Swami Ramdas
God is ever after us. He wants to take us to Himself and grant us the highest beatitude. But we try to escape from Him even as a dirt-covered child runs away from its mother who wants to bathe it. We are trying to run away from the Divine Mother who wants to purify us and give us the highest bliss. We like playing with the toys of the world, ignoring Her call.
Seek not to find peace and freedom in the external circumstances of life. True freedom and happiness is an inner state which you acquire when you are in tune with God who dwells within you. Let the knocks you get in life turn you more and more towards God.
All Sadhana is for keeping remembrance of God unbroken. Remembrance is Darshan. The easiest way is to take the name of God constantly. The Name is the link between the devotee and God. It brings the devotee face to face with Him and enables him to realize oneness with Him. Namasmaran is capable of granting the universal vision by which one sees everything as God. When you take the name, you are taking the Name of the Lord who dwells in your own heart.
Take the Name with all the faith you are capable of. Repeat it without a moment‘s break, whether you are in the kitchen, or engaged in fetching water, taking bath, walking in the streets or doing any physical work. If you do not practice keeping the Name ever on your lips, you cannot avoid being unhappy.
Japa must be done with intense love and devotion for God, and not as a discipline imposed on you by somebody else. If you do not get joy in doing Japa, you had better not do it, as it will not help you very much. When you have love for God, Japa of His Name must give you great joy. It is not mere mechanical repetition that helps, but a spontaneous outflow of your love for Him along with the repetition of His Name.
It is not necessary to chant the Name of the Lord aloud. In the early stages, it might be helpful. But mental repetition is far more effective.
All names of God are great and powerful. But Ram Nam has a value of its own. Rhythm is a most important factor in a Mantra.
The soothing melody of the repeated word, or combination of words, has a marvelous effect on the distracted mind. No two letters linked together could, by their harmonious music, lull and bring peace to the mind more than Ram. It is said that `Ram’ is equal in power to the sacred syllable `OM’. For the devotee of His Saguna or personal aspect, `Ram’ is valuable also as the name of an incarnation of God.
Excerpted from ‘Thus Speaks Ramdas’. The 135th birth anniversary of Swami Ramdas was observed on April 10.
