Love and devotion of children

We, as adults, should have the same single minded devotion and love for God as our children have for us (as parents).  When a child cries out for his mother, he will not rest nor find any comfort in the presence of others.  The child can only find solace and comfort in the arms of his mother.  We must keep this thought in our minds every day so that we can continue to strive throughout our lives to also reach the arms of God.

When a child cries loudly and longingly for his mother, the mother soon comes to appease the child.  If we also cry longingly for God, He will also come to us.

Once children are able to recognize their parents, they are able to call out to them and find them wherever they may be located.  Once we recognize God as part of our lives, we should continually seek Him until we ultimately come into His presence.

Children continually repeat the names of their parents--Mommy and Daddy--in a manner similar to a chant.  God constitutes our entire lives and therefore we should remember to chant His name every day as well.

Children have no ties to the materialistic world in their lives.  Their wants are simple--food, water and the love of their parents.  We should also follow the ways of children and keep our needs simple and the love of God central to our lives.

By loving and nurturing our children as baby Krishna or baby Radha, we can also learn to grow in our love and devotion towards God.

Children can often be immensely overjoyed by performing some act that brings happiness or joy to their parents.  By offering ourselves as the humble servants and instruments of God, we can provide joy to God as well as bring happiness into our own lives.

Ideals of the Aspirant Entangled in the World

There is necessity of money, no doubt, in worldly life; but do not ponder much over it and other material gains.  Contentment with what comes of its own accord is the best attitude.  Do not be anxious to hoard.  Those who dedicate their very life and soul to Him, those who are His devotees and have taken refuge in Him, can never think of such worldly matters.  With them, expenditure is commensurate with income.  As money comes into their hands in one way, it is spent in another.

Question: How can I go through my devotional practices when I have always to think of my daily bread?
Answer: He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries.  God made provisions for your support before He sent you into this world.

We possess home, family and children for a short time, but these are all ephemeral.  The palm tree itself is real, but when one or two of its fruits fall to the ground, why should we regret it?

Live in the world, but be not worldly.  As the saying goes, make the frog dance before the snake, but let not the snake swallow the frog.

A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in the boat.  An aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him.

It matters not if you live the life of a house-holder, only you must fix your mind on God.  Do your work with one hand, and hold the feet of the Lord with the other.  When you have no work in the world to do hold His feet fast to your heart with both your hands.

What is the state of a man who is in the world but is free from its attachments?  He is like a lotus-leaf in water, or like a mud-fish in the marsh.  Neither of these is polluted by the element in which it lives.  The water wets not the leaf, nor does the mud stain the glossy coat of the fish.

It does not matter much whether you are a family man or not.  Always perform your duties unattached, with your mind fixed on God.  As for instance, the man who has got a carbuncle on his back talks with his friends and others, and even carries out undertakings, but his mind is all the while on his pain.

Living in the world one is safe, if one has Viveka (discrimination of the Real from the unreal), and Vairagya (dispassion for worldly things), and along with these intense devotion to God.

What are you to do when you are placed in this world?  Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no more trouble for you.  Then you will come to know that everything is done by His will.

If you desire to live in the world unattached, you should first practice devotion in solitude for some time--a year, six months, a month, or at least twelve days.  During this period of retirement, you should constantly meditate upon God and pray to Him for Divine love.  You should think that there is nothing in the world which you may call your own, that those whom you consider as your own are sure to pass away some day or other. God alone is really your own.  He is your all-in-all.  How to obtain Him?--this should be your only concern.

If you first smear your palms with oil and then cut open the jack fruit the milky exudation of the fruit will not stick to your hands and inconvenience you.  If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

As a boy holding to a post of pillar whirls about it with headlong speed without any fear of falling, so perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you will be free from danger.

Always consider that your family concerns are not yours; they are God's and you are His servant come here to obey His commands.  When this idea becomes firm, there remains nothing indeed that a man may call his own.

He is a true hero who performs all the duties of the world with his mind fixed on God.  None but a strong man can, while carrying a load of two maunds (more than a hundredweight) on his head, stop to admire a bridal procession passing his way.

Those who live in the world and still try to gain salvation are like the soldiers that fight from behind the ramparts of a fort, while the ascetics who renounce the world in search of God are like the soldiers fighting in the open field.  To fight the enemy from within the fort is more convenient and far safer than to fight in the open field.

Before soldiers go out to meet the enemy, they learn the art of fighting in their barracks, where they do not have to put up with the hardships incidental to action in the open field.  So avail yourselves of the conveniences of your home-life to raise your spiritual condition before you take to the austerities of an ascetic life.

Some types of Aspirants

Butter churned early in the morning is the best; that churned after sunrise is not so good.  Addressing his young disciples who became sannyasins later on, the Master used to say, "You are like butter churned early in the morning while my householder disciples are like butter churned late in the day."

The young bamboo can be easily bent, but the full grown bamboo breaks when it is bent with force.  It is easy to bend the young heart towards God, but the untrained heart of the old escapes the hold whenever it is so drawn.

The parrot cannot be taught to sing when the vibrating membrane in its throat has hardened too much because of age.  It must be taught to sing while young, before the collar line appears on its neck.  So in old age it is difficult to learn how to fix the mind on God, but it can be easily learnt in youth.

A ripe mango may be offered to God, or used for some other purpose; but if it is pecked by a crow even once, it is unfit for any use.  It can neither be offered to the Deity, nor presented to a Brahmana, nor may it be eaten by the pure.  So boys and girls should be dedicated to the service of God before the impurities of worldly desires taint their hearts.  Once worldly desires enter their minds, or the demon of sensual pleasures casts his baneful shadow over them, it is very difficult indeed to make them tread the path of virtue.

The love in the heart of a boy is whole and undivided.  When he gets married in time, half of his heart, if not more, is given away to his wife, and when children are born to him, he loses another quarter, thereof, while the remaining quarter is divided among father, mother, honour, fame, pride, dress and the rest; therefore he has no love left to offer to God.  Hence if the undivided mind of a boy is directed early enough to God, he may gain His love, and realize Him easily.  But it is not quite so easy for grown-up people to do so.

To someone the Master said: "Well, you have now come to seek God when you have spent the best part of your life in the world.  Had you entered the world after realizing God, what peace and joy you would have found!"

Characteristics of True Aspirants

The flint may remain for myriads of years under water and still not lose its inner finer.  Strike it with steel whenever you like, and out flashes the glowing spark.  So is the true devotee firm in his faith.  Though he may remain surrounded by all the impurities of the world, he never loses his faith in, and love of God.  He warms up with devout enthusiasm as soon as he hears the 'name' of the Lord.

The railway engine easily drags with it a train of heavily loaded carriages.  So the loving children of God, firm in their faith and devotion, feel no trouble in passing through life in spite of all troubles and anxieties, and at the same time they lead many to God along with them.

When does the attraction of the pleasures of the senses die away?  When one realizes the consummation of all happiness and of all the pleasures in God--the indivisible, eternal ocean of bliss.  Those who enjoy Him can find no attraction in the cheap, worthless pleasures of the world.

The water of a rapid stream moves round and round in eddies and whirlpools in some places; but passing these it resumes again a straight and swift course.  So the heart of the devotee is caught every now and then in the whirlpool of despondency, grief and unbelief, but this is only a momentary aberration and does not last long.

Wherein is the strength of a devotee?  He is a child of God, and his devotional tears are his mightiest weapon.

The more you scratch the part affected by ringworm, the greater grows the itching, and the more the pleasure you derive from scratching.  So the worshippers of God never get tired of singing His praise.

The man whose hair stands on end at the mere mention of the 'name' of God, and from whose eyes flow tears of love--he has indeed reached his last birth.

The truly religious man is he who does not commit any sin even when he is alone, and when no man observes him, because he feels that God sees him even then. (Edited for brevity)  He who finds a bag full of gold in a lonely and uninhabited house, and resists the temptation of appropriating it, he is a truly religious man.  But he who practices religion for the sake of show, through fear of public opinion, cannot be called truly religious.  The religion of silence and secrecy is the true religion, but it is all sham and mockery when attended with vaunting and vanity.

The True End of Learning

Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realize that they know nothing.

People talk of errors and superstitions, and feel proud of their book-learning; but the sincere devotee finds the loving Lord every ready to lend him a helping hand.  It matters not if he had been walking along a wrong path for a time.  The Lord knows what he wants and in the end fulfills his heart's desires.

Utter the word Gita, in quick succession, a number of times-Git-ta-gi-ta-gi-tagi.  It is then virtually pronounced as "Tagi", "Tagi", which means one who has renounced the world for the sake of God.  Thus, in one word, the Gita teaches, "Renounce, ye world-bound men!  Renounce everything, and fix the mind on the Lord."