LORD’S  GRACE

The Lord, life of this Universe, is playing His wonderful game of love in the presence of everybody in  so many hearts and forms, but no one has the power to realize  or perceive it because our thoughts are not centered around Him. They have not established His presence in their hearts.  From eternal bliss we came and to it we must return. One has to lose the body feeling which is separating us from Him and  see all as one Atma, Paramatma. Once we see Him in all things around us we serve Him in them.

Jivas are in truth the Lord,the Master of the body, who  enjoys the world of senses.  From this enjoyment the Jivas fall into ignorance,  start holding the body for the self and become attached to it, suffering the torments of Samsara , embroiled in Karma, wander in transmigration from body to body, life to life, death to death and reap the fruits of their actions. Men whose desires rule them can never attain to the condition of bliss that those who  serve the Lord. We have to set foot on the path to God before we are ensnared helplessly in the wide net of Samsara. As long as we depend on our own exertion, individual power, we live under the Ego-spell which is worthless. We are Atma, not body or mind. Immerse in this awareness! Any effort comes from the Ego; because it is limited its capacity is limited. Those who don’t seek God will not find true Atma-awareness. They will continue to identify the soul with the body and be ensnared by every kind of desire and attachment. As long as this lasts the operation of divine Grace remains suspended.

His Grace comes in infinite and unlimited measure, in fact we are merged in an ocean of His grace. Our Lord is always ready to call us His own, to shower benedictions on us from all sides and judges only by what is within our hearts. Once we learn to love the Lord Maya will fly from us and will become rather a help than an obstacle on our way to Him. Life is precious; it should not be wasted by doing things mechanically without love. His pleasure, not ours should be always in the mind. We have to give up all ideas of agency to Him, who alone acts. Why should we have any useless worries when it is He who performs all actions? Who knows Him to be always near commits no evil act nor feels disturbed in any way.

His Grace is always there – only our Egos prevent us from taking advantage of it. Until the heart is full of love the Lord will not come. Thakur Haranath said:”The very fact that you are alive proves Lord’s love for you. Realize that God is Love and you are His beloved “.(ex Divinity of Haranath the Crazy). The day we can love Him for His own sake – that day we bid good-bye to the miserable cycle of births and deaths.  How anxious is the Lord to see that this may be the very last earthly life for us!

He moves about those always who think of Him alone. These alone are good thoughts. He consoles us in so many ways. Invisibly He strokes our body, brings excellent food from  Sadhus and Mahapurushas and sais: “ Attain soon puberty, eat all these nourishing articles. Then I shall make you my  Queen and wont go anywhere else. Thakur wrote to a devotee:” When you feel tired in the evening after hard tasks my work will commence, I will attend to your needs and help you pick up energy for the next days work (P.H. Part III, Letter 3) and  to N.C. Ghosh He wrote: “I am watching your life birth after birth and know you but you cannot recognize me.”

The devotee Ramaprasad Ghosh realized that it is Lord Haranath Himself who utters His own Name. Body, mind and soul which we possess belong to Him only. He is the Lord of all bodies  and  manifests Himself in every heart performing Kirtan of His own Name in order to sanctify our unclean hearts and  thereby make us fit to engage in His Seva. One of His ways is that He manifests Himself in every heart in the form of Name.  Nobody can understand His Tattva unless He makes us realize the same. This life of the Universe is playing His wonderful game of love in the presence of everybody in so many hearts and forms, but no one has the power to realize or perceive it because their thoughts are not centered around Him. They have not established His presence in their hearts.When we feel and are aware that it is the Lord within us who eats, sleeps, thinks, we get rid of the Ego, which separates us from Him. He wants  to see our yearning, intense longing. God cannot remain even for a moment away from His devotees. He makes His nearness felt in them, moves around those who always think of Him alone. The more we desire to get Him the more will He pull us up.

The secret of reaching Him is to go on increasing our ardour. He must come when the bait of ardent desire is thrown (Kaviraj Goswami). Such is the relationship between Him and a devotee that He is prepared to render service to the insignificant devotee by dint of his sincere and unalloyed devotional service (ex Chaitanya Caritamrita).

As long as we work with the attitude that we do all the work we can’t expect His grace, for then Egoism comes in and the free flow of divine Grace is blocked. Self-surrender comes as Love grows. Surrender means giving up one’s individuality, one’s likes and dislikes. Without complete and intense emotion of surrender how can any heart  be purified? Total surrender destroys the Ego and once this happens the Lord begins  to act through him. He said in the Srimad Bhagavatam: “ Surrender and you shall find my Grace and pass beyond fear forever. A mind which thinks constantly of Me dissolves into Me. Renounce every desire for My sake.” There is no true Bhakti without the heart melting, flowing of tears of joy, hair standing on end from rapture .Bhakti dawns on those who want nothing from the Lord, not material or worldly gain or even Moksha. If He is  pleased  there is nothing that can’t be achieved. His love for us comes every moment as in a flood. He leaves us not a moment apart from His sweet soft touch. He chooses His people and the time He wants to disclose who He is. We are only puppets with limited understanding.

Nama Japa makes our consciousness come to the heart plane. The mind will never become weak when it is always kept in the Lord’s Name, the heart acquires indomitable strength. So let us see that His Name issues incessantly from us. The more we take His Name the nearer we come to Him.  Once we taste the nectary incomparable sweetness of NAME our spiritual progress will be marvelously speedy. Self-forgetfullness will come of its own accord, but necessary is to be devoid of self-esteem, imperative to make the heart tender. A devotee who ceaselessly experiences the Lord’s nearness  never falls prey to birth, death, hunger, fear, greed, lust, weakness and other failings. He has no arrogance of birth, accomplishments, no feeling of I and  Mine, you and yours, no sense of differentiation about his body or his possessions but feels the Lord’s presence everywhere. Who works for His pleasure serves the world in its truest sense for he has no personal interest. Actions are poisoned only by selfishness. We are God-centered, not Ego-centered.Such a humble and loving man is dearest to Him.

Who utters His Name continually has attained liberation while living. The Lord has made His Name so potent that constant repetition purges the Jiva of all sins, unloosens all Karmic bindings and facilitates his return journey home. Just as storms blow away clouds so does His holy Name disperse the cloud of worldliness.When the Lord’s Grace descends one can never forget Him even for a second. Constantly feeling His Nearness is supremely pleasant, it gives highest bliss and supreme joy. Is it a wonder that a Bhakta, who binds himself with thongs of love to His Lotosfeet never find the Lord missing from his heart?

Sarveshu keleshu man anusmara

At all times think of me (Bhagav.Gita VIII-7)

9 August 2016

R.B.

ECSTATIC ATTACHMENT AND DEEP ABSORPTION TO SERVE THE LORD (Ragatmika)

ECSTATIC ATTACHMENT AND DEEP ABSORPTION

TO SERVE THE LORD (Ragatmika)

O Lord, it is You who are dancing, singing, repeating Your Name and

Clapping your hands to the beat of the music.

We are only observers, puppets who think that we are doing it all.

You are the root of everything, the soul of all souls,

The Emperor of our hearts, through your limitless Grace

You transform the worst sinner into a great Saint.

Whenever a Jiva, forgetting his own vanity becomes solely devoted to Him He stretches out His hand to save and absolve him altogether from his Karma.The purpose of a devotee’s life is to lose all sense of distinctive personality and be dissolved in the Lord like camphor in fire. The dormant love of God in our hearts has to be revived.

Once we experience everything as part of the whole, as extension of our own self, how can we ignore anything? In that state there is no sense of otherness. Everything is permeated with consciousness. Remain always within the self, the very center of existence. Because we forgot our true self and the Ego interferes, the sense of otherness is experienced.  We are part and parcel of the Lord, therefore it is our  duty  to serve the supreme Whole. Without such service we fall into material contamination (ex Teachings of Lord Caitanya). It is through such service that we can revive this natural continual position. Let us live in the Bhava “everyone is mine”.Bhakti is eternally existing within everyone, it simply has to be evoked by hearing, chanting, Nama Japa.  The more we do Japam the nearer we shall come to the Lord. It is Lord’s desire that everyone should become totally pure and become His companion. He pointed out:”If you want to give me pleasure take Name.” As we go on taking Name self-forgetfulness comes of its own accord imperceptivity. By taking Name our consciousness will gradually come to the plane of the heart. Let us firmly believe that He will show His favor, be kind, reveal His presence and play with us. Let us constantly increase our love for Him. He will only come when our hearts are full of love. Men have always the eternal ecstasy in their soul, in their hearts but chase after unreal slight pleasures, bind themselves into births after births. Undying joy is our natural inheritance. Be ever looking forward to His appearance – this is high expectancy.There is no true Bhakti without the heart melting, flowing of tears of joy and hair standing on end from rapture. Without such complete and intense emotion can the heart be purified?

 What Bhakti Yoga means has been wonderfully explained in Srimad Bhagavatam by Lord Krishna:“Use the body to serve Me, your speech to describe My glory, surrender heart , soul  and mind to Me. Renounce every desire for My sake. Fix  your  thoughts  on  Me, purify your heart with Bhakti, abandon every other thought for all those are illusions, mere dreams. A mind which thinks constantly of me dissolves into Me.”Bhakti  dawns on those who want nothing from the Lord, not material or worldly gain, or even Moksha. Who works for His pleasure serves the world in the truest sense for he has no personal interest,  actions are poisoned only by selfishness.

The Lord is immensely pleased if our self-surrender becomes a real offering. Let Him know every thought,good or bad and be always in joy. Remember Him within the heart, don’t forget Him  even  for a moment. Surrender has to be perfect and unreserved otherwise the Lord’s grace cannot descend, even if there is an atom of desire or egoism there is no possibility of  divine grace.  This  is the goal of all devotional services. Such devotees are always anxious to do something for Krishna, for them everything must be connected to the Lord. They are always confident and keep themselves busy  to achieve the highest goal. Such a surrender puts them entirely under the Lord’s influence and protection, Maya cannot affect them. All differences are wiped out. Just as a river loses its name and form after it entered the ocean so a devotee loses his individuality when he merges himself in the Lord.  The cause of our present misery is the lack of knowledge about our true everlasting internal joy, the want of constantly feeling Lord’s nearness. Once we experience it we feel how supremely  pleasant it is, giving highest bliss and supreme joy. The Self unfolds when the Ego

disappears. When the Ego loses its  significance the world of diversity is transformed into perfect oneness. This happens within, not  externally. Once the heart becomes calm one sees the reflexion of the Lord which He is always throwing upon it. If Prema is once generated in the heart of a Jiva he swims in an ocean of unfathomable bliss which never goes away.Neither Sravana nor Kirtana nor other means can  generate Prema which is already there and becomes active when the heart is purified. What can be a greater delight than to consume the body in the work of Him who gave it?

What are the Signs of real devotion?: one is always kind to everybody, does not seek quarrels, his interest is purely spiritual. He is equal  to everyone, no one  can  find faults in him. His magnanimous mind is always fresh, clean, devoid of material obsessions. He is a benefactor to all entities, peaceful, always surrendered to the Lord, has no material desires, is very humble, fixed in his purpose, respectful  to others, does not wish to be respected. He is grave, merciful, poetic, expert, silent, tolerant, friend to all living entities. He sees the Lord in each and every living entity, does not distinguish between devotees and non-devotees but sees everyone in His service. Seva is the eternal life of the Jiva, lying dormant in their hearts and simply has only to be evoked by the process of hearing and chanting. Sensual pleasures are hollow and fleeting. Being together with wife, children is no more than a brief association of members of a Caravanserai. As relatives change in dreams from sleep to sleep so too do  family members from life to life. He that understands lives in his home sake. Devotional service is the only path. 

Lord Kusuma Haranath released a great wave of super-divine love so that even worst sinners are saved from sin. Our comings and goings do not depend on our will but take place at His will. Lord Haranath burst out:”Lay all your burdens of sins on my head. Take Hari’s Name and go scot-free. My own burdens far exceed the load of the rest of the world put together, so I shall be quite able to carry the small burdens in addition to the mountain-load I am already carrying. I don’t leave you even for a moment. You will feel my constant presence. Would that I become yours and you mine in every life. Offer yourself body  and  soul  to me and  see if I cannot save you. You are my own, my only hope. I am never simple, can never be. If you accept me as your father don’t ask me for this and that. I will give you everything that is good for you without even being asked.”Our Lord undergoes endless sufferings for His  Bhaktas, even though they don’t desire it. There is none so kind and full of bliss as He is. The Lord cannot remain, even for a moment, away from His devotees. He makes His nearness felt in diverse ways – sometimes He manifests Himself and we take it for a dream or something else. He deepens our faith, purifies our hearts,  pulls  the strings on which we more, act, think, surrender, and leads us to the swiftest and surest path to salvation.

March 2016

Ruth Baur

The BHAGAVATA DHARMA

The

BHAGAVATA DHARMA

the easy path to reach the Lord

After the Universe was created the Lord entered it together with Jivas and charted out the course for them through myriads of lives and worlds, into countless species, births and rebirths. We are all immortals  born along with the creation, have not yet died nor shall we ever die. In Him do we live, into Him all eventually enter. He is the life of this universe, playing His wonderful game of love in the presence of everybody in so many hearts and forms, but no one has the power to realize it. Due to ignorance we think to be separate from Him.We must lose the body feeling which separates us from Him, see everything as one Atma, as there is only one Atma – Paramatma. 

This Atma Bhav must be strong. The cause of our present misery  arose because we forgot our real home and His sweet face which awaits us when we return back to Him. Prema is eternally existing in everyone, it only has to be evoked by chanting, repeating His Name and  hearing His Leelas. Through constant Nama Japa body, mind and Name become one. Then Nama and Nami become one and manifest themselves in the heart. Name is the best form of Mantra; it alone begets Prema. We need not good advice but strength and power to follow it. Name is that something. We Jivas were created as so many vessels to contain His Rasa . Out of His infinite love for us He manifested himself  in human form expecting the reciprocal of  love, free, unalloyed love, to be His equal in it. One-sided love has no sweetness. We exist not for our own sake but for the Lord. Love Him without any expectation of return.If true love awakens in the heart He is no longer considered as God but looked upon as the most intimate, as one’s own. Solely depend on Him like a child. Once Prema fills the heart all distinctions between God and man are effaced .Only those who fully realize that they exist not for their own enjoyment but for His sake think rightly. They see the Lord as soul of all souls, don’t distinguish betweendevotees and non-devotees but see everyone in His service.
Man has always eternal ecstasy in his heart but chases after unreal, slight pleasures, binds himself into births after births. We are His servants, sent by Him to do His biddings. Sensual pleasures are hollow and fleeting. Being together with wife, children etc is no more than a brief association of members of a Caravanserai. Just as relatives change in dreams from sleep to sleep so do family members from life to life. Those who understand this live at home like a guest with no feeling of possessiveness to any person or object.  Who does not seek God will not find true awareness of the Self. He will continue identifying himself  with the body and to be enslaved by every kind of desire and attachment .The creation is His field of work, His playground. We are born of Divine parentage and by right of this inheritance entitled to the wealth of Prema which is the exclusive property of the Lord. Undying joy is our natural inheritance.

We are never apart from  Him, not now, not in future. May we satisfy Him by playing our roles as He desires. He delights only in disinterested love and devotion. May we come back through a succession of lives as one of His people. This life is not our own, protect it carefully as His. We exist not for our own sake but for Him. He is an ocean of compassion, omniscient, and has taken upon Himself the entire responsibility for us. Let us be cheerful  in whatever way He keeps us, don’t lament. He stays where He gets joy.The Lord alone performs all actions, we are mere spectators. Let us make the Indriyas perfect instruments for Him and empty ourselves of egoism. Then we will feel the lightness of the work and that God works through us. If He follows us we can’t go out of line. It is He who deepens our faith, purifies our hearts, increases our yearning. Who depends on the benign grace of the Lord ever experiences supreme bliss. For one who is far we must call aloud, whisper to one who is near, but for one who is in the heart it is enough to think once. True bliss is within us and is everlasting. The Lord is like the sun and Maya, the illusory material energy, like darkness. Whosoever is constantly in the sunshine of the Lord cannot possibly be deluded by darkness.

Self-surrender pleases the Lord immensely. Let us depend on Him in every way, make thoughts, words, deeds entirely sweet and attractive to Him. Love Him with all sincerity, contemplate on His diverse sports, let Him know every thought, good or bad. He ever hears us from a place of concealment, and prompts us when we forget. Make every work – divine or ordinary – a sacred offering, a love-expression. He wants to see our yearning, intense longing. Our ardency must be constantly on the increase. The Lord is infinite bliss – Sat, Chit, Ananda – and the one who can set men free from the bondage of Samsar and fear forever. In Him we all live, into Him all eventually enter. 

As soon as we unite with the Lord the Ego dies and we move about the daily concerns of life mechanically. The Self in us becomes separated from the body like a dry coconut from its shell. Then commences the real transformation of the inner man. The outer world loses its hold over us. Unpleasant things make – if at all – a very temporary, light impression on us. The  I-ness that remains then is His. He is in me and outside of me. The body is His toy through which He plays for His happiness and ours. Lord Haranath declared  that He will  pursue us in order that we can never go out of line. It is by His grace that we have entered His fold. He deepens our faith, purifies our hearts and leads us on the swiftest and surest path to salvation. He pulls the strings on which we move, act, think and surrender. He exclaimed  ’I don’t leave you even for a moment, you will feel my constant presence. Would that I become yours and you mine in every life. Offer body and soul to me and see if I can save you or not. You are my own, my only hope.”

The afore said  introduction will help us to understand the paramount importance of what Lord Krishna advised us to practice – the Bhagavata Dharma of Glory - .Imbibe it and live up to it, for if a man follows it with Bhakti he shall conquer Samsar, which is otherwise impossible.This wonderfully effective Dharm, when put into practice implicitly has the power to consume the sins of millions of lives, to bestow untold fortune. To read this Dharma means being with the Lord.

THE BHAGAVATA DHARMA OF GLORY

Think of me always, consciously and deep in your heart subconsciously. Believe in my Bhagavata Dharma and offer your entire life and Karma to me. A pure-hearted Bhakta sees me everywhere pervading the Universe and himself as Akasa does – unrestricted, unhindered. Know the illumined man to be the one who sees all beings as my manifestation and is even-minded to them all. He that constantly seeks my presence in every human being ceases to compete with his equals, to envy his superiors, to be free from disrespect of his inferiors, and in general to be self-conscious or Self-regarding. He ignores the ridicule of friends and relatives, does not see anyone as being great or small, but worships every being, Seeing just me in them all and prostrating before them like a piece of wood. Gradually he trains himself to see Atman everywhere and gains the know- ledge where he sees nothing but Brahman and no other presence.

When we live the Bhagavata Dharma without any desire for its fruit everything becomes sacred. No thought, word or action is wasted for they are spiritual now, immortal, and shall lead to evolution in this life or the next. If we surrender our life to the Lord the most mundane acts like running in fear or crying from sorrow will become sacred and spiritually potent.

Using this paltry mortal body to attain Me, the undying Truth, is the highest wisdom of the wise and the finest skill of the skilful. Just as after drinking Amrita there is no superior drink  to be had there is no higher teaching to know after one hears this one.
  
Jai KUSUM HARA Jai
15^th May 2016
Ruth Baur