Darshan with Swami Krishnananda during 1997

by Swami Krishnananda

12. Becoming a Friend of God

(Darshan given on February 10th, 1997)

Swamiji: [To a visitor] Projected out through the ray... The heat and light of the ray is nothing but the heat and light of the Sun himself. So whatever intelligence you have got, and whatever facility you have got in your life, whatever comfort you have got, whatever be the welfare that you are enjoying, they are all emanations from that Mighty Being. And your welfare, your blessedness, will go on increasing both in quantity and in quality, in proportion with your identification of your being with that Being. If you are a very close friend of a powerful person, your power will be still more, and if you are closely related to the mighty Creator, then you will be an indomitable example for all people in the world.

A friend of God is not a human being; he is a little God only. But it is difficult to become a friend of God. Unless you have some quality of God in you, you cannot be His friend. If I can think like you and if you can think like me, we become friends immediately. But if you think this way and I think that way, we cannot be friends. So if your way of thinking is not in any way harmonious with the way God thinks, then no such contact is possible.

God thinks in a universalised manner, whereas we think in a particularised, externalised, sensory manner. We look outward to see anything, but God sees everything everywhere, like the solar orb seeing everything. If the Sun is seeing anything, he doesn't see as we see with our eyes. It is a total enveloping perception. So God's perception is a total, all-comprehensive perception. To the extent you are able to envisage and imbibe this way of universal perception, you will become a mini universal man. This is the essence of spirituality, religion, yoga – the way to blessedness. Our hands and feet, however much active they may be, cannot bring us perpetual blessedness. Human effort is nothing independent of God's grace. God's grace is first; human effort is only in addition to it.

So what I'm saying is, you are a busy man evidently, and you are also blessed in your own way, but you should be able to maintain this blessedness and enhance it to the extent possible by close association of your spirit with the spirit of the universe. This is called meditation. Feel your presence in the vicinity of God, as if He is seeing you. You feel the all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipotent Being is looking at you. You feel as if from all sides it is seeing you like this. Visualise: From all sides it is looking at me with millions of eyes, with compassion, with grace. You will feel a tremor in your body at that time. You will feel a shaking of the system if you sincerely, honestly and deeply feel that you are being seen from all sides. Generally, we do not like to be seen from all sides. It is not a happy thing. But here it is a blessing because God's seeing is also an energy flowing. If you actually do this every day, you will see what difference it makes to your life.

Visitor: How do you control your mind during adversity?

Swamiji: You need not control the mind. You simply concentrate it on God, and it is controlled automatically. How do you control a thief? You place him before a policeman, and then he is controlled automatically. So God's vision is like a policeman standing, and before Him no thought can arise. How to drive away the darkness of night? If you ask this question, what can I tell you? You must wait for the rise of the Sun; then the darkness of night goes. Though the darkness of night is so thick, in one second it goes. So whatever be the problems of life, they will melt away before the light of this great Grace. You must have faith that it will work.

Visitor: How do you take away all the oppression?

Swamiji: You need not take away anything. I told you, why are you trying to take away? Bring That. When That comes, this goes. You should not do the topsy-turvy method. Don't try to drive away anything. Let them be there. Bring the force; this goes automatically.

Visitor: You bring the force through meditation.

Swamiji: Yes, and then all these troubles that you are talking about will melt away in their own way, like mist before the sun.

Visitor: How long do you practise meditation to do that?

Swamiji: It depends upon your facilities. How much time you can devote is left to you only. Start with half an hour. I don't try to impose any idea on your mind. I would wish one hour, but you can start with half an hour in the morning before you take your breakfast. Sit like this, compose yourself, and collect your thoughts in the direction of what I am explaining to you just now. The same thing you do before going to bed in the night, for half an hour. At least twice, morning and evening – after waking up, before breakfast, and in the evening before going to bed. And then by practice you will feel the joy of it, the benefit of it. You would like yourself to increase the duration for some time.

You are welcome to come again. God bless you.