How to Reach the Goal?

How to Reach the Goal?

How to Reach the Goal? By Swami Bhuteshananda

Devotees often ask us, `My mind does not find interest in japa and meditation. What shall I do?' This question rises in the minds of many. In reply we say, `Mind is a machine that works just in the manner you run it. We have to consider—how much time in twenty-four hours we try to do japa and meditation and how much time we spend in other works. It is only natural that at the time of japa-meditation only those matters will surface in the mind which the mind always thinks about. That is why when one sits for japa-meditation, the thought of God does not come to the mind and it does not get concentrated on Him.'

But what is the remedy? A simple remedy is to try to keep the mind engaged in the thought of God for some more time. Sri Ramakrishna has said, `Do you know how the mind is? It is like a cloth just returned from the washerman. It takes the colour you dip it in.' If we keep the mind in worldly thoughts for much time, those very thoughts will continue to rise at the time of japa-meditation. So the solution is to practise remembrance of God as much as possible. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a part of the mind should always be left with Him. Efforts should be made so that continuous thought of God may flow in the mind. We may think, `How then worldly ctivities may be managed?' Sri Ramakrishna has said, `If you keep fourteen annas of your mind with God and employ two annas to perform worldly works, it will be more than sufficient.' But we do just the opposite. We immerse fourteen or fifteen annas of our minds in the world and want to think of God with just one or two annas. No precious thing can be had cheap. Is it possible to have the most precious thing in the world so easily? So if we are to remember God, a substantial part of our time has to be kept linked with Him even if we may not do so all the time. Our worldly activities are not hampered thereby, rather they are performed still better. If the mind is directed to Him, selfishness will find no place in it. And a work done without selfishness is done perfectly. For this, we need a zealous mind that is eager to remember God and will try to do so; and needless to say, worldly activities will go on in the midst of such efforts. This requires practice. You sit for japa, try for some time and then get up because you find no taste in it. But that will not do.

But how to develop that taste? If you want to relish a thing for which you have no taste, you have to try to direct your mind to that very thing. Repeated efforts ultimately develop relish. Once somebody asked Sri Ramakrishna, `Is there no way for worldly people?' Now what is meant by `worldly people?' It means not only those who are married householders but anybody who is engrossed in worldly activities. Sri Ramakrishna replied, `Why won't there be any way? Of course there is.' And he prescribed the way also: (1) to chant the name of God, (2) to keep holy company and, (3) to occasionally think of God in solitude.

To chant the name of God means japa, meditation, worship, visit to places of God, and service to God. Holy company means to mix with those who think of God and love Him. Again, mixing with them does not mean just to sit near them; it means to assimilate their ideas and follow their examples. Otherwise it is no sâdhusanga (holy company). The third way is to live in solitude occasionally. One does not have time to contemplate on God when one is living in the family. That's why a short stay in solitude from time to time is necessary. Usually we go to some tourist place like Darjeeling when we have leisure. And even if we go to some tirtha (place of pilgrimage) there is no holy thought in the mind. The entire time passes in the thought of comfortable lodgings and good things to purchase. Thus even in a tirtha there is no thought of God. The yearning to advance toward God will not increase if one lives like this. So attention should be given to Sri Ramakrishna's instructions.

(1) Japa: The first means prescribed by Sri Ramakrishna—to chant the name of God, i.e. to think of Him and worship Him—is the way of acquiring devotion. This devotion has been called vaidhi bhakti or preparatory devotion. By the cultivation of this preparatory devotion, gradually love of God develops. A verse in the Bhagavatam says, bhaktyâ samjâyate bhaktih—devotion begets devotion. Supreme devotion, i.e. love of God, develops through preparatory devotion and as a result symptoms of devotion like thrill, horripilation, etc., manifest in the body. To acquire love of God through preparatory devotion is like playing with dolls. Small girls play with dolls and imagine various relationships like son or daughter with them. They feed them, clothe them, etc. If dolls break they weep profusely. Through play comes love for the dolls. Similarly, our worship of God is playing with dolls. We are yet to think of Him as a living being, but continuous practice in this way brings that feeling gradually. Thus preparatory devotion leads to supreme devotion.

Sri Ramakrishna has said, `If love comes, there is nothing to worry any more. The tiger of love devours up lust, anger, etc.' It means love removes all obstacles from the path leading to God. We say that there are strong obstructions in worldly life. But in fact those are in our minds, not in the world. With the infusion of love in the mind no obstruction can hinder us. Those are there simply because there is no love. The Bhagavatam says: the Gopis are busy with their household works when the sound of flute is heard in the forest. God's call is irresistible. The Gopis abandon all the works they are engaged in. His call has come; there is no taste in household works anymore. Why? Because their minds have already gone to Him.

How to get this love? Through regular service to God and leading a pure life. Once love comes in this way no obstruction of worldly life can stop a man, just as household duties could not stop the Gopis. Moreover, the Bhagavatam says that one Gopi is locked in a room. God's call has come and she is unable to go. She thinks, `What is the obstacle in my way? This body.' Immediately she gives up her body and reaches God. The attraction is such that even her body can't hold her back. This is called love. It does not come easily, it comes through contemplation on God. There is a song that says: Continue to take the name of Hari / The bud of prema will blossom in your heart. Love comes by taking God's name, by thinking of Him and by trying to conduct our life that way. Sri Ramakrishna says that onset of love is like the coming of dawn. When the eastern sky becomes crimson one knows that the sun will rise soon. If yearning for God comes, no obstruction can stop the devotee.

We speak of obstacles in worldly life simply because we do not have yearning. Master Mahashay (M) once asked, `If my wife creates obstructions on my way to God, what shall I do?' The Master's reply was, `First you should make her understand and thus try to bring her to your way of thinking.' M said, `If she does not understand in any way then what is to be done?' The Master replied gravely. `Then you should abandon her.' M was stunned. The Master could have suggested something easy, but this was an extreme step. M was thinking, `How can I go to that extreme?' A little later the Master said, `You see, if one has yearning for God, He makes everything favourable for him.' M writes, `Water was poured, as it were on the fire of anxiety of M.'

If one prays earnestly to Him, He removes all the obstacles and makes everything favourable. When we blame worldly life we do not scrutinize ourselves, we do not realize that the defect lies not in worldly life but in ourselves. One should contemplate on these matters and prepare oneself. The world will never change, it will remain as it is. Our outlook has to be changed. The outlook changes when yearning for God comes. This is the way, following which God's grace or vision can be achieved. He fills our hearts with divine qualities by which we can realize Him. Everything is present in us, but forgetting that truth we remain busy with other engagements.

There is a story in an Upanishad that a treasure of great value is hidden underground. A man moves about over the treasure, but it is of no use to him because he is ignorant of it. Had he known it, it would be useful to him. Within us also there is yearning for God, but it is buried because our minds are scattered in the world. It is very difficult to gather a scattered mind. The effort to concentrate on God by gradually collecting the mind that is scattered in the world is called sâdhanâ. This is not achieved all of a sudden. The Upanishad says, the mind has to be slowly withdrawn from worldly objects. It does not happen in a trice; perseverance is needed. By steady practice the mind will gradually turn toward God. And simultaneously the inspiration to proceed along that path will also come. The means for such advancement will also be perceived.

(2) Holy Company: Once at Udbodhan a new comer devotee told Swami Saradananda, `I have come for sâdhusanga.' Swami Saradananda replied, `My dear man, at Dakshineswar the temple workers lived with the
Master year after year. Still not a bit of change was noticed in their lives. So, if you think that after your visit here today you will return home with the fruit of sâdhusanga in your pocket, you are mistaken. Sâdhusanga does not mean just to live with a sadhu or to visit him. It means that you have to accept him as your ideal and try to follow his examples.' A sadhu is he whose company activates God-consciousness. Those who come in contact with him become influenced by his feelings. That's why sâdhusanga is efficacious. Sadhus are living examples. In the absence of such examples men can't believe in the existence of God. We have not seen God. We may have read of Him in books, but books are lifeless. They are not of much use to us. In the life of a Sadhu, God-consciousness is tangible. That is why the Master has advised us to have holy company.

But strong desire must be there to imbibe that inspiration. Sâdhusanga does not bear fruit unless it is done with a view of following the sadhu. One has to approach a sadhu with humility and try to assimilate the teachings that are embedded in his life's ideals. That effort is called sâdhusanga. God-consciousness is personified in a sadhu. His company brings conviction in that consciousness, inspires the mind, and a desire grows to follow him. Tad vishnoh paramam padam sadâ pashyanti surayah diveeva chakshu-râtatam—`Wise men always see the sublime truth of Vishnu like a wide- open eye in the sky.' The purport of this statement is, if we find even one such man, we get inspiration from him and become convinced that God definitely exists. Otherwise, how is this man's life transformed thus?

What benefit do I get if a sadhu lives with God-consciousness? My benefit is that by observing him conviction comes that God is, and contemplation on God can transform my life like his. On hearing a sadhu's words and seeing his lifestyle one gets inspiration and also direction to walk along that path. So, belief in God does not come without sâdhusanga. To have conviction is very difficult. It is only natural to doubt the existence of that which we have never seen or known. But when we see His clear manifestation in someone's life and observe how contemplation on God changes a life, we feel that this is the ideal. As for example, Buddha was very much affected on seeing old age, disease, and death. He then started searching for a way out of these afflictions and the sight of a monk impressed him. Here it is! A man can be so blissful even living in the world full of sorrow! Buddha left home to follow that path. This is the result of sâdhusanga.

(3) Solitude: The third means prescribed by the Master is occasional stay in solitude. We are so habituated to live forgetting God that we have no comprehension of the real nature of samsâra (worldliness). The Master used to give an example: some fish being caught in a net thrust their faces in the mud and think that they are safe. They do not know that the fisherman will mercilessly drag them in a trice onto the ground and they will die. This is the condition of men in bondage. So we are to go to some solitary place and think about the purpose of our lives and how we are passing our days. Unless one occasionally goes out of the din and bustle of life one can't feel the transitoriness of samsâra. In the Gita God says: Anityam asukham lokamimam prâpya bhajasva mâm—`This world is fleeting and full of sorrow; being born here, worship me.' Have we got this awareness? Day after day we are seeing that everything is fleeting, decaying; so many men are bewailing the loss of their dear ones and we are thinking that such misfortune will never befall us although it has befallen them. Neither in happiness nor in sorrow do we feel the transitoriness. If we go to solitude and turn the pages of our lives and contemplate on the worthlessness of a purposeless life, then we shall clearly understand that worldly life is transient and we are straying away from the highest goal by engaging our minds in it. The world will fail to attract our minds when we are conscious of the evanescent and sorrowful nature of the world.

It is not that everybody should formally renounce the world. But the intense infatuation for the world makes us forget God and prevents us from realizing the horrible nature of the world, which is like a corpse covered with flowers. Does it mean the annihilation of samsâra? Far from it. When the mind will go toward Him who is the essence of samsâra, we shall find the path. If we try thus, our minds will no more remain immersed in samsâra, rather they will be restless for Him. This, verily, is yearning (vyâkulatâ). When this yearning comes nobody will be able to confine us to the enjoyments of the world. We shall fly headlong toward Him like the Homâ bird. When yearning comes, God appears to be the only Reality. Neither a monk nor a householder achieves anything until he realizes that worldly concerns are worthless and God alone is real.