There Are Four Types Of Pious People🔗

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THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM caturvidhā bhajante māṃ janāḥ sukṛtino'rjuna ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha

O Bharatarṣabha, best among Bhārata, four kinds of piousmen begin to render devotional service unto Me. they are: the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and those searching for knowledge of the Absolute.

The first are the people who are distressed, i.e., the working class or śūdra. The second are the people who desire wealth, i.e., the business people or vaiśya. The third are inquisitive people, like a kṣatriya who never rests because he constantly asks, 'What next? What next? What next?' The fourth is the person who searches for knowledge of the Absolute: He is a brāhmaṇa.

teṣāṃ jñānī nityayukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate priyo hi jñānino'tyartham ahaṃ sa ca mama priyaḥ

Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge and ever united with Me through single-minded devotion is the best. I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me

When you devote yourself to the divine mission, you become a devotee. That is when you become dear to Him.

udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānītvātmaiva me matam āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā māmevānuttamāṃ gatim

All these devotees are indeed noble; one who knows Me, dwells in Me. Being engaged in My mission, he attains Me.

Kṛṣṇa says beautifully that He is in you and you are in Him. The moment you understand this ultimate Truth, the moment you approach the Divine with the right attitude, you become the Divine bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavānmāṃ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvamiti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ

After many births and deaths, he who knows Me surrenders to Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

with a living enlightened Master, we need to transform our life. We need to experience the truth

Kṛṣṇa now goes deeper. In prayer, we pray to God; in meditation, we become God! Prayers give us immediate results. Praying to that higher principle or to the Divine is not wrong, yet it is not enough. Whereas in meditation, we become that higher principle or the Divine to which we constantly pour out our prayers. This is permanent. The Divine is nothing but a mirror; we see our own reflection. And whatever we do to the Divine comes back to us. The more we understand, the more we grow and relate with the Divine in a more mature way.

In the words of the SPH,

I have seven kinds of people who approach me: One, people who approach me out of greed; two, people who approach me out of fear; three, people who approach me out of worry; four, people who approach me for name and fame; five, people who approach me out of jealousy and comparison; six, people who approach me out of ego, to strengthen their ego by saying, 'I am a disciple of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

I am close to him. He knows my name.' Just to have ego satisfaction they come to swamiji; finally, seven—there are a few, very few who approach swamijij out of gratitude. At different levels, people approach the Master or God. The more mature we are, the more we will feel connected to that person who will give us fulfillment. When we become mature, when we are above fear and greed, we will approach the same Master, the same God, with more maturity, with more intimacy. We will feel deeply connected to him

In Bhāgavatam (Hindu epic glorifying devotion onto incarnations), we learn about five different attitudes with which we normally relate with a Master or God:

Dāsa Bhāva—seeing God as a lord or master and oneself as a servant, as with Hanumān who saw Rāma as his master and served Him as a path for liberation. Vātsalya Bhāva seeing God as a divine child, as with Yaśodā who saw Kṛṣṇa as her son. Sakha Bhāva—seeing God or the master as a friend, the way Arjuna related with Kṛṣṇa. Mātṛ Bhāva—seeing God or the master as a father or mother, the way Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa related with goddess Kāli (representation of the divine mother). Finally, the fifth attitude is madhura bhāva—seeing God as a beloved, the way Radhā saw Kṛṣṇa.

This attitude needs a tremendous amount of maturity. Only if we experience the consciousness which is beyond the body, can we relate with the Divine with the attitude of a beloved, madhura bhāva.

The more mature we are, the more the gratitude happens.

The less the maturity, the more we fill our life with prayers. Prayer is greed; confession is fear!

'Gratitude is the greatest prayer, and thank you, the greatest mantra.' When we go beyond prayer and confession, we experience gratitude.

We experience the Divine.

Kṛṣṇa explains how we can grow step-by-step, how we can reach the ultimate maturity, how we can create and experience the Divine at the ultimate level.

Based on how we approach the Divine, only based on how mature we are, the whole community system has been created. How much we enrich and share with society depends on how mature we are. With the same maturity, we approach God also.If we feel money is missing in our lives, we go to the God who gives money. If we miss knowledge, we go to Sarasvatī (the goddess of knowledge), who gives knowledge.

If we feel insecure, we go to the god who protects us; we go to Mother Durgā or Kāli. If we miss spiritual experience, the ultimate experience, then we go to the divine incarnations, the ultimate expressions of the Divine.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Four types of people come to Me caturvidhā bhajante māṁ ' He explains the four types as four communities. The first are the people who are distressed, i.e., the working class or śūdra. The second are the people who desire wealth, i.e., the business people or vaiśya. The third are inquisitive people who continuously enquire, continuously ask, 'Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim?' (What next?) A kṣatriya, for example, never rests because he constantly asks, 'What next? What next? What next?'

The fourth is the person who searches for knowledge of the Absolute: He is a brāhmaṇa.'

They experience Him in different ways, according to their maturity. As long as you are caught in fear or greed, you will be attracted and go only to those types of gods.

It is easy to go to a temple and pray, but difficult to go to a living Master and meditate. It is for mature people, not for everyone. In the temple we see thousands; but in spiritual places, we see a few hundred. It is not for all; it's a luxury!

The person who approaches Me out of love and gratitude, is the best person, for I am dear to him and he is dear to Me.' By this one verse, Kṛṣṇa ends the whole conversation, the whole concept Kṛṣṇa says, 'Starting at different levels is ok, but don't stop there."

We can start or take off from any level. However we should not stop and stagnate there. It is like failing to proceed to the second standard from the first.

It is as if we want to stay in the same cozy, familiar level.

It takes many lifetimes to understand and achieve this maturity. A common saying is, 'As many Masters, so many paths.'

However Swamiji says, 'As many disciples, so many paths!' The Master may utter the same truth to his disciples, yet each understands and interprets in his or her own way.

They all approach the Divine, but from different planes. Hence the attitude, the context with which one approaches matters how one experiences the Divine.

Here Kṛṣṇa says, 'Out of these, the wise is always devoted to Me. He is the best person.' To start with, you can start at any level, yet you must strive to reach the Ultimate. And please don't think, 'Oh! Kṛṣṇa says it will take many lives; let me take some more lives and become mature. ' No! If you can enter into the knowledge this moment, the experience can happen to you this very moment. You don't need to postpone. Every moment is a new birth for you and every moment is death. The outgoing breath is death, and the incoming breath is birth. So be very clear, every moment you die and take birth. This moment can be a new birth for you. The person who understands this truth takes a new birth.

Kṛṣṇa says: ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ— He is dear to Me, and I am dear to him. He is in Me and I am in him. Kṛṣṇa says beautifully that He is in you and you are in Him. The moment you understand this ultimate Truth, the moment you approach the Divine with the right attitude, you become the Divine. All you need to do is chang your attitude. Over! Change your inner space and the whole thing is done

One important thing. The Master or the Divine is in you only when you engage yourself in enriching service to Him. When you devote yourself to the divine mission, you become a devotee.

That is when you become dear to Him. Your worship is no longer selfish. It is towards the mission of the Divine, in whatever form.

In the words of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Stop sitting in front of me, gazing and waiting for words to drop. Work for my mission. Enrich yourself and others by helping me to transform people. As long as you sit and gaze, you chase me. When you work for my mission, I chase you. I shall always be with you.

There are seven seven steps in spiritual progress—

• 1) Go around many temples, perform many rituals, pilgrimages, etc.
• 2) Do rituals by yourself
• 3) Concentrate and pray to one God instead of rituals
• 4) Chant verses in praise of God
• 5) Instead of chanting, visualize His form and meditate upon it
• 6) Instead of meditating on any form, fall into that same consciousness, realize that the form and your soul are one and the same, that God and the soul are one and the same
• 7) Experience reality! Don't think these seven steps will be done in one lifetime.

People take hundreds of lives to achieve this maturity. It is rare to achieve this maturity.

Only a person who has understood, after many, many births and deaths, who has matured, who has enough knowledge, surrenders to Me, surrenders to the living Master, says Kṛṣṇa. with you.

In Bharat kids play with wooden dolls. For one doll, they will drape a sāri and say, 'This is mother.' They will dress another in a dhoti and call it father, then brother, and so on. They say, 'Mother is cooking. Father is going to office,' and place the father doll in a small car. And then, they will say, 'Sister is going to school.' They will make cry sounds as though the sister cries not wanting to go to school. This seems like a game for kids.

But please understand, you play the same game too in your life. You catch somebody and say, 'You are my mother, you are my father, you are my wife, you are my husband, you are my son, and you are my brother.' And if that doll doesn't behave according to your frame or your image, you say, 'It's not a good doll,' and you throw it away and cry.

In the same way, when somebody doesn't behave according to your frame, you feel they hurt you. You want all the people in your life to play their role the way you want them to play.

When that doesn't happen, you feel hurt. Only a person who is a little mature thinks, 'What am I doing? How many times will I do this same psychodrama?'

Kṛṣṇa says, 'One who understands that the cause of all causes is Me, realizes the ultimate divine. He realizes thus, 'How many times will I play the same drama? How many times will I make the same mistakes?'

Until this realization, the whole thing is repeated again and again without end, without the experience.' 'The person who has understood, who has knowledge of this truth, surrenders unto Me, surrenders to the Master, an enlightened being, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all there is. Such a great soul is rare.

Only if you go with an attitude of love and gratitude, with maturity, only then do you see a living enlightened Master. The moment you see an enlightened being as He is, you will become enlightened. There's no doubt about it.

Help the children understand the seven different levels of approaching God, the five attitudes with which we relate with a Master or God, and the four types of people Kṛṣṇa says come to Him. Encourage them to understand what makes them dear to the divine, and how rare it is to find great souls that connect to the Master.

• What is an important difference between prayer and meditation?
• Name some of the different kinds of people who approach the Master or God.
• Who are the four types of people in the community system?
• How many paths are there between disciple and master?
• What does Kṛṣṇa say the wise people do that makes them the best people?
• How should we experience every moment, each outgoing breath and each incoming breath?
• What do you need to do for your worship to no longer be selfish?

Part 4: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7