The Company of Saints is a Means to Attain God
A sensuous person behaves like a drunkard; he knows fully well what is good and what is bad, but cannot bring himself to do the right thing. He acknowledges, on the one hand, that he is in essence the same as the Supreme Being, but, on the other, succumbs to the lure of evanescent sensuous pleasures.
In truth, devotion for God is the only thing that matters; all else is futile. One should associate with a saint and learn to be thoroughly devout. When we cease to feel that there is yet something to be done, we may presume that we are progressing in sadhana. Serving the sadguru is the best means to generate genuine devotion. A sadguru has got to meet a disciple who obeys him passively. Truly, a sadguru is superior even to the kamadhenu, for he purges the mind of all desire, extinguishes desire itself.
There is no possibility of realising God without an intense inner urge. With great luck one may come across a saint; but true benefit of his company can only be derived if there is consonance of thought and conduct with him. Unfortunately, our thoughts do not harmonise with the saints', and so even their company does not benefit us. We don't have even an idea of the anguish their heart is filled with on seeing us roll and roll in the mire of sense pleasures. We have found ourselves unable to see the way to real contentment, so we go to a saint for help; does it not, then, behove us to follow his advice? The saints have asked us to follow the pathway to the knowledge of God. We basically lack the urge to seek God, so we have to create it. To attain to God, the Ultimate Reality, association with a saint is the simplest and surest means.
There are two ways of rescue for a person caught in a whirlpool. One way is for an expert swimmer to jump into it and, dragging the drowning man, to break through the whirlpool to safety. Of course this calls for great skill and strength. The other way is for the drowning man himself to dive to the bottom of the whirlpool, and then escape through the calm water there. Erudition is like a whirlpool. Superficial knowledge leads to futile disputation; it is only deep knowledge that can lead to the truth.
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