Always Act with a Clean, Selfless Aim
Everyone of your actions should be motivated with a pure, selfless objective. A pure motive naturally results in clean action and is a step forward in progress. The object is like the spring that feeds a well; if it is a spring of clean water, the well will also yield sweet, drinkable water. We should therefore take care to keep the objective pure, and pray Rama for it.
If a person has enough to house, feed, and clothe himself, he should live in contentment and in nama. All that we should pray Rama for is to save us from indigence. On the occasion of a holy conjunction of the planets, God grants our wish whether holy or otherwise. We should beware of unholy incantations, and only wish for holy things and arousal of benevolent emotions. We should pray God and say, "Do as Thou wilt, O Lord, but grant that I never forget Thee. Forgive me for evil and sins I may have committed knowingly or unknowingly; never more shall I misbehave." God is bountiful and ever forgiving if we genuinely yearn to reform ourselves.
Those who indulge in the filth of material pleasures can never realize the sweetness that paramartha is. Insects wallowing in the gutters will never sicken of filth. Worldly-minded people, steeped in worldly pleasures, sling slander on the saintly, believing that they alone are wise and all-knowing. They overlook the fact that this wide world holds thousands who are more learned or wealthy or capable. Many of them do not realize the pangs of penitence that await them when the elation of worldly pleasures wears off.
Few indeed are those who live in the faith that God is omnipresent. The execution of prapancha involves effort and pain, whereas the experience of God is all Pleasureful. A fevered person hankers for a sweat; but mere hankering does not help; proper medication is required. Similarly, one who desires to have real devotion for God needs to resort to the divine name. This devotion, once acquired, will never cease.
Gold occurs in minute particles in pieces of rock in a gold-mine; so does God exist in us. Just as gold is recovered from the ore by removing the dross, so do we attain God when we cleanse the heart of all desire. God manifests Himself when the 'body-am-I' conviction is completely subdued.
* * * * *
