Awaken Sweetness in Sadhana

Swami Vishwananda:
When the mind gets purified, the mind becomes positive. You will see how easy it is also in sadhana. It doesn’t matter if you do not succeed in one goal. I know people like a quick result, perhaps in one month, when they start practicing; they want results very fast.

Know one thing; the faster you go in, the faster you will go out also. It's like when you are cooking. When a Mataji is making syrup and she just takes the fruit and throws it in the syrup and then quickly removes the fruit, will the sweetness go into the food? It will not.You have to let it cook inside. Your sadhana works in the same way. If you just go inside and go out of it, being impatient with yourself, it will be the same as the quickly removed fruit; it will not be sweet.

The sweetness that you have inside of you is waiting to be awakened. It does not matter which path you follow or which sadhana you are doing; how you are doing your sadhana is most important.

To Which Kingdom Does God Belong

Swami Vishwananda: We often hear people asking the question, “Who is God?” I will ask you now, “Who is God?” As long as you have not known Him, you can’t answer this question. Love is God. But how many people realize this love? In which religion does God really belong? Is God Christian? Is God Hindu? Is God Muslim? Is God Buddhist? To which religion does He belong?

Love, and the word love, and everywhere you go, you will see there is only one God, and that is love. It’s in each one’s heart. But how do we realize this love? We are so busy with this material world that we forget about the Divine love. We try to look for this love in the outside world. We try to look for this love in other people. We try to look for this love by traveling around the world. We forget that we have to travel, not outside, but inside, to find this love in ourselves. We have to realize our closeness to this Divine love, which is inside, in our heart. Some people will say it’s very difficult to reach this point, but I will say it’s very easy. You just need to want it. People try to find the easy way. If people could buy love, they would. But love can’t be bought. If somebody comes and tells you, “Listen, I will make you be able realize this Divine love.” It’s not true as only the Guru can do that. Only by the grace of the Master can you realize this Divine Love.

Swami's Hints

“From then on, I searched more attentively for Swami’s hints and meanings that hid behind His loving words.”
During the time when I first started living at his Ashram, one day Swami Vishwananda was speaking to several people around me. I was sitting a slight distance away and was not paying attention to the conversation. Lost in my thoughts, I suddenly heard Swami’s voice call out, “Maja, can you see how many arms God has?” He was pointing to the Tibetan picture of the Buddha hanging on the wall. Before I even had time to comprehend His question, Swami had already resumed His conversation with the others.

The question Swami had posed hounded me for hours and made me very restless. Hence the next day when there was no one in the room, I tried to count the arms of Buddha. However I found that there were so many arms, heads and eyes, that it made the task impossible. The following day I woke up and again the same question popped into my head. Just at that moment, a sparrow appeared on the bush just outside my window. I could very easily and clearly see its eyes and how they stared intently at me. At that instant, a ray of realization connected to my inner being from that tiny bird. I felt that God was watching over me and that He had always kept His Loving gaze on me. I realized from that moment that every arm is His arm and every eye is His eye. From then on, I searched more attentively for Swami’s hints and meanings that hid behind His loving words.

Jesus and Krishna Taught Us

Swami Vishwananda: What have all the great masters like Jesus and Krishna taught us?
They have taught us to realise our Self! They have taught us the way. There are different ways to realise the Divine:

There is the path of bhakti.
There is the path of service.

There is the path of meditation.

But each path has its own way to realise the Divine.

An Example:

"When the mother is holding her child, there is no condition (Unconditional Love). Such is also the love of God. Whatever you have done good or bad, when you turn to Him, who has the love of a million mothers inside of Him, He will happily forgive."
-Swami Vishwananda

Antahkarana - Bridge of Light

Swami Vishwananda::
Somebody asked me, “I’m always talking to God, but why can’t I see God?” Many of you have this question.

We sit down for meditation and prayer, but still we don’t see Him! You see. whenever you sit down for meditation and prayer, do not expect anything. As long as you expect something, you are limiting everything from happening. Because your mind is not really focusing on the Divine, your mind is not really focusing on God. It is focusing on the want. So you have to let go of this wanting to know God.

This is the main desire of humans: to want God! But you have to let go of this want and the moment you let go of this want, you will see the light! We call it antahkarana, “the light within.”

All Forms of the Divine are One

India: Vishnu-Narayana Temple Badrinath
Swami Vishwananda: The Divine will take any form in which you call him. He is not bound by any limitation of the mind. He can manifest Himself the way you call Him. Call Him as Jesus, He will come as Jesus. When you call Him Krishna, He will come as Krishna. It’s not that you call Him as Jesus and He will appear as Narshinga Dev (Narasimha) in front of you! Some would never believe in Narshinga Dev. When somebody believes in Krishna and the Divine appears as Jesus, it would be strange; wouldn’t it?

Once, in India, there were three friends who were arguing. They were looking at a chameleon moving along a tree branch. One of the three friends said that the chameleon was green. The second one said, "No, no, it’s not green, it’s red." Then the third one said, "No, it’s brown." So, they were busy fighting with each other about what color the chameleon really was.

After some time, one of the three friends said, “Let’s go and ask the saint who is sitting under the tree over there.” So, they went and one friend asked the saint saying, “My dear holy man, is this chameleon green?” The saint said, “Yes.” The second friend said, “No, no, no, no, no, it’s red. Again the saint said, “Yes.” Then the third friend said, “No, no, no, no, no, that chameleon is brown.” Again the saint said, “Yes.” Of course they were all shocked that the saint always said, “Yes.” Then the saint explained to them: “It’s true that the chameleon displayed all the colors that you all said. Why? A chameleon changes colors according to where it is sitting.” Such is the Divine also. He will always come in the form and in the way you call Him.

Only Love of Devotee Binds God

Swami Vishwananda:
We are living in a dream state. When we awaken, we see the reality. But this reality is not to be understood with the mind.

Attaining the true reality of who you really are is the purpose of human birth. We will attain this reality only through unconditional love, the same love as God loves. Do you think His love is bound by any limitation, or what we understand of Him, or how we dress Him? The love of God is not bound by anything. It is only the love of His devotee that binds God.