Contentment Signifies Spiritual Advancement
Always keep awake the conviction that Rama is the doer of everything. It will automatically nullify grief, anxiety, fear, hope, greed, and all things that upset the mind. That they still exist is a sure sign that the basic ill persists. To eradicate the trouble resolve from this day, this very moment, to live in nama, and make up your mind that Rama is the doer. We feel gratified when someone says a good word about us; that, however, cannot be termed true contentment. Contentment really is a state of mind which is devoid of desire for anything or any situation other than what it pleases God to grant. It is a symbol of spiritual advancement.
To acquire that contentment does not call for relinquishing or renouncing worldly life. What good is that renunciation if memories of past life persist in cropping up? Worldly life cannot, in fact, be "renounced", it has to drop off. This can easily come about by continuously repeating nama. So go about your worldly duties and activities in ceaseless nama-smarana. It will bring you true contentment, and save you from the torments of all duality like pleasure and pain. True knowledge is that which leads to self-elevation, absolution from all bondage. One who connives at this self-betterment is a truly ignorant person.
Our so-called intelligence is but the fully mature form of desire. If it works within certain restrictions it is wholesome, while if it defies limits and restrictions it is wanton and unwholesome. The end of desire is coincident with the ouster of the "body-am-I" feeling. A common person is unable to subdue all worldly interests. Their noxious effect pervades our entire being, and cannot be eradicated but by subtle means. Nama is that subtle means, and it can skilfully and completely achieve the nullification of desire.
I exhort you to resolve to live in nama. God the merciful will, I assure you, not fail to back you up in moments of discouragement. God is merciful beyond imagination; his mercy knows no bounds, and will readily overlook the defects and weaknesses of the supplicant, provided only that the supplicant is sincere. Living in nama we will gradually mitigate the attachment for the body and, consequently, for worldly life in general. We shall then see Rama in everything, everywhere.
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