The power of love and devotion

The easiest and most effective way to go high, higher, highest, is to surcharge oneself with pure love and genuine devotion. Doubt, fear, frustration, limitation and imperfection are bound to surrender to devoted love and surrendered devotion. Love and devotion have the power unparalleled to own the world and to be owned by the world. Love God’s Manifestation: you will find that the Cosmic Creation is yours. Devote yourself to the cause of Cosmic Manifestation: you will see that it loves you and claims you as its very own.

Is there ever any virtue in desire?

I have said that if you want to enter into the spiritual life with desire, it will be disastrous. What about those who do not have desire and at the same time do not have aspiration? There are millions and billions and trillions of people on earth who have neither desire nor aspiration. They are inert, they are like dead stones. For them, desire is most welcome. They need desire, they need ambition in order to grow.

Swami Vivekananda once said to someone. “Go and tell lies. I shall be responsible for your lies." That person replied, “You are a spiritual teacher and you ask me to tell lies?” “Yes,” Said Swami Vivekananda. He did this because that person was so lazy that he never moved an inch or made any necessary effort. Vivekananda said to him, “The spiritual life is not for you right now. You start telling lies. I will be responsible for your lies. Please be active.”

Those who have no desire and no aspiration are practically dead. They have to start their journey somewhere. They have to want things. They have to care for their children. They have to think of their family. They have to have some ambition in order to grow. Through desire we enter into life. Then, when we see that desire is not enough, we enter into the life of aspiration, where we can bloom. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that if you run a thorn into your foot, then you need the help of another thorn to take it out. Once you take the thorn out of your foot, then you throw both thorns away. A life of inertia is like a thorn in the foot. With another thorn, desire, you take it out. Then you throw both the thorns away and enter into the life of aspiration.

Do not ask for the return of your offering

A spiritual teacher once said, “When you place flowers on the altar to offer them to a deity, you do not take them back. You place them there for worship. Similarly, when you take your desires and attachments, as flowers, and offer them to God, then you should not take them back. Again, you should not keep your desires and attachments once you have decided to offer them. But what do you do? You offer them and then you take them back. Here is where you make your mistake. Attachments and desires, like flowers, should be offered to God unconditionally. Do not take them back.

Nietzsche was in error

Man is not a disease of earth, as he was called by Nietzsche. Man is a liberator of the world. Man has made the world beautiful with his illumined, elevated consciousness. It is human aspiration that enters into the highest and brings down God, the Infinite, the Supreme, into manifestation in order to materialise Divinity here on earth.

Is God on earth or in Heaven?

A spiritual teacher was once asked by someone about the existence of God on earth and in Heaven. The teacher pointed up with one finger saying, “There is one God.” Pointing down with all his fingers, he said, “There are many Gods.” Your knowledge and wisdom say that there is only one God, but if we look here below on earth, there are as many gods as there are men and women.

Who is superior, Guru or God?

We all know that God alone is the real Guru. A human Guru represents God on earth for his disciples. A great disciple of a master once said, “I want Guru and not God.” All his spiritual brothers and sisters laughed at him and said, “Why do you want Guru and not God?” He said, “If I do anything wrong, there is a cosmic punishment. But when I think of my Guru, my Spiritual Father, it is altogether different. I have done many things wrong in my life, but I do not suffer the results of those things. He suffers on my behalf. I feel that my Guru is more important than God because he is always there to identify with me, to undergo all my sufferings and to erase my punishments. If not for him I would have to reap as I have sown, and my life would be a life of constant suffering.”

The difference between rajasic and sattvic activities

Very often, people have difficulty differentiating between rajas and sattva in the field of activity. Rajas is restless activity and sattva is calm, quiet activity. People think that a person is sattvic because he works day in, day out. He starts early in the morning and does not stop until night. There is no end to his work. He has thrown himself into the sea of activity. But working constantly and not sitting still for a moment does not necessarily mean divine work. To be continually doing something, to be in ceaseless activity, is not sattvic work. Sattvic work is divine action which flows spontaneously from within and is done in an unselfish manner. But desire compels the rajasic man to work. He cannot live for even a second without work, not because he loves to work, but because his desires will not let him do otherwise. But a sattvic person gets inspiration from deep within and this inspiration, when properly guided by divine knowledge, does not contain an iota of selfishness. He works because he has been asked from deep within to do so. He does not look for a result. He works for the sake of the Divine and takes all activities as an opportunity to fulfil the Divine on earth.

The Nectar of Immortality

When man goes beyond the length and breadth of the three qualities, tamas, rajas and sattva, he drinks deep of the Nectar of Immortality. The Sanskrit word for Nectar is amrita. Whoever drinks amrita becomes immortal in his spiritual consciousness. This Nectar can be tasted by great spiritual seekers and Masters during their meditation. You also, all of you, if you enter into your very high, deep meditation, you will be able to taste this indescribable Nectar. When you taste this ambrosial Nectar drop by drop inside your throat centre (not on the tongue), you will be transported into the highest Heaven.

After realisation (divine warriors)

Many spiritual Masters, after having their full realisation, do not care for humanity, but go straight into the highest Transcendental Plane. They do not care for God’s Manifestation. But there are others who are divine warriors, divine soldiers who accept the challenge of ignorance, the dragon. They fight against ignorance in order to establish the Supreme Truth here on earth.

Who is really a yogi?

A Yogi is one who has realised God, but in the West many people use the word to mean one who practises Yoga, one who is seeking, one who is still on the path. But in the strict sense of the term, the word Yogi is applied only to those who have realised God and not to those who are seekers after the Truth.

The spiritual aspect of food

In India it is said that in food, material energy, the Supreme Purusha can manifest Himself. Food should not be ignored. Food should be offered to the Lord before it is eaten and while it is being eaten. Of course, here in the West, some families offer a prayer to God before each meal. But the general tendency with regard to food is different in the West. Rather then letting food bring us closer to God, we eat a good many things which, to some extent, prevent us from making spiritual progress.

The transcendence of sex

Do not try to suppress sex. With your inner wisdom, inner experience and inner light, sex can be transcended — and it has to be. But by fighting, struggling and suppressing, sex cannot be conquered. That is not the process. The easiest way to transcend something is to pay no attention to it, to feel that it is unnecessary. If you think that it is necessary, then it comes to tempt you and you will feel that you are caught. While walking in the street, if you see that there is dirt and rubbish, you do not pay any attention to it. You just avoid it; you don’t walk in it. Anything on earth that you sincerely feel is unnecessary, you can eventually transcend.

My first friendship with the muse

I am Thy servant

I am Thy servant-of-servants, humble, low.
Truly I care not who Thou art, O Lord!
Thy Grace I invoke, only Thy Grace sublime.
In Thee alone I find my bosom’s cord.

My mind craves not for fame, O Thou Unknown,
Nor for Thy boundless Power, Knowledge-Sun.
My Lord, my first and last desire serene —
Make me Thy Vision’s golden deathless son.

My nature old

My nature old in me creates
    Stark doubts and ire.
It carries me into the cave
    Of blazing fire.

Away my spirit flies too fast.
    And when to earth
Returns, alas, the earth again will
    Torture my birth.

I smile

I smile to make Thee smile.
I weep to make Thee weep.
All deeds of mine invoke
Thy nameless, sun-vast sweep.

My Longings

My Longings make me poor and weak,
    They hear not my secret will.
Ever they hate my quest supreme,
    Away they take my thrill.

A day shall come I know it well,
    When all desires of mine
Will seek Thy Grace and Thee alone.
    I then in Thee shall shine.

I will be above the fruits of deeds.
    Thy blue Compassion-Eye
Will guide my heart and soul, my all.
    In Thee my past shall die.

Meditations

1.

What is Creation?
It is the manifestation of Consciousness.
    What is Consciousness?
It is the common life-breath of man and God.
    In Consciousness, man becomes.
    In Consciousness, God is.

2.

Who says that you are wanting in faith?
When you aspire, you have faith in God.
When you desire, you have faith in yourself.
When you deny the significance of your own
    existence, you have faith in the undivine.
To be sure, you are always endowed with faith.

3.

With my emotion, I create my life.
With my personality, I build my life.
With my Will, I become the breath of my life.

Kundalini yoga¹

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we must not sleep. We must not sleep in the world of darkness and night. The world of darkness weakens our inner potentialities. The world of night destroys our outer possibilities. When our inner potentialities are weakened, our life becomes miserable. When our outer possibilities are destroyed, our life becomes unbearable. Where can our inner potentialities safely grow? Our inner potentialities can safely grow only in the heart of the Mother-Power, Kundalini. Where can our outer possibilities be effective? Our outer possibilities can be effective only when we are at the feet of the Mother-Power, Kundalini.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we must possess an adamantine will. We must be brave in the world of ignorance and inconscience. Ignorance compels us to be helpless and useless. When we feel useless the Mother-Power in us feels helpless. When we feel helpless the Mother-Power in us untiringly encourages, inspires and illumines us, out of infinite Compassion.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we must love. We must love the Mother in us, love the Mother before us and love the Mother around us. The Mother in us is soulful. The Mother before us is beautiful. The Mother around us is powerful. We need the Mother of Soul to play the Cosmic Game of Life. We need the Mother of Beauty to sing the Cosmic Song of Life. We need the Mother of Power to dance the Cosmic Dance of Life. The Game of Life energises us. The Song of Life enlightens us. The Dance of Life immortalises us. Our energy is for the world to use. Our enlightenment is for the world to glorify. Our immortality is for the world to treasure.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then power comes first in our life; power comes last in our life. When power divine is our first choice, fear leaves us. When power divine is our last choice, doubt leaves us. When fear leaves us, we become what we wanted to be — the divine warriors. When doubt leaves us, we become what we originally were — the universal Self.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we have to feel that each second of our life is as important as a whole year. And we have to realise that each year is filled with the same number of opportunities as seconds. Each second carries us either toward realisation or toward frustration; each year carries us either toward the Transcendental Truth or toward falsehood.

Realisation tells us that we are God’s chosen children. We need God to reach the Highest and God needs us to manifest the Highest. Falsehood tells us that we are death’s instrument and that death needs us badly. The Transcendental Truth beckons us. The abysmal falsehood frightens us. When the Transcendental Truth beckons us, we feel that we are none other than the Supreme. When the abysmal falsehood frightens us, we feel that we are the eternal slaves of ignorance, inconscience and death.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we need purity in thought and purity in action. With a pure thought we build the tallest and largest palace of love and fulfilment. With an impure thought we break down and demolish the strongest and largest palace of love and fulfilment. We give birth to a pure and divine thought when we feel that we are of God and for God. We give birth to an impure, undivine thought when we feel that we are of ignorance unknowable and we are for ignorance known and unknown. With a pure action we become the life-saver of the aspiring world. With an impure action we become the life-destroyer of the entire world.

Do we want to follow the path of Kundalini Yoga? Then we have to know that our essence is the Delight-Power of Heaven and our existence is the peace-power for earth. With the Delight-Power we begin. With the peace-power we end.

"The Dance Of Life"

1.

I insulted God.
    In return
He infused wisdom-light
Into my eyeless mind.

I insulted the world.
    In return
The world landed death-blows on me.

I insulted my inner strength.
    In return
It compelled my fall;
A clean cut forest tree.

2.

Yes, I was deported
To a distant
Land uncharted
By the eyeless hunger of ignorance-sea.
A wait-and-see attitude
    Failed
To breathe within my
Reality’s throes.
Burning with impatience-noon
My dauntless vital horse
Freed me from the sea
Of ignorance unplumbed.
And now, here I remain
    Here
In the snow-capped core of
Silence,
Alone, all alone, unchallenged
    Triumphant,
Eternity’s pride, Lord eternal
Supreme.

3.

No more am I the foolish customer
Of a dry, sterile, intellectual breeze.
I shall buy only
The weaving visions of the emerald Beyond.
My heart-tapestry
Shall capture the Himalayan Smiles
Of my Pilot Supreme.
In the burial of my sunken mind
Is the revival of my climbing heart.
In the burial of my deceased mind
Is the festival of my all-embracing life.

4.

Heaven cries out: “Where is it?’’
Earth cries out: “Where is it?”
God cries out: “Where is it?”
Man smiles and asks: “What is it?”
God, earth and heaven cry: “Gratitude, your gratitude.”
Man says: “O Earth, your choice deserves it not.
O Heaven, Your voice retains it not.
O God, your forgiveness needs it not.
    Never.”

Music section

Sundara tama

Sundara tama antare mama sushama bahni jwalo
Chira sundara sundara habo sundare bese bhalo
Rudra deber pralay nachan
Bhanguk sakal simar bandhan
Plaban namuk dibya jyotir alo alo alo
Andhar kandichhe alor lagiya asime basiya bhalo
Ogo simahin parane amar asimer khudha jwalo
Bindu milabe sindhu salile
Tomare nehari anale anile
Ogo sundara hiranmayer alo alo alo