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Nice Tip for Remembering Your Vaats

Jay SwamiNarayan all,

This year, Dinkar Uncle has asked us all to read and learn 10 SwamiNi Vaats.  If you have not yet received yours, please contact us and we will make sure you received your random selection!

Tejalben had a very nice tip to remember the vaats: think of the stories we have heard with similar messages.  By remembering the person/moral, it is easier to jog our memory with the words to our vaats.  For example, remembering Jadbharat and the deer baby is an easy way to remember a vaat about attachment.

Do any of you have any tips?

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Happy New Year!!!

Jay SwamiNarayan and Happy New Year!

Here's to an exciting New Year in which we increase our efforts to be more sincere, more dedicated, and more of a reflection of our Guru and SwamiNarayan Bhagwan's teachings.

A New Year's message from Dinkar Uncle:

Jay SwamiNarayan.

Happy New Year to you all. We need to keep remembering HD Kakaji and all Gunatit Swaroops and their ways of pleasing their Masters. Maharaj will bless us all.  Let this coming year be the best year for us by reciting at least 10 Swamini Vato, 1 Vachanamrut, Shikshapatri, Patrasanjeevanee, Jevame Nirkhyaare, Purushottam Bolya Preete and such Gunatit Knowledge books. Also Chanting the powerful SwamiNarayan Mantra will bring positive vibrations.

Jay SwamiNarayan.

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Jay SwamiNarayan! Guru wants us to be more aware of the teachings SwamiNarayan Bhagwan has given to us in how to act and conduct ourselves.  Bhagwan did this for our own protection; if we make an effort to create these habits then situations around us would become more divine, and wayward opportunities would not have the chance to arise.   SwamiNarayan Bhagwan has granted us so much protection if we adhere to these simple guidelines.

Bhagwan and Guru are our well-wishers! 

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Don't tell God that you have a big problem...

Tell your problem you have a big GOD

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Jay SwamiNarayan!

We had a wonderful time in Wisconsin!  Relaxed, talked about our favorite Vachnamruts, and enjoyed the pool! 

What a nice way to spend the holiday - with divine family!

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What is our paksh? Are we an attorney? Or a judge?

                           Once, two sadhus were explaining Vachnamrut Middle 61 to the mayor of the town of Limbdi.  In this Vachnamrut, SwamiNarayan Bhagwan explains niyam, nischay, and paksh.  The mayor accepted the first two things but he did not agree with paksh.  He said "Fair is fair.  If a devotee did something wrong, he should be punished."

The sadhus tried to explain that requires making a judgment; if you are a lawyer for the plaintiff, you will broaden your perspective of the situation and save your client in any way possible.  In that way, the saint explained we want to be the lawyer, not the judge.  The mayor still disagreed.  This discussion was going on, and when Shastriji Maharaj came in,  he overheard it while washing his hands.  He casually enquired about the conversation and the sadhus told him the mayor was not agreeing about paksh. 

So Shastriji Maharaj reminded the mayor about his nephew.  This nephew has engaged in bad deeds when he was drinking and even killed someone in a neighboring town.  When that had happened, the nephew was put in jail.  When the mayor found out about his nephew, he went to that nearby town and talked to him at the jail.  He told his nephew, “Dear nephew, don’t worry, I will get you out within 24 hours.” So the uncle used his influence, power, bribery, etc and got his nephew out.  Shastriji Maharaj reminded him of this, and asked "If you did so much for your nephew when he was bad, can you not do the same for a satsangi if they do less of a crime?"  The mayor immediately agreed.

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Happy SwamiNarayan Bhagwan's Birthday!!!

This is the English translation of P. P. Bharatbhai's daily message on this most divine day.  Many thanks to P. Devenbhai Schroff for this email.

II Swami Shreeji II

April 20, 2013, Saturday

Chaitra Sud 9, V.S. 2069

  O Maharaj ! O Swami!, O Guruhari Kakaji! O All Gunatit Swaroops! Please make a Gunatit Sadhu out of us.

  The six intentions/motives behind the manifestation of Shreeji Maharaj.

1. Establishing and spreading the Ekantik dharma.

2. To offer bliss to His Mother and Father.

3. To grant birth into the human race on Earth, along with their idols (ishtadev) , to all the elevated souls residing in various Abodes of God and training them to be perfect in His worship, making them brahm-roop (a replica of the brahm), making them worthy of Akshardham.

4. To look for and find spiritually aspirant souls, whether in forests, places of pilgrimage or mountains or wherever located and make them grounded in unflinching faith of His own Swaroop.

  5. To explain His trans-Akshar [ one that lies beyond the Akshar ], Purna Purushottam Swaroop and by enforcing compliance of celibacy in its purest form, with faith, attach [devotees] to His moorti.

  6. To liberate the souls in captivity [of duality] through His worship.

-  "Swaminarayan Bhagwat",  page number 539

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Remember this: whether your wants are to do with your job, marriage, money, clothing or shelter - you will not have to ask for this. The reason is that SwamiNarayan Bhagwan has already asked for these boons from his Guru Ramanand Swami: "none of my followers should suffer the pain of lack of food, shelter, or clothing. If my follower is destined to suffer the pain of one scorpion sting, let me suffer the pain of a thousand scorpion stings, but release my follower from all suffering." We have heard this, we know this, but still we keep forgetting. Bhagwan SwamiNarayan has released us from our destined suffering and already granted us two boons for our comfort, and if we still keep demanding - then that is our sheer foolishness!

P. P. Saheb in weekly sabha in Vidyanagar, March 20, 2012, as translated by Bhavisha Tailor in Bhramanizar, Sept 2012.

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Anand karo, bhai! Anand karo!

We want to remain in consciousness with our soul, beyond the duality of happiness and sadness that is determined by the mind, in a state of “Anand!” from within. This quality will flow from inside to outside, and others will see our anand reflecting from within. “Our inner bliss, our inner happiness is the quality that we are really interested in. We want to focus on that.  Antarni masti kyare na jaaye. Our zeal, our happiness, our bliss and anand should not go away, no matter what happens.” - DInkar Uncle, 3/1/2013 Friday Sabha

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Attn ALL SATSANG MANDAL: 5 Lakh malano sankalp

Jay SwamiNarayan, In order to celebrate the samaiya of P.P. Kakaji Maharaj and P.P. Pappaji Maharaj Shatabadi Mahotsav in Paris, please find in the attachment the request letter to all our mandals to join the special bhajan on this occasion. We would like to complete 5 to 7 lakh malas (50000 to 70000 hours) of bhajan within 3 months all together. For that we need all of your's participation. The bhaktos from  Paris & London mandal, join on a conference call system everyday from 9AM to 10 AM and 9PM to 10 PM french time to do the dhun all together. Jay Swaminarayan sevak varsha n ankur ( ડેડી ની આજ્ઞાથી )

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One who has conquered his mind has conquered the world. Conquer your conscious mind with Japyagna and Smruti. Instantly forget the sub-conscious conflicts revealed in your dreams. Allow the Lord to take care of them - Pappa

According to the principles of Akshar-Purushottam, to conquer the mind is to acknowledge and accept all those associated with Maharaj i.e. his samband-walas, as ‘souls in the process of purification’ and to control the mind such that it only allows those thoughts, speech and actions which will please the Pratyaksh Swaroop. This is known as practising and applying Gunatit Sthit Pragnata.

Over millions of years, our minds and chitta have accumulated their own beliefs and formulated their own opinions. Once we have attained a single-minded conviction towards the Pratyaksh Swaroop, formed a bond with Him, then we should obey His commands sincerely whilst believing that He is omniscient. If we fail to practice this sincerely, but we repent, pray and continue doing mahatmya-yukt séva, then no matter how formidable our fate (prarabhdhas), due to the grace and blessings of the Pratyaksh Swaroop who has been pleased by our endeavours, our fate will change, becoming ‘Akshardham na prarabdhas’. There have been many such examples where P. Yogiji Maharaj has blessed and ameliorated his devotees’ prarabhdhas.

Thus as the attachment of our soul, intellect and heart towards the Pratyaksh Swaroop intensifies, if we endeavour to discard laziness and carelessness, remain humble and obey His commands sincerely then all the sins and egotistical prarabhdhas from our past lives will be purified and new destinies - ‘Akshardham na prarabdhas’ will be born.

Even as the devotee obeys the commands of the Lord with his conscious mind, the subconscious mind, which is the inner-mind will cause him distress as it reveals memories of past prarabdhas in his dreams. The devotee will become alarmed and distressed that he is experiencing such dreams even though he worships the Lord, performs mahatmya-yukt séva and practices japyagna.

However, Maharaj has said that even the mightiest, i.e. those who are considered to be spiritually enlightened suffered from such conflicts of the subconscious. The Lord, who rewards the soul according to his deeds (Karma-fal-data) is the custodian of these conflicts. We should try to forget such dreams, we should not ponder upon them, but should thrust them into the custody of the Lord. The reason for this is that we have no knowledge of what has become rooted in our inner-minds, the Lord has this knowledge, thus let Him take care of it. We should simply concentrate on our conscious mind and focus it on living according to the Lord’s wishes and commands.

This is a very practical method to conquer the mind, taken from the Gunatit Jyot website.  P.P. Pappaji has explained it in such a way that it is too simple not to try!

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The logical mind may not understand how the Gunatit Saints always work in our favor!!