Forget Yourself for God
Do you not forget yourself at least once in a day? You do, but it is in mundane matters. We sometimes hear highly welcome news, sometimes very disconcerting news; both so disturb us that for a time we are beside ourselves with jubilation or misery, and do not know what we are doing. In other words, we forget ourselves in emotion; this is so also when we are in a towering rage or passion. It is admittedly undesirable to forget oneself in worldly subjects, but nothing is better than forgetting oneself for God.
When singing bhajan we should get so lost in it that we become unaware of the body. Is it so today? If a co-singer commits a fault in rhythm, we instantly fly into a temper; that is not true bhajan. It should be performed in the feeling that there is none else but God and me; then alone will it be true bhajan, and we may then lose awareness of the body. In worldly life, never forget who you are in reality; that is, never be subservient to sensuous subjects. If we go through life with an awareness of our true self, it will never prove harmful.
In worldly affairs you may have passion, anger, greed, and such other emotions, but they must always be under your control; you must not be a prey to them; then body consciousness will gradually die out. This can be achieved only by complete surrender to God, which again, is brought about by nama-smarana. There are some who find no advancement even after being in sadhana for a score of years and more, and therefore give it up as unfruitful, ineffectual. This fruitlessness is evidently their own fault, not of the guru.
If you want to enter sannyas-ashrama, evidently it cannot be done unless you give up living with your wife. Similarly, you cannot be said to have really met the guru unless you go to him divested of worldly desires. So first purify your heart by practising the sadhana prescribed by him, and then you can meet him in the true sense. What you should ask of him is genuine contentedness. If you get that, there remains nothing more to ask for, and thereafter you cheerfully accept whatever situation he chooses to keep you in. Then you cease to care for the body and what happens to it.
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