The Power of Devotion-Part 7 (1-6 July 2014)
Lord is in all hearts but doesn’t express in all hearts. This was the message of Pujya Swami Abhedanandaji in His discourses from the 1st to 6th July at the Chinmaya Mission ashram in Chatsworth. Swamiji has been continuing on the topic of the 14 places where Lord Ram will reside.
Swamiji discussed how the Lord resides in the hearts of the people that leaves the faults of others and sees only their goodness. It was mentioned by Swamiji that there will always be imperfect people around us so we need to accept them and not interact with them keeping their faults in our minds. When we interact with someone remembering his badness, we won’t be able to give our best response. One should also be alert to not let other’s defects to enter his own mind.
Swamiji explained the Lord resides in the hearts of those that serve the saints. Saints are devotees because they have made their minds a throne for the Lord and they derive no joy from the world. A person’s mind should be so beautiful that his mind is pulled to the Lord. The Brahmins and saints play a very important and crucial role in the society because 1)they are the upholder of values 2) have knowledge of certain mantras to get son, money, etc 3) are the living example of the standard we should keep in our minds. It was highlighted that an austere person like a saint corrects our wrong notions and is also an emotion purifier.
Lord also stays in the hearts of the people that see all qualities belonging to the Lord and all faults as their own. Swamiji described how more than physical pain, one experiences mental pain in the mind only because of ego(ahankar) An egotistic person superimposes his own self-importance and various qualities on himself. Lord alone is the possessor of all qualities, He can give it and take it at any time. Swamiji also re-iterated that to be ignorant is the biggest mistake. Mistakes become very close to us if we don’t accept it. Every mistake makes a person distanced from God, Guru and his own beautiful mind. We should have a deep realization of our own mistake and see that we remove that fault. An egotistic person always thinks that he is right and never accepts his mistakes.
Lord also expresses in the hearts of those who depend on Him in all ways, be it financial, emotional, social, family, professional support. Swamiji mentioned that world is not meant to take support. The moment a person takes support from the world, that support goes away. Ultimately what will happen, is not in our hands. If we had a good relation with Lord, then we could have given our troubling issues to him.
It was discussed by Swamiji how the world is a beautiful architectural design and the intelligence behind the world is Lord. Swamiji put forth the question that when the Lord is so omnipotent and omniscient, can’t He fulfil whatever we lack in our lives? Swamiji explained that there is a science of depending on God. If we surrendered , had deep devotion and pure emotions, then we would have grabbed attention from the Lord. Swamiji elaborated how the scriptures have divided all desires in 4 categories. They are 1) desire to earn money 2) desire to enjoy 3) desire to do something good & 4) desire to renounce. Swamiji emphasized that the biggest use of money is for dharm(dhan- charity), to please Ishwar and for dispassion.
The 13th Place where Lord will live is in those hearts that see Lord everywhere. Swamiji described this from the Vedantic point of view .Swamiji explained that whatever is seen, is this world. Anything seen will be seen in something other than itself example, a book can be seen on a table. If the world is seen in consciousness, then world is consciousness. Swamiji encouraged us to shift our attention from what I get to whom I get from.
Swamiji also warned that if we reject anybody, we will intentionally hold that name and form and make it more important than Lord. The dressing of mind is more important than dressing of body. We see upper layer, not calm, beautiful mind inside. Sometimes we see one person, one negativity and think that he is only that negativity and we don’t see the person as a whole. It was mentioned that we can worship the Lord by our words, actions, etc . Swamiji re-iterated that we should also learn the nature of Lord. When we get the joy of loving Lord, we won’t want anything else. The more causes we put in love, impurer it becomes and the lesser is cause, purer is love and we move closer to God. When God accepts us, why not go to Him? The Lord gave a nice body, scriptures, eyes, ears, parents, home, sky, sun, moon, hands, legs, ect, everything we have! Swamiji concluded the 6 day discourse by saying that our prayer should be that Lord should give us a mind so that we can love Him alone and that our hearts be full of deep gratitude and overwhelming devotion.
