BHAKTI YOGA - Part 7

In the west the woman is wife. In India the woman is the mother. Mother is worshipped. Mother is considered as the Goddess Lakshmi of the house. The Srutis emphatically declare, “Let thy mother be thy God.” The late Ashutosh Mukherji, Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University used to wash the feet of his mother and drink the water before he went to his office. This water is called ‘Charanamrit’.

It is a great purifier of the heart. In the West the wife governs the home. In an Indian home the mother rules. In the West the mother has to be subordinate to the wife. In India the wife has to be subordinate to the mother. If woman be pure she can save and purify man. Woman can purify the race. Woman can make a home a sacred temple.

The Hindu women have been the custodians of the Hindu race. The Hindu religion, the Hindu culture and civilisation still survive in spite of the many foreign invasions, when other civilisations have come and gone, on account of the purity of the Hindu women. The women are taught to regard chastity as their most priceless possession, and the loss of it as equal to the eternal damnation of their souls. Religion is ingrained in the Hindu women from their very childhood. Hindu women illumine and enliven the house through the glory of their purity. This is the secret of the endurance of the Hindu religion, civilisation and culture.
Advice To Householders

Start that pure life of a Yogi the very day on which you read these lines. No leniency to mind. Self-reliance is indispensably requisite. You can get suggestions from outside. But you will have to tread the path yourself, to place each step yourself in the spiritual ladder. You will have to train your wife also. She also will have to do rigid Sadhana. Mere gossiping will not do. If she serves the husband nicely and takes care of his body with the right mental attitude and gives him the wants of the flesh, food and drinks as soon as he comes down from meditation, she can have Self-realisation in and through the form of her husband alone, like Laila in Majnu, Savitri in Satyavan, Anasuya in Atri.

That house is a miserable place, veritable hell on earth wherein the husband moves up in spirituality and the wife pulls him down in sensual grooves and vice versa. They should be harmoniously blended or joined by the thread of the knowledge of the Self, each aspiring eagerly for attaining God-consciousness. That house is really a Vaikuntha where the husband and wife lead an ideal Divine Life, singing Hari’s Name, repeating His Mantra 200 Malas daily, studying the Ramayana and the Bhagavata, controlling the Indriyas and serving Bhaktas and Sannyasins.

Renunciation is mental. Renunciation brings peace. There is no loss in renunciation. You renounce the illusory sense pleasure to get the Supreme, Eternal Bliss and Immortality. Bear this in mind. Do not be guided and influenced by public opinion. March boldly and cheerfully in the path of Truth, consulting your inner conscience and hearing the inner, small, shrill, sweet voice of the soul. Do not be hasty in doing any outward renunciation. The world is the best teacher. Unfold the Divinity by remaining in the world alone. Nivritti Marga is extremely difficult. Ninety per cent fail
in this path.
Save as much money as possible. Do 200 Malas of Japa. Cut off society. Keep company with one Sattvic man. Spend every second profitably. Serve sick people. Share what you have a small portion with poor people. May the Divine Glory shine in your face!
Nil Desperandum

(Cheer up yourself—never despair) Sin is a mistake committed by the ignorant Jiva during his journey towards Sat-Chit-Ananda abode. Once you make up your mind to tread the path of truth all sins will be destroyed. Lord Krishna gives His assurance: “Even if the most sinful worship Me, with undivided heart, he too must be accounted righteous for he hath rightly resolved. Speedily he becometh dutiful and goeth to eternal peace. Know thou for certain that My devotee never perisheth.” The repetition of even ulta-nam (reverse name) of Rama Mantra, transmuted rogue Ratnakar into a sage Valmiki.

When such is the power of the inverse name (Mara, Mara), what to speak of the glory of repeating Rama, Rama with Bhava from the bottom of the heart! Ajamila who was in a degraded and abject state on account of his bad character attained Mukti by repeating ‘Narayana’ once in his death-bed by calling his son by his name Narayana. Licentious Vemanna of Andhra Desa became a full-blown Yogi by his devotion to mother Kali.

Grieve not, my dear friends. Fear not. Stand up. Gird up the loins. Fight with the Indriyas and Vasanas. Become a Yogi. Forget the past. A glorious, brilliant future is awaiting you. Cheer up yourself. Purify. Concentrate. Do Japa and Kirtan. Meditate. Realise the Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman!

From - Yoga in Daily Life