Pleasure and Sorrow Vanish with Dedication
The saints advise us to dedicate ourselves whole-heartedly to God. They also tell us how to dedicate. When beginning any action, first think of God; and throughout the course of the effort, keep thinking of Him; thereby the entire action will automatically become dedicated to Him. Go in utter surrender to Him or to the sadguru: that is all you need to do. Good inclinations, good qualities or bad passions, whatever you have, dedicate yourself to Rama with them. A son born to a king automatically becomes heir to the throne. Similarly if you throw yourself on Rama's mercy, you will escape the clutches of passions and sense-attractions. Take the usual precautions in your worldly transactions, but give your heart to Rama. Think not of anything else; then He is bound to shower mercy on you. If you dedicate yourself to Him body and soul, where is the reason to fear death?
Never, for a moment, lose sight of the fact that God is omnipresent, omniscient; never cease chanting nama; always keep God in your thought: this is the sadhana for paramartha. Do what is necessary in life, but never allow yourself to get attached anywhere. Live your life but as a guest, with only that much concern for anything or any person. The tangible world is always oriented towards carnal pleasures; let your mind not get entangled there. Let the body do its tasks in the world, but the mind should be fixed on Rama. Just as an avaricious man goes through all his tasks but his mind is riveted on money, so go about your worldly business with due precautions but let the mind concern itself only with Rama. The mind fails in concentrating on Rama because it has distractions in the form of sense--considerations, just a as bird flies high in the sky without taking its mind off its nest. So devote your mind to what, by its very nature, is steady, immoveable, unchangeable.
Be ever alert lest you allow God to be out of sight. Worldly life should be treated as a duty; it never can yield true happiness. Serve Rama as an end in itself, never as a means for some other object. Be properly alert in everything, but as a custodian, never as a proprietor. This applies even to your family, nearest kith and kin. This is paramartha.
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