God alone can be the focus of a prayer or upāsanā. That Almighty is Omnipresent and extremely merciful. He has knowledge of everybody’s needs and desires. Being the parent and magnanimously kind He wants to fulfil our desires too. Any fairly merciful father of ordinary level also is keen and ready to fulfill the wants and needs of children. Then being the supreme parent and infinitely merciful why will He not know our needs. Only on our expressing if He comes to know of our requirement, and on praying only if understands our difficulties then such supreme an assumption will amount to bringing down His status of That Omniscient. When He fulfills the needs of insects, birds and animals without asking, why will he not pay heed to His beloved son, His crown prince? In fact prayer does not at all mean begging. Begging is shameful in itself, as it incorporates tendencies of helplessness, incompetence and dependency, which does not improve but in fact diminishes the graceful glow of self-respect. It is all the same whether a begging hand is produced before a man or a begging bag is spread in front of God. Whether theft is committed in a man’s house, or in temple – God’s home – a bad deed will be a bad deed. Any action that damages self-reliance or self-respect – even if it is called prayer – does not befit a capable being like man.
In fact, the purpose of prayer is to make one’s soul understand that it, being a symbol of Supreme Soul, should become capable so that necessary qualities are easily acquired compatible with its capability and worth its dignity. Offering prayers is also an attempt of gratifying the mind, convincing it; it is an effort towards refining oneself, awakening oneself. By praying, the inner self is told Oh! The unbounded source of Power, why don’t you get awakened? Why don’t you turn your qualities, work-nature on noble path of ascent? If you get saved, whole world will get saved. If you become free of dirt and vices the purity of the whole world will automatically get attracted to you. If you get engrossed in preparing for excelling your capabilities and in beneficial use of gains, then how can there be any need to sit in line with those who are helpless and destitute? Then why should your level be lower than that of the dignified children of God, who are capable and who donate?
By means of prayer we develop intense contact with worldwide greatness, experience the ideals as God’s divine expression, and awaken the pleasurable feelings of joining with it. Lethargy and lack of knowledge have taken root in the field of mind covered by darkness. Non-recall of self has rendered is in a shameful state. To eliminate the maligned feelings and closed, dormant minds engulfing the life, let us pray our inner heart to inspire and activate it to leave aside sleepiness and ignorance and awaken with grace. If one starts thinking what is expected of him, starts doing what he should do then all problems will be solved. If one ray of Inner Light sparks, all the darkness that obstructs the steps to one’s rising will get eliminated and all the masks of misery and gloom spread everywhere will be wiped out. Though God is witness, viewer, destiny maker, creator, director, all in all but we should regard that part of Him, which we pray, as complete soul and pious soul only. Considering the periphery of life confined to satisfaction of hunger and procreation and driven by ill desires and thirst for sensual pleasures and false ego only is termed as Maya. To enlarge the field of self-interest by liberating attraction and love from the bindings of worldly interest is the real self-improvement. This expansion of the ‘self leads to self-realization. In upāsanā, we pray to our higher-level ‘real self, to the Supreme Soul that He may enshower mercy and generate such a spark of radiance, which transmutes the darkness pervading within and around us into divine light.
The intense longing for submission of smallness into largeness pettiness into greatness is named prayer. The determination to convert man into Supreme Being human being into Super Human is called prayer. When the narrowness obstructing the soul expands and sees the form of Supreme Soul in it, then it should be understood that effect of prayer has taken place. When man starts ascending to divinity by getting lifted from a level of animal life, then this should be regarded as sign and miracle of depth of prayer. Submission of self-identity is regarded as essential part of prayer. We can obtain something from anybody only by belonging to him. Self-submission is the only single way of attempting total immersion into God’s aura. Taking refuge (in the holy feet of God) is regarded as the main sign of devotion. In Gita, God has assured that – “the one who comes to My refuge with trueness in heart, I take on Myself the responsibility of his Yoga Ksema his well-being and progress…” The difference of taking refuge with trueness in heart and with falseness in heart is quite clear; total submission can’t be achieved superficially.
To use the ‘flowery language’ of submitting body, mind and wealth everything at the feet of God at the time of prayer and then practice the contrary in conduct, forgetting or leaving aside all promises is prayer with falseness in heart. This is the fashion today. The way, to trap any simple girl, a lustful person shows large green pastures and makes big promises knowing that he does not have to fulfill this assurance pledges, in the same way the prayer with falseness in heart is for deceiving God. One, who understands the meaning of the levels of submission and taking refuge, must also be knowing that its purpose is only to convert one’s worldly desires into God’s wishes – to modify one’s present conduct by liberating one’s activities from the grips of lust, desires, expectations with the help of uplifted thinking and ideal deeds according to God’s wishes. By getting ready for this, one, who talks of submission and taking refuge, can be called the one performing prayer with trueness in heart.
One poor man, fully drunk, sold out his house very cheap to somebody. On gaining sobriety he petitioned in court that he had resorted to the sale due to intoxication. Now being conscious I deny that agreement. At the time of worship, prayer, people pray in various ways. ” ‘O’ Lord! I have come to Your refuge, I am Yours, I am lying at Your feet, only You are mine, nobody else than You is mine” etc, etc. They neither know the meanings of these words nor the implied outcomes and benefits. Whatever words are being used if they had been spoken in well thought out way, in full sobriety, then definitely efforts would have been made to shape up the sequence of life according to that state and to assimilate the same in thoughts and activities. Coming out of the place of worship, when the need is felt to convert that statement into action, then it all seems very difficult. Like the drunkard coming to sobriety, the ‘devotee’, having no courage to convert the statement into action, practically denies the agreement which was stated in the wordings of submission of everything to God at the time of worship.
This wish only should be associated in prayer that Supreme Soul may make us capable that we gain the respect of being called His true devoted disciples, and loved children. Supreme God may grant us that power, on the basis of which being free from fear and greed may we tread the prudent path of duty with courage and may we be firm and not bother about the obstructions in the route. Results are bound to actions. Whenever the outcomes of our past actions (karmas) present themselves we could tolerate them with patience and could maintain the mental state of never losing patience while continuing on the courageous path of ascent of the soul. God may purify our heart so much that no tendency to indulge in ill deeds or wrongs crops up and even if it crops up we get no occasion to implement the same. Only that prayer of high level in which strength in the legs is asked for to continue for the ideals of human-life, can be termed true prayer. That prayer, which begs for wealth, progeny, health, worldly success etc and in which there is no recall of progressive development of courageous duties, will amount to begging only. Success of such demands is generally doubtful.
Parapsychologist Dr Emily has written that prayer is not the name of thanking God or the process of begging something from Him. On the contrary it is that state of mind in which the person coming out of all the trappings of doubts and metal wavering and enters in the realms of divine faith and deep devotional love. To accept the politeness of submission by renouncing ego and to accept the authority of Supreme God by rejecting the unrestrained mental vices and weaknesses is termed prayer, in which this vow is also added that the future life will be lived with piety and benevolence to the others according to the directions of Supreme God. Such a prayer, coming out of the depths of inner self, joined with the belief in self-refinement and self-elevation shakes the throne of God. The results of such a prayer emanated from pure hearts are astonishing and can be termed as miracles without doubt.
Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine (1912) and Professor in Lyon University of France Dr. Alexis Carrel acknowledged God’s mercy hidden behind his every success. He used to say that those longing for petty things cannot reach even that level of progress where ordinary beings can normally. He always noticed divine cooperation of Supreme God peering behind special equipments, special circumstances, and special ingenuity and always said only this this is a response to the prayer filled with the pure feelings emanating from the deep inner self. Along with his medical procedure he gave more importance to prayer than medicines. He used to tell every patient pray with trueness in your heart, if you pray with repentance for your mistakes and with a strong resolve to live unsoiled life in future, it will definitely be heard. One, who will be able to do this, will get rid of not only the body’s illness but also internal illness.
Mahatma Gandhi had written to his one friend – “The name of Ram is a life-support for me, which takes me across every crisis. When your lusts begin to ride upon you, you sincerely call for God’s help to protect and liberate you from their grip and you will get His support” When your mind is getting weak illness of mind are increasing and you feel that you may slip at this step or the next then you should sincerely pray to God through your heart. God, who saved the elephant from the trap of the crocodile, does not desist from hearing the call of a distressed, sad devotee who wishes to get salvation from downfall; He enters the inner heart of devotee in the form of confidence that can be likened to Garuda who is accustomed to stomaching the snakes of maligned tendencies that lead to downfall.
In the state of self-submission to God, the soul states Tasyaivāham (I am His), Taveivāham (I am Yours only). Stating this again and again he gets engrossed into Him so much, gets assimilated into Him so much that he dissolves and forgets about his own entity and begins to realize himself as a form of the Supreme Soul. Then his inner voice reverberates Tvamevāham (I am You only), Sivoham (I only am Shiva) and Aham Brahmāsmi (I only am Brahma). When this experience of assimilation of God in self and of self in God grows so much in intensity that it becomes impossible to desist from converting this feeling into action then it must be recognized that the feeling of self-submission has really awakened. Such a refuge leads a person to divinity with a great speed and this movement is so intense that it pulls the Almighty to the devotee along with all His divinity. Of course God is greater, supreme. But as far as the processes of sādhanā-upāsanā go, by absolute self-submission and taking refuge (in the pious feet of God) the devotee is regarded greater; his devotion is so powerful that even God appears to follow his directions. No calls of a true devotee would ever be unattended.
All pervading Divine Life Source which every moment elicits greatness in our inner heart, fills it with awareness and feelings of superior life and ideal activities, the more deeply and clearly we understand our relations with that, the more the life can be affirmed to be involved in prayer.
Knowing this meaning of prayer Mahatma Gandhi had said – I am not learned. But I humbly claim that I am a prayer oriented man.”
The procedure of purposeful prayer only is inspiration and enlightenment. Of course the procedure is important but it should be in the form that provides inspiration and light. Where there is no realness of prayer, no inspiration and no divine light, no procedure of any kind can bear any fruit. It is stated in “The Angel” “You do not get what you ask for. Because you ask wrong.” Asking for sweets in a post office and for books in a tailor’s shop can only bear frustration. God is an all-capable giver, this is true, but He is not just a giver, He is Omniscient and the Almighty parent. He knows of our necessities more than us. Hence to imagine that He will not use discretion while giving is not just ridiculous but also amounts to regarding God as dumb or desirous of flattery.
Therefore before resorting to prayer it is necessary to understand two things. First, that grace of God can be showered on us only in the form of enlightened inspirations, benevolent feelings and virtuous tendencies. Why will God grant those kinds of comforts and tendencies that increase jealousy-envy, greed, addiction, ego, illness, and distorted thoughts?
Second, that God has created not only one or a few persons only. The omnipresent regulatory-directing power of the whole creation itself is God’s reflection. That power cannot create a system, in which there would be negligence of justice and favoritism or injustice to others. Hence from
such a prayer that asks for disturbing the system of the world no boon can be gained but only displeasure of God. Will it be a prayer, if one asks for – “I may to win litigations even if I indulge in immorality” “Even if others put in efforts and labor, they may always remain behind me” Or, “even if I may be engulfed in idleness, lethargy, ill addictions, I may get success and be well ahead of others all by Your grace” What would a ‘God’ who accepts such prayers be called? It is very clear that there is no possibility of existence of any such real God – the eternal creator, the supreme savior. Such can only be an imaginary ‘God’ created by one’s pettiness.
If immoral desires could also be fulfilled by prayers then how can God be called as the One who sees all as equal? To come out unblemished in the case of theft-dacoity, to gain unearned wealth in gambling stake can of course be seen days on and such gainers also regard it as God’s mercy, but all this is a result of trickery, cunningness and deceit which somehow succeed in a corrupt system and not a mercy of God. If God could be pleased by burning incense sticks and by folding hands to make one pass his exams in first grade without studies, then where will be any need for hard labor and devoted studies? If all wishes get met so easily then the principle of “fruits according to actions” (destiny as per one’s karmas) would get fully falsified; then there will be no order, no laws of Nature, existence of the world….
Did King Dashrath not know how to pray? Then why did he have to bear the consequences of killing Shravan Kumar by dying crying for his parted son? Lord Ram would not have even needed a prayer, just a wish would have been adequate. But he did not wish to be saved from the consequence of shooting at Bali while hiding and in the Dwapar era, this same Bali took revenge in the form of a hunter and killed Lord Krishna by shooting an arrow at his feet. Then why will He bypass that system of justice for others?
This does not mean that divine assistance is never gained. Divine boons have definitely been achieved all of a sudden with prayer, but only when prayer has been resorted to for a good cause with a refined heart. When all the elephant’s powers get exhausted and all its capability seems to nearly end only then God comes running to rescue him from the crocodile. Undoubtedly, benefits like relief from disease, end of obstructions etc are gained from prayer but this happens only when the heart resorting to prayer is pure and man has left no stones unturned in his efforts and courage. To resort to rituals of prayers for meeting one’s every small need and to wish for gaining material benefits on every occasion of prayer belittle the level of prayer and make it ineffective. By making immoral, undesirable wishes a part of it, the prayer gets degraded from a prayer-to-God to a mere figment of imagination and emotional excitement. Such repeated demands for fulfilling mean desires do not even reach the divine realms. It only gets dispersed with air in the sky haphazardly.
A good motive is an essential requirement of prayer. Divine assistance can be gained only for superior intents like upliftment of self or welfare of society. In every era great human beings have gained divine boons only for such noble objectives and have attained extraordinary successes moving forward even in great adversity. Refined intellect, prudence, benevolent tendencies desired for superior motives can be easily attained by prayer and the same become the basis for progress in the direction of high ideals.
Whether water is hot or cold is immediately felt upon entry into water. Sitting near fire one naturally experiences its heat. Nearness of anything definitely leaves its specific effects in a man’s life. Association with bad things generates vices and good things, virtues. That is why all wise people of the world want the inspiring company of good persons and good things.
The good results of upāsanā of God can be soon experienced by any sincere devotee. Even people, who do not have knowledge of its scientific basis, are not deprived of its benefits. Lighting a matchstick knowingly or otherwise will definitely produce fire. There is not even a little doubt that even those who have no knowledge of scientific process of upāsanā also, through the spiritual attainments obtainable from God, achieve their worldly and ethereal (astral) ascent by upāsanā.
God is like science and upāsanā a scientific process to attain it. Upāsanā of God means to sit near God. Just as man immediately starts feeling the effect of qualities of water, fire or air by its proximity, exactly in the same manner aims and peripheries of life start expanding, its powers start extending, elevating immediately upon getting the nearness of God. In that light man not only guides himself but also motivates many more others towards righteous path. The powers of a true upāsaka of God are considered grand and splendid because by getting assimilated in the all-powerful Light Divine, such a devotee becomes a true representative, an heir of those powers. Throwing light upon this concept, the Yajurveda states:
Saparyyagachchukumakāyavraṇamasnāviram śuddhmāpaviddham |
Kavirmanīşi paribhū-svayambhūryāṭhātathytoarthān Vydadhaccāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ ||
– Yaju. (40|1)
Meaning: That Supreme God who is the infinite radiance, devoid of any form, who is absolutely free from defects, deviations and harms, who beyond the reach of the intellect, who is the eternal poet, preeminent thinker, creator, omnipresent, omnipotent, may He engulf our existence also in those powers.
In this mantra the great spiritual benefits that are attained by upăsană of Supreme Soul have been shown as divine attributes. These attributes are similar to the heat of fire or the coldness of water; the closer a person gets to these, proportionately these attributes begin to arise within him and in the end, getting fully immersed in them he gets freed from the sense of being.
The Supreme Soul is called ‘śukram’ – light form. Light is the symbol of brightness, knowledge and is bereft of blemishes. The upliftment of the individual self by upāsanā of God begins from this class. Up to this stage man was in the sense of a being, he lacked knowledge, he did not understand true nature of this world. Fulfillment of little momentary pleasures used to be the only aim of his life and was completely engrossed in worldly enjoyment. So his life had shortcomings and fallacies too. Lusts generate bodily illness and sorrows. They destroy capabilities of senses and man moves fast towards old age and death. Bodily weaknesses increase with luxuries and comforts as also mental anxieties. These anxieties and passions entrap man and bring him anguish and misery. But the moment śukram the light element of Supreme God sparks in his life he starts feeling the meaninglessness of worldly
desires. Now he feels that momentary pleasures are worthless and he sets enlightenment as the aim of his life. He sees that when I want light and infinite blissfulness why should I move aimlessly behind petty lusts. Such queries also enter in his life, in which his thoughts rush towards universe’s deep secrets and sublime, mystic realms of life. That knowledge itself is the light of Supreme Soul. Inspiration of its quest itself can be regarded as His mercy. Without getting this light of the Supreme Soul, illumined ascent of human life is not possible.
Light is the initial stage of development of a being and also its final stage. It is called initiation because expansion of powers of a being starts from here only. With dawn of this knowledge the strong desire for self-knowledge awakens in the inner heart of man, and because a being finally gets assimilated in that light itself, this is also the final stage of supreme evolution. Therefore in the Vedas the importance of knowledge is regarded as above all and without that man is regarded at par with animal.
The second quality of Supreme Soul is existence beyond all dimensions. He is formless. His body is not like that of man meaning thereby that He does not act the way men do. This attribute also very soon gets kindled in the inner heart of a worshipper. That is, when he soaks in the Supreme Soul’s knowledge-element or prāṇa-element, first of all he realizes that till now he was considering his body only as the main source of the pleasures of this world and of fulfillment of ego; or in other words, till now his understanding of life and prāṇa’ itself was confined to bodily perceptions alone; he begins to detach from it now. Detachment or renunciation does not mean that he relinquishes bodily actions, but now he sees his body only as an instrument or as a form of a shrine of the Supreme Soul. He understands that the passions for pleasures of sense that were troubling him so far are bodily distortions and he should not get driven or disturbed by them. This body is perishable, made from the five basic elements of Nature and can get destroyed any time. So by lording it over, it should be employed into benevolent constructive purposes.
With the rise of these feelings, he experienced the presence of prāna-element or the consciousness-force enshrined in body and he decided that he should attain the invisible body – the subtle prāṇa-body. This prāṇa-body or energy-body is formless, which can be felt only by contemplation and thought process. Awakened subtle senses only can perceive it. Thus his mental tendencies turned inwards. He started pondering over his own bodiless form and got motivated to know its secrets.
Supreme Soul is avraṇam – which means that He does not get wounded in any way. Wounds can occur only in the physical body (e.g. that of a man). As remarked in the holy Gita Nainam Chindanti śastrāṇi, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ, no arms or weapons can pierce the soul nor can fire burn it. Till man had the sense that he is this body he disliked worldly troubles and bodily sufferings and every moment he made efforts to get rid of them, but now he has fathomed that bodily desires are always obstructions in attaining God. So he has to uproot them. This motivates him to tapa. Tapa is also called bodily penance, meaning that one volunteers for hardship and discomfort of the body and pain is inflicted upon the body deliberately so that the distinction of the soul from the body becomes clear and one gets rid of the sense of a ‘physical being’.
Inflicting pain on body does not mean that it may be pierced by arms or burned on fire, rather, the effort of tapa correspond to adapting devout ascetic disciplines and penance to awaken endurance and tolerance against discomforts and pains so that the desires for worldly possessions and bodily pleasures dies out. Disciplined and punctual life-style, hygiene, cleanliness, hard work, self-service, regular practice of japa, prāṇāyām, fasting etc are essential initial steps of tapa which are aimed at warming up and purification of the inner self, awakening and chiseled purification and illumination of the soul, to make it suitable to meet the Supreme Soul.
But man’s unfulfilled desires and intrinsic impressions of the present and the past lives do not get destroyed so quickly. This cleansing of body, mind and soul is the same as cleaning a dirty drain by pouring pure water in it. At the time of cleaning the foul smell of grime deposited at the bottom spreads with such an intensity that it totally disturbs the people around. While one endeavors self-purification and self-transformation and upliftment by the various spiritual practices (sādhanās), then also such a ‘foul odor’ of negative accumulations, lusts and worldly desires is generated in the body, which totally shakes up one’s mind and self-confidence. For a few moments it becomes difficult for the sādhaka to keep control on the mind. This turbulence erupts with agni-dikśā or prāṇa-dīksa and therefore a great necessity of some capable and experienced guide (Guru) has been prescribed to keep balance in this state.
The asnāviram quality of the Supreme Soul implies this knowledge that when one sets upon the dedicated endeavor of upāsanā to attai; the Supreme Soul then he must fully control the ficklene:s of body and agility of mind in every way. It is also true that the individual self when is devoted to unify with the Supreme Soul does not get affected by any perturbation of the body, provocation of senses or by mental distortions.
Supreme Soul is absolutely pure, how can He see sins in his worshipper? Pure water alone can mix in milk, dirty water spoils its appearance itself. When iron is placed in fire it also assumes the color of fire. the same way the sins of a devotee are destroyed with his self-submission to the Supreme Soul. The process als takes place on the side of the worshipper. With awakening initiated by upāsanā, he realizes that it is not possible to achieve the Supreme Soul while living a sinful life. Maintaining balance in both these stages he patiently cleanses out his sins, and remains engrossed in acquiring the qualifications for attaining the Supreme Soul.
The power of emotions is considered greater than that of thoughts. Supreme soul is a thinker as well as a poet – who has a reach into the depths of emotions. A poem is a portrayal of the omnipresence of the soul. When the soul evolves, it begins to feel the joys and sorrows of the whole world as its own joys and sorrows. This quality awakens in a worshipper of God also in the same form. In him also arise the blessed poet-like feelings of compassion, love, sacrifice, generosity, good concluct, serenity, sympathy and tolerance of pain, etc. He takes special pleasure in helping others, renouncing selfishness. All the saints and devotees in this world have unanimously described the altruistic service of humanity only as the supreme religion. Saintly transformation of many ordinary men and women occurred only when by worship of the Supreme Soul, natural poet-like qualities-sensitivities got awakened in them. It is well known in history that when wicked and cruel natured people like Valmiki, Ajamil and Sadan took refuge in the holy feet of God they turned so compassionate in heart that they dedicated their whole self in the selfless service of humanity.
On reaching the pinnacle of thoughts and feelings the worshipper gets a taste of pari-bhu power of God. God is omnipresent, pari-bhu. His power indwells in every particle of this world. He only has created mountains, rivers, oceans, plants, vegetation, sun, moon planets, everything, every manifestation of Nature. His light alone is pervaded everywhere. He alone is playing His game in the activities of each and every particle. Oceans, lands and heavens there is no place, no horizon, which is devoid of God. This immense world is also His form only. He has an eye on each and every straw of grass; that somebody’s behavior be hidden from him is never possible. No one can escape from His sight, some person talks or thinks bad and He may not listen, this is not possible ever. The worshipper gets overwhelmed with the immense joy of realizing this omnipresence of Supreme Soul. Merged with the indestructible Element he sees himself also in the form of the all-pervading Supreme Force and then turns omnipresent himself, all beings now become for him, his own forms.
Supreme Soul is all-powerful too. His management is unbounded, very unique, perfect. He takes care of all actions of the world. He only renders the fruits of every action. He only protects, maintains and destroys (transforms) the whole creation. But He does all this without attachment, without any lacuna. Only with a view of the welfare of this world, He has developed and expressed His powers and He keeps bestowing their benefits too to the whole world. The one who holds on to Him, attaining this preeminent quality of God, also becomes perfect and gets detached and liberated from the thralldoms of life. The great enlightenment and transformation induced by upāsanā is expressed in the rhetorical style of the scriptures in the following hymn:
Shrunve vrushteriv svanah pavamasya shushminah | Charanti vichuto divi||
– Rigveda 9|41|3
Meaning: When the mighty Soma (the divine source of moon like soothing light) is worshipped, His effulgence appears like brilliance and movement of lightening and His sound appears like the sound of rain clouds. Prayer and upāsanā of God has been regarded as good for man. All the religions and sects of beliefs of the ancient times have prescribed some procedure or the other for this. Consider those who regard God as formless or those who believe in a God with form, all consent to the utility of offering paeans and prayers to God. In India there exist not hundreds but thousands of different sects, whose principles may have a world of difference, but one thing they all have in common is that in one form or the other they surely sing praises of God and pray to seek His blessings. A few men with partial or superficial knowledge the name of modern science may oppose this fact but the truth is that neither have they understood the subtlety of science nor have they ventured into the realm of spirituality. After listening to a few conversations here and there, such men usually begin to consider themselves as learned and in that craze and prejudice begin to talk nonsense against the people who are much more experienced and even against the great souls who have entered the depths of the ocean of knowledge.
But one essential condition for sādhanā and upāsanā is that it should be carried out with true feelings and a concentrated mind. Several so called spiritual men of these days who visit a temple merely to show off to the world or to follow some tradition, or do one odd japa of rosary to follow some ritual or to get some desire fulfilled, no significant outcome can be expected from this. Upāsanā and sādhana can be regarded as true only when during that period man gets completely absorbed in God leaving aside all the worldly pleasures and his mundane affairs. When man gets occupied in this kind of upāsanā of his tutelary deity with devout dedication and focused mind, only then he can proceed on the path of spirituality and gain benefits of the divine mercy. To elicit this fact it has been explained in the above mantra of Rig-Veda that when man carries out upāsanā of the Supreme Soul with his heart and soul then he begins to see God’s effulgence and begins to experience how His unending grace is being showered around everywhere.
An ordinary man during the course of his life in this world has to face several obstacles, has to go through adverse circumstances, has to fight against many oppositions and has to bear all sorts of justified or unjustified criticisms. Due to this many times in his life arise situations of rage unrest, fear, angst etc that affect him to at least some extent and he begins to experience mental stress and unrest. When such a man takes shelter in the Supreme Soul to overcome his sufferings and to obtain peace for his mind and soul and carries out His upāsanā with devoted diligence, then all his lack of faith begins to transform into faith. Moving ahead in his sādhanā he begins to experience the play of God’s strength all around and begins to understand that whatever is going on in this world is inspired by God and is a result of God’s wish. Man may not understand this that very moment but as the anxiety and unrest of his mind subsides he feels like a man who was scorched, distressed and tired in the intense summer heat has obtained the coolness and blissfulness of monsoon season.
Man has discovered a variety of religious practices and so called sādhanās to fulfill his various desires. To obtain wealth, children, affluence, authority, knowledge, intelligence etc people adopt many kinds of methods and depending upon their worth, they also keep succeeding to a lesser or larger extent. But to obtain spiritual peace, enlightenment and to get rid of worldly sorrows and attain unalloyed joy, there is only one way that man must leave aside all his multifarious desires and take refuge in Supreme Soul with a truthful heart, and offer praise and prayers to Him with pure feelings. We should remember that in fact God alone is the one who grants us all we desire. So if through His mercy we obtain spiritual peace and light then all other fair needs and desires would get fulfilled on their own.
Several people from this exposition may deduce that by getting absorbed in the contemplation of God all man’s desires would subside, feelings to renunciate this world would arise in him and he would attain spiritual satisfaction this way. While there is some truth in this thought, but to think that upasana of Supreme Soul has no relation with fulfillment of worldly desires is not correct. In another Vedic mantra it has been stated that “apamiv pravaṇe yasya durdharaṁ rādho viśvāyu śavase apavātam”
The flow of God’s wealth never stops. His worshippers attain it the same way as the down flowing shower or rains. In current times too there have been several people who despite being ordinarily educated and with average intelligence, have lived a blissful life due to their intense faith in the Supreme Soul and have easily accomplished theirs and others’ great and important tasks. When we read accounts of miracles performed by saints, ascetics and devotees in our ancient scripts then it clearly comes out that those who perform upāsanā of God with true heart have no dearth of worldly riches, talents and powers.
Benevolent results and benefits of upāsanā are bound to occur in every field of life. It has also been stated in this mantra that worshippers of the Supreme Soul also get a sight of His divine effulgence. To think of it this alone is the criterion to test whether one’s upāsanā is being carried out sincerely or not. Anyone who contemplates on God with a completely absorbed and concentrated mind is bound to experience His divine radiance after some time. This brilliance itself, by illuminating the inner heart of a spiritual seeker, removes all his doubts and queries and shows him the true way of life. This way the man gets qualified to attain the true knowledge and the capacity to overcome all sorts of worldly obstacles. This alone is the gist of the philosophy and real form of the true upāsanā.
Source: The Meaning, Purpose and Benefits of Worship
