YOGA AND THE PRACTICE OF RELIGION

Yoga is a conscious and sustained attempt towards self-perfection. The goal of Yoga is to calm the mind so that it may mirror without distortion the Atman that is behind the mind.

Restrain the senses. Control the mind. Meditate regularly. Be a Yogi, be a Yogi, be a Yogi. Live the Yogic life and spread the great doctrine.

You have forgotten to look within, to gaze within, to introspect, concentrate and meditate, and so you are ignorant, you are lost in darkness.

Introspect. Look within. Try to remove your defects. This is the real Sadhana. This is the most difficult Sadhana. You will have to do it at any cost. Intellectual development is nothing. It is more easy.

Sit at the Central Library, Baroda or Imperial Library, Calcutta for three to six years with a dictionary by your side. You can develop your intellect. But removal of defects needs a great deal of struggle for many years. Many vicious habits will have to be rent asunder.

There are big Mandalesvars (Hindu spiritual head) who can deliver lectures for a week on one Sloka of the Gita or the Upanishads. They command respect, and yet they are disliked by the public, because they still have great defects. They have not done much introspection. They have not done drastic Sadhana to remove their defects. They have developed only their intellect. What a great pity!

True religion begins where intellect ends. An impure heart, a conceited intellect, cannot understand the spirit of religion.

Religion is a manifestation of the eternal glow of the Spirit within man. The main purpose of religion is the unfoldment of the divinity within man.

Prayer and meditation are the chief pillars of religion. A life of selfless service and sacrifice, with regular prayer and meditation, is the highest religion.

Practice of religion is the practice of righteousness, goodness, justice, truth, love, and purity. The righteous man is the truly religious man.

The ringing notes of religion are: Be good. Do good. Be pure. Be kind. Be compassionate. Serve all. Love all. See God in all.

The practice of these precepts alone will awaken man to the consciousness of the unity of existence and the realisation of the Divine Spirit within and without.

Religion is life. Life is sacrifice. One may meticulously perform religious devotion, and yet be very irreligious at heart and conduct. Religion should be a living experience in the life of man.

Religion is living, not speaking or showing. Real religion is the religion of the heart. The heart must be purified first.

THE PATH OF SELFLESS SERVICE

Practise the religion of the heart. Build on the edifice of love.

Selfless service purifies the heart and opens it for the receipt of divine light. Plunge in selfless service.

Cheer up a man who is in distress. Encourage a man when he is dispirited. Wipe the tears of the afflicted. Remove the sorrow in a man by kind, loving words. Make a man smile when he is in despair.

Be a lamp to those who have lost their way. Be a doctor and nurse to the ailing patients. Be a boat and bridge to those who want to reach the other shore of fearlessness and immortality.

Do your duty to the best of your ability and leave the rest to God. Do all your actions detachedly in a spirit of dedication to the Divine. Then actions will not bind you. Your heart will be purified.

Spiritualise all your activities. Let your eyes look with kindness, your tongue speak with sweetness, your hand touch with softness. Be thou as compassionate as Buddha, as pure as Bhishma, as truthful as Harischandra, as brave as Bhima.

Feed your mind with thoughts of God, your heart with purity, and your hands with selfless service. Remain soaked in the remembrance of God with one-pointed mind.

GOAL OF LIFE

God has a Master-plan. We have our parts to play.

Play out your part well in the worldly play. But, do not fetter yourself. Keep your mind steady on the lotus-feet of the Lord. You will swim in the ocean of divine bliss.

This world is not absolutely unreal, because you experience it, you feel it. It is not absolutely real also, because it vanishes when you attain wisdom.

Have no attachment for this mortal body of flesh and bone. Cast it off like a slough anywhere, just as the snake throws away its skin. Make up your mind to give up the body at any moment. Become absolutely fearless.

As long as there is the least Deha-Adhyasa, identification with the body, so long you cannot expect Self-realisation. Exhibit undaunted spirit, intrepidity, and manliness. Make a strong resolve: “I will die or realise”.

Birth and death, bondage and freedom, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, are mental creations. Transcend the pairs of opposites. You were never born. You will never die. Thou art the immortal Self always, O Prem! Thou art ever free in the three periods of time. It is the physical body that goes and comes.

Recognise, O Prem, that you are the living Truth. Realise that you are always inseparable from the one essence that is the substratum of all these illusory names and forms, these false shadowy appearances. Get yourself firmly established in the Brahman, the Light of lights. Nothing can disturb you now. You have become invulnerable. Feel this. Feel this through intuition when you enter into deep Samadhi or supreme silence, my child!

The god of death will tremble before you now. By your command the sun shines, the fire burns, and the wind blows. By your command Indra, Prajapati, Agni, and Varuna do their respective functions. Thou art beyond time, space, and causation.

You must not be afraid of Maya now. She is under your perfect control now. Stand firm like the yonder rock. Be adamantine. Move about in the world now like a lion and lift up the young, struggling souls out of the mire of Samsara. Disseminate Knowledge of the Self. Share it with others. Be all-inclusive. Love all. Be kind to all. Expand thy heart. Have space in thy heart for all, even for that man who is planning to poison you, who is drawing the dagger to cut your throat. Become a practical Vedantin. Become a Kriya-Advaitin.

Rely on your own Self, your own inner spiritual strength. Stand on your own feet. Do not depend on money, friends, or anyone. When the friends are put to the test, they will desert you. Lord Buddha never trusted even his disciples. When he was seriously ailing, he himself jumped like a frog to drink water from the river. Be not bound to anybody, any place, or thing. Do not desire to possess. Possessions bring pain. Become absolutely free by identifying with the inner Self, thy Inner Ruler, immortal.

Stand up, O Prem! Follow me. Enjoy the bliss of Atman. The river of Atmic joy is flowing all around. There is a deluge of Bliss of Self. Drink this nectar to your heart’s content. Care not for the world. Go thy own way. Let others hoard up wealth and become multi-millionaires and mill-owners. They are misers only. Let others become barristers, high court judges, and ministers. They are still ignorant men. Mind not a bit. The wealth of the three worlds is nothing, mere straw, before the spiritual wealth, the wealth of Atma-Jnana. The joy of the three worlds is a mere drop when compared to the ocean of bliss of the Self. The knowledge of all secular sciences is mere husk when compared to the Knowledge of the Self. Here are the priceless treasures of Atman for thee. Here is the inexhaustible wealth of Brahma-Jnana. Enjoy these riches. No dacoit or robber can rob thee of this imperishable wealth of Tattva-Jnana. No insolvency, no failure of bank, no bankruptcy here. Take possession of this spiritual treasurer the splendour of Brahman, and enjoy for ever and ever. Thou art now a real King of kings, Shah of shahs, Emperor of emperors. Indra and Brahma will be jealous of thee now, O Prem! Go and distribute this imperishable wealth of Knowledge of Self far and wide. Glory unto thee! Peace be with thee for ever and ever!