See that love is not directed in the wrong direction. Don’t make it cheap. See that you don’t act against the norms of the society. Don’t act against the wishes of your parents and elders. See that you direct your love to win the appreciation of everybody. You don’t need to adhere to anybody’s command except God’s command.
Once Meera was singing, ‘Giridhara Gopala, Giridhara Gopala.’ Hearing this, Maharana, her husband became very angry. Out of fury and anger, he caught hold of her hair and dragged her out of the temple. Meera felt very sad. She said, “Krishna, can I leave You? God is everywhere. My heart is Your temple. Not this temple which is built by Maharana. The temple You built is permanent. You cannot give up my heart. That is my temple. Let the mind travel where Ganga and Yamuna meet. Prayag is the place where Ganga and Yamuna merge. Ganga is devotion. Yamuna is action. The inner current is Saraswati. All the three are at the centre of the Teertha. There You are present. Oh mind! Travel to that place. The water of Ganga and Yamuna are very pure. It is pleading to the mind so that it might travel to that place and it may find God. Go there. Don’t go anywhere.” Where is this Teertha (place of pilgrimage – the confluence of rivers)? It is within you. It is not the outer world or outer place. God is in your heart. However, if you experience Him, see Him directly, you will be happy.
You find some books which contain the recipes of various sweets. You will not know the taste by mere reading. You will only know it when you eat the sweets. So too, it will not help you if it is merely a feeling. It should come to you as an experience. That is the purpose behind the advent of an incarnation. This is what Gopikas wanted. They prayed to Krishna, “The land of our hearts is barren. Let us be there where you are born. Oh Krishna! If You are born as a flower, let me be the bee. I will go into You (the flower) making a humming sound and draw thy nectar. If You are there as a tree, let me be the creeper twining around You and not separate from You. If You are the ocean, let me be the river and merge in You. If you are the Meru mountain, I will be the waterfall running and touching the mountain. If you are the infinite sky, let me shine there as a tiny star. There should not be any separation between You and all of us here. There should be this continuous union.” That union is true devotion. Pray for Saalokya – ‘I should think of You’, Saameepya – ‘I should be near You’, Saaroopya – ‘I should have Your form’, and Saayujya – ‘I should merge in You’. This is the 'Panchama Purusha Marga'. There are four goals of life: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. The fifth one is union with God - ‘Parama Bhakti’. There is no other thing beyond this supreme devotion.
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| Gopikas pleading with Krishna not to leave Brindavan for Mathura |
Never Forget God
Students! You study, get a job, get married and have children. But never forget God. Your life is no life if you forget God. You may be a great man. You may become a Prime Minister or a President. But if you forget God you become a zero. Never give up that Supreme Principle. Take every chance to be near God. This is the main spiritual pursuit of mankind. Then only human life will be prosperous and meaningful. Human life is rare. Is the purpose of human life merely eating, sleeping, drinking and dying? Ants, snakes and mosquitoes also pass through these phases. If you also join that category, what is the difference between you and them? You should soar to higher altitudes. You should be close to God. You should enjoy God’s Love, Bliss and Grace. You should ask for nothing short of bliss.
A flute has nine holes, just like the human body with nine apertures. It is the flute on which God plays. But this body, which you offer to God as His flute, is filled with desires. Because of these desires, you are not in tune with God. Once it is made hollow and free from desires, Krishna will say ‘Hello’! Krishna will pick it up and play on that and you will also find the touch of the fingers of the Lord. This flute will be on the lips of God. It is the Divine breath that comes out of the mouth as melodious music.
If we have a desire for God, we should shape ourselves into either of the two objects. One is slippers, the other is a flute. What is that you want to be out of these two? The whole body rests on slippers. The slippers have to bear the weight and also be dragged against the stones, bushes, insects, etc. It is very difficult to be like a slipper. What is the other way to be near and dear to God? It is very easy to be like a flute by cultivating detachment. To hold the towel in the grip is so difficult. Dropping it is so simple and easy. Similarly holding on to our desires is difficult. There is also nothing great in doing so. Drop them. It is so easy. That is Vairagya - renunciation. We should develop this detachment. However, it is not easy to develop this detachment in the world. We go on claiming ‘my wife, my child, my mother’. In Telugu, ‘my’ is called ‘Na’ meaning ‘not’. So when you say ‘Na Illu - my house’ in Telugu, it conveys that the house in reality does not belong to you! Hence in reality nothing belongs to you. This is similar to the ‘Neti Neti’ principle as described in Vedanta. In reality, everything is Divine. Have that faith.
Source: Always Remember The Lord!, Discourse 7, My Dear Students Volume 4; Divine Discourse delivered on August 21, 1996 at Prasanthi Nilayam
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