Setting aside time for God

A drama artist plays his role on stage and goes back home which represents reality. The man in the path of self-realization is the artist, life is the stage, life experiences are the scenes in the drama and God is the reality called home. Just as the artist does not let his onstage experiences affect his life at home, a real Sadhak (aspirant) does not let the happenings or non-happenings of this drama called life affect his mental equilibrium. He is engaged in doing all actions not for himself but for God. Hence all 365 days X 24 hours, he spends for God. This is spirituality. Spirituality does not mean one has to renounce all work and sit in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Spirituality means offering all actions as a service to God. Such a man is in the thought of God, reminding himself of the unrerality of this world, without being attached to it and yet working in it externally.

One’s destiny is the will of the Almighty. HE gives each and every being some work or the other. Man’s job is to attend to this work with sincerity and devotion WITHOUT attachment to the work or its results and WITH attachment to God and God alone. Where now is the question of setting aside time for God? One is in the thought of God by surrendering all actions as offerings to HIM. Such a man does not have to set aside time for God, for he is always in the thought of God, performing the duty assigned to him by God.

Saying –“I will give up my job, all my commitments, my family and sit in God-meditation from morning to evening in a forest is not spirituality. It is only a wrong understanding of spirituality. God himself does not like it nor will HE let it happen unless that itself is one’s destiny. Of course, one is most welcome to sit in God-meditation through the day if time permits or when one is free, for there is no better way to make the mind free of ‘Vritti-s’ (modifications) than through meditation and thereby burn the past impressions through Samadhi. But this should not become a means to escape the responsibilities of life due on a person through destiny. One should always be true to one’s duty. There is only one duty for man and that is the attainment of ‘Kaivalya’ (self-realization); but this liberation is attainable only through getting done with the other activities which destiny offers (as a result of one's past karma) along with some time set aside for Yogic practices on a daily basis and not by giving up/escaping from what one is supposed to do.

One should attend to the work given by destiny (God) with commitment and honesty but WITHOUT attachment to the fruits. This is the highest spirituality which gives real results. A time will come when God himself reduces external commitments and worldly responsibilities. He then makes the aspirant devote more time/focus on staying put in a place and indulge in seclusion for continuous Samadhi. Till then, one should get done with those responsibilities that form a part of one's destiny and use the remaining time for Yogic practices. One should be in a state of meditation all the time (though it may not be possible to formally sit in a pose), thinking of God while attending to external work. This helps one become really spiritual. Whether the work is internal or external does not matter. What matters is doing the duty that is assigned by God, for God, as a service to God and not for oneself.

Such a man is not bothered whether God makes him a lawyer, doctor, carpenter, fisherman, actor or something else. All these are akin to the role of a drama artist in the drama called life. Just as the artist works sincerely while acting and is waiting to get back home, the real spiritualist works sincerely at the work offered by destiny and is waiting to free his mind for deeper God-contemplation or meditation as and when time permits. He is content with what comes through chance and not money minded/oriented towards worldly indulgence. Whether much money comes or does not come through his work, he does not bother, for God knows best. If God wills, he may become very rich, or he may remain poor or somewhere in-between. These things do not matter, for they are a part of this unreal illusion called life drama. His intention is to spend time on the thought of God and God alone, reminding himself to be the all pervading 'Atman' and not the body or mind. Such an attitude without attachment to the world makes the practice of Brahmacharya easier and natural. If Yoga and Brahmacharya are practiced with such a perspective, life becomes very enjoyable.

Lord Krishna describes this in the Bhagavad-Gita:

• “Having abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, ever content, depending on nothing, he does not do anything, though engaged in actions.” – Chapter 4/ Verse 20.

• “Without hope (for the fruits of actions), with the mind and self controlled, having abandoned all attachment for possessions, doing mere bodily actions, he incurs no sin” – Chapter 4/ Verse 21.

There have been cases where people have attained self-realization within minutes (further to their past efforts for ‘Mukti’ having ripened), while many others take hundreds of lifetimes. The span of 12 years is a general time frame denoting conservation of Prana through Brahmacharya. Let it take a few minutes or a few lifetimes, why worry? Our right is to the effort alone and not to the fruits. We put in our best efforts towards self-realization in the thought of God, without wasting time on worldly attachments. We leave the rest to God. We are not concerned with the fruits of our actions, though we try hard for the best progress. HE decides whether we require 12 minutes, 12 years or 12 lifetimes. That is not our concern.

ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)