From Eternal Bliss We Came and To It We Must Return – by Sister Ruth Baur

From Eternal Bliss We Came and To It – We Must Return

By, Sister Ruth Baur, (Bangalore, June 2018)

Lord Haranath revealed: “You don’t know how much I love you, how valuable you are in my eyes. The price I paid to get you is indeed very heavy. If you shun me, forsake me altogether, I can’t leave you. I will have to seek you out again, I can’t rest without you. If I can see you roll in Krishna Prema hell will appear heaven unto me. Love the Lord and live for Him. God is all-love and forgiveness. Remember always that you are His little child. His love is your birthright. The very fact that you are alive proves His love for you: He is love and you are His beloved. Just turn towards Him and He will come half-way to meet you with open arms. You need something that will be your rest and support and gives strength to proceed along the path. Name is that something. You are all weaklings. Realize it, be humble and full of prayer. You don’t know what power there is in love, love pure and self-effacing – Prema. Namjap begets Prema. The characteristics of Prema are: forgetfulness of the outer world and disregard for one’s own body. We are not alone on the Bhakti Marg: how much comes from Him to meet us can be experienced. He revealed: “I am always with my Bhaktas, they always see my image in their hearts, they are one with Me. They don’t fear anything. I am a mentor and lover too, they are like my own soul.” It is Bhakti which lights the way to Him, to freedom and eternal bliss. Who earnestly walks the sacred path of devotion will be delivered by Him from the wheel of time. Such Bhaktas realize Him within themselves, they become absorbed in a sea of infinite joy – the sea of union with Him.

One who has true knowledge does not live in the body although he has it, like unto one awakening after a dream. Devotion unto Lord consumes all sorts of sins.The greatest Bhakti is to keep the mind calm and to see the Lord in all beings, friends and foes alike. Constant remem-brance of Him lets us forget worldly objects .Our yearning should be so intense that one moment without Him seems like an eternity. The eternal divine Friend is in our heart – imagine Him there. The more we desire to have Him, the more will He pull us up to Him. Eventually one sees God in all beings and worships Him in them. The highest Dharma is Bhakti and Bhakti alone and the greatest is enshrined in His Name. His grace is upon those who take His Name. God cannot remain even for a moment away from His devotees, He makes His Nearness felt in diverse ways. Lord said (Srimad Bhagavatam) : I don’t leave you even for a moment. You will feel my constant presence. Surrender body, heart, mind and soul to me and you shall find my grace and pass beyond fear forever. “His love is our birthright, cherish it as dearest treasure and try your utmost never to remain without Him. Reality is that we are always near our beloved Lord but as long as we identify ourselves with the body and hold the body for the self we are very far from Him . The greatest power shown by Thakur is the infusion of divine love into our hearts, making them forgetful of their mundane allurements and worldly ties. To know the Lord is to love Him. Thakur said:“”You will realize after I pass away what potency lies in the Name Kusum Haranath. Love the Name, then you will love Me also.”

Living beings are not liberated unless completely engaged in spiritual activity. The mind must become extremely subtle, pure and serene for only in an absolutely thought free mind can the Self shine forth unobstructed. When we love Nama, the mind can be controlled. As long as Ego remains we can’t be selfless. Who becomes egoless sees the Lord everywhere and himself as His servant. Develop indifference to sensual enjoyments and objects. Success in Dhyan comes when we feel that the Lord is verily in front of us, in our heart and see Him as the sole actor.

This life is not ours but His and has to be carefully protected. Bhakti is permanent sticking of all thoughts to Lord’s Lotus feet and chanting His Name. His Name has the power to row us over the ocean of life and reach His Lotus feet. His Name never loses its value by coming in contact with Sudras or other creatures. If we stick to constant Name repetition as advised by Him and chant His Name it is the most efficient way of controlling the mind. Realize His presence in your heart. Only God decides every moment of our life.

Lord Krishna describes such devotees to Uddhava: “who feels united with me at all times is always joyful, finds no obstacles in his path, is like a child. Everything he does is motiveless and spontaneous, having renounced all his desires he surrenders to Me. I shine in his heart as his very Self. The joy such a man feels is something that no creature, bound by senses can ever understand. True Sadhus are always calm, walk unwaveringly on the path of Dharma, unattached to worldly things and senses. Their only attachment is to Me. They have no fear, belong to Me, are one with Me, never die but come straight to me, who am beyond death and dying. I am always with my Bhaktas, they always behold my image in their hearts, are one with Me and fear nothing. They are like my own soul. They see all beings as equal, of themselves, renounce attachment, hate none, are celebate, keep silence and see Me in all things everywhere. Bhakti is the very form of the Lord and itself the final end. Bhaktas are always anxious to do something for the Lord and don’t like anything which is not connected with Him. For those, whose minds are free from desires, one-pointed, always seeking Me, who are unselfish, their Linga Sarira*1) is effortlessly liberated.” Once the Ego is effaced divine grace flows unobstructed, freely.

A Jiva bound by Samsar is like a bud that withers and dies, whereas one who knows the Self attracts thousands to him like a blossom brimming with honey and giving fragrance. None that is selfish can attain to his soul which is indeed the soul of everyone.

Let the heart be clear and be aware that the Lord is present everywhere. Our births are evolved ones. It is not difficult to please Him who is the inmost spirit everywhere. There is no place or time where one cannot commune with Him. His nature is love. The soul is pure consciousness, without volition, perfect awareness, cause of all causes, pervasive, unattached and boundless. If He is pleased what can we not have? We must fulfil our higher purpose and find Him, the eternal God who dwells in our bodies and in all of His creation. The path of the spirit is all that finally matters. No man owns even his life but is merely deluded that he does.

The greatest Bhakti is to keep the mind calm and to see the Lord in all beings, friend and foe alike. O Lord, it is from your love for us that you accept our devotion, for whatever we offer you returns to us as thousand blessings. You cannot be seen with mind or senses but can be gained with Bhakti. You live in the perpetual giving of Yourself. Always remembering You means constant forgetfulness of the world and its objects. The more we desire to get You the more will You pull us up to you. You said:” I have come down half-way to meet you without your serious trying to reach me”.All our bonds He has loosened and calls “come running towards Me. Be great and I will be proud. You cannot express your thoughts but to your husband everything is open. Have full faith in Me and you will get salvation.” Whenever a Jiva forgetting his own vanity becomes solely devoted to Him He stretches out His hand to save and absolve him altogether from his Karma. A devotee’s life is to lose all sense of distinctive personality and to be dissolved in the Lord like camphor in fire. Even an atom of desire or egoism should not be there. Maya is ashamed to stand before the Lord. If a Jiva sincerely surrenders and says “from this day I am yours” he at once gets out of her clutches .The Lord alone is performing all actions. We are mere spectators, we don’t exist for our own sake but for His sake. Once we experience everything as part of the whole, as extension of our own self, how can we ignore anything? In that state there is no sense of otherness. Everything is permeated with consciousness. Whether we are conscious or not the Lord cannot remain even for a moment away from His devotees. He makes His nearness felt in diverse ways: sometimes He manifests Himself but we take it for a dream or something else. Thakur said: “I don’t leave you even for a moment. You will feel my constant presence. Devotion means to live in longing for the Lord, so intense, that the world appears desolate in His absence. Imagine Him always in your heart, be open , reveal to Him your innermost thoughts, visualize His divine form ,converse with Him in your mind and feel His presence at all times.(this is called Rupadhyana**)

*Linga Sariras subtle spiritual body which survives from birth to birth, carrying sins and shackles *Rupadhyana is extremely important. Source: Bhagavad Bhakti – true Devotion by Jagadguru Sri Kripalu Ji Maharaj

N.B. Published the article in “Premlila Purushottam Kusum Haranath” Magazine which was edited by, Harasundar Mallick, on the year 2018.

Jai Haranath Jai Kusumkumari Jai