Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-July.31.

Dedication to God can Alone Lead to Happiness

We must have clear idea of our goal in life. It is God we want to attain, and that through the human body and through prapancha.
Sage Vasishtha advised Rama to be outwardly a man of the world but, inwardly, completely detached, disinterested. So we, too, should ever keep aware that we are a piece of the ever-blissful Cosmic Soul, though outwardly garbed as the human body. Just as we have to live with our feet on the earth, similarly no one can live without prapancha of one sort or another; but one who goes through it with the conviction that Rama is the doer is the detached one, whereas the one who assumes doership himself is a prapanchika, suffering from its pleasures and pains. Prapancha is bound to be imperfect, yielding pain as well as pleasure; Rama alone is perfect, and purely blissful. So always hold Him as the goal of life, adopting unbroken nama-smarana as the simple, universal means of attaining Him.
How hard do we toil to make prapancha happy and perfect, though everyone knows that it can never be so. Paramartha, on the other hand, is a 'cash-down' effort; you get an increasing degree of mental peace and contentment with the effort you put in. If we devote ourselves to prapancha throughout life, what else will stand uppermost in the mind when the moment of final departure comes? So, do not hanker after it. All worldly things and the pleasure they give are bound to end one day or the other, so study to be mentally detached from them. We can cultivate this outlook by thought and practice. Neither be elated with worldly gain, nor depressed with worldly loss. Leave the body to face its predestined pleasures and pains, bear both with mental equanimity. An easy, effective way to acquire this outlook is to submit totally to Rama; our prapancha, and indeed all creation, is owned by Him. Give to Him what is His, be content to be an instrument of His, absolving yourself of all proprietorship.
To ascribe all ownership and doership to Rama amounts to dedicating everything to Him. Ego, attachment, and passions, impart misery to prapancha; drive these out, and life becomes all bliss. Say to Rama, "Whatever you give is welcome to me," and contentment is yours for ever.


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