By God’s Name the pull of evil is vanquished. There is a
saying that it is impossible for man to commit as many sins as can be
annulled by God’s Name just as a single spark of fire can consume more
things than you are ever able to accumulate, so by the contemplation of the
Supreme Being, by the endeavour to approach Him, all your sins will be
obliterated. The destructible will be destroyed and Reality stand
revealed.
~
Karma accumulated for ages and ages, sins and desires are
wiped out by God’s sacred Name. Just as lighting a lamp illumines a cave
that has been in darkness for centuries, even so the obscurity of numberless
births is annihilated by the power of a divine name.
~
The Name and the Named are identical for He Himself appears as Name. The
letter (aksara) is indeed God’s own guise. When the Name one repeats
becomes alive, it is as when a seed is sown the tree grows out of it. If the
Name that appeals most to any particular person is constantly repeated, one
arrives at the realization that all names are His names, all forms His
forms. Furthermore, that He is without name and form will also by and by
come to light.
~
The aksara (syllable or series of syllables) by
which the mind becomes liberated is called mantra. The aksara is
cinmayi (permeated, as it were, by consciousness) ; it is the
_Sabda Brahman ; it is called the Nãma Brahman. Feel convinced
that He will be found in the Name. Have firm faith that the seed that has
been buried in your consciousness will without fail grow into a tree. Just
as after sowing a seed, it has to be watered and manured, similarly the seed
in the form of a mantra will be made to sprout when provided with the
necessary nourishment in the form of satsang. As you desire God, be
it in a particular form or without form, so will you find Him.
~
Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of a sacred
Name. To repeat His Name is to be in His presence. Just as a human friend
opens his heart to you and tells you all about himself when you come to him,
so, if you associate with the Supreme Friend, He will reveal His true Being
to you.
Do you refrain from bathing when faced with waves of the
sea? Surely, you plunge right into the midst of them and take your bath.
Similarly, in the very thick of ternpests and difficulties of worldly life
endeavour to maintain the remembrance of Him, the repetition of His
Name.
~
The fact that you are aware of your incapacity to
concentrate on God’s Name is also His grace. Even though not interested take
the Name as a medicine. This also will have a good result. You will improve.
God’s Name is not like worldly medicine that acts at times and at other
times does not ; God’s Name invariably bears fruit. This is why it is said,
either get yourself admitted into the hospital, take the medicine prescribed
by the doctor, regulate your diet, and your illness will be cured. Or use
the doctor’s medicine and diet while remaining at home. That is to say,
either renounce everything and seek refuge solely in His Name, or else,
while remaining with your family, act according to your Guru's instructions
and live a regulated life. Thereby also you may hope to get rid of your
disease. Whoever likes to take injections? Yet they are beneficial. Which
child enjoys learning to read? All the same, by studying regularly with the
assistance of one's parents and teachers one becomes an educated person.
This is so where learning is concerned that serves worldly ends. Again, if
you can acquire Brahmavidya, the knowledge of Reality, there is hope
of recovering supreme wealth. What is supreme wealth? None but God
Himself.
~
‘To some devotees the One gives darsana in the form
they love most. He has endowed you with devotion and capacity, but He has
not come to you in the form of a mantra, a word of power. For the time being
repeat the Name of Him that appeals to you most; contemplate Him in the form
dearest to you and pray, "Lord, reveal Thyself to me in the way that is for
my ultimate good !"