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Omkarananda AshramDiary 2000Sayings ofSwami Omkaranandafor Every Week of The Year
Comment: The decoration between each week leads back to the top of the diary. 1st week The Divine is the ever-new Reality. Those who sit before the Presence of the Divine find ever-new knowledge, ever-new beauties, ever-new joys, ever-new wonders. The Divine is infinitely marvellous, and every minute it is something wonderful, it is the same and not the same. There is the same screen, but the pictures are changing. Though the screen is the same, the pictures are different every moment. The Divine is ever the same, yet also ever the new. All the various aspects of the Divine present themselves to the spiritual heart. The spiritual heart says, "The Divine is the Treasure of treasures, the Wonder of wonders. It is the greatest creative Wonder. It creates newer and newer things every moment. It reveals its infinite dimensions, its infinite dimensions in Beauty, Fullness, Joy, Love, Wisdom - in all the greatest values." Therefore the spiritual heart clings to the Divine more and more, is intoxicated by the Divine, the miracle-working Divine, the all-protecting Divine.
2nd week The spiritual heart constantly makes its life the responsibility of the Divine. At every step of every day in life, the spiritual heart seeks the guidance of the Divine. At every turn of life the spiritual heart yields itself to the Divine. God is responsible for such a life. The finite individual gains infinite strength, infinite resources, peace, joy, blessedness, by constant self-surrender to the Divine which is the Infinite. So the spiritual heart with every mantra-repetition offers its whole being to the Divine. When one's life is the responsibility of the Divine, every minute God has to think for that life. When God begins to think for a person you can imagine the blessedness of such a person, the joy of such a person, the wealth, the wisdom, the peace of such a person.
3rd week Try to surrender yourself to the Divine more and more. Make your life the responsibility of the Divine. It is then that life is completely fulfilled, and completely protected. So, with every repetition of the mantra beg the Divine to accept your entire life and guide you in all manner of ways, to abide with you all the time. Automatically when your life is surrendered to the Divine, when your life is made the responsibility of the Divine, the Divine must stay by you, otherwise He cannot every moment take care of you. When your life is his responsibility, automatically He has to be by you all the time. So, surrender your life to the responsibility of the Divine.
4th week The love for the Divine increases the more we reflect upon the wonderful ways by which He has given His own experience to thousands of God-seekers. The love for the Divine also increases by constant reflection upon those passages of philosophy which describe the nature of the Truth. The love for the Divine increases also by being in the company of those who love the Divine. The love for the Divine increases also by constantly doing selfless, good, noble divine works. The love for the Divine increases also by reflecting upon the many wonders in life which are inexplicable except by acceptance of the operations of divine Grace.
5th week The love of the Divine is taken away by impurities, impurities of many kinds. Any trust in that which is merely perishing, passing, is also an impurity. Love of pleasures is also a kind of impurity. When these impurities are diminished and purity increases, one knows where exactly lies one's heart's joy. Increase the love for the Divine - you will find the air will be filled with the Presence of the Divine, and the Divine will serve you more than a mother serves her only little baby. The Divine will fill the air around you and will be always an unforgettable, inseparable Presence with you, constantly guiding you, constantly inspiring in you the right feelings. The greater the love for the Divine, the more the Divine feels responsible for you, and the more your thoughts and feelings are His Thoughts and Feelings, the more your actions and works are His Actions and Works.
6th week Continuously generate the feeling that the Divine is all around you, above you, below, to the right and to the left, in front and behind. Such a feeling must be cultivated again and again. Such feeling swallows up a thousand useless feelings. Apart from that, on the positive side, it actually brings the Presence of the Divine to stay by you all around. Go on increasing the number of times you repeat the mantra. It is these things that constitute the real treasures. All else is irrelevant. No matter how comfortable you feel in the world, how many houses you have, how many pleasures you have, all these are of no value. They are an illusion and a delusion. Only one thing is of value: have you devotion to the Divine? - If you have it, you are immortal, indestructible, all-blessed, full of peace and joy, full of freedom and beauty, full of grace and light. So, develop these fundamental things, grow in wisdom, in devotion, in mantra-repetition, in service of the Divine.
7th week Thought is also a sound. Whatever you think is heard by the Divine, and it is also seen by the Divine. Thought is a picture, it is also a sound, it is also a vibration. God sees your thoughts, and also hears them. They can be seen because they are pictures, they can be heard because they are tunes. So, even when you merely think the Divine is all around you, that thought has a profound influence on the Divine Itself. And therefore the Divine is made to turn towards you. Whether you want it or not the moment you press the key of the piano, it sounds - the moment you think of the Divine, whether you want it or not, the Divine responds. When a person is very insincere, and yet wants to think of the Divine, nothing happens. So, devotion and sincerity are also very very necessary. And then any thought in relation to the Divine has a profound influence on the Divine, and the Divine in turn wins on you a profound influence. Therefore generate again and again the feeling that the Divine is around you, by you. Generate the feeling that the work you are doing is the Divine's work.
8th week By constant mantra-repetition the cosmic Consciousness is attained. Since the mantra is the highest, and full of mystical syllables, the Knowledge of the Infinite dawns. The sun becomes the one eye of the person, and the stars become the other eye of the person. One attains identity with the cosmos, in inner spirit. One expands beyond the cosmos, one dwells in the delights of the knowledge of the Absolute. Even though one is living in the body, one is yet dwelling in the boundless freedom of the Infinite. The Face of the Divine becomes visible everywhere. The Grace of the Divine protects the person everywhere and at all times. The boundless Love of the Divine is experienced minute by minute. The ecstasies rising from direct perception into the Marvels of the operative infinite divine Consciousness, possess the person.
9th week If you have the picture of the Divine Mother, think of the Divine Mother. She is the sexless, timeless, bodiless infinite Reality, yet she can be meditated upon as a beautiful Form. Think of the beautiful Form of the Divine, find infinite Light, and Peace, and Joy pouring from that Form into you. Be bathed in the Light of the Divine, in the Peace of the Divine, in the Consciousness of the Divine, and repeat the mantra. After one and half hours of such continuous repetition, just look at your eyes, - how different they are, how wonderful they are! The blessings of such a repetition are numberless, - for the physical body, for the environment, for the psychical being, for the unconscious, for the superconscious; at every level of one's being the blessings are visible.
10th week The spiritual heart finds the whole world illuminated by the Light of the divine Presence. The spiritual individual extends his heart around the world and finds everywhere the mantra-repetition going on. It extends its vision, spreads its vision over the whole cosmos and beholds the Divine everywhere in every point of space. In this state it looks as if in the whole creation there is nothing but one heart, the Heart of Devotion to the Divine. What does the Bible mean by being single-minded in your devotion to the Divine?- It must be understood in this sense, where everything is disappearing and only the Divine is present, where all the senses of the human individual are concentrating in one single experience of the Divine. This is the most blessed state. Such states should be accompanied by intensive service during the day. Nature loves those who are most useful. Nature rewards those who work hard and accomplish many things. So does the Divine, and those who love the Divine are generally the accomplishers of great works in the world.
11th week Self-surrender is essential in order the ego may not constantly interfere with the spiritual development. Self-surrender is essential in order that the human soul may obtain boundless strength and peace and joy. Humility and self-surrender born of spiritual understanding, humility because the Divine is everything, all-powerful, all-wonderful, and the human individual is nothing. Unless God helps, one can never truly progress, can never have true wisdom, or real self-surrender to the Divine, or an effective faith in the Divine. So, beg for these fundamental virtues. Let the heart constantly ask for these treasures from the Divine. Life is a matter of two hours, use these two hours to do something intensively good before the two hours are over. If the time is lost it can no more be recovered, it is not a holiday place, it is a school, a place of discipline - those who consider life a holiday will have to pay a heavy price and life after life their limitations persist.
12th week Take a new attitude to life governed by higher wisdom, which constantly tells you what is what, what is valuable and what is not, what is an aid and help for development and what is not, - not only not a help but a positive obstacle to spiritual development. So, know the world to be a marvellous school for the rapid unfoldment of the divine Nature, and never as a holiday place. Those who consider it as a holiday place pay a heavy price, they know not real peace, nor happiness, nor freedom from worries and fears and anxieties. Take life for what it is, basically, and that is: a golden opportunity for contacting That which is the Absolute and the Infinite. Whether you understand the divine Presence or not, just try to feel the divine Presence in whatsoever way you can think of, and the Divine at once understands and responds. It is enough if the Divine understands that there is a feeling of longing for the Divine in you. That is enough, that will work wonders, that will persuade the Divine to abide by you and to attend to your needs.
13th week The child has only to cry and there comes the mother. Even so whether we see the Divine Mother or not one has only to call on the Divine Mother and there will be wonders thereafter. It is enough that the Divine Mother has heard you. It is not necessary that you should see the Divine Mother in order to believe in the Divine Mother and get services from the Divine Mother, it is enough if you address your prayer to the Divine Mother. It reaches Her, and in a thousand ways - or in any one of the thousand ways - She responds to you. Increase your faith in the Divine whether you fully understand the Nature of the Divine or not; go on expressing your devotion to the Divine in whatsoever manner you may conceive of It, the response will come. So, concentrate your thoughts and feelings on the Divine, and there is bound to be a response for every such feeling and thought.
14th week The real riches are devotion, wisdom. If you have devotion you can buy the Wealth of Wealths. If you have devotion you can buy the Creator of wealth. You can have endless wealth, if you have devotion. Devotion is the only currency and money which can buy the Divine. Beg the Divine to grant you more devotion. Devotion makes you most beautiful, devotion makes you rich. The affection makes each one beautiful in the eyes of the other. So does the devotion make you beautiful in the eyes of the Divine. Devotion can endow you with great beauty, and devotion can endow you with great richness, devotion can make you happy and peaceful and fearless in all conditions. Therefore develop devotion or love for the Divine.
15th week Devotion is a mighty power. If you have devotion to the Divine, all life becomes divine; no matter how you live, where you live, it all becomes divine. If you have affection, it covers up a thousand mistakes, and also grants you the wisdom not to make those mistakes in the future. All the mistakes of life are forgiven, the moment you have devotion and affection for the Divine. That is the most important thing. That liberates you from law, that invests you with a new dignity and a new life. Therefore cultivate affection for the Divine. No matter where you are living, how you are living, it will be completely divine and acceptable to the Divine provided you have affection for the Divine, love for the Divine, unconditioned devotion to the Divine. - That is the most important thing. That is the first thing essential.
16th week Unlimited is the Mercy of the Divine. Therefore the Divine prompts in all those who love the Divine, many intuitions and illuminations. One of the intuitions is in relation to the timeless Reality: one has the sudden feeling that one is eternal, unborn, infinite. This knowledge dawns on oneself, automatically. When such a knowledge dawns a thousand sorrows disappear, all the serious challenges of life fade into nothingness. Everywhere the spiritual heart perceives the Flame of the Divine. The more intensively the mantra is repeated, the more clearly is this Picture of the Divine before one's inner vision. The whole world is filled with the ecstasy of the divine Joy, filled with the Beauty of infinite Peace and Stillness, filled with the glory of endless treasures.
17th week The divine Grace and Love enable the spiritual individual to perceive the Timeless, to perceive the ever-watching, all-independent divine Consciousness within. The heart of that Consciousness is seen, it is full of creative possibilities, full of infinite peace and joy, power and strength and knowledge and grace. The moment a challenge faces one, one looks at it from the standpoint of this inner revelation of timelessness. From that standpoint, if experiences are seen, they pale into insignificance. They become momentary affairs, the whole life becomes a momentary affair, and one ceases to worry, one is liberated from all worries and anxieties. Such is the Grace of the Divine that is causing in the individual the most marvellous wisdom, the most marvellous perceptions and intuitions.
18th week So long as one is identified with one's problem, as it is the case with the worldly person, one is lost in sorrows, one has not the means to defeat these sorrows. The spiritual individual in consequence of this intuition of the Infinite at once stands back from all tragedies, he becomes the observer of the observer of the tragedies. The tragedies are something else, and he is something else, whereas in the case of the worldly person he is the tragedies and the tragedies are himself. There is a wise person. The moment he gets angry, he perceives that he is getting angry. He becomes two personalities: internally he is calm and still and peaceful, he is observing, he sees the anger rising, as he would see Claudia in anger. And as he sees anger rise, anger becomes ashamed of itself, it becomes weaker and falls down. So, the wise man does not become anger, he observes the anger rise in him. So the wise man is never identified with his experience, the man in general is completely identified with his body, and with whatever is happening to him.
19th week In the sleeping body there is the never-sleeping divine Spirit. In the suffering body there is the all-joyous divine Reality. In the restless man there is the Spirit of infinite Peace and Stillness. So this knowledge is increasingly prompted in you by the divine Compassion. The more you have this knowledge, the more wise a person you become, the more you become a pure person, the more you become a sage. The divine Grace, the Mercy of the Divine is so great, that the Divine prompts in the human individual such intuitions as to the two aspects in himself: an aspect which is being an observer, and another aspect which is involved in something. It is with the help of the aspect which is not involved in the experience that he becomes the master of all experiences.
20th week Because the abstract qualities of the Divine are not easy of imagination, not easy to construct a picture out of, we can take any picture we love most, or any picture which means much in spirituality to us, and into this picture we can pour all these qualities of the Divine. After some time the picture becomes a living thing, and the Nature of the Divine, the Intelligence of the Divine, the Consciousness of the Divine, the Heart of the Divine begin to work through that picture. This is the easiest method for most, and the quickest way of spiritual development. By years of such devotion to a picture, the Divine enters the picture. The Divine is touched by the devotion of the person. And this person understands this picture - no matter what picture it is that he reveres - to be an embodiment of divine Peace, Joy, Wisdom, Intelligence, Happiness, Light and so forth.
21st week The Divine is present in all beings as the witnessing Principle. And it is present everywhere and in all things as the witnessing Principle. Generally man thinks the trees are just trees, the stones are just stones, that in the forest he is alone. This is a common mistake of the common man. In every tree, in every stone there is the witnessing Presence of the Divine. The Divine is not only witnessing what is happening to the tree, what happened to the tree some months ago, or some years ago, but what is going to happen to the tree some months or years later, and it is also witnessing what is happening in the environment. It is witnessing everything. It is the subtlest Principle which is even in the hardest of the hardest things. It is the subtlest Essence which is penetrating everything, present in everything, witnessing everything.
22nd week The Divine is the inner Controller in all beings, the inner Ruler in all beings, the inner Prompter in all beings. He is the prompting Principle in all beings. The Divine is operative not only as a passive Witness of everything, but also as a dynamic Prompter of the thoughts and feelings in persons. Knowing this, the spiritual heart always reflects on the Divine, clings to the Divine, adores the Divine, serves the Divine, abides by the Divine, and grows in the consciousness of the Divine. Always this knowledge of the Divine dominates the spiritual heart and enriches the spirituality of the spiritual individual.
23rd week Everything rests upon the content of your inner intelligence. Whether your meditation is very good here or not very good depends upon what is in your inner intelligence. It does not matter if the organ-player plays well or badly, whether she looks beautiful or ugly, whether you like her or do not like her, whether you are sitting down or sitting up. That is of no consequence. Only what is in your inner intelligence, that matters. If you are with God in your inner intelligence, now, then you are divine, then your meditation will be inspiring - even though the organ is not played well. But if the content in your intelligence is something else, then naturally meditation will not be profitable. You are elsewhere, your intelligence is filled with some other content. So, what you are depends on what is the nature of the content in your inner intelligence.
24th week Always fill the inner intelligence with the Image of the Divine, with the Light of the Divine. Even if you are not able to think of God as Light, at least think of a light like that of the sun as the divine Light. And later on when the inner nature is purified, the Divine reveals the kind of Light the Divine is. So, always fill the inner intelligence with the divine Content. Though the mind may attempt to wander here and there, again and again focus the intelligence on the Nature of the Divine, Presence of the Divine. Again and again raise divine thoughts and divine feelings. The more other thoughts come the more you raise the divine thoughts. After some time all other thoughts fall away, and divine thoughts dominate.
25th week The very nature of the human mind is such: it is always descending. Therefore the spiritual individual tries to transform this human mind. All the dross of the impurities is burnt in the fire of divine wisdom, in the fire of divine aspirations, in the fire of divine love. When the impurities are burnt, the human spirit becomes radiant, and once it is radiant, it rises upward; no more is there any tendency to descend down. Even when you try to pull it down, it rises up, forward. Therefore the value of divine wisdom, divine aspirations and divine love - these three fires have to be constantly kept burning and kept up. By constant and continuous repetition of the mystical syllables one attains to a revelation of the divine Reality. The Truth stands completely self-revealed. All the limitations of life are transcended, one becomes a new person, an embodiment of the Truth, an embodiment of the Divine, Its Peace, and Its Wisdom, and Its Light.
26th week The world is an island where every man is caught. It is a limited life, an unfortunate life, full of challenges, dangers, unexpected and unforeseen happenings, highly problematic, fearful. In such a life the constant repetition of the mantra suddenly awakens the person, reveals the Truth, and shows the person that he is one with the Truth in reality, with the Divine, and this gives him tremendous courage, unlimited strength, peace and joy, light, and wisdom. All problems of life are overcome. He says "It matters not how the conditions of life are, I am not this, I am in the Heart of the divine Reality. I am all-perfect in the Divine. I am a light in the Divine, indestructible and eternal. Everything is all right with me. These disasters which I see around me are mere dream-products. I have nothing to do with them, they cannot touch me, I am ever free, I cannot be touched, and I am timeless and indestructible. I am in the Divine, the Divine is in me." So he draws enormous courage, light and wisdom. That is the great value of the mantra-repetition. It awakens the person to the divine Reality, it reveals the Nature of the Divine, it consummates the spiritual evolution of the human individual.
27th week It is a great blessing to be in a spiritual place. If you want to cross the ocean or the sea of life - well you may be in a big boat, and you try to row the boat alone, it is so difficult, the waves are so violent; for every fifty centimetres of progress you make you seem to be pushed back by a metre. How wonderful it would be if there were twenty persons in the boat and each with an oar, and all giving strokes at the same time - how fast it would run! Even so, when you are in the boat of the spiritual place, the thoughts and feelings and the spiritual activities of the people around help you greatly. Ten persons sitting together and concentrating on the Divine generate tremendous spiritual power. One candle illuminates the room, but the light is not sufficient. A hundred candles joined together illuminate the room - then what happens? It is as luminous as a room lighted with electricity. It is a great blessing to be amidst spiritual individuals and constantly progressing on the path.
28th week The spiritual heart sits before the boundless Light and Beauty of the Divine. In the undisturbed mind, in the still, and calm, and luminous heart, as the mantra rises, with every repetition of every syllable, there is the marvellous presentation of the different aspects of the Divine. The gracious, all-loveable and all-loving Divinity changes Its Face with every repetition of the syllables. One sits before the Infinite. The people in the world are sitting before the world, watching the changing scenes of life. They are overcome by the happenings, they are distracted, lower emotions are aroused, they have all kinds of problems and difficulties. The spiritual heart sits before the Infinite, and converses with the Divine, adores the Divine, is absorbed in the infinite Love, and Light, and Joy, and Peace, of the Divine. Though the soul is in the body, yet it is liberated during this period. It becomes unlimited in its expansion, it is freed, while yet being in the body, while yet the man is living. This is the wonder, the finite becomes the Infinite, the individual becomes the Absolute, the human becomes the Divine, and Peace, and Light, and Beauty, and Wisdom are enjoyed.
29th week Through constant repetition of the mantra the spiritual heart awakens the Divine all around, from all things, from all beings. With the constant repetition of the mantra, the spiritual heart charges everything with the divine Consciousness. The whole world becomes vibrant with the Presence of the Divine as the mantra is repeated, the Divine in all things arises. When a snake charmer starts with his musical instrument, at once the cobra, the snake inside the basket, is throwing up the cover of the basket, and begins to dance with the open hood and nod. Even so when the music of the mantra is played, automatically the Divine in the basket of the universe rises up and responds to the music, to the mystical syllables! Thus the spiritual heart finds the whole universe alive, awake with the Presence of the Divine.
30th week Use every method available in order that the intensity of concentration on the Divine is secured. The mind is always active, if you do not assign to it the activity of dwelling on the Divine, it would be busy with all other dangerous and useless activities. So try to deepen the concentration on the Divine by every method available to you.
Where there is the Name of the Divine, where there are the mystical syllables, there are miracles. The age of the miracles is not over, it is ever present.Where the Divine is, there is the wonder, there is the miracle, there is the paradise. Where there is not the Divine, there is misfortune. Where there is the Divine, there is good fortune, there is joy, there is life, there is prosperity.
31st week The Divine is my joy, the Divine is my peace, the Divine is my life. The Divine is my prosperity. The Divine is the light of my eyes and the light of my intelligence. The Divine is the Soul of my soul. The Divine alone is everywhere. I live for the Divine, I breathe for the Divine. I work like a giant for the Divine. I think for the Divine, I feel for the Divine. Therefore the Divine thinks for me, therefore the Divine feels for me, therefore the Divine lives for me. Wherever the Divine is, there is the paradise, blessedness, true peace, true prosperity, true freedom.
32nd week It is the senses of the body that distort the Presence of the Divine, hide the Presence of the Divine. The eyes reveal only a physical universe, the thoughts in the minds of others we do not see, the feelings in the hearts of others we do not feel. The air around we do not see, though we may feel it, though we may breathe in. There are many things which we do not see. The physical senses are limited, they do not reveal the greater realities, and the greatest Reality is the Divine Itself. The Divine is standing all around, - inseparably. He is in everyone, He is infinite Joy. The crude and dull senses do not permit the experience of the fact that the Divine is infinite Joy. The Divine is infinite Peace, the Peace that passeth understanding. The Divine is infinite Joy, an abundant Joy, eternal Joy. The Divine is infinite Power, the only Power, the mountain-moving Power. It is a wondrous Power, yet it is the Love, infinite Love, boundless Love. These thoughts constantly arise as the mantra is being repeated.
33rd week There is the purity of eyes when you behold the one Divine in the many persons. If you perceive the Divine in the many persons, your eyes are pure. If you perceive all persons to be the Divine, and perceive the one Divine in the many different persons, then your eyes are pure. If you find the one Name of the Divine in all sounds, and find all sounds and tones in the one Name of the Divine, - if all sounds remind you of, and put you in touch with the Divine - then your ears are pure. If all your speech is in adoration of the Divine, if all your talk and your words are in adoration of the Divine, then your tongue is pure. If your heart leads you to the one central feeling of devotion to the Divine, if all feelings in you are tending towards the devotion to the Divine, - then your heart is pure. Those whose heart is pure, whose eyes are pure, whose ears are pure, whose tongue is pure, perceive the Divine, feel the Divine, experience the Divine, and express the Blessings of the Divine.
34th week That is greatness, that is nobility which identifies itself with all life. That is a great heart which finds itself in all hearts. That is a great mind which finds itself in all minds. That is a great soul which finds itself in all souls.
Any limitation - no matter, the limitation may be the limitation of the universe - is a negation of the Truth. Truth is unlimited. Only the Unlimited is the most valuable. All that is limited will be painful, even when it is most pleasurable - that pleasure will be followed by pain. Anything that is limited is not the object of pursuit for any wise man. Anything that is unlimited - and that which is unlimited is the Divine, - is the true freedom, the true joy, is the true greatness. That has to be attained through constant repetition of the mantra, through constant love of the Divine, through untiring and endless services of the Divine.
35th week The spiritual heart awakens the Divine from every atom of the universe. By constant repetition of the mystical syllables the spiritual heart charges every cell of the body with the divine Consciousness. It lives in a world of infinite Beauty, Love, Light, Grace. It is always dynamic, always fiery, always progressive, expansive and triumphant. Intensify the repetition of the mystical syllables, intensify the concentration on the Divine, and be charged with the Consciousness of the Divine. Successively you must touch the Truth without a break in a series, - it is then that something happens in the intelligence. The intelligence becomes heated, transformed, it becomes luminous, and perceives the Divine. The greatness of spiritual development lies in the continuity, the unbroken repetition of the mystical syllables. So go on repeating the mantra while focusing the inner intelligence upon the Nature of the Divine. Reflect upon the Nature of the Divine. Love the Nature of the Divine. Understand the operative Power and Presence of the Divine in your inner life and around you.
36th week Engage yourself in a conversation with the Divine. Every such conversation is of immense value, and brings the Divine closer to you, even as it takes you closer to the Divine. As you do not move anywhere to experience the space, so you do not need to move anywhere to experience the Divine. Being subtler than space it is in space, everywhere, and therefore most easy of experience. It is all around you, no matter where you are, where you go, and how you are. So, try to grow conscious of these facts and make more rapid spiritual progress.
37th week The spiritual heart is full of dynamic wisdom which enables it to grow more rapidly. Among the many things in this dynamic wisdom, there is the knowledge that the Divine is seeing oneself, even though one is not able to see the Divine. The Divine is hearing us, though we are not able to hear the Divine. This knowledge is one of the transforming factors in the life of spiritual development. One is always conscious that one is under the Eye of the Divine, the all-seeing Eye of the Divine. One is always conscious that one is within the hearing of the Divine.
38th week Reflect upon the various aspects and qualities of the Divine. Remember the Divine is seated in your intelligence as Light. Without Light there can be no thought, no perception of thought. That Light in the intelligence carries in Itself the Consciousness of the Divine. That Consciousness is all-knowing, all-perfect, all-pervading. That is your essential nature, not the body, not the passing thoughts, not the passing feelings, not the human society, not the heritage, none of these belong to you - not the outer conditions of life, none of them belong to you. None of them are natural to you, only the Image of the Divine is natural to you. Only the Light in the inner intelligence is natural to you. Only the infinite Peace and Joy of the divine Light is natural to you. Death is not natural to you, pain is not natural to you, disease is not natural to you, limitations of any kind are not natural to you. All these are superficial, external, not belonging to the Divine. You are something other than all these. This knowledge you obtain through constant mantra-repetition, through constant thought of the Divine.
39th week What is the cause of human imperfection or impurity or sin? It is the activity of the senses. The senses are always active, always people want to taste something, have something, see something beautiful, hear something. So the senses are always leading the soul here, there, in a chaotic way. Through the senses, the soul is externalised, and forgets itself. It forgets its inner relations with the Divine. It mistakes its sense-life for its real life, and therefore if there is a little disease it is terrified. If there is death it is anxious. Supposing there is a threat to the sense-enjoyment, at once it becomes disturbed, it has now lost effectively the relationship with the inner Reality of endless Perfection.
40th week Life is a dream, but let it be a wonderful dream, let it not be a nightmare. The wise man dreams his life wonderfully, he accomplishes something in the dream, something great, something of lasting value, something which lasts even beyond the dream-existence. The wise person, the spiritual individual makes a heaven of the dream, and therefore he works harder than most worldly people. It is only those who are not truly spiritual and yet have some kind of attraction for the spiritual life, or who are frustrated in life and therefore try to take refuge in spiritual life - it is only such people who abuse the philosophy and wisdom that life is a dream; with the result they say, "Life is a dream,why should I work? Why should I improve myself, why should I improve the environment?" One becomes lazy, a victim of ignorance and error, and harms oneself and others.
41st week When you just touch the Truth and think of Eternity, a life-span pales into nothingness, one hour, a minute's duration, that is how it looks. It is the proper perspective to life. The true perspective to life is given only by knowledge of the Truth. An unwise person is overcome by the challenges of life. The wise person, the spiritual individual, overcomes the challenges of life. He is the master of life. All others who are called teachers and professors and masters, are themselves the slaves of life, of time, of fate. The true master is one who is the master of his fate, master of conditions, master of his life, master of the knowledge of the Truth. He alone stands in Light, whereas the general mankind stands in darkness of ignorance. No one can stand in Light unless he has knowledge of the Truth, experience of the Divine. For the Truth, or the Divine, is the only Light, it is the Light of lights, it is the Light that lighteth all souls. It is the Light in which there is no darkness. It is the Light which is eternal Life, Beauty, Wisdom, Perfection.
42nd week The Divine is all-merciful, infinite Love. So the Divine immediately responds to the call. Even a cruel mother cannot resist the crying child. She somehow attends to the child. If this is the case, how much more is it the case with the Divine. It is infinitely loving, infinitely compassionate. So the Divine says, "Oh, someone is calling Me!" and then the Divine stands by you. The Divine responds to your call. The Divine is all-knowing, omnipresent, the Divine responds to your call by being by you. It responds to your call by being even in the very soul of your soul, and also in the soul of the soul of all others, and also in the soul of the space around you. So, this is one of the direct results of the mantra-repetition.
43rd week It is a natural tendency of the human mind to walk away from that which is boring. And that which bores is generally that which you don't understand. So with those who are not initiated into the spiritual life, who have no idea of the Divine, no real love for the Divine, no deep attachment to the Divine, no understanding of the fact that the Divine is supremely valuable, supremely desirable, supremely loveable, that It is the one greatest Treasure that one can imagine having, the Treasure of all treasures.
The knower of the Divine is the most blessed person, his treasures are endless, eternal. He himself is eternal, he is full of peace and joy, nothing can oppress him, nothing can trouble him. No matter how serious a thing be, it does not produce any ripple on his consciousness. So wonderful is his state. So, to those who are initiated into spiritual life the highest secrets of this silly - apparently silly and stupid - process of continuous mantra-repetition becomes visible.
44th week It is a simple thing but yet therein lies the secret of all evolution, all highest attainment. You attain infinitely more than a person through the conquest of the whole world would attain. You will attain infinitely more than what the wisest and the most learned man in the world attains by his great learning. You will attain infinitely more than what a sensualist tries to attain through his endless sense-pleasures and enjoyments. So, it is the wonder of wonders, this activity, - this simple activity of mantra-repetition which looks like the activity of a madman.
Wonders happen when our heart is on the Divine. The heart is not on the Divine when the name of the Divine is not on our lips.
45th week The moment you repeat the mantra there is at once the flash of the knowledge of the Divine; there is the Image of the Divine apart from the image of the Divine you conceive. There is an actual Image of the Divine evoked in consequence of the utterance of the mystical syllable. There is a real Image of the Divine, a natural Image of the Divine, the moment you utter the mystical syllable. So we have to enrich every act of the repetition of the mantra through our knowledge of the Divine, idea of the Divine, love of the Divine, and the conviction that nothing is more valuable than the Divine and that the Divine is listening, seeing, understanding, responding, blessing, protecting.
46th week Everything in nature is subject to the hand of time. Therefore everything is changing. Sometimes it is hot, sometimes it is cold, sometimes it is neither hot nor cold; sometimes there is disturbance, sometimes there is peace; sometimes there is pleasure, sometimes there is pain. This is the nature of things. Time is always bringing about changes. There is only one thing which is not changing: the heart of the spiritual individual. It is ever the same sunshine, it is full of devotion, the knowledge of the Truth, and Truth is unchanging. Truth is not subject to time, therefore there are no changes in Truth, and there are no changes in Perfection.
47th week The more one surrenders oneself to the Divine, the more peaceful one becomes. A sense of indestructibility sets in. All problems are resolved. Problems harass a person so long as the person is himself and has not given himself to the Divine. The moment one has given oneself to the Divine, one becomes as grand as the Divine, all problems are resolved. The problems assault a person so long as one stands away from the Divine. Every hour is an hour of surrender to the Divine. Constantly there is the prayer in the heart, "Not I but You, O Divinity." Always it is the Divine that is put forward. The ego and the limitations recede into the background. Always the Divine is put first. Always one displaces oneself by the Divine, in thought, in feeling, in will, in soul, in the entire being. The Divine is established in oneself. Automatically the ego and other limitations are dissolved, the person has displaced himself by the Divine so many times, and so persistently, that there is no more of himself. It is all the Divine.
48th week Displace yourself by the Divine at every step. Enshrine the Divine in the temple of your inner being, thought, feeling, will, and heart. Human unhappiness, weakness, madness are due to moral limitations, jealousy, hate, egoism, pride, self-centeredness, consciousness of oneself as being oneself. These are the cause for all the human restlessness and problems. In daily life activity and experience people are not the temples of the Divine but the temples of jealousy, the temples of human weaknesses. They 'enshrine' these limitations, and therefore lose all the grandeur that constantly causes peace, happiness and strength. So, constantly displace yourself by the Divine. Constantly converse with the Divine, beg the Divine to abide in you, constantly offer yourself to the Divine.
49th week One who offers himself to the infinite Beauty, to the infinite Power, to the infinite Intelligence, will lack nothing, will be the most powerful person, most peaceful person, a grand personality, an inspiring presence. So, try to displace your little thoughts and feelings by the Divine. So long as you are imprisoned in your name and in your form, problems will arise. The moment your name and form dominate your attention and consciousness, difficulties will arise, you can be sinful, you can be bad. But the moment the prison of name and form is broken by a large thought and surrendered to the Infinite, all limitations drop away, and with them anxieties, worries, weaknesses. Learn the art of constantly turning the thought, and feeling, and soul, towards the Divine. So, try again and again to surrender all of your being to the Divine. Before it is too late begin the discipline right from this minute and hour. Nothing is more terrible than to be ruled by human weaknesses. Before the human weaknesses can possess you, be possessed by the Divine.
50th week Stillness and concentration in an involuntary way lead to sleep, and stillness and concentration on the Divine in a person who is intensely concentrating on the Divine and intensively active with the sense and feelings and knowledge and the experience of the divine Nature and Presence, is leading to illumination. Thus by intensity of concentration on the Divine, the spiritual individual melts his whole being into the Divine. He begs the Divine to fill him with Grace, to fill him with divine Energies<, divine Intelligence, with divine Peace. He begs the Divine to displace him by the Divine Himself. He begs the Divine to work wonders, and in his surrender to the Divine he himself tries to work wonders. He tries to work like a giant for the Divine, think like a genius for the Divine, day and night he is employed in the service of the Divine, in devotion to the Divine.
51st week The very nature of the world is such that it is darkness. It is a condition of heavy limitations. In this darkness the only way to perceive things is to keep the light burning. Supposing you put off the light, again the whole world is covered with darkness. So long as the light is there the darkness is conquered, the moment you put off the light everywhere again there is darkness. That is the very nature of the world, it is constituted of limitations, darkness, ignorance, and every kind of weakness. The only way to dispel these is to keep the light burning constantly. There should be no time when the light is put off. The light of devotion to the Divine in the spiritual heart is constantly burning. The stream of spiritual consciousness is constantly flowing in the spiritual individual. It is never broken. The moment you break it there is again darkness. So, the spiritual individual sustains himself in an unbroken continuity of inner awareness of the Divine.
52nd week "Everywhere is the Divine," so sings the heart of the spiritual individual, and God who is watching this at once makes this true, at once increases this person's capacity to experience the Divine. At once the Divine grants this person more Grace. More Grace means, it is more easy to perceive the Divine, more easy to feel the Divine. The great heart attracts Grace. The great heart is always on the mission of giving peace, not asking for anything. Happiness it gives, and it does not ask for it. It is always on the mission of distributing, sacrificing, giving. Such great hearts attract Grace. Grace enables them to be more deeply spiritual. Those who are jealous can never know peace. Where there is no peace there is no Grace. So moral imperfections must disappear. The more these imperfections disappear, the more the openness to Grace. The more the Grace, the more luminous the inner perception. So, obtain Grace from the Divine, play round the Divine, keep the Image of the Divine before the inner vision always.
Printed and published by Omkarananda Ashram Switzerland and Himalayas World Wide Web Edition (WWW) 1999 |
