The first type of Devotion is “Listening,” or Shravana. Devotion (Bhakti) is the mother of Knowledge (Jnana). Without Devotion, there is no Knowledge. Devotion is the highest path. If you cannot do it in actions, then do it mentally. Listen to how to do worship. Listen to all of the paths explained by the Guru; the “Path of Knowledge” (Jnana), the “Path of Desirelessness” (Vairagya), the “Path of Spiritual Practice” (Sadhana), and the “Path of Final Truth” (Siddhanta). Find out the essence of them all.
The second type of Devotion is “Singing God’s Praises,” or “Kirtan Bhakti” (Kirtana Bhajana). Kirtan is singing in praise of the God who is embodied. Do the kirtan that you have learned by heart, recognize the many important references, and understand the meaning of them all. The story of God, Lord Hari should be told in kirtan not for any other purpose other than because you feel happy to do so. The entire world is your field for propagating the greatness of the Self, (Atman; God). The “Kirtan Devotion” purifies all.
The third type of Devotion is “Remembrance of God.” Remember the Sadguru. This should be done all of the time, morning, noon, and evening. Remember, “I am Brahman,” “I am Shiva,” “I am He.” The remembering should be as constant as the clock that ticks. The heart in which Devotion to God is constant, is the moving, living temple. All can become liberated by the name of Rama. Lord Mahadev (Shiva) himself escaped from the sense objects, through repetition of the sacred name of Rama.
The fourth type of Devotion is “Service to the Guru.” The Guru’s feet should be worshiped. Serve the Guru in order to be released from birth and death. It is the Sadguru who shows the Reality. That which is not seen by the eyes, and which is not apparent, is achieved because of the blessing of the Guru. Such states of consciousness as non-attachment, surrender, being beyond the body, being beyond the mind, and being in a natural state of complete indifference, are all attained only by the blessing of the Guru. The names are different, but the state is One. If one of these states is attained, all are attained. Non- attachment is to give up the sense of “mine,” as well as name and form. There is nobody else capable of forgiving such as the Guru, who is motherly. If you totally depend on the Guru, you will attain God. The devotee should serve at the feet of the Guru. Verification of what we learn should be threefold, the confirmation through the teaching of the Guru, confirmation through the teaching of the scriptures, and verification through one’s own experience. The attainment of the “Knowledge of Brahman” is dependent upon oneself, but without the Sadguru, you will not get real contentment. By study only, you will not get that which is learned through the words of the Guru. That which is unattainable becomes possible to attain, only by the “Grace of the Guru.” The attainment of the Absolute Reality, Parabrahman, is not possible without the company of Saints. This is the sign of the fourth type of Devotion.
The fifth type of Devotion is “Worship” (Archan). The various Gods are really Gurus who have existed in the past. All of the temples are of these Gods. How can we build a temple to Him who is greater than the world? The “Man of Knowledge” (Jnani), the wise man, is God. The body of the wise man, the form that he bears as his body, is itself an image of Knowledge, an idol of wisdom. He is divine wisdom incarnate. That is the “Knowledge” possessed by the Sadguru, yet the Sadguru is different from these. So long as you have not met the Sadguru, you can only worship the past Gurus, the ancient men of wisdom. However, when one does meet Him, “Devotion to the Sadguru” should be done with one’s physical body, speech, and mind. Devotion to the Sadguru is the highest action we can do unto our Self. This is the best action that we can do for our own welfare, the action that makes all achievement and contentment possible. All other actions only become useless, and perish.
The sixth type of Devotion is “To Bow Down” (Vandanam). One should bow down to God, and to the Sadguru. By bowing down, blemishes in our character go away, blessings are given, and the Guru is pleased. By bowing, you gain humility and happiness, and by this happiness, you achieve a state where there is no animosity, only Bliss.
The seventh type of Devotion is “The Path of Service” (Dasyam). One should always be available at the door of God or the Guru. One should rebuild dilapidated temples, reconstruct water tanks and temples, and always increase the glory of God,. The meaning of being always at the door of the Guru or God is to be always concentrating on the Self (Atman) within, the awareness that “I Am.” The attention to the “I Am,” the sense of our existence, is the door of the Guru, the door of God. The inner side is the place of the Guru, the place of God. Our awareness, our attention, is the path of entering into the temple of that God. We have to enter the inner recesses by this door. By constant Self-awareness, you can go to the state where the Guru exists. We should rebuild old dilapidated temples. This means the bodies of all people. We have to try by various means to make healthy and strong the bodies of devotees that are harassed and troubled by various calamities and difficulties, for which we should give verbal advice, or actually help them. We should reconstruct water tanks. The water tanks of mind are broken by adverse happenings and repeated shocks, as there is a lot of dirt accumulated in them because of wrong thinking, as well as a lot of weeds and moss in these tanks. We should remove all of this dirt, and clean the tank water. The walls around this mind tank should be strong and built to last, and we should so arrange it that the water of this tank will be always useful to others. We should like what the Sadguru likes. The Sadguru likes that we should keep away from sense objects, that we should be content without enjoyment through the sense organs, and that we should remain constantly in the immortal and blissful state of the Self. We should give up anxiety about family life, and recite stories about the greatness of God, as well as sing his praises in kirtan. We should not have any dislike for lesser, more menial types of work. We should even be content to work as a slave for Him. We should do little jobs with enjoyment and enthusiasm so that we lose the pride of our body. We should perform service with pleasure. If we cannot physically do these things, we should mentally think along these lines.
The eighth type of Devotion is “Friendship with God” (Sakhyam). We should be friendly with God. The Self (Atman) is the Sadguru. We should bind ourselves to the Sadguru by our deep love. As there is service in this worldly life, so in spiritual life there is the Ninefold Devotion. We should try to do new things all the time. While offering devotion we should do some novel things using our imagination. This gives our mind happiness and new energy, and joy. We should act in such a way that the Sadguru will be happy. We should behave in that fashion which is loved by God. Only then is there friendship and affection. As soon as things happen according to our liking, there is spontaneous friendliness. We should like what the Sadguru likes. We should praise the Sadguru. We may even have to be aloof from all, in order to be friendly with God. One who acts with such a feeling that God is his “Real Life-Force” is capable to become his “True Devotee.” The Sadguru is the Life-Force. He is the Supreme Self. This is called the “Devotion of Friendship.” In Hindu mythology, there was a house built out of lacquer and other flammable things, called Lakshagriha. The meaning of Laksha is spiritually somewhat different. God in the form of Lord Krishna could bring out the Pandava family from the Lakshagriha through a tunnel. Lakshagriha can be said to be our attention to objects. We are tied to objects and we will free ourselves only by focusing our attention on, and remembering the Lord. (Lakshya – object of attention; remembering that “I” am “I”.) Remembering that “we are” is called Lakshya. We start from the state of not knowing anything, and by listening and paying attention to our mother and father, and also listening to many things which are told by many other people, we are filled up with ideas that we have heard and our attention is conditioned by that listening. Kauravas means individuals, the Jivas, who have turned their back on the Self, the Atman. By their conceptual imagination, the object of attention is jailed in the house of their attention. Desires are going to burn these individuals by kindling the fuel of objects. By putting our whole attention to remembering the Sadguru, and by remembering the name of God, we free ourselves from this flammable house of objects which brings only the flames of sorrow. Those who free themselves of this enjoy total happiness. Others, by failing to choose the right thing, remain in the same flammable house and suffer from burns again and again. This is the opportunity for you to free yourselves. If you worry about yourself, what necessity has the Guru to worry about you? Give up your worry and take care of your Guru. Then the Sadguru will surely take care of you. The Sadguru is the Supreme Self, Paramatman. He is without any form or blemish. Our faith is so often lost as soon as something happens which is not desirable to us, but we should never worry. Let God do what he likes. You say that you are not superior to God, but your mind does not feel like that. You should behave in accordance with His will, and never be sorry. If a man puts his trust in the Sadguru, it is the Sadguru whose heart suffers even if the man is but slightly hurt, or if but even a hair on his head is touched. The Sadguru is always taking the side of the destitute. He will never rest before giving you the highest place, which is not fallible. Those whom you think to be yours, will accompany you up to the cemetery. They will lament loudly upon your death, but God will never let down those who have surrendered themselves to Him. Therefore, you should have friendship with God.
The ninth type of Devotion is “Self-Surrender”. If you feel that All is Brahman, then you must have the conviction that you are also Brahman. The state of non-duality comes naturally. When you get the mantra from the Guru, you are a Royal King. Out of five, only one succeeds. Goddess Laxmi came to put a mark (Tilak) on the forehead of five men, but four of them said that they have not washed their faces. They then rushed off to wash their faces. The fifth man however, stood where he was. Laxmi put the mark on his forehead and he became rich. The very inaction of the faithful devotee became the act of Brahman. This is what is called the “State of Purity.” Spiritual practice should be intense. This means that we should leave off all wrong thinking and our Devotion should be all consuming. To hold dear to our heart the image of our Sadguru at all times is the practice and that is this State of Purity. “That” which is always clean, always sacred, and always pure, is the most powerful, indestructible, and deathless True Nature (Swaroopa) of the Sadguru. Not to forget this, is itself spiritual practice.
Evening, 20-9-1935
Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj
Master of Self-Realization – An Ultimate Understanding