About Meditation-Part II

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Giving power of attorney to an Incarnation of God (or God) may appear easy but is actually very difficult. It means complete surrender to Him. This can be done only after all the humanly possible efforts have been made. When a person feels that nothing more remains within his/her power to be done in respect of realizing God, then only power of attorney could be given meaningfully; otherwise it amounts to self-deception. Remember, how in spite of having a glass of water before him, Sri Girish Chandra Ghosh could not drink it, even though his throat was parching, because Sri Ramakrishna had not permitted him to do so! This is giving power of attorney. But there is a condition for taking the power of attorney.

Only Incarnations of God can take the sins of others and redeem them. They become, as it were, scapegoats for the sins of others! Apostles of Incarnations also have power to redeem, but the power is derived from Incarnations. Incarnations of God suffer for others' sins. Sri Ramakrishna suffered at every instance—as when a person touched, he used to have burning sensation, etc., and also from throat cancer. 'It is for the sins of others that this body is suffering so much. Or else what sins has this body committed,' Sri Ramakrishna used to say.

Once a young man, an initiated devotee of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, went to the Mother, and unburdened the restlessness and wretched state of his mind to Her, and prayed to Her for redemption. The Mother looked at the young man in a peculiar way. The young man was disappointed when (after the peculiar look) the person was asked to go to Master Mahashay (M). The young man reported to Master Mahashay how the former was disappointed. Master Mahashay asked, 'Did the Mother cast a peculiar glance at you?' The young man said, 'Yes.' Then Master Mahashay said, 'You are blessed indeed. Don't you know that with the one look of the Divine Mother, the devotee (Shiva) becomes drunk in the ocean of Satchidananda, and is absorbed in meditation, etc. (cf. Gospel Song).'

What is the relationship between sdhan and God's grace?

Human beings are endowed with thinking power and intellect, and hence one has to make effort, and do spiritual practice. Then only God's grace descends; not otherwise. As a saint has said, 'We must make one step forward, when the Lord comes ten steps towards us.' And the Lord wants us to go one step forward towards Him first. The question of God's grace comes in to show that the puny effort of human being is nothing when compared to the mighty aim of realization of God. Even the little joy that one derives from spiritual sdhan is due to God's grace only, what to speak of the Infinite Joy of God-realization. We must strive our utmost.

In the name of religion people become more selfish than even ordinary ones. They find among themselves motives of selfishness. How many people go to temples with utterly worldly desires and thereby pollute the very atmosphere! A few householders and monks raise themselves to a higher level, and pray to God while visiting these temples. The very aim of spiritual sdhan is to become more and more selfless. The small 'I' should be done away with; and when the small 'I' is merged in the big 'I', there is Infinite Bliss. Sacrifice alone can give rise to selflessness, i.e. breaking selfishness.

About the author

Swami Satswarupananda

A disciple of Holy Mother, the Swami was an editor of Prabuddha Bharata. These are the answers given by Swami Satswarupananda to the questions posed by Sri M. Padmanabham in 1960's at Hyderabad.

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