Think of God when Temptations Arise in Mind
If we do not seek amelioration of our lot, the thought of God will certainly arise in the mind, and restore the feeling of bliss; thereby sorrow and pain will become definitely less poignant. It is this blunting of pleasure and pain that is the aim of anusandhana. Ignore whatever bars the way to God. Never put God out of sight and thought, even if you are reduced to beggary. They keep a watchman to guard a mansion, and remain alert against burglars; similarly we should be on guard lest we forget God. Whenever thoughts of sense-pleasures appear in the mind, we should plug the breach with remembrance of God. We have a saying that the thought uppermost in the mind at the moment of death determines the next birth. Now, how can one remember at the final parting what one has never thought of in the whole lifetime? Therefore, keep in constant remembrance of God. Consider nama as the medicament; if you constantly sip it drop by drop, you are bound to attain to God. If nama- smarana continues to the end, it is equivalent to yoga, and thus the person who so does it is a yogi, 'united' to the one Ultimate Reality.
A single spark can grow into a conflagration and gut a whole warehouse of cotton; nama, like that spark, is capable of consuming a host of sins. The trouble, in our case, is that we do not bring to it the requisite feeling, earnestness, faith. To enhance the faith and intensity of love is upasana. Singing hymns and prayers may be tainted with the 'body-am-I' feeling, but nama is not open to that risk. The fear of death should be combated by a constant repetition of nama.
Truly speaking, one should have a real, irresistible yearning for nama. True contentment, peace, and bliss can only be attained by chanting nama without break, never remaining without God, and His remembrance. That human life alone can be called useful which is devoted to nama, and too the propagation of nama among others. One may execute prapancha with full efficiency but without forgetting God. One should forget one's own existence and remember God. Pride should be ousted by humility toward every being. Remember that constant awareness of God achieves nothing less than any sadhana, in the present degenerate times.
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