THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF DEVOTION TO GOD

While remembering Radha Krishn and meditating on Their Divine form, you have to chant Their name, virtues and leelas with tears of love and longing, and with a deep desire to receive Their Divine vision and Divine love. During devotion, loving meditation on Their form is most important. You may form Their image in your own mind according to your liking. You may take the help of a Deity or a picture of Radha Krishn. But, whatever form you create in your mind, you must have Divine feelings in that, because the body of Radha Krishn is always Divine and Blissful.

You can choose any form of Krishn (or Radha) from a newly born baby up to sixteen years of age and mentally decorate that form according to your desire and choice.

Along with the meditation on His form you should also remember His loving leelas and His virtues, just like: He is the true friend of every humble soul (deenbandhu) and a true companion to every fallen soul (patit pavan).

All the names, virtues, leelas, abodes and the rasik Saints of Radha Krishn are totally synonymous.

You should not have any worldly desire or even the desire of liberation from Them. You must only desire for Their selfless Divine love and Divine service.

You should always think that your Divine Beloved (Radha Krishn) and your beloved Master are always with you and are protecting you. Never ever think that you are alone.

All the time in your heart you must remember the name ‘Radhey Shyam’ or ‘Radhey Radhey.’

You have to keep yourself away from damaging thoughts and bad associations. They are: looking to another person’s fault; criticizing other devotees; desire for popularity; disappointment in devotion; laziness in doing devotions; and friendliness with such worldly people whose association may spoil your devotional feelings.

You have to keep yourself away from the spiritual transgressions related to the name, form, leelas, virtues, abode, associates, and the Divine love of Radha Krishn.

‘Only They are my everything,’ this feeling has to be strengthened in the mind.

TWO CATEGORIES OF SAINTS

The first category of Saints consists of those who are saintly inwardly, and their external behavior is also Saintly. They possess Divine knowledge, realization and Bliss within them, and externally too they appear to be Saints. Their behavior is not contrary to our notion of a Saint, and hence it is easy to recognize them. However, history bears witness to the fact that very few Saints belong to this category.

The second category of Saints consists of those who are saintly inwardly, but appear to be worldly in their outward behavior. We usually judge others by their external behavior, so it becomes difficult to recognize such Saints. Most Saints belong to this category, because it is their nature to conceal themselves from the world.

“Gopaniyam Gopaniyam Gopaniyam Praynataha”

“Spiritual greatness should be kept secret, and not displayed to the world.” The possible reason for this is that it is a common notion that a good man does not declare his greatness with his own mouth. So, if a Saint were to declare his identity himself, people would never accept him as a Saint. Whatever the reason, history bears witness to the fact that most Saints appeared outwardly worldly, but they were Divine from within.

PRE-REQUISITES OF A SPIRITUAL MASTER

The scriptures mention two pre-requisites for a Spiritual Master: He should possess complete knowledge of the scriptures, and he should be perfectly situated in God-consciousness. This means that he should be perfectly proficient in theory as well as in practice. One who is merely a scholar of the scriptures, but has not attained God-realization, cannot be considered a genuine Guru. However, between these two pre-requisites, the practical aspect is more important. If one is not well versed in the scriptures, but is established in God-consciousness, then he may still be considered a genuine Guru, for on knowing God everything automatically becomes known.

THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL MASTER

After detachment from the world, and before surrender to God, there is need of another Divine Personality without whom one cannot proceed further. That entity is a God-realized Saint or Spiritual Master. It is the Spiritual Master who decides which path is best for each devotee, in order to surrender to God. Again, when we traverse the path, it is the Spiritual Master who dispels our doubts and helps overcome obstacles. Without His guidance, we can never reach our destination.

Veda Says that “Learned men have concluded that the mere performance of Vedic rituals cannot destroy the bondage of past karmas. On the contrary, they only serve to increase that bondage. Hence, one needs the guidance of a Saint who has known and experienced God.”

The Bhagavad Geeta states:“To gain knowledge of God, one must surrender to a God-realised Saint, with an attitude of service and enquire from him submissively.”

Ved Vyas also states: “The goal of God-realization can only be attained by surrendering to genuine Spiritual Master.”

The Ramayan also says: Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot cross over the ocean of material existence.” “Without the guidance of a Guru, one cannot attain knowledge of God” Thus, the unanimous view of all the scriptures is that we must surrender to a Spiritual Master, in order to know the unknown entity called God.

PRACTICE SADHANA EVERYDAY

Just put aside few minutes every day to do Sadhana. You have nothing to loose but to gain. You do not have to make any special accommodation. Where ever you remember God becomes pure ambiance. Just like the sun evaporates dirty water and turn it into rain drops. God will purify you from all your sins and make you his own forever.

SHREE KRISHNA IS FOREMOST OF ALL FORMS OF GOD

ब्रह्म के अनेक रूप, गोविन्द राधे,

सर्वरूप आश्रय कृष्ण बता दे.

Brahma ke anek roop, Govinda Radhey. Sarvaroop aashreya Krishna bata dey.

God has uncountable forms, but three are main: Brahma, Paramatma, and Bhagawan. Bhagawan Shri Krishna is foremost of all the divine forms of God because all the divine powers are revealed in His personality; they are only partially revealed in the other forms. There are not multiple Gods, rather one God has different forms related to the powers that are manifested. For this reason, the form of Shri Krishna has special importance.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF HUMAN BIRTH

The goal of human life is to attain Divine love which is only possible with the Grace of God. To receive His Grace you have to wholeheartedly surrender yourself at His lotus feet and love Him selflessly. This is called divine love devotion. In fact our desired object, the Divine love, is Divine by nature which is beyond the material world, so there cannot be any direct approach to it, neither through our material intellect nor senses.

In this material world every person is born with certain tendencies and likings. As he grows, his likings take the shape of desires, and to fulfill those desires he works for his whole life. The life ends but desires never end. Everyone is devoid of real happiness, that is why they run after everything that pleases them.

This world has been created in such a way that every living being perceives two kinds of objects and situations; one is soothing to the senses and the mind, and the other is non-soothing. When a person perceives such an object which is soothing to his mind, his brain nerves feel a sweet comfort, and this feeling strengthens his faith that the world is sweet. This faithful imagination gives more imaginary pleasure which further multiplies his faith, and thus, this cycle of misunderstanding goes on forever.

You feel happy when you are having a good time, but at the same time your inner conscience declares a discontent that appears in the shape of a ‘desire to have more.’ The happiness that you receive from the world reaches to a certain depth in your mind, but the proclamation to receive total contentment comes from the very bottom of your mind which is next to your soul. Material joy, happiness, pleasure and felicity can never reach the very bottom of your heart and mind. There remains a big gap, and that gap can be observed by you if you sincerely think over it alone. This is the fact of life, and the truth of material happiness.

Material truth is the experience and perception of temporary discontented pleasures of the material life with a growing hope for future fulfillment that can never happen because ‘the present’ is always wholly or partially discontented. The Divine truth is God Himself Who is loving, kind, and friendly; Who is eternally yours and always with you in every situation.

Your innermost conscience is already desiring God’s love and His association. The moment your conscious mind begins to believe this fact, you begin to feel a kind of secure fulfillment in your life. This is the beginning of your spiritual life.

The nature of human mind is that it becomes attached to the object or person it faithfully remembers, and adopts the qualities of that where it is attached. When the mind is attached to material phenomena it develops only good and bad qualities, and always remains bound to the material dimension. When your mind is attached to God it develops devotional qualities and, in time, you may receive God realization with the Grace of God and your Divine Spiritual Master.

Thus, your ultimate goal of life is only God realization.

TWO AREAS IN THE WORLD

There are only two areas in the world. One is Divine,Satya and the other is Material,Asatya. God and his saints who are beyond Maya alone are 'satya'. Association with them through the complete involvement of the mind and intellect is referred to as 'satsanga', 'divine association'. Anything or anyone else apart from this naturally comes under the three modes of Maya-'Tamasa','Rajasa' and 'Sattvik'. Therefore,association with this area is referred to as 'Kusanga','Material association'.In short,whatever leads to the attachment of the mind and intellect to the divine is "Satsanga",apart from this,everything else is "Kusanga" or 'wrong association'.

LEAD LIFE WITH HUMBLENESS AND TOLERANCE

A devotee should not be looking for praise or compliments, but rather have respect for others. A devotee should always give respect to others and should not desire respect in return. In this way, one should lead a life filled with humility, tolerance and respect for others. A devotee should always chant, sing and remember God, His pastimes, His grace and virtues with affinity every moment.

Having respect for others without seeking any compliments, being humble and always forgiving, all of these virtues can be expressed in one word, Humility. It is the foundation of devotion. Devotion starts, stays, and develops only on the basis of humbleness. Any touch of pride and ego spoils it, just like a pinch of salt spoils a cake. Pride or ego is an obstacle in devotion. Humbleness of a devotee develops dedication to his master and dependence on God's Grace.

BHAKTI - THE EASIEST PATH TO GOD

What is so difficult about Bhakti? The one whom we have to worship is sitting within our heart. One God, Shri Krishna is sitting within the hearts of everyone, Everyone - Man, Dog, Cat, Pig, Demon, everyone. And, he is everywhere, within every particle of the universe. But, we cannot see Him. We will be able to see Him after we are purified by doing Bhakti. Right now, we have to try to bring God in our hearts. Later, we will not have to try, we will be able to think about God continuously without any effort. It will be very natural.Once there was a beautiful Gopi sitting near the Yamuna river and someone thought look at this beautiful girl, she is thinking about Shri Krishna. Someone asked her you are thinking about Shri Krishna ? She said, you took His name again, I am trying hard to remove Him out of my mind but in vain. I have small kids to take care of and my family for whom I have to cook and run errands. Whenever I am cooking or trying to do something, He comes in front of me and plays His melodious flute and I forget everything and get lost in His thoughts. Such is the high state of the Gopis who are physically doing all the work at home but in their mind, she is continuously thinking about Shri Krishna.

THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF DEVOTION

While remembering Radha Krishn and meditating on Their Divine form, you have to chant Their name, virtues and leelas with tears of love and longing, and with a deep desire to receive Their Divine vision and Divine love. During devotion, loving meditation on Their form is most important. You may form Their image in your own mind according to your liking. You may take the help of a Deity or a picture of Radha Krishn. But, whatever form you create in your mind, you must have Divine feelings in that, because the body of Radha Krishn is always Divine and Blissful.