THE GOAL AND THE PATH

We do not properly understand what effect our activities in the world produce upon the atmosphere of the Godly region. When joined with the inner feelings of the heart our activities create impressions in the cosmos, and they affect the human mind. They grow more and more powerful by the action of the cosmic energy; and the hearts of the people, when hit by them, take in their effect and begin to produce thoughts and more thoughts. In this way we have been spoiling the cosmos ever since our birth. That is the reason why we are never without a thought even for a moment. But those who rise above the cosmos can no doubt become almost thoughtless. When a man goes on with his usual work, of whatever nature it might be, in the sense of duty having no weight or impression of it upon his heart, he spoils neither himself nor the cosmos. That is why Lord Krishna has insisted so much upon the recognition of the true sense of duty. We have thus been spoiling the cosmos ever since, while Nature, the supreme force, is ever engaged in clearing off all these things. At times when it gathers heavily, a special personality is brought down to do the work. An atmosphere of bhoga is created all through, which causes suffering and affliction over humanity. Special means are also adopted for the purpose in the form of wars, diseases and heavenly calamities. A great power of that type is already at work today to accomplish the task which is similar to that which Lord Krishna came down for.

People often say that they are too busy with their private affairs to spare any time for puja and upasana, but that the busiest man has the greatest leisure is a common saying. To my mind a man has more time at his disposal than he has work for. Service and sacrifice are the two instruments to build up the temple of spirituality. Love is of course the foundation. Any kind of service done selflessly is helpful. Service carries with it a sense of worship, and we should be as busy with it as we are with our daily routine of life. The easiest method for it would be to think every thing one has to do as the order of God, and treat it as one's duty. We must remember that every thing we have in this world has come down to us from God. Our fellow beings are also His creation. He is the Master of every thing and we are all His children, no matter if a few of them are specially entrusted to our charge. In this way we shall be relieved of the feelings of undue attachment. If this feeling becomes deep-rooted, one will be serving them with a sense of duty and at the same time be remembering the Great Master as well. This will finally develop into the habit of constant remembrance.

The goal of life can easily be achieved, if we are sincerely devoted to it having in mind the idea of the Great Master all through. By devotion we establish a link between us and the Master which serves as a path for us to march on. All that we have to do is to keep it clear and free from thorns and shrubs which might be impediments in our way. Earnestness of purpose and the intensity of devotion help to keep the path clear. When the path is clear, the heart pushes one forward on it. The impediments comprise chiefly of the conflicting ideas which keep on haunting the mind. A temporary lull created by the effect of meditation means a step onwards. As one proceeds on with it one will experience that the conflicting ideas begin to disappear. When that attains a state of permanency, the thought of closeness with God gets into prominence.

Numerous ways are prescribed for securing Realisation, each one suited to a particular taste or mentality of the individual. A man of the lowest standard, who cannot give his mind up to meditation, may however, on account of his inner grossness, take the solid things to start with and begin worshipping images with the bhava of Almighty of course. But, unfortunately, they usually take the image itself as God, omitting altogether the idea of any higher being. A little advanced amongst them are generally considered to be those who keep in view the imaginary form similar to one they have fixed their mind upon, and who go on with the usual routine of mechanical worship of offering flowers, sandal, and incense to them in their imagination. This they call as manasic puja and consider it to be an advanced stage. As a matter of fact they are no better than those of the former type. The result in both the cases would be exactly the same, and finally they would become solid like rock.

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BOUNDEN DUTY

To realize our goal of life is our Bounden Duty. Therefore, one should aspire for the highest, peace and other things should be secondary.

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GOAL OF LIFE

Now about the goal of human life. Anything short of liberation cannot be taken as the goal of life although there remains still a lot beyond it. We find but a few persons who have even liberation as their final goal of life, which represents the lowest rung in the spiritual flight. The problem of life remains totally unsolved if we are below this level. The goal of life means nothing but the point we have finally to arrive at. It is, in other words, the reminiscence of our homeland or the primeval state of our present solid state of existence, to which we have finally to return. It is only the idea of destination which we keep alive in our minds and for that we practise Devotion only as duty. The highest possible point of human approach is much beyond the sphere of mahamaya, wherefrom avatars like Rama and Krishna have descended; hence, a good deal above that level. It may be surprising to most of the readers but it is a fact beyond doubt. The final point of approach is where every kind of force, power, activity or even stimulus disappears and a man enters a state of complete negation, nothingness or zero. Such is the extent of human achievement which a man should fix his eyes upon from the very beginning, if he wants to make the greatest progress on the path of realization.

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DESTINATION

The point we start from is the very point which corresponds closely with the destination.

YEARNING – FINAL GOAL

The natural yearning of soul is to be free from bondage. If there is one who does not like to free himself from the entanglements, there is no solution for him.

My humble request to you is that you should try to re-own the latent power which is the very quintessence of the final goal, by breaking up the network, interwoven by yourself. Taking up the ideal of the simplicity of nature, which is before everybody's view, you should set to work for the attainment of the goal in a way that all senses having merged in, one may become synonymous with that which remains after the fading away of the previous impressions. Then alone can you think yourself as diverted towards Him in the true sense.

It has been observed that those on the path of spirituality who did not fix that final state for their goal have definitely remained short of the mark because before arriving at the final point they mistook one or the other of the intermediary states to be the final point or reality and stopped there forever.

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