God Must be the Sole Aim of Every Observance
Take up an observance which will lead you to God the Eternal, and keep it with all your heart and soul. Keep the body busy with your duty, and the mind riveted to Him; that is the true way to propitiate Him, and achieve freedom from the painful cycle of life and death. Be ever contented, and never for a moment lose awareness of Him; be sure that this will bring His blessings on you. Keep the divine name ever on your tongue, and awareness of Him ever in mind; let your conduct never swerve from what is right and clean, and maintain purity in thought and feeling. Rest assured that if you do this much, Rama will bless you; experience this for yourself.
Never fail to feed a visitor, never turn away anyone in need of food. If you learn always to ascribe all doership to Rama, you will never be found wanting in any respect. One who believes that everything happens by His will, that He is the ultimate source of everything, there is nothing that you need to be afraid of. True, unperturbable contentment will be yours if you see Rama and His hand in everything.
To everything that happens to you or to the world, be an impartial, unconcerned, dispassionate witness. Entertain nothing but God in your heart of hearts.
The shastras say clearly that all physical happenings are but the result of past action, but man rarely credits this sincerely. Ceaelessly utter the Lord's Name, and fill your heart with love for Him to the exclusion of all other thought. Maintain this with a determination; God will certainly back you up in this resolve. Never for a moment be without nama, I urge you with all sincerity.
It is the 'body-am-I' feeling that is the source of all mental agony. The only way to purge the mind of this feeling is to resort to nama-smarana with sincere love. Nama-smarana will undoubtedly lead you to Rama provided you are absolutely sincere about it. Give up all thought of self, and give yourself up to the Cosmic Soul. One who is absorbed in the holy name will lose all awareness of pleasure and pain, and will forever live in joy.
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