SRI SARVESHWARI TIMES

SRI SARVESHWARI TIMES Vol.VII: No 2.  FEBRUARY 1997

Aghoreshwar Bhagwan Ramji

WORSHIP OF THE MOTHER

We are concentrating on Her whom we call the Mother. There is the earthly mother, and then there is the heavenly Mother. The earthly mother is large-hearted, so large-hearted that she suffers for you. There is the story of a good-for-nothing son, who used to visit prostitutes. A prostitute did not trust him and said that she would trust him only if he brought her the severed head of his mother. He did sever the mother's head, and while taking it to the prostitute, fell down. The severed head spoke, "Are you hurt, son?". The prostitute turned the son out for having debased himself to that extent.

The heavenly Mother protects us in this world, as also in the world beyond. Have respect for the heavenly Mother and be devoted to Her. By worshipping Her we worship the very life-force.

Maybe you have never worshipped. Maybe you do not know how to worship. Maybe you have not gone to Guru, not done any serious thinking and have not met saints. No harm done. If you have true devotion and trust, it will lead you to the right path.

When you rise in the morning, caress your face with your hands and pray: "O giver of light! Make me meet good people! May others be pleased with me! May I lead a life free from troubles and anxieties!" At night before going to bed, caress your face with your hands, symbol of action, and pray for restful sleep.

As you resolve, so it happens. If you feel you are dirty, you will see dirt and filth all around. Your feeling that you are pure will lead to purity. If you have good resolve in the morning, and you think you are pure and enlightened, you get equanimity. If you feel you are distant from ignorance and would like to remain distant, and ask the help of God, the help of Bhagwati, you will get help. On the other hand, if you rise peeved in the morning, you will find your day upsetting. That is why you should preserve your Guru-given mantra.

Sit and concentrate on Bhagwati. Concentrate on your breath, and observe the forms that emerge. Then concentrate on nothing. Feel that you are your breath and nothing else. This is known as Swar-Sadhna. The sound that resounds within the body, is not uttered by the moth. It emanates from every pore of your being. It takes place automatically. It is its own jap, its own dhyan. Remain absorbed in it. When the mind is still, you attain samadhi.

We are lost in the jungle of the mind. Time flies. Days continue to alternate with nights. Life keeps ebbing away and death comes nearer and nearer. When we pray to the Great Unknown we try to awaken the Kali within us, so that we can grasp the reality. Let there be silent communion. Try this experiment: try to communicate with someone who lives in a distant land. Sit still, close your eyes and from the bottom of your heart, try to visualize the village or city he lives in and his home too, and communicate to him your message or thoughts, as if you were talking to him on the telephone. He will get the message, provided you have been really still and made yourself an appropriate instrument like the telephone.

The same way your inner thoughts can reach God. But once again, you have to be the fit instrument. You have to control your senses and make them still. The nine senses and the tenth, the mind, have their attractions. The more you feed them, the more gluttonous they become. So long as you provide the fuel, the light will keep burning. The senses have to be disciplined.

We revel in our infatuations and thus lose control not only over this world, but also the world beyond. Have good thoughts. Good life is real life. It should take you to your atman within you. Just as a cyclist or a motorist even while talking keeps watching the road, so also you should never lose sight of the life-force within you.

You talk of give and take. Our relatives and dependents are our creditors. By caring for them we discharge our old debts. In a way, everyone is an aghori. You use your left hand both for ablutions and eating. Do all you need to do. But link yourself with the atman.

Remember this: the day you prove yourself, what you will say will happen. Your words will acquire that power. None can make you or unmake you. It is the atman alone that can do so. See no wrong, hear no wrong, do no wrong.

If you can really keep your mind still, you will hear the word Krin resonate in every pore of your body. This will give you unfathomable pleasure and happiness. Our mahatmas have fixed the navel as the point at which we should keep gazing, in order to know that is happening within. When you can hear the voice within, the atman in action, nothing will be beyond your reach. Act and see the result.

A mere incarnation of God, as you know, has its limits. A person cannot cross the boundary demarcated by the social arrangements called dharma and traditions. If he does, he is considered a fool, a man lacking in discrimination. However, a sadhu, sanyasi or avadhut is under no such limitation. He does dismantle such boundaries. Take the Buddha. He set up a new order suited to those time and that climate. He spoke with crystal clarity. Just as we need a modern physician and a modern ruler, we need modern saints and mahatmas who prescribe what is relevant to the times. It is their prescription that will work. Such men are born in every age, in every society, in every religion. They know no boundaries, no limitations. They wear no threads, observe no rituals. They are neither attached, nor unattached. They are beyond purity and impurity. We worship Shakti, so that we may gain strength. And so that we may have new ecstasy that could turn our wrongs into rights.

What invariably happens is that when your good days come, it happens the other way round. In the eyes of the society and the country, many persons cause havoc and yet they are considered good men. How and why we receive the grace and kindness of good souls, I cannot say. Nor can I say when, and where, we can meet them. It is possible that you may meet them while walking, or even sleeping! Each person emanates rays. Some emanate pure rays, some impure. When our rays mingle with the heavenly rays, we are in tune with that Unknown Force. He knows us and we know Him.

Face the future as it comes. This is worship. Even if you were to meet God, He is unlikely to tell you to keep chanting His name. How long can you get your bread by chanting His name? How long will you sell His name? How long can you bluff others?

He is nameless. Various religions have called Him by various names. It is hardly likely that mere repetition of His name will secure Him for you. Heaven and hell have been imagined in order to make others afraid and serve oneês narrow ends. If the truth is told, the business of some will suffer. Worship and contemplation aim at removal of ignorance.

We must ensure that we are wide awake. We have to be encompassed by that soul we call Paramatman and receive His grace. Only through firm resolve can we get what we seek. Resolve that the distance between Him and you is ended, and that you and He are one.

During one of the satsangs at the Ashram, Hariji spoke to the gathering about the Guru and role of the Guru in a seeker's life

It has been said from time immemorial that when the seeker is ready, the Guru appears. As a lens produces fire by focusing sunlight at any point, the divine power that permeates everything lights a flame within the seeker through the medium of the Guru, making the seeker identical to Itself. It is very difficult to walk on the spiritual path without the grace of the Guru. With the grace of the Guru, we get a glimpse of that Self which lies dormant within us, and all the obstacles that lie in the path of Self awakening are gradually removed.

Guru is not the body. The very life force is the Guru. The Guru resides within us in the form of our highest ideals, but until we come in contact with that Guru within, a Guru in physical form symbolizes the Guru within. We can say that a Guru in physical form is the outer embodiment of the inner Guru. The Guru in physical form becomes like an altar where we rest our love, attention and trust. As love, respect and trust for our Guru arise, we get a taste of these qualities within, and as they begin to flow, we become aware of their presence. This process brings us closer to our own true nature, the Self, the Divine.

The practice of accepting a Guru in life has no restrictions of any kind. We can establish this sacred relationship with any person who is capable of helping us in the process of investigating our soul, provided that love, trust and respect are emerging in the heart towards the Guru. It is easier to establish such a relationship with someone who has walked on this path and is enlightened enough to understand the responsibility of the sacredness of the relationship. The intensity of these feelings for our Guru turn into the grace of the Guru. That alone is enough to liberate us from bondage.

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