OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WORLD AND SELF

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

16. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WORLD AND SELF
As spiritual seekers on this planet Earth, on this earth plane, each day we encounter and
have to relate ourselves to four factors. Upon how we relate ourselves to these four factors will
depend our peace of mind, concentration and spiritual progress. What are these four factors, and
what guidance has Holy Master given to us in his teachings as to how we should relate ourselves to
these factors?
The first factor is the inert world of matter, the innumerable, variegated, bewildering names
and forms— mountains, seas, stars, planets, sun, moon, rivers, forests, creepers, minerals, rain,
wind.
Second, animate living creatures—vermin, reptiles, birds, beasts and our fellow human
beings. We encounter innumerable approaches and assailments from others, innumerable
vibrations from others, innumerable situations.
The third factor is yourself. How do you relate yourself to yourself? You have to encounter
yourself every day—your psyche, the being within, mind: emotions, sentiments, desires,
imaginations, schemes, fears, anxieties, tensions, cravings, hostilities, resentments, frustrations,
memories, nostalgia—a whole subjective inner world where you have to deal with your own self.
And fourth, the Being that has created all these factors and God knows what more—we only
know our universe.
Have we got some formula, has Gurudev given us some guidelines, some insight and
teachings as to how we should relate ourselves to these four factors? Yes, definitely!
Our immediate encounter is with our fellow human beings and all the creatures we have to
encounter: monkeys, dogs, cows, mosquitos, ants. And the principle upon which to regulate your
relationship with them has both a negative and a positive aspect: never harm anyone or any creature,
and do all the good that you can, to as many living beings as you can, in as many ways as you can, in
all the places and circumstances that you can. Positively relate yourself to the world around you in
terms of how much good, how much help, how much benefit you can be. Therefore, Gurudev gave

seva, the spirit of noble, sublime selflessness and service as a golden principle by which to relate
yourself to everyone around you as long as you live.
Secondly, how to relate yourself to inanimate creation which distracts you and deludes you
with its solid sense of reality: “Seeing is believing. I see the world around me. This is the only
reality I know. I won’t be foolish enough to imagine that there is some other reality beyond. It is all
so much superstition.” In this way, through your logic and rationality you get caught into the net of
the seeming reality of the non-eternal, changeful, temporary, evanescent, ephemeral, transitory
appearances which dominate your consciousness.
These appearances have already overcome you, overwhelmed you, by making you submit
to a sense of their reality. They are unreal; they are dream things; they are an appearance only. You
must explore the myth of the reality of the seen world through deep study, deep reflection, deep
satsanga, philosophical analysis and enquiry.
The atom bomb of Vedanta—that is the way to relate yourself to this attractive outer
appearance, the world appearance of names and forms. Say: “You are nothing; you are a cipher, a
zero; you cannot fool me.” In this way, you must relate yourself with knowledge, with deep wisdom
and insight, with incisive discrimination and analysis, and refuse to be the least bit moved. Refuse
to be drawn away from your focus upon the transcendental higher Reality behind and beyond this
vanishing world appearance of temporary names and forms.
For a true Vedantin who has known of the transcendental higher Reality—which alone is
real; the eternal, beginningless and endless, infinite, solid basis of all things; the alpha and omega,
source, origin, support and ultimate goal of all things—compared to it everything is a non-entity, a
non-existent cipher, a bubble. This conviction will liberate you from the oppressive sense of the
reality of this vanishing phantasmagoria. It is nothing. It is like a mirage on the desert. This is the
way the wise philosopher and the wise Vedantin relates oneself to this outer universe of names and
forms.
What should be your subjective relationship with the third factor, your own psyche, your
own self, your own being? In one word: self-mastery. You must be in control. You must control
your senses and sense-appetites. You must subdue your mind and its emotions, sentiments and the
wild dance of desires. You must subdue its uncontrollable sally into the unsubstantial future in the
form of imaginations and its absolutely futile sally into the past that has gone; it exists no more. To
be dominated by the past and to be enslaved by the future is the greatest misfortune, greatest folly.
Therefore, you must be in control. You must relate yourself to yourself upon the principle of
self-possession, self-control, self-management. You must control the senses, subdue all passions
and conquer the mind. You must be in charge and not allow the mind, desires, thoughts, emotions,
sentiments, memories, imaginations to take charge of you, make a plaything of you, make you
dance to their tune, make you a helpless, pitiable creature at their mercy. Never, never, never!
So, the one principle upon which you relate yourself to yourself, to your own subjective
inner being, is discipline, self-control, conquest of the mind, subdual of all passions, control of all
the senses and sense-appetites. You must be in charge. You must be the master here, not a slave.

Now we come to the fourth factor: the Supreme Being. What should be the principle or the
pattern of your relationship? There is only one way: to love God with all your heart, with all your
mind, with all your soul—deep devotion, boundless love, bhakti and prema. We are here only in
order to love God, adore the Supreme Being, to worship the Supreme Being with deep devotion and
boundless love.
That should be heavenly manna to us in this essenceless, sparse, dry world; that should be
our nourishment, our sustenance, our life support—deep, deep devotion and boundless love,
limitless love. That should be our relationship with God. That is the greatest of all commandments.
And, by all means, that love can be extended to His creation, but first and foremost, we are born to
cherish unutterable devotion to God, unutterable love for our Maker.
We are part of Him. He is everything to us. Therefore, the only pattern of relating ourselves
to Him—only, no other—is deep devotion, sincere heart’s devotion, all our heart’s devotion, and
unutterable, boundless love. He is our very own; we belong to Him. He is our all in all. We are
inseparable parts of Him. Therefore, the entire love of our heart should be poured at His feet. That is
the one and only way to relate ourselves to the Supreme Being.
These then are the insights that beloved Holy Master has given to us for living our life in this
world created by God, amidst creatures created by Him, to make our life sublime, to lift up our life
from a humdrum, normal, prosaic level to a sublime, noble, spiritual level—divine level.
Thus indeed relate yourself through self-mastery, deep devotion, compassion and the eyes
of wisdom: self-control in relation to yourself; deepest devotion and highest love in relation to God;
total kindness, compassion, sympathy and selfless desire to serve and benefit all creatures including
our fellow human beings; and, so that you cannot be diverted even one hair’s breadth from the great
goal of life, a relationship of wisdom and highest philosophical understanding in looking at this
world which is a myth—an appearance only, which has no reality—brahma satyam jagan-mithya
(Brahman alone is real, the world is unreal).