A New Year’s message to my fellow Brothers and Sisters
My new year’s message to all of you is “Love all and keep total faith in God”. This has done wonders for me when this beautiful Ashram was created; why it cannot do for you?
The blessings of the Lord will transform our lives, but remember that the plant of love will not survive without the water of patience. Just as by lifting one flower of a garland, the whole garland is uplifted, so by lifting the flower of love the whole garland of virtues will come to us. Such blessings are the product of surrender.
See everyone as the manifestation of God and an extension of yourself. Then you will understand that each person is a fellow soul rather than a body or a mind. If we cannot love the person whom we see how can we love God, whom we cannot see? Love and surrender is only found in the heart. Usually someone is considered to be dead if he has stopped breathing. But if someone has no love in his heart, even if he is still breathing he is one of the living dead.
Love is a divine quality that pervades everything. Remember that if you spend your time judging other people, you will have no time to love them. Only love can take us to God. Devotion to God is a cure for, and a release from, the disease of samsara. Only when body and mind are purified we will come to know His presence.
God is All, and everything exists in God. But just as ghee is hidden in milk, so also is God hidden in the universe. Similarly, just as the microbes in our body cannot see us, so it is that we who are wrapped in the cosmic body of God cannot see Him. He will remain a mystery until we search Him out in a spirit of devotion and surrender. Even the highest stage of Samadhi is attained through devotion to God.
Ghee is obtained by transforming milk into yogurt, churning it, taking out butter and finally heating the butter to obtain the ghee. Similarly, we can come to know God and experience the Divine presence through the transformation and purification through the disciplines of Yoga.
The Existence of God is authenticated by the ancient Sages, who were
scientists as well as Yogis. An authentic scripture known as the Yoga
Sutras was written in ages past by Sage Patanjali. He describes God in
this way: “God is a special kind of Being, untouched by ignorance and afflictions, and not subject to Karmas, Samskaras (subtle desires) or the Karmic results of actions.”
According to Vedanta Philosophy, God is the supreme ruler of the universe: He is the Creator, Sustainer and Dissolver. He is Brahman. God, the underlying and ultimate Reality, is immortal, immutable, omniscient, and omnipresent. God is both within and without, infinitely present and instantly everywhere. He dwells in the atom and yet He is the abode of all creation. He is the seed of whole universe and the store-house of all knowledge. He is the source of all knowledge and is without beginning or end. God within creation is the individual Soul known as Atman or Purusha. God is the True Self that exists within us all.
Then how should we pray such God? The singular representation of God is the sound OM. It is the backbone of the practice of Yog and the Symbol of cosmic energy. Words and ideas are inseparable. You cannot have the idea of God without the word which expresses God. In the Rig Veda it is said: “In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the word; and the Word was truly the supreme Brahman.” Similarly, it is said in the Gospel of John the Apostle: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Here it may be understood that all believers,regardless of religion, are worshiping the same God, the same Divine Source, whether He be called Supreme Being, Ishvara, Allah, Ultimate Reality, Supreme Truth, or give it any other name.
Albert Einstein said: “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science, becomes convinced that a Spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe- a Spirit vastly superior to that of man and One in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble.”
The modern mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said: “Neither in its impetus nor in its achievements can science go to its limits without becoming tinged with mysticism and charged with faith.”
My Guru Swami Rajarshi Muni has seen God and conversed with God. He described this sublime event in this way:
“I experience an extraordinary thrill in my body, mind and heart every time I recall these Divine events. Whenever I have the desire to cast some light upon them I find myself unable to describe them appropriately. Proper expression fails me; I am unable to find the right words, and whatever I am able to express remains comparatively unclear.
“Under the sheer force of emotion neither my thoughts nor my expression can create an adequate representation of these experiences. It may just be that they were different from normal worldly events. It is not impossible, but it is certainly very difficult, to completely and satisfactorily describe divine events.
“All I have to say here is this: my eyes have seen, and intently beheld, both the gross and the subtle luminous forms of Lord Lakulish. I have heard his loving words and my heart was drowned in a vast ocean of feeling. I have seen his smile and was thrilled with joy. I have peered into his compassionate eyes and seen vast tides and waves of love.
“I have no recollection now whether my heart ceased to beat at all, or if it beat with a new and unknown quickness in those exciting moments. But, yes, on both occasions, when bowing at his holy feet to pay my respects with faith and devotion, I experienced the touch of his hand upon my head. His divine touch has blessed my life. With that touch, the purpose of my life has been served. I have experienced his divine power, unfathomable peace, and divine inspiration through these two events, and new life has been poured into my sadhana.”
With authentications such as these, never be in doubt about the existence of God. I have not seen God but I do feel the presence of God here in this Ashram.
Never forget to love Him; see Him in every being and serve Him by serving others.
Never waste time in making judgments because life is short and time of death is uncertain. Learn to love every human being, for we are all manifestations of the Divine and the very children of God.
Our life is a boundary-mark whence one may take an upward or downward path. Our present time is the most precious time, wherein each of us must make our decision for lasting good or lasting ill.
Let us forget the past, and start afresh in this remarkable new year with a commitment that will bring us closer to God and remind us of our oneness with
the community of man. Let us together make this vow: “I will think thrice before hurting anyone.”
God bless you, love to all,
Jai Bhagwan
Satyanand
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