So also when an ignorant, bound and sorrow-stricken soul comes in contact with an illumined, liberated and all-blissful person, the former by such contact is fired with a zeal to become also like the latter.

Nama Article 27th December 2012

 

Swami Papa Ramdas

 

The easiest means to make the mind dwell in the idea of God is to constantly reiterate mentally or vocally the Name of God. Such a recitation of the Name should of course be accompanied by implicit faith in the efficacy of the Name and intense love for the immortal ideal which the Name represents, viz: the supreme Reality who is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss and who is seated in the hearts of us all. When thus the mind is completely absorbed in the Divine idea, a stage is reached when the mere individual or physical consciousness is transmuted into the universal and ever blissful consciousness.

 

Everybody wishes to possess this hunger, this keen aspiration which will bring him or her the experience of Divinity. But the complaint is that such a state does not come even when one wishes for it. How then could this burning desire for the attainment of absolute bliss be generated? Just as an uneducated man or a poor man would evince an ardent wish to be a literate man or a rich man when he comes in association with a learned person or a wealthy person; so also when an ignorant, bound and sorrow-stricken soul comes in contact with an illumined, liberated and all-blissful person, the former by such contact is fired with a zeal to become also like the latter. Hence the society of saints has been held as the most important factor in the spiritual evolution of the soul. The saints not only awaken the ignorant souls and create in them a thirst for self-realisation but also infuse into them by their blessings the needed spiritual strength to battle against the forces that confront the aspirant in his march towards this goal of supreme beatitude.

 

In order to know what are our actual facial features we have to look into the mirror; similarly, if we wish to get a glimpse of our real and immortal life we can do so only when we are in the company of saints. Saints are verily the redeemers of fallen souls. It is by their power alone the mind that runs in pursuit of transient pleasures can be made to concentrate its attention upon the eternal, changeless and blissful indwelling Reality. When thus the mind is permeated through and through with the imperishable idea of God, man attains the supreme goal of life.

God-realisation does bring about not only the divinisation of the internal life of man but also all his external life and activities. He beholds all beings and things as the illumined expressions of the one allpervading Divinity. Satsang awakens the human soul and fills his thought with Divine light and joy and grants him the knowledge of the immortal Self, which in its turn confers upon the devotee the comprehensive knowledge of God in all His aspects.

 

Please check these: Excerpts from a discourse by our Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

 

Just like a cool shade which soothes someone who has walked a long distance under the sun, those beings who have been attacked by the sorrows of the world frequent such Mahãns

 

The rarest of the rare is getting a Uttama Guru. When you have a Guru, you can peacefully rest.

 

How does a Sadhu argues the case of ordinary persons with the Lord?

 

It is the Guru who shows that way, and the gratitude shown to such a Guru is Guru Bhakti

 

How to show our gratitude to our Guru?

 

The only act a true devotee can do is to chant Nama to express the gratitude to the Guru for the grace showered on the devotee.

 

To associate oneself in Satsang (being in the company of Holy persons) brings detachment towards worldly pursuits.

 

Satsang is the confluence of the Triveni* of the Lord, the Devotee and the Name.

 

 

Chant the Mahamantra Nama kirtan :

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare