Fill Your Life with God

So then he said, what is the other approach? He said that if emptying the mind is difficult for you—and he also said that those who are doing it, very good, you have to have that warrior mindset and just do it, you know, go at it—but since it's very rare to be good at it or to resonate with that, what should the rest of us do? He said that instead of trying to empty the mind, you fill it up with God. Make every narrative about God. You remember when Swami was here, when he was leaving? I don't know if you were here, but I told him, 'Okay, you can't remain empty, you can't let go of your stories, you can't let go of your narrative. Do one thing: change the central character of your narrative to God.' The one who is central in your story to God. I explained to him in the explanation, but that itself, to fill ourselves up with God, to fill our narratives, to fill everything in our life up with God, itself can seem like such a difficult project. And for most of our brothers and sisters in the world, to remain just empty without that support may seem even more difficult than that.

So it was very useful to hear that perspective. We must endeavor to really fill our life up with God, make everything about Him. And he said that is a very beautiful path because even the stories are beautiful. So he was talking about the Krishna Leela, like there is sweetness in the stories. So he said something again very beautiful. I mean, he's clearly a sage, I mean one of the brightest sages that, brightest lights that at least I have come across. And what obviously prevented him from becoming famous and well-known is like a clear lack of charisma. Like anybody's grandad. He's like, comes from a community very similar to mine. You just imagine him being my Nana or Dada sitting and talking all of this, and it's very difficult to understand, and all his mumblers, and he's probably old, and you know, all those things are there. But if you really notice what he's saying, it is stunning.

So he said that the beauty of immersing yourself in God's narratives, making everything about God, is that not only is there sweetness in it—you see, you taste a sweetness—but those narratives also eat up everything else, which I found is really beautiful. And it's a fact that if you listen to about Jesus's life, or any of the saints' lives, Teresa's life, it's also so stunning. About Ram's life, Krishna's life, all of our sages, Ramakrishna, Jnaneshwar, Tukaram, you name this beauty, it's there so much everywhere. Listen to the stories of their lives and we feel elevated, so beautiful. And in that elevation, you let go of that self-concern and self-interest. But he used a word which is interesting, something I gave some of you the other day, maybe in the park when we were talking.