← The Gospel of Swami RamdasHis talks, as recorded by Swami Satchidananda

1956-01-07

Chapter 47

Ramdas-Ashram, Bhavnagar, January 7, 1956

496. Ram Nam all-inclusive

After breakfast, Papa was dictating letters to S. A young man of about twentyfive years came in and sat near Papa. Soon Papa stopped the dictation saying: "That will do for today. Ramdas wants to speak to this young man."

Papa (to the young man): You see, Vyas who came with you yesterday was telling us many things about you. It seems your people at home think you have become useless to the world and have no interest in taking up any work since you met Ramdas. But Ramdas does not think it is after meeting Ramdas. Vyas also said that you have not been quite normal, right from childhood. How then can they say that it is due contact of Ramdas? Why do you not take up some work? They say that you are simply wasting your time.

Young man: Papa, I shall explain the facts. I was working in the local rubber factory for three and a half years. My mother took ill and I had to take long leave to serve her. On that account they dismissed me from service. After some time I was temporarily employed for eight months, I could have continued there, but again I had to apply for leave on account of my mother's illness. I was asked to go away. From that time I have been practically unemployed.

Papa: Did Vyas not know about all this? Why did he talk to Ramdas differently?

Young man: They all think I am idling away my time. I request Papa to do this for me. I am too poor to have any Yajnopavita (sacred thread) ceremony done for me. Will you kindly initiate me and give me the yajnopavita without any ceremony?

Papa (laughing): How old are you? What is the use of having yajnopavita at this age? You ought to have been given that at your eighth or ninth year. Further what is the use of taking it from Ramdas? You want to have it just to satisfy the public. Surely, others will not be satisfied if you put it on without ceremony. If it is only for your satisfaction what is the use of yajnopavita at all? Ramdas has given you Ram Nam. Ram Nam includes yajnopavita, Gayatri and everything. Ramdas had a daughter in his purvashram. When her first son was of proper age, her people wished he should be given the sacred thread in the orthodox way. She said Ramdas should give him Ram Nam and that would do. She firmly believed that Ram Nam was everything. If you continuously repeat the Ram Nam that Ramdas has given you, you do not need anything more.

The young man was not quite satisfied but Papa was not prepared to give him the sacred thread. Papa asked him to take up a job early and assured him that since he had lost the job only on account of the leave taken for serving his mother, he was sure to get a job again with the mother's blessings. Papa added, "Service of the mother should be given the first place. All else next. The Upanishad says, "Matru Devo Bhava."

Young man: They say I am getting rusty, simply taking food at home and doing nothing.

Papa: You will have to bear all such things if you sit idle. Try to get a job soon.

497. 'Tera Panth'

10.30 a.m. Papa was sitting in his room. Near him were Sai Sattar Shah, Mukutbhai Kamdar, Gunvantrai Desai of Bombay and a young Maharashtrian boy. That boy had been coming regularly and spending long hours with Papa. Looking at the boy, Papa remarked: "This boy has fallen in love with Ramdas. He comes here and stays till he goes to school and comes again after school. Young boys are easily caught. It is difficult for grown-up people to fall in. That was why Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say, 'catch them young'. He gives a beautiful illustration for this. We have to offer ourselves to God. We must do so when we are young and fresh. But people in their youth spend all their days in the enjoyment of the senses, and when their senses are weak, they say to God, 'O God! I offer my whole life to you'. This is just like offering God a leaf on which you have taken your food. Those who dedicate their life to God from childhood on are really great. As long as we have the desire for sense-enjoyment, we cannot have interest in doing bhajan or other spiritual practices."

Mataji, who was in the bhajan-hall, came in and asked S to see who were waiting outside. S went out and saw the Jain sadhu who had come there a couple of days ago. Two other Jain sadhus were with him. They carried with them their brushes, and each of them had a big bag containing something heavy. They wanted to see Papa. Papa was about to go for bath. Leaning that the Jain sadhus had come, he came out with Sai Sattar Shah and greeted them with folded hands.

Jain sadhu: I have come today with my elder gurubhais. We are going away tomorrow and so wished to have your darshan today. We belong to the Tera Panth. 'Tera Panth' means 'your path'. We say to God: It is 'Tera Panth' that we follow. So ours is known as 'Tera Panth'. We have no headquarters. We just keep moving about. Our Guru Maharaj is called Tulsiji. He is a great saint and may come to the South some time, as he has pressing invitations. Our disipline is based on the five basic principles of ‘satya’, ‘ahimsa’, ‘brahmacharya’, ‘aparigraha’ and ‘asteya’. We observe this discipline and go about from place to place.

Papa: Very glad you gave us your darshan here.

Mama, who looked after the affairs in the ashram, took them to the kitchen.

498. Accept Papa as mother

Mataji and S were in the room. S was typing and Mataji was standing a few feet behind him, folding some clothes. Within a couple of minutes Mataji came near S and addressing him said: "I had better tell you when I remember. The easiest path to attain oneness with Papa is to accept him as Mother. That is the best way, especially to maintain brahmacharya. You look upon Papa as Mother; that means you look upon all as the forms of Mother and yourself as child of Her. When you have this attitude, lust will never overpower you and you can remain pure like a child."

S: Yes, I understand. Surely that is the best way to be pure.

January 8, 1956

499. Papa's daily routine

Papa's routine, in Ramdas-Ashram, was: He got up by 6 o'clock. Mataji got things for morning ablutions and called him into the bathroom. Afterwards S was ready with the correspondence. Papa dictated some letters. By about 6.30 a.m. Lingappa brought Papa's breakfast – boiled rice, milk and pickles. After breakfast, Papa dictated a few more letters. Then Pathak gave a dose of homeopathic medicine.

Dictation over by about 7 o'clock, he glanced through some book or other and then went to the water-closet. Coming back, he took a cup of water and a tablet of Berin. Then a few devotees would be present in the room. He talked to them till 8, and then took tea. Sai Sattar Shah would arrive. They would sit together for a while and attend bhajan in the hall at 8.30 a.m., which lasted till 9.30 a.m. By 9.45 a.m. Papa was back in the room with Sai Satter Shah and a number of devotees. Satsang would continue till about 11 a.m. In between, he would take a cup of water.

On alternate days Papa took his shave at 11 a.m. Mataji had his bath prepared, which occupied a quarter of an hour. Lunch was served at 11.30 a.m. to Papa and Sai Sattar Shah. A few minutes after lunch the latter would take his leave. Retiring immediately after, Papa rose at 1 p.m., took the fruits kept ready, went through the post, translating important letters, if any, to Mataji. Until 2.15 p.m. he was engaged in conversation with devotees and at 2.30 had his tea followed by Pathak's massage. He signed the outgoing letters at 4.30 p.m. and paced up and down the hall talking to devotees. He visited the houses of a few devotees and returned by 6 p.m. Supper was served at 6.30 p.m. in his room, where too he talked with some devotees. Bhajan was between 7.30 and 9 p.m. after which Papa, Sai Sattar Shah and the members of the Kamdar family retired to Papa's room; in a few minutes Sai Sattar Shah would take his leave. After a gargle, Papa retired for the night at 10 p.m. This was his daily routine. The unnumbered witty remarks he made on all and sundry topics that might arise in the course of the day were a regular feature wherever Papa happened to be.

500. 'You are motherly'

9.45 a.m. Papa's room. Bhajan was just over. Papa had come in and was sitting on the chair and some devotees were sitting in front. Prajaram, Raval, the poet-friend, who was also the principal of the Ayurvedic College, came in, prostrated and sat near Papa on the floor.

Papa: You are late this morning.

Raval: This morning I was reading your book ‘World is God’ and I have come up to Europe.

Papa: So now you have to go to America?

Raval: Yes. Today is Sunday. So I can remain with you longer. By reading the book I could feel how close to us you are. When we read about or think of other saints we feel they are far away and difficult to reach. But how different you are! You are motherly. While reading the book I felt you were the mother distributing prasad to your children sitting in two rows – East and West. How kind you are; how loving you are!

Papa: You have to go after the Father, but Mother comes to you.

Raval: That is exactly what you are doing. Your going to European countries must have been a very great blessing for them.

Papa: This book, ‘Ramdas Speaks’, containing questions and answers, shows how anxious they are to know the Truth and how they have studied Hindu philosophy. Ramdas went there with the authority of God-realisation. Without that he would never have gone to teach them. What can one teach when one has not experienced God? God prepared Ramdas and then sent him out to those places.

2.15 p.m. Seeing Maganlal Raichura entering the room, Papa exclaimed: "Ah! You have come! We were longing to see you. After all you have come!" (Papa embraces Maganlal who prostrates before Papa and sits down)

Maganlal: The office and other work kept me too busy and Tara is unwell. So, I could not come earlier.

Papa: Ramdas thought you were angry with us.

Maganlal: No, no. Why should I be angry? I am not angry with anybody in the world.

Papa: Ramdas is glad you have come. How is Tara's health? What is wrong with her?

Maganlal: She had a fall and sustained minor injuries, but she is better now.

501. A devotee from England

A young man, George Dudley, had met Papa in London, kept constant company with him and driven the car during his visits to various places in London, Sussex and Matlock. On leaving England, George had obtained Papa's reluctant permission to go over to India. With assistance from Mr WA Caro, George came to India in January 1955, and had stayed at Anandashram. He spent a few days with some Buddhist friends at Kalimpong and had also gone to Sri Ramanashram and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He was due back in England for which a friend from Holland staying then in Anandashram helped him. George wanted to be with Papa as long as possible and with the assistance of Natverlal G Parikh, flew in from Bombay that morning. He was accommodated in Kamdar's and took food at the ashram.

502. Pada Tirtha the sovereign medicine

9 p.m. After the evening bhajan, Papa, Sai Sattar Shah, Mataji and a number of devotees were in Papa's room. George was also there. While in the ashram he developed an ulcer in his foot, and it became septic. He tried all sorts of medicines with little benefit. Mataji immediately prepared a medicated oil generally in use in Anandashram. Soon after bhajan, S dressed the wound with the medicated oil. Papa was happy to see that George's wound was dressed properly. He asked George to take care and not to allow the wound to get wet.

A devotee (to Mataji): As Mataji is a doctor, we would like to know some of your medicines. Now we have come to know one medicine that you have given to George. You might be knowing many more.

Mataji then gave a description of some indigenous medicines made out of leaves available in Anandashram. She then said: "Above all these medicines, there is another. That is Papa's pada tirtha. That does the trick."

Papa: When somebody is sick in a house, they do not go straightway to the hospital. They come to Mataji and ask for Ramdas’ pada tirtha. It is given and the patient recovers. There are cases of hard labour. Mataji sends them the tirtha and soon the delivery is over. Sometimes a cow struggles with labour pain and Mataji sends the tirtha which is poured into its mouth. Soon the delivery takes place.

There was one Dr Umanath Rao working in our dispensary. Before going to the hospital he would wash Ramdas’ feet, fill the water in a bottle and take it with him to the hospital. Patients were all cured.

A devotee: Faith is a wonderful thing. It really works wonders. We must give Mataji the honorary degree of MD. (All laugh)

Those present prostrated and left. Papa went to the bathroom.

Mataji (to S): Two or three months back the cow that had a bad fall and fractured her leg was in severe labour. Ambunhi and another were struggling to take the calf out. They found there was some obstruction. It was thought that they should cut the calf in pieces and take it out. It was a horrible thing. They asked me for the tirtha. In order to strengthen their faith I asked Ambunhi to go, wash Papa's feet himself and give the tirtha to the cow. He did so. Wonderfully enough, when he put his hand again to take the calf out, he found that the bone, which was causing the obstruction, slowly went in and the calf came out. Though there was great strain, both the calf and cow were saved. Due to great exertion in pulling out the calf, Ambunhi was spent out and had to rest. See how it works!

S: People who argue with their intellect cannot believe. They will go on giving various reasons for the safe delivery and never attribute it to the tirtha.

503. The book ‘World is God’

9.45 p.m. All assembled in the room except Mataji. S and Lingappa, took their leave of Papa. Papa, with a sudden smile and laugh, asked Mataji for the book ‘World is God’. Mataji gave it to him and asked him what he was going to read at that time. He again laughed and said: "Ramdas wants to read the conclusion of the book. SL said that the book is very nice, especially the foreword and conclusion, and more so the conclusion. So Ramdas wants to see for himself if it is so nice as he says."

Mataji laughed.

S: So Papa wants to see if SL's statement is correct. Is it not?

Papa: Yes, when somebody appreciates Ramdas’ writings, he reads them again and again to make sure if they are so.

January 9, 1956

504. On God-realisation

9.30 a.m. Papa's room. Papa and Sai Sattar Shah were back in the room after the morning bhajan. A group of devotees came and sat in front of them.

Devotee: When did you realise God?

Papa: Thirty-three years ago.

Devotee: May I know the exact date?

Papa: 27th December, 1922.

Devotee: What is God-realisation?

Papa: It is everything and it is nothing. To say that realisation was at such and such time is difficult, because God is infinite. To realise the infinite and get the fullness of that experience takes time. First you are established in one stage and from that you progress until you have that fullest experience of God in all His aspects. This growth is gradual until you blossom like a flower and then bear fruit. A bud becomes a flower only after it blooms fully.

It is first a bud which gradually opens bringing out all its fragrance. But even as bud it has its own beauty. When fully blossomed it has a different type of beauty. Some people prefer to remain half-open. They want some beauty to be hidden. In any case all the different stages of blossoming are beautiful.

In 1922 Ramdas found the world to be as good as non-existent for him. He was dead to the world and alive to the spiritual life. He was asleep to the world and awake to the divine within. That, Ramdas can say, was the time of his realisation of God. From then gradually the bud blossomed to its fullness and revealed itself. Ramdas cannot say exactly when the fruit became fully ripe and sweet.

Devotee: What should a layman do in this regard?

Papa: God must make the bud blossom into a beautiful and fragrant flower. It is not in your hands to make it blossom. Leave your life to God who will do what is necessary for you. Thirty-three years ago Ramdas had only very little faith in God. Later, his faith gradually grew and he felt that he was merely a child and God was the Mother holding his hand and leading him. Why God should lead one and not another is a mystery. Ramdas cannot solve it. Ramdas does not feel that there was anything extraordinary in him to deserve this special treatment from God. It was only His grace.

Devotee: Without our becoming pure, how can we approach God?

Papa: You have only to approach God – your Mother. She will purify you. Mother will not ask you to get away from Her because you are impure. Even if we go with all our dirt, She bathes us clean, and takes us into Her lap. How can we purify ourselves? What does the child know? So what we have to do is only to be a child and approach God as Mother. We should not be obstinate children. We must stop our play and approach the Mother. What we do now is, even if the Mother calls, we fail to respond.

Devotee: If the children play too long, mother comes and takes them away herself.

Papa: It happens in extraordinary cases, and that too only with the youngest child.

Devotee: Why does the mother send the child to play and get dirty?

Papa: As to that question, Mother and child are not different; they are one. The mother has Herself become the whole universe consisting of all beings and creatures in it. She has become everything and is playing the eternal game. The so-called ignorance and the so-called knowledge are Hers alone. She is Prakriti. We are all forms of that prakriti. Actually we are She. Her game is wonderful!

505. Sadhana for householders

5 p.m. Papa did not have the usual massage as he had pain all over the body and slight temperature. So after the noon talks, Papa was alone, mostly confined to the room. A group of devotees came in before 5 p.m. and sat in front of him. Soon the room became almost overcrowded and Papa suggested they might go and sit outside. But Mataji said that it would be better if Papa remained in the room as it was breezy in the hall. Papa agreed. For some time all sat quiet. Now an old man and two women from Sihore came in. Then came the young lawyer who had done all the questioning the previous evening. All sat silent.

Papa broke the silence by saying: "The question is how to do sadhana while living in the family. Yes, it may be hard. But it has to be done. Some people leave the house and run away. What about them? They do not attain anything."

Young lawyer: But sadhana done in the house will be half-hearted. We cannot give the whole heart to God.

Papa: What about those who run away? Can they keep their whole heart with God? They still have their desires and attachments. Sitting in the cave or jungle they think of their old connections and relations instead of thinking of God. Where is their heart – on the family or on God?

Ramdas has seen many people who renounced everything and went away for some time, but finding they were better off before, returned to their earlier life. There are others who later felt that it would have been better if they had remained householders; but they found at the same time it was too late for them to go back. They suffer. Their mind is neither here nor there. What is the use of such a life?

Is it not then better to remain in the family and do sadhana? The way is to take God's name, do good work and resort to satsang. If you do this as much as you can everyday, you are sure to progress on the path. People say it is hard nowadays to do sadhana at home. It is not at all hard if you have the real aspiration to realise God. Without keen aspiration for God there is no use even if one goes away from the household to caves and jungles. When one has intense aspiration to realise God and dispassion towards worldly enjoyments, he can attain his goal even if he is in the household.

Once, many years ago, Ramdas met a sadhu in his wandering life. In a fit of vairagya he had left home and taken to sannyas. He carried on for some time. Later he found his mind was with his relatives and his meditations were all only a show. He was getting worried and anxious. Some other sadhus suggested that if he used ganja he would be all right. He got into the habit of taking ganja and fell a victim to it. When he was under the influence of ganja, he would lose his temper and do all sorts of things. Where is concentration or meditation then? One day he had severe stomach-ache. He began to weep saying that the ache was due to the curse of his people at home. Ramdas asked him why he should worry about his people and their curse when he had nothing to do with them. Ramdas also told him if his mind was with the relatives it would be better for him to go back to the old life, earn his livelihood and be happy there. Ramdas did not see him for some time, but met him later in North India. He had gone back to his old life and was suffering a great deal as he could not get any work. That is the plight of those who get out of the house before they are actually ready for a dedicated life.

Some friends argue that one cannot lead a straightforward life in the household, as, they say, they have to tell many lies to carry on their worldly activities. Ramdas does not believe it. We can live a perfectly honest life in whatever situation we are placed, provided we intensely aspire to live up to our ideal of absolute honesty. We should never tell a lie whatever may be the consequence.

Devotee: What is God?

Papa: Many great saints have said that God is Satchidananda-parabrahma-vastu.

Devotee: What is the relation between man and God?

Papa: They are one. But, through ignorance, man feels he is separate from God.

Devotee: But I am not satisfied with your answer to my question; ‘What is God?’

Papa: You will be satisfied only when you experience God. Do sadhana, still the mind and realise that you are God. Once Sankaracharya was camping in a place with some of his disciples. In a room he was giving some lessens to them. One of them, who had gone out on some business, knocked at the door. Sankara asked, "Who is that?" The disciple replied: 'I am here.' Then Sankara said, 'If that I is the individual I, give it up. If it is the universal I, keep it.' This was a most valuable instruction and the disciple immediately took it. He realised the Truth then and there.

January 10, 1956

506. English devotee asked to tea

7.30 a.m. The previous day the Annual Number of 'Kalyan', the famous and popular Hindi magazine, had come by post and ever since, Papa had been keeping it with him most of the time. This magazine contained stories from the puranas. After finishing his correspondence and breakfast in the morning, he was immersed in reading it. Unusually there were not many devotees present – only two were sitting in front of him.

The local tabla-player, who was also a devotee of Papa, entered the room, prostrated, sat near Papa and said, "That devotee of yours who has come from London should come to my house and have tea with us. Such a great devotee, he has come all the way from London to India! Where is London, where is Kanhangad and where is Bhavnagar! He must have extraordinary love for you. We are after all very ordinary devotees. I must take him home at least once. I want your permission for it."

Papa (laughing): You have developed so much love for him! You may ask him. If he agrees you can take him.

Tabla-player: I have already asked him. He has agreed. I shall come here in the evening with the car to take him. As I do not know English, I have asked my brother-in-law to take leave from his office today and he will be here this evening.

Papa: Don't feed him with anything made in oil. Prepare things in ghee. He does not take chillies. In the ashram also he was not taking such things.

Tabla-player: I will give him only fruits and tea.

Mataji: You may give some biscuits also.

Papa: That will be all right.

Tabla-player: Will he stay here as long as you stay?

Papa: It is likely, as he is waiting for his ticket.

Tabla-player: If so, I wish to take him to my house everyday for tea."

Papa (laughing): Do you love him so much?

507. Saints' words are upadesh

8 a.m. It had become the custom for Batukbhai Pattani to come with his wife at that time. He would bring two flowers with him, place one at Papa's feet and another at Mataji's. He would spend a few minutes with Papa daily. When he came, Papa would ask him kaisa hai? (How are you?) His answer invariably would be chalta hai – dodta nahi hai (walking, but not running).

10 a.m. Bhajan was over. A few devotees and Papa were in the room. Papa was reading the morning post. There was a letter from Amal Bose of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The letter said that he was happy to get Papa's letter and was treasuring it as a spiritual document. On reading that Papa smiled and said he would like to see the letter under reference. But that was not possible, as the files were in Anandashram.

Papa: When people write such letters, Ramdas feels like looking into the old correspondence to see if he has written anything special.

S: Not special from Papa's point of view. But all the importance lies in this: they get the letter at the right time and the contents sink deep in their hearts. Then they consider it to be of unusual importance.

A devotee: Is it not that whatever a saint says is an upadesh to others?

Papa: Yes. Saint Tukaram has sung beautifully about this. He says that even an ordinary talk of a saint is full of upadesh (spiritual advice).

508. Go to God, our Mother

Sri Sompura came in to say that Sri Shivjibhai had come. Instantly Shivjibhai himself was seen prostrating before Papa. Papa greeted him. Shivji raised his head and said, "I remember you are the chhota bachcha, lekin sher ka bachcha” (you are a small child but you are the cub of a lion). All had a good laugh. When Shivjibhai came last time in 1954, during their conversation Papa seemed to have spoken of himself as chhota bachcha (a small child), to which Shivji immediately replied, Chhota bachcha thik hai, lekin sher ka bachcha hai (small child, all right, but a lion's cub).

Shivji: You have had a long tour round the world.

Papa: Yes, we visited many places.

Shivji: But the Ganges has come to our house.

Papa: Some friends wished that after Ramdas’ return from the tour, they should go round him once so that they would also get the benefit of having gone round the world.

Shivji: That is what we are doing now. I heard from our friend that you had come here and I wanted to have your darshan.

Papa: That is very nice. It is very kind of you. God is called Khuda. It means he who comes of his own accord. You have come of your own accord to give darshan. So you are God.

Sompura: Yesterday Papa said that to come near its mother, the child need not be clean. If the child is dirty, the mother cleans it. What we have to do is only to become small children.

Shivji: That is the right thing. We must become children and go to God, our Mother. If we know this, what more have we to attain?

Papa: When we become children and go to God, our Mother, we need not be tidy. She will lift us up, bathe us clean and take us into Her own being. To cleanse us is Her job. But we must not forget to go to Her. That is all.

Shivji: When we accept Him as Mother, half the work is over. When we become children, the work is complete. But we are not prepared for either.

Papa: Even if we are called by Her we do not go.

Shivji: I was told you are to stay here for two months. Is it true? I have come here only for a few minutes. I shall come again to spend a longer time with you. I have now got the key: To attain Ram we must catch hold of Hanuman. To get Ramdas I have to catch hold of Sompura. It was he who guided me to you. It was his father who first showed me your book ‘In Quest of God’. I must see Mataji also.

Mataji came after her bath and Shivji got up and prostrated to her.

Shivji: Don't you remember me?

Mataji: How can I forget the Divine Mother?

Shivji: I came to the ashram and you fed me with fine rotis.

Mataji: I remember you came to the ashram but not about giving you rotis.

Shivji laughed and took his leave of Papa and Mataji.

Papa: When Shivji came last time he gave Ramdas an embrace. He pressed him so hard that it gave him pain for days together. Ramdas remembered it this time and never got up from his seat. He was dreadfully afraid of it.

Sompura: Whenever I am here for a few minutes, I note down whatever you say. You have been giving me some story or other which is very instructive.

Papa: So you got good stories for four or five days.

509. Do not blame the times

5 p.m. Pathak finished Papa's massage fifteen minutes earlier. Papa then signed the outgoing letters, went out to the main hall and sat on the sofa. There were three devotees waiting for him. One of them was a young man, who, it seemed, had made it a point to meet Papa when he was alone, as far as possible, so that he could go on with his volley of questions without any interruption. The young devotee had been meeting Papa for the last two or three years during his visits to Bhavnagar.

The devotee: Swamiji, I have been taking Ram Nam as suggested by you. Sometimes I get so much joy that I feel like dancing.

Papa (With a broad smile): Yes, go on dancing.

Devotee: But that joy does not last long. It fades away soon.

Papa: Because the repetition of the Mantra stops. If you keep up the repetition, you will have unending joy.

Devotee: We are not able to keep up the repetition as we have so many other responsibilities of the household to shoulder. Perhaps in the olden days things were easy and one could do sadhana better in the household.

Papa: Why do you think it was easy in the olden days and not now? Are there not great mahatmas these days? In Gujarat itself you had the householder saint, Narsi Mehta. So do not blame the times. We ourselves are responsible. It is necessary to have intense aspiration to realise God. Then sadhana can be done, anywhere and at any time. We do repetition of God's name for a few hours of the day and feel that we are great devotees. What are we? Prahlada, Narada and saints like them are the real bhaktas. You must have heard about Sri Ramakrishna. During the early days of his sadhana, it seems he was fully absorbed in the contemplation of the Divine Mother and he spent the whole day quite unconcerned with the surroundings and the world. When the evening bell rang at the Kali temple, he would be reminded that the day had passed and night was approaching. At this he used to feel great pain and agony and cry out: 'O Mother, another day has passed, still You have not shown Yourself to me.' So intense was his aspiration to realise the Mother.

510. God looks after all

Devotee: What about our worldly responsibilities? We have many dependants. They have to be looked after. Should we shirk our responsibilities?

Papa: What is our responsibility? Are people depending upon us? No. It is foolish to think so. God looks after everybody and it is His responsibility.

King Shivaji was once building a big fort. Thousands of men were engaged for the work. The construction was progressing at full speed. One day Shivaji went there and saw thousands of men at work. He thought: 'Such a large number of people are depending upon me for their livelihood.' He felt happy and proud. Shivaji was the disciple of Samarth Ramdas, a great saint of Maharashtra. The latter came to see his disciple. He soon discerned the pride that filled Shivaji's mind, and wanted to teach him a lesson. Seeing a very big rock nearby he asked Shivaji to get a few workmen and order them to break it to pieces. When some big pieces of the rock were broken off, they noticed a few holes inside the rock. In each hole there was water and a live frog. Samarth Ramdas now asked Shivaji, 'How are the frogs living here? Are you responsible for feeding them? Is it not God who provides for all? Is it not then God who looks after thousands of these workers here?’ At this direct question, Shivaji felt greatly ashamed of his own littleness. He prostrated before the saint and asked for forgiveness.

We take the responsibility of the family and so forth unnecessarily. We must know, it is God who runs the whole show. We are ourselves protected by Him. Then how can we think we are looking after others? Ramana Maharshi has given a beautiful example. There is a train running. One of the passengers has a suitcase. He is worried about it. He feels it will be left behind if he does not carry it himself on his head. So he puts it on his head and sits in the train. He does not know that when he and the suitcase are both in the train, the suitcase will also be carried by the train. That is what we are also doing. God looks after us and everybody. Instead of firmly believing in this, we feel the responsibility of looking after our relations, and worry about them.

511. Difficulties, only for our good

Devotee: What about the various difficulties we have?

Papa: What difficulties? When you entirely depend upon God, what difficulties will you have? You must have full faith that God does everything for the best. Even the difficulties, He gives us only for our good. They say the devotees of Vishnu become very poor. The reason is this. When a devotee worships Vishnu, He takes away all his material possessions. This is to enable the devotee to give up his 'I and mine' and completely surrender to Him. When his surrender is complete and he has realised his identity with God, God gives him everything in plenty. Now, though he possesses much more than he had before, he does not feel that he owns anything as his. He knows well that all these are given to him by God and that he is merely an instrument in His hands to carry out His will. There is no place for egoism.

512. God is Anandaghana

Devotee: Is it better to chant the Mantra mentally than aloud?

Papa: It is left to each one's taste and temperament. Some get concentration by repeating mentally, while some others get it by repeating aloud. In the case of Ramdas he was repeating aloud, and by the very sound of the Name his mind was concentrated. The mind got immersed in the Name and became still. You have seen the snake-charmer playing on his flute. As soon as the serpent hears the sound of music, it stops running about, raises its hood and stands still. So does our mind, as soon as it is attracted by the sound of the Name.

Devotee: As I have already told you, I am repeating the Gayatri Mantra and also the Ram Mantra. Sometimes I suspect that I am taking two Mantras because of my doubt in the efficacy of either of them. What is your advice?

Papa: All Mantras are equally powerful. Go on chanting them constantly. What you need is constant practice supported by dispassion for worldly things. Go on with your practice.

Devotee: When I met you, two years back, I had love for the Name 'Govinda'. But you said Ram Nam is sweet. Now, of course, I am taking Ram Nam and find it sweet.

Papa: Govinda-nam is sweet. Ram Nam is also sweet. All Names are sweet. All are Names of the Supreme Being, who is sweetness itself. Whatever Name you take it must taste sweet. Ramdas was given Ram Nam by his Guru. So he was taking Ram Nam. If he had been given Govinda-nam he would have taken it and enjoyed the same sweetness. All Names are equally sweet. The moment you take the Name it gives you sweetness, as is the case when you put a lozenge into your mouth. God is sweet. Oh! Our mouth waters when we talk about His name! He is Anandaghana (full of bliss).

All were silent for a few minutes. Papa took the newspaper that was lying by his side, and started reading it.