Saints prescribe Sadhana for us according to our spiritual ability. This is known as Sadhana as per spiritual level. I would like to recount one inspiring incidents in this context.
Once a saint was passing through a cremation ground, along with his disciples. One person was bitterly crying over the remains of his father’s pyre. The saint touched him affectionately and asked, “What happened, why so much of mourning?” Sobbing, the person replied, “My father has passed away. How will I be able to live without him?” The saint replied lovingly, “One who has come, has to go eventually one day. Accept this eternal truth and come with me.” Saying this, he made that person an associate in the batch of disciples with him. Another person who was about to return after performing the last rites of his father saw all this and he also felt that the world was a Mayajaal (web of illusion). Hence when the saint came near him, he said, “Baba, please give me shelter too, I too am fed up of all this illusion. I too feel that I should become a mendicant.” Smilingly, Baba said, “Who all are there at home?” The person replied, “I have a wife, four children and an old mother.” Baba said, “So go and look after them, this is your Sadhana. If you take renunciation, who will take care of them ?” Saying this, he turned that man back.
In this incident, one person was motivated to take renunciation, while the other was taught a lesson to perform his householder’s duties, why did the saint act in such a manner? The spiritual level and Sadhana of the first person was high and after taking renunciation, he would progress faster on the path of spiritual practice. However, the illusion of ignorance had tied him down, whereas the other person wanted to free himself and run away from his responsibilites, hence he was not eligible for renunciation.
Our Shree Guru has given us an extremely important perspective in this context that persons or seekers below the spiritual level of 40% should not take renunciation because it is not possible for such people to control their desires and their Prarabdh (destiny) is severe too. Hence if such people do not take renunciation under the guidance of an able Guru, many nuisance develop in the society. Hence, a person should enter a householder’s life and try to make efforts to pursue Sadhana along with fulfilling one’s desires. If a person above the spiritual level of 50% has a lot of interest in Sadhana and if he is pursuing Sadhana under an able Guru, then he should seek the advice of his guru whether to marry or not . If a person above 60% spiritual level does not have a severe destiny, he either does not get married, or after a few years of married life, leads a saintly life. Such seekers are not really desirous of marriage. They pursue Sadhana under the guidance of a saint of a high order and lead a renounced life. Even if they are a householder, they conduct themselves in a righteous manner, practising self-control. By doing Sadhana, such seekers can easily control their desires). – Tanuja Thakur
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