Constant Remembrance

The hard and miserable life of most of the people, engaged in different worldly pursuits, keeps them so much occupied with their problems of life that they are often led to believe that they can hardly spare time for devotion and worship except at the cost of some vital interest or pecuniary gain, which they cannot safely afford to ignore. This notion keeps them away from the path of duty although sometimes they become seemingly conscious of it. Their minds are absorbed every moment in thinking about the various problems of their material life and are seldom directed towards God except when they are in deep distress, or misery.

The reason is that they attach primary importance to their worldly interest alone which constantly remains in their view. Thus they remain entangled with Maya without ever thinking of getting out of it at any stage. If we divert our attention towards God and feel realization as the primary object of life, naturally we shall begin to look upon it as the first and the foremost thing in comparison to everything else in the world.

It does not mean that we should become unmindful of our worldly responsibilities and neglect our duty in that respect, causing trouble and misery to those depending upon us for support. We must remain alive to our sense of duty to them as much as to God but without any undue attachment. For this, we must snatch a few minutes from our hours of rest (preferably at bedtime) and pray to God with a sincere heart for His guidance and support on the path of duty. If we do it regularly with a heart full of love and devotion, the prayer shall never go unheard.

When we thus get awakened to the sense of duty and the idea of God becomes prominent in our hearts, we begin to treat realization as the primary object of life. Naturally our craving for it begins to grow stronger and we are thus led to frequent remembrance of God during our routine of daily work in spite of all our engagements and worries. Diversion from the path of duty is in fact not due to circumstances or outside engagements, but only to the misdirected activities of the indisciplined mind. Mere consciousness of God cures many of the evils of the mind and removes difficulties from our path. We have thus to become conscious of God for the most part of the day during all our worldly activities.

Frequent remembrance of God, though greatly helpful, is not all that we need for final success in realization. We generally begin an important thing in the name of God, and it is customary almost in every religion to do so. But that is only a matter of formality and has no real significance. We never dedicate the thing to God in the real sense, and at heart we are in fact quite away from the idea of God. Remembrance of God thus is of no avail. The real significance of the custom is that we must remain in touch with the idea of God in all phases of our mental and physical activities. We must feel ourselves connected with the Supreme Power every moment with an unbroken chain of thought during all our activities.

It can be easily accomplished if we treat all our action and work to be a part of Divine duty, entrusted to us by the Great Master whom we are to serve as best as we can. Service and sacrifice are the two main instruments with which we build the temple of spirituality, love of course being the fundamental basis. Any kind of service, if done selflessly, is helpful. Service to fellow beings is service to God in the real sense, if it is not done out of any selfish motive.

Whatever we do in our daily routine of work is in relation with some of our fellow beings — be they our children, friends or relations. If we think that while doing a work we are really serving one or the other of God's creatures and not our own purpose, we are all along following the path of service, although we are outwardly busy with our usual routine of work. Almost all our activities in life are connected with providing means of livelihood for our children and dear ones. So, if we treat them as children of God, who are entrusted to our care and whom we have to provide for and look after as if duty bound, we are then serving His children, and thereby God Himself. We shall thereby get rid of undue attachment too and shall thus remove one of the greatest obstacles from our path.

The idea of the Guru as the Supreme Divine force is very helpful in spiritual pursuit. You depend upon his guidance thinking him to be a superhuman being. If you go on with your busy routine of life, dedicating everything to your Master, imagine what good it will bring to you in the long run. While doing a thing, think that you are not doing it for yourself, but for your Master — or rather think that your Master himself is doing it for himself.

While at the breakfast table you must think that your Master is breaking his fast. When you go to the office, think that your Master is doing all this. While returning from the office, suppose you see an attractive dance on the way and your eyes are caught by the charming appearance of the dancer — think that your Master, and not you, is seeing the dance. You will at once lose curiosity for it, because your Master's power will begin to flow in to relieve you of the temptation. When you come back from office your children rejoice to see you after so many hours. You too enjoy their merriments and it is but natural. Your attention is, for a while, diverted towards them. What you are to do then is to think that your Master within is himself enjoying, and you shall be in touch with the same sacred thought again.

If you cultivate this feeling and maintain the outlook that your Master is doing everything in your place, you shall not only be in constant remembrance all the while, but your action will cause no impression whatsoever, and very soon you will cease making further Samskaras. The process, if earnestly followed, will constantly keep the Master's form in your vision and you will feel his presence within and all about.

— Pujya Shri Ramchandraji Maharaj (Babuji Maharaj)