Once The Master was speaking with a group of disciples, one of them had returned from abroad.
The MASTER asked the Disciple, "You have been to England. Tell us what you saw there."
The Disciple answered, "Master, The English people worship the 'gold'. Of course, there are also some good people in England, those who live an unattached life. But generally one finds there, a great display of materialistic pursuit in everything they do. To my surprise, I saw the same thing in America too."
The Master said, "It is not just in England or America alone that we see people attracted towards worldly possessions. We see it everywhere. All we need to remember is that, work is only the first step in spiritual life. But, The Lord can be realised only through True-love and Vivek - Sense of Discrimination.
It is the very nature of our senses to involve us in the activities, we need to just check whether the work is spiritual or worldly in nature. If we are entangled in too many worldly activities we will tend to forget The Lord. We become more and more attracted to 'the gold' and other worldly possessions.
But it is not possible for us to give up work altogether. Our nature to take care of our family will lead us to it, whether we like it or not. Therefore The Master's ask us to work with detachment, that is, not crave for the results of work done by us. Our aim should not be to earn people's recognition or to increase our merit.
To work in such a spirit of detachment is known as Selfless Sevaa. But it is very difficult to practice Selfless Sevaa. We always calculate, how it will benefit us. We are living in the Kaliyuga, here we easily get attached to our actions. We may think we are working detached, but attachment somehow creeps into the mind.
Even while treading the spiritual path and arranging a grand religious festival or Langar for needy, we may think we have done all this as Sevaa, without thinking about the results. But unknown to us, the desire for name and fame creeps into our mind. Complete detachment from the results of action is possible only for those who have connected with The Lord and had The Darshan of The Lord within."
A Disciple asked, "Then what is the way for those who have not seen The Lord? Must they give up all the duties of the world?"
The Master answered, "No. We do not have to give up the duties of the world. The best path to practice in Kaliyuga is Naama Bhakti, The Master's path. Here, we Live our life as per The Master's Will. That is, We do the Simran and Dhyaan of The Naama. The Naama is Lord's True Name. All we need to do is, do The Simran of The Naama, with a longing heart. Our heart should seek The Lord's Company, nothing else. Our heart should pray out to The Lord to give us The True knowledge. it is Realisation of The Truth, that enables us to do the Bhakti which will please The Lord. Bhakti opens the eyes with which we can have The Lord's Darshan.
To Live in this world in Remembrance of The Lord, we should pray to The Lord to bestow us, as fewer duties, as possible, in this world. And we should try to do the duties without getting attached to their results. We should have no desire to be involved in many of the worldly activities.
Since, we have to take care of our family responsibilities, It is not possible to give up work altogether. Here we need to understand, The Simran of The Master's given Naama or Naama Bhakti is the work given to us, by The Master. Naama Bhakti is the work, which will enable us to achieve the true purpose of this life.
The Master is our Boss, we are His Servant, Employee. As we dwell in Naama Bhakti, The Master shall reward us, both in the outer as well as the inner world.
By doing Naama Bhakti, we develop love for The Lord, and our worldly activities start to get fewer and fewer. Slowly, we will lose all interest in them. Can one who has tasted a drink made of sugar candy enjoy a drink made of ordinary molasses?
Similarly, Once we taste The Naam Ras, all other juice of this world shall become tasteless."
We are fortunate to be Living in The Company of The True Master. The Master has blessed us with The Naama. He has shown us the path of Naama Bhakti.
The Master says do both the spiritual and worldly job as The Master's work, and The Master shall pay you for it. We just need to do Naama Bhakti regularly, without expecting anything. The Master is very well aware of all our necessities. He will bestow us as much as we deserve and not as much as we desire.
Still we do not understand and dedicate majority of our time towards materialistic pursuit and neglect Naama Bhakti. By doing so, we are Living as an identity which is separate from The Master. In such condition, The Master does not interfere in our activities.
Only when we make our Lives Simple, that we Live in The Master's dictum. And Surrender ourselves to The Master, and live in Naama Bhakti, then The Master takes over the command of our Lives. After which, both our spiritual and materialistic goals shall be achieved by us, by The Master's Grace.
Authored by K. Giri
