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Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Today is the commencement of the New Year according to the English calendar. Every country, every region, every traditional segment observes something like a New Year day. It only reminds us that everything in this world is moving in a cyclic manner. All the people who are getting born upon this earth will have to be born in one of the 365 and quarter days of the year. And these births are repeating because the earth is revolving on its own axis and also is going around the sun repeatedly with the same velocity, time duration and the like.
So whenever we think of a New Year, we should immediately get connected to the entire nature and the cyclic processes the nature is following or abiding by. We also have our cycles. We get up early in the morning or sometime in the day. We remain active for many hours. Thereafter we wind up our activities and we go to sleep. Out of the 24 hours, almost one third of the time is spent in sleep. The remaining time we are wakeful. Sometimes in sleep we have our dream. So, we are also passing through a cycle within ourselves in the form of wakefulness, sleep and dream. Similarly we are passing through a cycle in the mind level called sukha and duhkha, pleasantness and unpleasantness. We have knowledge and ignorance, memory and forgetfulness, good and bad.
So, the entire world including the denizens of the Earth are always, whether they want it or not, following a cyclic pattern, we are reminded of that. This is a time when you can stock of your life and the manner in which you have either gained or lost in the last year. Such a calculation or such a verification can be done very often or regularly, but certainly you can do it on the New Year day or it could be done the last day of the year. And then make a new resolution that "This year I will make a better life of myself." In everything that you do, a simple but wholesome formula will be to feel connected to God. Whenever I say God, I feel a little shy also. The reason is that 'God' is a very common word used by all people. But whenever they say 'God', I feel, they don’t have the necessary piety, devotion, sublimity or attunement which they should feel towards that, something ineffable, indescribable like God. God is a presence. It is equally a power. As a presence and as a power, God is indescribable, ineffably great.
The one way that you can think about God is just think about the Earth. The earth is a spacial body, very small. It is surrounded by a number of celestial bodies. The distances between every two bodies will be immensely great. It is not simple. We have sent a Mangalyān to the Red planet. If I remember correctly, it has travelled more than 22 crores of kilometers to go there. Just imagine, so all the celestial bodies collected together, aggregated, you will find it occupies a very small area in the infinitude of space. So I would like you to think of God in this manner.
Our earth along with so many other planets and celestial bodies surrounding it is supported by, is within the womb of space. And the space itself is infinite in every way. Agreed that the planets are within the space. But whose within, the space itself is? That is God. For all the celestial bodies, space is the source, the support. In the same manner, where does space itself subsist? That is called God, one.
Secondly, another way of accessing God is go into your own personality. I am seated on the chair. The chair is placed on the floor. The floor exists in the building. The building rests upon the earth. Where does the earth rest upon? Space. Where does the space rest upon? That is God. In the same way, go into your own personality inwardly. My body is sensed and cognized by the mind. The mind senses the thoughts, emotions, knowledge, doubt, memory etc. The thoughts, knowledge, everything, they are an expression of the mind. It is just like the fire blazing into flames. The flames are an outer expression of fire. But where is this flame coming from? It is somewhere at the bottom. In the same manner, will you please go inward and find out, thoughts are emanating from the mind, emotions also, knowledge, doubt, memory etc. but where is the mind inwardly seated? That is what you call ‘I’ - the Self. That Self is itself God.
So, you are surrounded by God, you are also inwardly resting upon God. Both mentally and physically you are resting on God, bodily on the earth in space and the support of space, inwardly in the mind and in the Self. Both are equally God. Being so, you cannot think of getting separated from God or getting dislodged from him. Will you please work on this formula? This remembrance of God should be concurrent with whatever you are doing - good, bad or indifferent. When you come to good devotion, meaningful and wholesome devotion, whatever be your action - mental, oral or physical, remembrance of God and assuring yourself that you are resting on Him, that should not be disturbed. If you speak a lie, remember God and then speak a lie. If you do a wrong, remember God and rememberingly do it.
Mām anusmara yudhya ca (Bhagavad Gita 8.7), "Remember me and fight."
"Fighting is not good. Still if you have to do it, remember me and fight." So, soak every thought of yours, speech of yours and action of yours in God and Godliness. And when you start doing so, what will you get in reward, if you ask me,
Ananyāś-cintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate, Those who are given to worshipping me all around, throughout, what is meant by all around and through out? ananyāś-cintayanto māṁ, that worship cannot be physical with flowers in front of an idol in a pooja room or in a temple. You should start thinking about God as surrounding you and penetrating you. So, whatever surrounds you is God, whatever penetrates you is God. Think in this manner and wherever you are, whatever you do, let the connectedness with God remain. If you try to practice this and try to be constantly confirming it and strengthening it, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ, you become unbrokenly connected to God, connected to God.
Those people who are remaining connected to me in this manner, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmyaham, I will bear the burden of leading them to and giving them whatever they further need, also looking after whatever they already have. If you have a family, the family’s welfare will be ensured, if you have health, it will be ensured and whatever you further need, not according to your desire but in the judgment of God, that also will be given to them. What more do we want?
The devotion that I know and I would like you to know is so simple and so easy. It is remembering God, remembering God as a presence that you can never escape. As are the planets surrounded by space, you are also surrounded by space, and you are inlaid with God. Behind your thought, behind your emotion, behind your knowledge, behind your memory, behind sleep, behind wakefulness, behind dream, behind everything is the source and the support which you refer to as ‘I’ - the Self. So as Self within and as space and its support outside, you are always insulated and penetrated by God. Remember this, remember this with fondness and loyalty, with the warmth of feeling that you have. Whatever you do, either thought or speech or hearing or reading should be to reinforce this linkage and connectedness with God. May you have this throughout the year and let the life be more and more enriched, enriched, strengthened, strengthened, enlightened, enlightened, made easy, comfortable and glorious.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.