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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
This is a verse from Sankaracharya’s composition in adoration of Lord Shiva. Yesterday and the day before, I was telling you something about God, his appearing before me and all that. Many of you smiled, it’s good. But some of you, all of you should think as to what is behind Swamiji’s saying like this. Normally people will not say anything to this extent about God appearing and then telling God that, “Please do not take the trouble of coming here. You go to others who want you. I am quite happy, feeling you, seeing you, talking to you, etc.” It is not something that ordinary people or devotees will say. So, some of you should think as to how it is so. I thought I would explain to you one verse which falls in this category.
ātmā tvaṃ girijā mati: sahacarā: prāṇā: śarīraṃ gṛhaṃ
The devotee who worships Lord Shiva, by means of worship, it is not Shiva that get transformed. The worshipper goes on getting improvement, improvement. Any action benefits the actor. When you prepare a good meal and have it, neither the vessels nor fire nor kitchen is benefitted. You yourself enjoy the taste, the delicious nature of the food, hunger is appeased and nutrition is provided. Every action benefits, first and last, the actor and not so much the acted upon or to whom it is addressed.
So, ātmā tvaṃ, my dear lord Shiva, you are actually my very self.
Girijā mati:, your consort, Girija is actually the intelligence.
Sahacarā: prāṇā:, the people who always move with me as your assistants are the pranas, pancha prānās in my body.
Śarīraṃ gṛhaṃ, my body is the Kailasa in which you live, that is your residence.
Pūjā te viṣayopabhogaracanā, the worship with flowers for you, actually are all the different items of objects with which I interact.
Nidrā samādhisthiti:, everyday when I sleep, that is actually your Samadhi.
Saṃcāra: padayo:, whatever my legs do in the way of travel, movement, short or long, that is the pradakshina for you, pradakṣiṇavidhi:.
Stotrāṇi sarvā giro, all that comes out of my mouth, my speech, knowingly or unknowingly, everything, shruthi shiro, it is like the scriptural pronouncements, particularly in the Upanishads.
Yadyatkarma karomi tattadakhilaṃ, whatever activity I perform, I do, all that, śambho tavārādhanam, my dear Lord, it is meant to worship you. It is meant to be hymns addressed to you. That is the protracted ārādhana I do. I am not thinking of doing anything special or additional. All that I do together constitute my worship, my adoration, my protracted ārādhana for you.
What do you understand from this? Every form of worship is a step in the ladder of devotion. You start climbing the steps, one after the other, one after the other, one after the other. Make sure that you climb. Don’t stay in any one step. In English there is a proverb, ‘It is good to be born in a church, but not to die in the church.’ I generally don’t like to quote anything from the other religions, but this is a general statement. It is very good and necessary to go to the temple. But it is not right to only do that and end up with that. You start worshipping God. Worship is your act. In that process of worship, as you go on, go on pursuing it, just like every time you place the step, while walking towards a destination, you go nearer and nearer, and one time you reach the destination, in the same manner, the destination God should be reached by your climbing. And how do you reach it? How do you know it? Everything that you do will become a full worship, continuous worship to the Lord.
And who is this Lord? Ātmā tvaṃ. You are no other than my own indwelling presence, the consciousness in me. If you have a consort, it is the intelligence. The consciousness, first of all, activates the intelligence, forms the intelligence and activates it. Even in the formation of a child, the beginning of the foetus, the first item that gets formed is the intelligence and through the intelligence is all the further shaping taking place.
Girijā mati: sahacarā: prāṇā:. And then you have a number of people to travel with you, move with you, to accomplish different tasks and that is the pancha prānās. Our body has got different types of activity, some upward, some downward, some onward, some inner, some outer, all these different activities are enabled by the five different types of prāna which are operating in the body.
Śarīraṃ gṛhaṃ. Your dwelling place is my body. So, you start worshipping the Lord in the temple and the worship, if it grows well, you will understand, ‘I am worshipping the idol which idolizes the presence in everyone.” It is the spiritual presence that animates and activates the body and that is what we call ‘I’. Everything follows the ‘I’, is around the ‘I’, for the ‘I’, and that is the God whom I have been worshipping.’
Whatever I see, whatever I hear, whatever I eat, whatever I do, in whichever manner, all of them equally constitute the pooja I do for you. Just imagine, how you have to look at your own life! Don’t look at it as a material mass. It is material no doubt, our body. Our body was formed by the self, by God and it is always animated and activated by God. So, God is not at a distance, talk to Him, stop worshipping Him, talk to Him, talk to Him, get angry with Him, be irritable if you want, express all your emotions towards Him or on Him and be free. Talk to the others nicely and well.
Get angry with God. Accuse Him. Find fault with Him. Fight Him. Don’t talk to Him for three days. Starve Him if you want. Anything that you can do with God. Srimad Bhagavatha says,
Yena kena prakarena matih krishne niyojayet
Whatever be the means or methodology, your mind should be focused on God. Mind should be focused on God. You can use anger, that will be much faster in its effect. You can use love, that will take time. You can be jealous of God if you can.
You can compete with him if you want. “How do you manage this world, huge universe? It is very very difficult and you are a part in me. So, if you manage the universe, I will also manage my home and house. And my dear God, I am going to excel you in this management. I don’t think many people talk ill of you, so many cruel people are there, terrorists are there and all of them are saying, it is in your world, your creation. So people blame you. I will not give any opportunity to blame me. So, my management of my life will be better than yours.” Compete with him.
By any kind of an attitude or response you can approach God. Just see, this is devotional science. Throw away your fear. Throw away your suspicion. Abandon all doubts and be free. Wave both your hands, both your hands wave freely and walk in this world as a great devotee, as a great, great, great carrier of God. All these are from the scriptures, I am speaking.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.