Seeing or Being Blind is up to You

Inside, a voice is calling you to be free. Life is the most beautiful thing that God has given you. Don´t waste it. At the end, when life is departing this body and you look back you may say: “Oh my God, I have missed so many choices, so many chances God has sent to me. My mind has been ruled by so many mistakes. I made myself blind.” Why do I say, I make myself blind? The choice to be blind or to see is up to you. How does one do that? Do you do your sadhana every day? Do you, or not? How many among you do your sadhana regularly and I mean every day? You see, the spiritual sadhana helps you to free the mind and it helps you not to get entangled into this limitation.

Once a student went to his Guru and said: “Master, I am troubled.” The master stood right in front of him and came very near to his face, like this microphone, and said: “Why do you hang on the illusion? You know, whatever is in this mind is an illusion, why do you hang on that? You know very well that deep inside of you only God resides. Why don´t you find joy inside of this?” Then the master said: “My dear child, recite for 24 hours, nonstop, your Guru mantra and meditate intensely for 4 hours and you will conquer the mind.” Of course the grace of the Guru was there. The grace of God is with you.

When I tell you to chant the name of God 24 hours, you ask: “What if I sleep?” How can we chant when we are sleeping? But that is the secret of mantra japa,. The more you train yourself by chanting throughout the day the name of God, the more you train yourself in reciting continuously in every action to remember the Divine, the more it will become automatic. Then even when you sleep, you will carry on chanting and you will carry on singing the Divine names. And practice your spiritual sadhana, because your spiritual practice is like a shield, like an armor, that has been given to you to protect you. And when you are protected you don´t need to fear anything. But if you have been given an armor, you put it in a wardrobe. Then when you have many enemies attacking you, how will you protect yourself? Tell me, would you be protected? No. So why put the armor inside a wardrobe! Wear it (chant the mantra continuously as your armor) and be disciplined about it, self-discipline.

Sri Swami Vishwananda "Gurudev Namo"
(I'm Coming Home)