Spiritual Message for the Day – Be God-Oriented by Sri Swami Chidananda

Baba Times Digest© | 2 November 2014 18.28 EST | New York Edition

Be God-Oriented

Divine Life Society Publication: Essentials of The Higher Values of Life by Sri Swami Chidananda

All the things can be directed to that one and only Being, the sole Source. In That only can be obtained, lasting and permanent happiness, unalloyed, unmixed, total happiness, enduring, eternal happiness, happiness that would not decrease or change. That is Brahman, That is God, That is the Kingdom of heaven. Direct your entire being towards That. Direct your mind, intellect, emotions, sentiments towards That, make all your activities God-oriented by spiritualising them.

You may ask: ‘All said and done, how can I implement it? Why should I do so? I am involved in this world. All my friends and associations are here. I have attachment for them, all sorts of feelings for them. I am fully involved in my surroundings and the situations I face. This is a familiar ground for me. I belong to this world and this world is mine; so I naturally flow towards it. It is something most natural, something easiest to do for me. But now you are asking me to reverse that process and connect myself to that unknown Being, whom I do not know, who is absolutely unfamiliar and completely unknown entity for me. How can I ever do it? There is a funny proverb in Tamil: How can I know about the cremation ground until I die myself?

‘How I can know That which is all perfect, bliss absolute, absolute unmixed peace and happiness? How can I think about It? How can I meditate upon It? It is easiest for me to think of my mother or father, television or cassette-player, a cricket bat or ball because they are a part of my life. I have not to make any effort or undergo any training to think about them. But I don’t know that unknown, unfamiliar Being. How can I have any love or affection, inclination or longing for That? How can I relate myself to It? When I don’t know what It is, how can I meditate on It?’

True, your problem is genuine. But the solution is quite simple: Detach from here, attach There.

‘But how to do it is a big problem. It is quite easy to attach myself here, because everything here is familiar to me. But how to think of That?’

So first of all, you should get yourself familiar, get yourself acquainted, to That whom you want to worship, love, adore, on whom you want to meditate upon, towards whom you want to move.

How you can get yourself thoroughly acquainted with That? There are three different ways. The first is the heredity. If you are born in a family where both the mother and father are devotees and they are doing puja, and kirtan, singing devotional songs, reading about the lilas of the Lord and the lives of saints, talking about Him, you will automatically develop love for Him.

Secondly, if you are not born in such a family, you should think about our rich heritage, you should get yourself acquainted with it by reading the spiritual books. There is a unique tradition in all the parts of India. There are some people whose sole occupation and allocation is to master the scriptures and to go to various places and narrate, expound and elucidate them. This is a part of Indian way of life. So even an illiterate villager also knows some philosophy; he knows about Shabari, Ahalya and many such characters. He knows about Bhakti, he knows about God’s grace.

Our scriptures are abound in stotras and stutis, hymns and paeans of the Lord, glorifying Him. We develop great admiration and adoration, great reverence and veneration for the supreme Being. If you listen to the glories, grandeur and greatness of God and the desirability of that wonderful Experience of attaining that Being and attaining the supreme Bliss, Peace and Happiness, and going beyond all sorrow and suffering, it will create in you a longing for God, for that Experience and your life will certainly be changed.

Thirdly, once your taste is developed in this direction due to your family background and upbringing or through listening to the Scriptures, you develop a strong desire to acquire more knowledge. So you begin to read and study our great scriptures in your leisure hours, prepare your own personal notes and discuss the finer points with like-minded friends. You slowly build up your own library of inspiring literature. What you argued to be unknown and unfamiliar becomes known and so close to your heart that you will spend most of your spare time on That and you don’t like to waste your time on the worldly things. Now, you like to read about It, you like to think about It, you like to talk about It and you like the company of people with such tendency only. Now unknown That becomes your best friend and guide, the remote becomes the closest, He becomes a part of your life, you cannot live without Him.

Excerpts from: Be God-Oriented - Essentials of The Higher Values of Life by Sri Swami Chidananda

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