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Establishing
a Relationship with God
Swami
Prabuddhananda
Vedanta
Society, San Francisco, CA
June
01, 2008
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Summary of this Lecture:
Swami Vivekananda says that religion is the eternal relationship between
the eternal soul and the eternal God. This relationship is not an unknown
thing to be acquired or not an ordinary possession which dwindles away with
time. Then what is the meaning of establishing it? Our impure mind
has separated us from God and in a psychological sense we have lost that
relationship. Mind alone is the cause of bondage and freedom. So by taking
help of the mind, we have to establish it again. One of the functions of
mind is imagination. We have to use that kind of imagination which is not
fancy but which deals with the reality creatively. Imagine the divine
presence, say in a picture of a divine personality. Impress these thoughts
on mind through repeated remembrance which will help the relationship to
deepen. The relationship can be of various types like: calmly feeing the
presence of God or in a personal sense considering oneself as servant, friend,
child, father, mother, beloved etc. of God. One can take up impersonal relationship
like that of parts and the whole. In whatever way, try to make God target
of all our emotions and feel the tangible connection.
Sometimes we think that we are impure and unfit for spiritual practices.
Always remember that God is all compassionate and a great purifier where
all the impurities will be burnt away. A touch of divine light will transform
us. Our wrong identities will vanish and we will regain our true identity
- absolute consciousness (Chit), absolute bliss (Ananda),
absolute auspiciousness (Shiva). Our social life will get transformed.
We will be able to see others as child or servant or friend of God. If one
loves God, one is bound to love others, because God lives in the heart of
everyone and hence the relationship with God can be strengthened by serving
others.
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