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Finally Swamishri
blessed the assembly, saying:
"I offer my humble Jai Swaminarayan to the sadhus and to all the
devotees who have come from far and wide, bearing discomforts on your
way here.
"Bhagwan Swaminarayan has said, 'Without my wish even a dry leaf
cannot be plucked.' However out of arrogance we feel that 'I have done
it.' But we are incapable of doing anything.
"Once Maharaj left alone for Visnagar to transform the Suba (ruler)
who persecuted His devotees. When Mulji Brahmachari told the Lord to
turn back Maharaj questioned him, 'What do you believe me as?'
'The supreme Lord,' replied the Brahmachari.
'Tell me, who moves the leaves and the trees?' Maharaj asked.
'The wind,' the Brahmachari answered naively.
'But who moves the wind?' Maharaj questioned.
"At this question the Brahmachari realised and said, 'You!'
'Then in whose hand lies the life of the Suba!' Maharaj asked and then
added, 'What can the Suba do to me?'
"So it is due to God's wish and power that everything happens.
Because of man's own arrogance he experiences conflict and unrest. This
is why Bhagwan Swaminarayan has emphasised one to pray, 'O God. Protect
me from the maya of 'I-ness' and 'Mine-ness.' The root of all conflicts
and misery is 'I' and 'Mine.' But who is 'I' in this body? We have falsely
accepted that I belong to this caste and this is my status... but this
is ignorance.
"If one realises the true knowledge of one's form then one would
be redeemed from ignorance. Because King Parikshit was not welcomed
in a Rishi's ashram, he placed a dead snake around the Rishi's neck.
The Rishi's son cursed the King with death in seven days. The king then
went to Shukdevji, who imparted to him the knowledge of atma. And Parikshit
was redeemed by listening to the discourses of Shukdevji....
"A Gunatit Guru blesses us with the true knowledge of atma and
makes us eternally happy."
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