In his recent visit to USA and Lake Land City of Florida, HH Acharya Maharaj 1008 Shri Tejendraprasadji Maharajshri has said:
“The Shikshapatri is a compass for all the Satsangis to show them the right direction – the Supreme path. There are two sailors. One among those two sails his ship without any direction. He has no compass to guide him – to show him the direction – the right direction. He will reach nowhere. He shall not be able to attain his ultimate destination. The other one has a compass. He will sail his ship in the right direction with his compass and anchor it at the right destination. He has nothing to worry and nothing to bother for. He has to hold firmly to the direction indicated by his compass. Lord Shriji Maharaj has blessed us with the compass of Shikshapatri to navigate our ship of life in this unfathomable ocean of the world. We are required to bother for nothing, but hold firmly to the direction of the compass – the orders of the Shikshapatri. That only is the ultimate means to attain ultimate benediction. There is no alternative to it. As Shri Hari has said `….Otherwise, there shall be nothing as a relation to me and you.`
Isn’t it extraordinary, by his gift of Shikshapatri, Lord Shriji Maharaj has given everything to us. Modern Western countries – such as USA, UK, Canada and the multinational companies there in those countries, hire their employees by testing in writing and orally their skills and personality traits. The chosen ones – the selected ones are screened again by a drug test to determine if any one of them happens to be an addict. Those nations, governments and citizens firmly believe that none from those should be an addict of brown sugar, chara or other intoxicants. This is the most modern concept in those western countries.
Lord Shriji Maharaj had disclosed this most accurately in his cardinal teachings – Shikshapatri some two hundred years back. `….None of my followers, whether male of female, shall indulge in adultery, they shall neither practice gambling and similar vices, nor indulge in drink or inhale intoxicants such as bhang, tobacco, snuff…..`(Shikshapatri: 18) He had prohibited it to such an extent that… `….None shall ever take any medicine which contains wine or meat and which is prescribed by a medical man, whose antecedents are not known….`(Shikshapatri: 31)
It has become a fashion of the day that whatever is accepted by the well-developed western world, becomes an ideal to be followed by the world. There are hundreds of things, which have been explained by Shri Hari some two centuries back, when no one in the world knew the pros and cons of it. Shri Hari got it classified in various sections with a proper reference to life and he explained and taught it practically. Shikshapatri is the set of such teachings, such commandments and such aphorisms. It is our compass of life.
It contains everything taught by all religions of the world and preached by all the religious scriptures on the earth. Such amazing infinity of knowledge and it’s external majesty has been made available to us in a compact form of our everyday use to navigate our ship of life with the help of this compass like Shikshapatri. No such book is available in other religions.
Professional attitude is the mantra of the day with the advancement of information technology. Whether Bill Gates of Intel Co. or Krisnamurti of Infosys, how have they become so rich? What is the secret of their success? Their money–management is very effective. What is this money–management? Lord Shriji Maharaj had explained its fundamental theory and made it a core of his Shikshapatri. Tata, Birla, IBM and other such big houses mint money and post very high profit to maintain their position worldwide. There are many factors leading them to grand success. The first and foremost among the factors is that these multinationals take good care of their employees- co-workers. Placement is in accordance to their qualifications, skills and experience. They utilize their employees in the best way to get the best output from them. Thus the companies are benefited constantly by the high intelligence of their employees.
When we compare every shloka and each commandment to the modern management theories, we find that all those tall pillars of modern management were considered much in advance some two centuries ago by Lord Shri Hari and were translated accordingly into religious rules. This should be a matter or pride for us Satsangis.
`….Expenses shall ever be incurred in proportion to their income. They shall bear in mind that they shall surely meet with great difficulty if they spend more than what they earn….`(Shikshapatri: 145)
`….They shall daily write accounts legibly in their own hand writing after recollecting both the amounts received as income and spent as expense in the course of economic dealings during the day…..`(Shikshapatri: 146)
Isn’t the commandment related to money–management?
`…..A man shall be assigned to a work after careful thought for which he is best suited but not otherwise…..`(Shikshapatri: 66)
`….Those who have engaged servants shall ever look after them by properly providing them with food and clothes, according to their financial capacity….` (Shikshapatri: 67)
The two above are the commandments in human resources and its development. He may be a small businessman or a big business magnet controlling multinational corporations, but all in their ground realities are householders – Grihastha. The world’s best companies are conducting their business on the lines of these four commandments and that is why they earn huge profit, wealth and fame.
Lord Shri Hari places us in a special class in comparison to “worldly souls.” We are marked as “Devotees of God.” – Satsangis. There are many commandments to make the worldly souls happy, but we as Satsangis of Shri Hari, desire to attain emancipation and the divine abode of Akshardham, we shall have to practice some more commandments than the commandments followed by the worldly souls. We will have to act sincerely on the orders related to ethical duties (Dharma) and holy fellowship (Satsang).
If we compare each shloka with the contemporary time, we will realise that the Shikshapatri of Shri Hari is the eternal blessing to each of his Satsangis. Shri Sahajanand Swami himself has said:
`…..Let all accept my blissful blessings which serve as defender of faith and which are warranted by the scriptures, which are coupled with happy remembrance of Shriman Narayan. `(Shikshapatri: 6) Shri Hari himself is Lord Narayan. The blessings above are doubled – strengthened further by Shri Hari himself by repeating under two names. Shikshapatri is the truest means to fulfil Dharma (religion), Artha (wealth), Kama (pleasure) and Moksha (ultimate benediction). It is a compass to guide us in the right direction in our journey of life. We are required to adhere firmly for our ultimate emancipation. This is why God has ordered us to read Shikshapatri everyday. It is a fatherly counsel to his children. Be faithful to the teachings of Shikshapatri and emancipate your soul.