I trust you find some time everyday to enter into the silence within you. Silence is our true Teacher. Silence is our real Guru! In silence are all our doubts cleared. And in silence is heard the Voice of God, which speaketh the ancient word: Uttishtha! Jagrata! —”O sleeper, arise! Awake! How long will you in slumber lie?”
Beyond earthly ties
To awake is to know that we are not creatures of the earth, earthy. We do not belong to this world. Our home, whence we come and whither we must return, is beyond the pathways of planets and stars. So, we must live in the world but not be of the world. It was Sri Ramakrishna who said, “Live in the world but keep the pitcher steady on your head: that is to say, keep the mind firmly on God.”
Yes, we must attend to our daily tasks but our mind should be fixed on the Lotus Feet of the Lord. We must practise the presence of God. And He is not afar. He is with us, within us. Nearer is He to us than the nip of our neck, closer is He to us than our breathing.
Feeling his presence
To practise the presence of God, we don’t need to perform elaborate rites and ceremonies. What we need is love and a child-like trust. Let us go to God as a child would go to its mother or father. Let us place all our problems and needs before Him. In Him is the solution to all our problems: and in Him is all that we need!
To practise the Presence of God,
- Let us continually converse with Him. He is the Beloved of our hearts. He is the Friend among friends. Let us speak to Him, again and again. Let us, whisper to Him words of love. Let us express gratitude to Him for the blessings He has bestowed upon us. Let us speak to Him with intimacy and familiarity.
- Let us have faith in Him, faith that whatever He does is for our good. For His works are ever the works of mercy.
- Let us abide in the Will of God. Let this be the one prayer of our heart: “In sun and rain, in pleasure, pain, in loss and gain, Thy Will be done!”
- And let us be ever-watchful, ever-vigilant. For passions wake up in the heart of man, again and again. And they lead him astray: they take him miles away from the Beloved of the Heart.