- The heart of the devotee is His dwelling place. It may be that God is manifest in all things, but He is manifest in a special sense in the heart of a devotee of God.
- Do you know how a devotee feels? ‘Oh Lord, You are the Master, I am Your servant. You are my Mother, I am Your child. And again, You are both my Mother and Father. You are the whole, I am Your part.’ The devotee doesn’t like to say, ‘I am Brahman.’
- God reveals Himself in the form the devotee loves most – gracious loving Lord of the devotee that He is. The Purana says that God assumed the form of Rama for the sake of his heroic devotee, Hanuman.
- The best devotee is the one who, after attaining the knowledge of Brahman, sees that God alone has become the universe and the twenty-four cosmic principles.
- Ganges does not flow only in one direction; it has its ebb and flow tides. The devotee laughs and weeps, sings and dances. The devotee wants to enjoy God. Sometimes he swims; sometimes he dives; other times he rises – just as a piece of ice floats up and down in water.
- As is the devotee, so is the provision made by him. The sattvic devotee provides the rice pudding, the rajasic one offers fifty dishes to the deity, while the tamasic devotee sacrifices a goat or some other animal.
- Men of knowledge see everything as an illusion. Devotees accept all the states. The man of knowledge yields milk in droplets. Some cows are very choosy when they graze, so they yield milk in dribbles. But the cows who don’t discriminate so much and eat everything give streams of milk.
- You may discuss Vedanta a thousand times with a genuine devotee and call the world a dream, but his love for God will not disappear – though he may appear to shed it a little for a while.
- A devotee says, ‘O God, You alone are the doer. You alone do everything. I am only an instrument. I do what You make me do. And all this splendour, this universe, is Yours. This house, this family, is Yours – nothing is mine. I am Your servant. I have only the right to serve You as You command.’
- There are the trigunatita devotees [who are beyond the three qualities of nature]. They are like children. Their worship consists purely of chanting His name. Yes, the name of God alone and nothing else.
- To a true devotee, the Lord provides everything without any effort on his part. The real son of a king gets a monthly allowance automatically.
- The devotees of God must have a firm and steadfast understanding – like the blacksmith’s anvil. It receives hammer blows unceasingly, but it remains unchanged. Unfriendly people may find fault with you and speak ill of you, but if you sincerely love Bhagavan, you will bear all this.
- There are three kinds of devotees: inferior, mediocre and superior. The inferior class of devotee says, ‘God is out there.’ He sees the Lord separate from His creation. The devotee of the mediocre class says, ‘The Lord is antaryami.’ He sees the Lord in the heart of all beings. The superior devotee sees that God Himself has become everything. That He alone has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. He sees that everything is filled with God, above and below.
- There are classes of devotees: superior devotees, mediocre devotees and inferior devotees. The Gita speaks of all this.
- The inferior devotee says, ‘God exists up there in the sky very far away.’ The mediocre devotee says, ‘God is present in all beings as Consciousness, as life.’ The superior devotee says, ‘God Himself has become everything. All that I see are the different forms of God. He Himself has become maya, the universe and living beings – nothing exists apart from Him.’
- The pure devotee likes to see God as Gopala. First, God becomes the magnet and the devotee the needle. In the end the devotee becomes the magnet and God the needle. In other words, God becomes small to the devotee.
- It is like the sun at dawn. One can look at it easily – it doesn’t dazzle the eyes. Instead, the eyes are satisfied. God becomes tender for the sake of His devotees. He appears before them, leaving His powers behind.
- There are three classes of devotees. The inferior class of devotee says, ‘God is out there’ – in other words, he points to heaven. The mediocre devotee says, God resides within the heart as its Inner Controller. And the highest class of devotee says, ‘God has become everything. Indeed, all I see are His various forms.’
- There are devotees who have gone beyond the three gunas. They are called trigunatita devotees. For example, Narada and others like him are nitya devotees, devoted to God eternally. Such devotees consider Krishna as the embodiment of Spirit, His Abode as Spirit, and His devotee as Spirit too. To them the Lord is eternal, His devotee is eternal and His abode is eternal too.
- Those who have realized God see that it is God who has become the universe and its living beings. He has become all. They are superior devotees.
- There are mediocre devotees. They see that God exists in everyone as the Inner Controller. The devotee of the lowest class says, ‘God exists. He dwells there, beyond, in the sky.’
- But there is some manifestation of God’s power in all devotees. It is like getting a little taste of something you have been sucking for a long time, or like extracting a little honey from a flower after much sucking.
- There are classes of devotees: superior devotees, mediocre devotees and inferior devotees. The Gita speaks of all this. He is present in all elements and beings, no doubt. But do you know who a real devotee is? He who dwells in Him; he whose mind, heart, and soul have been merged in Him.
- The devotee of the Divine Mother attains both virtue and liberation and also enjoys wealth and the fulfillment of legitimate desires.
- Those who are highly developed spiritually can even do without the company of devotees. At times they don’t have a liking for the company of devotees. The lime of whitewash won’t stick to a mother of pearl surface. In other words, this is the state of a person who sees God both within and without.
- Those who are my own have become strangers – Ramlal and other relatives seem no longer to be my near and dear ones. And those who were strangers have become my relatives. Just see how I say to Baburam, ‘Go and answer the call of nature. Now go and wash your face.’ The devotees have indeed become my own.
- Chidatma and Chitshakti. Consciousness as Self is the male aspect of God and Consciousness as Power the female aspect. Sri Krishna is Consciousness as Self, and Radha Consciousness as Power. Each one of the devotees is an individual form of that Consciousness as Power. The devotees should think of themselves as companions or as servants. This is the important thing.
- The knowledge of a devotee is like the light of the moon. He can see both the inside and the outside of a room with its light – but not a very small object lying at a distance. On the other hand, the knowledge of incarnations is like the light of the sun. They can see inside, outside, the small, and the large, everything.
- Devotees of God have no fear. They are near and dear to Him. He will draw them. When Duryodhana and his companions were made prisoners by the Gandharvas, it was Yudhisthira who had them released. He said, ‘It would be a disgrace if our relatives remain in such difficulty.’
- God can be approached many ways. A loving devotee can enjoy His presence in different ways. Sometimes he thinks of Him as a lotus and himself a bee; at other times he sees Him as Sat-chit-ananda and himself as a fish.
- God dwells in His devotee in a special way. A devotee is the living room of God.
- Bhagavata Bhakta Bhagavan [His word, His devotee, and the Lord are one]. My salutations to jnanis, salutations to yogis, and salutations to devotees.
- As long as I-ness persists, it is better to have the attitude of a devotee. It’s not right to think ‘I am God’ or ‘O embodied being, you are not like Krishna, you are just a devotee.’ But it’s a different matter if God Himself draws you. It’s like a master saying affectionately to his servant, ‘Come, come along. Sit beside me. You are the same as I.’
- Eat prasad regularly. A real devotee cannot take his meals without some prasad.
- There are two kinds of devotees: One kind has the nature of a kitten – absolute dependence on what the mother may do. It only knows how to meow. It doesn’t know where it is going, or what it will do. The mother cat sometimes puts it in the kitchen and sometimes on a bed. In the same way, a devotee gives the power of attorney to God. Having given God the power of attorney, he is free from any anxiety.
- There is another class of devotees. They have the nature of a young monkey. A young monkey holds onto its mother with all its strength. These devotees feel they have some duty to perform – to go on pilgrimage, to practice japa and spiritual disciplines, to worship with sixteen items – and that only then will they be able to hold onto God. This is their attitude.
- God likes the devotion of a person who is humble and poor. Like a cow loves fodder mixed with oil-cake. Duryodhana showed his wealth and splendour, but the Lord didn’t go to his house. He went to Vidura’s. He is the gracious loving Lord of his devotee. He runs after a devotee the way a cow runs behind after her calf.
- There is nothing more to it than this: to love Him and to taste His sweetness. He is sweetness, the devotee is the taster – it is the devotee who drinks the sweetness. He is a lotus and the devotee is the bee. The devotee drinks the honey of the lotus.
- Just as a devotee can’t live without the Lord, the Lord can’t live without a devotee. In that case, the devotee is the sweetness and the Lord its taster. The devotee is the lotus and the Lord a bee. To enjoy His sweetness God becomes two, which is the reason for the divine play of Radha-Krishna.
- He is more manifest in pure devotees – that’s why I long so much for Narendra, Rakhal and others like them. You find small holes at the edge of lakes. Fish and crab collect in those holes – just as God is more manifest in man.
- In one way, God has become the Bhagavata, so you should worship the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Tantras. He has also become a devotee. The heart of a devotee is His living room. You can easily find the owner of the house in his living room. So by worshipping a devotee, you worship God.
- ‘I-ness’ doesn’t die easily. So a devotee doesn’t reject the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep as unreal – he accepts all the states. He also accepts the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas. A devotee sees that it is these qualities that have become the twenty-four cosmic principles, that they are the world and its creatures. He also sees that God reveals Himself visually in the tangible form of Spirit.
- A devotee accepts the maya of knowledge and makes it his shelter. He takes refuge in the company of the holy, in pilgrimage, in knowledge, and in non-attachment – all of them. He says, ‘If “I” doesn’t leave easily, let the rascal remain a servant or a devotee.’
- A devotee also attains knowledge of the Oneness of God. He sees that there is nothing but God. He doesn’t call the world a dream, but he says that it is God who has become everything. In a garden of wax, it is all wax – only in different forms.
- Those who enjoy building hospitals and dispensaries are good people, but they belong to a different class. A person who is a true devotee wants nothing but God. If he happens to fall into too much work, he prays earnestly, ‘O God, be gracious enough to reduce my work. If there weren’t so much work, my mind would be thinking of you every day. It is being wasted now – now it’s only involved in thinking of worldly things.’
Ishvarkoti
- Not everybody is touched by sin. The Ishvarakoti is not affected by sin. For example, an incarnation of God like Chaitanya Deva.
- Incarnations of God or those born with some of their characteristics are called Ishvarakotis. Ordinary men are called jivas, or jivakotis. The latter can attain God by practicing spiritual disciplines, but they don’t return to normal consciousness after attaining samadhi.
- The Ishvarakoti is like the son of a king. He has the keys to all seven stories of the palace – he can climb to all seven floors and come down at his will. A jivakoti is like a junior official. He can only go to a small area in the seven-storied palace – that is all.
- Ishvarakotis, such as divine incarnations, can be liberated whenever they want. But ordinary human beings cannot. Embodied beings are bound by ‘lust and greed’. They have shut the doors and windows of their houses and fastened them tightly with screws. How can they come out?
- Ishvarakotis, such as incarnations of God, can come down from this state of samadhi. Since they like to live with devotees and enjoy love for God, they can descend from this state. God keeps the ‘I of knowledge,’ the ‘I of devotion’ in them to teach mankind.
Intimate Disciples
- I recognized you when I heard you read the Chaitanya Bhagavata. You are my own – the same substance, like father and son. All of you who come here are like a bunch of kalmi creeper. Pull one part and it all comes. You’re related to each other like brothers.
- Those who are my very own will come to me even if I reprimand them. Ah, look what a fine nature Narendra has! In the beginning, he used to say anything he liked about Mother Kali. Getting irritated one day, I said to him, ‘Rascal, don’t come here again!’ He went out quietly and began to prepare a smoke. He who is one’s own does not become annoyed even when scolded.
- Two classes of devotees come here. One class says, ‘O Lord, please save me!’ The other class, who belong to the inner circle, don’t say this. They will succeed by only knowing two things, ‘One, who I am, and then who they are – that is, what their relationship with me is.’
- It’s enough if all the youngsters who come here know just two things. When they do, they won’t have to practice much spiritual discipline. First, who I am – and then who they are. Many of these youngsters belong to the inner circle.
- Once Keshab Sen was conducting a worship. He said, ‘Oh God, may we drown in the river of Your love!’ When the service was over, I said to him, ‘My dear, can you drown yourself in a river of love? What then would happen to those who are sitting behind the screen?’ But please do this. Dive every now and then and then get back to the bank.
- This illness (of mine)is showing who belongs to the inner circle and who belongs to the outer. Those who come here after renouncing the world belong to the intimate group. And those who just come once and ask, ‘How do you do, sir?’ belong to the outer circle.