A devotee’s question: A devotee is concerned by something that Shree Maharaj ji has cautioned us about. The devotee says, “I have heard in Maharaji's pravachan that we can fall from the path of devotion even having reached bhao bhakti.”
Swami Nikhilanand Ji’s answer: Sadhana bhakti is the practice of devotion and when, as I just explained, if you keep practicing you start getting experiences in devotion. That's called bhao bhakti. In bhao bhakti a person starts to develop more and more excitement to meet Radha Krishna because they're getting these real experiences. And those experiences go on intensifying and elevating all the way up to complete heart purification and then God realization. But this person is asking that Maharaji has said, “Even after reaching bhao bhakti, a devotee can fall from the path. How much probability is there of this happening, and how much should we be afraid of this?
We don't need to be afraid of it because being afraid of it means you're focusing on it and you're doing chintan of it, and that's a negative thing. But we have to have that awareness that this is a reality that even having reached the stage of bhao bhakti, if we are careless about certain things, it is possible to fall from the path of bhakti, although falling from the path of bhakti is not something that happens to you; it's more a decision that is made. What I mean is that on the path of bhakti, we have the protection of Radha Krishna's grace and the Guru's grace. This protection is lacking for the gyani and the yogi, which is one of the reasons those paths are so much more difficult and why falling from those paths is the expected thing; it's the norm. You go some way and you fall because the mind inevitably goes back into the world and drags the yogi or the gyani down.
But on the path of bhakti, simply having some worldly desires is not enough to make someone fall from the path because God and Guru are protecting the bhao of that devotee.
योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥
Yog-akṣemaṁ vahāmyaham.- Gita 9.22
Shri Krishna says, “I protect what you've gained, that bhao that you've gained, I protect it, and I ensure your further progress.”
But if the devotee cuts the connection, then it's a different story. If a devotee starts allowing their mind to have negative thoughts about God or Guru, what they're doing is severing the connection they have with the Guru. The Guru is protecting the devotees’ devotion with grace internally, but how is that grace allowed to enter the heart of the devotee? Through that connection our mind has to be connected to the Guru.So if we are severing that connection through thinking negative thoughts about Guru, thinking negative thoughts about God that's called namaparadh, then we sever the connection, then how will Guru protect our devotion? It becomes a spiral. And negative thinking leads to more negative thinking, which leads to more negative thinking, and eventually, the devotee has totally spoiled their mental state. They have no more experiences of bhao, and they're unable to feel that connection because they themselves have severed it.
So this type of thing can happen. We should be aware of that, which is why we should always be careful about our thinking. Don't allow such thoughts to pollute our mind. Otherwise, normal mistakes of the mind, normal deviations of the mind, from devotional thinking into worldliness can happen, and the Guru is there to protect us and keep us on the path. Where someone would fall from the path is when they sever that connection with the Guru. So that is not, as I said, something that would happen to you accidentally like, you have to be afraid, “Oh, I hope this never happens to me!” You don't have to hope. Just don't let it happen. That's it. You're in control. So don't do that thing, and the connection won't be severed, and you won't fall from the path.
We see with how little effort we put in how much swift progress we're able to achieve on this path. You know, we're so careless, and kind of bumbling along in our own way on the path, and yet with Guru's grace, we're making so much progress. We're getting out much more than we're putting in. So we shouldn't worry actually about falling from the path. We shouldn't have that fear in our mind. Just like I said earlier, we've come this far, why would we not be able to go further? We'll keep improving and keep getting better and things will get easier and easier, and our progress will become more and more swift, but we should be cautious about namaparadh.
