Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, a revered spiritual teacher, emphasized the significance of maintaining devotion and faith during challenging times. His teachings offer guidance on navigating the spiritual path with resilience and steadfastness, drawing inspiration from devotional stories and practical understanding of sanskars (imprints on the mind from past actions, that can influence current feelings and mental status).
As Swami Prakashanand Saraswati explains…
“For a spiritual seeker, devotional stories can illustrate the obstacles and pitfalls on the spiritual path. However, there are just as many devotional stories whose purpose is to inspire devotees to provide examples of how fallen souls reversed their worldly situation to redeem or restore their lost spiritual fortune. Examples of both kinds of stories provide great instructional value to a devotee whose spiritual life is subject to personal difficulties from time to time.
Other article you might like: The Eternal Cycle: Destiny, Devotion, and the Earth’s Fate by Swami Prakashanand
For instance, the story of Ajamil in the Bhagwatam is an example of a personality who fell from great spiritual heights but who later realized his mistake and changed. Ajamil was born in a respected Brahmin family in India. He carried out his ritual activities precisely and was known in his village as a very pious man.
On the way to the town one day, he sighted through a window a woman embracing a man. That scene infected Ajamil’s heart and he began to think deeply about sensual pleasure. According to human nature, if someone’s mind begins to think favorably about any subject, it becomes attached to that. Ajamil also fell for this human weakness. Lustful thinking turned into a desire and he was so attached to such thoughts that he developed a relationship with his maid-servant.
From a renounced religious person, he became a completely fallen soul, an example of sinfulness and iniquity. People said, “See that big ritualist. He has fallen to such an extent.” Everybody hated him. Eventually, his good days returned. He realized his mistake and thought, “What was I before, and what have I become now?” He changed, devoted his life completely for God realization, and he realized Krishn.
Another example can be taken from the life of Saint Krishndas. It is the story of how he Graced a fallen woman and brought her into the service of Krishn. (Described the story in the “Saints & Scriptures” section of this newsletter) As devotionally uplifting as stories like this are, equally important to a devotee’s life is the proper understanding of practical spiritual matters. Many inner compulsions and outer worldly influences impact one’s life. Our inner world is affected by both good and bad sanskars. To understand this, we should know what sanskars are and how they impact a devotee’s life.
Our mind contains various kinds of sanskars of past lives. We have done all kinds of meditations, followed all religions and were born in different countries in our uncountable past lives. We have committed uncountable actions of varying nature, and all of them are imprinted in our minds as a reserve yet to be fructified. The theory of sanskars is exceedingly complicated. However, because fluctuating sanskars affect a devotee’s life either positively or negatively, it is important to understand the science of action and fate.
Actions can be classified as: (a)bad, (b)good, (c)neutral and (d) devotional. All these actions, with the exception of neutral actions, have karmic consequences. Whereas “actions” are actions and they cannot be stored, the motive of an action and its prescribed consequences can be recorded in the mind. In this way, the initial records of all the three types of karmic actions (good, bad and devotional), which stay in the unconscious mind, are called “sanskars.”
Thus, innumerable sanskars remain in the mind. When some initial sanskar (action of past lives) appears as a consequence in the present life (fate), a person’s mind is naturally changed towards a material or devotional attitude, as explained above.
From the devotional point of view, all sanskars that arouse materiality in the mind are called “bad sanskars,” and those that arouse devotional qualities are called “good sanskars.” Another cause of the change in attitude or mode of thinking, is the present association (physical or mental) with the outer world or means of knowledge. These outer situations plus inner sanskars arouse different qualities of mind at different times in a person.
Your previous negativities and bad sanskars follow you up to God realization because they are karmic consequences destined to come during your lifespan. That is why when a devotee is affected by bad sanskars, he feels that he is progressing very little. Such things happen even in higher stages of evolution. However, regardless of the strength of bad sanskars and the stage of evolution, a devotee must maintain stability in his devotion and faith in his Spiritual Master in order to safely pass through the difficulties.
During spiritually trying times, never think yourself to be alone. Always feel the presence of your Spiritual Master and God as your protectors. One should know that a true Master showers his Grace upon all the souls in general, whoever comes to him. But, when a soul accepts him as his Divine guide on the path to God, the Master begins to think about the devotee’s spiritual welfare. In taking care of the devotee’s devotional progress, the Master has to be strict at times, because souls are prone to be careless by nature since uncountable lifetimes. Whatever a Master does for his devotees is only out of his gracious kindness, otherwise, why should a self-complacent personality, whose mind is drowned in God’s love, even look towards any soul of this world?
In practical life, a Divine personality (Master) always helps his disciple, even if he has surrendered or dedicated himself only one percent or ninety-nine percent. His spiritual protection depends upon the degree and intensity of the dedication. Actually, from the Master’s side, the spiritual protection is complete, but it is received according to the receptivity of the disciple’s heart and mind, which is relative to his degree of dedication. When you have dedicated yourself to a Master, naturally he will take care of you.
Look at the example of a young child who does not know how much his mother cares for him, but it is a fact that she cares for him very much. When a child grows up to five or six years of age, he understands a little about his mother’s love. As he grows more, he understands more. The relationship between a Master and a disciple is similar. The disciple in the beginning does not understand how much his Master loves, Graces, and cares for him. In his ignorance, he commits transgressions and mistakes. One must understand that a disciple simultaneously receives the spiritual protection and Grace of his Master to the degree of his dedication to the Master. The disciple need not worry about the results of his devotion because his Master knows how to help develop his consciousness of Divine love.
A devotee experiences only his present situation. He does not know about his future sanskars, but the Master knows. Internally he Graces his disciple and outwardly involves him in devotional service to develop his devotional qualities so that he can receive the full benefit of good sanskars and lessen the effect of bad sankars. It is a complicated process and is conducted by God himself through the Spiritual Master.”
In conclusion, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati teaches that a devotee’s journey is shaped by the interplay of past sanskars and present devotion. He emphasizes the importance of unwavering faith in the Spiritual Master, who guides and protects the devotee. When a devotee holds onto the teachings and support of the Spiritual Master, this can help ensure spiritual progress over time, despite challenges from past karmic influences.