Knowing, Seeing and Becoming One with the Divinity

What is the reason for such great joy? Let us recapitulate the process. First you came to know that the particular fruit you love had become available in the bazaar. That is knowing. After hearing about it, you didn't get discouraged but developed the intense desire to get them and enjoy them. You went to the bazaar with great intensity of desire, yearning to see the fruits there. Finally, you found them and got a good look at those fruits. That is the stage of seeing. After seeing the fruit, you acquired them and ate them. This is the stage of entering into and becoming one with the object of your desire.

Do you have such intense feelings for God? That is the one desire you really should develop. After listening to a number of discourses, after reading many scriptures, after knowing that God exists and after having spent much time in worshipping him, you will have to develop a strong yearning to see him; otherwise, all your efforts will be in vain. You have to fervently strive, making an all-out effort to get a direct vision of the Lord.

A student, after having entered a particular grade and spent the year studying the subjects at that level, will not get any satisfaction in remaining in that grade for the next year. He will aspire to progress to a higher grade. If a student is in the same class for two years he develops a sense of despair and despondency. Not only does he get discouraged but he is also put through a lot of ridicule by his fellow-students. In the same way, you will be poorer in the eyes of other devotees if you continuously remain in the first stages of dualistic worship, without moving on in your spiritual development. Other devotees will say, "Look at this person. He has been attending so many discourses over a long period of time and he's read all the great scriptures, but what is the use of all that? There doesn't seem to be any progress in him."

This unfortunate process of remaining stuck in the first stage, is the characteristic feature of the slothful quality of inertia and laziness. You have to remove this quality and go on from the dualistic state to the next state of internalizing the Lord. In this state, through the continuous contemplation of the Divinity inside, you try to gain a direct vision of God in the particular form you choose. With intense desire you will get that coveted chance to see the Lord, converse with him and serve him.