The way a spiritual aspirant adores God depends upon his
attitude towards himself. In other words, his level of consciousness determines
his conception and adoration of God.
In his spiritual journey a spiritual aspirant undergoes changes
in his attitude to God corresponding to the different degrees of purity of his
mind, and finally reaches the culmination of spiritual life: oneness with God.
A verse attributed to Hanuman brilliantly describes this important
spiritual principle: ‘When I think of myself as a body, I am the servant and
You are my Master; when I think of myself as a jevatman, I am a part and You
are the Whole. When I know I am the Spirit, I am Thou – this is my firm
conviction!’
.................
.................
Those who have studied Sri Ramakrishna’s life know that he
was a worshipper in the Kali temple there. But what a worship it was! A worship
with a difference: he cried and wept for God, the divine fire raging in his
heart consuming his very being, till the stone image revealed to him the
Consciousness pervading it. He started communicating with his Divine Mother,
and She with him. That marked the beginning of Sri Ramakrishna’s divine play on
earth — unceasing adoration and realization of God in one aspect or another.
Source – Prabuddha Bharata Editorial January 2002
Wisdom of Nisargadatta Maharaj
- Virtue is not to be acquired; what remains after the renunciation of vice is virtue.
- To know the world you forget the Self, to know the Self you forget the world.
- To be nothing, to have nothing, to keep nothing for oneself is the greatest gift, the highest generosity.
- Don't pretend to be what you are not, don't refuse to be what you are.
- If you do not care for pleasure, you will not be afraid of pain.
- What you need will come to you if you do not ask for what you do not need.
- The essence of saintliness is total acceptance of the present moment, harmony with things as they happen.
- Desire is the root cause of all suffering. We suffer more by the desire for things than by lack of things.
- As long as you are a beginner certain formalized meditations and prayers may be good for you. But for a seeker of reality there is only one meditation — the rigorous refusal to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is itself meditation.