principles ; Pujya Gurudev

Wholehearted execution of the prescribed principles

=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya

The responsibility of keeping it lit uninterruptedly was taken up by my wife, whom I called Mataji. It required to be looked after constantly lest it got extinguished. This lamp has been burning uninterruptedly since then. 
When I meditate sitting in front of the flame of this lamp, the mind gets flooded with divine light and warmth. When there is a knotty riddle that cannot be solved by ordinary wisdom, the bright rays of this constantly lighted lamp resolve it instantly for me.

Jap (repeating the mantra quietly by the way of adoration) of sixty six malas (rosary), symbolic worship of the picture of Gayatri Mata by water, flowers, rice, incense, lighted lamp and naivedya (offering of sweets), meditation of rising Sun (Savita) at the time of jap and offering of the libation to the Sun (Suryarghya-dan) at the end; this was the daily routine which was adopted by me. No bij-mantra or samput etc. of tantrik system was added. With the picture of Gayatri Mata installed in front of me, my heart used to get filled with intense faith and devotion and it appeared as if Mother was sitting in front of me in person. Sometimes I felt inclined to shed tears of intense love and joy by hiding my face in Mothers ancal. During this period of daily worship and meditation, there was never an occasion when my mind did not get intensely absorbed in inner concentration and identification with the Deity of my devotion. Had it not been for the ring of alarm watch, I could not have felt inclined to come out of that state of trance. 
Never was there an interruption in this routine of sadhana.

This also applied to study for which no separate time was set apart. Often, I was required to walk and cover long distances in connection with the work of Indian National Congress. I used to stop reading only when there was any meeting or programme. I used to read while walking.My speed of reading books has been forty printed pages per hour. I used to get at least two hours daily for reading.

Thus at the rate of eighty pages a day, I could read about 2400 pages in a month, 28,000 pages in an year and seventeen and a half lakh pages over the last sixty years. Besides, reading has been as easy for me as taking food or bath and I could cursorily skip through about three thousand pages daily. 
This routine has been going for last sixty years during which innumerable pages of books, on subjects of my interest, have been read. After the completion of mahapuruscaranas I found more time that I devoted to studying several books and manuscripts in different libraries. This became an invaluable treasure for me.

 
I did not read a single page for recreation. All that I read was mastered with a view to acquiring proficiency in the particular subject. While writing any article or discussing any matter I could at once recall subjects that I had already read. In my absence, people used to say that I was a mobile encyclopedia. Readers of Akhand Jyoti (monthly spiritual magazine ) are amazed when they find references to so many books, journals and magazine s. The same thing applies to Yug Nirman Yojana and Yug Shakti Patrika magazine s.

Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,

Shiv Sharma