LORD KUSUMAHARANATH

LORD LIVES IN PERPETUAL GIVING OF HIMSELF

O Lord Kusuma Hara, there is nothing which is mine.
This body, intelligence, health, money, strength, is all yours
I offer it to you. You are my all in all, my only possession.
Save me from falling into illusion, see that I don’t forget your Name.
Give me the wealth of your love, give it to me, for without it life is in vain.
Make me thy servant.

It is a rare fortune to get a human body whose captain is an excellent Guru and the wind in its sails His Grace. If we fail to use this sturdy and fine ship to cross the sea of Samsar we are suicides, murderers of our own soul. The human life has been granted to us for a very short period and was vouchsafed for pleasing and realizing the Lord. This human body is the first necessity to tread the path of the spirit. Don’t consider the work of this world your own, know that it is His work. Cause of our present misery is the lack of knowledge about our true everlasting internal joy, the want of constantly feeling the Lord’s nearness but we chase after unreal slight pleasures and bind ourselves into births after births. Undying joy is our natural inheritance.Those who earnestly practice Bhakti walk the sacred path of devotion and when delivered from the wheel of time reach union with the Lord.

Own Effort: We think to be acting but it is only the Lord who acts. Not even a leaf moves without His will. The world’s work is no work at all, only the Lord’s work is. We have no free will.The cause of our present misery is the want of constantly feeling Lord’s nearness. Our true nature is that we exist in God. Let us be always aware of His presence within and without , ceaselessly pray, yearn and love Him. From enjoyment we Jivas fell into ignorance, started to hold the body for the self, became embroiled in Karma and suffer Samsar‐torments. We achieve nothing by own effort but everything only by His will and grace. Self‐surrender makes us worthy of divine Grace, where is love there is surrender. When we make intense efforts to get His grace His heart will be moved, grace will flow and all Maya traces disappear. We have to make an effort and then wait. Among thousands of men one perchance strives for attaining the self and out those who strive successfully only 1 knows me in essence. (Bhagavad Gida VII, verse 3) .needed for 50 % comes from His grace, 25% from the Guru and only 25% from own effort.Ego‐prison‐house. Devotees on whom the Lord’s Grace descends can never forget Him not even for a second. He leaves us not a moment apart from Him; His love for us comes like a flood every moment.Lord Kapila said to his Mother: “My Bhaktas always see my image in their hearts . I grant them Moksha whether they ask for it or not. “

Our work is only to destroy the Ego in order that Atma which we don’t know may be freed from the Ego‐prisonhouse. The Ego gets extinguished only in the blaze of self‐realisation; once it is gone we become one with the Lord. As soon as we please Him we have leave from work. Know:there is only one Atma – Paramatma – everywhere. It is essential to be unattached, to feel unity with the whole universe, to see God in all beings and worship Him in them. Once the work is done motiveless we are no more limited by cause and effect, work as masters, not as servants, care not for fruits. He calls us to His side and we don’t have to come and go any more according to Karma.When the Ego is effaced the obstruction to the flow of divine Grace is removed and it can flow freely. His Grace is ever showered on us from the very first time we came into existence. He kept us in His arms and left us not even a moment apart from His blessed hand which is always above our head.The Lord comes only when the self is bound hand and foot and delivered to Him. All thoughts should be only on Him, we must become worthy of Him and strive hard for His love. Know that He never deserts anybody, His kind eyes are always on us and protect. The down‐ and outward flow of consciousness must be directed inwards and upwards towards the Lord.

Without Lord’s strength we would not be able to move even our little finger. Even though waves on the ocean’s surface seem to have a separate existence , they don’t exist apart from their substratum, the ocean. Likewise – all infinite numbers of individual souls seem to exist independently, in truth God is their substratum, their source of life, energy, intelligence. Only the winds of desire and fear land reality to them as separate beings. When we depend on own exertion, own individual power we live under the Ego‐spell The more the self or Ego ceases to function lthe more the eternal Thou will enter ijnyo the whole being. This body is but a toy‐doll. As the Master desires to play with it through you it goes on playing. We achieve nothing by own efforts but everything we do is only by Lord’s will and grace. Who works for the Lord’s pleasure serves the world in the truest sense for he has no personal interest. Withdraw from all works, renounce every thought of deriving pleasure from objects of desire. Have no desire for any reward, dedicate everything to the Lord. As long as we are self‐seeking, materialistic and live forgetful of the Lord ,Maya controls us. Sensual pleasures are hollow, fleeting gifts, wrapped in death. Jivas who identify themselves with their bodies and minds lose their inherent nature of infinite ecstasy and become victims of birth and death in the Samsar cycle. Human life has been granted to us for a very short time and was vouchsafed for pleasing and realizing Him. The worlds work is no work at all, only the Lord’s work is. As soon as we can please Him we have leave from work. He calls us to His side and we don’t have to come and go according to KARMA ANY MORE. Bodies are so many prison cells, allotted according to deeds.When we revive our real identity as eternal servitor to the Lord we become liberated.We must become self‐emptied vessels waiting for His grace to come when and how it will. Constant remembrance of Him means constant forgetting world and its objects.

Success in DHYAN comes by feeling that it is the Lord who does everything, is verily in front of me, in my heart and aware of all thoughts. The Lord alone is the actor. Have no attachments to sensual objects, to any kind of work. Be ready to leave any kind of work at any time Devotees who are fully engaged in loving service are protected by Him . He will protect them in case they commit unintentionally some sinful act. Our own will must go.Deep longing should be permanent.Use body, mind as tools in His service and according to His wishes. Be immersed in the awareness “I am Atma, not body or mind.”The wind of Lord’s grace can’t lift us up as long as the Ego prevails.

Be unattached, feel unity with the whole universe. Once our work is motiveless we are no longer limited by cause and effect – work as masters not as servants. Renounce every desire for His sake. Use the body to serve Him, work for the destruction of the Ego in order that our Atman which we don’t know maybe freed from the Ego‐prison house. As long as we carry the Ego‐load the wind of Lord’s grace is suspended. Make all activities worship.Use the body to serve Him, speech to describe His glory. Surrender heart , soul and mind and renounce every desire for His sake. Once the Ego is gone we are no longer a person but consciousness, formless, as it is the Ego which gives Name and form. Once destroyed name and form disappears. If the Ego is effaced the obstruction to the flow of divine grace is removed and His grace flows freely. Then the Jiva remains untouched, unmoved, unperturbed because he is egoless, is no mind. Renunciation of the Ego is Sarva Tyaga. The Lord enters those hearts, makes ashes of the sins of countless lifetimes and evil tendencies.

PREMA: the first step in Prema is to become humble, to think oneself low. Only those who have forgotten the own Self are true lovers. Chandidas said:” count true lovers and you will find only one in a million.” Such Bhaktas can live only with thoughts of Him, their entire work is to serve, adorn, worship Him. They can effortlessly attain everything that those who treat other paths can gain. Lord’s love is eternally existing in everyone. It only has to be evoked by the process of hearing, chanting, devotional service.

When the tiger of Lord’s love enters the heart things begin to tremble in the thick of the jungle (P.L.H 103 to great soul, part V.) Attainment of pure love is the highest perfectional stage. Divine love must grow in the heart with deep roots embedded in the spiritual world. It must involve the total personality. Strong must be our hope and faith His tenderness is served out according to our earnestness. This is the secret of reaching Him. Bhaktas desire that their entire life conforms to His will, they do not life for their own pleasure. The gratification of Him alone is their supreme gratification. There is no true Bhakti without the hearts melting, flowing of tears, hair standing on end from rapture. Deep longing must be permanent.When the field for sowing the seed is ready He on His own accord will sow he desired seed.O Lord, you illumine the pure hearts of your Bhaktas who always speak of you, listen to your legends, worship you, speak about you, who prostrate themselves, their lives at your feet. True, you live in the hearts of everyone, yet you are distant for those whose minds are absorbed in Karma.

The Lord is always available like our dearest friend or kinsman. He is the soul of every soul, always loving and only waiting to bless his Bhaktas. Constant waiting with intense longing for His arrival is the sign of a true devotee. This should be always our mental attitude.

Thakur: The very fact that you are alive proves His love for you. Realise: God is love and you are His beloved.You are my expectations and hope which are very high indeed .They will be partially realized if all living beings become Mothers to Me. You are each a limb of mine. Even a hair of a vigorous body is vigorous. I am yours, you are mine. Therefore I am involved in your happiness and sorrow. My Bhaktas have no fear, they belong to Me, they are my own soul. If you go astray I will seek you out. My nature never allows me to forget anyone. I remember even those who do not remember me. I always keep a watchful eye on all, especially on those who really love.”
When our love for Him becomes intense the Lord will draw our souls to Himself like a magnet.

March 2017

Ruth Baur