An extract from the book
“Glimpses of the Divine Vision” by Swami Ramdas
·
You can conquer the effects of Prarabdha (Destiny) by
absorption in the Almighty Spirit through constant meditation. In fact, by this
practice you transcend the notion of the body and remain unaffected by the
pains attending on it.
·
Man at first goes in search of God to
various Tirthas, and sacred places, but at last finds the supreme quest of his
life in the shrine of his own heart. Even in such places, when he experiences
Anand, it is due to the overflow of it from the immortal source within himself.
The Truth is within you. Keep up this consciousness always by constant
remembrance. There are many who have attained God-realization without resorting
to caves and jungles. Don’t think that, by dwelling in caves alone, man could
attain salvation. Resort to solitude for meditation is of course necessary.
This you can have wherever God has chosen to keep you. Travel is meant for
gathering that experience which you may not get by remaining at one place.
Forget not, wherever you go, you can carry with you the thought of God as ever
dwelling in your own heart.
·
Really when hundreds of people assemble
together at a spot in the name of God, there you realize the true spirit of
universal love and brotherhood. In such an atmosphere, you get the taste of
that supreme joy which is beyond the plane of distinctions and diversity of
every kind. In short, it is here the immortal Reality of your existence is
revealed, and you are absorbed in the ineffable bliss of it. Human life is
mainly intended for the one great purpose of knowing God. To know God is to
know one’s Self. God and universe, God and soul, are not different. He is the
one great Truth who is, and has become all.
·
The word ‘desire’ in common parlance is
used for the cravings of the senses. This desire must be subdued by substituting
it with a burning aspiration of God. If desire could be used in both cases, we
can say that the desire for worldly things must be substituted by the desire
for the Eternal. In the last stage, when the Divine is attained, you become
perfectly desireless, having neither a hankering for sense objects nor a
longing for the Divine.
·
Lust, greed and wrath are verily the
enemies on the path of the spiritual aspirant. To destroy these passions, as
far as they relate to the sensual feelings for the satisfaction of the ego,
does not mean to turn into an inert log of wood. In the cause of truth and
righteousness, liberated sages do utilize or assume anger and such other moods,
for correcting the ways of erring souls, from a purely impersonal standpoint.
For instance, righteous anger for serving a good cause, you will admit, has a
place in the life of even a God realized soul.
·
Through Bhakti yoga, the Kundalini is
awakened and made to rise upwards. You need not watch her progress. Yours is to
increase your devotion to God and so adjust your life as to keep Him always in
your thought. Adopt the path of self-surrender to Divine Mother-Shakti. Put
yourself in Her hands and permit Her to transform your life from the human to
the divine. Jivatman is the lower or individual self and the Paramatman is the higher or universal Self.
God’s creation is there before you just as you have the light from the sun; in
other words, it is the very nature of God to reveal Himself as the entire
cosmos. Here the question why and wherefore does not arise. If you look at the
world from its source which is God you cannot but visualise all activities of
creatures and things in nature as the lila of the Lord.
·
Incarnation of God is a special descent of
the Divine assuming a human body, imbued with all the powers and qualities of
God for the work of directing the human vision towards the Divine. Truth has,
of course, to be accepted at first intellectually, but eventually, it has to be
realized. A burning aspiration to experience the bliss of the Truth is the one
thing needed. Have this, and you will come
by that supreme joy and freedom which is beyond the pleasures of the
mere intellect. Be ever courageous, free and cheerful.
·
Service of the poor is the worship of God.
This is the real Yagna by which you expand your vision of life and attain true
freedom and happiness. When all actions become a spontaneous and blissful
movement of your life, you experience your inherent state of immortality and
bliss.
