Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

45. Wanting Only One Thing

(Darshan given on November 24th, 1998)

Swamiji [to a visitor]: Anything in the world, if you go on saying, “I want this,” it will come. There is no other way. You must intensely feel you want it, and if you deeply feel you want, it shall come. You must want it. You should not half-heartedly say, “If it comes, well and good. If it doesn't come, it doesn't matter.” You should not think like that. “It is very necessary for me, and I want it; I want only that” – go on feeling and asserting this, and it has to come. The greatest qualification to achieve any success is to want it, and to want wholeheartedly. Anything you want – “I want this, that's all” – it will happen. This is called meditation. This wanting also is a meditation only. You understand?

Whatever you want in the world, you will find in God. That is the only thing that must be clear to the mind. Doubt will come, “If I call God, the world will run away from me.” The world will not run away. It will come with you.

I told you to chant Om mantra. Chant Om deeply [Swamiji chants Om]. Om is the name of God. God is having no particular name. In the whole universal vibration is His name, and that is represented by the great mantra Om. Chant like this for fifteen minutes. You will feel some peace of mind.

But the condition is, when you want a thing, you must want only that, not another thing also. Then it won't come. You understand me? And in the world, there is nothing which you can want as the only thing. You would like to have so many things. But here it is not like that. “If I get this, then I don't want anything else.” If that conviction is there in your mind, it should come, and you should not want anything else afterwards. It is a simple thing. The simplicity is simply in this: You should not want anything else. Do you understand?

A visitor: yes.

Swamiji: But that is a difficult thing, to want only one thing. There is nobody in the world who will want only one thing because other things also will look equally good. But here is something, compared to which, nothing is good. The reason is that everything that you want in the world is also there. You understand me? Like that, you convince yourself. Chant Om. Practise it for fifteen minutes at least, half an hour, one hour.

[Later on, to an ashramite]

Swamiji: The immediacy of God, the timeless existence – here and now, under your nose – this people cannot accept. You should not think that the mind is an ordinary thing. It will bark like a mad dog, and you cannot control it.

There are many desires in the mind of a person, though he is a lover of God. He loves God in some way, but he loves the world still more than that. The benefits that we get from the world, the mind says, are of greater value than the expected joy that you are contemplating in your mind in far-off God, who is so many light years away. He will take time to come, or He may not come also. This is the doubt the mind has got. He may not come also, so doubt is there. How do you know that He will really come? This will put a dark curtain between ourselves and Him.

Ashramite: And we feel permanent tangible happiness and joy with worldly things.

Swamiji: A thing that you see attracts you more than the thing which you imagine only. “I have seen,” people say. That is the proof. “I think, I imagine” – nobody cares for it.

Think: I am on the lap of God, I am on the lap of God, I am on the lap of God, I am on the lap of God. Then no other thought will come to the mind. You should not mentally ruminate. That will not work. The mind should be taught a lesson by shouting to it, shouting: I am on the lap of God! You will see the lap also. When you go on shouting like that, mentally at least you can see the lap of God. And chant Om. Now I am on the lap of God. Take a deep breath and then chant Om [Swamiji chants Om]. “Where am I sitting? I am sitting on the lap of God. I am sitting on the lap of God. Om. I am on the lap of God.” Half an hour you go on chanting this, and no thought will come to you afterwards because you are loudly making noise, so other things cannot be heard also.

And Gita. Chant one Gita sloka, whichever you like best. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ (B.G. 18.66). This is the greatest, most valuable and consoling promise that is coming from the Creator Himself. You cannot have any doubt about it. You chant this sloka. This is the most vital part of the Gita, this one sloka.

Ananyāś cintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (B.G. 9.22). You must be sure that you will get what you want because it is the promise of God Himself. God cannot go back on His words. “I shall get what I want, because He has promised.” If you believe it, He will bring whatever you want. But you should not doubt: “I may not be fit to receive anything from Him. I am a poor man. I have got distractions, and I have got commitments.” This kind of thought should not arise. When He has given a promise, it will be done, like a mother promising a child. Once a mother says to the child, “I will give you this,” it will be certain.