Passage 8

From the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 7.5.23

Also in his talks (48)

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In plain words

If you enquire deeply, the sacred story of God is understood well. One who floats on the surface does not understand it at all. One who has sunk head-deep in the water called Prema cannot say anything. One who floats on the water keeps talking a great deal. One who is immersed in Bhakti and faith knows nothing. He is lost in it. Today's scholars, the educated, and those who call themselves poets are only floating on the surface. But no words come to one who has sunk to the depths. Ānanda itself is his language. What more do you need than this? Searching for God is a great mistake. What search is there for One who is everywhere? There is no search at all. Once Annie Besant too said so. They said that in the Bhagavad Gītā devotees are searching for God. They are doing it in many ways:

Śravaṇaṃ kīrtanaṃ viṣṇusmaraṇaṃ pādasevanam vandanaṃ arcanaṃ dāsyaṃ snehamātmanivedanam.

She listened. To search for God? For God who is everywhere, where is the search? Every person is the very form of God. God Himself is searching for the devotee. Where is there a true devotee for Me?

I am searching, I go on searching; I am searching for true human devotees.

I am searching for a true human devotee. True Bhakti is found in birds. It is found in beasts. What misfortune it is that true Bhakti is lacking in human beings! It is all part time devotion. If you ask where God is: from now on, you must believe fully. You yourselves are the very form of God. The body is a temple. In it is God, the one called the jīva. He Himself is the principle of the Paramātma. You yourself are the principle of the Paramātma. Where is there another God than this? That faith must come firmly. Only then do we come to know well the taste of true Ānanda, of true Prema. Holding sugar in the hand, if you ask how it tastes, we do not understand it. Put it on your tongue. Merely putting it on your tongue does not bring it. Savour it. It goes in as sweet juice.