His Holiness Acharya Sudhanshu ji Maharaj

If you want to walk on the path of Bhakti [devotion], then learn to keep your temperament cool. Learn and try to be simple, prevent yourself from being cunning. Nowadays, people pretend to be more knowledgeable and learned than they actually are. According to Manu, the greater a person is in his artificial behavior and attitude, the more
restless will he be. Wealth brings such an addiction with it that the more you have the more is the craving to add to it. A person who does not have hunger or lust for anything is the richest of all. A simple and modest person with peace of mind is referred to as ‘Saumya Saumya’. According to Maharishi Ved Vyas, Lord Krishna had three major attributes, which we all should try to adopt.

• The first attribute is Happiness. If you want to walk on the path of Bhakti, don’t let smile disappear from your face. If you encounter any problem, do not get disturbed by it. Smile and you will gather strength to face the problem. If you smile, your problem will not be a problem anymore, it would get solved on its own. When clouds of sorrow envelope you and you find someone very dear approaching you, tears roll down your eyes.

So was the case when Draupadi saw Lord Krishna towards the end of the period when Pandavas were in exile. Krishna comforted Draupadi and advised her neither to think about the past nor to worry about the future. The best is to think about the present and gather your strength. To this Draupadi remarked that it was easy for him to say all this because he himself had not seen sorrow. How could he understand her state of mind? Lord Krishna smiled and
asked Draupadi how she could think that the person who had taken birth behind the four walls of a prison had seen less sorrow. The only difference was that he never treated sorrow as sorrow.

• The second attribute is that one should not lose one’s balance of mind when one encounters a problem. When problems come upon us one after the other, we human beings have a tendency to say: “O Lord, why only me? What have I done?” Or, we start having depression out of fear and frustration and several unhealthy thoughts like revenge, suicide, etc. crowd our minds. We have to face problems firmly and boldly rather than sit and crib about them.
•  The third attribute is that one should maintain one’s poise and calm. One must not lose sweetness of voice. Do not sound bitter and rude to people nor should you be harsh in your words. Be polite.

Whatever you achieve, learn to share it with others. If you have been doing misdeeds in your life and have simultaneously been generous enough, you shall bear the fruits of both. Also, treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. But always remember one thing: your actions are constantly being viewed and monitored by God. If you harm somebody, you cannot escape the harmful consequences of your deed. Every person has to bear his share of sorrow. To save himself from the consequences of his misdeeds, he uses various products – stones, threads, metal pieces etc. But why? Do you

think by doing all these, your share of sorrow will get reduced? Rather, if you have done something wrong, you should pray to God and ask for forgiveness. Simultaneously, you should prepare yourself to face the consequences. Pray to God to give you the courage and strength to face difficulties and hurdles in life. What are happiness and sorrows? To my mind, the limit till which you can bear is happiness and when you cross the limit, you experience sorrow. Sorrow of the size of a mountain weighs like a piece of straw for those who have mental strength, who take things in their stride, who keep smiling and doing their duty while for those who lack these qualities sorrow of the size of straw weighs like a mountain.
So remember, whatever be the circumstances, whatever be the hurdles in your life’s journey, face them as a challenge, with courage and with total faith in God.