Implicit Surrender to the Sadguru
Everyone is toiling hard to make a living; but do we come across anyone who can say, "I am getting enough and to my satisfaction?" The plain answer is, "No." So I ask you, if you toil so hard for a futile objective, why should you hesitate to work hard for attaining God, who is the home, the repository of pure bliss? At least give a fair trial to the path indicated by the saints. Make up your mind once and for all about the sadguru to be followed, and then stick to the sadhana he advises. To expect to see the sadguru necessarily in a corporeal body is not correct. In fact, the sadguru should be considered as nothing short of God Himself, and the sadhana prescribed by him should be pursued with implicit faith. This will positively lead to God. Nama-smarana is the only sadhana that any true sadguru will prescribe, and this we should practise with assiduity and perseverance. To him who honestly follows the sadguru's behest, the stages of advancement come naturally. A true seeker should implicitly surrender himself to the sadguru, ascribe all doership to him, and be contented and happy in whatever happens. To feel a burning, intense yearning for God is a matter of great good fortune. A sadguru is highly pleased to come across such a genuine seeker, as was the sage Vasishtha when King Ramachandra approached him, seeking divine knowledge. The saints all stuck steadfastly to their own sadguru, adhered to the prescribed sadhana, and saw God in a particular form of divine manifestation; so we, too, should perseveringly stick to nama-smarana. A father sports with the son while he is in a playful mood, and relinquishes him to the mother as soon as the child becomes petulant , whereas the mother coddles and pacifies him when he is out of mood. Saints are like the mother; God Himself behaves like the father. Remove water from a block of ice, and nothing remains; so are saints nothing but love for God. Association with saints is the royal road to attaining the Ultimate Reality without the trouble of sadhana. True association with the saint or sadguru, can be only by acting on his instruction, and the true effect of it is that the devotee's heart is fully purified. * * * * *
