THE FIRST STEP

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

30. THE FIRST STEP
What should God mean to each and every one of us? What is our relationship with God and
God’s relationship with us? Scriptures tell us that He is the whole and we are a part. Being
all-pervading and indwelling, He is our constant companion. He is our lifelong companion from the
moment we draw our first breath until our last breath.
You are never alone. If at all anyone is constantly with you, it is that Being who is called
God. He is your lifelong, constant, closest companion. He is a sakshi, a constant silent witness.
All-knowing, He knows everything about you. He knows you best. He not only knows everything
about you and knows you best, He knows even more about you than you yourself know.
Much about yourself is hidden within your mind, memory and subconscious. It is all dark to
you; you just do not know. Sometimes, when you suddenly know, you are taken by surprise: “What!
Can such a thing be within me? Can such a thing come from within me?” You are taken aback.
Because, your interior is mostly in the dark. You don’t know; whereas, He knows. There is nothing
that He doesn’t know.
He knows you totally, and He also tolerates you totally, with all your shortcomings,
minus-points, drawbacks, imperfections and insufficiencies. He is the most tolerant of all beings.
He is an impartial dispenser of the results of our actions. He Himself is the originator of the law, but
He is neither a punisher nor a rewarder. The law fulfils itself.
And what is amazing about Him is that not only does He know all your minus points and
tolerate them, He even goes to the extent of not minding them, not counting them against
you—simply brushing them aside. Whereas He is keenly aware of all your plus points. He notes
them all, takes count of them. They weigh with Him, whereas the minus points do not weigh with
Him. He leaves them to us saying that they are our problem—let them solve it.
But, if you turn to Him for help in solving the problem, He is ever ready. Not only is He your
constant companion, your silent, ever-patient, ever-tolerant witness, knowing more about you than
you yourself know, but He is also your guide, friend and philosopher. He wants to guide you in the
right direction. If you will ask Him, turn to Him, listen to Him, He is your greatest friend. He gives
you the light of higher understanding.
And what is more, He is the helper of the helpless, ever ready to help if you but turn to Him.
Many a times, even if you don’t turn to Him, He comes to your help in the form of seeming
difficulties, in the form of seeming adverse factors. He comes. His blessings come in disguise. Later
on you understand: “What a great blessing that adverse factor was. I asked what is God doing to me,
and all the while I did not know that He was trying to help me.”
He never abandons the helpless. He never turns away one who approaches Him for help. He
is never deaf to our prayers—ever listening to our prayers, ever ready to help, giving us what we
seek. He is, therefore, more than a mere lifelong companion. He is a very helpful companion, a very
compassionate, understanding and sympathetic companion. All that and more. He confers upon us
the highest blessedness.

But He wants us to take the first step towards Him. And the first step towards Him is to
recognise that our heart is His dwelling place and that our body is His moving temple. Thus we must
keep it worthy, clean, pure. The poet, Rabindranath Tagore, says: “O God, Thou who are the life of
my life, I shall ever keep my body pure, knowing that Thy living touch is upon all my limbs. I shall
ever keep my heart pure knowing that it is Your royal throne within this body temple.”
This then is His closeness, and knowing this we keep our heart pure. Knowing this we keep
out from it all that is contrary to His nature, all that is undivine, all that is unspiritual, not sattvic, not
holy and sacred. We say: “No, I shall not defile this divine abode of His by allowing anything that is
not of the highest quality. For it is my privilege to give Him a worthy place. It is my humble
privilege to constantly keep it holy, clean and pure by cleansing it every day, every moment of my
life. What am I? What is He? And yet He dwells in me. What a great privilege, great blessedness.
What have I done to qualify for this?”
Thus, filled with a sense of awe and gratitude, one does everything possible to keep the
inner temple, the sanctum sanctorum, holy, clean and pure. And when, through constant effort and
sincerity, through earnestness and great aspiration, the individual devotee, bhakta, sadhaka, yogi,
works to keep the heart pure, then in that pure heart the recognition of God’s great worth dawns.
Only a pure heart can recognise the great worth of God, how everything is petty, worthless,
before this great One. Then dawns dispassion: “What folly I have been engaged in all these years.
God knows for how many births I have been running after these worthless things. What a great
folly! Never anymore! Enough!” Thus you turn away from all that is unworthy and seek only Him.
So, purification of the heart gives place to devotion and renunciation. And through renunciation one
attains the great peace which is God. Immortality comes only through renunciation.
God works by manifesting within us a keen longing for purity. Through purity comes
devotion and through devotion comes dispassion, vairagya. Through dispassion, through
renunciation, comes the Ultimate. One attains immortality and the peace that passeth
understanding.
Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: “I’m the indwelling Principle, O Arjuna. I reside in the hearts
of all beings.” “I am the eternal within the non-eternal.” “Yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam cha
mayi pasyati; tasyaham na pranasyami sa cha me na pranasyati (He who sees Me everywhere and
sees everything in Me, he never becomes separated from Me, nor do I become separated from
him).”
These are all direct assertions. There is no intricate philosophy, no concealed or indirect
meaning. No one can fail to easily grasp the great truth proclaimed, the central fact of God and His
creation, which has been declared so that you can make it the basis of your view of life.
Why is it that though this truth is being read a thousand times, we still do not succeed in
maintaining this vision? The answer to this question is given right at the beginning of the eleventh
chapter of the Gita. “Arjuna, It is subtler than the subtlest, the subtlest of all things. Your vision is
gross.”

“Why is my vision gross?” This is the unasked question of Arjuna. Your vision is gross,
because you perceive through a heart where there is not the purity of subtlety or the subtlety of
purity. Your vision is gross because you perceive and interpret through a mind which itself is gross.
It is not pure, sattvic, spiritual; it is not divine. Purity has not been consciously cultivated.
“If the heart and mind are pure, you will see Me.” When the heart is pure and filled with
light, God is perceived everywhere through human sight. God dwells in a pure heart and mind.
Therefore, make yourself radiantly pure, immaculate. That is the key. That is the secret.