God and myself2
Good evening! Sisters and brothers, let us know that good morning is God’s morning, good evening is God’s evening. Good day is man’s day and good night is man’s night. God’s morning and evening say to man: “We do nothing but think of you.” Man’s day and night say to God: “We can do nothing but pray to you.”God and myself. God is my Father. God is my Mother. Indeed, this is what I know. And also I always know what to do.
When I say that I know what to do, I am afraid you all will misunderstand me. There is every possibility of your doubting my sincerity. You will not hesitate to consider me an object of ridicule.
Well, let me now try to defend myself. Let me humbly say my say. I have said that I know what to do. Let me tell you my inmost secret. “I know what to do, precisely because God does it for me.” You may in no time ask me why God does everything for me and not for you. If such is the case, God is unmistakably partial. To be sure, God is not partial. He is anything but that.
I know what to do, for God does it for me. I know that I do nothing and can do nothing. God is the Doer. God is the action. God is the fruit thereof. My life is an Eternal Experience of God.
Unfortunately there is a slight difference between you and me, between your approach to God and my approach to God. Do you remember what the Son of God said to humanity? He said: “I and my Father are one.” I believe in the Son of God. I try to live this truth. I also believe in our Vedic Seers of the hoary past. They said: “Brahmosmi”. “I am the Brahman.” I am the One without a second. I also have implicit faith in Sri Krishna’s teaching which I have learnt from His Gita, the Song Transcendental.
You are apt to cherish a few striking ideas in the inmost recesses of your heart. Let me faithfully cite, with your kind permission, your fertile ideas. First of all, you get joy in telling the world that there is no God. There can be no such thing as God. Even when you feel that there is God, you tell your near and dear ones that God is for them and for others, but not for you. In all sincerity, nay, stupidity at your command, you proclaim that God does not care for you. You feel that God is terribly angry with you, for ten years ago you told a fatal lie, you deceived someone in the street. Poor God, as if He has nothing else to do than to get angry with you and punish you mercilessly.
Believe it or not, I tell you that God has many things to do with you, many significant things with your life. To you, your life is nothing, a perfect zero. To God, your life is everything, to be precise, His everything. You are His unparalleled pride. You are His only Dream. You are His only Reality. With you He sings the Song of Immortality. In you He sees the embodiment of His Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. For you, only for you, He exists through Eternity. He moulds you. He shapes you. He guides you. He transforms you into His very Image, His Life of the ever-transcending Beyond.
Dear students, dear Professors, dear sisters and brothers, you are now in the same boat as I am. Together let us sing: “I know what to do, for God does it for me.”
Let me sing one more song. And I do hope that you all will learn it soon. This song tells me what to say and what to aspire for:
“Lead me from the Unreal to the Real.
Lead me from Darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.”
AUM 520. This talk was given at Brandeis University on 26 March 1969.↩