A child's sweet hopefulness
And God's immediate fruitfulnessAre always found together
In a beautiful perfection-satisfaction-garden. ```He who cares more for the intellect than for the heart, he who cares more for the outer achievement than for the inner achievement, he who cares more for society around him than for God within him, can never act like a child. A true child lives all the time in the heart, whereas a grown-up is all the time in the mind. In the mind there is no love. Real love can be found only inside the flower-heart. The flower-heart tries all the time to make others happy. Because God has the flower-heart of a child, He is trying all the time to make us happy. A child's flower-heart is a divine heart. If we remain in the outer world, we see children as ordinary human beings. But if we go within, then we immediately see that children embody all the divine qualities of God. At that time we see children as true miracles — as divine instruments, as flowers of God.
It is especially the parents who have to see their children in this way. If the parents feel that their children are flowers of God, then the parents will make the children not only feel this but also grow into this. It is the parents who, right from the beginning, have to see the divinity in their children and make their children see the divinity within themselves. That is the parents' supreme role. It is not enough for the parents to feed and clothe their children and send them to school. No, the parents must take responsibility for bringing out their children's divine qualities.
All children can and must be reached spiritually. It is infinitely easier to reach children spiritually than to reach them any other way. For children are nothing but fresh and beautiful flowers ready to be placed on the altar of God the Truth, God the Light and God the Delight.As a mother reaches down
To offer a fruit to her child,Even so God the Infinite
Reaches down to offer HimselfTo the finite.
```When you are blessed with a child, you bring into your life a solid portion of divinity from above. At that time, your soul makes another solemn promise to God: that you will make your child a perfect instrument of God. Either you will be in a position to help your child yourself or you will take the help of some other human being. This is your soul's promise.
American parents often confuse lack of discipline with love and concern. When it is a matter of deep love and concern, they do not give it. And when it is a matter of strict spiritual discipline, inner discipline, they are certainly not giving it to their children. Their children are not properly moulded with inner or outer discipline. They are not properly taught either on the spiritual plane or on the physical and mental planes.If children are not properly moulded when they are of a tender age, then when they grow up they may take drugs and do many undivine things. At that time the parents claim, "I didn't teach them to do these things." But unfortunately the parents gave them the wrong kind of freedom. Instead of teaching their own ideals to their children, they let the children make up their own minds.
When you have a child, you give your child milk because you know that it is nutritious. You do not say, "Let the child drink milk or water, whichever he prefers, and when he gets older he will realise that milk is better for him." By that time he may have fallen sick or even died. So you make the child drink milk until he is ten or twelve years old and then, if he does not like milk, you let him drink something else.
Likewise, on the spiritual plane, parents often do not feed their children's souls. They say that they do not know which path their children will want, which church they need or what kind of prayer is best for them, so they do not teach them anything. But what you feel is best for your own inner lives, you should also feel is good for your children. Children will die spiritually if you don't give them inner nourishment. You are not injecting anything into them; you are giving them food. They may not like that particular food, but they have to eat or they will die. Later, when they grow up, they will have the freedom to eat whatever they choose.
Here I see thousands of children who have been misguided by their parents in the name of freedom. Freedom is available, but who can really enjoy freedom? He who listens to the dictates of his inner being and obeys the inner law. You enjoy freedom on the outer plane precisely because you listen to a higher authority, which is your own higher self. When you do not listen to your higher self, at that time you are totally limited and bound.
The parents have to feel that since they have more wisdom and experience than their children, they are the higher self of their children. They are part and parcel of their existence, but they are more conscious; therefore, they are in a position to guide their children. These same children will one day grow up and be in a position to guide and mould their own children. But when children are given freedom before they have any inner wisdom, this freedom is not good.A mother gives and gives to her child simply because she loves him. If she is lucky enough, when the child grows up he will give to her in return. But very often he does not return her offering. He has his own life. But as the mother gives, she is blessed by God. The light, affection and other divine qualities which she gives to her child are blessings in themselves.
In a mother's love we see divinity expressing itself in various significant ways. The first thing we notice in a mother's love is purest concern, and the second thing we notice is endless patience. In a father's love we will not find that kind of infinite patience; we will find wisdom and other things. But in a mother's love, in addition to wisdom we will find infinite patience. The mother is ready to wait for the child to grow up and learn everything. The father is to some extent impatient. The father judges the child according to his own light, peace, wisdom and knowledge, whereas the mother judges the child according to the child's capacity.
The love that a child gets from his mother is more fruitful than the love that he gets from his father. When it is a matter of inner intimacy, it is the mother's love that is more successful. When we feel something vast, immediately it is our father-love that comes to the fore. But when we feel the intensity of two hearts, we immediately think of the love between mother and child.
The child knows that the mother will not do anything intentionally to harm him. The child believes that even unconsciously she will not do anything wrong. The child has such implicit faith in the mother. He feels that if someone had poison, the mother herself would drink the poison to save him. This kind of faith we will see in the child only before his mind develops. Once the mind starts functioning at the age of thirteen or so, at that time the sweet intimacy between mother and child is broken, for the mind has its own way of doubting and suspecting.Unfortunately, most people do not feel the presence of God inside themselves, let alone inside their children. They look upon their children as their possessions and feel that they have every right to mould them and guide them according to their own sweet will. But if you can feel that you love your children precisely because God is inside them, then there will be a spontaneous flow of divine love going from you to your children. At that time, your children will feel that you have something special to offer.
Of course, when your child smiles, you really do see the presence of God in him. But the moment he screams and does a few undivine things, at that time do you see God there? No, you simply say, "This is my fate. This kind of God I do not want." This moment you will see something divine and the next moment you will see only imperfection and say that God is not there.
But from the spiritual point of view, it is very important to try to see God inside your children. When you speak to your children, you have to feel that you are offering your love to the Inner Pilot in them. When you are giving them wisdom, you have to feel that between you and your children there is somebody who is a bridge, and that is God. You are loving your dearest ones precisely because God the eternal Love is inside you and inside them. You are showing compassion to them because the eternally compassionate Source is inside you.
So in all your actions you have to feel that you are offering your soulful service-light to the Supreme in your children. Before you feed your children, think of the Supreme. While feeding them, say to the Supreme, "O Supreme, I am offering this food to You." Then, each time you do something for your children, ask the Supreme inwardly to do the same for you. When you feed your children, say to the Supreme, "You also please feed me, since I am Your child." At that time the Supreme will definitely feed you spiritually. And after you have fed your children, when they are quite happy and peaceful, pray to the Supreme to^ feed you once again. In this way, even though you are feeding your children only once, the Supreme is feeding you three times. Why is He feeding you? Because you are crying for His inner food.
The Supreme should always come first in your life. When your child gives you a smile, do not feel that you have achieved the highest. Instead, feel that you are a child of the Supreme and when He smiles at you, when He is pleased with you, only then do you get the greatest joy. When you get something from the Supreme, you have to feel that that is the only thing you need. Once you get it, then you can give it to your children, to your husband, to your near and dear ones. Everything that you want to get, try to get from the Supreme, and then give it to your dear ones. If you try to get something from your children, you will only bind yourself.
To gain access to the Supreme and to increase your receptivity to the things that He is offering you, you have to learn concentration, meditation and contemplation. If you are a mother, easily you can find time to meditate, provided you are willing to do first things first. Early in the morning, before your family wakes up and you have to enter into the hustle and bustle of life, you can offer a few seconds to God. If you know that at a particular hour your children will demand food and other things from you, then you can easily get up ten minutes earlier. If you know that at six o'clock they may create problems for you, then you can get up at five-thirty and meditate in secret, like a divine thief.
There is a world of difference between praying and meditating for your children and then taking care of their earthly necessities, and only taking care of their earthly necessities. Please do not feel that you are taking proper care of your children if you are only meeting with their outer necessities. And please do not think that if you spend hours with your children, pleasing them in their own way, that they will be spiritual. If you want your children to become spiritual, you yourself have to be spiritual. You have to pray and meditate and you have to teach your children how to pray and meditate. Anything that is good you have to teach your children. It is also better for the family to meditate together if it is possible. Then there will be a real family feeling. As you eat physical food together, so also you can eat spiritual food together. Spiritual food is prayer and meditation.Early in the morning, if you get up to pray and meditate with folded hands, for a few days your child may remain fast asleep while you are doing it. But soon a sweet sense of competition will come into him. If his father or his mother can meditate, what is wrong with his doing it? Then the child will sit beside you and meditate. The best example is the parent's own life. The parent's life is the child's ideal.
You can offer your children most effective spiritual help only by leading the divine life yourself — that is to say, by action, not by preaching. Whatever you tell a child to do, you yourself have to do first. You may tell your children, “Get up at seven o'clock and pray and meditate" but the next morning you will be sleeping. Similarly, you may tell your children not to tell lies, but you yourself will tell lies. Everything you do you will justify by saying, “Oh, I have passed your stage; these things don't affect me." But you have to know that they do affect you and they also affect your children.
If you ask your children to get up and meditate and you yourself do the same, automatically they get added strength. But if you don't do the same thing, already half their strength goes away. Their attention is immediately diverted. They think: "If this is really good, how is it that my mother is not doing it?"
Always try to become an example for your children. If you ask your children to draw something and you yourself start cooking, you will be making a mistake. You should not cook at that time; you should go and draw with your children. Even while the children are playing with a ball, although you may feel that you have important things to do, the most important thing for you to do is to keep the children company. There can be nothing more important in your life. If you really want to see their progress, make them happy — not by becoming indulgent, not by giving them twenty toys at a time, but by doing something for them, by giving them the feeling that they are good and divine.
When you are with them, tell them, "God loves you most. You are His chosen child. The whole world is waiting for you to do something divine." This is what I mean by making them happy. To give them real happiness, make them feel that God wants them. This is not insincere flattery. When parents admire and adore a child, even if the qualities that they are admiring are not to the fore, they come to the fore.
In India when a child is born blind, the parents give him the name "Lotus-eyed." They compare the child to the cosmic gods. People may say this is silly, but these parents are doing the right thing by saying that their children have the special grace of the cosmic gods. They are invoking the presence of the cosmic gods. So when you appreciate, admire and adore your children, please try to feel that you are helping them develop the qualities that you feel ought to come to the fore in them; you are bringing to the fore their dormant inner divinity.
It is always good to inspire young children. To inspire them you do not have to paint a big painting or read a beautiful poem. No! Say to them one nice word and immediately they are inspired. Give them a soulful smile or a soulful look and immediately they will see something inside your smile which will inspire them and make their hearts expand.
If you tell a child that he is good, your human mind will say that you have only aggrandised his ego. But your heart will know that immediately the child's heart has expanded. His heart is like a bud that needs to unfold. From each good word and each kind gesture that you offer him, petal by petal the rose or lotus inside the child's heart will blossom. In this way, at every moment you can inspire children with your own way of approaching divinity.
If you can inspire your child with love, then he will inspire somebody else with love. It is from the one that we come to the many. This is the only way the world can progress. When a spiritual Master like the Christ comes, he is only one person; but he inspires millions and millions. We cannot dream of transforming humanity all at once; it is a slow process. But by starting with the children of the world, eventually the face of reality is transformed by divine love.After four or five years, the mother takes the child to kindergarten. Again, she relies on those who have the same love for the child, but now she has a little more illumination. She allows the child to go to school and start learning. Then she allows him to go to high school and college.
For the little child of seven or eight, his whole world is his mother. Love means his mother and nobody else. A few years later, when he is playing and singing with his friends, his feeling of love expands a little. Then, when he studies at school and college, it is his state or his country that he feels love for. Then a day comes when he feels that not only does he belong to a particular country but to the whole world. And then he goes still higher and deeper until finally he feels that he is universal, and his love embraces everything in God's creation. He starts by loving his own physical mother. Then gradually he expands his love to the universal Mother, who embodies the entire creation.Do you get any benefit by worrying? No! You only kill yourself and, at the same time, the forces of your worry also enter into her. So this allows more undivine forces to enter into the situation. If you go on worrying too much, this worry itself is an undivine force. If your daughter is not at home and you are worrying about her, then like a bullet your worries enter into her. They will not enter into her as worries but as something else that is unpleasant. She will feel a stomach upset or some other physical disturbance. So when you worry or you are angry, your unhappiness will enter into your daughter in some other form and create unpleasantness for her.
I wish to tell you that you will be happy only on the day you feel that you are not indispensable to your daughter. The Supreme alone is indispensable. The moment you have that feeling, you will have happiness. You are one hundred percent responsible for offering good will to your daughter, who is dearest to your heart. You are under an obligation to offer her good will at every moment. But to worry or to be angry and upset does not help at all.Be spontaneous like a child.
A child does not tryTo acquire anything unnatural.
He does not try to be somebodyOr something else.
He approaches God in a natural way. ```When the child cries for the first time, the mother must ask herself why the child has cried.
Is it because the child saw ignorance-sea for the first time and became afraid, or is it because the child is missing the light and delight which he was wont to enjoy?If the mother feels that it is ignorance-sea which has frightened the child, then inwardly she must tell the child that this ignorance-sea is short-lived, and that soon he will be swimming in wisdom-sea and enjoying supreme satisfaction.
If the mother feels that it is the separation from Heaven-Light that has compelled the child to cry, then inwardly she must tell the child that God is not only in Heaven but also on earth.She must tell the child that God sent him down to earth to fulfil a special purpose.
In either case, the mother must speak to the inner reality of the child, which is the soul.Outwardly, also, you can start a child's spiritual journey at a very tender age — at six months even.
Perhaps the child cannot utter a word, but, for example, if you are a Christian you can show him a picture of the Christ.God expresses Himself through beauty, so you can also show the child something beautiful, like a flower.
A child can appreciate the beauty of a flower.At that time, the flower itself is God for the child.
Then, when the child can speak, let him say 'God' a few times as his prayer.As he advances in years, he can be taught higher meditation.
You give your child the only real freedom when you give him the truth, the reality.
Real freedom does not lie in striking someone or moving around like a vagabond.No!
Real freedom lies in doing everything the way God wants us to do it.That is freedom.
God is all light, all freedom, and if we listen to Him, only then do we enjoy real freedom.Sometimes parents ask me how they can describe to a small child something like prayer or meditation, which they feel is abstract.
But for an adult, prayer and meditation are not abstract.When we pray, we fold our hands and cry inwardly to Someone who is above us or within us.
If you want to explain prayer to a young child, do not try to convince him only with the physical.Tell him that prayer is something totally different from just folding his hands and looking up.
Tell him that prayer is something that he has to do inside, but if he wants to see or feel it, then he has to fold his hands.You can tell a child that prayer is something which he will feel when he folds his hands and talks to God.
Then, when he folds his hands and feels something within — whether it is awe or love or sweetness or softness — then for him prayer will no longer be abstract; it will be a reality.For meditation, the child has to sit calmly and quietly.
When he sits like that, immediately he will begin to feel that he is meditating.This concrete action will take him into something which originally may seem abstract.
You can teach a child through outer action, but do not neglect to emphasise the inner feeling.When he starts feeling joy, peace and love and gradually becomes these things on the strength of his meditation, how can they remain abstract?
His body is not abstract to him because he identifies with his body.Whatever he identifies with, he claims as his own.
If he identifies himself with prayer or meditation, he will feel peace, joy, love and so on.And once he feels these things, he gives form to them and they no longer remain abstract.
Prayer and meditation are like two roads.
Prayer is always done for our own sake, for our own life, for the near and dear ones in our own small world.But meditation is for the entire world.
When we meditate well, we feel our oneness with our own expanded reality and fulfil not only ourselves but the entire world.Prayer is necessary and meditation is necessary.
When I pray, I talk and my Father listens.When I meditate, my Father talks and I listen.
When we pray, we go up to God; when we meditate, God comes down to us.Ultimately it is the same.
Right from childhood, we are taught to pray to God for everything.
Our parents teach us to pray, but they do not teach us what to pray for.They say, "Pray to God for everything you want."
So we start praying: "O God, please make me be first in the examination"; "O God, let me be first in the running race"; and so on.When we start praying for all these kinds of things, there is no end.
Instead, parents should say to their children, "Pray to God to make your mind calm and quiet so that you will feel peace and bliss everywhere.
Pray in the heart."But unfortunately, the parents do not tell this to their children, so from early childhood, children pray for every silly thing.
Still, it is certainly better to pray to God for silly things than not to think of God at all.The better thing is to meditate.
If children are taught how to meditate, they will not develop the habit of expecting God to fulfil their desires.You should tell your children, "If you meditate, your mind will be calm and quiet.
You will become totally one with the vastness of Infinity and God will become your Friend."But the best answer is to tell the child to look into a mirror and to smile as soulfully as possible. The word 'soulfully' the child may not understand, but the child can easily see how beautiful he looks. Tell the child to try to give absolutely the most beautiful smile and then to look at himself. The child will know whether it is a beautiful smile or just an ordinary smile. The more beautiful the smile, the more his divinity will come forward. An adult may have to pray and meditate and develop a divine consciousness, but a child can do it easily. When the child looks at his most beautiful, glowing consciousness, you tell him that he is seeing God and nobody else.
Who is God? God is our own highest reality. If you can give a soulful smile that will immediately illumine yourself and the whole world, that smile is nothing other than God. Let the child remain in the consciousness of his most beautiful smile, a smile that pervades the length and breadth of the world. For a child, this is the easiest answer for him to understand and also the most effective and convincing answer. And at the same time, it is absolutely true. You are in no way fooling the child.What is God from the point of view of a child? God is concern. A mother will try to show her concern for her child day in and day out. But out of twenty-four hours, the mother can consciously offer her concern for only two or three hours in spite of her best intentions. She wants to show him all her affection all the time. But during the day she has to study or work, do her own meditation and do quite a few other things apart from taking care of him — even though he is her dearest child. When he is sick, perhaps she will offer her concern for fifteen or sixteen or even twenty-four hours. Ordinarily she can give him her concern for only a few hours. In God's case, it is different. He constantly gives us His inner and outer Concern.
We stay on earth for fifty, sixty, seventy or even one hundred years, but this is not our real span of life. Our real life is endless. We came from the beginningless past and we are entering into the endless future. We have had previous incarnations and we will have many future incarnations. In our past incarnations we had different parents. In this incarnation we get concern from one mother and father; in our previous incarnation we got concern from other parents and in the future also we will receive concern from different parents. But we received God's Concern from the very beginning and forever it will remain the same. The moment He created our soul, His Concern started, and it will always remain constant and eternal.
Everything has a source, and the source of concern is oneness. When my finger is hurt or bleeding, immediately I am concerned for my finger. Why? Because I am one with my finger. When something is wrong with your child, you show your concern because of your oneness with him. Right now, there are many people who are suffering and dying in the hospital, but even if you knew them you might not offer them your concern. Why? Because you are not completely identified with them and you don't feel your oneness with them. But you do feel your oneness with your child and your child feels his oneness with you. So we see that the source of concern is oneness. It is to your near and dear ones, those who you feel are part and parcel of your life, that you offer your concern. Since God is the all-pervading One, His Concern comes from His all-pervading Oneness. Since He is everywhere and in everything, He has to have oneness with everything. So He offers everything His Concern.God created you for only two purposes:
One is to be true to HimAnd the other is to be true to yourself.
```First feel that you are a child, and then try to feel that you are standing in a flower garden. This flower garden is your heart. A child can play in a garden for hours. He goes from this flower to that flower, but he does not leave the garden because he gets joy from the beauty and fragrance of each flower. Inside you is a garden, and you can stay in it for as long as you want and learn to meditate there.
If you can remain in your heart, you will begin to feel an inner cry. This inner cry, which is aspiration, is the secret of meditation. When a grown-up person cries, his cry is usually not sincere. But when a child cries, even if he is crying only for candy, he is very sincere. At that time, candy is the whole world for him. If you give him a hundred-dollar bill, he will not be satisfied; he cares only for candy. Now, what happens when a child cries? Immediately his father or mother comes to help him. If you can cry from deep within for peace, light and truth, and if this is the only thing that will satisfy you, then God your eternal Father and eternal Mother is bound to come and help you.In silence kindly repeat the world "simplicity" inside your mind seven times and concentrate on the crown of your head. Then repeat the word "sincerity" seven times silently and soulfully inside your heart and concentrate on your heart. Then kindly repeat the word "purity" seven times inside or around your navel centre and concentrate on the navel centre. Please do it silently and most soulfully. Then focus your attention on the third eye, which is between and slightly above the eyebrows, and silently repeat "surety" seven times. Next, place your hand on top of your head and say three times, "I am simple, I am simple, I am simple." Then place your hand on your heart and say three times, "I am sincere, I am sincere." Then do it on the navel centre, saying, "I am pure," and on the third eye, repeating, "I am sure."
Now, if you prefer a particular aspect of God — love, for instance — please inwardly repeat the word love' most soulfully several times. While uttering the word 'love' most soulfully, try to feel that it is reverberating in the inmost recesses of your heart: "Love, love, love." If you care more for divine peace, then please inwardly chant or repeat to yourself the word 'peace'. While doing this, try to hear the cosmic sound that the word embodies. Feel that 'peace' is a seed-sound reverberating in the very depths of your heart. If you want light, then please repeat, "Light, light, light," most soulfully and feel that you have actually become light. From the soles of your feet to the crown of your head, try to feel that you have become the word that you are repeating. Feel that your physical body, subtle body and all your nerves are flooded with love or peace or light.
There is one other thing that you can try. Please breathe in and hold your breath for a couple of seconds, and feel that you are holding the breath, or life-energy, in the third eye. This is where your concentration will be. The second time you breathe in, hold the life-energy in the heart centre. And the third time you breathe in, hold the breath in the navel centre. This will also help you.
A child does not depend or rely on himself; he depends only on his mother's capacity. Again, he is eager to give her what little capacity he has. His little capacity is his faith. His faith in his mother is his faith in himself. If a child is lost in the street and he begins to cry, some kind-hearted person will show him where his home is. Feel that you are lost in the street and that there is a storm raging .outside. Doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, insecurity and other undivine forces are pouring down on you. But if you feel that you are helpless and cry sincerely, Somebody will come to rescue you and show you how to get to your home, which is your heart. And who is that Somebody? It is God, your Inner Pilot.
Each person's soul has its own way of meditating. My way of meditating will not suit you, and your way of meditating will not suit me. There are many seekers whose meditation is not fruitful because they are not doing the meditation that is right for them. If you don't have a spiritual Master who can guide you, then you have to go deep within and get your meditation from the inmost recesses of your heart. Go deep, deep within and see if you get a voice or thought or idea. Then, go deep into this voice or thought and see if it gives you a feeling of inner joy or peace, where there are no questions or problems or doubts. When you get this kind of feeling, then you can know that the voice that you have heard is the real inner voice which will help you in your spiritual life.
In the very beginning you should not even think about meditation. Just try to set aside a certain time of day when you will be calm and quiet, and feel that these five minutes belong to your inner being and nobody else. What you need is regular practice at a regular time. Every day you eat; that is how you live on earth. You cannot live on the food you ate yesterday. Similarly, every day you have to feed the soul.
If you eat every day, you become very strong because of your regular nourishment. So also when you meditate every day, your soul is being nourished.Before beginning to meditate, it is helpful if you can take a shower or proper bath. The purification of the body is absolutely necessary for the purification of the consciousness. If you are unable to take a shower or bath before sitting down to meditate, you should at least wash your face and your feet. It is also advisable to wear clean and light clothes.
It will help if you burn incense and keep some flowers in front of you. There are some people who say that it is not necessary to have flowers around during meditation. They say, "The flower is inside; the thousand-petalled lotus is inside." But the physical flower that you have in front of you reminds you of the inner flower. Its colour, its fragrance and its pure consciousness can give you a little inspiration. From inspiration you get aspiration, and from aspiration you get realisation.
It is the same with using candles during meditation. The flame from a candle will not in itself give you aspiration; it is the inner flame that will give you aspiration. But when you see the outer flame, then immediately you feel that the flame in your inner being is also climbing high, higher, highest. And when you smell the scent of incense, you get perhaps only an iota of inspiration and purification, but this iota can be added to your inner treasure.
When meditating, it is important to keep the spine straight and erect, and to keep the body relaxed. When the body is stiff, naturally the divine and fulfilling qualities that are flowing in and through it during meditation will not be received. The body should not be uncomfortable either. When it feels uncomfortable, automatically it will change its position. While you are meditating, your inner being will spontaneously take you to a comfortable position, and then it is up to you to maintain it. The main advantage of the lotus position is that it helps keep the spinal cord straight and erect. But it will not necessarily keep the body relaxed. So the lotus position is not at all necessary for proper meditation. Many people meditate very well while they are seated in a chair.
Some people do physical exercises and postures. These exercises, called hatha yoga, relax the body and bring peace of mind for a short period. If someone is physically very restless and cannot stay still for more than a second, then these exercises will definitely help. But hatha yoga is not at all necessary. There are many aspirants who can just sit and make their minds calm and quiet without doing any hatha yoga.The first thing that you have to think of when breathing is purity. When you breathe in, if you can feel that the breath is coming directly from God, from Purity itself, then your breath can easily be purified. Then each time you breathe in, try to feel that you are bringing into your body peace, infinite peace. The opposite of peace is restlessness. When you breathe out, try to feel that you are expelling the restlessness within you and also the restlessness that you see all around you. When you breathe this way, you will find restlessness leaving you. After practising this for a few times, please try to feel that you are breathing in power from the universe. And when you exhale, feel that all your fear is coming out of your body. After doing this a few times, try to feel that what you are breathing in is joy, infinite joy, and what you are breathing out is sorrow, suffering and melancholy.
There is another thing that you can also try. Feel that you are breathing in not air but cosmic energy. Feel that tremendous cosmic energy is entering into you with each breath and that you are going to use it to purify your body, vital, mind and heart. Feel that there is not a single place in your body that is not being occupied by the flow of cosmic energy. It is flowing like a river inside you, washing and purifying your whole being. Then, when you start to breathe out, feel that you are breathing out all the rubbish inside you — all your undivine thoughts, obscure ideas and impure actions. Anything inside your system that you call undivine, anything that you do not want to claim as your own, feel that you are exhaling.Concentration means inner vigilance and alertness. When we concentrate, we are like a bullet entering into something or we are like a magnet pulling the object of concentration towards us. At that time, we do not allow any thought to enter into our mind, whether it is good or bad. In concentration the entire mind has to be focused on a particular object or subject. If we are concentrating on a flower, we try to feel that nothing else exists in the entire world but ourself and the flower. Concentration is not an aggressive way of looking into an object. Far from it! This concentration comes directly from the soul, from the soul's indomitable will-power.
Very often I hear aspirants say that they cannot concentrate for more than five minutes. After five minutes they get a headache or their head is on fire. Why? It is because the power of their concentration is coming from the intellectual mind, or, you can say, from the disciplined mind. The mind knows that it must not wander; that much knowledge the mind has. But if the mind is to be utilised properly, in an illumined way, then the light of the soul has to come into it. When the light of the soul has entered into the mind, it is extremely easy to concentrate on something for hours and hours. During this time there can be no thoughts or doubts or fears. No negative forces can enter into the mind if it is surcharged with the soul's light.
When you concentrate, you have to feel that your power of concentration is coming from the heart centre and then going up to the third eye. The heart centre is where the soul is located. When you think of the soul at this time, it is better not to form any specific idea of it or try to think of what it looks like. Only you will think of it as God's representative or as boundless light and delight. So when you concentrate, you try to feel that the soul's light is coming from the heart and passing through the third eye. Then, with this light, you enter into the object of concentration and identify with it. The final stage of concentration is to discover the hidden ultimate truth in the object of concentration.How will you do this? If the thought that is attacking you is coming from the outer world, try to muster your soul's will from your heart and bring it right in front of your forehead. The moment your soul's will is seen by the thought which is trying to enter into you, that thought is bound to disappear.
There is something practical you can do if you are bothered by thoughts during your meditation. Please feel that inside your mind there is a room and also a door. Stand either inside the room or outside the room, just in front of the door, and wait there to see who is coming. As soon as you see that some people are coming — "people" here means thoughts — you just keep the door closed. In the beginning, in order to become strong, you do not allow anybody in. Otherwise, while you are allowing friends to come in, your enemies may also come in and then you will be totally lost. But there will come a time when you will become inwardly strong and will be in a position to let only your friends come in. At that time you will allow your friends in and keep your enemies outside.
Good thoughts are your friends. Thoughts about God, about self-sacrifice, are good thoughts. When these good thoughts want to enter into your room, you will just leave the door open. But as soon as you see bad thoughts like fear, jealousy, doubt, frustration, depression and so on, you will keep the door closed.
One method of meditation you can use, particularly if your mind is restless, is called "mantra." You can repeat "Supreme" or "God" for a few minutes. Usually it is best to chant a mantra out loud. Just say it in a normal but soulful way.
After doing this for a few minutes, if you can feel that there is somebody inside, your inner being, who is repeating the mantra for you, then you do not have to chant out loud. Sometimes you may have this experience after you have finished. You have repeated "Supreme, Supreme" quite a few times. Then, when you stop, you hear God's Name being repeated inside your heart. Your mouth is not functioning; it is your inner being that has started repeating God's Name inside you.If you meditate in the mind, you don't identify; you try to enter into something. When you want to enter into somebody else's house to get what that person has, either you have to break down the door or you have to plead with the owner of the house to open the door. When you plead, you feel that you are a stranger and the owner of the house also feels that you are a stranger. Then he thinks, "Oh, a stranger wants to come into my house." But if you use the heart, immediately the heart's qualities of softness, sweetness, love and purity come to the fore. When the owner of the house sees that you are all heart, immediately his own heart will become one with yours and he will let you in. He will feel your oneness with him and say, "All right, what do you want from my house? If you need peace, then take it. If you need light, then take it."
If you meditate in the heart, you are meditating where the soul is. True, the light and consciousness of the soul permeate the whole body, but there is a specific place where the soul resides most of the time, and that is in the heart. If you want illumination, you have to get it from the soul, which is inside the heart. When you know what you want and where to find it, the sensible thing is to go to that place. Otherwise, it is like going to the hardware store to get groceries.
Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface there may be a multitude of waves, but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence — that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then, when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils will just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. So when we are in our highest meditation we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation.The schoolteacher tells his students:
Read, you will know.The spiritual Teacher tells his students:
Become, you will know.God tells His eternal students:
Just feel that I am yours.What more do you need to know?
```Divine education is self-giving. In order to do that, we must feel that God is the only existence-reality both here on earth and there in Heaven.
God-education is satisfaction in perfection. This satisfaction in perfection can be achieved only when we feel that there can be no other way to make ourselves happy than by making God Himself happy.As long as we remain in the physical, vital and mental planes, we shall have differences. We shall have confusing, binding ideas. But if we remain in the world of meditation, which is oneness-reality with God's entire creation, then we far transcend the barriers of religion.
Young students must be taught that meditation does not claim that any religion is superior to others. It does not feed the superiority or inferiority of any religion. Meditation feeds only the individuals who cry for God-manifestation and all-loving self-expansion.Only when everything else fails does God resort to disciplining the lives of His students. But again, God tells us that even His disciplinary action is nothing short of compassion, for it is His compassionate Heart which makes Him want to illumine and perfect His children.
Compassion is the first and foremost approach in dealing with unruly children. Discipline is the last resort. Again, on the practical level, the teacher must observe secretly whether a particular student responds more to life's compassionate aspect or to life's disciplinary aspect. By knowing that, he can easily do the needful.You have to feel that you are studying just because you feel the necessity of pleasing God, just because God wants you to study. You have to feel all the time that you are studying not to please yourself or the members of your family, but only to please God. Feel that God is like a mother watching her child study. While pleasing God, you are pleasing your parents, you are pleasing your relatives, you are pleasing your own self. But God should come first.
You have to take your study as a form of service to God. If you study well and get good marks because you feel that this is your service to God, then you are pleasing God. Today He wants you to study. Tomorrow when you complete your course, God will ask you inwardly to do some other job. The day after tomorrow He may ask you to do something else. So in each field you have to please God in His own Way.
Studying is not an obstruction on the spiritual path. You have to discipline yourself to study six, seven, eight hours a day. In a few years' time, the inner capacity and discipline that you have acquired by studying, you will be able to apply to your spiritual life. Discipline in any walk of life has to be appreciated and admired because it is a type of strength. With this strength, God will ask you to build or to break something. If you have strength in your arms, you can lift up a heavy weight. If something has to be broken, you can break it; and if something has to be lifted, you can do that too.To the children I offer this message:
My young friends, do you know that there is a Person who loves you infinitely more than your best friend loves you? Do you want to know His Name? His Name is God.
Do you know there is a Person who loves you infinitely more than your dear parents love you? Do you want to know His Name? His Name is God.
Do you know there is a Person who loves you infinitely more than you love yourselves? Do you want to know His Name? His Name is God.
Do you want me to prove it? It is very easy to prove. Your best friend never feels that you are as great as God. But God always feels that you are as great as He is.
Your parents never feel that you are as good as God. But God always feels that you are as good as He is.
You never knew that you are another God. But God knows that you are another God and He always tells you that very thing. But in order to hear His Voice, you have to pray lovingly every morning and every evening. Please ask your parents to teach you how to pray. If you pray daily, I assure you one day you will hear God's Voice. And then what I have just told you, you yourselves will be able to hear directly from God,
— Sri ChinmoyA child's question
Can be answered in one sentence.The same question
Asked by an adultRequires a thesis as an answer.
```I am trying to simplify the matter. Otherwise it will become a philosophy. God is in everything. God is inside a tiger, but will you stand in front of a tiger? No! The tiger will just eat you up. God is inside everything, but in some things He is manifested to a greater degree.
You are a human being and I am also a human being. You eat rice, you eat bread, you eat pizza; I also eat these things. But in terms of inner realisation, there is a little difference between you and me; that is why you have come to me.
So the Supreme is in the mind also, but in the heart He is more accommodating, He is broader, He is kinder, He is more compassionate.
The heart and the soul love God much more than the mind. That is why we say that the heart and the soul are better. It is a comparison. The mind is not totally bad. If we don't have the mind, we won't be able to think and we will be like a fool. But there are quite a few things which are better than the mind. Better than the mind is the heart, and better than the heart is the soul. The heart is all oneness. If you remain inside the heart, you will not feel jealousy. You will have no suffering, no anxiety, no doubt, no jealousy. You are a sincere girl, so try always to have the heart that tells you, "We are all one, we are all one." Remain in the heart, pray in the heart, meditate in the heart.
Right now the mind is the boss. As long as your mind is the boss, it will make you feel miserable. But when you realise God, you will see that the mind is under your command. When you become the boss of the mind, at that time you are free.Inwardly you can talk to God
As long as you want to.Therefore, talk, talk, talk!
Give Him all your sadness and frustrationAs well as your love and joy.
He will keep them all for youInside His divine Heart-Safe.
```"My child, I am so sorry to hear that. Don't worry, I shall scold them. But I thank you twice every day."
"God, when? Please tell me when You thank me."
"I thank you in silence through your father, when you give him a most beautiful smile before you go to bed at night. I thank you in silence through your mother, when you give her a most beautiful smile before you leave your bed early in the morning.""All of them are right."
"Impossible, God! How can everybody be right? Please tell me frankly, who is right?"
"I tell you frankly, My child, your grandmother is right, your mother is right, your father is right."
"How?"
“I live inside your heart. That is why you are so soulful. I live inside your eyes. That is why you look spiritually beautiful. I live around you. That is why you are always so careful."
"God, You deserve my thanks."
"I don't deserve your thanks. It is your grandmother, your mother and your father who deserve your thanks. Go and thank them."
"I will. God, before I leave You, I wish to tell You one thing. Since You have always been very kind to me, You deserve my special thanks. My grandmother, mother and father will get ordinary thanks from me."
God smiles and cries with joy."Tell your sister and mother to speak to Me before they strike or scold you."
"Yes, yes, I shall do that. That means my sister will never be able to strike me. Neither will my mother be able to scold me."
"My child, it is not exactly so. Let Me tell you My secrets. When they ask Me for My permission to strike or scold you, I shall see first whether you deserve it or not. If you don't deserve it, I shall scold them badly. But if you deserve their scoldings and strikings, I shall give you enough strength and cheerfulness to eat the fruits of your wrong actions. I want you to be nice, good, perfect and divine."
"God, I shall be. Thanks and thanks, God.""The more you pray, the more you please Me. So your father is wrong. Again, when you pray, if your heart is not in your prayer, then you are simply wasting time. So your mother is wrong if she insists on your praying when you have no sincere feeling in your prayer. Let Me give you a new prayer. This prayer will give you everything you want:
"'God, I pray to You to make me Your sweetest and dearest child. I pray to You to make me as kind as You are. I pray to You to make me listen to You every day. I pray to You to make me think of You always. I pray to You to give me the capacity to please You every day, every hour, every minute and every second.'"
"God, it is a terrific prayer. Can I add a few words?"
"Certainly you can, by all means!"
"God, I wish to add this: I love You, God. I worship You, God. I adore You, God.'"
"Amen. Wonderful, wonderful!"
"God, a million thanks. For sure I shall say every day the prayer that You have given me.""I shall let you see Me not once, but twice a day. But you have to pray to Me a little. Wait, I have a nice idea. I am telling you secretly that I am going to give you the easiest prayer. You must not tell it to anybody; this is all between you and Me, a top secret.
"Every morning, stand in front of the large mirror in the living room and keep your eyes half open. Look at your eyes in the mirror and smile and smile. You are sure to see Me in your eyes. First you will see Me in your right eye, and then in your left eye."
"Will it always be like that? Can I not see You first in my left eye and then in my right eye?"
"Yes, but to do that, you have to keep both eyes closed, repeat My name seven times and then open your eyes. You are bound to see Me in your left eye first."
"God, do You mind if I do it the other way around? I hope You won't mind if I keep my eyes half open and smile until I see You, but not stand in front of the mirror, I think that will be easier. Do You mind?"
"No, not at all. I must say that you are wiser than I! I wanted to show you the easiest way to see Me. I wanted you to stand in front of the mirror and keep your eyes half open. You don't want to take even that much trouble. You just want to keep your eyes half open and smile until you see Mel You have discovered a way which is even easier You are really clever and great, and that is why I am fond and proud of you."
"Thanks a lot, God.""My real name is the same as yours."
"I won't give You my name!"
"Then what name do you want Me to have?" "I want You to have the name Water." "Water! That is a fine name. From now on, if you can call Me by that name, I shall respond."
"God, I'll tell You a secret. My mother has taught me that the other name of water is Life."
"Now, My child, I'll tell you another secret. The other name of life is God."
"Can I tell my mother Your secret?"
"Certainly you can."
"God, I really thank You for telling me a top secret.""What are the lies that he has told you?"
"Number one lie: he told me that You are much older than he is. Number two lie: he told me that You don't need eyes to see like us. Number three lie: he told me that You don't need ears to hear like us. Number four lie: he told me that You don't need a mouth to talk.
"You are right in front of me. I see that You have two eyes, two ears and a mouth like me, and also I see that You are very young and beautiful. You are not even as old as my father. How can my grandfather tell me that You are older than he is?"
"My child, you are right. Your grandfather is also right. His knowledge of Me is from the books. Your knowledge of Me is from seeing Me face to face. Your grandfather takes Me as an idea. You see Me as a loving Friend and a living Truth.""Please tell Me, which path does your mother follow?"
"God, my mother follows many paths. She follows Buddha's path, Krishna's path, Ramakrishna's path, Ramana Maharshi's path and, at times, she follows Sri Chinmoy's path. By the way, God, these are all good and great spiritual Masters. They have many, many disciples and followers. God, I am now in a serious difficulty. I do not know which path I should follow. If I follow my father's path, the path of Zen, my father will be very pleased; and if I follow my mother's path, that is to say, many paths all at once, I shall please my mother."
"I wish you to follow My Path."
"What is Your Path, God?"
"Every day pray and meditate; I shall soon let you know what My Path is."
"God, I thank You from the bottom of my heart.""Yes, your mother is right."
"How can I love You when I don't know You very well?"
"Let Me tell you what to do. It is true that you don't know Me well, but you know your mother pretty well. From today on, try to love your mother more. The amount of love that she needs from you she will keep for herself and the rest she will give to Me. We shall share your love. Okay?"
"Thank You, God."Once there lived an elderly man who was kind, generous and pious. He used to pray to God every day. When he became very old and was about to die, he said to his wife, "I am dying. I will leave you here on earth, but don't worry. God will take care of you."
His wife replied, "You are going to Heaven, but don't worry. God will take care of you there."
This elderly couple had only one child, a little boy named Gopal. He was seven years old when his father died. This little family had always lived in the forest. They were very poor and had only one cow. After Gopal's father died, his mother used to sell the milk from the cow to get some money. With this money she fed Gopal and herself. Although she was very, very poor, she was a great devotee of Lord Krishna. She prayed to Lord Krishna twenty-four hours a day. She never forgot him for a moment. Her entire life was a prayer.
Because Gopal was seven years old, he had to begin going to school. The school was quite far from his home, so he had to go through the thick of the forest to get there. There were wild animals all around, and naturally he was afraid. He went to school in the morning with great fear and difficulty and when he came back in the evening, it was worse. At that time there was little light and he was even more afraid. He came home trembling and practically weeping with fear.
One day he said to his mother, "I am not going to school any more. I am afraid. You have to send someone with me or I will not go any more."
His mother replied, "My child, tomorrow your elder brother will be with you. I have another son. He stays in the thick of the forest and you will see him with the cows. When you call him, he will come and play with you. He will take you to the school and he will bring you home again."
Gopal was so happy. He asked his mother, "What is the name of my brother whom I have not seen?"
"Your brother's name is Rakhal Raja," said his mother.
The following day when Gopal entered the thick of the forest on his way to school, he called out, "Rakhal Raja, Rakhal Raja, where are you?" Rakhal Raja immediately came. He looked like a real king, with a crown and a peacock feather.
So Rakhal Raja met Gopal and they went together to the school. When they came near the school building, Rakhal Raja said to Gopal, "Now you go on. I will come to take you home when school is over." In this way, every day Rakhal Raja took Gopal to school in the morning and brought him back home safely in the evening. Gopal was delighted with his new brother.
One day his mother asked him, "Gopal, does Rakhal Raja come?"
"Yes, he comes," said Gopal.
"I told you he would come. He is your elder brother," said his mother.
Both Rakhal Raja and Gopal were very happy together. They played all sorts of games in the forest. Rakhal used to bring nice sweets and all kinds of good things for his little brother, so Gopal was always happy and pleased. When he came home late his mother was not worried because his elder brother Rakhal Raja was taking care of him.
After a few months, Gopal's schoolteacher lost his mother. In India, when somebody dies, a festival is held at the end of the month. Everybody comes and has a feast. You eat as much as you can, and if you don't want to eat, they force you. So a month after the schoolteacher's mother died, there was a feast for the schoolchildren. Naturally, all the students were bringing presents to the teacher. Gopal knew that everybody was going to bring a present for the schoolteacher, but poor Gopal didn't have any money. He asked his mother sadly, "What can I do? I wish to take something to my teacher, but we are so poor. What can I do?"
"Ask your Rakhal Raja," said Gopal's mother. "He will give you something to give to your teacher."
In the morning while Rakhal Raja was taking Gopal to school, Gopal said to him, "Rakhal Raja, today everyone will give a gift to the teacher, but I am too poor. Can you give me something?"
Rakhal Raja said, "I am also very poor, but I will give you something." Gopal was happy to have anything that he could give his teacher.
Rakhal Raja, who was really a god, immediately placed before Gopal a small pot of sour milk, or curd. It is something like what you call yoghurt. "Take this," he said. "Your teacher knows that you are very poor. He will not mind."
Gopal was happy that at least he had something to give to his teacher. But, poor boy, when he came to school, he saw that his fellow students had all brought expensive and beautiful things. So he was very sad and embarrassed, and he stood at the door like a thief. He did not want anybody to see him because he had brought only a little sour milk in a small pot. But the teacher was extremely kind. He took the little pot from Gopal and poured the sour milk into a large pot. He thought that his servants would soon bring sour milk for the festival and that it could be added to the small potful that Gopal had brought.
But what happened? When the teacher emptied the sour milk from the little pot into the big pot, the sour milk suddenly increased in quantity and filled the big pot to the brim! The teacher was astonished that this tiny little amount of sour milk had become so vast.
During the festival the people who ate the sour milk from Gopal kept exclaiming how good it was. "We have never tasted anything like this!" they said. "It is so fragrant and delightful! The flavour is delicious! It is simply excellent!"
The teacher said, "Gopal brought it for me. It was Gopal's gift." Then he asked Gopal, "Where did you get the pot of sour milk that you gave me?"
Gopal replied, "My Rakhal Raja gave it to me."
"Who is your Rakhal Raja?" asked the teacher.
"Oh, Rakhal Raja is my brother. He is my most intimate friend. He always comes with me to school and takes me back home," said Gopal.
The teacher knew that Gopal had no brother. He had only one relative and that was his mother. So he asked, "Can you show me your Rakhal Raja?"
"Yes," replied Gopal. "He is most beautiful. He has a crown, with a peacock feather in it. He is so beautiful!" Gopal promised the teacher that he would take him to Rakhal Raja. "Yes, you come with me, Sir," he said. "I will take you to my Rakhal Raja."
In the evening, when the festival was over and everybody had eaten and gone home, Gopal took his teacher along with him to the forest. At the usual place where he used to meet his older brother, he cried out, "Rakhal Raja, Rakhal Raja, Rakhal Raja!" But Rakhal Raja did not come to him.
He called again, "Rakhal Raja, why are you so naughty? Every day you come here even if I don't call you. Today I am crying for you and you are not coming. Why are you so unkind to me? Why are you so cruel? My teacher will not believe me. He will think that I am a liar. Please come, Rakhal Raja, please come." He cried and begged, but Rakhal Raja did not appear.
The teacher said, "You are a liar. Somebody else has given this to you."
Gopal shook his head and said, "No, no, my Rakhal Raja has given it to me. I don't know why he is angry with me today. I don't know why he is not coming to me." And again he started calling, "Rakhal Raja, please, please, come!" But Rakhal Raja would not come.
Then Gopal and the teacher heard a voice from the forest saying, "Gopal, today I won't come. I come to you because of your mother. Your mother prays to me every day. She prays to me all the time. I am extremely pleased with your mother, and that is why I come to help you and play with you. But your teacher has never prayed to me. Why should I show my face to him? Your teacher does not deserve me. I am only for those who pray to me, for those who need me. Your teacher has never prayed to me, so I will not come."
The teacher understood, and he was extremely pleased that Gopal's mother was so spiritual. He could not see Lord Krishna himself, but he knew that there was somebody who could see him because she prayed to him every day, and that person was Gopal's mother.
You too can pray in the morning and in the evening. If you pray in the morning and in the evening, then God will be pleased. Pray for five minutes in the morning and in the evening. Your mother or your father will teach you how. When you do it, you will see that you will get your own Rakhal Raja to help you whenever you are in difficulty or danger.He went home crying and crying. His mother consoled him and he said to her, "You told me that if I prayed to God, God would protect me. But God didn't protect me. Look, I am black and blue, and my body is bleeding in so many places!"
His mother said, "My son, I told you to pray to God every day, but you do not. You do not pray every day early in the morning and in the evening. You pray to God perhaps once a week, and sometimes you don't even pray that often. Sometimes you meditate one day and then for ten or fifteen days you don't meditate.
"You have to pray to God every day for at least ten minutes early in the morning. Meditation and prayer are like muscles. If you take exercise one day, and then for ten days you don't take exercise, then you cannot become strong. Only if you take exercise every day will you become strong. In the same way, if you pray to God every day, your inner muscles will become stronger and God will protect you. God is bound to protect you if you pray to Him every day early in the morning and in the evening."
From that day on, the young boy started praying to God. He listened to what his mother had said and he prayed to God every day. Early in the morning he prayed for ten minutes and in the evening also he prayed for five minutes. After doing this for six months he said to his mother, "Yes, prayer works. Nobody bothers me now. I come home every day, but nobody ever bothers me."
His mother said, "Even if somebody does bother you, I tell you, you will be protected because you have been praying regularly every day, and God is pleased with you. God will protect you."
Now, on that very day something happened. When the boy was going home from school, a very tall, big, stout man grabbed him roughly and wanted to strike him. The boy immediately thought, "O God, my mother told me that if I pray to You every day You will protect me," and he started repeating the Lord's Name very loudly: "God, God, God, God, save me, save me!"
The fellow who had caught him was a very big, strong man, and he laughed at the boy, saying, "What do you think you are doing by saying 'God, God, God'? Do you think that you can get rid of me in that way? No, you can't!"
All of a sudden a voice from inside the boy said to him, 'Tell this man that even a ghost leaves when we repeat God's Name." The boy quickly said what the inner voice had told him, and the man immediately let go of him and ran away.
The previous night this man had had a dream in which he saw a ghost, and he had been badly frightened. Everyone is afraid of ghosts, even grown-ups. Hearing the word "ghost" reminded the man of the ghost that he had seen the night before. When the boy said, "Even a ghost leaves when you repeat God's Name," God made the hoodlum actually see this young boy as the ghost of his dream. God showed him the ghost in the face of the little boy, so he ran away.
When the man left him, the boy ran home to tell the story to his mother. His mother said, "It is just as I told you. If you pray to God every day, God will save you. He will protect you."
So you see, if you pray daily, God will protect you. This little boy never thought of a ghost, but God told him what to say. If you pray, God will play divine tricks and He will help you when you are in danger. God will give you some message from within or He will give the other person some message. If someone attacks you, immediately you will say something which you do not understand. When you say it, the other fellow will be scared to death and he will leave you. Pray to God every day and when you are in difficulty God will tell you what to do.Gulu's joy knew no bounds. Now he would go to school with a satchel under his arm.
Gulu was very intelligent, and he was very fond of stories. He often teased his grandmother to tell him stories. She told him the story of Prahlad and he listened to her words with wonder and implicit faith. The whole story filled his mind. Gulu said, "How cruel is the father of Prahlad, Grandmother! What tortures he has inflicted on Prahlad! But nobody can slay him who has God for his helper."
One day it occurred to Gulu to find God. "As God is worshipped with flowers, He must be hiding in the roses in the garden," Gulu reflected. "Once I am able to discover God, I will so befriend Him that He will not be able to desert me anymore."
Gulu spent the day in the garden, shaking the plants in his search for God. But he met Him nowhere. At last he returned home disappointed.
Gulu asked his mother, "I search for God so much. Why do I not find Him, Mother?"
"Gulu, God is fond of playing. So He plays hide-and-seek with us. He is an expert player. He hides Himself in such a way that even the great saints and sages fail to find Him."
"Who then can discover Him, Mother?"
"Nobody can find Him unless He reveals Himself. Still He stays with each and every one and protects all as He did Prahlad. He hides Himself in your heart, too."
"In the core of my heart! Believe me, Mother, when I search for Him in the garden it seems someone responds from within my heart."
"It is this indweller who is God. Adore Him. Learn to love Him as you love me. He is there not only in your heart but in all hearts. Learn to love all, then He will surely reveal Himself to you."
Gulu's mind was set at rest by the words of his mother. He cherished the hope that someday God would come to him.
One day, Gulu and his mother visited his maternal uncle's house. The three of them returned home on the eve of the Pujas. The train was packed with passengers and there was not enough room. Gulu was not concerned about that. He hung out of the window to gaze at the scenery. His uncle said, "Don't bend forward like that. You may fall out, Gulu."
"How can I fall? I am holding onto the door."
Suddenly the door somehow opened out. Unable to check himself, Gulu fell outside. People inside the compartment raised cries of horror and lamentation. Gulu's mother, under the spell of despair, was about to jump from the train, but someone held her back.
It was night time. Nothing was visible in the dark. The train was running at top speed. Owing to the excitement, no one thought of pulling the chain to stop the train. Alerted by the confused noise, the passengers in the next compartment pulled the chain. The motion of the train was immediately arrested.
The train went backward. Nobody hoped to see Gulu alive. After some distance had been covered a figure became visible on a bridge. Gulu's mother cried out, "Look, my Gulu is there!"
The train stopped. Gulu's mother rushed up to him and took him in her arms. "Did you get hurt, Gulu?" she cried.
"How can I be hurt, Mother? The moment I fell down, my uncle jumped and took me in his arms."
In a surprised voice the mother said, "Your uncle did not come down. He was there inside."
"Don't tell a lie, Mother! All this time my uncle held me on his lap. As you all drew near he put me down and went that way. You can look for him."
A thrill passed through the whole body of Gulu's mother. She said, "Gulu, God saved you in the form of your uncle." At the words of his mother, Gulu was beside himself with wonder.
So God is bound to come to you when you are in real difficulty if you pray to Him every day. If you pray to God every day, then you will see God's most beautiful Form. When you see God face to face, you will be surprised because He is infinitely more beautiful than you can imagine.
To pray to God, you don't have to ask your parents for anything. In order to buy shirts or shoes or anything else, you need money. But in order to see God, you don't need money; you only need prayer. Prayer is so easy. It is like drinking water. Just pray and you will get Him. When you get Him, you will get everything you need.
CHD 94. By Mridu Bhashini Devi. Translated from the original Bengali by Sri Chinmoy↩
A mother gives and gives to her child simply because she loves him. If she is lucky enough, when the child grows up he will give to her in return. But very often he does not return her offering. He has his own life. But as the mother gives, she is blessed by God. The light, affection and other divine qualities which she gives to her child are blessings in themselves.
Through the profound communication with God that we call meditation, we can tap the wellspring of peace, love and light that resides deep within. To bring forward these qualities is to transform our own lives and the lives of our children and to discover real fulfilment. We can then offer these qualities not only to our families and friends, but to all of humanity.
Inner and outer transformation can only take place if parents make a conscious effort to nurture themselves and their children with spiritual sustenance. Modern society has placed our children in one of the most precarious positions of any group of youngsters in history. In their everyday lives they are faced with temptations which may have never before lured such youthful targets. In a larger sense, many have a very real concern for the survival of our planet. It has never been more imperative for parents to offer their children constant love and concern which, in fact, is none other than God's Love. Further, a child can be taught to find this love himself, in his own heart. He then becomes a beautiful flower of self-giving. As Sri Chinmoy says, "If you can inspire your child with love, then he will inspire someone else with love. It is from one that we come to many."
In this book Sri Chinmoy offers practical advice on a subject that is not only an idealist's dream, but a concerned parent's lifeline: fostering your child's spiritual life, so that he grows up with love for God and a heart of self-giving to all. For thirteen years my family has lived under the loving guidance of Sri Chinmoy. I have witnessed the inner blossoming not only of our daughter but also of the children of Sri Chinmoy's other disciples, sustained by the philosophy contained in this book.
It is not necessarily easy to teach a child to meditate or to give him or her constant loving concern in the face of a parent's mundane routines. It can be a challenge to offer discipline and strength as well as love. Sri Chinmoy and his illumining philosophy have made this more possible than I could ever have imagined. The children I know who have been touched by Sri Chinmoy's wisdom have come to embody the loving hearts and peaceful lives inherent in true spirituality. In their lives the quality of self-giving is understood. For this, we, their parents, will forever remain profoundly grateful.From:Sri Chinmoy,A child's heart and a child's dreams, Aum Publications, 1986
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