Quiet pursuing

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Children love to play with the spinning tops – the wooden toys with a metal point, set in motion by pulling a piece of string wrapped around them. Even as they spin rapidly, they appear to be motionless – as in a state of deep meditation. Similarly, one can also lead an intensely active and fully productive life, even while pursuing a contemplative, spiritual journey.

From free e-book IN SEARCH OF PAPA, “Beloved Papa” as Swami Ramdas is endearingly addressed by his innumerable devotees.

All Offered Up

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As regards Sannyasa, let us consider what Sri Krishna says in the Gita on this subject. He speaks of two paths that lead to Him. One is Karma-Sannyasa and the other Karma-Yoga.

Karma-Sannyasa is renunciation of all worldly activity and environment, in order that one may engage oneself exclusively in special Sadhanas for realising God.

Karma-Yoga is renunciation of the fruits of our actions. Worldly activity and environment need not be abandoned, and the Karmas one performs in the situation in which one is placed are offered up to the Divine, realising oneself only as an instrument in divine hands. The first step is to dedicate the fruits of actions to the Lord, next the actions themselves, and lastly a total and complete surrender of oneself – action, fruit, individuality and all.

Of the two paths, Sri Krishna points out, Karma-Yoga is the better path. In both cases the object is to free the mind from its desires and attachments. So the answer to your question resolves itself into this. It is not necessary to have recourse to Karma-Sannyasa for spiritual progress.

Swami Ramdas,
from Letters of Swami Ramdas,Volume 1, p.113.

Όσον αφορά στην Σανυάσα (Αποκήρυξη), ας δούμε τί αναφέρεται στην Μπαγκαβάτ Γκίτα επί του θέματος. Ο Υπέρτατος Κύριος Κρίσνα μιλάει για δύο δρόμους που οδηγούν σε Αυτόν. Ο ένας είναι η Κάρμα-Σανυάσα (Πράξεων Αποκήρυξη) και ο άλλος η Κάρμα-Γιόγκα (Πράξεων Έν-Ωση, ώθηση προς το Εν, προσφορά τους στο Εν).

Η Κάρμα-Σανυάσα είναι η αποκήρυξη όλων των εγκόσμιων δραστηριοτήτων και περιβαλλόντων, προκειμένου ο άνθρωπος να μπορεί να αφοσιωθεί αποκλειστικά σε πνευματικές ασκήσεις που θα οδηγήσουν στην αφύπνισή του στο Θείον.

Η Κάρμα-Γιόγκα είναι η αποκήρυξη των καρπών των πράξεών μας, κατά την οποία δεν χρειάζεται να εγκαταλείψουμε τα περιβάλλοντά μας και τις εγκόσμιες δραστηριότητές μας. Τις πράξεις στις οποίες προβαίνουμε εν μέσω οποιωνδήποτε κατάστασεων, τις υψώνουμε ως προσφορά προς το Θείον, βιώνοντας τον εαυτό μας ως απλώς ένα εργαλείο σε θεία χέρια. Το πρώτο βήμα λοιπόν είναι η αφιέρωση των καρπών των όποιων πράξεών μας στον Κύριο, στη συνέχεια η εξ αρχής συνειδητή αφιέρωση των πράξεών μας, και τελικώς η πλήρης και απόλυτη παράδοση ολόκληρου του εαυτού μας: πράξεων, καρπών, ατομικότητας… η παράδοση των πάντων στο Θείον.

Από τους δύο δρόμους, επισημαίνει ο Υπέρτατος Κύριος Κρίσνα, αυτός της Κάρμα-Γιόγκα είναι ο προτιμότερος και αποτελεσματικότερος. Αμφότεροι αποσκοπούν στην αποδέσμευση του ανθρώπινου νου από όλες τις επιθυμίες του και τις προσκολλήσεις του. Η απάντηση λοιπόν στο ερώτημά σου καταλήγει ξεκάθαρα σε αυτό. Δεν είναι απαραίτητο να καταφύγεις στην Κάρμα-Σανυάσα για πνευματική πρόοδο.

Σουάμι Ράμντας, από το βιβλίο
Επιστολές του Σουάμι Ράμντας, Ά Τόμος,
σελ. 113, απόσπασμα σε απόδοση ενός ιερού λέοντος.

Make God –call Him by any name you like– the goal and purpose of your existence.

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(10)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

Indeed Sri Ram is the sole doer. His Divine Shakti is alone responsible for all activity, movement and change in this universe of name and form. So the ego sense is utterly false. Complete surrender to the Divine Will or Shakti brings about our identification in spirit with the changeless and immortal Truth. Bhakti is the beginning; Bhakti is the end. In the middle, there is Jnana which gives us the knowledge of immortality, of our oneness with God. Bhakti leads to Jnana; but even afterwards, Bhakti continues, elevated, enlarged and enlightened. It gives us the universal vision of God. God is the friend of all creatures. He is all-loving and all-merciful. He is our master and mother. We are His servants and children. We can be His true servants and children, ever fearless and always blissful, only when we have realised, through love, our oneness with Him, Him who is within and without, and everywhere.

Ramdas4-7-1928 [p. 13*]

(12)
M. B. S. R. – Bangalore

Beloved Ram,

Bhakti is the beginning; Bhakti is the end. Bhakti is the way; Bhakti is the goal. Jnana and Karma are only necessary props on which is hoisted the majestic dome of Bhakti. God says, “I am the same to all beings but My devotees are dear to Me”. So, true devotion is based on the equality of vision. Samadarshan gives knowledge and peace. Bhakti gives pure love and Premanand. Knowledge enlightens and upholds; devotion yields thrills of joy and ecstasy. The two combined make Purna Yoga. Behold God as all, and still be His child and servant. You are at once He and His child. God is His own devotee. He is a mystery, but a revealed mystery – revealed in love and joy.

To be ever singing His name and glories is to be in tune with Him. Beloved Ram is captured within our heart. “Where can You go, O Beloved? Thou art always in Thy child.”

Surrender to Him, and He looks after you, plans and arranges everything for the best for you. He is the all-loving Divine Mother.

The Ashram is always ringing with Bhajan. Hundreds of Rams come here every day. O Ram, all glory to Thy name!

Don’t give up evening Bhajan. All of you join in it. More and more of Nam Sankirtan or Smaran together! Let the Name ring, and ring on, to awaken in the hearts of you all, the inexpressible bliss of Prem.

Love to you all!

Ramdas 7-7-1928 [p. 15*]

(13)
P. S. R – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

The only prayer of a Bhakta to God is made in this strain: “O God, keep Thy sweet name always on my lips; may my heart be ever filled with Thy Prem!” To love Him with all our heart is the supreme joy of this life. Let us exclaim with rapture, “O Sri Ram, Thou art mine, and I am Thine, for ever and for ever.”

Nowadays, Ramdas can scarcely stand on his legs without his starting on a dance. Sri Ram’s Prem is tingling in every vein of his body; and Ramdas dances, lost in ecstasy. The mere sound of His name sends thrills of joy through Ramdas. Sri Ram is “Prem’.

[…] Your kind and loving letter to hand. You are He. You are He. Ramdas and Ram are one, not two. So, Ramdas is in the hearts of all. All hearts are His. Ramdas dwells in Him. O, the mystery of mysteries! Thou art all and Thou art One.

Ramdas 14-7-1928 [p. 16*]

(14)
P. S. R. – Nasik

Beloved Ram,

Truly, unquenchable faith in and love for God is the only object of our life. Let us pray to Him to grant us His unbroken remembrance. To fulfil this prayer, He brings about such changes in our life as to enable us to be in touch with Him always. Here He proves to us that He is infinitely kind. Verily, He is kindness and love itself.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 17*]

(18)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

It is He who gives us every situation and every change. He knows what is good for us. His main object is to draw us towards Him. He brings about all the incidents in our life to fulfil this purpose of His. Our attachment to the ever-changing and perishable forms about us is the cause of our misery. We ignore the fact that whatever is born must die. Let us ask ourselves, “Is it then worthwhile to be attached to the inconstant and transient things?” The Eternal has no death, and the perishable cannot escape dissolution. Then why grieve over the dead! Let us not forget that we came alone into the world and that we shall depart also alone from it. We never bring with us our vaunted wealth and our relations, and when we give up this earthly life, we take them not with us either. God is the beginning; God is the end. Let us realise God also in the middle state in which we are. The question naturally arises, “Why this life at all?” It is intended solely for striving to reach Him, and for transforming, in that striving, all our trials and sufferings into joy by the touch of our single-hearted devotion to Him. When we are on this path of devotion, it is truly a joy to live in whatever position God places us. Hence it is that Bhaktas did not desire for a complete absorption in God, i.e., Moksha, but prayed to Him to grant them as many lives or births as He willed, provided He made them live for His love alone. Then again the question, “Why should He have left so many beings in utter ignorance of His love and the resulting bliss?” His Maya is mysterious. To probe deeper into the question brings to light the subtlest truth that He alone is the sole actor behind this variegated and multiple veil of Maya. He, the Supreme One, pretends to be all, in their varied masks, nature and activity. Whatever it is, ours is not to puzzle our puny intellect with the questions. We know that He is pure love, and that our salvation lies in our complete submission to Him. Let us be His ignorant children, ever basking in the rays of His unbounded love and grace. He is dwelling in our hearts always.

Ramdas 27-7-1928 [p. 22*]

(20)
B.M. – Mohol

Beloved Ram,

When the Name begins to work in the mind, automatically peace settles upon it. All actions proceeding from this calm state of mind become naturally pure and therefore beneficent. A constant watch upon our actions is still necessary, lest we might do such acts as would throw us into forgetfulness of God. Let us not fret over situations that God has given us….. It is a mistake to think that by mere change of situation or activity we can attain to peace. Ramdas, by His will, now stays in a newly built Ashram, called “Anandashram”. As usual, Ramdas is swimming in a veritable ocean of love and joy. His kindness and love are boundless.

Ramdas 29-7-1928 [p. 24*]

(22)
K. G. P. – Puttur

Beloved Ram,

The Lord is Infinite Love. Our body is the temple. Our heart is the throne. And He, the supreme Paramatman, is seated on this throne in all His magnificence and glory. His Divine Power or Shakti is responsible for all activity, movement and change in the universe.

Sages point out surrender to God’s will, i.e., to His Power or Shakti, as the path of Self-realisation. This surrender is effected only by the total eradication of the ego. Let us know once for all that we are merely instruments in His hands. He is the Sutradhari and we are every second being made to dance like puppets to His will. Consciousness of this truth must be with us always. Hence we are asked to keep up His remembrance unceasingly. Earthly honour and dishonour, praise and blame, loss and gain, should have no importance for us. Ours is to do the work entrusted to us by Him in the field of action in which He has chosen to place us.

Bhakta is He; Bhagawan is He. As Bhakta, He pretends to be different from Himself; though Bhagawan, He pretends to be seeking Himself. Wonderful is His Lila!

Let us give up all doubts, fears and anxieties, and merge our mind in the sweet sound of His glorious name. Let us sing, with all love and devotion, His great attributes. He is our Mother. We are His children. He is our all in all. Life is sweet and blessed when it is lived for His sake. There is nothing so blissful as devotion to His lotus feet. All glory to Him and His name.

Ramdas 1-8-1928 [p. 26*]

(32)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

Whatever you do is done by Prakriti, with ego-sense or without it. So, external renunciation of work, in which God has engaged us, is not necessary. No action by itself is sinful. No field of work is undesirable. Our ignorance, the cause of misery, consists in our thinking “I”, the individual, as the doer of work. No change of situation can bring us peace and rest unless, simultaneously with the change, the ego-sense of actorship also vanishes away.

You simply play the part that Prakriti has set for you. Play it out as Her work. When She chooses to change the game, you slip naturally into the change. You have no right to judge if the work She has put you to, is proper or improper, right or wrong. No discarding it! It is simply Her work and you do it. So with all your physical, vocal and mental functions. They are all Hers. No sin, no merit; it is all He and She. Narada, in his Bhakti Sutra, gives the true nature of Bhakti in practical life. He says, he is a Bhakta who always remembers God and surrenders all his actions to Him.

Ramdas 27-8-1928 [p. 41*]

(37)
P. S. S. R. – Ahmedabad

Beloved Ram,

May Sri Ram bless you all!

“Courage, brother, do not stumble,
Though thy path be dark as night.
There is a star to guide the humble.
Trust in God and do the right.”

Our goal here is to seek rest in activity. In the rush of movement and work, find the haven of peace and joy. Identifying yourself with the Immortal, do all work as His worship, as His service. This is Yoga. Shrink not. Faint not. Trust the Almighty Lord of the worlds. He is in you; you are in Him; He and you are one. Whatever work God provides you, do it dispassionately – yourself, a mere instrument, with God’s power or Shakti as the doer. God is love; He is in your heart. Surrender to Him. Let Him be your guide and master in all matters. Give up doubts, cares and fears.

Love to you and all.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 46*]

(39)
M. B. S. R. – Bangalore

Beloved Ram,

There is nothing to lose or gain in this life. We are ever dwelling in the consciousness of God. Our satisfactions or the reverse, relating to the perishable, are all ephemeral. The real is He, the immortal bliss and peace; and we are all He. Anandashram sees Ramdas dancing and playing in it like a child. No rules and no systems. Sri Ram has kept Ramdas under His law, which is a lawless law, which is joy – always joy. Love to you all.

Ramdas 23-9-1928 [p. 48*]

(42)
G. P. B. – Orai

Beloved Ram,

Your letter gives a brief but masterly survey of the situation in which God has placed you at present. It is well that our intellect clearly perceives the issues and determines the possible avenues of approach to the solution of the tangled problem. But there is a limit to the mere calculation of the intellect. We can truly say of it, “Thus far thou shalt go, and no further”. Often our scientific methods, our deep laid plans, and our nicely worked out theories – all go to the winds, swept off by a power beyond our ken, which acts in its own inscrutable ways. Let us not reckon without the host. God is our guide. God is the motive power that drives us to action. What the intellect rejects as impossible is indeed possible in the divine dispensation. When He chooses, He works miracles and wonders, at which the acute scientist and the exact theorist stand aghast. And then it is, they flounder into the inexorable truth. What insignificant and erring mortals we are!

Let us humble ourselves before the Almighty Lord of the worlds, and pray to Him to use us as He wills, for the service of humanity. Such an occasion He has created for you. Be a mere instrument. Give up anxiety, fear and doubt. Let His divine energy work in you in its full and irresistible course.

The ideal you are seeking is within you. The perfected harmony and the ineffable peace are within you. The infinite power of God is within you. The eternal purity, wisdom and joy are within you. Be fixed up in the sublime Yoga, union with the great Ideal, and bring a divine touch to bear upon all your activities. The supreme fiat of Sri Krishna has gone forth: “To action you have the right, but not to the fruit thereof. Therefore fight.” So be it with you! May Sri Ram bless you! Love to you all.

Ramdas 26-9-1928 [p. 51*]

(43)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

Reason and emotion are surely great aids; but we should remember that they are only means to an end. When they have served their purpose, if we still cling to them they prove as serious a hindrance as ignorance and callousness, to the attainment of the final liberation. Self-surrender means realising that our activity belongs to Shakti or Prakriti, and that we are the eternal, unaffected, immutable, blissful, peaceful Witness. Reason is not there to judge actions as right or wrong; and emotion that creates likes and dislikes has there no part to play. An action is only a movement of Prakriti, bereft of Gunas and Dwandwas. There is nothing to condemn, nothing to extol; all is the work of Shakti or Ishwara Lila.

So, beloved Ram, in Spirit you are immortal, in form you are changing. As former you are free, undefiled and changeless, a blissful witness of the passing phenomena of name and form. This phenomena is your own play. You dwell in all and you appear as all. You are both with form and without form. You are the watcher of your own Lila. The pleasure and pain belong to the passing appearance; but as the unchanging Atman you are the very essence of immortal bliss.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 52*]

(44)
J. E. K. – Aden

Beloved Ram,

The prompter of action is He; the doer also is He. It is He in movement, as also in rest. There is none but He. …..God’s name is most powerful. It dispels ignorance and gives knowledge. It breaks bondage and brings freedom. It destroys sorrow and yields bliss. The knowledge, freedom and bliss we realise are eternal. God is our father, mother, master, friend and all. …..When our longing to realise Him is intense, He comes to our rescue, without any doubt. He is the friend of the meek.

Take heart, beloved Ram. It is His will that you are what you are, and where you are. Submit to His will and be peaceful and cheerful.

Ramdas 2-10-1928 [p. 53*]

(45)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

Your letters are always brilliant. They offer a beautiful commentary upon the words of Arjuna in the discourse between him and Sri Krishna. Arjuna was confronted with a problem similar to the one you are facing. The same reply briefly explained will suit the present purpose.

Arjuna, disgusted with the action he was engaged in, proposes to renounce it. But the Lord says, “Not so. Exchange of activity or inactivity or, for that matter, even substitution of one kind of activity for another kind is not the remedy.” As regards inactivity, the Lord declares, “This is impossible, because Prakriti is always at work. Even for the support of the body, some sort of activity is absolutely necessary.” Now a change in the form of activity is no solution, so long as one’s mentality remains unchanged; for, action in itself, whatever it is, is neither good nor evil. When the mind is free from the dual throng born of ignorance or Maya, no activity can fetter it, in whatever light ignorance may view it. So change of activity is not at all necessary. What is required is the renunciation of attachment from the mind.

Prakriti will force you to fight. So, fight you must. But, be in tune with the stainless Purusha and let Shakti or Para-Prakriti handle you as Her tool to do Her work. Then you act as though you do not act. As Purusha, the witness, you are non-doer, and as Prakriti or Shakti, you are the doer. “Behold action in inaction, and inaction in action.”

It is entirely true that, even after his realisation of Truth, a man may continue in the same vocation or form of activity as the one in which he was engaged previous to it. Then why seek or wish for an external change? It may come spontaneously by His will, or it may not. He knows best. All action, in whatever field, is the outcome of His Shakti. Let us realise that we live from moment to moment in the blissful union with Him, His Shakti doing all things in us and through us. He is the peace of our soul, the joy of our being. Every movement of ours is a thrill of His love and joy.

Your prayer has a crystalline ring of truth about it. You have been always an instrument in His hands, whether you know it or not. Know, now, once for all, that you have been so, and that at all times you will be so. Love and Namaskars to yourself.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 54-55*]

(47)
U.S.R. – Bombay

Beloved Ram,

Your letters are bubbling with Prem. Indeed every movement of our mind in thought, of our tongue in words, of our limbs in activity, is the play of Shakti. Shakti is nothing but God’s love. When we realise that all movement is a play of that supreme Love, we live continuously in a state of divine ecstasy, which is simply inexpressible. Prem fills us through and through. We are saturated with it. The quality of Prem is Anand. There is also the witness of this play of love or Shakti, namely the immutable, changeless, all-pervading, static aspect of our being, whose quality is ineffable peace. On this unaffected screen of Eternal Peace, dances, in flitting forms, Infinite Love producing the sweet intoxicating music of Anand.

Every particle of our body –as the whole universe– is thrilling with Sri Ram’s love. So there is nothing but Anand in all movement, change and activity. There is nothing but peace in the depths of all forms, the result of movement and change. So eternal peace-and-bliss is the only Reality.

The parcel of postcards and envelopes is also received. How kind

of you!

P. Sanjiv Rao is with us now. Indeed Prem comes to the Ashram in so many forms. Anand is added to Anand. It is like adding infinity to infinity.

Love and Namaskars to yourself.

Ramdas 10-10-1928 [p. 58*]

(49)
M. B. S. R. – Bangalore

Beloved Ram,

When the Lord of the universe, Sri Ram, is dwelling ever in our hearts, how can we dare to call ourselves ”sinners”? It is all He, and His Shakti, which is the cause of all activity in the worlds and in us. We are merely instruments. We are what we are because He alone has made us so. We do as we do, because He wants us to act as we do, in all matters. He says, “I am seated in the hearts of all beings and things and by My power I make the entire wheel of the universal Lila revolve.” The ego is false. It is He everywhere, and in everybody.

Being enthroned as He is in our hearts, His grace is ever upon us. Sin and virtue, good and evil, are all mind-made. All activity in the universe belongs to His Divine Shakti, which is neither the one nor the other.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 60*]

(50)
P. N. R. – Puttur

Beloved Ram,

The ego or ignorance is utterly unreal. It is He, in separation, in union, in oneness. There is none but He. Co-existing with this immortal, immutable, unaffected and unattached witness, there is the universal, mutable aspect of God, manifested as the innumerable universes and all creatures and things in them. …..The calm, changeless Spirit witnesses the play of this Shakti or Power in manifestation. So, all movement, activity and work in the universe belong to this divine Shakti. The nature of Shakti is pure love and Anand. Her movements are only for the fulfilment of unity, harmony, love and Anand. The notion that I am the doer is a pure myth; the ego sense itself is a fabrication. Identification with the eternal witness, giving rise to knowledge, sublimates the unreal ego into the Divine Essence.

This is Moksha or liberation. It is not a state attained but realised, because we are always Mukta or free. There is nothing good, nothing bad. All, all is His doing. Let us rise above these harassing pairs of opposites. What does it matter whether the world blames or praises us? What is honour to us who are above them? These all pass away with the passing away of all things, and are cast into oblivion. Beloved Ram, give up anxiety and worry. The whole burden of the universe is on Him. Take it that yours also is on Him. All along, it has been nowhere else. It is He who guides, controls, protects us. Surrender completely to Him. Know, His will is done in all matters. He is all merciful and loving. He is the sole parent of the universe. We are His children. Since He is dwelling in our hearts, we are not sinners and have no cause to be unhappy and miserable. We are ever in blissful union with Him. All else is a passing show. May Sri Ram bless you with peace!

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 61*]

(51)
P. S. S. R. – Calcutta

Beloved Ram,

It is perfectly true that Sri Ram’s gigantic Lila is wonderfully humorous. To look upon the whole thing as Lila, we must stand apart from it, identifying ourselves with the immutable, Eternal Witness, who is unaffected by, and unattached to, what is going on. All movement in the universe, i.e. all activity, motion and work, belong to God’s Will or Shakti. The individualities, I, you, and he, are all myths. It is all God’s will or Shakti. Identifying ourselves with the calm, equal, ineffable, all-pervading Spirit, the Witness, we rise above pleasure and pain, success and failure, gain or loss, praise and blame, honour and dishonour, like and dislike, etc., and look upon the world as play. There is nothing to be miserable or anxious about here. It is all the play of God’s power. We are merely Her instruments; and She uses us as She wills. No activity is then distasteful to us. In the depths of our being, we are ever fixed in absolute peace. We only look and watch unperturbed over our and others’ actions and movements determined by God’s Will, which has become our will. Actions do not, then, leave a stain or impression behind; they are spontaneous; there is no seeking for the result. And there does not exist even the pride of actorship.

Little Gurudutta is a little Ram, as you all are Rams. It is the divine Shakti that causes all his activity, which you call his mischief. His mischief reminds Ramdas of Krishna’s mischief. Take it, the child is a genius, God’s instrument. May He bless him! Love to you all.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 62*]

(52)
P. S. R. – Ernakulam

Beloved Ram,

Indeed the world is the manifestation of God, His love-form, His bliss-form. Union with Shakti through love is Bhakti. Identification with Purusha or Shiva is Jnana. Surrender to Shakti in action is Karma. The first and the last make for Anand, and the intervening one for peace. Accomplishment of any one of these leads to the attainment of the other two. He who has realised in himself the balance of all the three, is a perfect Yogi.

Bhakti without Jnana is either an imitation or an unsteady wave of passing emotion. Jnana without Bhakti is a tasteless and conceited thing. Jnana or Bhakti, without Karma, is a spiritually magnified selfishness.

Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, combined together, like the sherbet made in the Ashram (of water, lemon and sugar mixed together), produce the perfect and sweetest nectar of immortality. Your short stay in the Anandashram has left upon it a permanent impression of your presence. Divine love indeed is wonderfully impressive! Love and Namaskars to yourself.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 63*]

(55)
M. G. B. – Bombay

Beloved Mother,

May Sri Ram bless you all. Your loving letter to hand. Immortal joy and peace, purity and love – is ever dwelling within your heart, Oh mother. That is the imperishable Swarup of your Gopal. So, he resides ever in you and with you. In spirit we are ever one with our Beloved. Forms and bodies that are seen only by the mortal eyes are all transient and perishable. Your body and all bodies, just as Gopal’s assumed body, are bound to disappear in due time.

Knowing this truth, let us give up attachment to the mere physical, changing forms of the one immortal Spirit.

Your Gopal is alive in God, is one with God. That you are separate from him is ignorance. Physical bodies are of no account. In their very nature, they are perishable. To feel separation due to the destruction of the body is utter folly. Let us realise we are the immortal Atman, ever one with our Beloved. Death cannot separate us. We are the heirs of immortal joy and peace. Why forget this and be miserable for no reason at all? Oh mother, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!

May Sri Ram grant peace to your soul. Take heart, mother. God-Gopal is always with you. Love and Namaskars to yourself.

Ever your child

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 66*]

(57)
Sri Shanti Vijayji, Mount Abu

Beloved Ram,

Dandawats at your holy feet.

Your love for your child, Ramdas, is indeed unlimited. You are Ramdas’ Divine Lord and Mother at once. For His wonderful Lila, the Absolute One has become Himself the Bhagawan and Bhakta, Guru and Chela, Lord and servant, and Mother and child. This assumption of duality, in eternal union and oneness of the two, is due to His will to enjoy Premanandam. In truth, all, all is He. The one chooses to be many. The one manifests as many. His infinite Prem and Anand are in His manifestation. In the form of Bhakta, He merges Himself in this boundless ocean of bliss and love. The multitudinous forms, beings, creatures and things in the universe are all He in His Self-expression, Self-revealment. Out of pure love, the mother brings forth the child, the expression of her love. The child is the flesh of her flesh, being of her being. Still there are two, the mother and the child, one and yet two. It is the one Atman, one Truth, that is both, at play, enjoying the bliss of immortal love. O, Lord of the worlds, wonderful is Thy Lila!

In the heart of child Ramdas, is seated the God of gods, the highest Truth, the transcendent Reality. The universe we behold is a mere speck in the infinite vastness of His Existence. He is purer than the purest, greater than the greatest, light of all lights, the inexpressible, grandest Truth. Child Ramdas is He, and everything that is, and is not, is He.

Your ever loving child and servant,

Ramdas 1-11-1928 [p. 68*]

(61)
B.G. – Konch

Beloved Ram,

Constant repetition of God’s sacred name gives us the inner sight. That is the path. Firm faith and continuous practice are what is wanted. Having these, the progress is easy and the goal is near.

Sing on His name, until the mind is filled with the sound of it, until the divine consciousness dawns upon you, until the latent springs of joy, love and peace have become manifest in you. The supreme truth awaits unfoldment in you; remove the barriers, the ego, ignorance and desires. Know, you are the imperishable Reality, the immortal Spirit, the deathless Existence. Sin, sorrow and fear cannot touch you. You are the ever-pure, the ever-shining, the ever-glorious Truth. You are Eternal Bliss, Love and Peace.

Ramdas – -1928 [p. 72*]

(62)
A. B. – Srinagar

Beloved Ram,

May Sri Ram bless you all. Your loving and pathetic letter to hand. Don’t be sorry, beloved Ram, that Ram could not make it convenient for you to visit Anandashram this time. Ram does everything for the best. It may be His will that you come here next time with family. May He grant you this opportunity and fulfil your ardent desire. Certainly, submission to His will at all times means patience, contentment and peace.

Let us not forget the truth that we are merely instruments in His hands, and that He alone determines all things for us. We have absolutely no reason to regret or feel disappointed over any happening. His will be done in all matters!

Ramdas looks upon your reference to “money” in your first letter as only belonging to the great play of Ram. He acts in various ways. There is nothing to be surprised at, or grieved at, in His doings. Truly, you are all He. All glory to Him. Om. Om. Om.

Love and Namaskars to yourself,

Ramdas 24-12-1928 [p. 73*]

(63)
R. G. N. – Bombay

Beloved Ram,

Your loving letter simply breathes the sweet perfume of divine love. When you extol Ramdas you are only becoming conscious of the ideal of love seated in your own heart. What a grand and exalted vision you ought to possess to behold in Ramdas such a pure and perfect ideal! Blessed are you! Verily, perfection is with you, and everywhere. Whatever you see, it is the image of that great and all-perfect Truth. You are not a whit less than P., A., J. and others. All of you are He.

Ramdas 11-1-1929 [p. 74*]

(64)
M. K. S. – Wadhwan

Beloved Ram,

Your letters are always sweetened with the nectar of divine love. When such pure love lightens your heart, where is the lack of strength and joy? The fount of immortal bliss is ever within you; you are that itself. Our real being is, indeed, an illuminated mass of eternal splendour and delight. Even as the waves are not different from the ocean, so the Lila or the manifestation, is only a series of vast movements of the Eternal Anandam which is at the base, heart and core of all things in the universe.

Behold in all movements of your mind and in all activities of your body nothing but the play of Anand.

Joy and grief, pain and loss, success and failure, virtue and sin are all mind-made. Supreme, everlasting joy is the only Reality. Realise that you are the blissful Atman – motion in external work, rest in the inner calmness of the Spirit. The Atman is the cosmic soul and your action belongs to the cosmic activity. Your physical body is but an instrument of the Divine. Let His power work through you, as He wills, unhampered by the ego-sense. Yours is to enjoy immortal joy, by complete surrender. Doubt not, fear not, worry not. Realise that He and His infinite power within you guide you, control you, and actuate you to do all things at all times. Rise above the conditioned conception of things, i.e., rise above the Gunas and Dwandwas.

First be the witness of your own and the world’s actions. Then identify yourself with Him who is both the witness and the world-actor.

Repetition of the holy Mantram purifies the mind. Satsang elevates you and grants you the right knowledge. Last comes Gurukripa; the awareness of it makes you realise that you are the embodiment of an eternal existence full of bliss and peace.

Ramdas has no command to leave Anandashram.

Ramdas 11-1-1929 [p. 75*]

(65)
M. M. G. – Puttur

Beloved Ram,

Ours is not to make other people rich and wise, but become wise ourselves, by serving humanity with all love and humility. Pray to God that you may be pure, noble and good.

Ramdas 11-1-1929 [p. 76*]

(66)
J. – Rawalpindi

Beloved Ram,

When the Lord of the universe is seated in our hearts, we have no reason to think that we are mean, sinful and despicable. It is His power, within and without us, that is the cause of all activity. Let us always recognise this truth and attain peace by perfect communion with Him, the Master of our existence, who is eternal bliss, peace, power and light.

Teach little Ramu that Ram is in his heart. He need not go in search of Him anywhere. May God bless him!

Ramdas 12-1-1929 [p. 77*]

(70)
A. B. – Jammu

Beloved Ram,

Your letters are always sweet, sweetened by your selfless love for this child of God – a God, who dwells in the hearts of us all, who is pure love and joy. He is within you – He is yourself – this is the truth! Ramdas’ stay with you in Kashmir was really a continued feast of love. Ram does not yet bid Ramdas to quit Anandashram. He seems to have fixed up Ramdas once for all. Never mind; he is ever with you. In bodies we are separate, but in Atman we are eternally united and one. How kind of Radhenath to remember Ramdas so much! How could Ramdas forget? The touch of Prem is indeed eternal.

Ramdas 30-1-1929 [p. 81*]

(71)
M. G. B. – Bombay

Beloved Mother,

May Sri Ram bless you all!

Your loving but sorrowful letter to hand. Ramdas has been all along speaking and writing to you on spiritual things, from his own experience of this life.

Ramdas is entirely in the hands of God. God alone is his great Teacher.

Based upon Ramdas’ experience, through which God made him pass, he is giving briefly in this letter, what should be our true outlook upon life.

The world with all beings and things in it is evanescent, and God alone is real, eternal and unchanging. All forms have a beginning and an end. Whatever is born is bound to perish and pass away. The sense of misery here is due to our attachment to the perishable forms. Our goal of life is to realise God, i.e., our immortality. In order to do that, we have to withdraw our mind from whatever is seen, which is transient, and direct it to Him –who is within us and pervades the entire universe– the one absolute Existence, the sole Reality. When the mind transcends name and form, it attains the vision of the Supreme. The joys and griefs relating to the external world are caused by the workings of the mind. Stop the restlessness of the mind, and the joys and griefs both cease to be, and are thereby proved to be entirely unreal. And a calmness settles upon the mind which is of the Eternal, of the Truth of our being. Hence, to lament over the loss of anything here is utter folly; only that which is by nature perishable has passed away. Behold, the whole universe is a huge passing show. In it, innumerable forms appear and disappear at every moment. This is the nature and order of all things. So instead of allowing ourselves to be upset by the change in the transient, let us strive to fix our mind upon the deathless, formless, eternal Truth. This is done only by stilling the mind – by the quieting of all waves of thought that trouble it. The path is the repetition of God’s name and meditation, and the surrender of all our actions to God.

We can realise fully the transitory and illusory nature of the world only when we have turned our mind to God. Then, taking our stand on the immortal, let us view the vast and changing play of the universe and remain unaffected by it. This is liberation.

There is no reason whatever to be miserable. We make ourselves miserable owing to our ignorance. Ignorance can go only when we approach God and surrender ourselves to Him. Then we discover we are unhappy for nothing at all, and that there is no more for us to be miserable for, hereafter. We are then ever peaceful and resigned.

This life is a splendid gift from God. It is not meant to be wasted away and torn to shreds by our dwelling upon unreal sorrows. God is indeed kind and all-loving. There is absolutely no doubt about this. Else, why should He give us blows and shocks in the shape of losses and calamities that wake us up from the dream of a fool’s paradise to the great Reality?

How can we know that He is all kindness and love, if He did not make us pass through trials and tribulations, so as to bring us face to face with Him – the only Truth? He teaches that He alone is real and that we must live for Him and Him alone, Him whom we can never really afford to lose at any time. Is it a wonder then that Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Sri Krishna for difficulties? She knew she could attain Krishna only by remembering Him when beset with difficulties. Blessed are we, when God, in His mercy, sends us calamities unasked, with a view to lead us to Him. He is indeed kindness and love.

We may live for thousands of years, for the matter of that we may live thousands of lives, and obtain whatever we desire of the world; but never shall we be happy as long as our hunger for earthly things persists. Complete repose once for all, on the bosom of the infinite God, can alone grant us the true and everlasting peace, freedom and joy.

So Ramdas prays to you, beloved mother, give up your unreasonable sorrow by turning your mind to the Divine Master of our being and of the universe. Serve Him in all humility, in any sphere of activity in which He might place you. Don’t be crushed down by grief which is unreal and false; rise superior to it.

Make God –call Him by any name you like– the goal and purpose of your existence. Nothing short of this is worth any the least consideration and thought, O mother. Why throw away a precious life? Dedicate it to God and His service as Mirabai did. Love Him in all. Serve Him in all. And make yourself blessed, pure and peaceful. May God bless you!

Now a word about Bhakti obtaining in these days. Some of us cling only to the dead forms of it, simply because they are handed down to us by our forefathers, without understanding their right significance. When we perform worship according to these forms, we either do not know why we do it, or are actuated by the desire to obtain some worldly object. This kind of Bhakti can bring us no solace in our moments of grief. Real peace can be ours only when we have offered ourselves up entirely to God, and then do everything for His sake and pray to Him constantly for nothing but,
“To lead us from the unreal to the real;
From darkness to light,
And from death to immortality.”

God is kind. He teaches us through our experience that desires are our enemies and sense-objects are wombs of misery. Still we crave for them and suffer. Whose fault? Ours only. Why then blame God? We want lasting happiness by the enjoyment of things which are in their very nature incapable of yielding us such happiness!

God is patiently waiting for His children to turn to Him with a longing to be with Him only. When we do so, He at once takes us in His arms and blesses us with immortal happiness, a happiness not dependent upon perishable objects but upon Him – who ever dwells in our hearts – the eternal Reality. True Bhakti is, therefore, Nishkama Bhakti; any other form of it, however faithfully practised, cannot save us.

Truly, Pitaji is a pure saint. When you write to him next, kindly convey to him Ramdas’ love and Namaskars.

Love to you and all there,

Your child,

Ramdas 2-2-1929

P.S. Mother Rukmabai is in the Ashram and sends you her love and Namaskars.

[p. 82-85*]

*From Letters of Swami Ramdas,Volume 1
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Papa Within

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“Behold God within you and then behold Him everywhere, as all the manifested worlds. Don’t adhere to the lower planes and seek satisfaction there”. (p. 6)

“An institution is the garden where every facility for the cultivation of the soul might ultimately transcend the institution for the higher, true and complete vision of life – just as the tree outgrows its fence and spreads its branches freely in the air, or as the pupil outgrows the school life for that of the world.”
Spiritual aspirants join Ashrams, Monasteries and such other institutions solely to deepen their spiritual quest and hasten the inner exploration. It is quite possible that in many cases, as time passes, other priorities are likely to crop up unawares, and the goal is, unwittingly, lost sight of. This can naturally be detrimental to the spiritual progress, crushing the inner evolution of a novice.
So, while living in such institutions, we should always be on guard and be alert of the purpose for which we have joined the commune. All our involvements should be fully directed towards the final goal of realizing God. In other words, our aim should be to remain firm and steadfast in our spiritual pursuit – in delight and joy, in all places, in and out of Ashrams or institutions – in the best as well as the worst. (p. 17)

“God does not need an intermediary for carrying out His commands. If you think that God can speak through Ramdas, He can speak through you as well, because you cannot accuse God of partiality. Switch on your wire for a direct communication within. Why do you deny Him in your own heart?”
God is present in equal measure in every being and thing, however small or big, however great or insignificant; His majesty and splendour are reflected in their entirety and perfection everywhere. Whether we know Him or not, adore Him or not, ignore Him or not, He is ever with us and within us. Why not we therefore look within to discover His Eternal Presence?
Though Saints and Sages are ever ready to guide us towards that Divine Destination, we need to discover it by dint of our own steadfast, diligent and devout Sadhana.
However, to understand that there is no need for an intermediary, we require a spiritual mentor whom we call as Guru. A map no doubt will give us lot of valuable guidance on our journey. But it won’t transport us to the destination. One has to gather all the guidance and help needed and tread the path spiritual oneself towards the Goal Supreme. (p. 20)

No one is an island by himself; everyone is part of the whole, hence interdependent and interconnected, and in fact intimately related to each other, in every way – physically, physiologically, psychologically and ultimately in our spiritual essence – the Atman or the Pure Being. An aspirant cannot therefore isolate himself from the rest of the creation. So, whatever spiritual discipline we are engaged in should enable us to harmonise with the rest of creation by contributing in any manner, for the betterment of one and all, near and far. Gradually we should be able to transform all our actions into an ardent worship of the Lord of the Universe, by way of our unconditional love and service to all His creations. (p. 21)

“Be dynamic, imbued with the power and glory of God. In the name of religion do not aim permanently to live the life of the recluse and say all activities are wrong.”
Papa never encouraged anybody to take to contemplative life as an excuse for evading the duties and responsibilities of the day-to-day life.
One must also serve one’s fellow-beings in a selfless spirit. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” does not mean that love should only be felt in the heart. It must also be shown in action, in the form of relieving distress and rendering help to one and all, in all possible ways. To serve man is to serve God. Only when the work is done in the spirit of Karma Yoga – as worship, does it give joy. It should be done as perfectly as possible, with great care and love, never in a careless, clumsy, irregular, or half-hearted way. Our inner divine qualities must be made to manifest in all our outer conduct. (p. 24)

In Search of Papa

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two ways

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God is at once personal and impersonal. He is an impersonal Person – that is, He is not only the all-pervading, nameless and formless Reality, but He is also all that have names and forms.

There are two ways to realise Him – one to expand the ego, the individual, to infinity and the other to reduce it to nothing. The former is the path of knowledge, the latter that of devotion. The Jnani says: “I am God – the universal Truth.” The Bhakta says: “I am nothing, O Lord, You are everything.” In both cases the ego-sense disappears. The second is the safer and surer way – to take refuge in God and be ever under His protection.

Swami Ramdas, from Thus Speaks Ramdas.

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Freedom

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8. God is ever after us. He wants to take us to Himself and grant us the highest beatitude. But we try to escape from Him even as a dirt-covered child runs away from its mother who wants to bathe it. We are trying to run away from the Divine Mother who wants to purify us and give us the highest bliss. We like playing with the toys of the world, ignoring Her call.

9. Seek not to find peace and freedom in the external circumstances of life. True freedom and happiness is an inner state which you acquire when you are in tune with God who dwells within you. Let the knocks you get in life turn you more and more towards God.

28. One cannot rise beyond a certain stage of spiritual advancement if he is bound to any institution. In spiritual matters, the best rules are those which are not made by others, but self-imposed – by the Guru from within. A tree does not grow in the shade of another tree, but gets stunted. It can grow fully only in the open. So also you must have a free and open atmosphere for your spiritual growth. One may receive light and inspiration from saints and sages, but one must have an atmosphere of freedom in which to develop one’s nature, independent of all external interference or guidance. By depending always on guidance from without, the disciple does not look within and does not rely on God who dwells in the heart.

29. So get inspiration from saints, but do not think of taking shelter permanently in any Ashram. Live alone in a free and open atmosphere. Then God within will lead you. The indwelling God is none other than your Guru who initiated you from outside as a human being. Guru is the immortal, all-pervading Spirit. Never look upon him as a mere person. If you develop this attitude from the beginning, you will realise that the Guru never dies. You will never feel his absence as he is eternally within you.

30. It is not by mere external renunciation that one attains God. There are so many who have externally renounced and gone to the forests but have not realised Him. It is not necessary that one should externally renounce anything. It is not the outer condition that matters so much as one’s inner state of mind. If we dedicate our life to God and live in His light, it does not matter where we live. We can live in the family and still realise Him, because God is everywhere and not only in forests and caves. He is in us, with us and all about us. To seek Him, we need not go anywhere.

31. The examples of Buddha, Chaitanya and Vivekananda are not for all to follow. They are rare cases in which God made them renounce the external ties also so that they might freely serve all mankind. When God wants us to undertake such a glorious mission, by all means, let us not resist the current when it comes to sweep away our narrow limitations. Sri Krishna and Janaka in their lives have shown that even for the work of Lokasangraha, the normal duties of life that fall to our lot need not be abandoned. To attain Moksha for oneself, wilful breaking off from external ties is not at all necessary.

32. God-realisation is not getting away from the world, but looking upon it as the manifestation of God and serving Him in all creatures and beings, in a state of perfect submission to His will.

33. What we have to give up is the ego-sense, the idea that we are the doers. God within us is the doer, the sole master of all our activities. If we dedicate all our actions to Him we can destroy our ego-sense and find our supreme union with Him. Surrender does not denote any change in the external mode of life, but a right attitude towards it.

34. Ramdas still belongs to the world, not in a partial sense, but in totality. His Beloved is not only in particular persons, but is in His full power and glory in all beings, creatures and things. Ramdas has only expanded the narrow family circle into a world-family. So it is not renunciation, but expansion. God has in His mercy made him embrace the whole universe as his. Ramdas’ Beloved dwells everywhere, as all beings and creatures in the world.

47. Surrender to God as you are. It is not that we must purify ourselves first and then go to Him. He must purify us. We must go to him as a child to its mother. If the child goes to her in a dirty condition, the mother does not turn it away nor ask it to come clean. She herself takes the child and bathes it clean. God is more loving than the earthly mother.

48. When we surrender to God and allow ourselves to be guided by Him, all “obstacles” that come on the way are found to be helpful and beneficial to our progress. Life is a battle for all. There is joy in winning as well as losing in this battle. Let your heart be ever in tune with God. Then winning and losing are seen as the play of the Divine.

49. Some persons say that surrender is a sign of weakness. Ramdas says it is the path of the strong. Surrender is not so easy as people seem to think. It is very hard to eradicate the ego-sense. Surrender is the only way to root out the ego. It is the straight path that leads to God.

50. Really, man has no will of his own. There is only one Divine will at work everywhere and in all. It is a mistake to think that we, as individuals, have got any power to do anything. God is behind everything. His power does all things. If we know that His power is alone active in us and submit to Him, we shall be free from the ego-sense and realise that we are the infinite, universal Spirit.

70. God is at once personal and impersonal. He is an impersonal Person – that is, He is not only the all-pervading, nameless and formless Reality, but He is also all that have names and forms.

71. There are two ways to realise Him – one to expand the ego, the individual, to infinity and the other to reduce it to nothing. The former is the path of knowledge, the latter that of devotion. The Jnani says: “I am God – the universal Truth.” The Bhakta says: “I am nothing, O Lord, You are everything.” In both cases the ego-sense disappears. The second is the safer and surer way – to take refuge in God and be ever under His protection.

72. If one sees God within himself, he sees God everywhere. If any one says he is God and not the others, he has not known God at all, because that is not the right experience. If he has seen God within himself, he must see everybody as the embodiment of God.

73. It is the restless, moving mind that makes us see movements outside, putting us under the illusion that the world of movement is real. But when the mind attains a state of perfect calm and stillness, we immediately experience the changeless or immutable Reality in which change and motion seem to be like waves on the surface of the ocean. Verily, we and God are one, never separate. It is by ignorance we feel we are separate from Him. When this ignorance is removed, we know we are one with Him and that we have always been so.

80. Divine Love is the highest attainment. All spiritual practices should end in this sweet consummation. Love is the end of the quest. See that you are absorbed in God who is Love and become an image of Him. Let all our emotions be of love. Life is dry and insipid if it is not filled with love. Be intoxicated with love – the love that blesses you with a vision of your Beloved. All beings are the forms of your Beloved. Grace, Love and Bliss are synonymous. The three are one in your Beloved and you are He. Dance with joy.

81. The victories of the intellect and the highest flights of imagination, cannot be compared with the triumphs of love. The discords and conflicts in life are the result of the absence of love. Love purifies, ennobles and sanctifies every movement of life. Love invites sufferings for the sake of the Beloved and transmutes them into unalloyed joy. The pointed dart tipped with love injects delight, not pain.

82. Ordinarily love based on physical affinity is a source of misery both to the lover and the loved. But Divine Love based on the feeling of spiritual oneness is sublime. It is a source of pure bliss. Here you love another not because he is a relation of yours, but because you and he are one in Spirit.

83. Love in the making sees faults; love in the fulfilment sees none. Seeing faults is like cutting love into pieces, murdering love. By so doing we keep the mind alive. We have to go beyond the mind. The mind must die.

84. Love breaks all barriers. Even body-consciousness is transcended under the intoxication of love. What to say then of man-made distinctions created by allegiance to creed, race and institutions? Love is a great unifying force. It is a solvent of differences and diversities. It creates unity. But to love truly, one must have knowledge of the Self. On the basis of Self-knowledge alone one can love all with an equal eye.

85. Love begets love and kindness begets kindness. This is a law which knows no exception. People dislike us because we have no love for them. If we love them, their love automatically flows to us. When our love goes to them and their love comes to us, the two streams mingle together and there is an ocean of love and joy. Love is not bargaining; it is not give and take. It is a spontaneous merging of souls.

86. Truly speaking it is not that we have to love God; we have to know that God who is Love is enthroned in our hearts. By surrendering ourselves to this Divine Love in us, we become embodiments of that Love. By constant remembrance and meditation we realise His presence in us and our life becomes filled with His light and love. His love then radiates through us and we see with love, talk with love, give with love, receive with love and act with love.

87. Love of God means love of all beings because God is all and all is in God. He is all-in-all. Love is consciousness of unity as hatred is of diversity. Go beyond all narrow limitations. Rise, soar high and hold the world in one embrace of Love. Your dwelling place is the whole universe which is your body. Live in it as Love!

94. You cannot please everybody in the world. When the mind is drawn within and you are absorbed in the Self, you will be unaffected by what people say about you. Be true to the Atman within you.

95. Cultivate the consciousness that keeps you detached from the mind and its antics. This can be done only by your continued remembrance of the Divine Power that resides in you. Despair and dejection are enemies on the path of spiritual progress. Do not allow the mind to be depressed on any account. Keep yourself cheerful by chanting the Mantra. Your life must flow in a spontaneous and natural way. Your nature should become childlike.

96. Good and evil are merely conceptual and relative. What is good for you may be bad for another. There are no fixed standards, but only those set by the mind. There is a state beyond the mind in which there is no good and evil. There you see the whole universe filled with the light of the Divine.

97. What, after all, is right and wrong? That which takes you towards God is right and that which takes you away from God is wrong. There is no question of right and wrong for one who has realised God. He has transcended all duality. His entire life is an offering at the feet of God. His life flows spontaneously for the good of all. For him there is only God, and God is all.

98. In the eyes of God there is no evil. We suffer because of our ego. The sense of individuality, or separation from others, is responsible for all apparent evils. God is all-benevolent and all-loving. If you think of God constantly you can be happy in all situations. If you can take it that God’s will prevails in the world and everything happens by His will, you cannot see evil anywhere and there is no suffering for you at any time. This is Ramdas’ experience.

99. Evil is our own creation; it is not God’s creation. If we have the vision of God, we cannot see evil anywhere. When love prevails evil disappears. Evil is the offspring of the ignorant mind. If we accept the sovereignty of God by surrendering ourselves to His will, we love all alike and see no evil at all. Just as darkness disappears before light, evil disappears in the light of God.

100. God never punishes. Punishment is always self-inflicted. We bring suffering on ourselves by our own wrong actions. If we are conscious that God is acting through us, we will never do any wrong. We do wrong only when we forget God.

101. Everyone has some good points in him. We should see only those good points. If we are to see bad points, let us look for them only in ourselves. If we practise this, the evil in us will disappear. If we see evil in others and good in us, what little of good we have will disappear and the evil in us will grow. By criticizing and thinking ill of others, we only make our minds more and more impure. The way to progress is to see good in everyone and love everyone. To see good in others is to see God in them; for, God alone is good. By seeing God in others we can easily realise God in our own heart. So long as we criticize others we can never see God in them.

102. Adversity is not undesirable, because, it is only when you are down and out in life that you can realise its true value. Face all the vicissitudes in life by throwing yourselves completely on the mercy of the Almighty Lord. When you are made to go through the fire of suffering, you can come out of it purified and strengthened. Such suffering constitutes real Sadhana for attaining God. The more bitter it is, the more rapid becomes your spiritual progress. God-realisation does not mean living in worldly comfort and opulence. It means living in peace and freedom, whatever the external conditions may be. For such a person misery has no sting. The lives of most of the great saints of the world clearly show that they had the worst of sufferings. When you are disowned by the world you become the acknowledged child of God.

103. Heroes are they who suffer and sacrifice for the sake of Truth or God. Strange are the ways of the Divine! His most beloved devotees, to whom He reveals Himself in all His glory, are made by Him to pass through great trials and tribulations both before and after they are accepted by Him. Before they realise Him, these sufferings are for their own self-purification and after their realisation, they are for the uplift and redemption of mankind.

From Thus Speaks Ramdas, which contains the quintessence of Swami Ramdas’ teachings in a pocket-size edition.

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PEACE

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✨ The peace you crave for is ever within you. If you seek for it without, you will never have it anywhere. This is a great truth which very few realize.

✨ Surrender is the only way to peace. So, in all circumstances of life, submit to the will of God, and be free from the touches of worry and anxiety of every kind. All happen as determined by the Lord. Do not assert your will and expect everything to take place as you wish. Unpleasant situations are the common lot of mankind. Yours is to resign yourself to the Lord and remain unaffected by them.

✨ When the mind rests in peace by a complete self-surrender, the heart’s desire is realized without any delay. The longing ceases by a perfect self-abandonment, and then no time is lost for its fruition. This is the secret of realization.

✨ The one predominant hunger of the soul is for absolute peace and bliss. You can have this peace and bliss only when your mind rests on the bosom of the Infinite Reality. So, a constant contemplation or thought of the great Truth whose attributes are immortal bliss and peace can alone completely satisfy the yearning of the soul. Direct, therefore, all the forces of your mind and intellect towards the All-merciful Lord of the universe, and put yourself entirely into His hands. There is no path easier than self-surrender. He who trusts the Almighty never comes to any harm. This is the rule of God that knows no exception. Do therefore walk the path of pure and simple devotion. Be conscious that the Lord seated in your heart is your all-powerful protector. Keep Him ever in your remembrance. Tune your thought and life with His radiant existence, and thus permit His divine energy to flow into you and transform your life into one of peace and joy. Don’t give yourself away to dejection, doubt and despair.

✨ To experience the stillness of the all-pervading Spirit who is at once the witness of this world of manifestation and the world-manifestation itself, is to realize God in His all-inclusive nature and being. Behold Divinity everywhere. Rise above all conditions and dwell ever in union with the immortal Truth who has become all. Everything is His doing because all, all is He alone. Ramdas has nothing beyond this to tell you. Realize that you and all beings, creatures and things in the world are utterly divine.

✨ It is absolutely of no avail for a man to bewail over his worldly lot and his unstable attachments to worldly friends. Seek the true life in God, and the friendship of the Eternal – the highest; both are everlasting. The real peace can never come to the share of man so long as he thinks that the adjustments of external life can grant him happiness. Disappointment and misery must be his lot wherever he be. Take thought and know once for all that real freedom and peace lie only in the close communion with the immortal Truth dwelling in your heart. Take complete refuge in God through constant remembrance of Him, and thus be content in all situations He places you. Don’t embitter your life with thoughts of worry and care. Make God your friend and aid. Once you become His, He never gives you up. He takes you to the seat of immortality and bliss. This is the way and there is no other.

✨ True it is that until a man or a woman has found in his or her heart the beloved Lord of the universe, there can be no real peace and liberation for the struggling soul. Therefore, feel always that the divine Presence is ever with you and in you. Let the stream of His remembrance flow continuously in your mind, and may you attain the supreme blessedness of perfect union with Him.

Glimpses of Divine Vision, A compilation of significant utterances of Swami Ramdas culled from his letters to the devotees all over India and abroad, pp. 55-60

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