The Song of God - July

July 1

space

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:6 - As the mighty wind, moving everywhere, rests always in the ether, know that all beings rest in Me.

The reality is just like space and what is obvious is like the wind - the movement of air in space.
This wind, exi.sting and moving in space, enables all things to come into being, to flourish.
In a manner of speaking it is the wind of life-force or prina that manifests itself as all this.
Vibrating somewhere it is called something; vibrating elsewhere it is called something else.
Prana or life-force is responsible for the manifestation of the diverse phenomena and diverse beings.
Yet, space is totally unaffected by these beings arising, existing and dissolving.
This is an important concept which must be clearly grasped.
All things exist in space; they are part of space as it were.
When a building is erected, space has not vanished or been destroyed.
It is still there, not merely as the enclosed space within the building, but as the space that even the solid walls 'occupy'.
It is in the building - not confined to it, but really confining it!
God exists in us in this sense only.
By virtue of his omnipresence he is within us and all around us.
In quantum physics we are knocking at the door of this truth, having come close to the immateriality of matter. We are ust dancing sub-atomic particles, which may also be waves.
If all of us are mere waves of energy, we are not so solid after all!
So, the not-so-obvious is the reality in all that seems to be obvious.
This is the distinction between material and immaterial beings.
Water in a jar moves with the jar.
The immaterial space in an empty jar, being omnipresent, does not move with it.
Similarly, the omnipresent God is not subject to activity, birth and death.
Despite the cyclonic activity in the universe, the self or Brahman or God, is ever quiescent.
Even the birth and death of beings are only apparent.
You are space, my friend, mere space.
That space is filled with the divine presence whose nature is Chit-Shakti, not blind energy, but energy which is full of consciousness.
This consciousness somehow becomes aware of a world and of an infinite variety of creatures.
That awareness itself is the creator and that awareness itself you are.

July 2

kalpana

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:7 - All beings, O Arjuna, enter into my Nature at the end of a Kalpa; I send them forth again at the beginning of the next kalpa.
IX:8 - The whole cosmic order is under Me. By My will it is manifested again and again, and by My will it is annihilated at the end.

Animating my nature, I again and again send forth all this multitude of beings, helpless by the force of nature.
The 'big bang' theory of creation states that all matter was condensed into a single superatom billions of years ago and when it burst the universe was born.
The force was such that the universe is still scattering!
On the other hand, the 'steady state' theory asserts that the universe is beginningless and endless and that out of the rudimentary hydrogen, new galaxies are constantly being formed to fill the space vacated by others moving away.
Krsna reconciles the two.
The 'big bang' is manifestation of his nature at the beginning of a kalpa (age ).
Since it is still in process of manifestation, we are not able to realise that one day all these will be withdrawn into his nature. i.e.
When the galaxies have dispersed far enough from one another to exhaust the original impulse, they will begin to return to the centre.
God, his nature and the potentiality of manifestation and unmanifestation, projection and withdrawal are all eternal; hence the continuous creation theory is also true.
Kalpa is a super-astronomical period of time; but in reality it is only kalpana (imagination) - a thought in the divine mind.
Thought involves both imagining and guessing in response to sensory stimuli.
Careful observation shows that at one point, just before we drop off to sleep, it seems as though the senses and the imagining faculties are returning to our nature; and once the imagining and guessing has ceased, they have returned.
When we wake (in dream or otherwise) those faculties start streaming out.
This happens to us every day, and to God every one of his days, which means that there is nothing but God.

July 3

identification

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:9 - These actions do not bind me, O Arjuna, sitting like one indifferent, unattached to those acts.
IX:10 - Under Me as supervisor, Nature produces the moving and the unmoving; because of this the world revolves.

When are we 'bound'?
When we are affected.
The vital truth to be realised and always borne in mind is that nothing external really affects us, but that 'we affect ourselves'.
Hence it is that Krishna warns us that we are our own friend or foe.
No-one can irritate us; we irritate ourselves.
No-one can insult us (beyond expressing their opinions about us); we interpret their opinions as insults.
This affection is caused by attachment, itself born of ignorant identification of the self with the body and mind.
When we realise directly, not merely intellectually or intuitively, that whatever experience we may have is just our experience, and even so there are countless other experiences; that what we see is just one point of view and even so there are countless points of view, then instantly we will be loving, humble and enlightened.
We realise we are just one small point of the cosmos and we learn to look at everything in the universe as part of this totality.
Here is a puzzle.
I am your guest and we both go to the sea for a swim.
I am attacked by a shark.
The shark is happy.
I yell with pain.
You are worried.
A few softhearted women weep.
Others, disdainfully turn their faces away.
A photographer is busy taking the 'picture of the year'.
Now, we know that God dwells in all.
How does he feel about the incident?
He is unaffected, for the simple reason that he does not identify himself with any one of the actors in this drama.
It does not mean that he is cruelly indifferent to the pains and sufferings of man; he is totally free from ignorance and false identification, and so is free from these pains and sufferings.
Man, too, by identifying his self with God can thus free himself.
This identification is not a mental activitybut the identification of the reality - the homogeneity or unity in this universe (which is not obvious) - after the cessation of mental activity.
That is the goal of yoga.

July 4

treat one another as god

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:11 - Fools disregard Me, clad in human form, not knowing My higher Being as the great Lord of all beings.
IX:12 - Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated.

'People do not recognise me clad in human form' may refer to particular incarnations such as Rama, Krsna, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Jesus and so on, but it may also mean that we do not recognise the not-so-obvious divinity in one another.
The embodied self is none other than the supreme self; only illusion limits it.
That is why Gurudev Swami Sivananda emphasised: "See God in all" and Baba Muktananda used to say: "Treat one another as God."
What appears to be a human form is nothing but an outer appearance; and appearance appears to appear only to one to whom it appears.
Thus the same reality that is in you shines in all.
It is one divine being that dwells in the hearts of all.
Let the consciousness expand to see this unobvious truth with the eye of the insight.
You have the privilege of keeping this insight open - observing, enquiring, seeking constantly for this reality concerning yourself, all your relationships and what exists.
You also have the privilege of shutting your eyes and creating your own reality.
'Asuri' means the absence of light, all that is darkened.
In other words, one whose insight is darkened or closed.
When we are blind spiritually, we see a separate reality created by our own ignorance.
They are fools who accept the verdict of the senses, the intellect and their limited faculties and fail to realise the infinite.
Their life is wasted in groping in darkness and self-limited by hugging ignorance.
Even their fondest hopes, greatest actions and profoundest knowledge are tainted by illusion and therefore useless.
Ignorance is undivine; hence their nature is undivine and sinful.
They can become divine - if they open their inner eye.

July 5

pairs of opposites

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:13 - The great souls, O Arjuna, partaking of My divine nature, worship Me with the mind devoted to nothing else, knowing Me as the imperishable source of beings.
IX:14 - Always glorifying Me, striving, firm in vows, prostrating before Me, they worship Me with devotion, ever steadfast.

The previous two verses stated the characteristics of a person of diabolical nature.
Here we are introduced to the characteristics of the man of divine nature.
Nature is God's own nature.
It is the law of manifestation, however, that everything has two poles or sides.
All that is within material, temporal, rational or conceptual levels has two extremes which are the pairs of opposites.
Ignorance and knowledge, divine and undivine, manifest and unmanifest, truth and falsehood, reality and unreality - these always co-exist as the two poles of a single manifest being.
However, God is beyond these because he is beyond all materiality, temporality, rationalisation or concept.
God's nature, when it is manifest here, has the two extremities of the divine and the undivine.
The human soul however, is endowed with the intelligence to discriminate between the two, to make the choice; and the will to make that choice operative, i.e. act upon that choice.
We shall see more about this division of divine and undivine natures in a later chapter.
Suffice it to say here that those who have chosen to pursue divine nature, partake of that divine nature and adore God with all their being while at the same time ,realising that he is the divine presence in all beings. Bowing to all beings as the shrines of the divine spark, they serve all, love all and adore all beings.
This is the symbolism of the holy cross, too, in which are synthesised the two commandments of lord Jesus: "Love thy Lord" and "Love thy neighbour as thine own self"; the vertical beam representing the former, the horizontal beam representing the latter and the intersection indicating their identity.

July 6

jnana-yajna

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:15 - Others also, sacrificing with the wisdom-sacrifice, worship me, as the one without a second, diverse in many, and in the universal form.
IX:16 - But it is I who am the ritual, I the sacrifice, the offering to the ancestors, the healing herb, the mantra. I am the butter, the fire, and the offering.

There is not and need not be a uniform approach to the infinite hidden in all finite objects.
One can approach the infinite through any or all of the finite objects; but the object of our quest must be the infinite; the finite objects should not bedim or dazzle our vision, sidetrack our quest or thwart our endeavour.
There are various yajna or ritualistic acts described and prescribed for seekers in the vedi.
Krsna introduces a new yajna here in the Bhagavad Gita.
It is the jnana-yajna, the wisdom-worship or sacrifice where the symbolism of the ritual is pierced and the truth realised and revealed.
Based on this right understanding, all our actions can be and should be directed towards God who is 'faced in all directions' (i.e. omnipresent), who is one and who is manifold, neither limited by the one nor by the other.
He can be worshipped as one, as many, as distinct or as identical; for he is ultimately beyond all these.
The path to the transcendental is everywhere and through all.
After all, is not God the seeker, the quest, the goal, the path and all?
That is what Krishna points out to us in the second verse above, using the symbolism with which the people of his time were familiar, the havan (fire worship).
When the spirit of sacrifice is thus fostered, our interdependence is seen.
One sacrifices to the other - the seed sacrificing itself gives rise to the tree, the tree sacrifices itself to produce the fruit (food).
Hence, there is an interconnectedness where we are all interwoven into the fabric of the world.
Once this comprehensive understanding is attained, the worldliness of the world vanishes, and the seeker of wisdom rests in God.
He experiences God in himself and in all.

July 7

transcendent to abstact

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:17 - I am the father of this world, the mother, the dispenser of the fruits of actions, and the grandfather. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier, and the syllable Om. I am also the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Yajur-Veda.
IX:18 - I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and the most dear friend. I am the creation and the annihilation, the basis of everything, the resting place and the eternal seed.
IX:19 - I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death, existence and non-existence, O Arjuna.

From the transcendental to the abstract!
The mind is unable to think of even space and its dimensionlessness.
It cannot transcend its own finite nature and yet remain, 'mind'; the knower-beyond-mind is intuition.
The transcendental reality, can only be intuitively grasped, for it is beyond thought and rationalisation.
Whatever may be thought of by the mind is the reality converted into a thought by the mind, converted into a substance by the mind.
The reality has no name, no form, no quality, no attribute and can neither be characterised as existence nor non-existence, for then we fall into the error of 'pairs of opposites' .
Is there then no hope for the man who is unable to rise to the level of the realisation of the transcendental?
Is the jet the only mode of travel?
Is there no ship for the man of weak heart?
Yes; meditate upon these abstract concepts, but remember that they are pointers and guideposts, not the destination.
The synthesis of opposites in the third verse is very important.
God is not this or that; yet he is this and that, by virtue of being their substratum and reality.
He embraces all opposites because he transcends them all.
From his point of view the opposites are like the light and shade of a painting, like the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system in us, performing opposite functions for a common benefit, under the direction of life.

July 8

the goal and the means

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:20 - The knowers of the three Vedas, the drinkers of Soma, purified of all sins, worshipping me by sacrifices, pray for the way to heaven; they reach the holy world of the Lord of the gods, and enjoy in heaven the divine pleasures of the gods.
IX:21 - They, having enjoyed the vast heaven, enter the world of mortals when their merits are exhausted; thus abiding by the injunctions of the three Vedas and desiring desires, they attain to the state of going and returning.

The realisation of the absolute is our goal.
We may take the smooth path or the rugged one.
We may swim across or ride in a ferry-boat.
The path of holiness and the path of diabolical beings are not different.
Life is the same, but the insight of the holy ones shines brightly whilst the eyesight of the insight of diabolical beings is closed.
In our quest we should never for a moment forget the goal.
The vedi and other scriptures are like the ferry-boat, and they are also like the mighty banyan tree that provides cool shade to the weary traveller scorched by the sun (of austerities and of the intense inner effort to transcend the mind).
They encourage the despondent soul by providing him with tangible versions of the intangible, clothing the immaterial with the material, the spirit with form.
He who complacently surrenders to these and goes to sleep under the banyan tree, abandoning the quest, exposes himself to the danger of wild animals (of desires and evil actions later in this life and subsequent lives).
Rituals, forms and scriptural injunctions are useful only so long as we do not forget the real, ultimate goal, which is realisation of the absolute.
They do not take us to the destination, but are only pointers without which it may be difficult to find the way.
However, they should never be regarded as the goal or a substitute for the goal.
Do all the good you can - obviously because you are convinced that you will go to heaven.
This conviction moulds your citta (subconscious mind).
And, it determines your next incarnation - meaning: on dropping this body you will be convinced that you are in heaven!

July 9

god alone

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:22 - To those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, I secure what is not already possessed, and preserve what they already possess.

This is the royal secret, the royal road to the realisation of the absolute!
We should disengage ourselves from the self-manufactured snare of illusion.
Thinking of God for a while and then of the objects of the world for the rest of the time betrays insincerity and a doubt.
The test of our sincerity here is the natural attitude of our mind to be ever conscious of God.
This habit must be cultivated, realising that it is on account of his grace that we are able to see, speak, hear, think and so on.
By merely becoming aware of this tremendous truth, we are freed from our own motivations and we live free, doing whatever has to be done.
We are able to be intensely active bind at the same time constantly aware of God's existence.
Krsna uses a clever psychological approach here:
"Think of me always; and I shall protect you."
If God only protects those who constantly think of him, who protects the others?
God alone.
To him all are equal and he is not partial towards any, except inasmuch as they open themselves to him and therefore receive his grace in greater abundance.
If you have the courage and the intelligence to investigate life, you find that all that you needed at a certain moment had already been created years ago.
The wheat for the bread that you had this morning grew specifically for you three years ago!
When the devotee meditates upon the assurance contained in this verse, the hypnotic suggestion of the Lord takes effect upon him and he lets himself go entirely.
It dawns upon him like a flash of lightning that God and God alone is the protector of all; and thenceforth he abandons all selfish activity and dedicates himself to the service of mankind in the spirit of the Gita, remembering God constantly.
It does not mean that such a devotee will be indifferent to the business of the world; on the contrary he will make himself an egoless, selfless and dynamic instrument in the hands of the Lord, for his will to be done.
The actual technique of attaining this state of being will be explained as we go on.

July 10

wisdom open the door

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:23 - Even those devotees who, endowed with faith, worship other gods, worship me only, O Arjuna, but by the wrong method.
IX:24 - For I alone am the enjoyer and also the Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know me in essence, and hence they return to this mortal world.
IX:25 - Those who worship the devas will take birth among the devas; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me.

At the outset a word of caution.
It is possible to see the 'me' and 'God' that occur in the Bhagavad Gl'ta- as implying the transcendental cosmic reality, the infinite which is manifest in infinite ways and whose nature is the entire manifest creation.
That is the correct principle, the right approach, the proper method.
Those who cannot rise immediately to this height in yoga sa-dhana (spiritual practice) are not forsaken.
They can approach God through any of the paths, modes or symbols, but they should never forget that the goal is the supreme being and not the path, mode or symbol chosen.
If this is remembered, the great indwelling presence in all will accept their worship and lead them to the correct method, through the spirit of enquiry.
It is on account of ignorance or misunderstanding that the frail human heart accepts the symbol as the truth, the part as the whole, the aspect as the reality.
When this happens, the soul reaches union with those objects of adoration.
Though it has lost a golden opportunity of direct self-realisation, it will return here to make further progress.
Thus, whatever path or symbol is chosen for worship there should be an awareness that the symbol is worshipped 'as God' in the sense that what is actually worshipped is the infinite, not-so-obvious reality in the universe.
What is obvious is a mental creation.
From that, investigation into the nature of God begins, and then the answer arises - Godrealisation happens.
When this happens, the questioner is absent.
Swami Sivananda has a beautiful poem which says: "Ignorance knocked, wisdom opened and ignorance ceased to be!"
Ignorance cannot face wisdom, darkness cannot face light, the ego cannot face God.

July 11

give with love

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:26 - Whoever offers me with devotion and a pure heart, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or a little water, I accept this offering.
IX:27 - All that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, O Arjuna, should be done as an offering to Me.

Whatever may be our approach to the supreme being, in accordance with our inner equipment, predisposition, temperament and taste, we ought to make it a point to feel that in and through the chosen symbol, we are contacting the supreme being himself, as he is the indwelling presence. (verse 24).
It is not so much what we do that matters, but with what feeling we do it.
Just as almost any appealing and God-reminding symbol can be chosen to represent the supreme being, almost anything may be used to represent the inner spirit with which we approach him.
A leaf, a flower - it does not matter what; for it is but a symbol that stands for the spirit of worshipfulness and total surrender which fills our heart.
Minus this spirit, the offering is of very little value.
Minus the recognition of the presence of the supreme being in the object, as we have seen, the worship is imperfect and will not liberate us.
When these two conditions have been ensured, it only remains for us to treat our whole life as worship of God and to offer all our actions as flowers of our worship of Him.
Verse 26 may be taken to refer to ritualistic idol worship and also to charity.
To the God who dwells in all we may offer in charity anything, however little it is, with love.
This attitude encourages charity.
Some people think that, unless they give in a big way, they should not think of giving at all.
It is a great loss.
So give what you can, but give with love, feeling that you are worshipping the indwelling presence thereby.
These two verses are life-transforming.
Our Master used to recite verse 26 whenever he gave anything to anybody, thus revealing His attitude - worship of the indwelling God.

July 12

chosen

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:28 - Thus shall you be freed from the bonds of actions yielding good and evil fruits; with the mind steadfast in the yoga of renunciation, and liberated, you shall come to Me.
IX:29 - The same am I to all beings; to me there is none hateful or dear. But those who worship Me with devotion, are in Me, and I am in them.

Liberation is from ignorance.
Renunciation is of its offspring - egoism and mineness.
When the devotee of the omnipresence humbly performs all the activities of his life as worship of God, he is liberated from ignorance and the ignorant belief that some actions are high and others low or menial; that some actions yield auspicious and others in-auspicious fruits.
In a truly holy man, action does not need a motivation, since everything connected with every action is holy and divine.
In his view, all actions are performed 'by God, to God, for his own sake', thus he is unbiased.
Such a man is a supreme devotee of the Lord and quickly reaches him.
To the uninitiated and evil-veiled eye it looks as though God is somehow partial when one man, who to all outward appearances is like any other man, is granted liberation!
He seems to be the beloved of God, the chosen one.
Is God, then, a whimsical being with his own private loves?
In the history of religions, many have claimed to be 'the chosen' people, race or men.
The idea occurs even in the Katha upanisad!
'The self reveals itself to whom it pleases.'
The Holy Quran also resorts to such expression.
This divine mystery is explained in the Gita: God chooses the humble ones who have totally surrendered themselves to him, to serve as his instrument, knowing that they will never misuse that privilege or thereby become swollenheaded.
They are chosen because they deserve such choice; and such choice is therefore in the interest of all.
There is no suggestion that certain communities or peoples will be chosen.
In the eyes of God all have an equal opportunity to be chosen.
All needles stand an equal chance of being attracted by the magnet, but the clean needle enjoys that privilege, while the rusty one does not.
He who thinks he is fit to be chosen, he who says that he is the chosen one, is not chosen.

July 13

freedom to worship

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:30 - Even if the most sinful worships me, with devotion to none else, he too should indeed be regarded as righteous, for he has rightly resolved.
IX:31 - Soon he becomes righteous and attains to eternal peace; O Arjuna, know you for certain that my devotee is never destroyed.

Judaism and Islam, in particular, have declarations that only God is worthy of our worship.
May I humbly suggest that in these two verses Krsna, while agreeing with the biblical and the quranic commandment, exposes the context and, therefore, the true inner meaning?
The sinner (and the worldly man in general) worships and is devoted to a thousand objects and personalities in this world; in fact that is why he sins, for to forget God in being attached to passing phenomena is itself the worst sin.
The 'jealous God', with the compassionate intent of bringing him to the right path, visits him with mixed, varied and unexpected experiences in the form of pain and pleasure, etc.
If he realises his folly (usually by association with men of spiritual insight), and if he has the strength of will to resolve aright, he will naturally be devoted to God and God alone.
'He has rightly resolved' is not merely resolution but an application of energies or attention in the right direction.
If you turn and move towards the light, it is possible that for every two steps forward, you are pulled back one and a half.
Never mind, you are still moving forward!
One with such resolution soon becomes a devotee of God, in his own way.
An understanding of the expression 'devoted to God in his own way' offers an appreciation of the innumerable ways in which God has been attained.
In the Bhagavatam there is a lovely verse which says that people have attained God by fearing him, loving him, hating him, fighting with him or befriending him.
In fact, people have attained him in all manner of ways.
We are devoted to God in accordance with our own nature.
Thus, the freedom to worship him in any manner the seeker likes has already been granted.

July 14

god's property

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:32 - Those who take shelter in me, O Arjuna, though they be of lower birth - women, vaisyas, as well as sudras - can approach the supreme destination.
IX:33 - How much more easily then the holy Brahmins and devoted royal saints, attain the goal. Having obtained this impermanent and unhappy world, worship Me.

When we take refuge in God, we offer ourselves to him and become his property.
It then becomes his responsibility to preserve that property.
God will not let us go.
A deluded miser clings to a piece of gold and risks his very life for it; how much more valuable is a human soul!
(Remember lord Jesus comparing sparrows and the human being?)
Moreover, since, to God, the love of the human soul is natural, born of their eternal unity, once this re-union is effected it is not lost.
The divine grip over the human soul may even take the form of worldly losses and bereavements.
These are meant only to prevent the devotee from 'adoring anything but God'.
The Lord might now scrape the adhering taints of past sinful life, which may be felt as pain by the human mind, and polish it, possibly giving the experience of psychic visions, just as the jeweller's rubbing and polishing of gold jewellery are prompted by his love of his property and his eagerness to increase its lustre and therefore its worth.
When thus visited by the conventionally misunderstood pain, misery and dishonour, the devotee sees them as proper signs of the true nature of the world in which he is born (impermanent and frustrating), and of the redeeming grace of God, which thus prevents him from being deluded.
He does not blame the Lord nor is his devotion disturbed.
Endowed with this understanding, men and women of all castes and orders of life become eligible for the light which leads them to the supreme goal, without the least partiality or victimisation incident upon their birth.

July 15

dynamic action

9 - The path of devotion - Raja Vidya Yoga - The Yoga of the Kingly Science and Sovereign Secret.

IX:34 - Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me; sacrifice to Me; bow down to Me; having thus united your whole self with Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, you shall come to Me.

This is the essence of Gurudev's integral yoga.
This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita.
Krsna is so fond of this idea that he repeats it at the end of his teaching.
The delusion that envelops our understanding must go.
The ignorance that veils the reality and projects the false appearance must be dispelled.
The mind must be rid of its clouds of diversity.
This is achieved by saturating the mind with God.
The process of meditation is not like dropping a stone into a cup of water, but like dropping a lump of sugar into it - when the mind is thus fixed on God and becomes saturated with him, its very nature is changed!
That is the meaning, purpose and fruit of meditation.
This is simultaneously accompanied by a whole-souled devotion to the Lord.
With the evaporation of the delusions of the mind, its desires, based on lop-sided valuations, vanish.
Then the evanescence of the world and the eternity of the bliss of the self are understood.
The heart drops the world and clings to the lotus feet of the Lord.
The 'hands' spontaneously, involuntarily and joyously participate in this adoration of the omnipresent being, by working for the Lord, serving all (the Lord in all) for his sake.
Thus the three aspects of our personality - the head, the heart and the hand - are integrated and our whole being is directed towards realisation of God as the only goal of our life.
Then our life is not idle day-dreaming; it is full of dynamic action - karma yoga.
It is selfless but not soul-less service, full of love of the omnipresent God - bhakti.
It is neither blind action nor sentimentalism, but is filled with and directed by the light of God-consciousness - jnana.
Has not such a devotee already 'come to God'?

July 16

to know god

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:1 - The Blessed Lord said: O Arjuna, listen to My supreme word. I shall declare it to you, who art beloved, for your welfare.
X:2 - Neither the hosts of the gods, nor the great sages know My origin; for I am the source of all the gods and the great sages.

The spiritual meaning here should not be overlooked.
"I will tell you this wonderful truth, for I alone can"- i.e. Only God can know God.
The Kenopanishad ridicules the little man who prattles: "I know God", and emphatically poses the riddle: "He who knows, knows not and he who knows not, knows".
How can I know God?
Can the finite measure the infinite?
At best, the 'I' can disappear and dissolve in God.
The commandment 'Please listen' is important, too.
Spiritual truths are not heard by the physical ear, the conditioned mind or the prejudiced intellect, but with the ear in the centre of the heart.
When the truth is heard with that ear, a fresh mind and calm intellect, it becomes a living truth - the word made flesh.
Two types of beings are mentioned in the second verse - gods and sages.
This can be interpreted both literally and metaphorically.
Metaphorically, the gods are the powers that preside over the various organs and functions of the body.
Each element is presided over by a divinity and governs an organ.
The sages can be interpreted to refer to the mental faculties.
These (the senses and the mind) cannot know God, for he is their creator and lord.
Literally , the gods and sages were also created by God and hence are finite and in some measure imperfect - incapable of grasping the infinite.
No doubt, through their insight they have become intuitively aware of the reality of God, but they cannot know him because he cannot be objectified.
There is something in master which is in direct communion with God.
This omnipresence which is the unveiled divinity in the master is also in every being, but as the veiled divinity.

July 17

never forget god

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:3 - He who knows me as unborn and beginningless, the great Lord of the worlds, he, among mortals, is undeluded; he is liberated from all sins.

What is God's own knowledge of himself?
What is God's wisdom concerning himself?
First, he is unborn and, therefore, beginningless; and second, he is the great lord of the worlds, or planes of consciousness or viewpoints.
Here is an interesting thesis, antithesis, synthesis and transcendence.
God is unborn and is not involved in all these passing appearances or phenomena.
Who, then, is the controller of these phenomena which, by their orderliness and purposefulness, suggest such a governor? It is God.
He is not involved in them, yet they do not function independently of him!
Shall we, then, compare God to a despotic ruler who whimsically controls the destinies of people without getting involved in their miseries in any way? Oh, no!
That would leave no room for his great compassion and love, which virtually 'compel' him to serve those who are devoted to him.
He is very intimately conscious of the problems and strivings of mankind and, therefore, whenever the balance of right-andwrong is greatly upset, he incarnates himself.
God's own nature keeps the entire universe vibrating and scintillating, but in that there is neither an action nor an actor.
In other words he is not limited to unity, mere infinity (as opposed to finitude), or transcendental (as opposed to sensible) nature.
He is one; he is many; he is one in many; he is many in one; and he is that inexpressible 'something' which we all try to express in various ways.
Hence one who realises God as this, that, both, neither, and that which remains when all pairs of opposites have been affirmed, denied and transcended (by fusion), is never deluded.
He is free from sin, for if sin is forgetfulness of God, he never forgets God!

July 18

one and many

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:4 - Intellect, wisdom, non-delusion, forgiveness, truth, self-restraint, calmness, happiness, pain, birth, death, fear and also fearlessness,
X:5 - non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy, these are the different kinds of qualities of beings arise from Me.

The danger of a negative approach in metaphysics is that the subtle truth which transcends (but in a way includes) all viewpoints is lost sight of.
Hence, the goal of the yogi is beyond philosophy and metaphysics.
It is the great eloquent silence which is the substratum for the one (the monosyllabe Om) and the many (language and speech), beyond all affirmations and denials.
That goal is the supreme peace which is the foundation of the created universe (one) and all the objects in it (many).
It is that supreme bliss which is the basis for the experience of undifferentiated happiness (one) and of different experiences (many) from the highest pleasure to the worst pain.
God is the bed of the river, and all these are its waters which flow on and on from immemorial past to unforeseeable future.
In the light of this truth the shadow called the ego vanishes.
Hence, the Lord enumerates a few of the many qualities that characterise our inner being and topography.
You will notice that they all arise from him.
You will notice, too, that they are self-contradictory.
We see this wonder in nature: elements like fire and water are present everywhere and peacefully co-exist though their natures are different.
All of them have God as their substratum.
They all spring from him, they exist on account of him, but they do not in any way limit him - nor need we 'protect' him by denying their indescribable and wonderful relation with him.
One who see this welcomes all experiences.
Such a one was Swami Sivananda.
He welcomed joy and sorrow; He was not ashamed to be glorified, nor was He bothered if He was insulted even by His own disciples.
All these arise in God.
However, this spirit is not easy to grasp.
What do we do till then?
Look for that God experience.

July 19

manu and dhatu

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:6 - The seven Maharshis, the four Kumaras, and the Manus, are born out of My Nature and My mind; and all creatures in these realms descend from them.
X:7 - He who in truth knows these manifold manifestations of My Being and Yoga-power of Mine, becomes established in the unshakeable Yoga; there is no doubt about it.

Hinduism, especially Hindu mythology, has woven colourful legends into a charming pattern of creation.
The Bhagavatam and many other scriptures contain interesting stories which invariably conclude with the note, 'All this is the Lord's play'.
The four ancient sages who were the first born of the Creator's mind were not interested in progeny.
The second lot of seven were prompted by the indweller to do this job, whilst the four illuminated the path of renunciation and return.
These eleven sages and the mand, 'were born of my mind'.
In other words, they are not to be mistaken for gross, physical, material beings!
They are the thought-forms or the dreams of the Lord.
They are the archetypes in the macrocosm of certain physiomental faculties in the microcosm.
The four ancient sages represent the four aspects of the mind - the conscious, the subconscious, the intellect and the egoity.
The seven sages, however, represent the seven dhatu (components) of the physical body.
The mana are thoughts themselves in the waking state, and the dreams of the dream-state.
But all these are only in the cosmic mind! i.e.
They are God's dreams.
And, 'from them are these creatures born in this world'! i.e.
The concrete, material, sensible world that seems to exist is nothing more than God's dream-object.
Why, then, do we not experience it as such?
Because the dream is still in progress and we are all dream-objects.
Whilst the dream is in progress, no-one can convince the dreamer that he is dreaming!
All seems so real.
It is only on awakening that the dream is realised to have been a dream.
The knower of this truth practises the 'unshakable yoga' for he is no more deluded, though he sees both sides - the dream and the dreamer dreaming his dream!

July 20

maccitta

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:8 - I am the source of all; from me everything evolves; understanding thus, the wise, endowed with meditation, worship Me.
X:9 - With their minds and lives entirely absorbed in Me, enlightening each other and always speaking of me, they are satisfied and delighted.

God is the source of all.
The whole universe has issued from him as dream objects issue from your consciousness during dream; yet it remains within him, pervaded by him, essentially one with him - nay, is he himself.
The enlightened ones do not merely repeat these formulae or think about these truths, but what they say and think is flavoured by the nature of their 'own being.
It is not the lips that utter the words, or the brain that thinks these thoughts.
It is the entire being which expresses the truth, for that being is steeped in the realisation of this truth.
The Lord is lord of the universe.
When you enter into the spirit of this teaching your citta becomes totally saturated with God.
The word 'saturated' is highly inadequate because saturated means that there is a medium in which something else is held, whereas 'maccitta' does not mean that.
God is not a percept or a concept.
When all mental activities cease and the unreality of the ego is realised, God reveals himself, and you realise that everything there is is totally pervaded by him.
When your whole being cries out that this is the truth, what happens to you is maccitta.
So, the enlightened person is silent, unless it be the divine will that he should teach.
Such enlightened men talk to one another, keeping one another awake and enlightened.
To them there is absolutely no guru-disciple or teacher-taught relationship, but it is merely a case of enlightened persons talking about God.
That is the spirit in which the Bhagavatam was narrated, and that is the spirit in which all the great ones assemble, singing the glories of God without in the least considering themselves to be more enlightened than the others.
In their eyes it is simply two hands scratching two sides of the face.

July 21

compassion

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:10 - To them who are ever steadfast, worshipping Me with love, I give the Yoga of discrimination en the buddhi, by which they come to Me.
X:11 - Out of mere compassion for them, I, dwelling within their Self, destroy the darkness born of ignorance, by the luminous lamp of knowledge.

We can talk about God.
We can love God.
We can constantly meditate upon God.
We can serve humanity as manifest God.
We can - and should - do all these and much more.
But God-realisation is his gift.
We should not forget this for a single moment in our life.
Hence, lord Krsna reminds us of this great truth at every turn in the Gita.
We cannot demand, except in the sense of yearning God-realisation.
Who demands? The ego!
We do not deserve God-realisation so long as the ego is active.
When the ego is not there, who is there to demand?
This is the greatest of all puzzles, which only God can solve.
Therefore the wise seeker leaves this final step to him.
This does not mean that fatalistically we give up our sadhana (spiritual practice). Oh, no.
That would be impossible if we were sincere in our spiritual aspiration and if we were mature enough to commence our spiritual returnflight.
The man who says: "I am unable to do even japa, (repetition of God's Name) or meditation, because God has not blessed me with such opportunities and grace," is still far below the 'human' stage of evolution (though, like an actor, he may wear a human mask).
In addition, he is clever enough to invent a philosophic argument to hide it!
It is our irrepressible nature to strive, to do sadhana, but only God destroys our ignorance - not because we deserve it, but out of sheer compassion.
What do we deserve?
We have only used the faculties bestowed upon us by him, as they should be used.
Is there great merit in this? No.
So if God destroys our ignorance, it is not because we deserve it (if our arrogance feels so, the veil of ignorance will become thicker), but out of his sheer compassion for us.

July 22

hymns

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:12 - Arjuna said : You are the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode, the supreme Purifier; the eternal divine Purusha, the primeval God, unborn and omnipresent.
X:13 - All the sages have thus declared you; also the divine sage Narada; so also Asita, Devala and Vyasa; and now you yourself sayest so to me.
X:14 - O Krishna, I totally accept as truth all that you have told me. Neither the gods nor the demons, O Lord, know Thy personality.
X:15 - Verily, you yourself knowest Yourself by Yourself, Supreme Purusha, source and Lord of all beings, God of gods, Ruler of the world.

Hymns are as old as time, and hymn singing is a method adopted by the devout seeker
(a) to side-track the doubting intellect, with its insatiable 'appetite' to destroy knowledge aimlessly, and
(b) to appeal directly to the light of God within to reveal itself.
In the east, the Sama-chanters particularly, resorted to singing the glories of God in his various aspects, invoking his blessings and grace in various ways and for different purposes.
In the west, the psalmist did the same.
(Incidentally, note the phonetic similarity between psalm and Sama - which refer to the same thing - and which were later extended to 'charm' in white and black magic.)
This ancient method has been recaptured by the highly advanced scientist of today and reintroduced into society in the form of 'suggestion' which the psychologist defines as 'the inducing, or the attempt to induce an idea, belief, decision, action, etc., by one individual in another through stimulation, whether verbal or otherwise, but exclusive of argument'.
Even as hypnosis can be self-applied, suggestion, too, can become auto-suggestion; but it should again be 'exclusive of argument' .
It has, however, been the experience of all mystics that such acceptance was eventually rewarded by direct experience of the reality which the hymn 'suggested'.

July 23

intuition

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X : 16 - Thou shouldst indeed tell, without reserve, of thy divine glories by which thou existeth, pervading all these worlds. (None else can do so.)
X : 17 - How shall I, ever meditating, know thee, 0 yogin? In what aspects or things, 0 blessed Lord, art thou to be thought of by me?
X : 18 - Tell me again in detail, 0 Krsna, of thy yoga power and glory; for I am not satisfied with what I have heard of thy life-giving and nectar-like speech.

'Tell me again' - not only indicates Arjuna's thirst for wisdom, but a method which all of us can adopt to whip up interest, keep away boredom and thus keep the inner receptor open for the reception of divine light.
In the words of the wise there is always a germinal seed.
Arjuna is a wise seeker; his prayer here is the prayer of all sincere seekers who realise their own limitations though they will rise above them one day.
Our mind can grasp only that which is 'below' it in the degree of subtlety.
It cannot grasp something which is more subtle.
The sieve is a very crude illustration: if the particles of flour are smaller than the perforations of the sieve, it cannot hold them.
That which is capable of being grasped is obviously more limited than the grasping instrument.
But is it possible to limit the infinite?
The transcendental aspect of God is extremely subtle and so cannot be grasped by the mind and intellect.
The mind can govern the senses and grasp through them the object of their perception.
However, the mind also has the power to fall back on itself and thus, in a mysterious way, experience (and infer) that which is the essence of the objects and of itself - not, however, as an object of thought.
This process can be called intuition.
The wise devotee resorting to 'manifestations of God' in order to meditate upon him, utilises these two avenues open to him.
He approaches God through God's own manifestations, but he also wisely peeps through these into their 'heart' where, as it were, he first infers and later experiences the presence of a super-physical, spiritual reality.

July 24

a remarkable attitude

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:19 - The Blessed Lord said : Yes. I will declare to you My divine glories in their prominence, O Arjuna! There is no end to their detailed description.
X:20 - I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings.

Here is a very interesting prologue to a startling approach to the supreme being - a warning that we should accept the symbol, but not confine the reality to it.
God is in it, but not confined to it.
It is God, but not to the exclusion of anything else.
If the caution administered in these two verses is borne in mind, almost anything will lead us to God - for in effect the whole universe is the manifestation of a part of his infinite glory and power.
Again, we can only take a few manifestations, we cannot encompass even these in their entirety with our limited mind.
Try to think of space in its entirety.
The mind reels and staggers!
But any form will do - for God is the self in the hearts of all beings.
He is the reality in all appearances.
He is the truth represented by the symbol.
He is the noumenon in all phenomena.
He is the formless Brahman in all forms.
He is that in this.
Everything in the universe is filled with the same energy, with the same intelligence, the same consciousness.
Thus, the objects that we use in our life, the actions that we do with this body, the persons to whom our actions are directed, are nothing but the manifestations of God.
This is a remarkable truth, which, until it becomes a realisation is a remarkable attitude.
Constant vigilance is necessary in order not to lose sight of the goal.
We have our feet planted firmly on the ground and let our heart and mind fly aloft in the realms of the infinite.
We grasp the form and let the indwelling presence envelop our heart, our consciousness.

July 25

monist

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:21 - Among the Adityas, I am Vishnu; among the luminaries, I am the radiant sun; I am Marichi among the Maruts; among stars the moon am I.
X:22 - Of the Vedas I am the Sama Veda; of the Devas I am Indra; of the senses I am the mind; in living beings I am the living force knowledge.
X:23 - And, among the Rudras I am Shiva; among the Yakshas and Rakshasas, I am Kubera; among the Vasus I am Pavaka; among the mountains I am the Meru.

All these names of gods deserve deep study and research.
We do not recognise the existence of many gods.
We are not polytheists.
We are not even pantheists, believing in one deity somehow enveloping all.
Indeed, we are not even monotheists, believing in one God.
We are monists, believing that one alone exists, and that ultimately even the distinction between God, world and man ought to be resolved into the transcendental self-realisation of nonduality.
All the names of gods and deities, divine and demoniacal beings, mentioned in the scriptures and alluded to here have a meaning and are not mere proper names.
The twelve aditya have been identified with the twelve signs of the zodiac.
The twelve suns are worth identifying in the heavens, of whom the most powerful is Visnu whose light envelops all (that is the literal meaning of the word).
'Of all luminaries I am the sun' - which is most luminous.
In all these it will be noticed that we are asked to regard the best as the manifestation of God.
This does not mean that only the best is his manifestation.
At the present stage it is easier for the mind to accept it to be so, and eventually its vision will expand in concentric circles to include all else into it, for, 'among the senses I am the mind'.
Thus, the mind's own undefiled substratum with unlimited potentialities, is God himself.
He is the 'intelligence among living beings'.
When this 'knower' of all is understood and realised, all objects will be perceived as divine, one with the subject!

July 26

truth

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:24 - And, among the household priests, Arjuna, know me to be the chief, Brihaspati; among the army generals I am Skanda; and of bodies of water I am the ocean.
X:25 - Among the great sages I am Bhrigu; among words I am the monosyllable Om; among sacrifices I am japa; among immovable things the Himalayas I am.
X:26 - Among the trees I am the peepul; among the divine sages I am Narada; of singers of the gods I am Citraratha; and among perfected beings I am Kapila.
X:27 - Of horses know me to be Uccaihsrava, who rose out of the ocean, born of the amrita; of lordly elephants I am Airavata, and among men I am the monarch.

God's manifestations are not confined to the human kingdom.
A careful study will reveal the astonishing truth that the Lord describes himself as the best among all animate, inanimate and insentient objects, and it is a blunder to limit God to human beings alone!
There are infinite varieties of plants, animals and minerals.
This merely shows that God is infinite.
The essence is one and infinite, the manifestation is diverse and infinite.
Infinity plus one equals infinity plus infinity.
In all these diverse phenomena the truth is only one, yet has no specific form but is not condemned to formlessness.
God's own grace is guiding the research of modern scientists to the discovery that even minerals are alive, 'Vibrating' masses of energy.
When we come to regard the entire universe as the body of God, we can easily understand that the mineral kingdom is to him what the hairs and nails are to us.
The yajna for this age is mantra repetition.
However, we neglect this simple but highly efficacious mode of adoring God, and cling to outmoded and anti-social forms of sacrifice (like animal sacrifice).
The yajna of japa is a continuous pouring of the oblation of the mantra into the 'inner fire' of godlove.

July 27

yama

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:28 - Among weapons I am the thunderbolt; among cows I am the wish-fulfilling cow Surabhi; of procreators I am Kandarpa, the god of love, and of serpents I am Vasuki, the chief.
X:29 - I am Ananta among the Nagas; I am Varuna among water-Deities; Aryaman among the manes I am; among the dispensers of law I am Yama.
X:30 - And, I am Prahlad among the demons; among the reckoners I am time; among beasts I am their king, the lion; and among birds I am Garuda, the feathered carrier of Vishnu.
X:31 - Among the purifiers I am Pavana, the wind; Rama among the warriors am I; among the fishes I am the shark; among the streams I am the Ganga.

With great tact, wisdom and circumspection, lord Krsna introduces here objects and concepts that are generally regarded as 'evil' by man.
Weapons are evil, but God is the thunderbolt, the most terrible among them - equal to a number of 500-megaton hydrogen bombs together!
He is not only the celestial wish-fulfilling cow, but also the chief of poisonous and non-poisonous serpents.
He is the God of love whom sages and yogi's dread!
Even so, he is the shark, the lion, and so on.
All these have their own place in God's plan.
We do not remember this and hence we fear them and regard them as evil and unnecessary.
They seem to be unpleasant to our self-centred, self-loving and luxury-addicted personality and hence we hate them.
Yet the more we push them away, the more we cling to them.
'I am Yama among the governors' but for Yama (identified with death) this world would not even have standing room for the population, and the aged would be compelled to lead an existence worse than death.
Yama or death regulates all things in this world.
Without such a governor, the pendulum might swing too much towards one extreme.
There is great good within what we regard as evil; the inclusion of Prahlida's name in this list is indicative of this.
Though born of demoniacal ancestry, Prahlada was a great devotee of the Lord.
It is not from which genes we were born, but what we are that matters; and in all of us there is the highest divinity waiting to be revealed.

July 28

omnipresent

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:32 - Among creations I am the beginning, the middle and also the end, O Arjuna! Among the sciences I am the science of the Self; and among logicians I am the conclusive truth.
X:33 - Among the letters I am the A, and the dual among the compounds; also I am the inexhaustible or everlasting time; and of creators I am Brahma, whose manifold faces turn everywhere.
X:34 - And I am all-devouring Death, and prosperity of those who are to be prosperous; among feminine qualities I am fame, prosperity, speech, memory, intelligence, firmness and forgiveness.
X:35 - Among the hymns I am the Brihatsaman; among metres Gayatri am I; among the months I am Margasirsa; among seasons I am the flower-bearing spring.

God is the source and end of all beings and, therefore, all creations.
But he is the middle, too.
If the middle is absent, there is neither one end nor the other.
Though 'I' and 'You' seem to be very real, the only reality is what is between us - the connecting link - which is God, the consciousness, life.
That is the meaning of the words 'omnipresent', 'eternal' , 'infinite' , which we use freely without considering their significance.
The omnipresent God alone exists; and the one cannot undergo birth or death (beginning or end).
Birth is of another, and dissolution is into another.
Hence, God is without these stages, yet he is their substratum.
It is worth noting that the science of the self is regarded as the best of sciences.
Modern science, though predominantly materialistic so far, is gradually leading us to this conclusion.
Note, too, that the prosperity of a wealthy man comes from God.
If you are able to behold that prosperity as a divine manifestation, all jealousy, desire and hatred vanish and you admire only the divine.
The Lord exalts logic among controversialists.
Discussion and even controversy may lead those taking part to greater and greater heights of search for the truth.
Provided, of course, it does not generate lower passions, heat and hatred, we can use logic and pursue it to its own logical conclusion, leaping from there into God's lap.

July 29

faults

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:36 - I am the gambling of the fraudulent; I am the splendour of the splendid; I am victory; I am determination of those who are determined; I am the goodness of the good.
X:37 - Among Vrishnis I am Vasudeva; among the Pandavas I am Arjuna; among sages I am also Vyasa; among poets I am the bard Usana.
X:38 - Among punishments I am the rod of chastisement, and of those who seek victory I am morality; of secret things I am silence, and of the wise I am wisdom.

We have reached the conclusion of this list of special manifestations, given by the Lord for our meditation in order to enable us to perceive their underlying divinity and eventually, by a process of expansion of our inner vision, to perceive all as God.
Krsna also identifies himself as God's manifestation, as well as the disciple Arjuna and the chronicler Vyasa.
If the goodness of the good is God's manifestation, even so is the gambling of the cheat!
This does not mean that Krsna sanctions gambling or that we should become expert gamblers before we can know God!
Far from it.
Here is a double-edged sword.
Subjectively, these evils are to be ruthlessly and scrupulously avoided, as they lead us away from God.
Objectively, when these qualities are found in others, we should refrain from condemning them, but endeavour to 'see through' even this veil of evil and enjoy a vision of the glorious God hidden within.
This teaching and this technique, when applied to our daily life, enable us to develop the spirit of understanding.
We learn to find God (and not faults) in all.
All are evolving.
We must not cultivate faults in ourselves, but we must not despair when their presence in us comes to our notice.
Furthermore, we must not recognise the presence of faults in others - thinking about others' faults only imports them into ourselves.
It is when we are confronted with our own failures that humility arises, paving the way for devotion and growth in the divine.
The best way to preserve a secret is 'silence'!
What a Divinity of practical wisdom Krsna is!

July 30

god, goal of the search

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:39 - And I am the seed of all beings, O Arjuna; there is no being, whether moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me.
X:40 - There is no end to my divine glories, O Arjuna. What I have spoken to you is but a mere indication of My infinite opulences.

There is an interesting dialogue in the Chandogya upanisad between a guru and a disciple.
The guru asks the disciple to bring a small (banyan) fruit - a variety of the fig.
The fruit is then broken.
There are thousands of small seeds in it.
One of them is isolated and broken.
"What do you find?" asks the guru.
The disciple replies: "Nothing".
"Ah, well, nothing? It is that nothing that has given birth to this gigantic tree."
That nothing contains the complete blue-print of the whole tree to its minutest details.
That is what makes the mango tree spring from the mango-seed and a banyan tree from the banyan seed, without the slightest error.
Scientists nowadays are busy analysing the mysterious factor in the human seed that is responsible for transmitting various characteristics from parent to offspring.
Even this search is bound, eventually, to lead us to the feet of God, provided, of course, that at the right moment we allow thought with its concepts and images, as also reason with its thesis and antithesis, to drop away, yielding place to pure wonderment.
Beyond this 'seed' is the unmanifest, transcendental godhead.
That godhead is clothed, as it were, with this manifestation-potential; even as each isolated, invisible electron coursing through a copper-wire contains the potentiality of the manifestation of its light and power.
This manifestation-potential and the consciousness 'within' it are not really two different and distinct entities, but one and the same.
Hence, if we zealously pursue our quest, anything - moving or unmoving - will take us to the goal, God.

July 31

may he reveal himself

10 - The path of devotion - Vibhuti Vistara Yoga - The Yoga of the Divine Glories.

X:41 - Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.
X:42 - But of what avail to you is the knowledge of all these details, O Arjuna? With a single fragment of myself I pervade and support this entire universe.

Mr. Louis Orton in his 'Hypnotism Made Practical' says: "A lecturer began to address his audience thus: 'What is mind? Nobody knows. We only know the manifestations of mind.' The lecturer might have said just as truly: 'What is matter? Nobody knows. We know only the manifestations of matter.' What do we know except through manifestations?"
This question drove the ancient eastern mystic into the depths of his own being.
God's divine glory is spread out before us in this manifest universe.
God's divine potency within the earth, in the rays of the sun and the showers of rain, bestows prosperity on us all.
God's divine power (call it love) sustains the entire creation, keeping the stars and planets at the precise distance from one another conducive to the welfare of all, and guides them along their individual orbits in accordance with his eternal law.
His power creates, sustains and dissolves (redeems).
Yet all the manifestations do not exhaust God, either spatially or spiritually.
We can go to the limits of this universe, but we shall still find God spread out beyond.
We can dive ever deeper into the heart of each atom of matter, only to discover with unabated wonderment that we have entered a greater realm of his power and his glory.
For the manifest universe is the expression of a very small part of his power and glory.
May he reveal himself to us!
For only he can - when our mind stops functioning.
It is God we are seeing, it is God we are living in.
Unfortunately we try to grasp this truth with our puny little mind and senses, and all we can clasp is a pebble.