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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
I off and on think about why the devotees on the one hand and seekers on the other are not able to feel the touch of divinity or experience divinity in them. How many crores and crores of people are parading in the temples and holy places? They go there with a lot of inspiration, commitment and the like. These are qualities which are adorable to anyone anywhere in the world. While they are very much spirited in going to pilgrim spots and the like, why is it that they are either indifferent to realizing divinity or God as such? Even when they are taking to the path of spirituality, it becomes dry and un-responding. I have been wondering as to why this is so.
We have an emotion called love. There is hardly anyone who has not experienced love and fondness. First of all, this fondness transpires and is exchanged between the mother and the child, the father and the child. Maybe when the children grow older, they miss that fondness.
Some days back, a father came along with his wife and they started talking to me. Within a matter of moments, he started profusely shedding tears, heaving like a child. He was saying, “I was working in the police and by nature he had to be harsh. So I have punished my daughters. I have never been able to feel fondness for them or I have never been able to make them feel fondness. When I go to open places particularly parks and other areas, I find the father and the children, daughters, they are beautifully moving about with a lot of fondness and cheer. When I see it, I feel very bad.” And he started speaking and heaving.
I told the wife, “Why don’t you record what he is doing?” Her mobile was in the car far away. So the first part of the conversation was missed. By the time she returned, there were similar spells but not so touching. He was saying, “My daughter doesn’t talk to me now, she is old, she is very indifferent to me, and I cannot also have any exchange.”
So I told the wife, “You should play this tape to your daughter and ask her to come to me. I would like to talk to her.”
What do you understand from this? Love and fondness, that is the one subject novelists discuss, story writers discuss. The entire movie industry thrives on this love, love, love! But when it comes to devotion, I am not able to find the expression of fondness there.
I was a born devotee. I have also done a number of devotional practices. So devotion is not alien to me. From that devotional background I took to spirituality. Even now if you ask me, I am not one who explains devotion as fondness for the Lord though I explain it as that for people. For me, God is a recognition, God is a cognition. I am not so much loving God as I recognize Him, as I cognize Him. I believe God is more in my recognition.
With this background, now I would like to speak something.
I think these are Sankaracharya’s words.
Svasvarūpānusandhānaṁ bhaktir-ity-abhidhīyate. Enquiring and getting connected to one’s own nature, the Soul, is called devotion, he says.
Svātma-tattvānusandhānaṃ bhaktir-ity-apare jaguḥ. Constantly enquiring after the Ātma, one’s own nature. Hardly there is any difference between the two. Narada Bhaktisutra says:
It is that supreme anurāga, means fondness. Fondness can be the fondness that a couple have between themselves, it can also be what a mother has to the child. Sā parānuraktir-īśware, that supreme fondness for the Lord is bhakti according to Narada.
Shandilya says:
I may misquote either this or that but these are the two statements. Sā kasmaicit parama-premarūpā - It is in the nature of supreme love or fondness for somebody. It can be a stone or a river or a tree, but in your heart you should feel supreme fondness.
What I feel is that we are not able to generate this fondness, reliance etc. in our mind and heart, that is why you people are not becoming spiritual. When I initiate people, some people have some physical experiences, vibration etc. When they have vibration, they get afraid. Why should they become afraid? They want to be spiritual means what - they rely upon God for everything and they want to realize God and they come to me. Whatever they meet in the path of spirituality is certainly at the behest of God. Why is it they are not able to think so? And they get afraid.
Actually, this vibration is purifying your body and mind. Many people miss it as a result they are not able to purify their mind. Our deeksha line is an experiential line. It starts working provided you have fondness and supreme surrender and attunement to the Guru. When I say supreme attunement to the Guru, it is actually a quality that graces the mind. Suppose you have clinging to other aspects of the world, then how will you have supreme fondness for either the Guru or God? This is something very very important. All of you will have to think - why are you taking deeksha, for what purpose?
Deeksha is actually a spiritual procedure which will put you into a constant linkage and association with the Self, with God. It is not you think of God formally with flowers, materials etc. It is something that you feel throughout your life. All that is required is be fond of God. You may not give anything to God. Or if you feel like giving something, it is okay. I have seen in my young days whenever my mother used to buy sari for her, before wearing it she will offer it to the Lord formally and ceremonially, then only she will wear. Can you imagine somebody doing like this? Anything that they get, they feel like offering to God.
What is meant by offering? Not opening the mouth of God and putting it into Him. God is present everywhere and you feel and make an offer to Him. Everything you want to take as a prasāda. So what I want to say is this spiritual path should be characterized by fondness and devotion. Initially it is devotion to the Lord, next it is devotion to the Guru. When that devotion starts wetting and moistening your heart, automatically the heart will become softer and softer. Like butter, it will start melting. When it starts melting, you will be first person to know it. It is something very experiential.
If the experiential fondness is not arising in you, it is almost like you are becoming a block of stone! God does not want anything from you. He only wants you to be fond of Him. Keep Him in your heart and then do whatever you want. If that fondness is there, He will correct you, mend you, regulate you, guide you and grace you everywhere.
He will remain in your heart and wash off all the evil effects of wrong things done by you. Is it possible to live in this world without committing mistakes? Some mistakes will be there. What is the answer? The answer is it is God’s world and mistakes are also His. We are His creation. So let Him look after our mistakes and set them right. That kind of a fullness of reliance and devotion you must have. When you have that devotion, automatically the body and the mind start radiating with a palpable and realizable note.
When I ask you, can you answer me? I am speaking. You are also speaking. Sound is an energy. This energy, how is it that a living body produces it? It is converting matter into energy, food and food particles into energy, while speaking. Similarly, while doing mechanical work, it also produces thoughts. The body is hot, who produces the heat? What produces the heat? What takes in air and also pushes it out? Why don’t you think about it? Unless God is present within your body, will you be able to breathe and speak, will the digestion be over, will food be converted into blood, will the blood circulate in the body, will the breath circulate, will the heat circulate? It will not! All these are indicating very clearly that consciousness, the supra-material and supra-energial presence is there. That presence you should feel more and more, more and more. The Self is a kind of a super current that must be able to be felt by you.
So our sādhanā is something very beautiful. I am not asking you to take one flower and put it somewhere. I am not asking you to fast. Nothing! I only say you can sip a cup of tea, but not more than that in the event of meditation. There should be no undigested solid food. That’s all the discipline.
So, examine your mind and remember these statements. What is that statement? Sā parānuraktir-īśware. Sā kasmaicit parama-premarūpā, Svasvarūpānusandhānaṁ bhaktir-ity-abhidhīyate, Svātma-tattvānusandhānaṃ bhaktir-ity-apare jaguḥ. These are the descriptions of bhakti and that bhakti gets the right focus when you are initiated into Brahmavidya. Our deeksha is a wonderful deeksha. It gives you no strain, no stress, no load. It is only an inner practice wherever you are and whatever you do, the practice can parallely go on. I think people should soften themselves, flexibility and softness you must have. Remember this.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.