Matri Vani of Anandamayi | Dharma 3
Dharma 3
Part 3
65
Apart from seeking refuge in the contemplation of the Eternal, there is no way of becoming liberated from worldly anxiety and annoyance. Engage in whatever practice that helps to keep the mind centred in Him who is manifest as creation, preservation and dissolution.
To regret one’s bad luck only troubles the mind and ruins the body; it has no other effect — remember this! He by whose law everything has been wrought, He alone should be reflected upon.
66
Do you know why anxiety arises? Solely because God is thought to be far away. Evil-mindedness (durbuddhi) also has the same cause. To remove God into the far distance is called unrighteousness; that is to say, the idea that He is far away is itself unrighteous.
67
Forgetting that God is the one Beloved (Iṣṭā) men give their love to sense objects. To love anything that is not God means to divide one’s devotion between two (do-iṣṭa) and this makes one wicked (duṣṭa).
68
Earthly love causes intense suffering and does not last. Whereas the love of God gives extremely great happiness.
69
Everyone must strive after the revelation of Eternal Truth. Endeavour to go to your own Home. To live in another’s house, in the company of another, causes conflict and suffering; that is to say, where two are there is blindness, darkness — darkness signifies ignorance.
70
One must endeavour to remain constantly engaged in the contemplation of That. All other thought engenders anxiety. He is holding your hand, so why worry? Do not allow your mind to be overwhelmed; be ever steeped solely in the contemplation of the Supreme.
71
Happiness that depends on anything or anyone turns into sorrow when that particular thing or person is out of reach.
Everything in this world is transitory. So also worldly happiness: it comes and the next moment it is gone. If permanent, abiding happiness is to be found, That which is eternal will have to be realized.
72
In this world, every single person is crazy after something or other — some more and some less. What a comedy Bhagavan's play is! What a madhouse He has created! He Himself sporting with Himself.
73
Infatuation (moha) causes entanglement while the love of God (prema) leads to Self - revelation. Having become ensnared by moha, weeping and regret are bound to follow.
74
In this world is there any expedient for man save to be anchored in fortitude and forbearance? Consoling himself out of his own resources let him remain unperturbed.
Everyone must try to fulfil his own duty in a spirit of dedication to the Divine (satanuṣṭhāna). A human being should live in the contemplation of the Eternal.
75
God keeps milk ready in the mother’s breast before the baby is born; in Him put your whole trust; seek refuge in Him alone.
76
So long as God has not been found, sorrow will not depart. If He is to be realized, one has to practise the repetition of His Name, His contemplation, His worship, singing His praises — no other path to man’s supreme welfare exists.
The company of sages, saints and seekers after Truth, religious gatherings and the study of scriptures are also helpful on this path.
This body ever stresses one thing: Sense enjoyment is poison and gradually delivers one to death. Therefore, this body always emphasizes: Endeavour to be engrossed in Him as much as you possibly can.
77
While one is in the midst of māyā it is difficult to understand from where māyā arises. Aspire to the knowledge of Him. Truly, to know oneself means to know Him. Having found one’s Self all questions and problems are solved. So long as one lives in māyā it is difficult to know what māyā is.
78
So much has already been accomplished by you in the world of action. Now, endeavour to give your mind exclusively to the Eternal. Do not waste invaluable time.
Those who do not practise the contemplation of God, in other words do not advance towards Self-realization, are “Self-murderers”. Adopt the good, relinquish mere pleasure.
79
The day that is gone never returns: this is very true indeed. The individual and the world — to be an individual implies bondage, whereas the world is in continual motion.
So long as consciousness is focused on the level of happiness and pain, light and darkness, the polarity between attainment and non-attainment is bound to persist. To be a human being means to be a seeker after Truth.
80
The day that is gone returns not. To be a human being means to be Self-aware. Do not squander invaluable time. Beware of becoming a “Self-murderer”; realize that you are none other than the immortal Self.
81
The moment that has passed does not come back. Time must be used well. Only when spent in the effort tu know “who am I”? has it been used well.
82
The One from whom originate the universe and everything that is beyond it, who is Himself in His creation, He is present also in this very form. One must be bent on the search after Truth so as to find peace.
Make a supreme effort to remain steeped as much as possible in a divine atmosphere. Think of Him as embodied in every person so that the mind may be wedded exclusively to good and pure activities.
83
If one is to attain to the Immortal, it is helpful to look for That in everyone and everything. The search after Truth is man’s duty, so that he may advance towards immortality.
84
Wherever God may keep you at any time, from there itself must you undertake the pilgrimage to God-realization. In all forms, in action and non-action is He, the One Himself.
While attending to your work with your hands, keep yourself bound to Him by sustaining japa, the constant remembrance of Him in your heart and mind.
In God’s empire it is forgetfulness of Him that is detrimental. The way to peace lies in the remembrance of Him and of Him alone.
85
Everything is His doing. He alone Is; your sole duty is to remember this at all times. So long as the sense of “me” and “mine” remains, there is bound to be sorrow and want in the life of the individual.
86
Contemplation of the Ātmā takes one towards one’s ultimate Goal; while worldly actions only deform Reality.
87
Action directed towards God is alone action — all else is worthless, non-action, activity of the path of death. To become absorbed in sva kriyā, the action that ends in Self-revelation, is man’s duty as a human being.
88
The action that aims at the Divine (Bhāgavat-kriyā) is alone real action, all the rest is activity belonging to the path of death. The contemplation of the Self takes one in the right direction. Worldly pursuits lead to His manifestation as absence.
Everything, with the sole exception of the thought of God (Hari cintā), is worthless — wrong action. Man’s duty is to become steady in the practice that helps towards the revelation of his own true Being.
89
While performing action, sustain the attitude that He alone Is. He is the instrument as well as its wielder. As He causes the instrument to move, so it has to move.
90
“Lord, Thou Thyself art present in this way, as that particular activity”, view it in this light. See in every action an expression of That. Then all actions will help towards the revelation of Reality (Svarūpa Prakāśa). Do not think of them as separate one from the other—all are That.
Who is the power of action (kriyā śakti)? Thou thyself. And who is Power as such (Śaktī)? That Itself — the One.
91
In all forms and shapes and in the formless is only the Supreme Being — That alone, Service performed with the conviction that one is serving Him in everyone will purify the mind and lead to the highest good.
Patience is the foundation on which spiritual endeavour is based. The pilgrim on the path of the Supreme must be intent on becoming endurance personified.
92
Only if there is a spirit of service can one- remain engaged in the service of God. By pursuing delusion death is reaped. His law is truly wonderful.
93
Every individual is bent on fulfilling his life, but it is the will of the Almighty that prevails. Regard what you are doing as His service. Do not let the delusion of attachment overcome you.
Everything is His gift and should be offered again to Him. He has already taken it, He ever takes and will continue to take it. As the Self (Ātmā) He is eternally present in all. Try to abide in calm and patience.
94
The endeavour to mould one’s own desires so as to fall in with God’s Will is man’s duty. In the whole of your work depend entirely on Him. Skill in action — everything is He, His. In this spirit try to complete your task.
95
Only if there is a spirit of service can one serve the Lord. When the intelligence is clouded by delusion, death is the outcome.
His law is very wise. Therefore I say, let everyone undertake the pilgrimage to the Highest — the pilgrimage by which all travelling comes to an end. Time must not be wasted in idle pursuits. At every moment remain engaged in the meditation on your true Self.
Do not allow your mind to dwell on the ephemeral. Because it is said that where Rāma is not, there is be-arāma (disease). Rāma means Ātmārāma, delight in the Self, repose in the Self, the essence of Peace, the essence of Knowledge, Self in its own nature.
96
The path which the Guru has pointed out, that path you must try to follow. Do not stay idle; make an effort to go forward. And if you like to work, do it in the spirit that everything is an expression of That.
Service may be of the country, of one’s wife as the presiding goddess of the home, of one’s children as Gopāla and Kumārī, of one’s husband as the Lord — for it is the One who appears in many guises.
Do not pass your time merely with eating and sleeping. The invaluable boon of human birth must not be wasted in vain thought. Dwelling no longer in the traveller’s inn (dharamsala), make an attempt to go to your own real Home.
97
What you have to do, do it well and with all your might. By persisting you will gradually develop interest in it and come to love it.
98
Your whole life you have spent in acquiring knowledge from mercenary motives, and in similar pursuits. With all your strength you are serving worldly aims. Learn also to do a little service for the love of God so that your thought may dwell on His lotus feet.
99
Become a servant of the real Government. Worldly governments exist only because there is an inner Government. Just as one puts one’s mind to the regular fulfilment of governmental duties, it is fitting to direct the current of one’s thought also to that real Government.
If family life is lived in a spirit of service, there is no occasion to form ties because one aims at Him alone.
However, in order to abide by this attitude of service—just as a clock has to be wound once a day — one must try to wind the clock of the mind regularly every morning and evening; that is to say, sit still for some time in meditation or japa.
100
There also one obtains a pension. The pension you earn in this world lasts only as long as you live, but that pension never ends. By what grace of His such a pension is granted is impossible to tell. If anything is to be desired at all, one should desire this grace.
101
Even while living a family life you can with a calm spirit attend to spiritual practices. Then only will that which is to be given up fall away. And that which can never be relinquished, which does not go, that indeed will remain.
102
When in one’s heart of hearts one is seeking the Eternal although unconsciously, it is but natural that worldly life should seem savourless and that polite, sweet-sounding social conversation should jar upon one’s ears. However, wait a little longer and see whether these feelings are permanent or only temporary.
How can disbelief arise in one who has firm faith? The activities that invoke the presence of God such as japa, meditation, the reading and perusal of sacred texts will grow more and more attractive to you.
103
In order to go beyond belief and disbelief, believe in Him. Instead of doing so, you believe in all kinds of other things.
Just as there is a veil of ignorance, there is also a door to Knowledge.
104
Be it meditation (dhyāna) or the repetition of a mantra (japa ) — engage in some practice of this kind. Try to keep your mind on God.
The impressions and dispositions developed in countless lives act as a cover of ignorance, veiling the true nature of things; endeavour to get rid of that screen.
105
It is obvious that doubt lies at the root of the desire to know. If you had the firm conviction that God does everything, the desire to find out why things happen as they do would not arise in you.
106
In order to solve his queries and doubts, man must become engrossed in spiritual practice (Bhāgavat kriyā).
107
There is only one book and everything is contained in it. Once it has been mastered nothing else remains to be studied. Sādhana has to be practised for the sole purpose of discovering one’s own true Wealth (svadhana).
'108
The Will of the Almighty is indeed everything. Becoming the allies of that great Will, all should strive for Self-realization, praying for God’s grace.
109
Action is subject to one’s own free will — and yet again it is not. What does “subject to one’s own free will” signify? His Will alone is Will.
The will by which you carry out your work, this very same will must be applied to the contemplation of the One. Then only will you discover the great Will. What is needed is the supreme Will that takes you beyond willing and not willing.
110
Knowing that one is but an actor on the stage of the world, one lives happily. Those who mistake the pantomime for reality are of the world (saṁsārī) where there is constant change and reforming, ceaseless going and coming, the oscillation between happiness and sorrow.
Those who are dressed up in various disguises, must not forget their real nature. Verily, you are the offspring of the Immortal. Your real being is truth, goodness, beauty {Satyam, Śivam, Sundaram).
111
Samsara (the world) means the abode of uncertainty and doubt (sangsai). The clown (sang) mistakes his role for the Real, yet is only dressed up for the play. This is why one speaks of “sam-sāra".
112
Man’s life must gravitate towards the realization of Truth. The Lord is Love (premamay); for the sake of this Supreme Refuge suitable practices and activities have to be adopted at all times.
113
The Supreme Power Itself is directly present in all sentient beings, in all religions and sects, in all forms under which It is worshipped. Cry out to It and to It alone.
The Supreme Power, Mahāmāyā, cannot remain indifferent to the inconsolable weeping of Her offspring. Thus, the One who deals severe blows Herself again consoles by Her loving embrace.
114
The wise keep on declaring and the śāstras also say that if you are engrossed in the quest of the Supreme, it can never be that you will not find.
Constant effort! So long as you have not reached, do not relax your efforts. Is not Bhagavan, who is Truth Itself, within you?
Therefore do not abandon meditation, the contemplation of your Self. Being your very own, It is destined to be found by you. This is bliss and nothing but bliss. Where then are gloom and dejection? THAT alone Is.
115
To invoke Him does not go in vain. So long as you do not receive any response continue to call out to Him. Is it not your own Self to whom you are appealing? And it is your own Self that you have to realize.
By uninterrupted invocation He who is whole, who is undivided, is reached. It is your own Self (Ātmā), the heart of your heart, your dearly Beloved whom you are invoking.
For how long have you not prayed for enjoyment and continued to experience it together with the suffering that follows without fail?
The prayer to Him, by which the conflict between asking for renunciation or gratification is dissolved, that prayer must become dear to you.