God-realization is very easy. There is no other work that is as easy as this. However, there must be longing, want of only God and nothing else. Because there is none at all that is like God. Just like God is One, unique, undivided, whole, single without another (ananya), similarly want of God must also be undivided, exclusive, unique, one without another. For the attainment of worldly enjoyments, three things are necessary –
1) Desire 2) Effort and 3) Destiny. First and the foremost there must be a desire to acquire worldly things. Then for its acquisition, one needs to make an effort. After making an effort, it will be acquired if one is destined to get it. If one is not destined to get, then even on wanting and making an effort, one will not get it. Therefore we try to make an effort for the purpose of gains (profit), but end up incurring losses! But God-realization takes place purely by wishing, by aspiring (icchaa) for God. In this, neither effort, nor destiny play a role or are required. In this path of divinity there is never any losses, there is gains and only gains.
Besides God there is nothing that can be attained purely by aspiring. The reason for this is that human body has been received only for attaining God. This human body has been bestowed upon us only for realizing God. The second point is that God is Omnipresent (in all places). Not even the space where the sharp tip of a needle can stand is vacant without God. Therefore in attaining God, effort and destiny are of no use at all. By effort only those things are attained that are perishable. The imperishable God cannot be attained through effort. God-realization is only from ardent longing and desire for God.
Whether one is a male or a female, an ascetic (saadhu) or a householder (grahasth), literate or illiterate, child or youth, whatever one may be, simply by ardent desire he can attain God. Other than God there is no desire to live or to die, no desire for enjoyments, no desire for hoarding. Things not desired will not perish or become non-accessible, non-existent. That which is destined for us, we will surely get. That which is destined for us, no one else can get it – “yadasmadeeyam na hi tatparesam” – the fever that is to come to us, how can someone else get it? Similarly the wealth that is destined to come will surely come. But in regards to realizing God, there is no destiny involved.
God cannot be transacted in exchange for something pricey. For a price, only those things are acquired that are of lesser value than the price tag. In the market the things that are available they not actually worth as much as the price they are listed for. We do not have any such thing with us by which we can acquire God. That God is one without another, eternal, almighty (powerful), everlasting and omnipresent. That God is ours and is in us – “Sarvasya chaaham hrdi sannivshth” (Gita 15:15). “I reside in the hearts of all beings” (Gita 15:15) “Ishvar sarva bhootaanaam hrdeshe’rjun tisthati.” (Gita 18:61). “O’ Arjuna, Ishvar resides in the hearts of all beings.” He is not far from us. If we go into the 8.4 million wombs then too God will dwell in our hearts. Even if we go to heaven or hell. Even if we become beasts, birds, trees, etc. then too He will remain in our hearts. Even if we become demi-gods (devataas) then too He will remain in our hearts. If we attain liberation or attain enlightenment then too He will remain in our hearts. Even if we become the worst of worst sinners, worst of criminals, committed worst of injustice, then too He will remain in our hearts. Such a God that resides in the hearts of all, how can His attainment be difficult?
God is not accessible if there is simultaneously desire for living, respect, greatness, happiness, enjoyments etc. Because God is unique, only God is like God. Neither anyone was, is, would be or could be like God, therefore how can we attain God? Simply by desire and thirst for God, He can be attained. What is the value of anything that is perishable, in front of the imperishable God? Can be ever be attained through the perishable actions and perishable things? No! God cannot be attained! When a spiritual aspirant cannot stay without meeting God, then God too cannot stay without meeting him, because it is the nature of God – “Ye yathaa maam prapadyante, taanstathaiyyva bhajaamyaham.” (Gita 4:11) “Whatever way that devotee take refuge in me, I support him in that way.”
Let us say that some mosquito wanted to meet an eagle, and vice versa, the eagle also wanted to meet the mosquito, then who will reach first, the eagle will reach the mosquito first or the mosquito? To meet the eagle, the mosquito’s strength will just not work. In this it is the eagle’s strength alone that will work. In the same way, if one wants to attain God (God), then God’s strength alone will be of use. In this our strength, our actions, our fate (destiny, deeds performed in previous births) will not yield anything. On the contrary only our ardent desire will work. There is nothing else which is required except our ardent desire, will, and aspiration.
If we are unable to reach God then what is God also unable to reach us? However much power and strength we may exhert, we simply cannot reach God. But God resides in our hearts! We believe God to be far from us, therefore God distances Himself from us. Draupadi called out to God as “Govind Dwaarkawaasin” therefore God had to go to Dwarka and return to her. If she were to say one who is close by, then He would immediately appear! If we believe that God cannot be attained now, then He will not be attained right now; because we ourselves have placed an obstruction. We have barred him from appearing.
An incident happened in Gorakhpur, before Vikrama Year 2000. I used to give lectures in Gorakhpur. There was a gentleman named Sevaaramji, serving in a bank. That day in the lecture I stated – “If you ardently with firm conviction believe that God can be attained today, He can be attained today.” That gentleman took this up seriously and resolved that he would see God assuredly that very day. He purchased a garland, sandalwood paste, etc. with the intention that he would garland God and apply sandal wood paste on Him. He locked himself in his room and sat there waiting for God to appear. In due course of time, there was possibility of appearance of God and he could smell the fragrance, but God did not appear. Next day he invited me for bhiksha, and told me that God did not appear, even though there was fragrance in the air. What could have prevented Him from appearing? I said to him Brother! How am I to know the reason? However, I am asking you that whether at anything he had a doubts that how can God truly appear so soon?” He said that he had that thought in his mind! I told him that it is the exact thought that presented as a barrier, a roadblock! If instead the thought was that “God will definitely appear and behold me, He will have to see me, then surely he would. You yourself barred Him and obstructed His visit by your thoughts – thinking how could God come so quickly?”
If you think that God can be attained today, He will assuredly be attained today! But there should not be even a shadow of doubt that how can God be attained so soon, so quickly? God is not obstructed by your actions (karmas). If God is obstructed by your evil actions (dushkarma), if He is impeded by your sins (paapkarma), then on meeting Him also how can He gratify or benefit you? But God is not impeded by any actions. There is no power at all that can prevent God from being attained. He is neither obstructed by meritorious deeds, nor by evil deeds. He is easily attainable and accessible to all. If God is restrained by our sins, then our sins are mightier and stronger than even God! If sins are mightier than God, then what good and beneficial thing will can God do on attaining Him? He who is impeded by sins, what is the gain (benefit) of attaining Him? But God is not so weak, that He will be stalled due to our sins. None else is as mighty as He is, nor anyone has been, nor would be or can be. If you ardently wish, long, and want only God, then it does not matter the sort of person you are, He will surely meet! He will join! He will unite! There is no doubt about this. He will be attained. The human birth has been bestowed on us only for attaining God.
This human birth has been bestowed on us only for attaining God.
Otherwise what would be the difference between being a beast and a human being?
“Khaadate modate, nityam, shunakah sookarah kharah, teshaaneshaam ko vishesho vrttiryesaam tu taadrsi.“
“A dog, a hog, and a donkey – each of these eats, and enjoys itself daily; if the attitude of those and these (i.e. those animals and these human beings) is the same, what is the difference between them?
“sooker kookar oonta khara, bad pashuanamein chaar”
“Tulasi’ Hariki bhagati binu, aise hi nara naara.” “The hog, the dog, the camel and the donkey – these four are prominent amongst the animals; Tulasi opines that the male and the female are of the same sort, if they do not have devotion for God.”
The gods’ (Devataah, demi-gods) life is a birth for enjoyments. They too desire to attain God – “Devaa apyasya roopasya nityam darshankaadishanh” (Gita 11:52) – “Demi-gods also are always desirous of beholding this form.” (Gita 11:52). Though desiring God, they are unable to give up desire for enjoyments. The same is the condition of human beings. If you earnestly wish to behold God, God will have to appear before you; there is no doubt in it. But if you yourself put a bar that God cannot appear, He will surely not appear! It has been declared explicitly in Gita –
“Api chetsuduraachaaro bhajate maam anayabhaak, saadhureva sa mantavyah, samyagvyavasito hi sah ksipram bhavati dharamaatmaa sasvacchaantim nigacchati kaunteya pratijaaneehi na me bhaktah pranasyati.” (Gita 9:30-31)
“Even if the vilest of sinner worships Me with exclusive devotion, he should be considered a saint in as much as he has rightly resolved. Speedily, he becomes virtuous and secures lasting peace. Know it for certain, Arjuna, that My devotee never falls. ” (Gita 9:30-31)
The point here is – even if the vilest sinner becomes an exclusive devotee, in other words, other than God he is desirous of nothing else, he also should be considered a saint, because he has rightly resolved that God will be certainly attained.
Desire only God, and don’t desire anything else. Neither desire to live, nor desire to die. Neither desire for respect, nor desire for greatness. Neither desire for enjoyments, nor desire for wealth. Only one desire – God, then He will surely be attained. Minimally, at least test my statement and see for your self! God does not come to you, because you do not want Him.
God (God) is unattainable only because we do not want God. If you long for money, riches etc. then in the midst why would God intervene? The worst thing in the world is money. There is nothing more despicable than money – nothing at all. If your mind is engrossed in such a worthless thing, how can God come to you? By giving money you can purchase food, clothes, vehicles etc., but money itself cannot be eaten, worn or ridden on. The point is that money itself is of no use at all. Rather it’s utility is what matters.
God (God) can be attained purely by desire (i.e. earnest aspiration, longing). No one at all will be able to restrict Him if you have a burning desire. If a child is weeping, the mother definitely comes. The child does not do any household chores. On the contrary, he hinders your work. But when the child cries, everyone in the household is on his side. All members of the family – mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, all of them say, “Oh, why don’t you do something for this little one, carry him and console him.” The mother has to stop all her work to carry and take care of the child. The only power the child possesses is loud crying – “Baalaani rodun balam” – “To weep is the power of the children”. If you were to sincerely weep for God, earnestly cry and call out to Him, then all devotees, saints, noble souls would take up your side and invoke God by complaining – “Why do you not appear before him?”
Truly speaking, God is ever-attained, but only our worldly desires bar Him from being realized. When we desire money and enjoyments, God does not forcibly make us leave it? If we earnestly aspire for only God, leaving aside all worldly desires, then who has the power to prevent us from attaining Him?
Absolutely no one has the power to stop us. If we long to behold God then God also will long to behold us. If we long and cry out for the world, the world will not reciprocate. But if we call out and cry longingly for God, He too will reciprocate.
It is only the mother who truly knows whether the child is really crying or not. If a child does not shed real tears and simply utters crying sounds, the mother understands that he is being manipulative and just pretending! If the child genuinely sobbing, the mother can tell immediately just from the way he is breathing. The mother stops everything she is doing and immediately carries the child. What is the use of a mother that does not pay immediate attention to her child who is in desperation! What is the use of a mother’s existence, if she neglects the child? Similiarly what is the use of God who is not paying attention to the one who truly longs, cries and calls out for God? If God does not come to such a devotee, then what is the use of God’s existent. If God does not come to he who is sincerely longing from God from within then God should no exist !
There was a saadhu (ascetic). A person approached him and asked him, “How can God be attained very quickly?” The saadhu said, “God can be attained by having ardent, exceeding, abounding desire for Him.” What is the form of ardent desire?” he asked. The Saadhu said – that ardent desire is when one cannot live without God. The person did not comprehend what the saadhu meant, and so he asked again the saadhu time and again – “What is the nature of ardent desire?” One day the saadhu told the man to accompany him to bath in the river. Both went into the water. As soon as the man immersed his head in the water, the saadhu with both his hands submerged the man’s head under water and kept him under water for sometime. The man started gasping for breath, becoming intensely restless with every passing second. After some time the saadhu released him. On coming to the surface, the man was furious, and told the saadhu – ‘How coud you do such a thing? I would have died today!’ The saadhu asked the man – ‘What were you thinking off at the time you were gasping for air? Did you remember your mother, father, wife, or son or money?’ The man said – “I was dying, this life-force was leaving me, at such a time how could anything (mother, father, wife, son, money etc.) come to mind ? The saadhu said – ‘You had asked me about the true form of ardent desire – today you have experienced a flavor of what it is like. When besides God, nothing else come to mind, and you cannot live without attaining Him, then God will surely be attained. Even God has no power by which to remain unattained under such circumstances.
God is not attained by doing something. That which is attained by doing is temporary. Money, respect, honor, hospitality etc. can be attained by doing something. But God is Imperishable and Eternal. He is not the fruit of your actions, but the fruit of your ardent aspiration and longing for Him. But verily you have no care to attain God, then how can He be attained? God as if says, “If your dealings are carrying on without Me, then I can also make do without you. If your dealings are obstructed for want of Me, My dealings are also impeded without you. If you cannot live without Me, then I too can not live without you.”
Really speaking, you have no ardent desire to attain God. None whatsoever ! If you attend holy assemblage (satsang), then you will surely gain from it. The extent to which you attend satsang and contemplate on what has been heard, you will definitely benefit from it – undoubtedly ! But God will not be attained quickly. It may take many births, and then only God will be attained. But if there is ardent, intense desire to attain Him, then God will have to appear. He is every moment eager and ready to meet you. If He does not meet the one who loves Him, then whom else would He meet ? Therefore call out to Him with a pure and sincere heart saying “Hey Naath! Hey mere Naath!” O Lord! O My Beloved One!”
“Sacche hrdey se praarthnaa, jab bhakt sacchaa gaaye hai
Toh bhagatvatsal kaan mein, who pahuncha jhat hi jaaye hai.”
When a devotee invokes Him with a true heart, his invocation reaches the ears of God and He has to appear. No one can stop God from coming. He in whom there is no other desire except God, neither to live, nor to die, nor of respect, nor of hospitability, nor of honor, neither for wealth, nor for family, if God isn’t attained, then what will be attained? If a devotee prays heartily for God, He has to appear. He who does not desire anything else except God, nothing what so ever i.e. neither to live nor to die, neither respect nor desire for hospitality, neither honor nor money, nor desire for family for him, if God is not attained then what will be attained? Whether you are sinful or virtuous, literate or illiterate, God doesn’t look at these things. He simply looks at your true and inner heartfelt sentiments.
“Rahit ne Prabhu chit shook kiye ki,
karat surati sai baar hiye ki” (Manas, Baal. 29:3)
“God does not remember any mistakes committed by a devotee in the past! God’s inner being is such that and He thinks a hundred times of the devotional love in the heart of the devotee.” (Manasa, Baal. 29:3)
He remembers the feelings in the heart and not the sins previously committed by a devotee. God’s mind is such that your sins are not imprinted in it at all. Only your inner longing, your exclusive and single-pointed aspiration is imprinted in it. How can God be attained? How? If such a single-pointed longing and aspiration is aroused, then God will be surely attained. There is no doubt whatsoever. Do not desire anything else except for God, and then see for yourself whether you behold him or not! Do so and check it out, then simultaneously you will know whether I am speaking the truth or not? I tell you this based on the authority given in the Gita – “ye yathaa maam prapadhyante taanstathai Bhajaamyahum.” (Gita 4:11) – “Whosoever, in whatever way takes refuge in Me, I protect and provide for them in the same way” (Gita 4:11). If we are restless without God, then God also feels restless without us. If we cry due to not beholding God (i.e. without God), then God too will be saddened and cry from not having us. There is absolutely nothing else as easily accessible and attainable as God. God states –
“Ananyachetaah satatam yo maam smriti nityasha
Tasyaahum sulabh paarth, nitya yuktasya yoginah.” (Gita 8:14)
“O You Delighter of Prthaa! (the Son of Prthaa!). He who exclusively (with undivided mind), all the time (constantly) thinks of Me (remembers Me), to that Yogi always absorbed in Me, I am easily attainable.” (Gita 8:14).
God has called Himself as “easily attainable”, but “great Souls” have been declared “rarity” –
“Bahunaam janmanaamante jnaanavaanmaam prapadyate,
Vasudevah sarvamiti sa Mahaatmaa sudurlabhah.” (Gita 7:19)
“In the very last of all births (i.e. in the human birth), the man of realization, worships Me, realizing that all is God. Such a great soul is very rare.” (Gita 7:19).
“Hari duralabha nahim jagatamem, harijana duralabha hoya,
hari heryaan saba jaga milai, harijana kahim eka hoya.”
“God is not difficult to attain in this world, but a devotee of God is attained with great difficulty. God, can be found everywhere if one searches, but a devotee of God is only in certain places.”
The devotees of God are not found everywhere, but God can be found everywhere. Wherever a devotee resolves to behold God (God), God appears over there.
God is the eternal friend of all beings. He is easily attainable by the sinners and those who are evil, with bad conduct. Mother comes quickly to a weak child. A mother had two sons. One son used to eat during meal times only. While the other son used to munch something or the other all day. When both sons sit down for dinner, the mother gives roti to the son who only eats during meals, because she is concerned that if he remains hungry, he will have to go without food till the next meal. The mother asks the other son to wait for his turn for the roti, since he has been munching on food all day long. Both the boys are from the same mother, then why is it that the mother is favoring one over the other? Similarly one who desires nothing besides God, God comes to them first; as they are beloved to God. Besides God, they do not consider anyone else as their own. If they are sad without God, then God cannot tolerate this sadness.
A four-five year old child gets into a fight with his mother. The mother softens up in front of him. In the world when there is a war, the one with the most power and strength wins. But in love fights, the one with the most love, loses! The child says to the mother, I will not come in your lap. But the mother out of her concern for him says – Please come ! Please come son! This love in the mother comes from God Himself. God also has concern and longs for His devotees. The extent to which God has concern for the devotee, that much even the entire world put together does not have concern. The child is not as concerned about the mother as the mother is about the child. The child while breast feeding even bites the mother, but the mother does not get angry. If she were to get angry, would the child be able to live? The mother only showers her grace on the child. Similiarly, God is our mother for infinite life-times. He cannot abandon His devotees. He considers the devotees as the jewel in His crown. “Mein toh hu Bhagatan ko daas, bhagat mere mukutmani.” “I am only the servant of the devotee and the devotee is my crest jewel!
The Lord is ever ready to do the work of His devotees. Just as the mother cannot live without the child and the child cannot live without HIs mother, similarly, God cannot stay without His devotees.
Narayan ! Narayan !! Narayan !!!
From “Maanav Maatre Kalyaan ke Liye” hindi and For Salvation of Mankind in english by Swami Ramsukhdasji.
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