How Can We Satisfy God with Our Actions?
When Rama visited Shabari [an ascetic lady from the Ramayana], He told her, “I am hungry.” She gave Him some berries that she found in the forest. The Lord went to everybody. He went to Emperor Bali and asked him for three footsteps of land. But He occupied all the three worlds. God keeps going to everybody and keeps asking. We have to give something when God asks us. Always try to attain the grace of God. Just give Him what He asks you for. That is your fortune. You should surrender yourself completely to God. That is what Emperor Bali did. Other people offered something to God, but Bali gave himself to God. That is why God sent him to the nether world. He attained great fame, name, and reputation. He merged himself with the Lord.
We have to offer ourselves completely to God. You do not have to get any materials. No gold, no diamonds. Give yourself to God that is enough. Then He manifests Himself there. Everybody speaks, but they cannot do it. That is why they are not enjoying bliss. They try to satisfy God with words, but not with action. When you satisfy God with your actions, there God manifests Himself. It is the mistake of people to think that God will manifest sometime later. Any moment, any minute, anytime, and anywhere He can manifest Himself. All the time you should contemplate on the name of God.
Many people ask questions, “If all the time we keep praying to God, then how can we do our jobs? How can we run our family?” Do not keep your mind on the job. Do your job. Think that this job also belongs to God. It is so easy. Think that all the actions that you do, you are doing them for God. Offer everything at His feet. Whatever I am doing I am doing it out of love for God. You need not give up anything. Go to examinations. Do not give up examinations. Even the examination is God’s work. If you do that, easily you can attain God. But we say that I am eating food, this food is mine, and this is God’s. You are dividing by saying that this is God’s and this is mine. Because you divide, everything remains divided. Do not divide.
When you feel and say that everything is God, you can get great joy and peace. Today’s men say everything, but they are not experiencing the unity of everything. When you experience the unity, you can understand Divinity. Since you are young boys, you must do work. You have to try to attain higher status. You have to serve the world. You must do jobs and other tasks as well. Think that all that you do is God’s work. Then you will get the right reward. Do not think, “This is my work and that is God’s work.” If you think so, then God will not give you the reward. Realize that everything is God’s work.
Gopikas did the same thing. They would churn the milk. Early in the morning Omkaram time they would get up. They would put curd [yogurt] in the pot. They had lot of bangles on their hands. They were churning the curd, and all the time they were uttering Krishna’s name. Uttering Krishna’s name was like the shruti. The bangles became the rhythm, the churning was the pitch, and what they uttered was the song. While churning the curd they were getting butter. Where did this butter come from? It came from the curds. But the butter that comes out of the curd does not merge back with the curd. Similarly, you have come out of God. You must go and merge with God. You remain separate like the butter. But you have come from God, just like the butter from the milk. If you understand this unity, you can experience it everywhere. Physically, mentally, and spiritually there is no difference.
Man has the three principles⎯bhur, bhuvaha, suvaha. What are these bhur, bhuvaha, and suvaha? ‘Bhur’ means materialization. This body is nothing but materialization. The human body consists of 7 buckets of water, 1 bucket of lime, 1,200 iron pieces, 900 matchsticks. With all these materials man’s body emerges. Then the second is that which moves, vibrates. That is life principle. That is vibration. ‘bhuvaha’ is vibration. ‘Suvaha’ is radiation; that is prajnana (consciousness). All the three exist in us. The body is with us, the vibration is with us, the radiation is also with us. We are the cause for all of this.
Master the mind and be a mastermind
We think that we are weak. Thinking in this manner is a big mistake. We are not weak. There is nobody as powerful as a human being. But he is afraid. Man is afraid even of a small ailment. Why this fear? Why is man afraid? This is because man has committed many mistakes. Without a mistake there is no fear. You think that you are this body that is why you commit mistakes. We are not this body. Body, mind, senses, and intelligence are instruments. They are the instruments; we are the masters. Master the mind and become the mastermind. Be a mastermind. You are the master, become the master, then you can merge in everything. Students! It is not enough if you study books. Enquire into the activities of daily life and understand the truth. It is possible that children can become the teachers of the father. Wife can teach the husband. Without any sense of difference, Shuka, Vyasa’s son became his father’s teacher. He advised the father.
God first; world next
Once the King Maharana came and told Meera to get away from the temple. She was wondering how she would be able to protect herself. Meera’s contemporary was Tulsidas. He was on the Chitrakuta Mountain. She wrote a letter to Tulsidas through a messenger. What did she write? Husband is God for wife. We say that you should not hurt mother, father, teacher, and God. What can I do now? Husband asked me to go away from here. Shall I go away from here or stay here? Then Tulsidas replied, “It is wrong if you run away for the sake of world. There is no mistake if you run away for the sake of God.”
Kaikeyi sent Rama, who was the very life of Bharata, to the forest. She wanted Bharata to be crowned the king. But Bharata said, “Rama is God for me. He is like my father. Kaikeyi has hurt Rama, who is Divine. Therefore, she is not my mother.” Even if you refuse mother for the sake of God there is no mistake. You can disobey father for the sake of God. Not for other’s sake. For the sake of God you can do anything.
Prahlada’s father Hiranyakashyap told him not to utter the name of Narayana. But he said, “I can only utter the name of Narayana. Narayana is everything for me.” He refused to obey his father. So his father tried to poison him. But nothing happened. He felt that everything is God. Bharata refused to obey his mother. Prahlada disobeyed the father.
Lord Vamana went to the emperor Bali. Bali’s guru told him, “Do not think that this person is an ordinary person. God Himself has come here. Do not give promise to Him.” Who was the guru? It was Shukracharya. Shukracharya told Bali, the Emperor not to give a word. Then Bali said, “There is no greater sin than breaking a promise. I have given the word. I will not break my word. I may disobey you, but I will not break my promise.” He refused to obey his guru. Hence Tulsidas wrote to Meera, “If you refuse to obey your husband, there is nothing wrong. For the sake of God you can refuse him. It is not for the sake of property or house.”
There is nothing wrong in disobeying others for the sake of God. In the world many things happen. You can do anything for God. There is nothing wrong. You recognize this principle. As long as you are in this world, as long as you don’t realize that Divinity within you, respect your parents, respect the teacher. Look after the wife and children. It is our duty. They are the worldly duties. Once you have the Divine relationship, you need not care for anything else. Other things are small things. When you have the mountain of gold why do you look for gold and silver elsewhere? When you have the wish-fulfilling cow why do you want to purchase another cow? When you have the wish-fulfilling tree why do you go anywhere else? When you have God who gives you everything, why do you bother about other things? So put lot of effort to attain God.
Source: Pathways to the Lord, Discourse 2;
My Dear Students Volume 3; Divine Discourse on March 19, 1998 at Trayee Brindavan
