Sri Rama Samartha
a painting by Sri Surya Prakash
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.19
Act only to Enhance Love for God
To give and take is a well-known necessity of worldly life. If two pieces of wood are to be joined, they have both to be suitably chipped and fitted together; this gives a good joint. Likewise, if everyone chips off some of his faults and idiosyncrasies, people will certainly fit together and live amicably. This calls for careful thought and mutual consideration. Constraint, whether in the home or ouside, should be by persuasion and love, rather than by intimidation. The juniors should be taught to love God, with love similar to that between a mother and her children, and we should also behave in a corresponding manner.
It is common experience that when one who is suffused with love for God and is dancing in ecstatic prayer happens to touch a person, the latter also dances with the love of God. The love of God is a very strong passion, a divine madness. Fortunate, indeed, is he who is affected by it ! Once a man is possessed by the love of God, his very speech acquires all good qualities.
The transitoriness of worldly life can never be adequately comprehended by mere reading, or by exercise of reason and logic. It is appreciated as love for God grows. One whose mouth is inflamed is unable to eat even though hungry, and his palate loses taste. Similarly, despite inherent love for God, we do not relish chanting His name because we are attached to tangible life. Just as the inflamed mouth has first to be cured before the patient can eat, to know the sweetness of God's name we have first to reduce the attachment for worldly life. This is by no means an easy task; the only three means for it are: kinship with God, His constant awareness, and company of the saintly. Because the Lord is multiform and omnipresent, there must be an endless number of approaches to Him. Each person can choose the approach most suitable for his temperament and conditions. In all these approaches, however, love for God must be a common factor; indeed, it is the very life of each of them. We should pray to God every day to grant us that love. One who gets that love will look on His creation with appreciation and admiration. Once a person acquires love for God, nothing can come in its way.
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Monday, May 18, 2020
Sri Brahmachaithanya Pravachan-May.18
Keep the Mind Steady in God
It is not right to say that the body is an impediment in our way to God. There is not much substance in arguing either that it assists or hinders spiritual exercise. We should first introspect and see where the mind gets attached. Suppose a person proposes to spend his day in praying to God. Some friends come to him and ask him to join in their game of, say, cards; he agrees to do so, just not to displease or disappoint them. How can a person who allows his mind to be thus distracted from God become a devotee?
A mother may have brought up her son at great personal sacrifice. The son, who loved her dearly till he married, thereafter considers her a great nuisance and an obstruction in the way of his sensuous enjoyment. Here it is the mental outlook that has changed, not the physique of either mother or son. What can be done if a person prefers worldly attachment to God?
Although we know that worldly life offers neither undiluted happiness nor sorrow, we exercise our imagination and decide what will make us happy, without positive basis for such decision. This is sheer idle fancy. When we think that a certain person is out to give us trouble, half of it is a figment of our imagination. Regarding the remaining half, if we take the attitude of conniving at it, the matter ends there, does it not?
Our mind is fickle, constantly changing; so is the world. It is therefore incorrect to feel that certain circumstances cause us pleasure, certain others pain; for pleasure and pain are both mercurial in nature. The rules prescribed by the shastras are intended to stabilize the mind. Bhajan, reading religious books, raising temples, etc., should be undertaken to stabilize our thoughts; if this goal is ignored, these things may either become pastimes or bigotry, and may not be useful at all. The railway train runs to Kashi every day, but the merit goes to the credit of the pilgrims that use it, not to the train. Similarly, daily reading etc. undertaken as a mere routine does not uplift people spiritually. What is required is stabilizing the mind in God. For this purpose we can remember His name persistently, though we cannot thus maintain a vision of His form.
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