Get Nearer to God

"I know no Mantra, Yantra or Stotra; I know no invocation or contemplation.  I know no stories in your praise; I know no Mudras, not even how to cry out; I simply know that to run to you, Oh Mother, destroys all distress."  Thus sang Sri Sankara.

One must develop true reverence and deep love for God.  We must take refuse at His feet.  When Mahatma Gandhi fell a victim to the bullets of a fanatic, his last words were: "Hey Ram".  He was so constantly contemplating on God that even his last breath was God-centered.  The mind which develops an intense feeling for God does not stray away from the Divine path.

The blessed Lord speaks in the Gita: "The class of the wise can be known from this sign.  Their minds and senses are wholly directed towards Me.  They live absorbed in Me.  They discuss among themselves and instruct each other about Me.  They are forever joyous and blissful due to this knowledge, their self-knowledge."

God loves us so much that He has endowed us with marvellous instruments in the body, the mind and the Spirit.  In Hamlet, we read: "What a piece of work is man!  How noble in reason!  How infinite in faculty!  In form and moving how express and admirable!  In action how like an angel!  The beauty of the world!  The paragon of animals."

God loves us so much that in return, we must express our love to Him through love and service of mankind.  We are born in this world not for acquiring wealth or social status, but to cherish love.  Life is a flower of which love is honey.  This love of Prema should be cultivated in an unselfish way.

God's Divine nature is love.  His love remains the same always.  Born of God's love, we must foster unbounded love.  One is not going to lose anything by showering his love upon humanity.  Instead he comes closer to the Divine.

A bell is no bell till you ring it.

A song is no song till you sing it,

And love isn't put in your heart here to stay.

Love isn't Love till you give it away.

Let is come nearer to God by loving one another as He loves us.  God is Love.

~ R.R. Neeraja ~

(Sanathana Sarathi - July 1990)