Narrate Your Problems to Shrirama
I would urge you to persist in your spiritual quest with a firm faith that this quest is for your true ultimate good. Do not mind the cavils and quibbles of disbelievers. God is infinite, limitless in every way, and the quest for Him is bound to be arduous. Your spiritual strength must be of a high order if you desire to attain to Him. We certainly possess the potentiality to acquire that strength even if we do not have it today. Gradual heightening of devotion gives that strength; and ceaseless nama-smarana is the correct means to acquire it.
Treat Rama as your kith and kin. Narrate freely to Him your woes and worries; think of Him as your confidant. Stand before Him at least once a day in utter surrender; you will then pass the day in the joy of your faith and think lightly of worries. Our knowledge, might, authority, glory, are insignificant in comparison with His. So forget everything, surrender unreservedly to Him, and pray for His grace. Say to Him, "O Lord, I can see You only superficially, not essentially. I am full of defects and sin. The degree of my devotion is but small. Forgive me, I pray You and, utterly unworthy as I am, mercifully accept me as Yours. Difficulties and calamities may come, as a result of my prarabdha; I shall face them cheerfully, with Your name as my sheet-anchor. Please stand by me and see that my contentment and my faith in Your name remain unimpaired."
God is omnipresent; He is therefore with everyone, but is only perceptible if the faith is impregnable. One who possesses such faith is always confident of God’s support.
Two ways are open to man: faith, and self-experience. Faith is like a foot-track, short and direct. The path of experience is circuitous, like a motorway; just as progress is balked in case the vehicle breaks down or if there is an obstruction on the way, anything that goes wrong in the path of experience holds up progress. The common man should walk with perfect, undoubting faith in the words of the sadguru, and take to nama-smarana with affection and unquestioning trust.
Establishing God's name as a means of liberation is the greatest obligation which the saints have conferred on humanity.
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