“Moksha is the ultimate goal of this entire lifetime” reminded Pujya Bhaishri to all at the Bhartiya Temple in Troy, Michigan, USA

Pujya Bhaishri gave a brilliant thought provoking discourse on the 12th of July at the Bhartiya Temple in Troy, Michigan, USA where he spoke for three hours primarily on the four-versed Bhagwatam.

He went on to expound upon the four goals in life from the perspective of a devotee. They being:

Dharma or Righeousness
Artha or wealth
Kaam or desire and
Moksha or liberation.

Here are a few of the pearls of wisdom he shared.

Bhaishri touched upon the many misinterpretations of Hindu-Muslim faiths. There really is a commonality that even our celebration names reflect: There is “Ali” in the Hindu festival of Diwali and “Ram” in the Muslim festival “Ramzan”. He then discussed the true context of the now much-used word Jehad. Jehad does mean war, and it is a battle that the Koran endorses, urging devout Muslims to vanquish their enemies. But the missing key lies in those enemies they are urged to defeat which are our inner vices: Anger, Lust, Jealously, Greed that plague us all. This Holy War is exactly what we are urged to defeat and satsangs and holy gatherings and discourses give us the inspiration to do so.

Instead, we should strive to be like the lotus that lives in the water it needs for its very existence, yet is immune to it. When water falls onto it, it simply rolls it off in pearl-like droplets and remains as it is. In exactly the same way, we should strive to live in this world as we must take all we need from it to flourish and survive and yet develop the ability to retain our individuality within it and not be defined by it.

You really are where your mind is, regardless of the presence of your physical body and our true goal should really be to eternally “Be in God” wherever we are and whatever we do. Anyone who has experienced true love will understand this completely, but the task isn’t really to remember Him but on the contrary, you will find yourself struggling to forget him! For, if you really love someone, you never need to remember them; they are always a part of you. If you pass in the test of trying to forget someone, you have just failed the test of love, and vice versa!

The contraries in love go on. The pain of separation from your beloved that is often described as the most unbearable torture is truly the biggest wealth and sweetest bliss that a lover can experience!

How we live our lives is a reflection of what defines it for us. If our defining goal and need in life is money, our choices, surroundings and thinking will reflect the same. If LIFE is our goal and everything else are mere byproducts and necessities to live life to the fullest, then our standards and choices are different. Your ethics and morals are different when faced with the same situation depending on what your values are. So many people claim to be dharmik, righteous and upstanding people who don’t eat onions or garlic, but then take bribes or “drink others’ blood”, without a qualm! They earn much more money that they need unethically or illegally and then give a lot to charity. What is the use?

You need to decide on your necessities in life. Increasingly, many luxuries are becoming basic necessities for people and this is an all consuming cycle that we get so caught up in, we forget the actual point of being here.

Money and wealth are necessary in life, but should be earned and used righteously. Anything we earn is prasaad and meant to be treated with the respect and generosity that prasaad always is.

When deciding how to spend even a single dollar, a wise man will look at two things; whether it is a safe investment and what the return on his investment will be and very carefully invest each dollar accordingly. Well, isn’t each breath even more precious? A lifetime of earnings and income can’t buy you even a single extra breath, let alone an extra day! So think even more carefully about how you choose to spend these priceless breaths and days.

Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha– four goals in life all need to be achieved in the right order to work. Desire is necessary, in the right direction for the right goals and tempered with righteous needs. We call kaam a dev in our religion for a reason.

Moksha is the ultimate goal of this entire lifetime.

 

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