How to experience God in our daily lives

 

It was the most natural expression of oneness with God that Shri Vallabh taught and espoused in the new sect.  I feel, that is what we need to rejuvenate.  Practically, that means experiencing God to be with you all the time by...

* Wake up with Him, take Him to enjoy the sunrise with you.

* Take a nice hot shower with Him !

* As you dress, let Him choose your clothes for you !  How wonderful to be dressed by God !!

* When you do seva, let Him choose his clothes, or if you choose them for Him, do so out of spontaneity and not ritualistic norms.

* When you have your breakfast, share your spoonfuls with Him.

* Read the morning news and make comments to Him, listen to His comments too !

* On your drive to work, chat to Him !   If someone annoys you on the road, why don't you BOTH make a face at the annoying fellow driver(s) !

* At work -
Share your project work, your business concerns, your students' grades, your frustration with the non-functioning computer etc.
If you are a doctor, share your patient's notes with Him.  Take Him on the rounds with you.  Tell Him what is happening to the patients. 
Don't ask Him to fix your business or your patient, but share your hopes and concerns with Him - as you would with a colleague or a friend.

* When you operate, let Him be your nurse, who hands you the instruments.
Let Him help you fix your computer, Let Him help you serve your customer, Let Him help you with your class notes, Let Him be your advisor.

* When you relax, have a chat with Him, watch a film, listen to a CD, sit in the garden, do some planting, go for a swim - always with Him !

* Go to the mall with Him, to the cinema, to the party, to dinner !

* When you cook, when you sing, when you shout or are upset, when you get happy or angry, when you do satsang or read, keep God with you.

* When you get upset, talk to Him, let Him know how upset you are !

* Listen to Him, He has been here long enough and maybe He can sort out your upset with some good advise.

* When you play with your family, invite Him to join in !

* Let Him guide you and your parents / wife / partner in your private counsels.  Let Him be confident to your hopes and plans for the future.

* With every mouthful of dinner, enjoy the dinner with Him, ask Him if He liked the pickle too !

* Before you go to sleep, put Him to sleep, caress the day's cares from His brow and sing a simple lullaby or a shlok, or a mantra, or a dhoon to put Him at ease.  When you go to sleep yourself, be at one with the one who is always at one with you !

That is the only essence of Pushti Marg.

 

Remember, God is your father, mother, friend, advisor, colleague, guide, guru and your very soul !  Let Him enter your life, as you want to enter His life - than there will be fun in oneness and duality. 

There is nothing new in what I am saying - you have sung it a hundred times yourself - in Madhurastak !!

Shri Vallabh talks of Shri Hari being sweet in everything He does, playing in the groves of Vraj, doing his daily chores of taking the cows to the pasture, harnessing the gopies, even spitting out His pann !  If that's not daily activity in a single strotra, what is !   OK, we don't spit paan on the path anymore, but don't we give "deadly look" at the person who cuts us up on the freeway ?  Is that not our modern way of "spitting" ?  Don't we tease colleagues as Krushna teased the gopas and gopies of Vraj ?  Don't we adore our wife and children and say, "You look lovely today !" ?  Don't we love a stroll on the beach - as Krushna and Shri Vallabh loved their stroll on the banks of the river Yamuna ?  In the company of our friend / lover, everything is sweet, even a hair-raising accident becomes an "adventure" !  In the company of someone we detest, even a magnificent dinner is a burdensome chore.  That is the essence of Madhurastakam - be always attached to your madhura-priya - God ! and life will become madhur in His presence.

Sidhanta Rahasya also says the same thing - " base your devotion on how the ancient vrajvasis interacted with the Lord " - and how did the vrajvasi's interact with Krushna ?  With constant oneness !  They played with Him, they teased Him, they ate with Him, snatched food from His mouth and put food they had tasted in His mouth !  They took Him with them when they went to the fair, they were with Him when they went in to the mouth of the Aghasur and even when they went to drink water from the poisonous area where Kaliya naga lived.  They went with Him when they played with the gopies, or stole their clothes, or herd the cattle, or venture into new forests.  In their daily lives, they intertwined all their activities with Krushna.  That is exactly what Shri Vallabh implores us to do through seva !

Above all, never despair.  Don't put yourself down - it doesn't help.  God likes to play with a happy soul, not a sad one.  He makes the sad ones laugh, but the smiling ones laugh even more !

 

Bhagwat Shah ©

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