Why We Fail to Develop Love for Nama
The names of the great saints such as Jnyaneshwar, Tukaram, Samartha Ramdas, have survived these long centuries. The reason is that they had intense love for nama. We have faith in the words of these saints. We also feel that we should have the same intense love for nama that they had. Why do we not succeed in this? This point deserves consideration.
The saints declare that nama surpasses even nectar in its deliciousness. Why, then, do we fail to feel love for it? Certainly there must be something that stands in the way. If sugar placed on the tongue fails to taste sweet, we say that evidently there is something wrong with our palate and health; similarly, since we fail to find sweetness in nama, there must be something wrong with us.
Almost all people put forward one plea or another. One says," I do not feel love for nama because I am yet unmarried; when I have a wife and children and a family of my own, I shall naturally come to love nama." But then, how many of those who are married and have a family, love nama? Some others say," Because we are short of money, we have always to labour under anxiety, and this bars the rise of love for nama." How many of the affluent millionaires can we show who have developed this love? Yet others plead preoccupation with worldly responsibilities such as the wife and the family, illness, management of farms and property, as the cause for the lack of love for nama. Yet others say, "I am fed up with the travails of worldly life; I shall now renounce all these and become a sanyasin so that I may acquire love for nama. "Yet others may be so disgusted as to be inclined to ending life by suicide. In brief, everyone blames the situation he finds himself in, for failure to acquire love for nama. We should give serious thought to this and find out whether the external situation is a real impediment to the generation and development of love for nama. To my mind, the true cause is that we do not sincerely desire to have God as the mentor and support. Indeed, to feel such a desire is a matter of rare good fortune. When such a desire arises, that itself will show you the way.
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