Victory over Mind & God-Experience

Many spiritually seeking and God-loving persons would like to live in a spiritual place and are very eager and very sincere at the beginning but unimagining of the fact that they brought with themselves a million years old subconscious mind with the traces or imprints of millions of years old hatred and fear, envy and jealousy, as effects of former behaviour and activities, and these effects are to be changed now, unavoidingly. This so-called Karma draws them, and some even may go mad under this tension.

There is nothing wrong with the place: the place is pure, nice and wonderful. It liberates you from many outer problems and gives you best chances for inner progress, but invisible powers are working in the mind and make the person full of unrest and doubts, even despair. The first joy is gone, peace is gone, enthusiasm is gone, and one suffers from the dark powers in the subconscious mind from olden times.

Nobody is taught something bad in the ashram, the person has brought these million years old sex-feelings, jealousies, envy, hate, egoism, fear and anxiety, inclination for cheating and lies with himself. There is no lack of wisdom or discipline in this place, there are all facilities offered to concentrate totally on the Divine and on divine service, but the innate powers make the person unrestful, doubtful, despaired.

The divine power protects the place, but what is a person to do when these age-old tendencies are disturbing the peace of the place and its own? You must be very sincere and strain yourself for more enthusiasm in the spiritual field, more self-discipline and inner longing for peace, life, joy, for everything that is true, eternal, immortal. One has to concentrate on these immortal, eternal values and thus train oneself by exercise, exercise, exercise!

The whole world as we experience it is made up of imagination. Everything is thought, is imagination. It is by imagination that one kills oneself, or also liberates oneself. Mind can kill a person or make a slave of him, or also liberate him. Mind or human intelligence is a peculiar thing, it can bridle a man and put him in chains, or also can undo his chains.

So, you are your own liberator or your own torturer. Everything lies in your own hands. Because the whole world is nothing else but thought, feeling and imagination, one should constantly kindle good thoughts and feelings, attitudes, get new visions. Constantly imagine yourself to be a light and not a body. One should live as a light and constantly overcome bad inclinations and traits, one after the other, transforming oneself into the divine being and nature.

You are good and pure, we gave you a chance. We adore you as the Divine Itself, as nothing but God Himself, but you on your side must take heed of the inner enemies you brought with you. Supposedly, a person is addicted to drinking beer. What does he do? He runs off from time to time looking for his bottle. He empties it and comes back as a good man. But finally, this inclination does not give him peace, so he is constantly unrestful. And of such inclinations you have many in the subconscious mind. You know them by observation.

A spiritual place is a place where reason and intelligence and kindness, where Light and Love are the rulers. Even if dark powers attempt to extinguish the flame of kindness and wisdom in a person, to pervert the person's reason and intelligence, misleading him to do and justify false actions - in the name of spiritual life or God or this or that of course - one should imagine oneself to be a flame, not a body. As soon as the thought comes up: "I am a man" or "I am a woman," one should counter and insist, "I am not a man; I am not a woman," and one remains in peace and silence. This peace and silence should be used to concentrate on what is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, what is really helpful and makes you a grand ruler of yourself and all nature.

As soon as a thought arises, replace it by the image of some wonderful fragrant lotus or rose flower, and if some feeling troubles you, or if a person comes and troubles you causing in you wrong thoughts and feelings, at once replace this thought, feeling, or person by the image of the Divine Mother, or any form of God, or an incarnation of the Divine, or the rising sun ball, the wonderful white circle of the Sun, and thousand false and negative, life-destroying images, thoughts, feelings, visions fall off. Candle a light and the age-old darkness disappears.

In the darkest cave you can switch the button of a pocket-lamp, and the million years old darkness disappears. The million years old enemies can be pushed out, if you are very serious in your pursuit of higher values and principles of life (These are presented in our literature and our speeches, in our life).

Constantly one should imagine, as soon as a bad thought comes in, how it is burnt in the fire of inner Consciousness, Intelligence, regarding oneself as a flame in the lap of the holy Divine Mother, in the lap of the all-merciful, all-loving God. If you are envious of the very nice shoes a lady wears, mentally surrender such shoes to every lady in the universe. In this manner one encounters every bad thought with positively good and divine thoughts.

Thoughts are your enemies but can be made your saviours. As soon as a false thought comes up, please just cause counter-thoughts which are positive. Do this exercise again and again, and finally you will be filled with good, positive thoughts, positive feelings, and make great progress.

Life is a challenge. The enemy is not outside but inside you. If your heart is pure, you encounter here and now the same wonderful Divine Mother, in the bad like in the good person. This should be exercised again and again. All of these exercises, hundreds of them, you will find in our literature.

Nearly every day you find some job advertisement in the newspapers. Jobs are offered, jobs are searched for. Without job a person goes mad: no money, no food, not this and not that. A little job is necessary, and without a task in life, man easily decays. A task elevates and enriches life, disciplines and cultivates human life. Without a task one is lost.
In all the universe, nobody has such a wonderful task than the God-seeking person. The God-loving and God-seeking person has the very best job in life. By getting the job of a Federal President, you become a very important person in your country, the whole nation bows before you as the first person; it is just the task which bestows this much of dignity and importance on you, together with name and fame and wealth, whilst a lazy person is always an outcast in the whole universe, expulsed not only by human society but even by Nature.

Infinitely greater than a Federal President is the God-lover. By his love for the Divine and striving for the aim of God-experience, the whole universe respects you. You are the darling of the whole universe. The task of experiencing the Divine bestows on you a dignity beyond all invisible gods and goddesses, angels, even the great immortal beings. This love of the Divine is what makes you strive for God-experience by constant service, that is by Karma-yoga, develop love and devotion, that is Bhakti-yoga, constantly meditate on the time- and spaceless eternal nature of the Divine and Its immediate Presence, that is Jnana-yoga. This love makes your life a wondrous phenomenon of ecstasy, highly valuable, esteemable and lovable, and a blessing for all the universe.

Invisible angels, and the Divine Mother, are very much enjoyed about you.

The whole universe estimates you, bows before you, adores you. Your fame reaches even beyond the skein of time, beyond the millenniums.

You see, it is the task which bestows worth and value on a person, makes him or her important and lovable so that a person is esteemed, adored. And such a person's life deserves every thinkable protection and honour. A Federal President is given personal bodyguards, so precious becomes his life just by his exerting the office of Federal President.

The Divine - the omniscient, all-seeing, omnipresent Divine also institutes body-guards to protect the life of the God-loving person. Invisible angels are constantly surrounding the God-loving person to protect and elevate, adore and serve him or her. It is a wondrous job to pursue the Divine by Karma-yoga, Bhakti-yoga and Jnana-yoga, or a synthesis of all of these yogas. Life becomes wonderful. Such a God-loving person is a highly responsible person, living on earth like a flower, appreciated and esteemed by the visible and invisible beings of the whole cosmos, by God Himself.

A true God-lover is always fulfilling his task with utmost sincerity and enthusiasm. This enthusiasm is renewed constantly by greater and still deeper knowledge of the true Being and the immediate Presence of the Divine.

Such a person works hard, and works still much better, infinitely better than a student facing his examina, and with an ever-new sincerity. Generally, students are working hard for some time before their examina, cutting off all diversions in order to deepen themselves into their work. They even conquer sleep by drinking tea or coffee, thus extending their daily time of work. They do not speak much, they do not eat much, they do not have long talks at the phone. All laziness is cut off during this time-period of preparation for examina.

Just like this the God-lovers live constantly. As soon as one task is finished, they pick up the next and move from one success to the next, constantly, so that they are a permanent blessing and a spectacle for the invisible angels of God who observe them.

The God-loving persons work as if they had to live just for one more hour on earth, not more, and thus try to do within one hour as much as possible to leave wealth to the earth, to make some valuable contribution and investment. Every good thought and feeling, every good action in your life is a great investment and comes back on you, with million blessings.

The God-lover lives his life with great sincerity, with death before eyes, ready to leave the body all the time. But before leaving the body, he wants to attain much and thus he or she works as if under great pressure, under a lucky pressure, to achieve something immortal, eternal, valuable, divine, something very useful, something rendering great blessings, illumination, liberation from all bondages, hindrances, chains, so that they are finally released into infinite Freedom, eternal, absolute Freedom, infinite Peace, absolute Joy.

The God-lover is a hard-working person of uninterrupted prayer, service, growth, unfoldment of inner capacities and properties, planning always something new, attaining always newer and newer achievements, inwardly and outwardly, with an attitude that is ever-new, that renders ever new insights into the Eternal Truth.

All these Vedic mantras are nothing but the language of the Infinite and Eternal, the language of eternal Truth. And this Truth is Perfection, and this Perfection dwells in the soul of every human being. If you discover this, and really know this, you are liberated from all ignorance, darkness, imperfections, problems that arise from a life in the world of time and space. Mind has disappeared then, and the Light of Infinite Consciousness is working in your intelligence.

A truth-experiencing person is always in the same state in which you are in deep-sleep state, but consciously awake. How silent is a person in deep-sleep! Just as silent is the inner life of a truth-seeking, truth-loving, truth-knowing person. If one comes closer to this Truth, breath is under control.

Inhalation and exhalation even are a sign of impurity. To have a mind is also a sign of impurity. - What makes for unrest in life? It is the human mind, nothing else. And this mind functions along with breathing. Just try to stop your breath. What happens? Thinking stops. There are intimate relations between breath and thought. If thoughts disappear in the mind, you have endless Happiness, as you experience in deep-sleep state. There are no thoughts, no feelings. But there is ignorance, unconsciousness. No consciousness is there, no conscious experience, and no conscious breathing, thus also no control of the life-breath.

To transcend mind is to enjoy the true Soul, experienced here and now, which is a grand science, and the only aim of human life is to experience this Truth. There is no greater Happiness than that, no life greater than that, no truth beyond that Truth. There is no experience greater than that of this Joy and Peace. It is a state of absolute Perfection which can be experienced here and now even while in the physical body within the world of time and space. Time-space - world comes and disappears like our dream-worlds, but what is and was and always remains is this inner Truth, infinite Perfection. Therein is real Perfection. One can sink into this Truth as you sink into deep-sleep state. If you are once there, one knows what true life is. It is a life in the absolute Light, most beautiful Light.

Truth is the Essence of every human being. To sink into this Truth-experience, mantras are helpful, being nothing but experience of the infinite Truth or Narayana. We call Narayana the Truth, and vice versa, because Truth is inherent in everything, and Narayana is the Divine Indweller in all. Truth is inseparable from the universal manifestation. Truth is inside and outside the world without the world having the least idea of It, without the world being able to putrefy this Truth in any way or decreasing this infinite Perfection which is Narayana, Satya, Satya-Narayana, the inner Reality and Truth or Existence in all.

Thoughts may be good, thoughts may be bad, thoughts may be alright, or false. But all this theatre goes on in the mental world only, not beyond mind in the wondrous Consciousness and Intelligence or Soul of God wherein there is all Perfection you may imagine. Perfection in Wisdom, in Purity, in Joy, in Wealth - all wealth you may conceive of, every possible capacity is in this wondrous Reality, Being, Existence, Soul of soul.

Spiritual life is a grand art, and is made possible by Grace. If Grace is lacking, one is restless and buys more and more problems and miseries, tragedies and comedies of life. By Grace and inner purity, the Knowledge and Wisdom of God dawns upon your horizon.

A true God-lover makes meditation a powerful means for God-experience. He is observing the functioning of his heart during meditation by seeing which thoughts arise. Being constantly the observer crying for God-experience, the God-lover is asking and urging for divine experience right now. With enthusiasm and decision the God-lover meditates, crying with all his heart and soul and will and mind for the Divine, and the Divine alone.

Normal persons spare their voices in meditation, just to be able to shout all the more loud in hell, expressing their sufferings and depressions in its fire. God-seeking persons, sincere persons measure their daily progress hour by hour, and if they observe some false idea arising, they see what they can do to make it disappear once and for all.

Sincere persons work hour by hour. If purity is there, one goes this path of self-observation, tries constantly to improve and come closer to God, increasing one's longing for the Divine Presence, Love and Grace. This is the sign of a good heart. But a bad heart is always at the wrong place, even if just in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Sincere persons constantly contribute not only to their own progress but also that of others, hour by hour. If the heart is occupied with false thoughts, the voice is denying its service in meditation and Bhajan, one sits there in silly thoughts and laziness and false worldly feelings and tries to meditate in vain.

Not after death is the proper time to cry for God, but now. One cannot know in which world one is after death, if in hell or elsewhere, or if one is reborn. You must now strongly cling to the Divine, then divine thoughts will come up in the hour of putting off your body, and the last thought will be that which dominates you always during your life on earth.

Heaven and hell, these are not just two opposites, but there are many other worlds between, partly worse, partly a little better than hell. One does not know into which world one goes after departing from the body. Therefore, one should prepare oneself to go directly into the lap of the Infinite, Eternal Divinity, into Heaven of heavens.

Only by this decision you progress. One should be very sincere, not just play about. You lived already millions of lives and made silly things as an animal, and these impressions are still there and disturb you. There are challenges from inside, and therefore people find it difficult to conquer and transform bad or negative qualities. One should therefore always be very sincere, every moment, very serious, and measure and envisage one's progress - moral, ethical, spiritual, and outer progress. If one can write a letter within five minutes, the next day, or one year later, one should be able to do the same in one minute.

One should sink into meditation and call on the Divine in an ever-new manner as if it were the last meditation and the last prayer in face of Death which awaits us the next hour. With all your heart and soul you should pray, call on the Divine with all your powers, but also with great love and meekness, devotion and inner calmness, because the infinite power of the Divine is always present and available.

With the Agni-Mantra, the God-loving person invites the Divine Kingdom to dwell in his heart, in the form of Agni or Fire, as Fire alone is the principle of Purity within the universe. Fire is Purity Itself and the God of Fire is to bring and establish the Divine Kingdom as the Fire of Consciousness in our Soul, in the heart, in the eyes, in the whole of our life.

Only Purity can do so, and thus, with this mantra, the God-seeking person becomes bearer, temple, Kingdom of God, temple of infinite wealth of Truth, of Peace, of Perfection, perfection in Knowledge, Power, Glory, Wisdom, absolute Will, Perfection, leading to enjoyment of absolute Happiness, Freedom. All this he gains. A God-loving person is a person with firm decision, indeed, pursuing his or her aim with all the power of heart, will, mind.

Buddha was sitting under the Bodhi-tree saying, "I will not go from this place until I have experienced the infinite eternal Truth, until I have attained illumination." He decided not to leave, and he waited for forty years before this did occur. What would you do in such case? After three hours you will be bored, and after six hours, nobody is there any more visible under the tree. It needs a Buddha to wait for forty years in spite of all temptations, in spite of all torturing by Satan and devils. He was still sitting there. And he had given up everything, his whole kingdom, his young wife, his little son. Having broken all bridges behind him he was sitting there under the tree as a beggar. A merciful person now and then brought him something to eat from time to time, otherwise he would have starved, but he would not have moved from under the tree.

One should pursue one's wonderful divine aims with great decision in heart and soul and will. Bhagavad-Gita also says the same thing: "dridhena chittva", means: to be decided in one's mind, will, soul to pursue the divine Path until Oneness with God Himself is reached and one is Son of God and God Himself. Until then one should pursue the divine Path insistently.

Until this aim is reached, one goes on pursuing the path which cuts off all temptations and misleading ideas with a great decision, without any leniency, does not matter how much the heart is paining. The God-loving person bears every pain, every humiliation and challenge in pursuit of the Truth-experience and takes every possible self-discipline. He or she applies all the wisdom collected in the ashram and repeats mystical syllables and mantras without interruption, clinging always to the Divine. Such a person is satisfied with the humblest place in life, cuts short all desires and needs, reduces his physical existence on a minimum in order the body may not be a burden but a wonderful horse on which the travel to the Divine Kingdom is possible. Such decision and total surrender with devotion to the Divine is most valuable in life, and a wondrous matter.

People usually live according to the principles of an animal life. Even scientific intelligence, technological intelligence does not change their animal state. Man is then a technological animal and able to reach the Moon and return from there, but anyhow still a beast in spite of education and learning, science and technology. His existence is still a miserable and distorted matter.

Human life is to be rooted in true Joy, and this true Joy cannot be found in the world of sense-organs. In the sensuous world no true Joy is to be had. Enjoyments and malady and death in consequence are found in the world of time and space, but never true Joy, and it is silly to think that you may reach real Happiness by more possessions and wealth. These are deceptive. Nobody ever became really happy in this way, nobody. It is like a curse that nobody will find real satisfaction within creation, in any created things. Therefore, what does Nature do? If there is tiresomeness, Nature transfers its children into another world, the world of timelessness, into the deep-sleep-state where everybody enjoys timelessness, and in this timelessness is true Peace and Joy: no more desires are there, no more temptations, no challenges, failings, sufferings etc. There, all are in a timeless world where one finds Peace, and this timeless world is God. Quite consciously one should experience this God.

What does the God-seeking person do? He or she concentrates consciously on this timeless world. Knowing what deep-sleep-state is, he or she meditates on this state, tries to sink into it. Thoughts will come up and disturb this peace and divert from the aim. But suddenly, mentally one burns this challenge, this seduction, these hindrances in order to concentrate once more on this wondrous absolute Stillness, Peace, Joy, Light. If the thought of the body comes up, please burn the image of the body in the fire of Consciousness. What will remain? Just what you experience in deep-sleep state: unlimited Silence, Beauty, Peace and Joy with Consciousness included, that is God Himself, omniscient, omnipotent.

The God-lover wants but this one Power which is invincible and absolutely true Power, not the power in the world of time and space, where the big fish swallows the smaller, and man eats the big fish. This process goes on everywhere in Nature, even in the world of planets and suns. Every sun and every cosmic system will die one day. One creation follows the other in endless cycles. There is no rest there, no peace, no joy. The true God-seekers pursue that Path of Mystics and attains wondrous experiences, when progressing more and more. No leniency, no looking back. Their eyes are concentrated in looking ahead, towards the aim. Whenever there comes up a thought of the body, it is burnt in Consciousness. All pictures are burnt in this one Consciousness, and one remains as a flame, as a Light. Name has disappeared, form has disappeared, one remains and lives and breathes as a flame of God regarding all other human beings as flames of God, too. There is no place for envy, hate, greed, lust, passion, sympathies and antipathies. These all disappear. How should one flame like another, this means, where is sympathy? All are flames of God. The God-lover adores every human being as a flame of God, be it a woman or a man, child or old person. With this exercise he grows, and then there is no more sin in the heart, no more deadly and life-destructive feelings and thoughts, and all pictures of man or woman disappear into this image of the Flame of God which is adored and addressed with words like these: "Oh, God, please reveal Yourself as You are Yourself, as timeless, spaceless, all-perfect, all-seeing, all-knowing!"

No small knowledge is looked for, no doctor-title or this or that, but Omniscience, total Omniscience. And this Omniscience is gained on the path of the mystics and yogis and mahatmas, saints, and sages. This high aim is pursued with great decision. And he wants to cultivate in the hearts of thousands true education, devotion, increasing purity and spreading light. For this he is ready to bring every sacrifice, take every discipline and hardness of life to make progress. Afterwards he becomes a Joy for all the invisible Deities and Divine Beings, a great Joy for all Creation, already here and now. While still living in a human body, man lives in Immortality, Eternity, total Perfection of God. OM.

- Swami Omkarananda