Words of Scriptures, of Saints, and Self-searching
Once Uddhava requested Shrikrishna, 'You Yourself tell us how shall we attain You.' Shrikrishna told him, 'You will be able to attain me by devotion alone'. There are three-fold means of devotion; words of the scriptures, words of the saints (or seniors), and inward search by oneself.
Everything has become topsy-turvy these days. We have become so 'learned' that we are ashamed of putting faith in scriptures. Similarly, when the son is even a little more educated than his father, he thinks, "Why should I obey this ignorant father? What shall I gain by that? " The same is with our search. What is our research? Where did Pandavas reside? Where was Rama born? Where did the Mahabharata war take place? Now tell me, what shall we gain by this research? A professor once told me, ' I have researched a lot into Shrikrishna's life and now I am sure of the places of His birth and death.' What they are doing may be all right, but saints did not feel the need of being certain of Shrikrishna's birthplace. They made Shrikrishna their own by intense devotion to Him. Really speaking, with the earnest devotion Shrikrishna must be born in our heart itself; that is His real birth-place.
If we examine our behaviour and the thoughts in our mind, we shall be sure that people will not like even to look at us, if they are aware of our mind; in spite of this we are proud of our thoughts and research! Shall we attain love for God with this kind of knowledge? There is no need for someone else to tell us about our spiritual progress. We know about it fully well. Deep-rooted pride, no control over thoughts, laziness in spiritual discipline; with all this, how shall we attain God's love? Saints have prescribed only one remedy for this, and that is total surrender to God. With an earnest supplication, say to Shri Rama, 'Rama, I am now Yours; whatever happens henceforth, I shall regard it as Your will. I shall try my utmost to chant Your name; kindly accept me as Yours.' How compassionate God really is! Swallowing hundreds of offences, and wrong actions of people, He is ever ready to help those who surrender to Him. So concentrate on nama and forget your existence as a 'body'.
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