Tale of One Devotee

Date: Sat 13 Sep 2008 23:06:27 -0400 To: am-global@earthlink.net From: Robert Henley Subject: Tale of One Devotee Baba "Srs't'idha'ra' dha'y toma'ri karun'a'y, liila' racana'y tumi advitiiya..." (PS 3600) Purport: O' my Baba, this flow of creation is moving ahead by Your divine karuna. Baba by Your grace everything is getting created, nourished, and withdrawn back to its origin. This entire cycle of creation is nothing but Your divine grace on everyone. Baba, in the creation of Your divine liila, You Yourself are unparalleled; You have no comparison. Baba You are Alaks'yaca'rii*, Cittabiharii*, Sarvadukhaharii*, O' my dearest and most intimate One. Baba, there are many similarities between us-- between You and I-- even though I am 'unit' and You are 'Cosmic'. Baba, in Your divine vibration with the most charming aroma of candan* permeating all around, & with Your beautiful Presence, my atoms & molecule, my entire existence has started dancing in bliss. Baba, by Your grace we are so close; there is no difference between You and I. My existence is depending solely on You. Because You are, that is why I am. O' divine Entity, if You would not have been, then I would have floated away somewhere into the vast oblivion. Baba, You are the nucleus of this divine creation. Because of You everything is existing and dancing around You in bliss. Baba, You have no equal... NOTES FOR PS #3600: * Alaks'yaca'rii= This is one of the names of Parama Purusa and it literally means the Entity who always moves invisibly-- secretly-- around the entire universe. Here following Baba explains why He moves around secretly: Baba says, "He [Parama Purusa] can never be fully discovered; He has concealed most of Himself. If He were to express Himself fully, He would face many difficulties in carrying out His work and thus the collective interest of humanity would suffer. In the interest of human society, He will have to keep Himself secret." (AV-7 p.30) * Cittabiharii= This denotes one of the beautiful attributes of Parama Purusa whereby He lives in each and every unit mind, ensconced in His eternal bliss. In this divine & playful stance of His, Parama Purusa is called: Cittabiharii. * Sarvdukhaharii= This name of Parama Purusa respresents His great compassion wherein He takes away & removes all the sufferings and pains from each and every being of this entire creation. In that fashion His presence works as a balm of bliss. That is why Parama Purusa is often called-- Sarvadukhaharii. (Sarva= all; dukha= sorrow; Harii= He who takes.) * Candan= sandalwood.

== TALE OF ONE DEVOTEE == ~ FOR BHAKTAS LONELINESS IS A BOON ~

Namaskar, While sitting down an hour before I was to get washed and dressed for my job, I experienced an overwhelming sadness. I had this realization that I am now all by myself on this earth. My parents are long gone, my wife has recently passed, my children have grown and left; so I have no one around with whom to have communication or contact. I started to feel very lonely and thought since I have no real friends or family around me and I live by myself, that I will grow old alone. I started to cry. I see many people with a human companion to grow old with, but I will be alone. This melancholia flooded my existence one morning before going to work. I felt desperate. Then I sang kiirtan and did some sadhana; by Baba's grace the experience was so deep that my feelings of loneliness and melancholia immediately vanished. That morning, by His grace, my meditation was very vibrated. Immediately I felt, 'I am not alone, Baba is with me and He is caring for me'. Later on at my job, we were getting reports of the previous happenings-- the comings and goings from staff working the prior shift. Then and there, by His grace I had a flashback and reviewed in my mind the sacred memory of when I saw Baba and He blessed me. Over and over the idea was floating in my mental plate and it was blissful. I was recalling Him watching me run over to the stage and as I did sastaunga pranam, He looked down at me and then as I got up He asked my name, He smiled at me and said, 'Very good, very good, very good', rocking His head gently back and forth. Then I heard my kiss onto His hand and then by His grace, He turned toward me with His His folded hands blessing. As I relived those blissful moments during this meeting, I started to cry but checked my tears so my colleagues wouldn't notice. I started to realize that my life is for Him and I don't want to do anything for myself, to enjoy life for me. I do not want to let Him down. I want to be doing everything to please Him; I do not want to make money and enjoy life for myself. I want to give my life to Him. I want to work for Him full-time, not for someone else. He has graciously done so much for me and He is so loving, giving me so much that I must give back to Him and please Him. I am not sure what He has in mind for me, but He must fufill my desire to serve Him 24 hours a day. All these feelings were in my mind and heart. That auspicious morning occurred ten years ago to this day, by His grace. And I have not had an ounce of melancholia since. In my earlier life, up until that point, I was always surrounded by people. I would always ensure that I had company and companionship in the form of friends and family. Since that time of crisis and moment of realisation, by His grace I have come to appreciate being with Him and Him alone. I no longer fear being by myself but see it as a boon for my devotional life. Because it gives me opportunity to focus more on Baba and not get diverted or distracted by anything else. So now I cherish my loneliness in the mundane sphere as I can channel and divert all my energies towards Him. And when that happens, by His grace, I feel His sweet proximity and compassionate touch. To be surrounded by people now means to intrude upon my sacred time with Baba. What a difference: In the past, feeling lonely made me absolutely miserable and I was terrified of the future; now, by His grace, worldly loneliness has become a boon for my spiritual endeavors and relationship with Him. Since that auspicious occasion ten years ago, my entire outlook has changed. Now I long to be alone, and generally shun worldly company, so that I may get closer and closer to Him, by His grace. Now I have love and affection for everyone and am not attached to a particular few persons. I feel close to all, by Baba's grace.

BABA'S BLESSING

Baba says, "Du'r'a't sudure: if people think that Parama Purus'a is far from them, then He is very, very far. Du'ra means far and sudu'ra means so far that the human mind cannot even imagine it." (SS-11, p. 65) When people begin to think that Parama Purusa is close by, or near. Baba says, "antike means near". In this case aspirants think that Parama Purusa is only ten feet away and then they realise that He is only one foot away, sitting right next to them. So in this way they feel that Parama Purusa is nearer than they thought. And in this top category, those blessed devotees feel that Parama Purusa is their closest and most Dear Entity. That He is always living along with them, in the inner recesses of their mind and heart. Baba says, "Tadiha'ntike ca, iha'ntike means so near, so close" that it cannot be measured. Those devotees feel "that Parama Purusa is hidden in their very 'I' feeling." (SS-11) Namaskar, Rameshvar

Note: SOME REFLECTION

I understand that my story is atypical, and not exactly normal. Some may have difficulty relating with it. But I can clearly see a vast difference in my devotional relationship with Baba from then and now. And it is because of this transformation that I prefer not to have worldly company, not because of any indifference towards others. I suppose it is similar to many other changes we might experience as margiis. For example, before becoming a margii one might have eaten meat or consumed alcohol, yet now after developing a more sentient way of life one may feel suffocated by the thought of eating meat and drinking wine etc. The margii now only has attraction toward sattvika foods. All because of a change in one's mental make-up. Similarly, I do not feel inspired to interact much with people-- unless it is for reasons of performing service to please Him-- and now strictly prefer the company of Parama Purusa. And the reason is, Baba has made my mind like that. Beyond that, I could never have conceived of living in such a manner.