God, Divine love and what our soul is seeking for
 |
| As you know Him, you will find Him: Devotional meditation in the raganuga bhakti tradition of Barsana Dham |
We are going to listen about God, Divine love and what our soul is seeking for. The word God is very common. Everyone knows this particular word. But what is meant by the word God? Seldom people know. There is a verse in the Vedas, "As you know Him, you find Him." If you don’t have Him, it means you don’t know Him. It means knowing and finding is simultaneous.
What is the definition of God in our minds? If you look through the books available nowadays on spiritualism, Divine philosophy, God or meditation, you’ll find that the definition of God has changed a lot from what it was hundreds and thousands of years ago. In those days, God was only absolute Divine love, but now the definition has changed and people think only in psychic terms. Anything which is a little different from what we normally experience, slightly superior, or abnormal, we label as "G-o-d," God.
 |
| Swami Prakashanand Saraswati speaks on the philosophy of God realization based on the teachings of saints and scripture |
Is this the God of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu? Is this the God of Gita? Is this the God of the Vedas? You all have come here to listen to something about God, and I am here to speak on God. But what I think about God is in my mind, what you think about God is in your mind are two different things. So the question we have to answer first is: what is God? Unless this is understand, there cannot be a way or a devotion or a meditation for God realization.
Say for instance you are want to meet someone but you don’t have his address. You only know that person lives in Los Angeles. You fly from New York and arrive at the to Los Angeles airport and now you want to find the person. It is such a big town, miles and miles across. Could you find that person’s house out of millions of houses? You know he is there somewhere, but it would be impossible to find him. Even if you devoted your whole life to this search, you would not find him. You may by chance find something else, but there is no possibility of finding your friend. You must know the exact address of that person, then you can reach him.
 |
| At Barsana Dham, under the guidence of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, we worship and adore the supreme form of God, Radha Krishn in the raganuga bhakti style |
Similarly, unless you know the exact definition of God, the exact form of God, the exact path of God realization, only then can you exactly proceed on the path. Otherwise, there is no possibility. You may spend your whole life and other lifetimes in this search, but you will realize this when it is too late. What will you realize? You started on some path. You believed it was a path towards God. You followed it, but after 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years you began to experience that you are getting nowhere. Instead, you feel more attraction towards world than God, and now it is too late to change your path.
Unless you know the exact definition of God, the exact form of God, the exact path of God realization, only then can you exactly proceed on the path
- Swami Prakashanand Saraswati
So it is very important to know what is the actual definition of God. Who can tell you this? This is the greatest question. There are millions of spiritual missions all over the world. In every country there are hundreds and hundreds of missions related to God. They will confuse you more. How are you going to find out? If this problem could be solved, then at least a major problem would be solved. For this, I can only suggest that you know there have been Divine descensions on this earth of God and Divine personalities or Saints sent by God to propagate His mission. They may not be in thousands or hundreds, still they are here. In India, they are in thousands, and we have a big history about Divine personalities. Those Divine personalities experienced God. They were one with God. They propagated only God’s love, so their writings can guide you a little towards understanding what is the path to God.
(Text and graphics used with permission from Swami Prakashanand Saraswati @ 2002-2009. All rights reserved.)