" O Mother Divine! The Infinite Love! I do not know Thy sacred names
through Mantras, nor any symbolic figures for Thy ritualistic worship. Alas! I
do not know how to sing Thy glory nor do I know how to invoke and meditate upon
Thy Supreme Form. I know not the words of prayer nor the diverse rituals of
worship nor do I know how to lay my grief before Thee. But O Beloved Mother of
all creations! This much I know: to follow Thy Love and Law through total
surrender to Thee is to remove all my sufferings or the innumerable rounds of
births and deaths."
"O Mother
Supreme! The Source Love of all loves! In this world, in the midst of Thy
numerous worthy sons, I happen to be a rare unrestrained specimen. Yet, O
Thou Beneficent One! It is not proper for Thee to have abandoned me, Thy child,
because a bad son may sometimes be born but never has there been a bad mother."
Women are our mothers! Woman, the Supreme Being, and Brahman
are several manifestations of the one Supreme Love that exists and will ever exist.
Love always wins -- in the beginning, in the middle and also at the end. In these prayers, the importance of love is stressed over rituals. While a
form of scaffolding may be needed in building the early stages of spiritual life, one need not cling to it
forever.
We recognize that several paths lead to the same goal of love, but today
there is a great danger amidst the era of delusions and deluded teachers. One
must guard against a cheap and easy quick fix to "enlighten" masses.
This itself is the grand illusion. Spirituality can be inspired only on a one
to one basis.
Both the Bhagvad Gita and Patanjali Yoga contain the experiences
of many saints and both describe with identical words that
Self-Realization can be based only on Abhyasa and Vairagyam (Gita 6:35). Only constant practice, or abhayasa, along with the principles of these scriptures and renunciation of
perishable pleasures, or vairagyam, will let you fly successfully to the Infinite. There is no
easy shortcut around these requirements. Faith and love can be
satvik only if based on a pure heart, the principles of Yama and Niyama, and Abhyasa and Vairagyam.
Once the process of purification is mastered through
learning, meditation and practicing the Gita, the devotee elevates to the final stage: total surrender of the ego (Gita 18:65,66). At that point the devotee merges into the infinite ocean of Love. It is sufficient to go ahead and enjoy a mango rather
than getting bogged by a myriad theories of how it came to be. Enjoy the fruit of infinite Love, rather than understand how it came to be.
If
there was an easy way, Shri Krishna or true saints would have definitely told
us. Humility, faith, love and joy cannot be obtained with mere intelligence. They have to be experienced with our heart. Only a heart can be a seat of
love, i.e. God Almighty, the Lord of the lords, the Creator of creation.
Spirituality is Universal and is the only solution to the problems created by
various religions, their propagators and modern gurus. Let us heed the Gita or the Truth before our
invaluable life passes away. May the Almighty bless us to meditate on these
prayers. Surrender! Surrender! Surrender!
-- Swami Radhanandaji
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Scriptural Wisdom 
