Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

Our personality is a composite one. In that, we have our gross body. This body is consisting of matter and energy. In the bodily level, we cannot and we may not be able to bring about any kind of a change, either an additional organ or one organ less. Maximum we can provide nutrition to the body and take exercises to see that the body is kept in good condition.

As a human, the change, improvement, qualities and the like, if at all, are possible only in the inner personality - mind, intelligence and ego. If you are able to fix this point in your mind, I shall be very happy. The mind, intelligence, ego are supposed to change and improve throughout our life.  This takes place more once you become an adult. You must be able to make your own choices, your own selections, every time we can enquire, reflect upon whatever we are doing and what are the chances of improvement, what is good, what is bad, all these are possible because we have the intelligence. One has to be thoughtful before he is acting. Many people are thoughtless, they act and they never think about it. Instead of that, you should become very thoughtful. I think there is scope for introspection every day. Keeping all these in mind, I would like to say something about all fold devotion.

Devotion is actually an emotion. It is an emotion arising from the mind. But that emotion is different from the rest of the emotions. Only when the mind thinks about a supra-worldly factor, then only devotion will start springing in the mind. When we are looking at the world and interacting with the world, we don’t get devotion. Devotion will spring up only when you start thinking about a supra-worldly element. That is what we call God.

God is not the world, but something different from it. God is not that which can be sensorily perceived. It is supra-sensory. So, when we think of something beyond the sensory range, that becomes a Godly factor. And when you reflect upon it, devotion start growing in you. This devotion becomes easy and also will become full fold provided you think of God in the full manner. What is this full manner?

There is nothing besides God. If there is a world, that world is godly and included in God. You are a part of the world. If the world is godly, you are also godly. If the world is godly, you being included in the world, you are also godly.  Start thinking in this manner. Everything is godly. Find God in everything. Everything, external and internal, gross and subtle, everything is godly. This kind of a thought, you should not laugh at it and you should not search for reason. If you search for reason, I can provide why it is so. But you need not search.

When you go the temple, what happens? You look at the idol and the idol give you the idea of a God. In the same manner, let the whole world be an idol, every part of which will start reflecting or radiating God for you. Expanding and enlarging devotion in this manner is your option, your choice, your selection, your wish and your will. If I tell you, will you start doing it? Stop all other practices of devotion. 

From today onwards, think that “I am a son or a daughter of God and therefore I am godly. Therefore I am godly. For me, everything is godly.” And converse with God. Do not worship Him with flowers. Do not try to contemplate upon Him suddenly. Simply talk to Him, converse with Him just like you will talk to a friend or somebody close to you. Talk to Him everything and all. 

“Today I have no time to think about you, my dear God. Please excuse me.” You can say that.

“Today I am going to think about you a little more. Today I am little angry and displeased with you. There are many things which I had reminded you about, but you do not seem to be acting upon them. Now I don’t find anybody else to go to. Then what shall I do? So, I am a little angry and irritated about you.”

You can say, “I am extremely fond of you. I sometimes wonder, how you being everywhere present, there are many things taking place in this world which are atrocious in character. With all these developments, you seem to be unaffected and unconcerned. So, I am little jealous of you. I must also be able to remain unconcerned and unaffected. People say that you are in everybody. My Jeeva is yourself. So, if you have the quality of unaffectness, I must also have, I also have. So, I will start practicing this unaffectedness and it should not be impossible because you are unaffected, you are in me. I am a part of you. So, whatever is the quality of the whole, that will be the quality of the part also.”

You bring any kind of a thought process. But that thought process should link you to God. Srimad Bhagavatha says:

Yena kena prakarena, matih krishne niyojayet. 

Whatever be the means, your mind should be wedded to Krishna, riveted to Krishna, riveted to God. This is called all fold devotion.

You feel that “I have fallen from God. Yes. Yesterday and day before yesterday, I did not remember you. I have fallen. But it does not matter. Where can I fall? I fall from you and I fall to you. I cannot get away from you. There is nothing besides you.”

This is how I sometimes I say, “Oh God, I give you two challenges. What is that? If you can banish me from your territory and kingdom, banish me from your territory and kingdom.” What does it mean? He must put me in a place where He is not. Can it be possible? Because God is omnipresent, so can He take me and put me where He is not?

Another is exit from my heart. If He is all-pervading and interpenetrating, He is in my heart. So, can He get away from my heart? No. These are the two challenges I had given to God. He has not met them up to now. 

This kind of a free exchange with God, either be a child or be a friend or be a brother or a sister, be a son or a daughter, that all-foldness of devotion. So simple and so easy. I don’t want you to read big. No nothing. Simply foster an unbroken, unbreakable relationship with God.

But I would like you to be a model, a good person. A good person means a loving person, amiable person. Anybody should like you. Accommodate people. You may have merits which are superior to others. But with the superior merits, you still should become accessible and you should be caring for others. In a group of people, not all will not be harmonious with us. But they are also part of the world, part of our world family. And when an occasion comes, we will have to interact with everyone. So be loving. Be considerate. Try to make adjustments and sacrifice for the sake of others. Never try to dwell upon the defects of others. If you find some defects, immediately you should reflect, “Oh see, how glaring is the defect. Let me not have it. May I not have it.”

Any quality that you want to develop, love that quality, wish and feel you should have it. “Oh God, may I have love. May I have love. Oh God, may I have reliance. May I have reliance. Oh God, let me be considerate, considerate. Let me be sacrificing, sacrificing.” You think and be that quality in your mind. Automatically, it will be imbibed by you, it will start manifesting.

Everybody says that “I want to be good, but I am not good.” You are not good because you don’t want to be good. If you want to be good, you aspire to be good, then I think from that very moment, inches and millimeters of goodness will start growing in you. Will you examine your heart and find out? The moment you feel a certain quality I want to have, that very feeling starts making that quality grow in you.

I think we are deceiving ourselves by saying that, “I want but I don’t get.” After all, a quality is not an objective thing like gold or silver or land. It is a quality which the human mind, human person can develop. It doesn’t require any gross factor. So, in the matter of developing qualities, why should there be any denial, poverty or even austerity measure? We have so many stories which says that, Kalidasa was a fool and he became the wisest person. Similarly, any quality can be grown by us provided you wish and will for it. And rely upon God, the great treasure house of all qualities. So, it is a question of fondness and commitment. I think every one of you should become nice, good, noble, loving, beautiful, take interest in others, be concerned with others, try to be useful and benevolent.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.