Devotees of Sai Baba called Dwarakamayi — the gates of moksha, liberation, and sakshatkar, Self-realization. Ganesh Srikrishna Khaparde of Amaravati used to make fun of the three of us – Dhabolkar, Nana Chandorkar, and myself as three guards posted at Dwarakamayi to ask you for your credentials. Dasganu explained that we are — shanti, santosh, and vichar, that is peace, mental equilibrium; joy, contentment; and inquiry, discrimination. Even if you become friends with only one of the guards, the others will facilitate your entry.
First in the series is peace. If you make peace yours, trupti, contentment is yours, and contentment is the highest source of joy and the most valuable possession. It is as much as an empire granted by Sai Maharaj.
Without contentment, kama, desire, and lobha, greed, attain dangerous proportions and will
overwhelm the power of discrimination itself. Desire easily becomes greed, and greed degenerates into miserliness and lust, which make one flit from object to object in the mad pursuit of evanescent sensual joy. How can people with such qualities concentrate, how can they engage in meditation and surrender to Sai Baba?
Advise the mind that flows so swiftly in so many directions: Dasganu advised us “Oh mind, do not drag me along the floods of objects, along the path of sensual desires, and spoil my career. Instead, take me to Lord Sainath. Flow in that direction, please.” Giving up all other desires and being ever content, dwell on His name and His form only, to the exclusion of everything else. Meditation in the name and form is real shanti, peace; genuine santosh, contentment.
At Dwarakamayi, contentment will not make anyone an idler, remember. It is an attribute of true, sattvic, pure character. It will make the mind turn always toward the Lord. It will save you from tribulation to satisfy unimportant wants and cater to selfish needs. It will direct human talents toward efforts that elevate.
Sai Maharaj was happy to learn the way Khaperde had called the three of us ‘Guards of Dwarakamayi’
The contented person will also be truthful and will, therefore, be in constant communion with the Atman. That is to say, the contented person can be immersed in meditation for long periods without rest or the feeling of tiredness. Meditation is the only method of counteracting the mental activities that surge forward inthousand directions; there is no other method at all.
Sai Maharaj is close behind our thoughts. Be comfortable in all environments. The capacity to concentrate is a very useful qualification. You must watch the vagaries of your mind — how it travels, what objects it runs after — and, slowly, through meditation, you should teach it to stay still and to behave beneficially.
Do not worry about the unsatisfactory environment you may have. You can overcome the drawbacks by training your mind. Stay in your environment and pray to the Lord! Pray that He may fill you with His thoughts and His vision, making you ignore the defects of the environment. Do not seek comfort, for comfort might not be conducive to meditation. Learn to be comfortable in any place; that is better. Live in joy wherever you are; that is the way. Revel in the realm of your mind; worship in the mind the Lord you have chosen as your goal and be free of all the defects of the natural or human environment. Then, no spot can be irksome to you, nor will any place seem disgusting.
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