valued donation of knowledge which can make others more capable and able to earn their own living and improve their living conditions for ever. This helps the donor to attend an enviable status of a Guru in the eyes of mortal. The status of Guru is at par if not higher than God itself! In fact, Tukaram did nothing but donated his knowledge of how to reach at God’s feet and attain moksha. His kirtans were the mode through which he donated his Gyan (knowledge)

 Donation of Food( Aana Dan)

To share food and water with a hungry and starving mortal is the greatest act of humanity in the eyes of God. It excels any other donation that a mortal is capable of. The donor gets the feeling of feeding God itself in a mortal. It is a virtue unparalleled for sure!.

 Giving away of daughter in a marriage ( Kanya Dan)

This donation is only to bring out importance and high light the dignity and honor of a female’s parents who help bring up a decent girl child to become an ideal mother of tomorrow. The donor parents feel a great sense of pride and happiness that they have helped God’ procreation plan for the mortals!

 Donate Blood ( Rakta Dan)

The blood transfusion technique was not there in Tukaram’s time.

It goes as a great tribute to modern mortal’s ability to develop the technology of safe blood transfusion and I am sure God has taken note of this donation and has made it as one of the most virtuous act on the part of the donor.

 Donation of Vital Organs ( during life time or at death )

This type of donation is also possible now days only because of technological progress in medical sciences. Here too , I am sure God will have special blessings for the souls who did such a donation in their life time on earth

  Jai hari Vitthal 49.

50. Today is a very special day .It is “International Women’s Day” being celebrated and observed with a lot of dignity and honor of the women of the world. There was no such declared and dedicated day to glorify, honor and respect womanhood in Tukaram’s era but it is a well known historical fact that the greatest saint and king of human Wisdom& Intellect Saint Dnyaeshwar (also known as Jnaneshwar) maharaj had written down words of respect and love with greatest reverence for his mother Rukmini Bai and sister Mukta Tai. The importance of different roles played a woman mortal during her life time has been mentioned by him in his immortal Dnyaneshwari writings. What he said about womanhood in 13^th century was further brought up by Tukaram 4 centuries later in his abhangs and sung in his kirtans. He opined that for a soul to be born as a female in birth/death cycle is a blessing from God because it is a superior human form for a mortal where the soul could perform more good karmas without much efforts there by attaining moksha mush earlier. It is an undisputed and unarguable fact that a male mortal commits /is capable and vulnerable to committing unimaginable crimes, atrocities, rapes, murders, create wars. A male mortal is born within with selfishness, cruelty, lust, uncontrollable wants, and many in built social drawbacks. The great saint also points out the superiority quotient blessed to a soul born as a female mortal. Throughout her life, a woman in the role of a mother only gives but never asks anything in return. She lives the life of generous giver, sacrifices herself for the family, and never ever wants to be recognized for her goodness dished out through of her life time.

I personally pray that if I have to be reborn again as a mortal I would like to be blessed by God to be given a female human form so I would be closer to attaining moksha

  Jai Hari Vitthal 50.

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