" The Vedas declared 'Nayamathma balaheenena labhyah' .The Lord cannot be attained by the weak minded ones. You are mistaken if you think you can attain God by buying a photo and keeping in the house. You are cheating yourself and cheating others also. God is not so easily accessible. It is very difficult. Even if you do penance for millions of years, the Lord cannot be attained. "

" Hindu religion is deep, infinite and difficult to comprehend. Its importance is its link with Brahmavidya (knowledge of the mantra/absolute).That is why it is known as ancient dharma. Hinduism is a dharma, not a religion unlike other religions. "

" Penance will protect you. There is nobody to uplift you except God. You must try to uplift yourself. Penance is essential. But always remember that the attainment of God depends not on your japa or thapas but only on his grace. The condition to attain God is not how much japa, tapa or mantra you did. He will not come to you through rituals. His grace is absolutely essential and indispensable. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa struggled more than Vivekananda mentally. He also could not attain divine grace so easily. He showed utmost humility. He became scavenger of the scavengers. He came down to such a position with humility. "

" Prataparudra was a powerful emperor of Orissa. He sent word to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that he would like to make a visit to see him. Chaitanya said it is not possible to see him. 'You can't get my darshan. Go away.' The emperor was aghast. 'I am the Emperor'. What is the Emperor's power before mahatmas? They have the strength to beg Him of divine grace. When the Emperor finally met him, his heart melted. 'What is your strength? You are an emperor only as long as you live. When you die, the body is burnt to ash and buried in grave yard. You will be moving aimlessly with the astral body.' 'What shall I do?' 'Sweep the streets of Puri in the presence of your wife and servants. I must see that. Otherwise you can't get my Krishna.' Chaitanya showed that Lord Krishna is not so easily accessible. "

" Humility is absolutely essential. We may do some sadhana by chanting name or doing penance. That is very little. Most important is you must win the grace of Divine! That is the greater part. The first prerequisite for divine grace is utmost humility. If you see a sadhu, not all sadhus but those who attained some powers; you must follow him and pay respects to him. "

" One of my gurus, Honnappa was only 9 years old. I saw an incident when somebody threw burning charcoal on his head; his body was burnt. He said 'Nobody threw coal on my body'. That means, he was separated from his body. More than your penance, you must try to win the divine. You must attain his grace; otherwise you cannot cross the ocean of your nivritti journey (path of renunciation). "

" You will face three counter powers in your way. This is realistic, not exaggeration. How can you fight them on your own? What power do you have? Without divine grace, you cannot face them alone. Your sadhana and divine grace should move parallel. That is the real sadhana! That is dhyana yoga sadhana. You must do dhyana also along with japa. Both must be combined. That is the secret of success. That is the secret of rapid success. "

" God belongs to Bhava jagath. We belong to maya jagath. Without possessing bhava, none can attain him. You must develop bhava deha. This physical body is made of five elements; it is maya body. Bhava deha is different. Without obtaining bhava deha, one cannot enter bhava loka. Unless you enter bhava loka, you cannot have darshan of the Lord who is related to bhava world; he is the manifestation of bhava. So without possessing bhava, none can attain him, none can see him. "

" He himself showers this bhava on us. Bhava deha cannot be attained by sadhana. Then how is it possible? He himself must shower his grace. He will certainly shower that bhava and the jeeva's heart will melt. We must attain the grace of the merciful Lord. Along with that bhava, he will shower divine light. Then the jeeva will gradually move upwards. As the jeeva ascends, God will slowly come down towards him. This is the greatness of divine grace. "

" Doing dhyana for one hour is not enough. As dhyana continues; devotion for God should also continue in parallel. As long as you will hold the Lord, he too will hold you. There is a link between the two. You cannot leave either of them. How earnestly, steadily and devotedly you will hold him, he too will reciprocate in same way. "

" I will narrate a leela of Gopala. When Krishna was a little boy, he was called Gopala or Kannayya. While Krishna preached the Gita, Gopala also preached Gita in Brindavan. When he was four years old, Kannayya went to a gopika's house and announced his arrival. The gopika's bhakti is not only with respect but also love for God. Respect and love are combined in their bhakti. They are in a state of equality with Kannayya. That is the strange aspect of their devotion. The gopika was cleaning dal grains, she told Kannayya to bring a bucket of water near her. In devotion of love, one can even give work to God, nothing wrong! That is the uniqueness here! Kannayya rushed to lift the bucket. While running there, his dhoti pleats came off. The little boy started crying. 'Why are you crying? Remove the dhoti; I will tie it again properly.' See their intimacy with the Lord; she tied his dhoti and carried him. Kannayya says a great statement. 'As long as you will hold me, I will not leave this bucket.' That means, while she is holding him, he will hold her object, the bucket. If you do the Lord's job, he will do your job. When you leave him, he will also leave you. The bucket here is the symbol of your work. He is ready to help man. But you must not neglect his work; that is more important. If we do divine seva continuously, he will also do our seva! "

" 'With what bhava you serve me, I also will serve you with the same bhava' The Lord expressed this principle very clearly in the Bhagawad Gita. Little Gopala also showed this to us. You can see the photograph wherein the gopika fondly carries Gopala and he also holds the bucket in his hand. This is the symbol of man's work, man's misfortunes; man's burdens. 'I will hold all your burdens. You must carry me.' Such sublime love! "

" The jeeva must carefully move from jeeva jagath towards Bhagawath jagath (materialistic world towards divine world). The essential thing in the ascent of jeevathma is that there must be only two - jeeva and God, no third entity. You must worship only the complete God; the highest and infinite God. Don't think of smaller Gods. You must think of the all pervading infinite God. One who holds the all pervading infinite God is a mahatma. The Lord declared that one who sees only him everywhere is a real mahatma, who is very rare. We must hold the all pervading God. 'Sahasra seersha purusha'. Though in every temple, an idol is installed with one headed God, you must not contemplate on him in this form. The purusha sukta says that God is infinite headed! The Vedas compel you to worship the infinite headed God who is all pervading. You must enlarge your heart. Only then it is possible for you to hold the all pervading Lord. If you take a small vessel to the ocean, you can draw only a little water from the vast ocean. We must look for God with an expanded heart, and then he will provide you bountifully. "

" We are facing three major powerful hurdles - asura sakti, daivi sakti and karma (negative demonic powers, positive divine power and karmas of previous births). All the three powers are against us in our path to reach God. The karmas of previous lives are very powerful. These powers obstruct him in his upward journey. Penance is inevitable. At the same time, divine grace is also a must. "

" In the Mahabharata, sage Vyasa cited an example to show how every karma of the previous birth will show its influence on the jeeva. A king was enjoying all royal pleasures and wealth. One day he called his wife and two sons and said 'I have only one more life. I will be born as a pig in my next life due to my karmas in this life. I cannot avoid that life. Within a month after I am reborn, you must chop off my head. Do not show mercy because I am your father. When you kill me, I will go directly to the upper world and will not come down again.' 'Father, you have given us the order. We shall follow it only because it will give you entry to the upper world. It will not be a sin.' He took a promise from them and also told them to identify him from the white vertical lines on his forehead. When he died, both sons fought for their share in the kingdom. After four years, their mother requested them to cease quarrel and search for their father and fulfill their promise. The elder son, who won the kingdom called his minister and began their search. All the pigs were brought to one place. He identified his father from the mark on the forehead of a pig. He came towards the pig to chop off its head mercilessly. 'Father, forgive me. I took so long to search for you and keep my promise. You might be struggling so much during the last four years.' As soon as he lifted the sword, the pig stopped him. 'This is my wife. These are my three children. They will cry if I die. This muddy puddle may appear disgusting to you but it is wonderful for me. I want to stay here only. I like this life now. Don't touch me. Please leave.' "

" While he was a king, when he looked with king's eyes, the sight of a pig was disgusting. When he became attached to this life, he fell from the king's state. He took the form of a pig and felt that nothing is better than that life! See how careful one must be. When we were in the upper dham as parts of divine God, we also felt aversion towards the human body with its hunger and excretion! Now we are born as human beings. We fear death; we do not want to leave the body. We are ready to spend huge amount to cure the body ailments and prolong the life span. This is the crux of the problem. That is the power, the greatness of attachment. When we saw from above, we felt aversion towards the body. When we fell and entered the body, we became attached towards it and feel it is heavenly! What we felt disgusting is now ambrosial. We must overcome this; It is the most difficult task. The karmic powers are so strong. It appears as a small power from outside but when you enter, you will find that you cannot cross it. It is a Herculean task to overcome karma. That is why you must attain divine grace; grace of the complete and Absolute God! "

" Your God must possess extraordinary powers. All oceans put together cannot be equal to divine power. It is infinite and unlimited. The demons could not withstand the divine power. "

" We shall go near God with love. "

" All Gods were terrified by the anger in Lord Narasimha. Even Rama Devi who always resides in the Lord's heart was perturbed by his ferocious incarnation. The Lord appeared ferocious to everybody except his devotee, Prahalada. 'I will go near him. He is not looking fierce. He is so loving.' 'My son, you have come.' Saying so, the Lord lifted the little boy and made him sit in his lap. His hands were dripping blood yet Prahalada was not shaken. Ah! What love! The Lord form is ferocious but he showed so much love on the devotee in his lap! "

" So do not see or listen to the external form. See and listen to the Lord's heart. Concentrate your mind on his heart. He may have many forms; many aspects. Let us not look at them. We want only his love. In this way we must gradually reach God with a heart filled with loving devotion. Always love should be combined with bhakti. They both should move in parallel. "

" The next step is dhyana! There are some important stages in the path of dhyana. When we are able to follow the steps in sequence, we can make rapid progress in dhyana. Very soon we may get wonderful experiences too. "

" The first requisite is silence! Inwardness in dhyana yoga must be in silence. Peace and silence. 'Mounam tapas. Satyam tapas.' The Vedas declared silence as the highest penance. One who is in mouna (silence) state is a muni. Sage Atri was considered as a great muni. When the three Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva came before him in a unified Trinity form, the great muni asked 'I prayed only to one God. How did three of you come together? From where did you come? '. The Lords laughed. 'O great muni! We are only one in our world. When we come down, we take three different forms. Our three forms represent maya in three different modes. We come in three forms. Rajo, Sattwa and tamo gunas are amalgamated in us. All the three are combined in our single form. This is our real form. "

" It is said that God is easily attainable to maha munis. That means God is attainable in silence. A great devotee wrote about silence thus: 'Suppose you have dirty water, don't do anything to it. Simply keep the container in a corner and place a lid on it. Remain calm for some time. After 2 hours, the mud settles at the bottom and the water becomes clear.' "

" Where is the mud now? The water is cleared from mud. This is what happens in silence too! Silence removes the dirt from the mind! When ordinary water can be cleaned, even the human consciousness can dispel unnecessary thoughts when silence is observed in the right manner. Silence is a great tapasya indeed. We must learn about observing silence because it forms a part of dhyana yoga. One who does dhyana yoga will be calm and in a state of highest silence. There must be no thoughts in silence. Thoughtlessness is real silence. "

" In silence, you will find two paths - Gopi and Rishi. Gopi path is higher of the two. In rishi path, all thoughts come to the mind. The rishi forcibly drives them away. When you try to suppress the thoughts by force, they will be recalled again and then pull the man down. Vivekananda cautioned about suppressing thoughts by force. When the thoughts recall, sadhaka suffers a lot. He has physical ailments; eyes are affected; he is constantly in a state of melancholy. He always wears a sad expression. Many such mental problems plague many people who attempt to suppress their thoughts forcibly. You must not suppress your thoughts by force. "

" The Gopi path is so delicate and smooth. The worldly jeeva has so many thoughts. The gopikas have only one thought. That one thought is about kannayya. They have no second thought. That is nothing but ananya bhakti. We can use this in our sadhana. Krishna said 'Ananyaschinthayantho..' In ananya chintana, you have only one thought; only one subject; only one tapasya. When you have this oneness with God, it is equal to silence. Without any other thoughts in the mind, contemplating on one God only is a way of silence. In gopi path silence is having a single thought; Kannayya. As long as one has only that single thought, he is a maha muni. Nothing else remains; silence prevails; everything is concentrated on the Lord. You must practice for some days and develop a single thought. You must have only one thought, one mantra in your mind. Make sure that no second thought enters your mind. Then you will attain some mysterious powers. "