Worldly Life is a Means to Attain God
Real contentment can only be found with God, and can be attained only by love for God. This love should, really speaking, be natural, inborn, like that between mother and child. The main object of human life should be to attain God. God created this universe and was very happy when He created the human being who, He thought, had ability to love and realize Him. Why, then, does a human being not have innate love for God? Man is always striving for joy; why should this not result in engendering love for God?
It seems we make a mistake about the goal we are seeking to achieve. The goal must be to reach a state of everlasting joy. If we have failed in achieving it with all our endeavours and struggle, is it not obvious that we have been pursuing a wrong goal?
We have to admit that we have a craving for worldly life; we expect that the various things which go to make it up will contribute to happiness, and therefore we direct all our effort and struggle to obtaining them. This struggle, truly speaking, is not for those things in themselves, but for the pleasure we expect them to yield. The notion that those things will give us satisfaction, should be dispelled from our mind. Today we expect worldly life to give us satisfaction; we must rid our mind of this speculative concept. Until we do that we cannot become true devotees and obtain lasting contentment.
The Lord assures us that He will give lasting contentment if we cease looking for it from worldly life. As we are at present, we cannot renounce worldly life. The saints have shown us the way to belong to God without actually renouncing worldly life; and it is that way that we must follow. We should, they tell us, withdraw the attachment of the mind from worldly life and apply it to God, just as we transfer money from one of our pockets to another; and that will eventually give us lasting contentment.
It is the sense of 'I' and 'mine' that is the root cause of all unhappiness. This sense, this deep-seated conviction, can only be uprooted by dedicating oneself entirely, unreservedly, to Rama. Stick to nama as the sole means of attaining to Him.
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