What is it to always remember God’s name? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2018)

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Video Information: Shabdyog Session, 18.12.2018, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India

Verse:

पहलो अगन बिरहु की, पाछे प्रेम की प्यास I
कहें कबीर तब जानिए, नाम मिलन की आस II
~ गुरु कबीर

(First the pangs of separation
Then grows the thirst for Love
Says Kabir then only hope
For the union to materialize) .

Context:
~ How to always remember God?
~ What is it to always remember God’s name?
~ How to understand the teachings of Kabir Saheb?
~ What does remembrance truly mean?
~ Who is deserving of remembrance?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00There is another question by Parmeshwari ji from Qatar. She has stated one of the couplets

00:08of Kabir sahib. It states,

00:12Pehlo agan birhu ki, paache prem ki pyaas, kahe Kabir tab jaaniye naam milan ki yaas.

00:22So she says that, as far as I remember, I have been longing for God but in various forms

00:28and ways. Now nothing known is attractive to me. But the one who is attracting me is

00:35unknown. I have been alright and doing my work normally. Only when I read these devotees'

00:41song, the longing becomes more and more, it intensifies. Does this mean that I miss that?

00:53What Kabir sahib meant by remembering God's name? What is really remembrance? Because

01:00in the domain of mind, we often relate remembrance with some object. But saints, in your teachings

01:10you have always said that it's not about remembering something as an object but it is more of a

01:19concern of the subject and maybe something beyond that. The mind will want something to hold.

01:39The mind will want something to think of and remember. So if you are a usual person,

02:00a common man or woman, then remembrance for you means firstly remembering

02:15that all that which has filled up the mind and attracted you has not been of much avail.

02:33That is the first step of remembrance. It is for the common man. But before this first step,

02:56I should have talked of the zeroth step where most of the humanity stands. Most people do

03:05not remember anything. Most people do not even remember their experiences. They fall

03:18into the same hole again and again. They do not remember that they have been through the

03:26same thing before and with painful consequences. So that's the zeroth step, not remembering

03:36anything. First step is to remember that you have been hurt again and again. That you have

03:53a long past and it is a history of painful encounters, deceptions, letdowns. Then the

04:13next step in remembrance is to remember something or somebody who is midway. Apparently belonging to

04:35the world but really reminding you of something a little beyond your experiences. What is the

04:53difference between the second stage and the first stage? In the first stage, in the first step,

05:01all that you remember is what not to trust. You remember what all has deceived you in the past

05:15and is hence not trustworthy. So the first stage is essentially a stage of being mindful of all

05:35that which is hurtful. It is a stage of negation. In this stage you say I don't want to remember

05:50this, I don't want to remember this, I don't want to remember this. So in this stage instead of

05:55becoming a host to a thousand remembrances like in stage zero, you become an evictor. You want

06:10to push out from the mind all that which the mind yearns to remember. Stage one is an exercise in

06:23negation. Stage two is an exercise in affirmation. In this stage the devotee wants to willfully

06:36remember something, somebody that brings him peace and is yet not of the stage zero level. Mind you,

06:52the fellow in stage zero remembers a lot. Does he not? The devotee in the second stage,

07:02two remembers but first of all he doesn't remember a lot and secondly that which he

07:10remembers is a dispeller of all other memories. There is a strong love and love has a very

07:32cleansing effect. Even in the usual worldly love when you are besotted with somebody then the

07:43object of your fancy drives out all other memories. Does he not? One single figure occupies your mind

07:52and thereby rids your mind of its miscellaneous preoccupations. You become forgetful actually,

07:59don't you? You say that I am so very lost in the thoughts of my beloved that I am forgetting the

08:09usual fear. That's what happens in stage two but in a much more refined way, in a much more sublime

08:20way. The figure of somebody totally special fills up your mind and in filling up your mind it cleanses

08:32away, it dispels, it evicts all the nonsense. Then there is one higher and final stage of

08:49remembrance as well. What happens in that stage? That stage is the culmination of stage two. It's

08:58the final stage. In this stage even that which needed to be remembered in the penultimate stage

09:09does not need to be remembered because the needy one is gone. Because the rememberer,

09:20the remembering one is gone. So who will remember? The one you remembered so much soaked you in. The

09:33one you remembered so much simply ate you up. The one you remembered so much pulled you in

09:45and united you with itself. Then comes the last stage of remembrance in which there is

09:56nobody to remember and hence nobody to be remembered. So, Parameswari, when the saints

10:08talk of remembrance then the meaning of the word remembrance varies with the ear of the listener.

10:17Depends on where you are standing in life. You are not standing at level zero that I can assure you.

10:26And you are not at the ultimate level that too I can assure you. So you are left with stage one and

10:37two. What was stage one about? Repeat and revise. Stage one was to remember all that which does not

10:48need to be remembered. Once bitten twice shy. To be very cautious of the prakritic pattern of

10:58memories. To be very cautious of the waves and the clouds that come uninvited to the mind. To

11:09be very cautious of all the dated albums of the past. That is stage one. That is one kind of

11:18remembrance. And then there is stage two if you can graduate beyond the first one. What is stage

11:24two all about? Remember the heartwarming figure of a Krishna. Remember the music of its flute.

11:47Remember one particular face that will push out all other faces from your mind.

11:58Remember one particular mantra that will make you indifferent to all other sounds.

12:14But mind you, don't get attached to the mantra or the face. And if you do that,

12:33then instead of slipping back to level one, you will find yourself back to level zero.

12:40That will be your punishment. After level two, there is either level final which is

12:51levellessness or you will be back to the worst level like in a snakes and ladders game. So,

13:07be very cautious if you have come up to the ultimate place. You will either fully succeed

13:13now or fail very badly and it will hurt. But you have no option. After one comes two.

13:33Arithmetic, what to do with it? And after two comes three. You will have to keep moving.

13:48And the mind will remember. Just the quality of remembrance must keep elevating.

What is it to always remember God’s name? || Acharya Prashant, on Guru Kabir (2018)

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