Origin, Purpose, and Meaning

Baba often refers to the apparent mystery of the Divine Being. No logical process can ever reveal this mystery even partially. Intuition and grace are most essential. During His own mission as an avatar Baba has demonstrated on innumerable occasions this mystery of the Godhead. He works in a mysterious way “His wonders to perform”.

His Grace comes to us only when we ardently pine for it, often in a most unexpected way. How and in what manner this grace descends on us is difficult to describe. But there it is when we most need it, unmistakably and clearly. It comes as an anodyne to the bleeding heart to soothe and tranquillize, as a flash of understanding to one who has lost His way in the dreary desert-sand of frustration or ignorance, as a bright ray of hope to one who is filled with despair and broken in spirit, as a rush of the cool waters of ananda [joy] flooding and revivifying the wasteland of sorrow.

This is the central mystery of the Supreme Being. Yet Baba assures us that this mystery need not worry us. Once He said: “Why do you worry about God’s mystery? Your business is to try to bring Him close to your heart and install Him there. But remember to keep this abode of God, your heart and mind, clean and pure.” To the pure in heart, the gate of Heaven is always open. God is unattainable only to those who have no faith.  But to those who deserve His Grace, he is so close, so intimate, so accessible.

Mere effort without inner purity is of no use. It is more important to have inner faith than to toil endlessly in outward ritual and worship. Yet sadhana [spiritual discipline] is necessary. Meditation (dhyana) and namasmarana [repeating the name of the Lord] help us to focus the mind on God. They serve as an inner discipline, a means to strengthen the spirit. But to get lost in these outward rituals and do nothing to serve the world and our fellow creatures is only colossal self-deception. This is the real maya, according to Baba.

To liberate ourselves from this is to undergo a radical transformation. That which is the core of our being—our real self—is more important than the outward “show” we put on. We are constantly in need of this inner realization so as to become “whole” men and women, rather than live as “divided” beings. A person who is fully integrated, whose thoughts, words and deeds are fully in harmony, is a happy person.  He suffers from no doubt or hesitation.  Right action becomes natural to Him. The Lord’s exhortation to Arjuna in the Gita was a call to this inner harmony or integrity.  The essence of the Gita really consists in propounding the technique of this inner “wholeness”. Moha [attachment] is maya [illusion]. Arjuna’s redemption was really redemption from this “moha” that broke up and shattered His inner being reducing Him to a creature frightened at His own self.

Baba is often impatient with those who blame God for their difficulties and sorrows.  How often has Baba declared that the Supreme Being is a being of love and compassion! Sorrows and failures arise, not because of God’s anger, but because of our own actions. Man is free in nothing more than in the field of action. In one of the most thrilling discourses delivered by Baba during the recent Dasara festivities, He said: “Do not blame God for your ills. Thank Him that He still responds to your prayer in mercy and compassion. Otherwise, the burden and pain you must bear will be unendurable. You are the architects of your own lives in a true sense. You are no doubt baffled at the apparent injustice of things. But God knows more than you do. His vision ranges over the unlimited expanse of eternity—past, present, future. He can mitigate and often destroy the evil that one has accumulated through one’s recurring births. His grace can tear off the web of karma [action] into shreds. Man’s greatest duty is to earn this grace by true bhakti [devotion] and service to one’s fellow creatures.”

In other words, it is only through real bhakti that the karmic bondage can be torn asunder. It is not God that fails man, but we who disown Him in our pride. When we are pure in heart, God accepts us. The key to mukti [liberation] is with us.  For man is a self-directed being capable of infinite self-development. He can attain self-realization. Only man can create values and attain inner transformation. This is the true meaning of life that it gives us endless scope for God attainment.

~H. S. R
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 196