Excerpted from the Gospel
Bhagavân: For this age Bhakti Yoga, communion with God by love, devotion and self-surrender, as practised by the Rishi Nârada, is enjoined. There is hardly time for Karma Yoga, for doing the works laid upon man by the Scriptures. Do you not see that the well-known decoction of the ten medicinal roots (Dasamul Pâchan) is not the medicine for fevers of the present day? The patient runs the risk of being carried off before the medicine has had time to take effect. "Fever-mixture" is therefore the order of the day. Teach them Karma if you like, but leave aside the head and tail of the fish. I tell people not to bother with the long ritual of Sandhyâ, but to repeat only the short Gâyatri. * You are welcome to talk of work to such people if you must.
Effect of lectures on worldly men.
Give thousands of lectures, you cannot do anything with worldly men. Can you drive a nail into a stone wall? The head will be broken without making any impression on the wall. Strike the back of an alligator with a sword, it will receive no impression. The mendicant's bowl (of gourd-shell) may have been to the four great holy places of India but still be as bitter as ever. But you will learn this gradually. A calf cannot stand on its legs all at once. It falls down, gets up, falls again, and then it learns to stand and run. You do not know who is a Bhakta (godly) and who is worldly; but that is not your fault. When a heavy storm blows, one cannot distinguish Tamarind from Mango-tree.
It is true, however, that no one can absolutely renounce all works without realizing God. The question is, how long should Sandhyâ (rituals) and other ceremonial works be practised? So long as the Holy Name of the Lord does not bring tears of love to the eyes and produce horripilation in the body. When you are uttering "Om Râma," if tears of love come to your eyes, you will know for certain that the term of your Karma (works and duties) is over. You are no longer obliged to perform Sandhyâ and other works. You have risen above Karma. When the fruit appears, the blossom drops off. The true Bhakti is the fruit, while work is the blossom.
When the daughter-in-law of the house is with child, she cannot do much work; so the mother-in-law daily reduces the number of her duties. As the time of her delivery draws near, the mother-in-law seldom allows her to do anything; and when the child is born, she fondles and caresses it and ceases altogether to work.
All rituals end in Samâdhi.
Sandhyâ merges into Gâyatri; Gâyatri into Om, and Om ultimately loses itself in Samâdhi. As the sound of a bell—Ding, dong—gradually fades away into the Infinite, so the soul of a Yogi gradually rises with the Nâda (the sound of Om) and becomes merged in the Absolute Brahman in Samâdhi. Into this Samâdhi eventually enter all Karma,—Sandhyâ, Gâyatri and other works. In this manner the Jnânis are freed from all rituals and religious exercises.
As the Bhagavân was talking of Samâdhi, a strange heavenly expression came over His sweet, radiant face. He lost all outward consciousness.
Bhagavân: For this age Bhakti Yoga, communion with God by love, devotion and self-surrender, as practised by the Rishi Nârada, is enjoined. There is hardly time for Karma Yoga, for doing the works laid upon man by the Scriptures. Do you not see that the well-known decoction of the ten medicinal roots (Dasamul Pâchan) is not the medicine for fevers of the present day? The patient runs the risk of being carried off before the medicine has had time to take effect. "Fever-mixture" is therefore the order of the day. Teach them Karma if you like, but leave aside the head and tail of the fish. I tell people not to bother with the long ritual of Sandhyâ, but to repeat only the short Gâyatri. * You are welcome to talk of work to such people if you must.
Effect of lectures on worldly men.
Give thousands of lectures, you cannot do anything with worldly men. Can you drive a nail into a stone wall? The head will be broken without making any impression on the wall. Strike the back of an alligator with a sword, it will receive no impression. The mendicant's bowl (of gourd-shell) may have been to the four great holy places of India but still be as bitter as ever. But you will learn this gradually. A calf cannot stand on its legs all at once. It falls down, gets up, falls again, and then it learns to stand and run. You do not know who is a Bhakta (godly) and who is worldly; but that is not your fault. When a heavy storm blows, one cannot distinguish Tamarind from Mango-tree.
It is true, however, that no one can absolutely renounce all works without realizing God. The question is, how long should Sandhyâ (rituals) and other ceremonial works be practised? So long as the Holy Name of the Lord does not bring tears of love to the eyes and produce horripilation in the body. When you are uttering "Om Râma," if tears of love come to your eyes, you will know for certain that the term of your Karma (works and duties) is over. You are no longer obliged to perform Sandhyâ and other works. You have risen above Karma. When the fruit appears, the blossom drops off. The true Bhakti is the fruit, while work is the blossom.
When the daughter-in-law of the house is with child, she cannot do much work; so the mother-in-law daily reduces the number of her duties. As the time of her delivery draws near, the mother-in-law seldom allows her to do anything; and when the child is born, she fondles and caresses it and ceases altogether to work.
All rituals end in Samâdhi.
Sandhyâ merges into Gâyatri; Gâyatri into Om, and Om ultimately loses itself in Samâdhi. As the sound of a bell—Ding, dong—gradually fades away into the Infinite, so the soul of a Yogi gradually rises with the Nâda (the sound of Om) and becomes merged in the Absolute Brahman in Samâdhi. Into this Samâdhi eventually enter all Karma,—Sandhyâ, Gâyatri and other works. In this manner the Jnânis are freed from all rituals and religious exercises.
As the Bhagavân was talking of Samâdhi, a strange heavenly expression came over His sweet, radiant face. He lost all outward consciousness.
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