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
