Swami Nikhilanand Ji says that through one's own experience it is possible to recognize whether you're following a true Guru or not.” He explains,“When you meet a true Saint, the questions that you had in your mind, those questions, are resolved in a very natural way.” He emphasizes that this happens “just by staying in his company” and that “you start to think, “Oh, I understand this now. It seems so easy!” The reason it is having a different impact than all the other times is, “This is a Divine Saint giving me this knowledge.” Swami Nikhilanand Ji highlights, “The effect of such satsang is to develop a desire for God and develop feelings of attachment and love for God, and start developing detachment from worldly pleasures. All of this just happens from doing satsang of a Saint. So if you're doing the sang (संग) of a true Saint, these internal transformations must start to take place.”
He draws an analogy: “Like when we sit near a fire, the coldness of our body starts to go away. Similarly, the worldly attachments in the heart gradually start to get removed and Divine love starts to grow.” This change is not self-willed, but the natural result of being near someone filled with Divine energy.
Swami Nikhilanand Ji tells us that according to Shri Krishna in the Bhagwatam (10.27.16), when God chooses to bestow grace upon an individual, He may begin by taking away their material wealth, social status, or worldly comforts. This is so because humility and surrender are the foundations of true devotion and these virtues are easily eroded by the intoxication of power and wealth. Shri Krishna emphasizes that no one in this world, upon attaining such status, remains free from the ego that accompanies it. He says we should start correcting our understanding that ”The Saint is not going to grace me with material things either for real or just putting on an act. Either way the Saint is not going to do that. The fake saint doesn't have the power to give material boons, but puts on the act of giving the boon and the true Saint has the power to give the material boon, but never would.”
Another misconception addressed is the emotional nature of Saints. We think, “Oh, a Saint will be nice all the time. What about Durvasa? Durvasa Muni was Shri Krishna’s Guru. (Are you) telling me he’s not a Saint? Of course, he’s a Saint. And yet, he’s so quick to anger.” Swami Nikhilanand Ji emphasizes, “That he’s a Divine personality,” and cautions, that we can’t judge based on, “Oh, he got angry, he can’t be a Saint.’” True discernment comes not through external judgment but personal experience. “You have to accept that Guru in your heart, follow their teachings, do the devotion according to how they explain. That grace will purify your heart, which will cause you to develop more love for God, and will reduce your attachments in the world.”
Then, Swami Nikhilanand Ji turns to another vital distinction: “A true Saint doesn’t do a public display of powers - chamatkar.” Describing fake gurus who stage miracles, he warns, “Saints don’t do such things.” Even though “the Saint has whatever power God has,” they “never make a public display of their powers to try to attract followers.”
He shares an anecdote about Shree Maharaj Ji during a kirtan by the Narmada River. As the river overflowed, Maharaj Ji “just went and took a stick and drew a line around the area, and the water never came and touched them.” When the program ended, “immediately, as soon as they vacated the grounds, the water came and flooded that area.” Later, when Narmada threatened the ashram on the hill, “Maharaj Ji just quietly, without telling anyone, went and sat down on the bank and dipped his charan in the water, and Narmada Ji went back down.”
Despite such a Divine act, Maharaj Ji made no effort to publicize it. “Before anyone reached there, Maharaji left and went somewhere else. He wasn’t interested in people. You could have been sitting there doing sadhana for the last two weeks. Now you just hear one little miracle and you come running? No. I’m out of here.”
Swami Nikhilanand Ji then addresses stereotypes about what a Saint should look like. “Saints don’t have to dress in any way; remove that checkbox from your list.” Further, “Saints could be any gender, young or old. Saints don’t have to wear any particular kind of clothing.” More importantly, “Saints don’t have to be sannyasis. In fact, historically speaking, the overwhelming majority of Saints described in our scriptures were married with kids.” Citing scriptural examples, he adds, “Arjun, Gopis, Ambarish, Dhruv, Prahlad - almost every Saint you can think of was grihasthi (married and usually with kids).” Even those who lived in the forest were not necessarily renunciates. “Like Vashishth, he wasn’t a sannyasi. He was God-realized, and yet he was married with kids.” The conclusion: “We have to readjust our perspective on who is a Saint and who isn’t.” Swami Nikhilanand Ji says, “We can’t judge by observing with these eyes but we can judge by our experience.”
In summary, a genuine Saint can be recognized not by outer traits, but by the internal effects they produce. Swami Nikhilanand Ji concludes: “Keep praying to Shri Krishna and when He sees that you’re ready to benefit, He’s going to send such a Saint into your life.” Once you find them, “accept them in your heart, follow their teachings. Do the sadhana how they explained it, and then you’ll see the results.” Those results include:
“Worldly attachment reducing: Check.
Attachment to Radha Krishna increasing: Check.
Desire to meet Radha and Krishna increasing: Check.
Anger reducing: Check.”
Memorable Quotes from the Discourse:
“Every single curse you hear, even Parikshit getting cursed by that Brahmin son to have a snake bite him in the next seven days, because of that, we got to hear the first public recitation of the Bhagwatam from the shri mukh of Shukhdev ji.”
“Saints are not walking around willy-nilly cursing anybody who comes across their path, who looks at them sideways. They don’t curse ordinary people.”
“Saints don’t have to dress in any way; remove that checkbox from your list.”
“Saints could be any gender, young or old; Saints don’t have to wear any particular kind of clothing.”
“Saints don’t have to be sannyasis. In fact, historically speaking, the overwhelming majority of Saints described in our scriptures were married with kids.”
“We think, oh, a Saint will be nice all the time. What about Durvasa? Durvasa Muni was Shri Krishna’s Guru; (you’re) telling me he’s not a Saint? Of course, he’s a Saint.”
“You have to accept that Guru in your heart, follow their teachings, do the devotion according to how they explain. That grace will purify your heart.”
“A true Saint doesn’t do a public display of powers - chamatkar.”
“Even though the Saint has whatever power God has, they never make a public display of their powers to try to attract followers.”
“Some people put some paste on their hands. It dries clear and now I produced some ash. Oh, this Babaji produces vibhuti out of his hands. Thousands of people are flocking.”
“So what? What does that do for you? You still have to do sadhana.”
“Anybody can fool you because you have a wrong stereotype of what a Guru is.”
“Is our love for God growing? Is our attachment in the world reducing? Have our spiritual confusions been removed due to the teachings of this Guru?”
“Keep praying to Shri Krishna and when He sees that you’re ready to benefit, He’s going to send such a Saint into your life.”
“Worldly attachment reducing: Check. Attachment to Radha Krishna increasing: Check. Desire to meet Radha and Krishna increasing: Check. Anger reducing: Check.”
“With the grace of such a true Saint, it’s possible for us to become God-realized in this very life.”
Please watch the video or read the transcript to fully grasp the essence of the discourse.
Please note that the transcript has not been proofread. If you spot any errors, kindly let us know by getting in touch with us.
