Faith

A boy named Jatila used to walk to school through the woods, and the journey frightened him.  One day he told his mother of his fear.  She replied: "Why should you be afraid?  Call Madhusudana."  "Mother," asked the boy, "Who is Madhusudana?"  The mother said, "He is your Elder Brother."  One day after this, when the boy again felt afraid in the woods, he cried out, "O Brother Madhusudana!"  But there was no response.  He began to weep aloud:  "Where are You, Brother, Madhusudana?  Come to me.  I am afraid."  Then God could no longer stay away.  He appeared before the boy and said: "Here I am.  Why are you frightened?"  And so saying He took the boy out of the woods and showed him the way to school.  When He took leave of the boy, God said: "I will come whenever you call me.  Do not be afraid."
One must have this faith of a child, this yearning.

A brahman used to worship his family Deity with food offerings.  One day he had to go away on business. As he was about to leave the house, he said to his son: "Give the offering to the Deity today.  See that God is fed."  The boy offered food in the shrine, but the image remained silent on the altar.  It would neither eat nor talk.  The boy waited a long time, but still the image did not move.  But the boy firmly believed that God would come down from His throne, sit on the floor, and partake of his food.  Again and again he prayed to the Deity, saying: "O Lord, come down and eat the food.  It is already very late.  I cannot sit here any longer."  But the image did not utter a word.  The boy burst into tears and cried: "O Lord, my father asked me to feed you.  Why won't you come down?  Why won't you eat from my hands?"  The boy wept for some time with a longing soul.  At last the Deity, smiling, came down from the altar and sat before the meal and ate it.  After feeding the Deity, the boy came out of the shrine room.  His relative said: "The worship is over.  Now bring away the offering."  "Yes," said the boy, "the worship is over.  But God has eaten everything."  "How is that?" asked the relatives.  The boy replied innocently, "Why, God has eaten the food."  They entered the shrine and were speechless with wonder to see that the Deity had really eaten every bit of the offering.

God can be realized through child-like faith and guilelessness.
  A certain person, on coming across a sadhu, humbly begged him for instruction.  The sadhu's advice was, "Love God with all your heart and soul."  The enquirer replied, "I have never seen God, nor do I know anything about Him; how is it possible that I should love Him?"  The holy man enquired whom the other loved most.  The answer was, "I have nobody to care for.  I have a sheep and that is the only creature I love."  The sadhu said: "Then tend the creature and love it with all your heart and soul, and always remember that the Lord abides in it."  Having given this advice the sadhu left the place.  The enquirer now began to tend the sheep with loving care, fully believing that the Lord abode in the creature.  After a long time the sadhu, during his return journey, sought out the person he had advised and enquired how he was getting on.  The latter saluted the sadhu and said, "Master, I am all right, thanks to your kind instructions.  Much good has come to me by following the line of thought prescribed by you.  Time and again I see a beautiful figure with four hands within my sheep and I find supreme bliss in that."

You must have heard about the tremendous power of faith.  It is said in the Purana that Rama, who was God Himself--the embodiment of Absolute Brahman--had to build a bridge to cross the sea to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).  But Hanuman, trusting in Rama's name, cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other side.  He had no need of a bridge.

Once the son of a certain man lay at the point of death, and it seemed that none could save his life.  A sadhu, however, said to the father of the dying son: "There is but one hope.  If you can get in a human skull the venom of a cobra mixed with a few drops of rain-water under the constellation of the Svati star, your son's life can be saved."  The father looked up the almanac and found that the constellation of the Svati would be in the ascendant on the morrow.  So he prayed, saying, "O Lord, do Thou make possible all these conditions, and the spare the life of my son."  With extreme earnestness and longing in his heart, he set out on the following evening and diligently searched in a deserted spot for a human skull.  At last he found one under a tree, held it in the hand, and waited for the rain, praying.  Suddenly, a shower came, and a few drops of rain were deposited in the upturned skull.  the man said to himself, "Now I have the water in the skull under the right constellation."  Then he prayed earnestly, "Grant, O Lord, that the rest may also be obtained."  In a short time he discovered, not far from there, a toad, and a cobra springing to catch it.  In a moment the toad jumped over the skull, followed by the cobra whose venom fell into the skull.  With overwhelming gratitude the anxious father cried out: "Lord, by Thy grace even impossible things are made possible.  Now I know that my son's life will be saved."
  Therefore, I say, if you have true faith and earnest longing, you will get everything by the grace of the Lord.

A Milk-Maid used to supply milk to a brahmana priest living on the other side of a river.  Owing to the irregularities of the boat service, she could not supply him milk punctually every day.  Once, being rebuked for her going late, the poor woman said, "What can I do?  I start early from my house, but have to wait for a long time at the river bank for the boatman and the passengers."  The priest said, "Woman!  They cross the ocean of life by uttering the name of God, and can't you cross this little river?"  The simple-hearted woman became very glad at heart on learning this easy means of crossing the river.  From the next day the milk was being supplied early in the morning.  One day the priest said to the woman, "How is it that you are no longer late nowadays?"  She said, "I cross the river by uttering the name of the Lord as you told me to do, and don't stand now in need of a boatman."  The priest could not believe this and said, "Can you show me how you cross the river?"  The woman took him with her and began to walk over the water.  Looking behind, the woman saw the priest in a sad plight and said, "How is it, sir, that you are uttering the name of God with your mouth, but at the same time with your hands you are trying to keep your cloth untouched by water?  You do not fully rely on Him."
  Entire resignation and absolute faith in God are at the root of all miraculous deeds.

Devotion

In a certain village there lived a weaver.  He was a very pious soul.  Everyone trusted him and loved him.  He used to sell his goods in the market-place.  When a customer asked him the price of a cloth, the weaver would say: "By the will of Rama the price of the yarn is one rupee and the labour four annas; by the will of Rama the profit is two annas.  The price of the cloth, by the will of Rama, is one rupee and six annas."  Such was the people's faith in the weaver that the customer would at once pay the price and take the cloth.  The weaver was a real devotee of God.  After finishing his supper in the evening, he would spend long hours in the worship hall meditating on God and chanting His name and glories.  Now, late one night the weaver couldn't sleep.  He was sitting in the worship hall, smoking, now and then, when a band of robbers happened to pass that way.  They wanted a man to carry their goods and said to the weaver, "Come with us." So saying, they led him off by the hand.  After committing a robbery in a house, they put a load of things on the weaver's head commanding him to carry them.  Suddenly the police arrived and the robbers ran away.  But the weaver, with his load, was arrested.  He was kept in the lock-up for the night.  Next day he was brought before the magistrate for trial.  The villagers learnt what had happened and came to the court.  They said to the magistrate, "Your Honour, this man could never commit robbery."  Thereupon the magistrate asked the weaver to make his statement.
  The weaver said: "Your Honour, by the will of Rama I finished my meal at night.  Then by the will of Rama I was sitting in the worship hall.  It was quite late at night by the will of Rama.  By the will of Rama I had been thinking of God and chanting His name and glories, when by the will of Rama a band of robbers passed that way.  By the will of Rama they dragged me with them; by the will of Rama they committed a robbery in a house; and by the will of Rama they put a load on my head.  Just then, by the will of Rama the police arrived and by the will of Rama I was arrested.  Then by the will of Rama the police kept me in the lock-up for the night, and this morning by the will of Rama I have been brought before Your Honour."  The magistrate realized that the weaver was a pious man and ordered his release.  On his way home the weaver said to his friends, "By the will of Rama I have been released."
  Whether you live in the world or renounce it, everything depends upon the will of Rama.  Throwing your whole responsibility upon God, do your work in the world.

In the course of his pilgrimage through the southern parts of India, Sri Chaitanya Deva came across a certain devotee who was in tears all the while a pundit was reading from the Gita.  Now this devotee knew not even a single word of the Gita.  On being asked why he shed tears, he replied, "It is indeed true that I do not know a word of the Gita.  But all the while it was being read, I could not help seeing with my inner eye the beautiful form of my Lord Sri Krishna seated before Arjuna in a chariot in the field of Kurukshetra, and giving out all those sublime thoughts embodied in the Gita.  This it was that filled my eyes with tears of joy and love."
  This man who knew not letters, had the highest Knowledge, for he had pure love for God and could realize Him.

Once upon a time conceit entered into the heart of Narada, and he thought there was no greater devotee than himself.  Reading his heart, the Lord said: "Narada, go to such and such a place.  A great devotee of mine is living there.  Cultivate his acquaintance; for he is truly devoted to Me."  Narada went there and found an agriculturist who rose early in the morning, pronounced the name of Hari (God) only once, and taking his plough, went out and tilled the ground all day long.  At night he went to bed after pronouncing the name of Hari once more.  Narada said to himself: "How can this rustic be a lover of God?  I see him busily engaged in worldly duties, and he has no signs of a pious man about him."  Then Narada went back to the Lord and spoke what he thought of his new acquaintance.  Thereupon the Lord said: "Narada, take this cup of oil and go round this city and come back with it.  But take care that you do not spill even a single drop of it."  Narada did as he was told, and on his return the Lord asked him, "Well, Narada, how many times did you remember Me in the course of your walk round the city?"  "Not once, my Lord," said Narada, "and how could I, when I had to watch this cup brimming over with oil?"  The Lord then said: "This one cup of oil did so divert your attention that even you did forget Me altogether.  But look at that rustic, who, though carrying the heavy burden of a family, still remembers Me twice every day."

Faith, Devotion and Resignation

Once a washerman was beating a devotee severely and the devotee was crying, "Narayana! Narayana!"  Lord Narayana was in Sri Vaikuntha, sitting near Lakshmi.  As soon as He heard the cry of the devotee, He got up and proceeded to protect the man.  But He returned to His seat after going only a few steps.  Seeing this, Lakshmi asked the Lord why He had returned so quickly.  Lord Narayana replied, "Because I found no need of my going there.  That fellow too has become a Dhobi (washerman).  He has begun to protect himself; he is now giving blows in return to the man who has been beating him before.  So where is the necessity of my going there?"  The Lord saves one only if one surrenders oneself completely to Him.

Worldly position of devotees

As Bhishma lay dying on his bed of arrows, he was found shedding tears.  Sri Krishna and the Pandavas were standing by.  Arjuna exclaimed, "How strange, brother!  Our grandfather Bhishma himself--so truthful and wise, the master of his self, and one amongst the eight Vasus (a class of deities)--even he is overcome by Maya in his dying hour and is shedding tears!" When this was communicated to Bhishma he replied: "O Krishna, you know full well that I am not crying for that.  But when I think that even the Pandavas, whom the Lord Himself is serving as charioteer, have to pass through endless troubles and tribulations, I am overpowered with the thought that the ways of God cannot in the least be comprehended, and I cannot restrain my tears."

The Beggar and the Diamond

This is the tale of an old beggar named Ramu who has had a miserable life. One day Ramu is walking along thinking about his unhappy existence and feeling angry at Shiva. Shiva, at the request of Parvati who felt pity for the beggar, drops a massive diamond on his path in plain sight. The diamond is worth so much that it would feed him and all his descendents for several generations. On the ground, Ramu has decided after some pondering that he should not be angry about his life or blame Shiva because he still has a few things to be grateful for, such as retaining his sight at such an old age. To illustrate to himself how much worse life could be if he was blind, he decides to close his eyes as he walks. Ironically, he does not see the diamond because of this and merrily walks past it, missing it by just inches. Shiva takes back the diamond and puts an ironwood branch further up the path. Shiva then says, "The only difference is that Ramu shall find the branch. It shall serve him as a walking stick until the last of his days." Parvati asks Shiva, "Have you just taught me a lesson, Shiva?" Shiva answers, "I don't know. Have I?"

Yearning for God

If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world.  Be mad with the love of God.

Some men shed streams of tears because sons are not born to them, others eat away their hearts in sorrow because they cannot get riches.  But alas! how many are there who sorrow and weep for not having seen the Lord!  Very few indeed!  Verily, he who seeks the Lord, who weeps for Him, attains Him.

Let your heart pan for Him as a miser longs for gold.

As the drowning man pants hard for breath, so must one's heart yearn for the Lord, before one can find Him.

Do you know how intense our love of God should be?  The love that a devoted wife possesses for her beloved husband, the attachment that a miser feels for his hoarded wealth, and the clinging desire that the worldly-minded people foster for the things of the world--when the intensity of your heart's longing for the Lord is equal to the sum of these three, then you will attain Him.

'I must attain God in this very life; yea, in three days I must find Him; nay with a single utterance of His name I will draw Him to me'--with such violent Love the devotee can attract and realize Him quickly.  But devotees who are lukewarm in their Love take ages to find Him if indeed they find Him at all.

Why this attitude of an idler, that if realization is not possible in this birth, it will come in the next?  There should not be such sluggishness in devotion.  The goal never be reached unless a man makes his mind strong, and firmly resolves that the must realize God in this very birth, nay, this very moment.  In the countryside, when cultivators go to purchase bullocks, they first touch the tails of the animals.  Some of the bullocks do not make any response to this.  Rather, they relax all their limbs and lie down on the ground. At once the cultivators understand them to be worthless.  There are some others that jump about and behave violently the moment their tails are touched; and the peasants immediately know that these will be very useful to them.  Their choice is then made from among this active type.  Slothfulness is not at all desirable.  Gather strength, firm faith, and say that you must realize God this very moment.  Then only can you succeed.

A devotee asked the Master, "By what means can He be seen?" and the Master replied: "Can you weep for Him with intense longing?  Men weep jugfuls of tears for children, wife, money, etc.; but who weeps for God?  So long as a child is engrossed in play with its toys, the mother engages herself in cooking and other household works.  But when the little one finds no more satisfaction in toys, throws them aside and loudly cries for its mother, she can no longer remain in the kitchen.  She perhaps drops down the rice pot from the hearth, and runs in hot haste to the child and takes it up in her arms."

Wherein does the strength of an aspirant lie?  He is a child of God, and tears are his greatest strength.  As a mother fulfills the desires of a child who weeps and importunes her, so does the Lord grant to His weeping child whatever he is crying for.

As a child beseeches it mother for toys and pice, weeping and teasing her, so he who weeps inwardly, intensely longing to see Him, like an innocent child, and knowing Him to be his nearest and dearest, is rewarded at last with the vision Divine.  God can no longer remain hidden from such an earnest and importunate seeker.

Karma Yoga

Work is a means, if done unattached; but the end of life is to see God.  Let me repeat that the means should not be confounded with the end--that the first stage on a road should not be taken for the goal.  No, do not regard work as the be-all and the end-all, the ideal of human existence.  Pray for devotion to God.  Suppose you are fortunate enough to see God.  Then what would you pray for?  Would you pray for dispensaries and hospitals, tanks and wells, roads and alms-houses?  No, these are realities to us so long as we do not see God.  But once brought face to face with the Divine vision, we see them as they are--transitory things no better than dreams.  And then we would pray for more light--more knowledge in the highest sense, more Divine love--the love which lifts us up from man to God, the love which makes us realize that we are really sons of the Supreme Being of Whom all that can be said is that He exists, that He is Knowledge itself in highest sense, and that He is the eternal fountain of love and bliss.

Bhakti and Jnana

A devotee: How can one know that one has attained Jnana, even while leading a family life?
The Master: By the tears and the thrill of the hair at the name of Hari.  When at the very mention of the sweet 'name' of the Lord, tears trickle down from a person's eyes and his hairs stand on end, he has attained Jnana.

Introduction