FEBRUARY 9, 2002: Today is about 3.00 am, Sunday of February 10, 2002 when it is about 3.00 pm
in Edmonton on Saturday of February 9, 2002.
I was studying brhmah-sutra bhaasya of shree shankaraa-chaarya.
And in studying Chapter 2.1.33-34-35, shree shankaraa-chaarya asked me to
refer to slok 4.11 of bhagvad gitaa. The combination of all these studies
inspired me to convey the bhagvad gitaa slok 4.11 as a prayer for the
entire duration of the PVAF/gujaraat taalukaa
conference which will start about 10.00 am on Sunday, February 10,
2001 in bilimoraa.
As an after thought I will pray for shree chandrakantbhai
and his wife shreemati
pravatiben and for all those who will be meeting him during his
17-day trip....on this trip on behalf of PVAF, shree chandrakantbhai
is to listen to his fellow prajaapatio as to how they wish to educate
their children and themselves to remove all the life barriers they are facing in
their daily lives...some of these life barriers appear to be eternally
continuing from generation to generation...but as shree
krishna bhagvan advised us in bhagvad gitaa that knowledge
is the only thing that we will possess eternally and knowledge is the only thing
that will remove all the dukh of our life barriers in our lives....so
today at the start of this conference let us all pray in our own different ways
but with the theme stated in slok 4.11 of bhagvad gitaa......to receive knowledge
through education which will free us all from life barriers and
empower us to have dharmik and prosperous lives as per our individual
wishes.....
The prayer for today's conference and eternity to
come is from slok
4.11 of bhagvad gitaa:
ye
yathaa maan pra-pad-yante taan-sta-thaivya bhjaa-mya-ham |
mama
vartamaa-nu-vart-nante manushya: paartha sarvash: ||
Whoever
in whatever way will approach me, I will reward them in the same way they
approach me;
humans
follow paths which lead to me, arjun.
shree shankaraa-chaarya has the following commentary to explain
this slok to us. The commentary is converted in easy prose form and with additional
input without corrupting the meaning of the original commentary:
bhagvaan says:
Humans can approach me for refuge in whatsoever manner that suits their
individual guno. They can ask me for whatever fruits they wish. I will bless
them and grant them the fruits they wish.
I know most of them will ask Me for fruits they can use in this sansaar.
But very few will ask Me for moksh
which will free them from sansaar. sansaar only gives humans cycles
of sukh and dukh.
But moksh will give them eternal aanand.
But one cannot ask Me for both fruits for sansaar and moksh
at the same time.
I know that every human has his/her own life aims and needs. And I
satisfy their personal aims and needs.
However, a few of the humans wish for fruits or needs. These few humans
wish only moksh. To those who seek moksh I grant
gnan (knowledge). To those who have gnan
I grant them moksh.
To those who suffer dukh in life I grant them relief by removing
their suffering by removing dukh. Thus, I grant my devotees whatever
they wish. I grant them their wish in whatever way they approach me.
The ways of approaching me are many and infinite. The paths leading to me
are many and infinite. One can approach me through any dev
or and devi. These devo
and devio are my own svarup
(manifestation of different kinds). One can also approach me directly.
When various humans approach me I have no partiality towards any of
them.
I also do not have any moh
(illusory love), raag (physical
or emotional attachment) or dvesh (aversion)
to any of them.
What bhagvaan is saying is that we all are different, with different ideas,
different views and attitudes and with different want and needs. But at the
end of the day we all are His children. He treats us all without any
discrimination. As His children we must live together in harmony and helping
each other as sevaa to Him.
That is in essence what Prajaapati Vishva Aashram
Foundation (PVAF) is about. PVAF is meant to bring us all
together under the one house of bhagvaan. In this bhagvaan's
house we should help each other to learn how to make a rotlo we must eat every
day....sometime we have to share our rotlo
with others as sevaa to bhagvaan.... this sharing of rotlo is
with our own family, relatives, samaj and with all other peoples of different gnati
(tribes), races and faiths.....and let us
remember that this is why we are all gathered here today in the house of
bhagvaan.. we must also remember that His krupaa has brought us all together
here today....let us pray that He will always keep us together under his
surakshaa (refuge)..
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