Reach Blissful Divinity Through Saguna Worship
It is true that the Divinity is, in the ultimate analysis, limitless, non-attributive, and purely blissful. It can, however, be attained only through loving and worshipping the tangible form. It is for this reason that Shree Samartha has advocated that a true devotee should understand the attributeless form but continue to love and worship the tangible form, an idol.
An eternal truth must be peaceful and blissful; and the Cosmic Reality certainly has these features. It created the universe, and pervades it. Creation, therefore, must necessarily be full of peace and bliss. It is a delusion if I find it otherwise. To be able to see, there must be an outer eye backed by proper power of vision; that is, both are necessary. Similar is the relation between the formless, attributeless Cosmic Reality and the tangible form, the idol.
The Cosmic Reality is the eternal truth; this creation is pervaded by that Reality. The Lord desires peace throughout creation. Now this peace cannot be a product of circumstances. It should be intrinsic. Peace must exist where there is no duality. So he realizes peace whose mind is focused on the single point, the Lord, his circumstances notwithstanding. Activity in the world entails misery of one kind or another, but the pursuit of God yields one and only one kind of experience, namely, blissfulness. Constant chanting of nama is the only means to that end.
If we want to attain God, who is the pinnacle of sattva-guna, we, too, must first imbibe it thoroughly, must get saturated with it. A sick person must be careful in three respects: he must avoid unwholesome food, take the prescribed diet, and take the prescribed medicine in specified quantities at the specified timings. Similarly, one who wants to get free of the clutches of the cycle of births and deaths, will have to be careful in three regards: first, avoid the contra-indicated things such as bad company, immoral conduct, indifference to religion, falsehood, hatred, jealousy, etc; secondly, carefully cultivate conducive things such as association with the saintly, righteous thoughts, reading sacred books, righteous behaviour; and thirdly, chant nama ceaselessly. Love and worship the tangible form of God, and earn the eternal bliss that is characteristic of Ultimate Reality.
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