Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-March.3

Let Attention to Prapancha be Limited

Many people have a 'main' business and a' side' business. The attention is of course centred on the main business and the gain therefrom. The side business is subordinate, and may even be closed if the situation makes it advisable to do so. In a similar way, spirituality should receive our main attention; gains and losses in the side business of prapancha, i.e. family life, should not be allowed to affect the focus on God. Spirituality needs prapancha for practice and support, just as a salad needs salt to make it tasty; the salad would be insipid without salt. Too much of salt, however, would make the salad uneatable; likewise, too much zest for prapancha would vitiate the main goal of human life, namely, attainment of God. So do not give over-weightage to prapancha; never let the goal God be out of sight.
To forget God is always undesirable, whether it is due to prapancha being very convenient and comfortable, or due to its being sorrowful. To expect prapancha to be free from vicissitudes is unrealistic. You must not expect that your child, for instance, should never fall ill. Fluctuations of fortune are inevitable.
Prapancha is inescapable for humans, for it is part of God's creation. What is undesirable is the undue weightage that the common human gives to it in life, with an egocentric, narrow bias. What is wanted is a shift in our present emphasis on this strictly circumscribed personal and family life to the quest of God. This will yield true contentment.
That prapancha is happy where husband and wife both share the divine goal. For one who treats prapancha with great zest and a large degree of voluntary involvement, even a day of twenty-four hours will not suffice, while one who does it merely as duty, a few hours a day may be enough. See that you do that duty conscientiously, but beware of being mentally attached to it. Do your duty and let the fruit rest on Rama's will. Devote yourself to His name, and earnestly pray to Him to grant that your mind becomes fully attached to nama.
Nothing is dearer to God than His name. We can easily endear ourselves to Him by constantly repeating nama, and you will certainly attain to Him. Nama compacts faith, and this draws God to you. God, His name, and His devotee, form the divine trio.
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