Prayer
Love Divine is neither an object of the practices, nor of the prayers, inasmuch as the practices and prayers aim at the aspirations of one's wants. Moreover, although the hankering through prayer at the Lotus Feet of the Divine Being may yield an enjoyment of pleasures, alone it does not bestow Love Divine.

The egoistic prayer and practices may bring certain realization commonly called Vibhuti (miraculous powers) of the Divine Being. Love Divine is revealed alone by entering the Vaishnava (state of devotion to God) bower of Vrindavan (playground of Divine Love within) or the Truth Absolute and nowhere else.

Prarabdha initiates Prarabdha (destined unfolding of mental, physical and emotional aspects of life). Prarabdha is intensified by prayer.

If we value the efficacy of prayer, then it should be counted as a vested interest.

Individuals have no power. We cannot carry the burden unless He carries it. We commit a grave error in thinking that it is we who are doing things and not He. When we surrender all thoughts to Him alone this unity is established and then He responds to our prayers.

Ritual
We have come to this world as so many brimful jars, Purna Kumbha. You are full of Him. You are purified by bathing in this inner fullness of Him, not by any outside ritual.

Beware of rituals and dogmas. Do not go after the form. Grasp the meaning behind the form.

We must not try to bind Him by any ritualism, superstition or creed.

Without the state of Bliss coming from a direct communion with Him, no other way attached to Sadhana (spiritual practices), or Bhajan (singing praises of God), Jap (ceremonial mental repetition of Divine Name), Tapasya (penance), enables one to come under His notice. Afflicted by desire and staying without the practices of devoted love with complete surrender, such persons following Jap Tap get entangled in their desire and develop the ego.

Jap, Tap, Sadhana, Sannyas (renunciation), Yoga (mental and physical exercises), rites and rituals, no one can know Him through these things because the I-sense, the ego-principle, is lurking behind all these acts. So long as the ego exists one cannot know Him. You can never know Him through mind.

Penance
Why do you punish yourselves for nothing by doing penances and restrictions?

The Self cannot be realized through penance.

Work is penance, indeed. The only penance is to brave the outrages of Prarabdha (destined unfolding process of one's life).

Penance (work) is necessary for Existence in this world, and not for Him.

Egoless work is the only penance.

Silent love is Tapasya or penance. Let not anybody know of this love. If the next person knows of this love, this Tapasya becomes ungenuine, loses its integrity, and becomes affected.

Patience is the highest penance.

You must understand that whatever one does in daily life with utmost sincerity, remembering Him or His Name while practicing patience, becomes real penance (Tapasya). This is the highest offering to Him. So go ahead in your work with Him. You will find He has already arranged right things for you in the right time, which the egoistic person cannot achieve.

Asceticism & Austerity
You need not don ocher robes, sport long beards and matted hair, or renounce your worldly duties and live in seclusion for the sake of Truth.

Will one find Him by growing matted locks, putting on saffron robes, becoming an ascetic? So much one's own is He, so close to one! Does He stay on mountains and in jungles? Environment is in the mind. Are desire, anger, etc., finished by becoming an ascetic, going to mountains, eating vegetarian food? Everything moves under the control of Nature. Making a big house necessitates paying of its taxes. Will the creditor leave one? Is what Nature has given false? Can one get Him by imposing any conditions? Can one reach Him through so many disputations? He is above all this. Nothing of this touches Him. Our own ego alone is involved in all this. How calamitous! We have not realized one does not get Him by donning deception. Putting on deceptive garb means self-deception. Through the help of the garb, you show others what you are not.

Colored robes and matted hair are but expressions of your vanity.

Old age, disease, death are bound to come to everyone. Can matted locks save one? Will saffron robes keep one safe? To find one's Self, why should one put on a disguise? What kind of conduct is that? Seeing your stupidity, He is pained.

Fundamentally there exists only one Being and that is within you. To realize Him, to come into communion with Him, you need not go against Nature by self-repression. You need not do any undue torture to the body or the mind. Saints and ascetics experience a kind of delight through the practice of austerity, but that delight pertains to the mind.

Renunciation & Celibacy
Sannyas is possible only when life ceases. A living being cannot be a Sannyasi.

Actually, Sannyas is the state of one who is Self-poised, one who has no ego attachments.

Sannyas in the true sense of the term, implies the total annihilation of ego and identification with the Supreme I-Consciousness absolutely in everyday life. The five senses also surrender completely to the Self.

Dadaji speaks of three stages of life. First comes Sannyas (renunciation), which means complete surrender through evaporation of ego. But, so long as there is Life, there is ego. You cannot do without it. You can only take it as His ego. Your mind then becomes Manjari (budding seed). The picture of a newborn babe in the mother's lap typifies Sannyas.

Then comes the stage of Brahmacharya (celibacy), when one lives in and through Him and feels His Presence in every experience. True Sannyas is a sort of subconscious behavior or reflex action. And real Brahmacharya is conscious perception of One Reality through the manifold of Existence.

While Sannyas displays unconscious will and Brahmacharya evinces conscious feeling, the stage Grihastha is marked by complete merger in thought, feeling and will. The real Grihastha is He, Himself, Who dwells in this tenement of clay.

Real renunciation or Sannyas is to be shorn of ego and to be in Swabhava (a natural state of attunement with the Supreme). We are all Purna Kumbhas (pitchers full of Him). To install this Consciousness in our empiric being is the only necessity.

Picking pockets is much better than the business of Sadhus and Sannyasis (holy people and renunciates).

The whole host of them (so-called Sadhus) propose to lead us to the fountain Source. But, in fact, they are leading us to perdition.

Neither the Sadhus and Sannyasis, nor the Pundits (intellectuals) know anything.

Renunciation and self-denial enlarge the ego and do not eliminate it. They create vanity. A vanity of calculated achievement, a vanity of having a distinct position in the society. Complete silent surrender to Him without any exhibitionism is the only path. Renunciates project their vanity, which leads to complete darkness. A little exhibition of power is of no avail so far as realization of Truth is concerned.

The world is His. Every object, from the moon and stars, to the sun that shines to dispel darkness and give life and joy is His Handiwork. So what does one renounce? And, for what? There is no escape from His Creation, it encompasses one from all sides. God is available here and now, anywhere and everywhere.

Saffron robes and vows of celibacy are against the law of Nature. When I am born, brought up and leave my body in the lap of Nature, how can I deny her demands? For instance, a soldier goes to the battlefield and is determined to fight with the enemy. Suppose he flies away from that place out of fear. He then is in the same boat with the so-called Sannyasi (renunciate), who tries to escape the burdens of family life to avoid the pangs of Prarabdha (destined unfolding process of life).

Brahmacharya (celibacy) does not mean not using sexual organs. It means to be in Him. What does sexual intercourse stand for? Absorption, relishing His Rasa (tasting His Love).

Being a saint or a monk has nothing to do with God, but is only acceptance by tradition.

Sadhus and Yogis avoid responsibilities of natural life and become escapists, ritualists, and achieve nothing.

You cannot leave His Creation and find Him elsewhere, can you?

Charity
What is charity after all? By doing charity, one gives indulgence to indolence and evil propensities. On the other hand, the ego of the donor is intensified.

Are not charity and prostitution the same? Are the gifts of Nature I have acquired my property? Who has given me the right to misuse them?

Offerings
Money raised for temples and Ashrams is no Dakshina (offering to God) in the true sense of the term. This takes one far away from the goal. Dakshina is actually the remembering of Mahanam, for His Name and He are identical. There can never be a (business) transaction between a thing of the relative plane and that of the spiritual plane.

Have we anything to give Him, our Father? Can the Almighty, our Father, expect any Dakshina (offering of money, flowers, etc.) or earthly offerings from His Children? Decidedly not. If we can attune ourselves to the Mahanam that we received with birth and submit to Him, this at once becomes the only form of Dakshina. For He alone is the Giver, the rest are all seekers.

Sacrifice
Work itself is sacrifice.

What is sacrifice (Yajna)? Does sacrifice take place merely by burning tons of wood and Ghee (clarified butter used in some religious rites)? One has to offer oneself as oblation. This offering must be done so secretly that a second person cannot know about it.

Can sacrifice be done with putting on of pompous display? That is only self-aggrandizement. The real sacrifice is inner sacrifice. This is only an inner treasure. In this inner gratification He is present. Is sacrifice conducted by beating drums, pealing bells, collecting people?

Sacrifice is above charity. Charity is giving away as to one's own self. Sacrifice is, however, quiet Swabhava (natural attunement with Supreme Truth). Penance is of a very low plane.

Yoga
The whole life is Yoga. Yoga means to be united.

To see the form as situated in one's own Reality is called Yoga. Have you understood? In the substance is the Light of the form and then again, that of the formless in the form. Again, the coming and going of the form out of and into the formless takes place in Existence. That indeed is life and death. That is why to be firmly situated in one's Reality is named Yoga. Putting one's head down, legs pointing to the sky, performing various kinds of mental and physical gymnastics, does not enable one to anchor oneself in Reality.

All this Yoga, Tantra, scriptures are full of misunderstandings, all strange practices. Truth is outside the reach of the mind. By no means can you get Him through rituals, only through Love.

Yogis and Ashrams are only farce for moneymaking business.

Not through the arithmetic of counting of beads, or through multiform penance, or Yogic practices can one reach Him, even in crores (ten millions) of years.

You do not reach Him by performing physical and mental gymnastics of so-called Yogis and Tantrics. They have the biggest egos! They are only looking for transitory personal power and so doom themselves to greater bondage by inflating their egos.

LEFT: Dadaji in Latma Lotus Posture, Calcutta 1973

Yoga is such humbug. I consider all these complicated body postures ostentatious self-torture. It is not even a good technique of relaxation. Swimming is far more relaxing. Also, going for walks. Smoking cigarettes also relaxes.

If you practice Asana (Yoga postures) you may acquire a sort of power, as for instance flies will not touch your body. But, such powers go off. Be always with Nam. Then the objective with which you have come here will be realized.

Perfect and absolute self-surrender to God and a constant desireless or choiceless awareness of Him charged with single-minded devotion and reliance, is the only perfect or real Yoga. Since then God takes over the entire responsibility for our lives, works His own Divine and Infallible way, and Captains the ship of our Life to its final destiny, realization of our True Nature.

With His Touch your work will be All-blissful, All-joyful. Sadhus and Yogis want to attain this state by efforts, rituals, meditations, and austerities. But they cannot get His Love, a real joyful state. A person gets it only by the natural process of living. Even the Yogis, who try to get it only by austerity, if they ever get anything at all, they get only dry, tasteless, insipid superstitions.

Tantra
To realize Him one can achieve by simple and straightforward means. There is no necessity for mental or physical wrestling. Otherwise such and such wrestlers would have achieved Him much earlier.

While Yoga is subjectively oriented, Tantra has more of a firm objective bias. It has yielded a rich harvest of ritualism and a plethora of mystic syllables, diagrams and esoteric Vidyas, traces of which are clearly found in the Upanisads. Tantra gathered momentum by pursuing Sava-sadhana, Preta-sadhana and the sex act as Divine rite. As time wore on the world was littered with such exotic concepts as Kundalini, Sat-chakra, Bhutasuddhi, Asana-Suddhi, Pancha-makara and the like. What a grand enterprise to schematize the Infinite and to forcibly implant it into body and mind!

But, Tantra professedly has a profound philosophy to offer. In it the ultimate Reality is a perfect equipoise of Siva (masculine power) and Sakti (feminine power). Its goal is to fully awaken the human Soul from its state of slumber and to raise it to the state of Purnahanta (free of egoism), Svatantrya (freedom), Omniscience and Omnipotence through the complete awakening of Kundalini, to be achieved through Samadhi, through a state of equilibrium of Prana and Apana. This state of Moksha is glibly dovetailed with Bhoga! And the entire farrago of Tantric merchandise is laid bare before you to bear on the contingency of Nada, Bindu, Kala, Kama-Kala, etc.!

All this is good talk, but bad logic. It suffers from egoism and mental geometrization, and when achieved is necessarily an effect, limited in space and time. It is transitory and is right under your thumb. This may give you some miraculous power for a short spell of time. But it has nothing to do with Him. In practice, Tantra indulges in perverse sex acts and its multiform seeming sublimation. But the sex act, in fact, no act can ever lead to the Zero experience.

Initiation & Revelation
By Diksha (initiation) you realize Him. Genuine Diksha means revelation. You must see what is going on within your Self. That is Truth.

LEFT: Dadaji with 160 yr old renunciate, Calcutta 1972

A person is born initiated. One has simply to realize this fact. He is within as Mahanam.

Other than mind, beyond mind, there is no language, only Diksha.

Diksha, Darshan (vision of God), that thing (Truth) is everywhere. But, we could not find It. We have forgotten because of Prakriti (physical Nature) and Maya (Divine Creative Power). When you will be off (ego ceases to exist), then you will find Truth.

Initiation (Diksha) means seeing Him (Darshan). Does the body remain when you see Him? Mantra! Beej! What is all this tittle-tattle you utter? Can a body-bound Guru ever give all these? If a seed has no energy, that seed is dead and no fruit comes of that seed.

How will it do if there is no Darshan? Darshan, however, is an internal affair. If we cannot taste the Rasa of Krishna Leela (relish God's Love), what else shall we do?

Mantra
All is God. He is Infinite, Indivisible, Full. God is we. So who will give Mantra (Supreme Name)? Guru is within. Just remember Him, that is enough.

When I am united with the Husband, Who is Govinda, when I have taken refuge in His basal Existence, how can I utter His Name (there being no separate Existence)?

Other than that One which is within, is there anybody who can tell you, I am giving Mantra?

Whispering a Mantra in the ear of the aspirant during an initiation ceremony is no Diksha at all. It is a fraud and a hoax.

Mantra is already there with you.

In the ear, human Gurus are giving Mantra. What is the utility? At the time of birth, we have received that Mahamantra (Great Name of the Supreme) and Diksha (initiation). So, who will give, other than Him? That is the thing that Dadaji is to convey. That is His Message.

A human Guru whispers some words into the ear of the disciple and orders that they be repeated over and over. How does the human Guru know these words? They come from the mind. What arises from the mind is a distortion of Truth. Certainly these words do not come from Him. The human Guru in his or her own interest gives the Mantra. A regular income is thus assured from a business in the Name of God. What a calamity! Can there be a greater crime?

Yes, Jap (Name repetition) and Dhyana (meditation), whatever you say, have a use at one time. But whose meditation or Name repetition will we do? That we need to know in advance. When Nam (Supreme Name) and Nami (the Named) become One, then there is Supreme Bliss, then all is perfect.

Why do you go for Jap? He has been doing It (Mahanam) round the clock. You just try to listen to that.

How can I give you Mantra? Tantra? Everything is within.

Ego is not being eliminated with the help of Mantras and penances, rather these things enhance its bondage.

It is futile to compare the Mantra given by so-called Guru and the Mahanam you have received direct from Sri Sri Satyanarayan.

What indeed is muttering the Name thousands of times? All these are superficialities.

This is all jugglery, do you understand? Repeating Mantras and meditation are another form of egotism. Can one get Him by millions of repetitions of Mantras? Has He told you to go to Him with a treasury of numerical digits? What is the meaning of Laksa Jap (hundreds of thousands of Name repetitions)? In an instant Laksa Jap is done, if the Laksya (aim or target) is toward Him. Doing Laksa and Laksa of Name repetition is of no use if He is not kept as the Laksya.

Why count beads or utter a few words not having a direct relation with Him? He is within you. You remember Him and try to love. You cannot have anything with meaningless external exercises. Nam is ringing in your heart. Nam alone will put you on the line of communion.

Mantra? Why do you bother? It will come automatically. Automatically you will understand.

It is He Who is your Guru. He has been constantly ringing the Mantra in your heart. If you want to hear it, do approach Him and pray for His favor. He is waiting for your prayer. Pray for the Mantra, but not under any condition nor for fulfillment of your worldly desire. It should be in one mind and in earnestness, and you will get It (Mahanam).