God Alone

Swami Chinmayananda

oi-Staff

Monday, November 30, 2009, 18:04

The first step in spiritual life is to believe firmly that God alone is true, indestructible, and blissful. Those who have such firm belief will have no attachment to sense objects and no desire to enjoy them.

People occupy themselves with work, if not for sense enjoyment, at least for self-glorification: "I am very rich," "I am a great leader," " I am a great scholar," "1 am a great devotee." Thus people pride themselves and find a fleeting pleasure in the proud fancy. Even great persons who have given up all sorts of sense enjoyments sometimes forget their future goal, being misled by such fancy. The pleasure of utilization and pleasure of self-glorification both soon end in overwhelming sorrow. The godly pleasure originating in the contemplation of God alone is free from sorrow, because God alone is eternal, divine joy is eternal; it is untouched by sorrow.

The wise who know this, find lasting, unbroken joy in the contemplation of God, finding no joy in anything else. By the contemplation of God, not only the individual, but the whole world becomes pure and holy. A believer can render no greater service to the world than that rendered by the contemplation of God. That means every other service is inferior by comparison. Therefore without wasting a precious moment, without a single moment's' break, perform spiritual practices to gain remembrance of God.

About the author

Swami Tapovan Maharaj was that pristine glacier of Self-knowledge through whom flowed the Ganga of Vedantic Wisdom of Swami Chinmayananda, the architect of the Chinmaya Movement. Swami Tapovanam was a saint of the highest order, a consummate Vedantin, strict teacher, a compassionate mentor, and a poet whose every thought throbbed with ecstatic awareness, and a sage of unsurpassed wisdom and tranquility. This article is from his work, Himagiri Viharam (Wanderings in the Himalayas)