Treat the Body as an Instrument to attain God
The proper mission of a saint is to extricate you from the bondage of body-consciousness and of worldly-mindedness, not to satisfy desires like curing you of illness, etc. The more you strive for spiritualism, the greater the pull of body-consciousness and worldliness. Even the so called 'thirst for knowledge' stems from body-consciousness; it should be sublimated. There is no better means for this than nama-smarana. A dog watches and guards the house at night; and yet, however dear and useful, he is not permitted to share your plate at the table. We should treat the body similarly. Just as the coconut shell is to protect the kernel, the body should be treated as an instrument for the attainment of God. However, man goes about in life treating the body as his 'self', while he also shows in unconscious flashes that he is in reality, the in-dwelling spirit. For instance, he uses expressions like 'my' hand, 'my' leg, 'my' eye, 'my' mind, and even 'my' life. In life, on the other hand,he behaves as if he were the body. What we ask from God is mostly what concerns the body. This is highly incorrect, undesirable.
The way to diminish this love for the body is to begin loving others. We more easily love those who have a human body, like ourselves. We do not feel much concerned at the wailing of a pup, as we do when we hear the wail of a child. Therefore, in order to be able to love Him better, We visualize God in the human from like ourselves. In order that our love for our own body may diminish, that the body-conciousness become attenuated, we have to conceive God and the sadguru in the human form. Advancing in this direction, we shall be increasingly unaware of our own body; when, finally, we transcend all body-awareness, we realise that the sadguru, like God Himself, is not merely the body but co-existent, identical, with the Supreme or Cosmic Spirit. The more oblivious we become of our body, the closer shall we be to the proper realization of the sadguru's reality.
One who has overcome pride and awareness of his body is to be envied even by the jnyani, for there is no deeper ignorance than to think 'I am the body.'
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