We must cultivate intense yearning for God – the unceasing, uncompromising quest for God that we find in the lives of saints and sages. Sri Caitanya was a great scholar in has younger days. But at the prime of has youth he underwent a sudden conversion and became an ardent lover of God. His love for God was so intense that he could not forget Him even for a second. His whole life was spent in spiritual inebriation. His ecstatic devotion finds its expression in a small poem he wrote in which he says:
Ah, how I long for the day
When, in chanting Thy Name, the tears will spill down
From my eyes, and my throat will refuse to utter
Its prayers, choking and stammering with ecstasy,
When all the hairs of my body will stand erect with Joy!
Ah, how I long for the day
When an instant’s separation from Thee, O Govinda.
Will be as a thousand years,
When my heart burns away with its desire,
And the world, without Thee, is a heartless void.
Prostrate at Thy feet let me be, in unwavering devotion
Neither imploring the embrace of Thine arms
Nor bewailing the withdrawal of Thy Presence
Though it tears my soul asunder.
O Thou, who stealest the hearts of Thy devotees.
Do with me what Thou wilt –
For Thou art my heart’s Beloved, Thou and Thou alone.10
Prahlada was an example of the saints praised in the Puranas. Even from childhood he had intense devotion for Lord Visnu. His demoniacal father tried all In his power to turn the boy to the worldly path. But the young boy braved all the cruel ordeals an went on with his ecstatic praising of the Lord. When the Lord appeared before the boy and asked him what he wanted, he said:
May I think of thee with that strong love which the ignorant cherish for the things of the world, and may that love never cease to abide in my heart. 11
My Lord, should thousands of births fall to my lot, may I still always possess an unshakable and unflinching devotion to Thee. 12
In modern times Sri Ramakrishna stands as an unparalleled example for intensity of yearning for God. His longing for the vision of God in all His aspects was so great that he didn’t sleep for six years. He spent his time day and night in various spiritual moods which were so intense that people thought that he had become mad. His was indeed divine madness. In the book The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna which contains his authentic teachings and conversations, we find the idea of yearning for God stressed very much. Indeed we may say that it was the chief discipline that Sri Ramakrishna prescribed for all aspirants. The following passage is a typical example.
The Master (to Bankim and others): One must have for God the yearning of a child. The child sees nothing but confusion when his mother is away. You may try to cajole him by putting a sweetmeat in his hand; but he will not be fooled. He only says. ‘No, I want to go to my mother.’ One must feel such yearning for God. Ah, what yearning! How restless a child feels for his mother! Nothing can make him forget his mother. He to whom the enjoyment of worldly happiness appears tasteless, he who takes no delight in anything of the world-money, name, creature comforts. Sense pleasure-becomes sincerely grief-stricken for the vision of the Mother and to him alone the Mother comes running, leaving all Her other duties.
Ha, that restlessness is the whole thing. Whatever path you follow, whether you are a Hindu, a Mussalman, a Christan, a Sakta, a Vaisnava, or a Brahmo-the vital point is restlessness. God is our inner Guide. It doesn’t matter if you take a wrong path-only you must he restless for Him. He Himself will put you on the right path.
Besides, there are errors in all paths. Everyone thinks his watch is right; but as a matter of fact, no watch is absolutely right. But that doesn’t hamper one’s work. If a man is restless for God he gains the company of sadhus and as far as possible corrects his own watch with the sadhus’ help ……..
Bankim (to the Master): ‘Sir how can one develop divine Love?’
Master: Through restlessness-the restlessness a child feels for his mother. The child feels bewildered when he is separated from his mother, and weeps longingly for her. A man can weep like that for God he can even see Him.
At the approach of dawn the eastern horizom become red. Then one knows it will soon be sunrise. Likewise, if you see a person restless for God, you can be pretty certain that be hasn’t long to wait for His vision. 13
All the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna had this burning passion for God. Balaram was one among them. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna is very revealing.
The day following his arrival in Calcutta, he started for Dakshineswar. There was a great crowd in the temple-garden owing to the presence of Keshab Chandra Sen and his Brahmo followers. Balaram sat in a corner of the Master’s room, and when the party went to cat, Sri Ramakrishna called to him and enquired if he had anything to ask, ‘Sir,’ said Balaram, ‘does God really exist?’ ‘Certainly’, replied the Master. ‘Can anybody realize Him?’ ‘Yes,’ said the Master, ‘He reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not get any response by praying to him once, you must not conclude that he does not exist, ‘But,’ again interrogated Balaram, ‘why can’t I we Him when I peay to Him so much?’ Sri Ramakrishna asked with a smile: Do you really consider Him as dear to your heart as your own children/’ ‘No, Sir,’ said
Balaram after a moment’s pause, ‘I never felt for him so strongly.’ The Master said in an animated voice, ‘Pray to God thinking him as dearer than your own self, Verily, I tell you. He is most attached to His devotees. He cannot but reveal Himself to them. He comes to man before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God.’ Balaram got new light from these words. ‘Every word of what he says,’ he thought within himself, ‘is true. Nobody ever spoke to me so forcibly of God.’ 14
Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic
Collected from a compiled book
Ah, how I long for the day
When, in chanting Thy Name, the tears will spill down
From my eyes, and my throat will refuse to utter
Its prayers, choking and stammering with ecstasy,
When all the hairs of my body will stand erect with Joy!
Ah, how I long for the day
When an instant’s separation from Thee, O Govinda.
Will be as a thousand years,
When my heart burns away with its desire,
And the world, without Thee, is a heartless void.
Prostrate at Thy feet let me be, in unwavering devotion
Neither imploring the embrace of Thine arms
Nor bewailing the withdrawal of Thy Presence
Though it tears my soul asunder.
O Thou, who stealest the hearts of Thy devotees.
Do with me what Thou wilt –
For Thou art my heart’s Beloved, Thou and Thou alone.10
Prahlada was an example of the saints praised in the Puranas. Even from childhood he had intense devotion for Lord Visnu. His demoniacal father tried all In his power to turn the boy to the worldly path. But the young boy braved all the cruel ordeals an went on with his ecstatic praising of the Lord. When the Lord appeared before the boy and asked him what he wanted, he said:
May I think of thee with that strong love which the ignorant cherish for the things of the world, and may that love never cease to abide in my heart. 11
My Lord, should thousands of births fall to my lot, may I still always possess an unshakable and unflinching devotion to Thee. 12
In modern times Sri Ramakrishna stands as an unparalleled example for intensity of yearning for God. His longing for the vision of God in all His aspects was so great that he didn’t sleep for six years. He spent his time day and night in various spiritual moods which were so intense that people thought that he had become mad. His was indeed divine madness. In the book The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna which contains his authentic teachings and conversations, we find the idea of yearning for God stressed very much. Indeed we may say that it was the chief discipline that Sri Ramakrishna prescribed for all aspirants. The following passage is a typical example.
The Master (to Bankim and others): One must have for God the yearning of a child. The child sees nothing but confusion when his mother is away. You may try to cajole him by putting a sweetmeat in his hand; but he will not be fooled. He only says. ‘No, I want to go to my mother.’ One must feel such yearning for God. Ah, what yearning! How restless a child feels for his mother! Nothing can make him forget his mother. He to whom the enjoyment of worldly happiness appears tasteless, he who takes no delight in anything of the world-money, name, creature comforts. Sense pleasure-becomes sincerely grief-stricken for the vision of the Mother and to him alone the Mother comes running, leaving all Her other duties.
Ha, that restlessness is the whole thing. Whatever path you follow, whether you are a Hindu, a Mussalman, a Christan, a Sakta, a Vaisnava, or a Brahmo-the vital point is restlessness. God is our inner Guide. It doesn’t matter if you take a wrong path-only you must he restless for Him. He Himself will put you on the right path.
Besides, there are errors in all paths. Everyone thinks his watch is right; but as a matter of fact, no watch is absolutely right. But that doesn’t hamper one’s work. If a man is restless for God he gains the company of sadhus and as far as possible corrects his own watch with the sadhus’ help ……..
Bankim (to the Master): ‘Sir how can one develop divine Love?’
Master: Through restlessness-the restlessness a child feels for his mother. The child feels bewildered when he is separated from his mother, and weeps longingly for her. A man can weep like that for God he can even see Him.
At the approach of dawn the eastern horizom become red. Then one knows it will soon be sunrise. Likewise, if you see a person restless for God, you can be pretty certain that be hasn’t long to wait for His vision. 13
All the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna had this burning passion for God. Balaram was one among them. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna is very revealing.
The day following his arrival in Calcutta, he started for Dakshineswar. There was a great crowd in the temple-garden owing to the presence of Keshab Chandra Sen and his Brahmo followers. Balaram sat in a corner of the Master’s room, and when the party went to cat, Sri Ramakrishna called to him and enquired if he had anything to ask, ‘Sir,’ said Balaram, ‘does God really exist?’ ‘Certainly’, replied the Master. ‘Can anybody realize Him?’ ‘Yes,’ said the Master, ‘He reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not get any response by praying to him once, you must not conclude that he does not exist, ‘But,’ again interrogated Balaram, ‘why can’t I we Him when I peay to Him so much?’ Sri Ramakrishna asked with a smile: Do you really consider Him as dear to your heart as your own children/’ ‘No, Sir,’ said
Balaram after a moment’s pause, ‘I never felt for him so strongly.’ The Master said in an animated voice, ‘Pray to God thinking him as dearer than your own self, Verily, I tell you. He is most attached to His devotees. He cannot but reveal Himself to them. He comes to man before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God.’ Balaram got new light from these words. ‘Every word of what he says,’ he thought within himself, ‘is true. Nobody ever spoke to me so forcibly of God.’ 14
Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic
Collected from a compiled book
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