Wisdom From Australia:
Spring Tour 2003all 2004 Tour

THE NEED FOR FAITH AND DEVOTION

To receive the Grace, you need to be receptive, and to become receptive we need to develop faith and devotion. My Guru used to say that the Guru's Grace is always flowing, just like the wind is always blowing or the water in the river is always flowing. You need to build a dam to catch that Grace, and that dam is made of faith and devotion.

Even since childhood this faith and devotion came very easily to me, very automatically. At one time when I was very young, I was very attracted to one particular saint, and I found a photo of him in a shop. I bought the photo and took it home and put it on the altar in the house. One relative of mine came later and ridiculed the photo being on the altar. He said that this man was not a saint. He had heard stories about him, and said that he was just a charlatan, and not a real saint. When my mother heard these stories, she went to remove the picture from the altar, but I said, “No. Do not remove the picture. The picture is my faith. If the saint is wrong, that is not my problem. Leave the picture itself, as it is my faith. Leave my faith intact." Subsequently, it was found out that the stories accusing the saint of wrong things were false, and he was revered widely as a great soul. The point is that it was about my faith, not the man himself.

Some people also just try to capitalise on shaking people's faith, for their own advantage. Some years ago, there was a politician in South India who started ridiculing about God, saying there was no God. Swamiji wrote a letter to him saying to him, "If you don't believe about God, then come to me, and I'll show you God." The politician wrote back to Swamiji, "We respect You very much, and we do believe in God. We just said this to get peoples' votes.”

When I had faith, no power could affect it, no power could shake it. Even during my Tapas also, there was a test at the end. God came in front of me to test me. He said, "I have come to you because of your Tapas." Now when God comes in front of you, it is simply not possible to lie. Whatever is inside you, will simply come out of your mouth as words. God was trying to create an ego, that it was my Tapas that had brought Him there. He said, "Now that I have come, you don't require your Guru anymore."

But the truth, which was inside me, simply came out of my lips, and I replied, "No, I want to be simply at the Lotus Feet of my Guru always." I felt it was Guru's Grace that had brought God, not my Tapas. God then said, "The Guru will look after you and will guide the right devotees to come to you." I sometimes think, "Why do they come? Why do they love me, when I have nothing much to offer?" It is simply their love for me, which brings them.

I saw Swamiji during His life on this earth never showing favours to people because of their status in this world. I saw Him going equally to palaces and small cottages, in big cars and small cars. It was the peoples’ devotion, which drew Him, not their wealth. He looked for the love.

Sometimes Swamiji would tell us, "If God gets angry with you, Guru will protect you. If you have Faith in Guru's name, even God can't hurt you." Sometimes He would give a terrible scolding and the tone of His voice would go very high, then suddenly it would go down quickly and his voice would be back to normal. Then instantly He would say, "Now that I've tried to find fault with everything about you, you must be wanting to go away from here, from this ashram. But I love you, and I simply wanted to remove some previous karma from you."

In the story of Rama and Hanuman, Rama wanted to murder Hanuman, that is the word used in the story, "murder". But still Hanuman simply went on reciting Rama's name. He didn't bother him. Hanuman said, "Simply if my beloved Shri Rama wishes to kill this body, fine. No problems." He just went on reciting Rama's name.

Faith and Devotion can see you through. When you listen to the Guru, have Faith and Devotion. Remember,"Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto you." If you meditate, you will have a beautiful life in this world. It is difficult to live in this world. Remember bad karma will always come back on you. I have seen this so often in this life. People, who have tried to cause problems to others, have always had it come back on them. If you have Sincerity and Faith, then you will get the Guru's Blessing, God’s Grace. You will get peace and happiness, and your mind will be controlled. Meditation will give you both Knowledge and Devotion. The path of Devotion is also not easy. It needs one's complete attention. If you are devoted, your attention will always be on that form which you have chosen to be devoted to. Without devotion, you cannot have dedication. This meditation is like earning money for the mind. Meditation is like earning for the future. Swamiji did twenty hours or more per day of meditation, during Tapas. Similarly, I did eighteen to twenty hours per day, also. You can just do one hour, then you will be adding money to your account slowly. One Indian saint was talking of Ramana Maharishi. He said, "Ramana has banked $100, while I have banked $30, so you should at least bank $5."

I don't have to even come out of the ashram in Dehra Dun. There is everything I need there. But I'm aware of my Guru watching, so I do the work. Saint Kabir Das recites in one of his songs, "Puffed up, this mind has become puffed up and is wandering in this world like a drunken monkey.” What a great magic that God has spelled. When the world gives you things, then the mind's relatives will come and sit with it. These relatives are Stress and Unhappiness. When God gives, then the relatives who come, are Peace, Happiness, Concentration, and a Pure Heart. If your attention is to God, you will get Peace. If your attention is to the world, you will get no peace.

Firm Faith has always kept me on the right path. Even when I wanted to go to Swamiji's ashram, my Mother was very concerned to protect me. "What if He is not a real Yogi? What if the atmosphere of the ashram is not conducive to you?" She would ask. I simply replied, " It doesn't matter if He's a Yogi or not. It doesn't matter if He's a Saint or not. All I know is that I love Him." So that Faith never varied. I just loved Him, and went to Him. Peoples’ questioning couldn't disturb me. When your Faith is like this, then the Grace will have to come to you. Saint Kabir Das in another one of his songs sings:

“Guru and Govinda (God) are standing in front of me. The mind is temporarily a bit confused - To whom should the first namaskar go? But then the mind becomes clear. I shall bow to the Guru first, because it is only through the Guru that I learnt about God."

So Swamiji used to say," If God is angry, Guru will protect you. If Guru is angry, noone can protect." If you have reverence, then you will practice this meditation. Meditation is hard when you are not sincere, when you have no faith, no discipline, no patience. If you have these things, meditation is easy. So be like a soldier. He practices with his weapons even when the enemy is not there. Then when the enemy comes, he is prepared. If he waits for the enemy to come, and then starts practising with the weapons, it will be too late. In the same way, if you meditate now, then when the world comes to trouble you, then you will be ready for it. The mind will not be disturbed. One of the great south Indian saints said, "Now, while your body is healthy, remember God. If you wait until your body is old, it will be too late." God has given us a beautiful gift of a human body. Let us not waste it.