Aradhana -3 = Pujya Gurudev

Aradhana that was uninterruptedly pursued

=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya

Under Gurudev�s direction, I decided to surrender my all viz. (1) competence to do physical labor; (2) capacity to do mental work; (3) sentiments and feelings and (4) ancestral property, at the feet of God. There was nothing self-earned. I applied all the aforesaid four-fold wealth with deep faith and devotion for specific purposes and the return was hundred times more. I did physical work for twelve hours daily and never got tired. My efficiency on the other hand went on increasing. Even at this old age, I have the capacity to work as hard as a young man. Both mental and physical works were done side by side and old age has never adversely affected my work and morale. I have immensely loved people and have been in return profusely loved by them. Besides getting personal affection, respect and goodwill, people whole-heartedly responded to my appeals for working for this mission. An outstanding example of this is construction of 2400 Prajnapithas within a short period of two years. In the beginning, I started with my own money. Gayatri Tapobhumi was built with the money I got by disposing of my ancestral property. In my place of birth, a high school was built. Later, a shaktipitha (Gayatri temple) was also constructed there. I had little hope that people will give so much without expecting anything in return. The complexes of Gayatri Tapobhumi Mathura, Gayatri Teerth Shantikunj, and Brahmavarchas Research Institute at Hardwar are examples of the fact that on being sown, a seed multiplies by hundred times. Due to lack of faith people conceal what they have in their possession, beg for donations and pray God that they may win a lottery. If a beginning is made with complete self-surrender, the result is bound to be astonishing. A devotee who built the shaktipitha at Junagarh (Gujarat) made a beginning by selling his utensils. It is pre-eminent amongst all the shaktipithas which have been built so far. A grain of bajra or maize on being sown ripens and multiplies into hundred grains. This has actually happened with me when I sacrificed all I had. Members of the family should be maintained as long as they are not able to earn their livelihood. To go on spending money, labor and intelligence on able-bodied and earning family members and die leaving property in inheritance for them is immoral and 1 have always opposed it. Money that comes unearned or �gratis� is ill gotten although it may be ancestral. Having kept complete faith in this ideal, I did not allow my wealth in the form of physical and mental labor, emotional feelings and accumulated savings to pass on to the hands of undeserving persons. It was totally applied in aradhana of God, towards the growth of nobility and goodness in society. The result is self-evident. If like a miser, I had used all my resources in self-gratification, hoarding or in spending on members of the family to make them multi-millionaire, it would all have been wasted. One has to wait for the next birth for getting results of certain virtuous deeds, righteous actions. Public service, however, is such a universal good whose reward one gets instantly. We feel deep soul satisfaction in consoling others in the moment of their despair. There is a divine rule that the store of a benefactor never becomes empty. God�s grace always blesses him and whatever has been spent comes back multiplied manifold. Sheep parts with its wool but it gets new wool every year. Trees yield fruits but their branches again get loaded with fresh fruits every season. Clouds go on raining but they never get emptied as they go on collecting water from the ocean. The coffers of magnanimous persons never get empty. It is a different matter if a person donates his time, labor and resources to undeserving persons and blindly encourages evil tendencies and considers it to be a righteous deed. Otherwise, public service is bound to be instantly rewarded. Whosoever invests in this enterprise is bound to be rewarded by soul-satisfaction, public respect and divine grace. Misers are those who foolishly boast of their shrewdness and cleverness in accumulating and hoarding; but great is their loss in the ultimate analysis. Public service loses its significance when in return a man expects to get name and fame. It then becomes a business like publication of an advertisement in the papers. If a person is reminded of the favor done or something is expected in return, the efficacy of virtuousness is lost. Donations given under pressure do not fulfill the true aims of a charitable purpose. The criterion is whether by such an act there is growth of kindly feelings and spread of righteous tendencies. These days innumerable ostentations and hypocrisies are in vogue which promote the growth of social parasites who exploit simple people by fraudulent and deceitful means. Before spending any money a person should think a thousand times what its ultimate use will be. It is absolutely necessary these days to exercise such far-sighted wisdom. On such occasions I have declined to oblige and have even dared to incur the ignominy of being dubbed as inconsiderate. One can have a glimpse of the philosophy of my life in these three aspects of upasana, sadhana and aradhana. This is the path, which has been followed by all the great ones who have achieved their goals and earned fame. There is no shortcut on this path.

Thanks GOD,Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma