Worship the Lord according to your own conception
God is one. But the ways of approach to Him are many. The end—the
destination – is one, but the maens of attaining it are infinite. Even though
the end is one, the means of attaining it are infinite. Even though the end is
one, the means are bound to be many, as for example the city of Sonepat is one,
although diverse are the routes leading to it. Men from every quarter – east,
west, north and south—are sure to reach Sonepat if they proceed towards it
making it their destination. Of course each will commence his journey from his
own quarter and follow his own route. Their experiences too about the route will
be different. If anyone insists that a man coming from the east should follow
the route taken by an individual coming from the west and that a man coming
from the north should adopt the route taken by a traveller from the south, he
is mistaken. Even so is is erroneous to believe that the means of attaining to
God, our supreme destination, is the same for all. The means must vary
according to the aptitude and understanding, the frame of mind, the relative
strength of the three Gunas or modes of prakrti manifesting themselves in the
mind, the predisposition and environment of the individual. Therefore neither
denounces any means to God-Realization nor feel enamoured of any. Constantly
keeping your eye on the goal continue to moment that God alone is the highest
objective of your life, remain constantly engaged in your endeavour to attain
this end. Taking no notice of what others do or say, continue to advance
carefully on your path without pause.
If the stock of divine virtues is gaining strength in your life, your
mind is recoiling from the pleasures of sense, your attraction for God is
developing, mental peace, know that you
are steadily advancing in that measure. And if, on the other hand, the sock of
demoniac propensities is increasing, your mind is feeling drawn towards the
pleasures of senses and receding from God-remembrance, mental unrest and worry
are developing at a slow or swift pace,
you are moving backward, degenerating. Therefore go on carefully
examining the inner state of your life. Your inner state alone reflects your
real character.
The first and foremost thing to do is to determine one’s goal—to arrive
at the conclusion that God alone is the highest objective of one’s life, and
then to pursue every internal and external activity in lige with this very end
in view. If God is the definite goal of you will continue to advance towards
God and you will continue to advance towards God is the definite goal of your
life, you will have your face turned towards God is the definite goal of your
life, you will have your face turned towards God and you will continue to
advance towards Him at a slow or swift pace. For, all embodied souls in the
world is to revolve constantly with the wheel of Time. Of course it is open to
them to travel in the direction of God with their face turned towards them
A man bound for the sacred region of the Himalayas is sure to get a cool
air and a lonely atmosphere, come across pious and holy men who have renounced
their all, and derive mental peace, joy and so on even as he advances towards
that region; while the man proceeding in the direction of big cities in the hot
plains, on the other hand, will have to encounter heat, a crowded atmosphere,
voluptuous and sensually-minded men, thieves, swindlers and robbers, and suffer
disquietude, worry and so on. Even so a man marching Godward is sure to develop
divine virtue, get the company of holy men, develop an aversion to the pleasures
of sense, attain peace of mind, spiritual bliss, sinless conduct and so on;
while a man heading towards sense delights will acquire demonic traits, gather
evil company, develop sensuality, develop the mistaken notion that there is joy
in the sense-delights, indulge in unholy sinful pursuits and suffer disquietude,
constant agony and so on. Therefore, testing oneself on the crucible of the
aforesaid characteristics, ascertain the direction in which you are progressing
and know it for certain that if you are heading towards the painful and
transient delights of sense you are sure be recognized or said to be a clever
or enlightened man, a pious soul, a devotee, a saint, a leader, an officer, an
affluent and happy man, or may claim to be such. Therefore, immediately turning
your back on the sense-delights, set your face towards God.
You have not been sent to his world in the form of a human being in
order that you may remain engrossed in hankering after sense-delights and leads
sinful life and, enhancing the stock of your sins, die weeping and wailing. A
human body has, on the other hand, been vouchsafed to you in order that you may
take t a course of discipline for God-Realization and, leading a virtuous life,
actually realize God—getting rid of death, attain a transcendent and eternal
divine life. Bear this in mind, and, embracing an innocent course of spiritual
discipline, conforming to your capacity and aptitude, follow it with a
singleness of purpose and, realizing God, the supreme goal of your existence,
bring your life to a successful conclusion.
Brahma, the paramatma and the Lord are the names of one and same Supreme
Reality. The selfsame Lord is at once devoid of attributes, both without and
with attributes, with attributes, endowed with attributes as well as with a
form, possessed of form, form less, with and without form and attributes and
everything else. His attributes constitutes His very being, are identical with
him. His gracious Body is neither a product of Karma nor attained through
another’s will, nor is it a product of Karma nor attained through another’s
will, nor is it a product of assumed for the sake of play. His Form is eternal,
It is a product of His own Will and is Truth, Consciousness and Bliss rolled
into one.
The benign divine essence of the Lord is not perceived through
Maya(deluding Potency of the Lord). That which is perceived, through Maya is
non existence. The Lord is eternally existent; no matter if he perceived or
not, His being is all the same eternally existent. It is perceived only through
His grace. By way of sport it becomes manifest eternal, real, beginning less
and divinely spiritual.
Neither has the Lord any desire nor does He need acquire anything not
possessed by Him; for in the first place there is nothing unattained by Him
and, really speaking, nothing other than Him has any existence at all. His
entire Play has Its source in Him and is enacted in Him and continues for its
own sake and of itself. The play is not different from the player.
The Divine Energy is not different from the Lord. It constitutes His
very inheres in Him alone as identical with Him. It appears to exist apart when
it manifest itself in the form of Play; it ceases to appear when His manifest
play ceases. Though ceasing to appear, it exists nonetheless in Him and even
when appearing It does not exist apart from Him. The relation of eternal and
invariable co-existence subsists between Energy and the Energizer, where the
Divine Energy is manifest the Lord is recognized as manifest and He is regarded
as unmanifest where His energy is unmanifest. These manifest and unmanifest
states too, however, do not imply any change of state whatsoever. Whatever
appears in Him is, really speaking, nothing apart from His being.
The Lord never evolves nor does He not evolve. He is eternally
established in His real and everlasting native glory, which constitutes His
very being. In whatever state of being or aspect one sees Him or worships Him
He comprise all those states or aspects and all worship is offered Him alone.
Appearing before His votary in a state of being corresponding to his concept
and dispelling all the darkness of his ignorance, He imparts to him the
knowledge of His real divine essence and He thereby achieves the purpose of his
life.
The Lord comprises all as well as transcends all; He is endowed with all
excellences and is at the same time devoid of attributes; He is the Sustainer
of all as well as beyond all. There is nothing other than Him; it is He who is
manifest in the form of all. He is one, infinite and unbounded; the aforesaid
oneness, infinitude and boundlessness are attributable to Him alone.
The Lord cannot be conceived of as partaking of a particular nature or
not, that He is solely devoid of attributes and not endowed with attributes or
that He is only endowed with attributes and not devoid of attributes, that He
is invariably devoid of a distinctive character and never possessed of a
distinctive character or that He is only possessed of a distinctive character
and never devoid of such character. He is everything and no entity other than
Him has any existence. It is He who is variously explained and reveals Himself
in all these states of being—aspects. Therefore giving up all doubts and
misconception, one should propitiate and worship the Lord according to one’s
conception of the Great Lord.(Brahma Vishnu Hanuman God Krishna)