Selfless Devotion
"Surrender yourself directly and unhesitatingly to him. He will ordain the best for you and you need not ask for it.
51-59. "Among the methods of approach to God i, there are (1) worship to overcome troubles, (2) worship to gain wealth, etc., and (3) loving dedication of oneself. The last one is the best and surest in its results.
"In practical life too, a chief entreated by a man in trouble duly affords him relief. The man is however unhelped if he has not shown proper attention to the patron. So also the service born of ambition, bears indeterminate and limited fruits according to its intensity. Devoted service with no ulterior motive takes a long time to be recognised; yet it makes even the petty chief amiable. A human master may take long to recognise unselfish work; but God, the Lord of the universe, the Dweller in our hearts, knows everything and soon bestows appropriate fruits. In the case of other kinds of devotees, God has to await the course of destiny - that being His own ordainment; whereas for the selfless devoteei, God, the Lord and the sole Refuge, is all in all and takes care of him without reference to the devotee's predestiny or His own ordained laws. He compensates the devotee quickly, and that is because He is supreme and self-contained without depending on anything else.
Wherever you may be, you cannot leave ME.
Its uncanny - how everyday i open the book, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, and i always land on a page that has something very relevant to my state/thoughts/circumstances.
So I am off to Ramanashram for the first time in this life (reaching on Feb 26, 2006)! All excited about being closer to the Presence of my beloved Master. And this is what He tells me last night:
March 10, 1938
You do not go anywhere away from the Presence as you imagine. The Presence is everywhere. The body moves from place to place; yet it does not leave the one Presence. So no one can be out of
sight of the Supreme Presence. Since you identify one body with Sri Bhagavan and another body with yourself, you find two separate entities and speak of going away from here.
Wherever you may be, you cannot leave ME.
To illustrate it: The pictures move on the screen in a cinema show; but does the screen itself move? No. The Presence is the screen: you, I, and others are the pictures. The individuals may move but not the Self.
Ananda: i shall be off for 2 weeks, returning on March 12, 2006, just in time to celebrate the festival of Holi with my relatives. Thus, no updates on this site till March 14th or so. Please remember, beloved Reader, that the master is within
