If you give too much value to the outer universe, make it your goal and run after it, then you are in a state of ajnana (ignorance), no matter how much you might have studied the scriptures. If you think you are someone – I am something, I am someone, I am important, I want this, I must be looked after – then you are in a state of ajnana.  Your Vedanta is green.

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Relationship with God

What is our relationship with God? He is the whole and we are a part. Brining all-pervading and indwelling, He is our lifelong constant companion from the moment we draw our first breath till our last breath. You are never alone. That Being, who is called God, is constantly with you, He is your closest companion. He is a sakshi – a constant silent witness. He knows everything about you. He knows more about you that you yourself know. You don’t know your interior; whereas He knows. He knows you totally, and He also tolerates you totally, with all your shortcomings, minus-points, drawbacks and imperfections. He is an impartial dispenser of the results of our actions. He is keenly aware of your plus points, He takes count of them. They weigh with Him. Whereas the minus points do not weigh with Him he leaves them to us saying that let them solve them.

But, if you turn to Him for help in solving our problem, He is ever ready. He is not only ever-patient, ever-tolerant silent witness, but He is also your guide, friend and philosopher. He wants to guide you in the right direction. If you turn to Him, listen to Him, He is your greatest friend. He gives you the light of higher understanding. He is the helper of the helpless. He never abandons the helpless. He never turns away one who approaches Him for help. He is never deaf to our prayers. He is a very helpful, compassionate, understanding and sympathetic companion. He confers upon us the highest blessedness.

Many a times, even if you don’t turn to Him, He comes to your help in the form of seeming difficulties and adverse factors. His blessings come in disguise. Later on you understand: “That adverse factor was a great blessing. While I did not know, God was trying to help me.” But He wants us to take the first step towards Him. And the first step towards Him is to recognise that our heart is His dwelling and our body is His moving temple. Thus, we must keep it worthy – clean and pure. Knowing this we keep out from it all that is undivine, unspiritual, not sattvic, holy or sacred. We say: “It is my privilege to give Him a worthy place. It is my humble privilege to constantly keep it holy, clean and pure by cleansing it every moment of my life. Thus one does everything to keep the inner temple, the sanctum sanctorum, holy, clean and pure. Then, in that pure heart, the recognition of God’s great worth dawns.

You turn away from all that is unworthy, and seek only Him. God works by manifesting within us a keen longing for purification. Through purity comes devotion and through devotion comes dispassion, vairagya. And through renunciation one attains the great Peace, which is God. One attains Immortality.

You are what you choose to become. Nothing is forced upon you. Nothing is imposed. You are not compelled. There is no external force in this universe that does it or can do it. All force, all power, is within you. You are the source of all force, all power. It is for you to choose how you will express it. It is for you to say, “No”, break the connection, and then attach to where you want the connection. Disconnect yourself. Detach and attach!

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Infinite Love of God

Where people gather together with devotion, faith, love for God in their hearts, there is not Kali-yuga – the Iron Age – but the Satya-yuga – the Golden Age. There it is no more the earth-plane, but it is Vaikuntha or Heaven on earth, or the Kingdom of God. It is potentially present where hearts filled with devotion, faith and the spirit of adoration are united together to think of God, to hear of God and to chant His names. We come together in God, as it were, when we are in satsanga. You come into a spiritual fellowship in devotion and faith. It is when you are activated in that depth of your being, that you get the blessing of this oneness. All differences are transcended and dissolved. This spiritual fellowship goes beyond the barriers of creed, dogma or theology of any sect, cult of religion.

It is the deepest innermost essence of each individual upon his journey to the Infinite. It is this inner stirring within the heart that is the eternal religion, that is the one great power that pervades the whole world. It makes a human being kin with even a blade of grass of flower, a little bee or a wild beast in the jungle. You feel kinship with all nature through this power – the power of God’s love. It is the power that makes one give up one’s life for the life of another, do anything for the benefit of another. No sacrifice is too great. No sacrifice is even looked upon as a sacrifice: “I gain if my brother is a gainer, because my brother is my own self.” God is sending  from time to time, great souls who simplified this approach to God. The universal souls proclaim this great oneness and brotherhood of all living beings.

God wants your love, devotion and faith. More than anything else, He wants in your heart a need for Him. Where there is need, He is ready to give Himself. “Ask and it shall be given.” Therefore, there is need for you to surrender yourself to the Supreme. If you surrender, then grace showers upon you. It is when His Grace comes upon you that everything that is impossible becomes possible. Everything is achieved instantaneously. The Father is always gracious. This Divine grace is yours by right. Because you belong to Him, you are a child of the Divine. No matter what depths of degradation you have fallen in, doesn’t matter. All that is nothing in the eyes of the Father. Such is the spontaneous love the Father has for the society. The only thing is, when you willfully went away the Father was sad. When you came back, there were open arms, always a welcome waiting for you. Such is the love of God. One lost sheep is as precious too Him as the ninety-nine other sheep which He has already got. This is the relationship between God and man. That is infinite Divine love. No barrier can stand between Him and you. Only, you must start moving towards Him. You must ask of this grace, and immediately you shall have it in abundance.

The first and foremost reason for your sorrow, your problems, troubles and sufferings – and the troubles and sufferings you cause for others – is you. You have to learn to take responsibility, to squarely look at yourself. Do not remain a baby always trying to find some other reason for what is wrong with you, always attributing it to someone or something else. Say: “No it is not something or someone or some other circumstance that is responsible. I am responsible. It comes from me.”

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Para-Bhakti

Radiant immortal Atman! Beloved and blessed children of the Divine! Transcendental Knowledge alone leads to Liberation, because bondage is due to ignorance. Ignorance cannot be destroyed by any other means except by its contrary positive factor, Knowledge. The moment light comes in darkness disappears. There is no other way.

What about the devotee who only does bhakti (devotion)? The answer is that when the devotee attains the object of bhakti, that object is keval jnana svarupa (of the nature of pure Knowledge) Supreme Being. Sakara saguna Brahman (Brahman with form and attributes) personal God is nothing but the supreme Knowledge, the pure Consciousness, that has taken form for the devotee’s sake. It does not have a gross material form like ours. Neither is the name of the personal God like ours. Each name is a name of cosmic significance that brings out some sublime quality of attribute of the transcendental, nameless, formless, indescribable, immutable Supreme Brahman. Narayana means that which pervades all space. Siva is supreme auspiciousness, supreme blessedness. Krishna is that which powerfully attracts everything that exists towards Itself. Rama is that which being in their heart delights the yogis, or One who takes delight in being in the hearts of yogis.

So the name and form of the personal God is no other than the impersonal Absolute having temporarily assumed a certain visible form to the spiritual eye. Para-Bhakti and Jnana are one and the same. When devotion to the Lord is taken to its very pinnacle of perfection, then it is nothing but pure Knowledge. Bhakti Yoga begins with two and ends in One. There is no intrinsic difference between the path of devotion and path of knowledge. They ultimately lead to the same supreme transcendental Experience.

How does Knowledge come about? How does this light come to illuminate this hall? It happened when the lamp was turned on, bringing about once again a connection between the bulb and the source of the invisible power, electricity. A plant flourishes as long as it keeps contact with its source and origin, the soil. Pull it out and it withers and dies. So is with each and every one of you. You must keep in contact with, be ever linked with, the Source of your being. Then day by day, your spirit will begin to unfold. You will become divine. The secret of progressive and fruitful life is to be inwardly ever linked with God, the Cosmic Being. Put an end to your alienation and forgetfulness of God who is all in all to you. Then your sorrow, suffering, pain ignorance, bondage, fear, anxiety will start receding and ultimately vanish. When the sun rises, darkness cannot remain.

Remember that separation from God is the root cause of all human miseries. That itself causes bondage. Strive for that state of oneness, attunement, with the Supreme and overcome the sorrows of samsara. Banish the darkness of ignorance and bondage, and come into the light of supreme Wisdom. Do it now, and become blessed. God bless you with success in you sadhana.

Look for your solutions within yourself where all the problems abide. Find your solutions there. Do not search for solutions where they do not exist.

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Devotion that Liberates

When you sit in a ferry to cross a river, you are not anxious about how you are going to get across. You relax because you know someone else has that burden, that responsibility. God is the ferryman of the bark of our life across this ocean of time and space.  This is the truth. This is the actual fact. So, one who trust Him and depends upon Him, no longer has any room for anxiety. Before you call Him, He is already there. Surrender, leave everything on Him. Then you are free from the problem; it becomes non-existent in your life. The problem is His concern, and He is the ultimate solution – immediately available to everyone. The devotee may fail God, but God has never failed a devotee.

To reflect Him, to glorify Him, is the real worship. To stand witness to His perfection is the real worship and adoration. The best offering that can be placed at the feet of the Supreme is one’s own self: “I surrender to Thee. I myself constitute the offering with which I can adore you.” Such a worship can be ceaseless. Such a worship constantly keeps us in an awareness of the presence of God. No part of our life, no moment of our life, is left out of it. You seek Him thus, by the totality of your being.

Do you feel God’s presence with you always? Do you feel His presence in every cell of your very being? Do you see every creature, every tree and plant surrounded by the divine presence of God? The Supreme Being shining with the splendour of a million suns is shining here and now over each and every one of you. Do you feel yourself in this Light? Are you living in this Light? Ponder this particular aspect of life.

“Thou art omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient.” We all believe in the all-pervading presence of God. But our belief should not be a dry belief. If our belief in the omnipresence of God is a living faith and the principle upon which we live our life, then safeguarded by this faith and conviction, we will never dream of thinking anything unworthy of His inner indwelling presence and shall never dream of uttering anything unworthy of Him, shall never engage in any action that is unworthy of His divine presence. Rather naturally, spontaneously, irresistibly, inevitably your life will become divine. Your life becomes one of virtue, humility, simplicity, having a spirit of service and practising the presence of God within and without. Your life will become ideal, noble and sublime, capable of bestowing upon you the peace that passeth understanding.

Then, these truths can become truths that make our life divine and sublime. And these truths can make our striving meaningful and worthwhile, and can make our sadhana fruitful in God-experience. There is no doubt about it.

The human mind and senses are all outgoing, outgoing, outgoing. We are too much with the world, and the world is too much with us.

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Develop Longing for God

Worshipful homage unto the omnipresent Divine, from whom we are never apart, in whom we dwell, and who dwells within us as the very life of our life, the very heart of our heart, the innermost essence of our being! “Eko devah sarva-bhuteshu gudhah . . .”  “Ishvarah sarvabhutanam hriddeshe’rjuna tishthati . . .” The Supreme Spirit is hidden in all beings. Thus we are never apart from; we are never in any way remote or disconnected from the Being, whom we refer to as the parama lakshya, highest goal.

We always think of It as something distant or remote, something that requires a long journey to reach. But it is an inner journey; we do not have to cover distances. We have to remove obstacles, the greatest obstacle being ourselves. The lesser obstacles are factors within our personality that are contrary to the Divine Reality. They obstruct our experience to It, veil It.

The inveterate tendency of our psychological self is to always move outside to external objects. It is the tendency of the mind to imagine that happiness, peace and fulfilment of our lives lie in striving for, possessing and experiencing external things. To alter these outgoing tendencies, this deluded thinking of the mind, becomes an indispensable part of our sadhana. All the world is in the grip if this delusion, this bhranti, created by maya. It makes one move in a direction contrary to his ultimate goal, which is within. It is through satsanga and svadhyaya that this delusion is removed, and ignorance is replaced by right understanding and knowledge. That marks the turning of our direction towards God.

We must come to the conviction that God is present right here, nearest to me as my innermost being. God lives within me; we are never apart. This Being is the only source of true happiness, peace and satisfaction. There is no other source. This Being is the highest value in life. There is nothing greater, more valuable or more important. He is the one and only supreme value, the one and only thing worth attaining.

Let us adore the Supreme by telling Him: “Thou art my all in all. Thou art everything for me. Thy attainment is my life’s only desire.” Thus, if we make seeking Him our most important task in life, if we develop for Him a great desire, a great longing and an overwhelming yearning –“I must attain God, I must experience that Supreme Being” – if our whole being is filled with this urge, then it is absolutely certain that in this very life, God will be experienced. Then you may be absolutely certain that nothing can deprive you of that Experience. There is no doubt about it.

The peace within is not felt because our gaze, our stream of thoughts, is constantly directed towards things other than ourselves, things other than that which is within us.

The human mind and senses are all outgoing, outgoing, outgoing. We are too much with the world, and the world is too much with us.

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True Bhakti

Worshipful adorations to the one, non-dual Universal Consciousness that alone pervades everywhere. May we be aware that It is not a remote, unapproachable Reality, but that It is more real than anything that we are perceiving through our five senses!

Bhakti or devotion is of two kinds. The common is the ceremonial and ritualistic method of expressing our devotion through elaborate worship. This bhakti always has a tinge of self-seeking. But the bhakti that crowns us with Liberation is nishkama (selfless). This bhakti seeks nothing but the great privilege of loving thee Lord. This bhakti seeks nothing other than the Lord Himself – God for god’s sake, devotion for the sake of devotion. Even if something is given, it refuses to accept if: “varan-na yacha raghunandana; yushmad-pada’bja-prema-bhaktih satatam mama’stu – I seek no boon. I seek no favour other than one-pointed devotion at Thy lotus feet.” It is this bhakti that is to be practised if you want to make this life worthwhile, attain the supreme Goal and become forever blessed.

The bhakta sees the defects of all created things as temporary, transitory, subject to decay and dissolution. They can become bondage, a prolific source of sorrow. Therefore, the bhakta does not run after them. Everything created is alpa (petty).

This is the bhakti that one should practise. And this bhakti becomes possible only if we do vichara (enquiry) in order to generate viveka (discrimination). Vichara and viveka will produce a vairagya (dispassion). And vairagya is the essential condition for progressing in devotion, meditation and Illumination. Bhakti, jnana, vairagya – these triune streams – have to exist together, flowing in an unbroken current within the hidden inner dimension of our spiritual being. This is the guarantee of spiritual attainment, Illumination and Liberation and divine perfection, here and now, in this very life.

Pracitse resolutely, motivelessly, desireless devotion and love for the Divine. May you become embodiments of bhakti, jnana and vairagya! May the Supreme Reality, whom we adore grant you these three and crown your life with blessedness!

Peace pervades all existence; peace is everywhere; it ever dwells within you. Peace is the one great Reality.

And yet we find people pining for it, trying to create it, going on holidays, going on picnics, going into seclusion to search for it.

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The Path of Devotion

This is the meaning of religion, and all practices of Yoga: re-establishment and the development into all its fullness your relationship with that one Reality. The central purpose of all religions, the central message of all saints and sages is to recall to man once again to make the inner spiritual relationship into a dynamic and living fact in one’s own life.

You belong to the Divine eternally, and in the Divine you have your all-in-all. In the Eternal alone you can find true joy. The Eternal alone satisfy the Spirit, and you are spirit. All association with non-eternal is ultimately fraught with sorrow. The great need in life, therefore, is to ever keep yourself closely related to that Divine.

How can you do it? The process of entering into a relationship through the emotional level of your being with Divine is called Bhakti Yoga, the Path of Devotion. Bhakti is a word that denotes love, intense attachment, a deep feeling of affection, of adoration. Love of god is a power that even as a little ripple upon the surface of a lake in the beginning, can assume the power of a great wave, and overcome all the lower attachments and bondages. But it should be cultivated. You have to work upon it with great care and devotion. You have to set up a relationship, a link of pure love with the Divine, and diligently work to develop this love relationship into a state of perfection and completeness. This is the very essence of Bhakti Yoga.

You may feel: “God is a strange Being. He is remote. How can I love Him?” The answer is: “God is not remote. He is not far away. He is nearer to you than the nearest object in the universe. He is nearer to you than your breath. He is your own Self. You don’t have to lift a finger to point out to Him. You have to look within. He is to be felt as your very own, very close to you.”

God is full of graciousness, full of love and compassion, eager to have you to come to Him. He allows Himself to be approached with any vision. You may take the Divine object as a child or as your companion. So the keynote of Bhakti Yoga contains love, affection, attachment, intimacy, nearness, absolute humility, closeness, and also adoration and an element of worshipfulness.

Real happiness comes out of peace. When the mind is tranquil and serene, peace, bliss wells up from within you. You do not have to manufacture happiness, for it does not lie outside of you. True happiness is right here where you are sitting. You are yourself happiness. Happiness is your essential nature.

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The Devotee Becomes Invulnerable

It is a common fallacy to suppose that people who follow the path of devotion, who cultivate devotion, who take recourse to prayer, surrender and the Name of the Lord become effeminate, weak and they are not strong. The real devotee fears nothing in this world. His strength is infinite, because his strength is not the strength of an individual personality. The source of his strength is Infinity, in which he has established himself. The devotee relies on the Lord; the vedantin relies on the Atman. The Saguna Brahman and the Nirguna Brahman are one.

If a devotee feels within him a sort of fear or weakness, then it means that his practice of Bhakti is not correct. There is something lacking in him. If he is a real devotee, he should be perfectly fearless. He should say: “I have got the Name of the Lord on my lips, nothing equals the Name of the Lord in the whole world. So no fear can come to me from the world.” He, who has got the Name of the Lord ever upon his lips, defies the guiles of Maya. Maya cannot do anything to him.

True devotion gives strength, infinite courage and boldness. He who has got faith and devotion to the Lord becomes invulnerable. His defences are impregnable. Nothing can happen to him. Such faith was there in Hanuman. He is the ideal of a true devotee, the devotee who is full of strength, full of courage, full of heroism.

What is the source of all strength that sustains an aspirant in the struggle to overcome Maya? That strength is the Name of the Lord, that strength is the strength of true love and devotion to the Lord, that strength is the strength of absolute faith in the Lord, faith in the grace of the Lord. A devotee fears nothing. No obstacle deters him from pursuing the path that leads to the blessed union with the Lord.

It is the state of our mind that makes our happiness or unhappiness. If that inner state is adjusted and corrected, then nothing has the power to give us any experience except that which we give it.

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Life Transforming Power of Prayer

The ancient tradition in India is of praying for others – praying for the welfare of not only mankind, but for all creatures, for everything that exists – praying for peace, desiring peace and sending out thoughts of peace to all existence. “Peace be unto all the five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether.” “Om dyauh shantih antariksham shantih prithivi shantih” – It is desiring peace for the celestials, for and angelic host, for the earth. “Apah shantih oshadhayah shantih vanaspatayah shantih” – It is desiring peace for grass, herbs, plants, trees. “Vishve-deva shantih Brahmah shantih sarvam shantih shantir-eva shantih” – Peace to all the Gods, to Brahman. Peace to all, peace for peace itself. “Sama shantiredhi “- Let there be peace to all Vedic mantras.

“Lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu – May all beings in the Universe be happy. Sarvesham swasti bhavatu – May prosperity and welfare be unto all beings. Sarvesham shantir-bhavatu – May peace be unto all beings. Sarvesham purnam bhavatu – May plentitude and fullness be unto all beings.  Sarvesham mangalam bhavatu – May auspiciousness and blessedness be unto all beings. Sarve bhavantu sukhinah – May all be happy. Sarve santu niramayah – May all be free from disease, pain and suffering. Sarve bhadrani pashyantu – May all behold that which is auspicious, pleasant, nothing fearful nor unpleasant.” ‘Bhadra’ means auspicious, blessed, mild, pleasant. “Ma kashchid-dukhah-bhaga bhavet – May not sorrow fall to the lot of anyone.” This has been an ancient tradition – wishing well, wishing peace, happiness, prosperity, freedom from disease and pain, wishing fullness, plentitude, blessedness and auspiciousness to everyone.

The desirability of such prayers is not only because the world needs all these things, but there is also a subjective dimension. The process has a very important effect upon one who prays. By wishing for all that is positive, creative, constructive, good, conducive to welfare, auspiciousness and blessedness to all that exist, it makes us aware and makes our life an active, dynamic process of constantly working to bring about those very conditions which we pray for. Such prayer is an indication of what we should work, live and act for. It also has still another aspect. By constantly thinking of the happiness, welfare and peace of others, it brings about a change in our nature. Gradually we become so disposed to act and live in such a way, that we become a centre of compassion and kindness towards others, a centre of peace for others. It makes us grow in this quality of goodwill towards all, of ill will towards none. This constant prayer has purifying, elevating and transforming effect if we pray with earnestness and sincerity. Then indeed our life mission is being fulfilled, because we become a centre for radiating around us the quality which is God’s, daivi sampada.

May prayer transform your life and make it divine! God bless you!

You should recognize yourself as the master of the mind; otherwise you will fall into the error of regarding yourself as a thinking machine. You are not a thinking machine. You are the thinker – the independent director and controller of this thinking machine called mind. To understand and overcome the barrier of the mind is the most important business in the life of man.

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Prayer – Its Prerequisites

The All-Souls’ Day and the All-Saints’ Day are specially set apart by the Christian world as the days of devout prayerfulness. To us, spiritual aspirants, this observance has come to mean a day of universal prayerfulness, an exercise of devotion to be performed by all selfless souls, who have in their heart the welfare of all their fellow-souls travelling together to reach the ultimate destination of Immortality. All souls are struggling to get free from the earthly trammels and thraldom of ignorance and trying to manifest their divine consciousness. Therefore, our prayer for all souls would mean literally prayer for all souls that exist, whether in human form or in the sub-human form. Let our prayer be for sarva-bhutas – animate and inanimate, animal, human and also celestial beings. Let our prayer be universal in the truest sense off the term.

Are there any conditions that we may have to fulfil if our prayer is to be effective? Certainly, there are. If a bell has to produce a melodious chime that pleases the ear and reaches long distance, the bell must be sound, the alloy must be pure, and there must be no crack. Similarly, if a prayer ought to be effective, it should emanate from a heart, which is absolutely pure, which is devoid of crookedness, cunningness, carnality, greed and evil thought, This is the first and one of the most important requisites for effective prayer. Purity is the prime condition of effective prayer.

Service and sympathy ought to be practical; even so, our prayer should not be mere lip-prayer. It should be sincere. It is sincere prayer alone that will amaze us with the miraculous and marvellous way in which it bears fruit. Prayer should be full of bhava. Bhava makes prayer live, vital and dynamic. Prayer without bhava is like a blazing fire in a painted picture, whereas prayer with bhava is like the actual blazing fire. There is one more thing, which the man who would pray ought to observe. Our lives and our actions should be in harmony with the spirit of our prayerfulness, and should in no way contradict the bhava of our prayer. We should practically live for the well-being of others. Our motives, our speeches and actions should always be filled with universal love, always tend towards vishva-kalyan (welfare of the entire world), and our life should be dedicated to sarva-mangala and loka-hita (the prosperity and welfare of all). If we pray for the welfare of all, we should live and work for the welfare of all.

If you want the fullest efficacy of prayer, then earnestly try to acquire these qualities. For spiritual aspirants, All-Souls Day is every day of the year; praying for the welfare of all is done everyday. May all souls attain the highest happiness and Bliss, and the highest goal.