Kindle the Light of the Lord

Awaken the Divine Light of the LordThe entire universe is situated in the Lord alone, and the Lord is situated in every single particle of the universe. Then the distinction between one's own and another's disappears, the feeling of friend and foe is destroyed, and everywhere one experiences only one indivisible Self-existence, the Divine Existence of the Lord. In that state, the waves of the ocean, the chirping of birds, the gentle breeze blowing through the trees, the waterfalls cascading upon mountain peaks, the rivers issuing from mountains, the luminous rays of the sun, the cool moonlight of the moon, the blue sky, the blue, white, black, and yellow clouds, the lush green fields, the multi-colored flowers, and the bumblebees humming over blossoms-every single thing appears before our eyes as an integral part of the supremely beautiful, bliss-filled play of the Lord-becoming the Lord Himself. In the same way, the ailment of the body, the attainment of health upon the removal of ailment, the distress arising from the lack of food and clothing, the pleasure of eating many delicious delicacies and dressing in beautiful garments, the humiliation inflicted by people, the offering of flower garlands bestowed by the public, the censure spread everywhere, the praise echoing everywhere, the celebration of the birth of a son, the death of a young son, the ruin of inhabited villages, and the resettlement of ruined villages-in all of these, we obtain the auspicious touch of the Lord, and perceive the divine play of the Lord. Then no bondage remains upon us; "do this, do not do this, do it this way, do not do it this way, do it at this time, do not do it at this time"-this control is lifted, because in that state our actions too

do not possess any independent existence; through us as well, only the will of the Lord is expressed, and hence these actions also become integral parts of that sublime divine play. Suppose a cave has been filled with darkness for a thousand years or a hundred thousand years, but we somehow make an opening in it such that the rays of the sun begin to enter. Then the darkness of the cave will vanish that very moment. The darkness that has resided for hundreds of thousands of years will not say, "I have been here for so many days, I shall leave only gradually"; the moment light arrives, darkness is dissolved! In the very same manner, it is only a matter of the dawn of the divine light of the Lord within the heart. The very instant it dawns, our beginningless ignorance will also be destroyed, and experiencing the presence of the Lord everywhere, we shall be truly blessed and fulfilled. However, as long as this has not occurred, as long as the darkness of ignorance has not been dispelled and the light of the Lord has not dawned, there is the binding force of rules upon us: that we ought to conduct ourselves in a particular manner at such a time, for its result is auspicious; that we ought not to act in a particular manner at such a time, for the fruit of doing so is adverse. Even if we do not know this, do not accept it, and begin to act willfully, nevertheless, the binding restraint of the law shall certainly remain. One who does not know how to swim should not enter deep water, and if he does, he will drown-this rule applies to an innocent child who does not know how to swim, upon entering deep water, even if he does not accept it. In the very same way, even if we do not accept it, the law continues to operate. Therefore, wisdom lies in walking by accepting beforehand those rules that will inevitably apply, advancing only while accepting the rules ordained by the Lord, the Supreme Controller of the universe.

The consequence of this will be that our journey of life will proceed in happiness and peace, we shall obtain the open path to meeting the supremely blissful Lord, and ultimately we shall attain fulfillment by uniting with Him. We may ask: when such is the case, how then do we decide which conduct we should adopt, and when and how we should practice it? For this, let us establish a universal rule: whatever conduct, in whatever manner, and at whatever time we wish to see practiced by others toward ourselves, that very conduct we ought to practice toward others in the same manner and at that time. Its outcome will be beautiful. And whatever conduct, at whatever time, and in whatever manner we do not like to be done toward ourselves by others, we should never do that toward others in that manner and at such a time. The consequence of doing it will certainly be bad. Once this principle is embraced, it will take no time to arrive at a decision, nor will any mistake ever occur. Now let us reflect and see-we desire that everyone should always speak the truth to us in all matters, and that no person should ever speak a lie to us on any occasion. In transactions, everyone should deal honestly with us-vegetable sellers should tell us the true price and weigh accurately; fruit sellers should give good fruits and charge the exact, fair price; the grocer should provide all goods of good quality and charge a proper price, and no one should cheat us even in the slightest. Everyone should deal straightforwardly with us, and no one should practice deceit toward us! Do we desire this or not? If anyone ever speaks a lie to us on any occasion, cheats us, or practices deceit toward us, do we feel hurt or not? Therefore, firmly resolving with a sacred vow, let us also ensure that we always speak the truth to everyone in all matters, and never speak a lie to anyone on any occasion. Let us deal truthfully with everyone,

and never cheat anyone. May our conduct toward all be straightforward, and devoid of deceit toward anyone. We desire that everywhere we should receive the utmost physical comfort from everyone, and that no one should ever inflict physical distress upon us. Wherever we go, we should be welcomed with nectar-sweet speech; everyone's speech toward us should be filled with reverence and love; no one should speak harsh words to us or cause grief to our heart. In their minds, everyone should wish for our well-being and contemplate good for us; no one should think of our harm. Just in this very manner, we too ought to provide the utmost physical comfort to every living being who comes into contact with us, ensuring that no physical distress is caused to anyone through us. For whoever meets us, our speech should be filled with sweetness; we should welcome them with honey-sweet words, and in our conversations with them, respect and love should continuously flow from our speech. Even by mistake, we should never use harsh words toward anyone, nor cause grief to anyone's heart by uttering bitter remarks. In our mind, let us wish auspiciousness for all, nurture benevolent feelings for all, and never even inadvertently desire that misfortune, inauspiciousness, or harm befall anyone. When adversity comes upon us or some suffering befalls us, at that time the desire arises that everyone should embrace us to their heart, everyone should extend a hand to wipe our tears, supply whatever necessities we lack, and that no one should neglect us at such a time. When we harbor such a desire, then the vow of our life also ought to be that upon seeing anyone fallen into adversity-especially one who appears to have no one to take care of them-we should embrace them to our heart, make every possible effort to wipe their tears,

Whatever needs he has, if we are able to fulfill them, we must certainly fulfill them; if any such person comes to our attention, we should never ignore him. The summary is that so long as we do not begin to perceive the presence of the Divine everywhere, we remain bound by rules, and therefore, remaining vigilant, we ought to engage in worldly dealings only after testing our endeavors upon the aforementioned touchstone. Yet, it is not that merely by this much we shall reach the divine light of God. For this, we shall have to advance further--much further. Let us consider how we obtain the grossest light of this physical world. There must be a lamp, there must be oil or ghee (sneha), a wick soaked in that oil, and then this wick must come into contact with an already burning lamp. Once all these conditions are met, we obtain the gross light of the world. Even when the light is present, if we have no eyes--if our eyes are destroyed or afflicted with cataracts--we cannot perceive that radiance. Therefore, first and foremost, there must be eyes. In the same manner, to attain the light of the Lord, a special kind of lamp, oil, etc., along with eyes suitable for beholding the light, are essential; we must possess within us the pure eyes of faith (trust), the senses must begin to serve as the lamp, the soothing unction of divine love must begin to fill those lamps, the wick of the mind must become saturated by its contact, and once this wick is joined to a burning lamp in the form of a true saint who spreads the Lord's illumination, the light of God will surely manifest within us as well. The first requirement is that we must possess an unwavering, steadfast faith in the existence of the Lord, in His infinite omnipotence, and in His boundless divine attributes.

God most certainly exists; He is capable of doing all things; He is an ocean of compassion, an ocean of love, an ocean of beauty; within Him countless, infinite virtues such as truth, forgiveness, purity, gratitude, skill, steadfastness, forbearance, profundity, equanimity, auspiciousness, submissiveness to love, and the like reside eternally in measureless abundance; just as it is impossible for a tiny mirror to capture the reflection of the entire sky, so too the complete conception of the Lord's existence, of His infinite, boundless beauty, sweetness, and divine attributes simply cannot be contained within our petty mind and intellect;--in this truth we must have firm faith. May the shadow of doubt never touch this faith of ours; yet, whether we call it our misfortune or whatever else--we simply lack faith in the Lord within us. (Scarcely will one person in thousands be found who truly places faith in God.) We put our trust in sin, we place our reliance on some human being or on our own human endeavor (ego), but not on the Lord. We think--we have such and such a task, so we must tell this much lie, the work cannot possibly be done without lying; in other words, we have faith in falsehood (sin) that the lie will accomplish our task. We see that a certain gentleman can do this work of ours, and placing our trust in him, we pin our hopes upon him. Or we begin to think--"Come on, what does it matter, we will certainly get it done ourselves." That is to say, we rely on our ego. We do not look toward God to accomplish our work. The truth is that even this task of ours, which we are setting out to accomplish through lies, or planning to fulfill by the power of human ego, will ultimately be accomplished only through God's power, inspiration, and will; yet our disbelief does not allow this truth to be revealed to us.

It does not allow this truth to be seen, and it appears to us that falsehood will get the job done, that someone else will do it, or that we will accomplish it ourselves. In this way, we continuously move progressively further away from the light of God, rather than advancing toward it. Even when we do believe at times, that faith keeps wavering. Like a cataract in the vision of the eyes, doubt remains embedded in that faith. Just as sight becomes blurred when a cataract develops and we cannot clearly see the object in front of us, likewise, when doubt enters into faith--"Will the Lord do it or not?" "Who knows whether the Lord did it or our work was accomplished through the help of such-and-such person?"--when such doubt exists, we cannot clearly perceive the miracle of the Lord wrought through faith, even when it is right before us. For this reason, there is a need for doubt-free, firm faith. Only when such pure, steady faith exists will there arise in us the inclination to look toward the Lord in all matters; we shall wish to look toward Him, we shall behold Him, and upon beholding Him, sooner or later His illumination will inevitably manifest in our eyes. Thus, having a firm conviction of the Lord's existence in the intellect is itself the pure eye of faith. The second point is that we must turn the senses away from worldly sense-objects and direct their faces toward the Lord. Just as oil cannot be held in an inverted lamp, in the exact same manner, the soothing unction of divine love cannot enter into the senses that turn their backs upon the Lord and face toward sense-objects. The orientation of our senses is inverted; turning their faces in the opposite direction from the Lord, they are running away--to the eyes, beautiful form is exceedingly dear; to the nose, sweet fragrance; to the ears, melodic sound; to the tongue, delicious taste; and to the skin, delicate touch. Affection toward what is beautiful, fragrant, sweet, and delicate is not bad in itself. But where do beauty, fragrance, sweetness, delicacy, and the like truly reside here in this world?

Where are they? This is merely a delusion. Let us reflect with discernment for a moment--our senses begin to sacrifice themselves over someone's (mutually between men and women) beautiful form, melodious voice, the scent of limbs perfumed with attar or scent, the soft touch of limbs, and so on. But suppose that tomorrow that person dies, then why do that beauty, fragrance, etc., get destroyed? The body remains the same, but what became of the beauty? The mouth is still there, the tongue is still there, but why did the melodious voice vanish? No matter how much attar or perfume we smear upon that dead body, why does decomposition begin to set in? Why do the limbs stiffen? Now, if our discernment functions properly, we can easily understand that only as long as the presence of the Lord, the partial light of the Lord, was manifested in that body in the form of the individual soul (jiva) through the bodily sense-organs, only that long did that beauty exist, was that melodious voice expressed, did fragrance emanate, and did softness ripple. The moment that Divine Presence became unmanifest, all of these also became unmanifest along with it and departed. In truth, the beauty, sweetness, and fragrance belonged to the Lord; while the Lord was present, His shadow was falling upon the body and senses; our senses were under the illusion that that beauty and the like belonged to this body; now that the Lord is not there, these too are no longer seen. Therefore, all these reside in the Lord, not in the body. The Lord is eternal, and His attributes such as beauty and sweetness are also eternal; the body is transient, a thing destined to decompose and merge into the dust. Awakening this discernment, we must detach our senses, which are clinging to transient objects and perishable feelings, from there and turn them toward the Lord. When their face is turned away from this side toward the Lord, when turning away from delusion they begin to gaze toward the Lord who is the Embodiment of Truth, then they will serve as lamps to reveal the light of the Lord, divine...

The tenderness of love will be gathered within them. In other words, our senses developing dispassion toward worldly sense objects is itself what begins to serve here as the lamp. This by no means implies that we should sever all ties and become an ascetic hermit. Doing so would mean completely misunderstanding this path. Its true meaning is that we discover the Imperishable abiding within the perishable. Where the source of all beautiful sound, touch, form, taste, and fragrance lies-there, toward the Lord, our senses should be focused. Once the senses are turned toward God, the third and fourth steps will begin naturally on their own. A major difference between the outcome of worldly attachment and attachment to the Lord is that upon attaining worldly objects, the very moment the senses begin to enjoy them, the measure of joy (bliss) begins to diminish. We may feel an intense attraction toward a particular form; yet the moment our eyes begin to partake of that form, the joy of seeing it begins to decrease. Even if this is not apparent at first, it is an absolute and certain truth. In stark contrast, if we are attracted even once to the ever-beautiful form of the all-pervading Lord, this attraction will continue to grow eternally and unceasingly; the bliss of divine vision will perpetually increase. A young man is enchanted upon seeing a beautiful maiden, while a saint who has experienced the divine light is immersed in love upon beholding his dark and plain wife. Between these two, the youth's attraction, love, and the pleasure derived from the maiden begin to decline from the very first moment of union, whereas the saint's attraction and blissful love increase with every passing moment. This is because the young man

is beholding the external, perishable beauty of that maiden, whereas the saint is gazing upon the ever-renewing beauty of the Lord manifested within that dark-complexioned wife. Therefore, the moment the senses turn toward the Lord, their attraction toward Him will grow from moment to moment, this attraction will transform into divine love, and they will become filled with the tenderness born of love. Moreover, it is a universal rule that the senses cannot function without the mind; wherever the senses are operating, the mind is certainly present there as well. When the senses were wandering among worldly objects, the modifications of our mind were scattered here and there like loose threads; but when the senses turned back and faced the Lord alone, the modifications of the mind also became one-pointed, as if scattered fibers came together and joined to form a wick. Furthermore, if the tenderness of divine love continues to increase within our senses, it is certain that by remaining in their company, our mind too is being saturated with that same tenderness. This is what is meant by the lamp of the senses being filled with the smooth oil of devotion and the wick of the mind (the instrument for receiving light) becoming soaked with it. This is called developing intense love for God, and the focused absorption of that loving mind in God. Now, only the fifth step remains. That is bringing this lamp into contact with an already ignited lamp. In other words, when our loving and focused mind connects with the mind of such a saint in whom the light of the Lord is burning, this lamp too will spontaneously be kindled. If our intellect holds a firm conviction in the reality of God, if there is dispassion in the senses toward worldly objects, love toward God, and the loving mind is becoming focused upon the Lord, then saints who awaken the inner light by touching our mind with the divine flame burning in their own hearts will seek us out and arrive on their own; nay, the Lord Himself comes in the form of that saint, embraces us to His heart,

and illuminates our heart as well. Then the realization dawns: we do not exist, nothing belongs to us, He and He alone is everywhere, and His divine play alone is unfolding throughout the universe. From the beginning up to this point, six principles have been presented: moral refinement in conduct (human duty), faith in God, dispassion toward sense objects, deep love for God, concentration of the mind, and union with holy saints. We must certainly endeavor so that these six principles manifest in our life. It is not an absolute rule that they will appear in the exact same sequence in everyone's life. The sequence will form according to our latent impressions and environment, and it will vary from person to person. Yet it is an absolute truth that if even one of these is fully realized, the remaining five are bound to follow, for they are intimately interrelated. What is required of us is to put into practice one, two, or three-as many as we can practically assimilate into our life; the rest will descend naturally. By striving in this manner, before this life draws to a close, let us awaken the light of God, and having awakened that light, let us recognize Him. If this is achieved, all is well; otherwise, life has gone entirely in vain. No gain was achieved; rather, so great a loss was incurred that it is exceedingly difficult to overcome. Human life alone is such that we are endowed with the faculty of spiritual discernment. Utilizing this discernment, we can attain the vision of the Lord's divine light, perceive Him pervading every living being and the entire universe, and remain immersed forever in the ocean of supreme bliss:[Sanskrit] If one has realized the Supreme Truth here in this life, then there is true fulfillment; if one has not realized It here, there is great destruction. Having perceived the Divine in each and every being, the wise, departing from this world, attain immortality.