Longing for the Beloved - Call Him by Name

Narayana - Lord Vishnu
Swami Vishwananda Talk - Continued from yesterday: Chant the Narayana Maha Mantra. I have explained many times the power of the name of Narayana. If you want to attain Him, chant His name. The more you chant Narayana, the more you will draw Him closer to you. When you call somebody, you will not just say “Come here;” you will call the person by name. The Divine also has many names and many forms. When you call Him, He will come in the form you call Him. Often people ask me, “Listen, if I pray to Shiva, should I really change?” Actually, ‘No’, you do not need to change, but your love has to grow more and more. If you call Him as Shiva, He will come to you in that form. If you call Him as the Divine Mother, He will come as the Divine Mother.

Maha Lakshmi - painting in Kali Temple - Springen

Actually in reality, you will find Him deep inside your heart as the form of love, pure love, unconditional love. This is something that the mind can’t understand because the mind always expects something. The mind always has a limit, so you have to cross over this limit.

It happens so often in the life of people that when the grace of God comes upon them, they don’t understand anything. They try to understand, but yet they can’t understand. I have met so many people who have told me, “Oh, You know I love God but I don’t understand Him. I don’t know why I love Him so much.” You have to become that state wherein even if you want to understand Him, you can’t understand. You see Him in front of you and want to grasp Him, but you can’t. Imagine what would happen? And when you can’t take hold of Him, it drives you crazy for Him. And that's the best, because deep longing makes it even sweeter [a kind of bitter sweetness].

Guru Dev Swami Vishwananda

Our soul is always longing for Him, always. There is not a time when the soul does not Long for the Beloved , whether we are consciously aware of it , or we are not aware of it. But our true self, the soul-consciousness is always aware of The Beloved. So, try to see like Christ always said, “If you have eyes to see, you see.” Try to see with the eyes of the heart and try to hear deep inside of you. Whatever is inside of your heart, there will be no doubt about it. Whatever comes from your mind will create a lot of questions. Even if the mind says the same thing as the heart there will be many, many questions and the mind will not feel free. That’s why in meditation you strive to go into the calmness of yourself and listen deep inside. You endeavor to attain calmness deep within you, and you strive to attain this divine love that you have inside of you.