Ananya Bhakthi

May 1979, Summer Course 1979, Brindavan

Published English.

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or peace is a divine attribute. It is the sweet delight of the . It is the prized possession of the or the one who has attained the summit of immaculate discrimination. Peace cannot reign in the malice-ridden hearts of selfish people. It can be attained only by those who, with patience, perseverance and forbearance follow the sacred path of spirituality.

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or steady, systematic, and sustained effort alone can confer peace of mind and inner tranquillity. However, the path of does present obstacles to the seeker who will have to overcome them by his perseverance. - pleasure cannot be the source for further pleasure. There is no joy without sorrow, no pleasure without pain, and no gain without loss. Therefore, abiding joy and everlasting bliss, conferred by the absolute peace and tranquillity of the mind, can be attained only through sincere and painstaking .

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“Ask and ye shall be given; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened”, says the Bible. These words contain the eclectic essence of all religions. People who claim today that they are asking, seeking and knocking at the door must realise that they are merely asking nature, seeking ephemeral pleasures and knocking at the gates of hell. Such being the case, they cannot expect God to answer, find the path of or have the gates of Heaven opened for them. How can be expected to answer the prayer addressed to ?

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Thus has the concept of been fully and vividly explained in the by . is one-pointed devotion to God, involving total surrender. One should not fragment his mind and offer just one bit of it to God. The mind in its entirety must be immersed in the Almighty. Once, advised the thus, “Ignorant as you are of the , the , and the , you should follow the path of the adepts in to attain communion with God.” , one of the , answered, “We have only one mind, not many; that mind has gone away to along with . Devoid of a mind, we are unable to understand you!” A person with a fragmented mind cannot attain . A disintegrated mind is an obstacle to spiritual progress. Concentration on God with a fragmented mind is an exercise in futility. Single-minded devotion is the easiest path to salvation. In fact, the becomes a (one liberated during life).

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Understanding the essence of enables one to understand the meaning and mystery of life. Life has seven supreme values namely, (reputation), (prosperity), (eloquence), (power of discrimination), (suprasensory intelligence), (courage), and (forbearance). In order to imbibe the essence of divinity, man should gain mastery over the powers associated with these values of life.

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Real eloquence consists in the exercise of restraint over speech. Excessive talking, use of abusive and obscene language and losing of one’s temper while speaking are some of the blunders that the tongue is bound to commit if it is engaged in constant chatter. The tongue is really meant for chanting the various divinely potent names of the Lord like , , and .

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So runs the sacred , an invocation addressed to the Sun for the improvement of the faculty of or intellect. The darkness of ignorance is dispelled by the incandescence of the which shines its light like the glorious sun. “Among the faculties, I am the ”, proclaims in the of the .

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, which is also essential for the spiritual regeneration of man, should be carefully distinguished from . is the power of discrimination exercised over the sensations and perceptions pertaining to the five sensory organs of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. is associated with suprasensory experiences, extrasensory perceptions, intuition and spirituality. It transcends the sensations and perceptions provided by the phenomenal world.

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Forbearance, the paragon of virtues, makes a man remain unruffled by the vicissitudes of life. Neither elated by a happy turn of events nor dejected on the occurrence of a tragedy, a man with fortitude is unperturbed by the ups and downs in the endless drama of life. Such a person endowed with inner tranquillity and peace of mind is the portrayed in the .

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In the ’s times, there was a particular village headman who despised the holy man and his teachings. Once, he heard that and his disciples were coming to his village. The tyrannical headman ordered all the villagers to shut the doors of their houses and refrain from giving alms to them. While the villagers followed his order, the headman himself stood near the entrance to his own house. Arriving with his followers, went to the headman’s house to ask for alms - “”, he said. The latter lost his temper and hurled abuse upon abuse at in the most uncivil language. Just as he was about to hit the sage, smiled and said, “I have a doubt. Suppose you give me alms thatI do not accept. What will you do then!” The haughty headman answered, “I will take them back.” Hearing this, asked in the most polite manner, “You have offered me insult and calumny. I do not accept them; you must, therefore, take them back.” The headman became silent and hung his head in shame and remorse.

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The aforementioned seven qualities are essential for the development of and must be cultivated by all . told , “I am in you and you are in Me. I will be in your vision and you will be in My vision if the barriers between us are broken and spiritual proximity attained. The essence of is the discovery of your self in Myself and Myself in yourself. You and I are One.” - all this is inhabited by God. Every person is a sanctuary of the divine . Therefore, if you hurt others, you will hurt who resides in them.