The commemoration programme for Mahavatar Babaji Smriti Divas was conducted by Brahmachari Sheelanandaji at YSS Noida Ashram on July 25, 2018. It was attended by around 300 devotees.
In his discourse, Brahmachariji referred to Daya Mataji’s experience mentioned in her book, Only Love, where Ma talks of her visit to Babaji’s cave. She states that upon her return from the cave, she could not sleep at night. As she sat in meditation, the whole room was lit suddenly with a golden light. The light became a brilliant blue, and there again was the presence of beloved Babaji! He said: "My child, know this: it is not necessary for devotees to come to this spot to find me. Whoever goes within with deep devotion, calling and believing in me, will find my response." Ma says that this was his message to all of us. How true it is. If you only believe, if you just have devotion and silently call on Babaji, you will feel his response.
Ma responded, “Babaji, my Lord, our Guru taught us that whenever we want to feel wisdom, we should pray to Sri Yukteswarji, because he is all jnana, all wisdom; and whenever we want to feel ananda or bliss, we should commune with Lahiri Mahasaya. What is your nature?” As she said it, oh, she felt as though her heart was going to burst with love, such love – a thousand million loves rolled in to one! He is all love; his whole nature is prem (divine love). Babaji added, “My nature is love; for it is love alone that can change this world.”
Brahmachariji thereafter dwelt on the topic of ‘How to open the door of heart for God’ to be able to go deep within for having His response, as Babaji told to Daya Mata ji.. How can we feel the blessing of God and Guru, more clearly, in our life? Guruji says that God gives answers to our prayers, either in yes or no. He does it in the voice of silence. When his reply comes to us and finds that our mind is busy in thoughts, desires, reactions to stimulus of senses, it returns back. We do not understand God’s response. We feel God does not respond to us. He does not answer our prayers. It is not so. Actually, our mind and heart is not ready to receive God’s reply. We keep it busy in many things, negative feelings, and stimuli arising out of senses.
So what is the way to understand clearly the guidance of God? How to keep our mind and heart free, pure and empty. Until we are able to remove the negative emotions, feelings like anger, envy, greed, hidden desires and aspirations from our heart we can not understand God’s response, his blessings.
So what can be the method for this? The most effective method is filling up our heart with love for God, with longing for God. When it is so full, there will not be any space left for negative feelings and emotions. When we can achieve it only then we can say, Door of my heart open wide I keep for Thee… Wilt Thou come, Wilt Thou come, just for once come to me….Night and day, night and day, I look for Thee night and day!
What is the meaning of the Chant ‘Door of my heart open wide I keep for thee’. When we say this to the Lord, we mean that our heart is fully prepared to receive God. It is completely empty. It will be possible only when by deep yearning for God we make our heart pure.
Guruji says that God is a jealous God. If we seek God, we should have the will power to keep only one desire, desire for God and for nothing else.
Hence the meaning of opening the door of heart for God is to purify our heart, with intense desire and longing for God.
We keep the doors of our house always open for those, whom we love, whose visit we are anticipating with intense eagerness. Because we like their company and we want to spend time with them. We like to be with them. We welcome them irrespective of the time of the day they come because we love them.
To open the doors of heart for God means to be ready to welcome Him all the time. To call upon Him with utmost love in the heart. To invite God to come to our heart.
Guruji said that somebody can offer all that he has to God. All his property, his life, and everything he has. Whatever he has in life he is ready to give to God. Even then it is possible that God may not come to him. However if a devotee with a pure heart with all the simplicity of heart, tells God that he loves Him with all his heart, with all his devotion, God comes running to his heart.
He only wants our love. Any devotee who with his pure heart says “I love you God” and God comes running to him.
It is essential to have love in our heart. God will never manifest in a heart bereft of love. Unless we have love in our heart, we cannot have that intense desire to meet him because only love can produce that intensity. When a lover cannot meet his beloved, he has that severe pain of separation. The intensity of desire to meet his beloved goes on increasing. So it is necessary to have love for God first and then the intense desire in our heart will force the God to come to our heart.
To open the door of heart for God is to suffer the pangs of separation from Him.
Guruji says that love is that magnet from which God cannot escape.
We will have to convert our hearts into a magnet of love. Then that magnet of love will pull God, whose essential nature is love, into our hearts. Only then can we say that door of heart is open for you God. The real meaning of opening our heart for God is to convert it into a magnet of love for God. Filling our heart with so much love that it is converted into an intense longing and that intensity will force Him to come into our Hearts.
How to develop that love?
- By experiencing God as the Sole Giver: All the gifts that we are getting unconditionally; sun shine, air, water, life force, food, our breaths, and all the autonomic functions in our body, for all these we should be grateful to God and love him unconditionally.
- To practice the meditation techniques given by Guruji: when we practice these techniques regularly with full faith, we gradually start experiencing His presence. Guruji says that even if we experience just a small part of God we will not be able to live without loving Him.
- Group Meditation: When we do group meditations, we get recharged by the positive energy of each other and are able to maintain our enthusiasm for our sadhana.
- Service: By serving Guru and the needy people we can overcome our pride and increase humility. And as Guruji said “The rains of God’s mercy cannot gather on mountaintops of pride, but flow easily into the valleys of humbleness.” Service can purify our heart and make it ready for God to enter.
In addition, when we consciously stand against temptation with resolve, be on the side of truth than untruth, and manifest divine qualities like kindness, empathy, love, honesty, unshakable trust in God and Guru, and become aware that we do not hurt our God and Guru by a negative thought, speech or action against anybody, then and only then we have truly opened the door of our hearts for our beloved God and Guru…. Only then we will be able to call them from the depth of our heart and have their instant response, as promised by Babaji.
All the devotees present felt overwhelmed by these sublime thoughts and nuggets of wisdom not just to cherishbut also worth acting upon. Guru Langar was served to all the devotees present for the occasion.
