AT THE FEET OF GOD Swami Ramdas -2

At the Feet of God 

SWAMI RAMDAS 

 

ANANDASHRAM

KANHANGAD

14. FOR A SADHAKA

The Sadhaka who wants to attain God must strictly observe the

following rules. He must observe them, not as though he is bound by them,

but impelled to abide by them under the command of the infinite power -

Ram - that resides in him and everywhere around and about him.

1. The Sadhaka should live upon Sattwic food, free from hot, pungent or

bitter things and condiments. Milk and fruits are the best diet. The food

must be moderate in quantity.

2. He must take very light food in the evenings.

3. The Sadhaka must have only moderate sleep.

4. He must never sleep in the afternoon or during day.

5. He must talk very little.

6. He must avoid talking about personalities.

7. He must never criticise anybody, neither should he encourage others in

this pernicious practice, which is very common in the world.

8. He should avoid talking about himself.

9. He must never enter into any controversy or discussion.

10. He should not repeat conversations unless called upon to do so, or

except when it is found to be absolutely necessary.

11. He must keep the vow of Brahmacharya. He must look upon all women

either as mothers or manifestations of the Divine Being.

12. He must avoid worldly associations.

13. He must spend his time mostly in solitude.

14. He must never forget Ram.

15. He must always, when awake - except when talking or reading about

Ram - be repeating Ram’s name mentally or by mouth.

16. He should not engage himself in any talk or reading, which does not

pertain to the ideal, Ram, which is sole aim and goal in life.

17. He must without fail utilize the early hours of the morning, and also the

evening hours, for prayers and meditation.

18. He must crush out all desires.

19. No doubts of any kind must be allowed to dwell in his mind.

20. His mind must accept only pure and holy thoughts. No unclean, impure,

impious thoughts should ever be allowed to dwell in, or even enter, the

mind.

21. He must be friendly and loving to all.

22. He must never expect to be treated by anybody with any kind of

respect.

23. He must look upon the whole world as the manifestation of Ram, and all

beings and things as forms assumed by Ram in order to play out his Divine

Lila.

24. He must offer himself now and again, in word, deed and thought, to

Almighty Ram. He must lay himself - body, mind, Buddhi and Atma - at the

feet of the all-loving Ram.

25. Gradually he must submit his will to the Divine will and thus give up his

egoism, and then find peace and bliss in the realisation of his oneness with

Ram.

26. He must constantly pray to God to enable him to observe these rules in

such a way that he should do so without feeling himself in any way bound by

them.

Take heart, give up all care and sorrow, prostrate yourself at the holy

feet of Ram, who is Love itself, Light itself, Bliss itself. Repeat the sweet

name, Ram, constantly. Dedicate your thoughts, words and actions to Ram.

Resign your will to Ram’s will. Live contented in peace and bliss. Pray for

Ram’s help to follow the twelve rules given below:

1. Meditate always on Ram who is the eternal Truth, a fountain of Love, the

all-pervading Light, an ocean of Bliss.

2. Let no thought of evil, or of criticism about anybody, enter the mind.

3. Give up selfishness.

4. Be doing good to others without desiring for fruit.

5. Be content with what Ram has given you: don’t crave for things you do

not possess.

6. Don’t feel disturbed if anything is taken away from you, or if anything is

lost out of what you have.

7. Let all desires of the senses be kept under check.

8. Depend upon Ram. Let the realisation of Ram be the aim of life. Let all

actions be performed in Ram’s name, for Ram’s sake. This will free you

from all fear and sorrow.

9. Don’t ruminate over the past. All that happened in the past has been for

good. So no thought need be taken of it. Have no thought or anxiety about

the future. What is to happen does come to pass in spite of yourself. Be

prepared to face any and every condition calmly and coolly. The past, the

future and the present are in the hands of Ram. No worry or anxiety can

change the course of things as set. And in the present, think only of Ram, in

all your doings, i.e., perform all actions as offerings to Him.

10. The goal is to surrender your will to Ram. Make Ram’s will your will.

11. Give up Ahankar.

12. Love all alike.

The Sadhaka who would advance in Bhakti must talk very little about

himself; he must never encourage any talk which tends to his praise; and as

for himself, he must never indulge in self-praise. He must give up all show

of piety. He must never join in the criticism of others. He must never

criticize anybody. His sole concern is to meditate upon Ram, to constantly

utter or mentally repeat His sweet name, to read or listen to the reading of

religious works and lives of saints, and to talk, or join in the talk, about

God’s greatness and the ways of Bhakti and Jnana. The Sadhaka must

remain always pure in heart, word and deed. He must never be idle or

sleepy. He must make it a rule to devote the early hours of the morning to

the meditation of Ram. He must free himself from all attachments; no

desire however trifling should disturb his mind. He must attempt to remain

always unconscious of his body and its wants. He must take what is offered

and be satisfied, and never crave for things which are not given to him. He

must now and again go into solitude or retreat, either near the riverside,

seashore, a hill or a grove of trees. He must bathe in cold water as often as

he thinks necessary. When a fit of laziness is coming on him, he must either

take a dip in cold water in a tank, or walk out briskly towards a hill top, or

on a level road for about two or three miles. He must never dissociate his

mind from the thought of Ram. He must practice sensing all objects and

beings about him as the manifestation of Ram. He must look upon all beings

in this light and thus rise above all pairs of opposites - like and dislike, love

and hate, good and bad, painful and pleasant, etc. He must always sleep

only as much as is absolutely necessary. He must not court respect. He must

totally give up all desire for fame and name. He must always speak truth.

He must talk very little about other matters; in fact he must avoid all talk

except about Ram.

Never speak, or encourage talk, about yourself. Avoid personal

references. Speak always of Ram - His glories, His love, His power, His

peace.

Too much sleep is the sole cause of the mind wavering.

In the matter of food, the best diet for a Sadhaka is fruits and milk,

twice or thrice a day.

Never court the society of worldly-minded men; never listen to

worldly talk; never live in worldly surroundings.

Never be led away by the opinion of others. Always listen to the inner

voice and then act. Don’t think of forms, appearances and objects; let no

considerations or memories of the past worry you; let no expectations of the

future engage your mind. Live always in the present, in harmony with God,

that is to say, in harmony with all. Live in peace and quiet. Ram is your sole

guide and prompter.

A lump of dry clay when immersed in water absorbs water, whereas a

solid stone does not. So, when a Sadhaka, without sufficient control over his

senses, mixes freely in the world, he is liable to be dragged down into the

turmoils of the world, but a Yogi who has mastered his desires has no such

fear.

15. MAYA

Ignorance or delusion, i.e., Maya, sets us on the belief that this body

of ours is real and makes us forget the all-pervading Divine being who is the

one and only reality. Living in this ignorance, our sole outlook on life

becomes one continued service of this inconstant, unreal and perishable

body. Our concern then is always to find ways and means as to how best to

nourish and protect this body. What best food should be given to it? What

clothing should this body wear? What ornaments should adorn it? What must

be put on the head, what on the feet, what must be used to cover the legs,

what to dress the body with, and what rings, what bangles, what necklaces,

what jewellery should it be decked with? These are the things in which we

engage ourselves. The body demands fine and luxurious food to eat, rich

clothing to wear, a soft bed to lie upon and brilliant ornaments to adorn

itself with. It calls for fine music for the ears, sensuous sights for the eyes,

sweet aroma for the nose. Oh! the delusion of this body! We fidget about

the whole day and night in pursuit of the requirements of this transient

body. It wants a spacious, decorated, well-furnished house to live in. It

wants so many things and beings to satisfy its momentary pleasures. We are

every minute engaged in this mad rush of satisfying the cravings of the

body; and the mind and the senses are in their full play, making havoc of

our lives. In our blind pursuit we hate and get angry with our brethren, and

snatch ruthlessly from them, and secure for ourselves, what our mind has

set itself upon, as our want. After all, to what purpose? For a momentary

gain, for a passing happiness. In this struggle, what do we experience?

Misery, pain, disappointment, anxiety, care, disease and ultimate

destruction.

The all-loving, all blissful Reality - Ram is entirely forgotten. We

forget the fact that we come alone, naked into the world, and leave it at

the end in the same condition. The hoarded wealth, the loved relations, the

cherished fame, the vast property, the gold we value so much, all, all we

leave behind, and carry with us only a load of sin which we gather in the

course of our strife and struggle to amass these worldly baubles. O! vain

life, O! vain world, how attractive are thy wiles! The Maya is such -

ignorance is such! Instead of being the servant of the all-powerful, everexisting

and all-loving Ram, we become slaves of our bodies, senses and the

mind. O Ram, how wonderful is the illusion in which Thou keepest us all! By

Thy grace alone, can we free ourselves from it. O Ram, have pity on us and

liberate us and take us on to Your holy feet.

* * * *

The world is simply a vanishing play of the three Gunas - Satwa,

Rajas, and Tamas. All forms are merely the result of the Gunas. Therefore,

we should never associate ourselves with these Gunas and the appearances

caused by them. But who has assumed these forms and the Gunas that are

Mayavic or illusive? It is the one supreme, imperishable Being, the only

Reality. Therefore, let the forms and Gunas produce on us no impression

whatsoever, except that of merely reminding us of the Reality that appears

to us as these forms controlled by the Gunas. Diversity is false. Unity or

oneness is Truth. Let our mind be always fixed on Truth - the only Truth. Let

the mind be never allowed to dwell upon objects or forms. Let the mind be

not engaged in judging or criticising things and forms. In order to stop

wandering of the mind that runs away to think upon various objects which

as different entities are all unreal and therefore disturbing, we must

develop the practice of immediately associating the thought of the Reality

with the thought of the object, whatever it may be. If you go on having this

practice, the diversity gets merged into the real unity. Maya gets absorbed

in the Brahman. The turmoil of the mind is gone, and, in its place, settle

down, the everlasting peace and bliss, because the Reality itself denotes,

and is, peace and bliss.

16. THE WORLD

Beware of the world, O Sannyasin! The world is a powerful magnet; it

draws you into itself unconsciously. If you get into it you are lost in the

whirlpool. Remain unattached like a lotus leaf in water.

Make your mind firmly fixed on Ram, and then move in the world.

The allurements of the world do not then unsettle your mind. Move like the

hurricane lantern which preserves its light unshaken amidst the heaviest

blast of wind.

The world is a whirlpool; go into it only when the call is from Ram.

Go only to strew peace and love around you. Do not condemn. Do not find

fault. Love, love all alike. Give kindness and receive kindness. Let flattery

and abuse be the same to you; sorrow and joy, the same to you. Keep your

equilibrium, by unbroken meditation on Ram. Be fearless. Ram is in you -

the Mighty and Powerful Being. He controls you. He guides you. He leads

you. He is wise, gentle and loving. He does everything for the best. Submit

to Him and live in Him. Unity is life; it is love. Diversity is death; it is hate.

See unity everywhere; ‘One’ only is real. He is Ram who pervades

everywhere. Don’t be influenced by forms. Don’t be moved by any sight. Be

self-poised and firm-set. Don’t waver. Don’t yield to doubt. Act with

firmness and promptitude. The inner voice of Ram always guides you. Don’t

be guided by counsels for your welfare or comforts. Be humble, be ready to

serve. Be all love. Sacrifice everything for the sake of Ram. Rise above all

temptations. Break down all barriers that make for separation. Live a

simple, pure and chaste life. This is all possible, if you put all trust in Ram

and consecrate your all to Him. Self-surrender is what is required. Give up

egoism. Be free, free from all conventions, from all formalities, from all

castes and rules and restrictions, from all relationships, from all bonds and

limitations. Breathe always the unfettered air of freedom, and live in Ram.

17. YOUR QUEST

What is your quest? Peace and bliss.

God is eternal peace and bliss. Think of Him; meditate on Him;

surrender yourself to Him; and you will realise Him within your own heart;

there you will attain everlasting peace and bliss. Seek not this peace and

bliss in the objects of the senses; if you do, you will only be inviting care

and pain and misery.

Your happiness or misery depends upon yourself, upon the state of

your mind, and not upon your external conditions or circumstances. When

your mind, impelled by desires, is flitting from object to object, craving for

possession and enjoyment, it lives in a state of restlessness which itself is

misery. After possession of the object, come cares and anxieties; after its

loss, follow grief and pain. The small amount of happiness you derive here is

like a tiny flickering light in a thick, vast mass of darkness; it dies out in a

moment, only to envelop you in a worse enthralling gloom. Know this, that

the object you crave for is perishable and transient in itself. How then can

lasting peace be derived from it? Hence, when the mind wanders in the

midst of this ever-changing, impermanent medley of forms and things, it

experiences nothing but pain and sorrow. Now then, direct your vision

inward and behold God within, that eternal seat of all peace and bliss. Stop

all the desultory activities of the mind and concentrate it upon Him. There

you attain peace and bliss that never fade. Reach Him through love. He is at

once peace, bliss and love. Love Him with all your heart and soul, and

thereby direct your otherwise restless mind to Him. As it wavers, rein it in

and firmly fix it on Him. Let all your emotions be worked up, to attain Him.

Plead, pray, appeal, cry and weep and finally surrender yourself to Him,

until you become one with Him, until you realise Him. He is eternal, allpowerful,

all-knowing Truth. To realise Him is to become immortal, i.e., not

only to enjoy immortal bliss and peace but also immortal power and

knowledge. That is your goal. Then you will discover that the whole universe

you see about is only the manifestation of the grand Truth you have realised

within yourself. Through love you then reach all and become one with, or,

in tune with, the universe. Your life is now blessed indeed! You swim in the

very ocean of peace and joy. You live, move and have your being in God. Sin

cannot touch you, pain cannot affect you, no outward condition or

circumstance can ruffle you. Your knowledge (really ignorance) that you are

the body has vanished. You are the immortal soul, ever free, ever blissful

and free from all the pairs of opposites and the three qualities and free

from all passions. Divine knowledge hath now rent asunder the veil of

ignorance that hitherto clouded your soul. You are ever free - free, eternal

God.

18. RIGHT PATH

What is the right path?

It is the path of self-suffering, self-mortification, self-sacrifice and

finally self-surrender that leads the devotee to the highest goal, God - Love

- Ram.

While on the path, tread upon the thorns bravely; jump over the

obstacles fearlessly; overcome all obstructions boldly; face dangers

courageously; march onward and faint not - “stop not till the goal is

reached.”

Give up the ego, crush it out, and go forward to embrace the Lord

Ram. The ego sets up the thorns, the obstacles, the obstructions and the

dangers along the path. With the Lord’s help fight out this ego, and come

out victorious; then unending, uninterrupted bliss and freedom are thine.

19. BRAHMACHARYA

Absolute Brahmacharya is the only means to realise Brahman.

Brahmacharya should be observed in thought, word and deed. The activities

of the whole life should be adjusted and moulded to fulfill, in its

completeness and perfection, this vow of Brahmacharya. The idea of sex

should be entirely obliterated from the mind. Brahman is sexless, desireless;

Brahman is infinite Shakti. Brahman is eternal Truth, perfect knowledge and

immortal Bliss. Brahman is one without a second. Brahman is the universe

and beyond. Brahman is changeless and formless. Brahman is all. Therefore,

O Brahmachari! rise above the three Gunas and Dwandwas; be Trigunatita,

be Dwandwatita and be ever merged in the ocean of infinite Shakti, Sat-

Chit-Anand.

Brahmacharya gives you Brahma-tejas. This resplendent Light of

Knowledge, Bliss and Power, alone can make you a fit instrument for

working out the great purpose of Brahman. Then it is that you realise that

you are Brahman Himself or Itself. The infinite Power, Bliss and Knowledge

is yourself. Let your thoughts, let your words, let your energy, flow directly

from that glorious fountain-head Brahman. Then you are the knower of

Brahman. Then you are Brahman.

The true Brahmachari thus attains the transcendent goal.

Absolute Brahmacharya or continence is essential for spiritual

advancement. The sex idea must be obliterated from the mind, or all

women must be looked upon as mothers, the manifestation of the Divine

Sita, the female aspect of Ram, the supreme Lord. An aspirant who has

dedicated his life to the service of the Lord must not move too intimately in

society until this ideal is firmly fixed in his mind. His faith and dependence

upon Ram should be so strong and one-pointed that he should be perfectly

impervious to the influences of “Kama and Kanchana”. Surrender to God is

the only course.

20. YOGA

Yoga is union with Ram. The highest Yoga is Bhakti Yoga or Adhyatma

Yoga. Here the Yogi realises the whole universe as the Divine manifestation

of Ram - all creatures, men, objects and things in it being taken as the

Mayavic or illusive forms assumed by Ram; even the sensations, feelings,

thoughts, impulses, actions and words are taken as the expression of Ram -

Ram pervading, informing, permeating everything conceivable and

inconceivable. When this supremely grand Yoga is attained, the sense of

form and name is lost to the Yogi. Now everything affects him only as Ram,

since Ram absorbs and envelops all. The unity or oneness is thoroughly

realised by the Yogi. He is firmly fixed in Yoga; his very cognizance of the

world and its objects leaves upon him no impression other than that of Ram,

with the result that he is unshakably enthroned in peace or Samadhi. Now

nothing can shake or disturb him; under all conditions, which, to him, are

themselves the expression of Ram, he remains unmoved and perfectly at

poise. He is veritably immersed in an ocean of everlasting bliss. He then

looks upon the world and all that it contains, appearing in such a variety of

forms and shapes, as the illusive panorama of Ram’s Divine play or Lila. He

moves, talks, works in the midst of it all, keeping himself always unattached

to the unreal manifestation of Ram, but diffusing peace and bliss wherever

he goes or stays. Nothing daunts him. Terrors of the world, controlled by the

three states of birth, growth, and death, and the three Gunas, viz. Satwa,

Rajas and Tamas, do not in the least affect him as such but only as Ram,

who is peace itself, bliss itself, knowledge itself, love itself and the great

Truth, the only Truth. Prahlad attained this state to such a degree that fire

could not burn him; it acted on him only as Ram, i.e., peace; so also could

water not touch him, nor did the fall from a precipice affect him. “Fire

cannot burn him, sword cannot cut him, water cannot wet him, air cannot

dry him.” This state he reached by the mere repetition of the Divine name

of Ram, giving up everything for that one purpose. First the repetition of

Ram’s name; then the realisation of His presence in all things and beings;

lastly the state of Samadhi, in which names and forms are dropped – a state

of bliss and peace – and the Eternal is attained.

21. KARMA-YOGA

Do all actions in a state of complete surrender to Ram. Then you are

totally free from all their after-effects. You perform them impersonally.

This is true Karma-yoga.

22. BHAKTI

The path of Bhakti is the highest path that leads the devotee to the

blessed feet of Ram. The devotee loves Ram, as the child its mother, as the

servant his master, with complete dependence upon him. He opens out his

heart fully before Ram, lays it quite bare, confesses all his short-comings

and weaknesses, and appeals for strength to conquer them; in fact he lays

the whole responsibility upon Ram, for eradicating all the evils that exist in

him, that prove as obstacles in the way of his complete self-surrender to

Ram. Weaknesses are destroyed the moment the self-surrender is complete,

but the self-surrender should not be only for a time; it must be continuous,

and the consciousness of the ego must leave the devotee entirely and for

ever. The moment there is a lapse in self-surrender, the ego returns, and

along with it all the weaknesses that disappeared for a time. In order that

the self-surrender may be complete and at the same time continuous

without a break, the Smarana or remembrance of Ram must never cease,

not even for a single moment. It must flow ceaselessly, continuously, until it

is fixed once for all, when nothing could move it from its place. The best

means of keeping up Ram’s Smarana is to repeat Ram’s name loudly or

slowly or mentally.

To increase Bhakti, three things are necessary:

1. Constant repetition of Ram’s name.

2. To see Ram in all objects and beings.

3. To undergo all difficulties and sorrows in a spirit of resignation and

renunciation.

23. STEPS THAT LEAD TO SURRENDER

1. Acknowledgment of God’s will as supreme.

Our ego refuses to submit to this truth and makes us suffer from

disappointments and doubts. The ego can be put down only by a continuous

remembrance that God is the sole doer and that we are all merely

instruments in His hands. As we fix more and more firmly in the mind the

habit of remembering Him, the ego gets thinner and thinner until it is

entirely obliterated or wiped out, which means that the state of Samadhi

has been reached.

2. Realisation that God is always good and loving.

So, His will works only for good. He is incapable of doing any harm or

evil, as by nature He is good and good alone. This gives us the necessary

strength to patiently endure every trial and grief, seeing in it the hidden

good, as in the apparent harsh treatment of the child by its mother when

she chastises her child for its good.

3. Acceptance of the fact that God has assumed the form of the universe,

of all creatures, of all beings and things in it.

We start by taking God as love. So God is good. Therefore there is no

evil at all in the world. Then every being and everything is only the

manifestation of a good and loving God. So all creatures, all beings, deserve

our respect and love. We have nothing to dislike or hate. Here we create an

ocean of love in which we immerse ourselves, and enjoy eternal bliss. Now

the self-surrender is complete; the mind is thoroughly pure and perfectly

innocent. The blessed devotee who has attained this stage is ever in

Samadhi in all conditions of his existence.

24. TWO KINDS OF SAMADHI

One kind of Samadhi consists in sitting down in a definite posture

and, by meditation, merging oneself in the Infinite, entirely forgetful of the

world outside.

But one should not be satisfied merely by attaining the condition for

oneself. One must impart the knowledge of it to humanity. This, one can do

by moving in the world, realising it to be the Lila of God - in which all things

and creatures are only forms assumed by God for His world-play, the whole

of which is inconsistent and unreal. This realisation which occurs when the

ego is entirely obliterated constitutes the state of the other kind of

Samadhi.

The former one is necessary for attaining this one. Realise God as

love and the universe as God. Realise God both with form and without form

and with and without attributes. Formless God without attributes is

inexpressible. Formless God with attributes is Love, Light, Bliss, Truth,

Wisdom and Consciousness. God with form is the universe and all in it.

25. SURRENDER

The path of self-surrender is the most natural and the easiest path.

Offer up everything to Ram. Lay your whole existence as a complete and

unqualified offering at the holy feet of Ram. Behold the whole universe as

the manifestation of Ram. Rejoice in seeing the worlds since they all remind

you of Ram. Ram is light, love and bliss. You have nothing to condemn. The

world is the Lila of Ram. Ram is playing in it by assuming various forms.

Observe the play and remain always peaceful and full of bliss.

Offer up everything to Ram, your actions, words and thoughts, your

body, mind and soul. Remember God at all times. He will then give you

peace. Let all desires vanish in Ram. Let all the so-called evil disappear in

Ram. Let all thoughts rest in Ram. Be absorbed and merged in Ram. Be mad

with Ram. Be intoxicated with Ram. Then you have all that you have

wanted. You have realised Ram, you have reached Truth, you have attained

peace.

No bewilderment, no doubt, no struggle, when one has handed

oneself completely into the hands of God. Live a life in complete submission

to Ram, and you have no anxieties, no cares, no sorrows, no confusion. Do

not mind what people say of you. Remain firm in your faith in Ram, in praise

and ignominy alike. Do not condemn anything; seek no advice; don’t be led

away; exercise your own will, i.e., the will of Ram. Don’t dwell upon

personalities; all forms are unreal; all opinions are nothing to you; cling to

Truth, Peace, Love, Light, Bliss. Have no misgivings. Be peaceful, contented

and blissful. Ram is the only Reality. Meditate on Ram, always. See only Him

everywhere. Ram, Ram. Om Sri Ram.

26. JIVAN-MUKTA

Jivan-Mukta is he who has totally surrendered himself to God, so

much so, that God alone works through him, his individual ego having been

conquered. He then lives always in God, and God lives in Him. He craves for

no fame, no wealth, no earthly pleasures of any kind. In the inner

consciousness of his being he finds the source of all bliss, and so lives

contented under all conditions; no change of any kind in his life disturbs the

equal tenor of his mind. He remains under all conditions at peace with

himself. Nothing daunts him. If he undertakes any work, it is always without

any selfish motive; and no threat of pain or even death will prevent him

from the performance of such work, since he takes it that the work is

enjoined on him by God Himself. He may often have not even the feeling

that God is working through him; but he does all work without the least

sense of egoism. People in general will extol him at one time, and speak ill

of him at another. He is bound by nobody’s opinion. He is free-ever free.

Om Sri Ram.

27. REALISATION OF UNITY

Individuals are formed by their Gunas - which are in their very nature

diverse but all unreal. According to his own Gunas, man is propelled to

action. The undying and birthless, that works through all, is God. To

recognise this fact - and to live accordingly - is to ignore what is false and

accept what is true. This can be reached only by realisation of Unity.

* * * *

It is the body-consciousness that is an obstacle to this realisation.

Therefore, rise above all wants concerning the body. Make it a tool to serve

the higher purpose. Destroy all the desires it has, by the help of the mighty

will that is lodged in you and everywhere, which is after all one and the

same. That will is Ram. Evil and good are only apparent. They form part of

the illusion.

28. LIVE THE REAL LIFE

It is not sufficient if you simply repeat the name of Ram, you must be

also loving and kind to all. It will not do to call yourself a Yogi if you do not

love and treat kindly all alike and keep your mind always peaceful. It will

not do to don the ochre-coloured robe, but you must also have love and

kindness to offer to all alike, and be always peaceful. It will not do if you

simply say your prayers regularly every day, you must also be kind and

loving to all alike and be always cheerful. It will not do to speak of God and

His love in eloquent terms, you must also bear Him ever in your bosom. It

will not do merely to preach Truth and ethics, you must live a strictly moral

life. No good of show. Live the real life, i.e., the life in God. That is the

goal of all faiths, all practices, all religions. If that is not gained all efforts

are fruitless.

29. PREACHING AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Before a man goes into the masses as a preacher he must first of all

attain perfect purity. He must be pure in thought, word and deed. He must

not only have realised God but also have firm hold upon such realisation. He

must expound the Truth from personal experience. Before he can be fit to

impress the hearers, he must have the light of God issuing through his eyes,

the bliss of God beaming on his face, the love of God flooding up in his

heart. His very presence should create a holy and pure atmosphere around

him. The halo of Divinity should always hover over him. His words should be

gentle; indomitable strength and thorough fearlessness should be in his

demeanour and his mind be unshakably fixed in peace. In this Divine state

he must speak, act, move, and live. Om Sri Ram.

A preacher has no right to go out into the world to preach the highest

Truth, i.e., peace, unless he has realised it himself. He should deliver

himself of his own experiences, and not bookish knowledge which does not

appeal to the hearers, nor impress itself upon them. Preaching without

realisation is like dealing in second-hand articles. They never satisfy the

receiver. Let the preacher’s own experiences be held out like the dazzling

coins fresh from the mint.

30. WHAT DO THEY TEACH US?

1. Mahatma Gandhi -

Control of the palate, and therefore of all desires.

2. Sri Aurobindo -

See Ram in all beings, things, actions, feelings and thoughts.

3. Gautama Buddha -

Renunciation of all ties. Moral elevation - purity in thought,

word and deed.

4. Saviour Jesus Christ -

God is love - if we love each other, God dwelleth in us.

5. Sri Krishna -

“Abandoning all duties come to Me alone for shelter; grieve not,

I shall liberate thee from all sins.”

Surrender yourself to God and then perform actions without attachment

(Karma Yoga).

6. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa -

“Give up Kamini and Kanchana.”

Unity of religions.

7. Sri Krishna Chaitanya -

Reach God through intense love and faith.

Chant His Name and sing of His glories.

8. Swami Rama Tirtha -

Be always cheerful and fearless.

9. Swami Vivekananda -

Many-sided, clear and lucid view of the Infinite. Bold and easy exposition of

the Vedanta.

10. Sri Siddharudha Swami -

Look for the source of all bliss and peace, i.e., Divinity, in yourself.

Be like a child.

11. Sri Balakrishna -

Have unshakable faith in the name, Ram; it will bring you everlasting bliss.

12. Kollur Sadhumaharaj -

Talk only of Ram and His greatness.

13. Jagadguru Sri Ram -

“Ever remember Me; live, move and have your being in Me; I shall give you

freedom and bliss.”

14. Prophet Mohammed -

Self-surrender to Allah, the highest goal.

15. Mahabharata -

“He alone is Brahman in whom are found truthfulness, charity, forgiveness,

good conduct, non-injury, penance and mercy.”

31. EXTREMES

1. A saint’s heart is the hardest, but at the same time the softest.

2. The greatest anguish and the greatest pleasure are the same, in their

effects.

3. The height of wisdom and the height of madness meet.

4. Emptiness is always full.

5. The weakest is the strongest, for example, a child.

6. The most dazzling light is pitch darkness to the eyes.

7. The most elevated position for man is the lowest situation.

8. The greatest love is synonymous with the greatest cruelty.

9. Simplicity is profundity.

10. Victory is defeat.

11. Virtue carried to extremes becomes vice.

12. Tears flow through happiness as well as sorrow.

13. The deepest pit produces the greatest height.

14. The longest length meets at a point.

15. The greatest speed is the condition of perfect rest.

16. The softest thing is the hardest to break.

17. The fairest object is the ugliest evil.

18. The highest mountain peak determines the lowest depth.

19. Courage springs from fear.

20. Perfect consciousness is perfect unconsciousness.

21. The loudest sound produces the same effect as perfect stillness.

22. A piece of ice and a red-hot cinder on hand produce similar sensation.

23. The bosom friend is a bosom enemy and vice versa.

24. The most valued diamond is worthless carbon.

25. The greatest honour is tantamount to the greatest disgrace.

26. The dearest object causes the greatest pain.

27. The richest is always the poorest, and the poorest is the richest.

28. The humblest is most conscious of his worth.

Death is life.

Birth is destruction.

Annihilation is existence.

Harmony is chaos.

Being is non-being.

Ram, Ram, Ram, is above all these.

Every visit of death makes you think of a deathless state.

Every pang of pain wakes you up to the state of endless bliss.

Every attack of anxiety reveals to you a state of everlasting peace.

Every sight of evil gives rise in you to a knowledge of absolute goodness.

Every feeling of weakness makes you conscious of inexhaustible strength.

Every touch of impurity reveals to you a state of perfect purity.

Every tie of bondage drives you to realise the state of eternal freedom.

Every blinding darkness opens up to you the outlook of a breakless day.

Every puzzling diversity reminds you of the all comprehending unity.

Every sight of chaos takes you to the ideal of a perfect harmony.

Every experience of hatred draws you to the recognition of an eternal allabsorbing

love.

Every scene of destruction strikes in you a faith in the existence

imperishable.

32. JOY

If pleasure be joy, let pain be also joy.

If getting be joy, let giving be also joy.

If action be joy, let inaction be also joy.

If thinking be joy, let non-thinking be also joy.

If talking be joy, let silence be also joy.

If sleeping be joy, let waking be also joy.

If health be joy, let ill-health be also joy.

If eating be joy, let fasting be also joy.

If living be joy, let dying be also joy.

You are yourself pure unalloyed joy - bliss eternal.

O joy, O happiness, O bliss, O ecstasy, O Ram! O Ramdas, swim,

swim, eternally, in the sea of love that is spreading before, behind, above,

below you. All forms, all things, speak aloud of the infinite love of Ram. All,

all are He, all are Sriram, all are love. Dance, dance, O Ramdas, in ecstasy,

in the madness of Ram’s love, intoxicated with the delightful love of Ram.

33. WOMAN

Woman is Maya. Be a passionless, harmless child in the hands of

Maya. The whole game of the world is played by woman. She is at once the

liberator and the enslaver of man. Give her the role of a liberator. As a

liberator she acts as a mother, kind, careful and loving. As an enslaver she

fools, teases and bewilders man.

34. SOLITUDE

For a beginner in the practice of Yoga, solitude is the best thing.

Meditation on the Divine Self in a solitary place raises him to the higher

levels of consciousness in which he remains merged in Samadhi. Continued

Sadhana, in solitude, enables him to realise God.

35 SILENCE

How cooling is silence! Talk is like the surging sea; silence is like the

surface of still waters. Silence settles down the disturbed mind to its native

calmness. Peace is silence, love is silence, the great Truth is silence. Silence

is the cause of all birth. From silence evolves out the varied universe.

Silence is the beginning and the end of all things. In the middle state it is all

activity, noise, turmoil, and the mad rush. The resting snake runs and

fidgets about, and then rests again. Where the river starts there is perfect

stillness, the running water is active and noisy in its course, until it attains

its calm again when it meets the ocean. The sleeping bird starts up early

morning, flies about from tree to tree; when the evening comes it regains

its nest and calm again. From silence all come, to silence all revert. All

activity is rounded by silence.

36. CONSISTENCY

Consistency is a mere word, which is not to be used in relation to a

man’s action when he is pursuing the great principle, Truth. As the ways of

God are inexplicable, so is the conduct of a man who struggles to know God.

He sacrifices the hard-set consistency, when the principle of Truth is at

stake.

37. UNSHAKABLE FAITH

O man, don’t be swayed or influenced by the opinions of others;

stand firm upon the rock of your own convictions; that is, have unshakable

faith in Ram who resides in you as well as everywhere in the universe about

you. Let mountains roll down over you; let the sea rise in floods to swallow

you up; let heavenly bodies thunder down to crush the earth on which you

stand; let earth herself breakup and be shattered to pieces beneath you;

but you keep your faith in Ram firm, firm, ever firm. Shake off all bonds;

stand alone, and view, as the eternal witness, the magnificent game, play

or Lila of Ram. O Mind, rise, rise from the “charnel pits” of a mundane

existence, from the midst of the transient and petty things of the world;

rise, rise to those glorious heights, where infinite peace and bliss reign

supreme; mingle with that peace and bliss, and attain - realise - the eternal

state, to which you have a birthright. Let nothing short of this realisation be

your end and aim in this existence; all else is fraught with pain and fear. O

man, you are born to be blissful; the great reservoir of bliss is in you. Let it

overflow and flood your whole being. Why play with bits of glass and be

attached to them, when the brilliant diamond “Kohinoor” is within your

reach? It is yours already; realise, realise that it is in you; you are that; you

are not the perishable body; you are the infinite Spirit, the eternal Atman,

full of bliss. O realise this. Om Sriram.

38. PRIDE

Give up show of humility, but feel humble at heart and behave

accordingly.

Pride about Sadhanas is utterly useless. There is only one way to

attain Ram, and that is complete self-surrender to Him. Then live in peace

and joy.

That pride goes before a fall is a truism which must be for ever

stamped on the mind of man. Never be proud of anything. When God does

everything through you, who is it then that is proud? Do not exalt your self;

do not expect praise or homage. You are always the servant and child of

God. All credit, all praise, all exaltation, all glory, is to the Lord. Be

humble, be self-denying, be ready to serve, be a true and faithful servant of

God. Do only such things as would tend to your continuous remembrance of

God, who is Love, who is Truth.

If we want to augment our Bhakti for Sriram, we must not own

anything in the world. We must give up our egoism entirely. We must never

consider that our actions are our own. Ram is the sole doer. We have

therefore no cause to take pride in what we do. Everything takes place only

through Ram’s grace. Our pride is false and ruinous. The respect we receive,

the goodness and greatness of every kind that are in us, are due to the

grace of Ram. Humility at all times, under all conditions should be our

motto of life. We must not forget the fact that we are merely instruments in

the hands of Ram who is all love.

39. LOVE

God is love. Love all. What a grand privilege it is to love with a pure

heart! Sanctify yourself with pure love, the supreme love. Let every nerve

of yours thrill with the rhythm of love. Let every fibre of your being respond

to the impulse of love Divine. Let the very blood in your veins run to the

soft music of love. Let a halo of love surround your immortal existence. Let

your very heart beat keeping time to the heavenly harmony of love. Let your

words drop like the soft and smooth pearls of love. Let your acts be the

soothing blossoms of love. Let your thoughts be the ethereal light of the

gem of love. Be in tune with love. Be merged in love. Be saturated with

love. Let every atom of your frame vibrate and dance, and sing the song of

love. Clasp the whole universe in one vast embrace of love.

Let your life be sweetened with love or else it will be dry and

tasteless. Let your heart beat the rhythm of love. Let your voice sing of

love. Let your eyes see the vision of love. Let your ears hear the music of

love. Let your tongue taste the nectar of love. Let your nose sense the

perfume of love. Let your body enter into the noble service of love.

Love sanctifies all. Love purifies all. Love ennobles all. Love

enlightens all. Love pervades all. Love is God.

40. FORMS AND FORMALITIES

Ram works through the universe according to His own supreme will.

He works through all beings. Condemn systems, habits and institutions but

never individuals. Pure love admits of no bondage to any set rules,

regulations or customs. Stand above all those and live in Truth and Love.

Anything that stands in the way of Truth must be brushed aside ruthlessly.

Formalities must be trampled under foot when Truth or Love suffers.

Formalities disappear when Truth steps in, in all majesty. Forms are all

unreal. Don’t believe in them; don’t depend upon them. All opinions are

trash. Rise above them all, and boldly follow Truth. To realise God as allpervading

and to know and practise this oneness and unity through all life

and things in the world is to create harmony and peace. Stand alone and be

a centre to radiate round you, peace, harmony and joy. This is possible only

through realisation of the infinite love of Ram, of the complete oneness of

all things and beings. Diversity caused by the forms is utterly false.

Relations, friends, wealth, name, fame are all unreal, false delusion. Give

up all of them. The whole universe is only the false manifestation of one

eternal Being or Non-Being called Truth or Love. Seek Him and Him only in

all things, in all beings, everywhere.

Castes, rules, regulations, customs, relations, possessions, and

systems are all bondages. Break them off and be free. To be free is to attain

God, because God is ever free.

41. PERSONAL WANTS

Give up all longings. The most trifling desire pulls you down to your

body consciousness and your Samadhi is lost; mind becomes unsettled, and

all sorts of thoughts of separateness get into the mind and work havoc

there. Remain always indifferent to your personal wants. Remain merged

always in Ram, the giver of supreme peace.

42. CONTROL OF PASSIONS

When the worst passions are assailing you, associate them

immediately with Ram, the giver of peace and bliss, and at once they fly

away from you.

43. A PEACEFUL MIND

The mind sees through the eyes, hears through the ears, smells

through the nose, tastes through the tongue and feels the touch through the

body. When the mind is restless, these senses make it perceive diversity

which brings pain and sorrow. When the mind is peaceful, these senses

make it perceive oneness which brings joy and bliss. A restless mind is Maya.

A peaceful mind is Ram. When the mind is filled with the one thought of

peace or Ram, eyes see nothing but Ram, ears hear nothing but Ram, nose

smells nothing but Ram, tongue tastes nothing but Ram, every touch of the

body is nothing but Ram. Every thing, every being, affects the mind through

the senses as Ram who is eternal peace and bliss.

44. FOR AN ASPIRANT

Be witness of your own struggle. Look upon it calmly, cheerfully and

fearlessly.

Bear in mind that a Power at once omnipotent and loving is guiding

you, controlling you and leading you on to Himself.

When you speak, be precise and bold. Let your speech be a “thinking

aloud”. Be in tune with the Infinite whenever you speak. Put yourself in this

state in all actions and words. Then you live in God.

Let us submit ourselves to the guidance of Truth, the God within us.

Truth is universal love. Suffer for His sake i.e., for all. Then suffering

becomes real joy. Selfishness is fraught with pain. Real joy is impersonal.

Pleasure is selfish, personal.

Don’t do anything as duty. You are not bound even by duty. Do what

God spontaneously makes you do. Remain unattached both to the action and

its result.

Never cringe, and never curry favour. Nobody is inferior to you. And

you are inferior to nobody.

Work silently. Avoid flattery and appreciation. Flattery is a great

tempter, which brings about the fall of the struggling aspirant.

Be independent, self-reliant, fearless, self-sacrificing. Love all alike.

Be fearless and bold. Sacrifice anything and everything for the sake of

Truth.

Be independent; accept what is offered, as from Ram. Never be

beholden or grateful to personalities. The giver is always Ram. Be, at all

times, at ease; do not stand on ceremony. Do not be hypocritical and vain.

None is superior to you, none inferior.

Silence is better than useless talk. Keep to your principles of Truth

firmly at the risk of your very life. No sacrifice is too great for attaining

Truth.

Be soft, tender, mild, loving, smiling, humble, calm, peaceful,

patient, gentle. Keep to this state always, under all conditions.

Give up wrath, arrogance, pride, hate, harshness, impatience,

cruelty, hardness; never have anything to do with these, under any

condition.

Never talk or think ill of anybody, don’t find fault with anybody.

Don’t condemn anything or anybody. Be simple, pure, holy, innocent and

childlike.

Every fall goes before a rise; fall only to rise. Learn the lesson in fall;

become wise; remove defects and imperfections; rise up, pure and

courageous.

Control the stomach thoroughly, because it is the seat of all

disorders, both of the body and the mind. Never eat in large quantities

anything which cannot be easily digested. Keep the stomach light.

Perfect peace is attained when the mind is withdrawn from the

objects of sense and freed entirely from all the inrush of thoughts and made

to dwell upon the absolute Being, Ram, who is at once Truth, Knowledge

and Bliss.

O mind, dwell always on Ram; be permeated through with Ram. Fling

away name, fame, wealth and all sense pleasures. Get concentrated

entirely upon Ram. Be independent of all outside things. Be self-reliant,

cheerful, loving and fearless. Realise the infinite Ram.

45. VARIOUS

The life of a saint or a seeker after Truth is always apparently

inconsistent and puzzling, but a man of insight can see that his goal is clear,

that a glistening stream of selflessness and purity is ever running through all

his activities. His goal is Unity, Truth, God.

Our life is a continuous struggle to reach the Infinite. Our progress

may be slow or rapid, conscious or unconscious, but we are all bound to that

goal.

God is infinite ocean of nectar-like bliss. Let us have an insatiable

thirst for it; then, the more we drink of it, the more thirsty we become; we

drink and drink until we are completely absorbed and lost in it. All identity

is lost. The drinker and the drink become one.

Every morning birds in their sweet charming notes are sending forth a

warm tribute to the bounteous Deity, for the manifold gifts He is showering

on us all, out of His unbounded love and kindness.

Just as threads interwoven make the cloth, just as clay is shaped into

various kinds of pots and gold is turned into different kinds of ornaments, so

one God has manifested Himself as the vast universe and all that it contains.

When the mind is filled with the contemplation of God, thoughts may

be entering it and getting dissolved into it. This may occur now and again.

The blank time that remains between the entrance of one thought and

another is spent in a state of Samadhi. It is then pure God-consciousness.

The struggle consists in trying to remain always in this condition.

The blueness of the sky is in yourself. When stricken with jaundice

you see the same sky yellow. The sweetness of sugar is in yourself. When

attacked by fever you feel the same sugar tasting bitter.

Bondage is misery - Freedom is bliss.

Every fall gives you more strength to stand on your own feet.

Freedom is life. Bondage is death. To roam about, free like air, with

the sweet name of Ram revolving in the mind, means full peace. Feel one

with all that you see, with all thought merged in Ram. Mind entirely

concentrated on that highest, most perfect Ideal, brings pure bliss.

The maddest mind distills the purest wisdom.

The difference between good and evil is only something that has an

apparent existence for the self-deluded man. The conflict between them is

only a necessary condition of the play.

Desire for fame, wealth and woman deludes a man. To give up this

desire, and move in the world unattached, loving all alike, treating all alike,

casting all differences and all distinctions overboard - is to live in the

Eternal. Forms, rules, restrictions - all Dharmas have to be given up; and

then to approach the Divine feet of Sriram is to bask in the full and glorious

sunshine of Ram’s grace. We have to conquer Prakriti, the triple aspects of

nature, rise above them and live a life free, open and liberated.

To constantly remember Ram is to rise above all temptations.

46 THE END

Ram has triumphed. Truth must triumph. Das is permeated through

and through by Ram. Ram is pervaded through and through by Das. The lover

and the beloved have become one. Jiva has got merged in Shiva. Atma has

been realised as Paramatma. The servant has become one with the master.

The child has lost itself in the mother. The realisation of oneness is

complete. What a consummation! Nothing higher remains to be attained.

The halo of Truth rests dazzling over all, and defies all. His golden touch has

transmuted all into shining gold. O, what a grandeur! What magnificence!

Unutterable bliss, ungazable brilliance, untastable sweetness! Because He is

bliss - light - sweetness itself.

Ram - Tat Twam Asi. That thou art. Thou art everything and every

being. The world is unreal. Thou only art real. To remember You always is

to see Thee.

Am I weak? Then let me realise inexhaustible strength, as I am ever

guided, controlled and manipulated by an omnipotent Being.

Am I ignorant? Then let me realise the highest knowledge, as my

intellect is always informed and actuated by an omniscient Being.

Am I wretched? Then let me realise endless peace and joy, as I am in

constant union with a Being who is eternal peace and bliss.

Am I transient? Then let me realise that I am the deathless spirit, as

my whole being is permeated by an indivisible, formless, and immortal Soul.

Am I in bondage? Then let me realise perfect freedom, as I am

breathing the very atmosphere of emancipation.

Am I small? Then let me realise infinity, as I am ever one with a Being

that pervades the whole universe and the limitless beyond.

Am I a creature? Then let me realise God, as I am always dwelling in

God and God dwells in me.

Om Tat Sat
                                                        
(Subham Bhooyat) 

(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of H H Swami Ramadas ji  for the collection)