||Aum
Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||
| Mother Padmavati and Lord Balaji |
||Aum
Namo Narayanaya||
There
is an expectation that the first week of Purtassi will bring with it a sense of
auspiciousness and life-giving rains that is very much needed after the
protracted winter dry spells. The chill and the blanket of clouds on themorning
of Saturday, 20th September seemed to form the precursor to a
text-book-style-unfolding of a typical Purtassi Saturday. However by noon
itself, anxiety set in as the clouds gave way under the intensity of the ever
faithful sun.
It
was not unusual then to hear upon every tongue the predicament we are placed
in, with regards to an impending drought. Our town which is encompassed by many
farmers felt their pain through the scarcity of fresh vegetables at the stalls
that normally burst with lusciousness, vibrancy and wonderful aromas. People’s
minds which are normally fixated on the pleasures of the world now started to
make a shy calculated approach to the divine in search of His grace upon the
earth.
The
second Saturday was nail biting as the heavy winds collected the laden rain
clouds towards the sea. But alas during the prime time of the Lord’s prayer it
was like He Himself mounted upon Garuda His celestial vehicle and reigned in
the clouds... and using His chakra graciously sliced open the clouds to
pour upon the parched Booma Devi (Mother Earth) the ambrosia of life.
We
have come to learn that faith in the Lord has been the support platform of
civilisation since time immemorial and wonderfully put by Swami
Saradaprabhanandaji Maharaj of the Phoenix Sub-Centre of the Ramakrishna Centre
of South Africa at a special gathering at the Ashram on Sunday that
religion and faith in God provides mankind with coping mechanisms in life...
else at the sight of the smallest challenge man will be ready to end his life.
On
Sunday evening, I was also indeed blessed to be in satsang with Swami
Vimokshanandaji Maharaj at the Chinna Tirupathi Venketeshwara Devastanam in
Tongaat receiving the bountiful blessings of Lord Balaji where Revered Maharaj
dotingly described the parameters of divine love for God. Maharaj kept the
audience spellbound as He narrated through parables the components essential
for bhakti and
love for God.
It
was evident and quite clear through the expansion of Swamiji's ideas that our
worship was at a preliminary level in our failure to see Narayana manifesting
in humanity and in our trade-exchange method of worship with the divine...
meaning that we come to God in times of trouble and then strike deals in order
to mitigate the challenges. On a certain level, it is acceptable as children
have a certain liberty with parents. As the level of our maturity increases we
tend to understand that when we offer unconditional love for our parents
without any expectation then un-asked we receive what is needed.
To
help facilitate this connection of love our dear seers and saints envisioned
the supreme consciousness, the unmanifest in the form of the Divine Mother. It
is common knowledge that generally our affection and love for our Mothers is of
a higher degree than our Fathers possibly due to the umbilical contact with her
during foetal development. It is the most unique and fascinating aspects of
Hindu Dharma where the Divine Mother is supremely worshipped as the Brahman in
the patriarchal orientated world. The results of which provide a springboard to
catapult our love for God from the rudimentary existence to the peripheries of absolute
unconditional love.
In
the modern age, we need not look further than the life of the Great Master Sri
Ramakrishna who assimilated this absolute unconditional love to the Divine
Mother Kali. His love was so intense that He literally served Her in the
image as the real living Kali. The limitations of the physical world were
surpassed when His yearning to have darshan
of the Mother led Him to the extreme point of ending His life with Her knife
should She not reveal Herself. The most compassionate Mother didn’t hesitate to
accede to the cry and call of Her beloved son.
In
the world today we may not understand the philosophies of the great scriptures
and we may not be able to recite the mantras but we are able to love. The
ability to love is inherent within each of us. If an unlettered man was able to
become the Paramahamsa by merely expressing and cultivating intense, unalloyed,
unconditional love to God then the credibility of our argument is lifted out
from the doldrums of doubt into the realms of high insight.
The
path to God is hijacked by priestcraft who having learnt a certain language and
skilled in the art of rituals and chanting have ingeniously positioned
themselves as central figures to our spiritual progress. Notwithstanding this
point we must not denounce the fact that they are needed as guide-rails to
inspire our own devotion.
The
simple story of the life of Sri Prahalad washes all uncertainty that
pure, unalloyed devotion and complete surrender is the only language and skill
one needs to know in order to commune and achieve the grace of God. By
completely absorbing himself in the name of God -Aum Namo Narayanaya- with
one-pointed faith, he was able to attain all the protection and grace of
Bhagawan to the point of the Lord manifesting Himself in a form that voided the
invincibility of his evil father. Mother Shabri is another example of how the
Lord bends on account of the ecstatic love of the devotee. The list goes on and
will at some stage include even yourself should you constitute your mind, body
and intellect in such a manner to express this divine love.
During
this auspicious month of Purtassi and the period of Navarathri, may our Father
and Mother inspire our unconditional love. There is only one religion and that
is the religion of love. May all that we do in the name of spirituality ooze
with love. Our task is to simply surrender... the rest the Lord will do. If
this unshakable faith is instituted in you then fear and all other negatives
will leave you immediately.
In
surrender at the feet of Govinda.
Yours
faithfully
Yogan
