Page 43 - Wisdom Unfurled

the object of meditation or constant remembrance. It then ceases to be dry abhyas and becomes a luscious all-absorbing engagement. The fire of love and devotion alone burns down trivial trash, and wins the gold from the dross. The burning of love may, however, have three stages. The first is the suppressed smouldering giving out thick smoke. The second has occasional sparks in it; and the last one gives the bright burning flame, capable of reducing everything to ashes in a moment’s time. The first two states are subject to their exposure to the combustible matter in the air. When the solidity, which hampers combustion, is removed by the effect of inner heating, the final action starts with full force. But then there is the electric fire as well, which bypasses the first two stages, and appears only in the final state, free from smoke and vapour. If you can light up such a fire within you, your progress shall be by leaps and bounds.
Devotion and love, of course, remain so easy and yet so difficult of achievement at once. Real devotion has no tinge of affection in it and goes hand in glove with enlightenment. In the initial stages the devotee may be conscious of his feeling towards the object of his love; but at higher stages the foam and fury is dimmed to the extent of an almost total loss of its awareness at the Ultimate stage. The superfine level of devotion may be spoken of as total self-surrender, from which the awareness of surrender has entirely been withdrawn by the grace of the Supreme Master Himself.
The problem of practising devotion, surrender, etc., in a natural way is there. For this purpose it is said that one can love another person of his own species best. So the guru is taken into account as the personification of the Supreme. In my case my Master was the only object of my love. I was not a lover of freedom or peace or perfection or any thing, but only of Him and Him alone. My Master was no doubt worthy of it, being the fittest man to be meditated upon and be devoted to. He was altogether free from egoistic feelings, desires and worldly entanglements, and devoted wholly to his ‘own self’. This phrase refers to a spiritual state of a high order not commonly bestowed upon man. That was the reason why I loved him as best as I could. I tried heart and soul to get myself merged in him in toto, and this had been the life pursuit for me. It was because I got a Master who was unparalleled and matchless. For the results achieved there from, I have no words to express. In a word He is the infinite ocean of Grace in which we have all to merge. May it be accessible to all earnest seekers!
Surrender
The easiest and surest means to achieve the goal is to surrender yourself to the great Master and become a ‘living dead’ yourself. This feeling of surrender, if cultivated by forced or mechanical means, seldom proves to be genuine. It