Spirituality is in our blood, we have natural attraction to God; we just need to develop it, writesAJIT KUMAR BISHNOI
I have written several times about the various benefits of making a connection with God. And I have expressed my delight in having done so. In this article, I am going into the details about when should this connection be made and how. let me take up first the timing for doing so. The answer is now, this moment. But this is not possible for everyone. Shankaracharya became a sanyasi when he was only five years old. But not many Shankaracharyas are born; he was a rare personality; he brought God realisation from his previous births.
Even in families of yogis, the children born begin to pick up devotion to God slowly, given their company. For others, who are not so blessed, it is a difficult task because they have to be first convinced that God exists and it is advantageous to be linked to him.
Fortunately in India, spirituality is in our blood. We have natural attraction to God; we just need to develop it. It is not surprising that people here seek God’s help in two most common ways — when in trouble and when needing something. In the Bhagavad Gita, lord Krishna has referred to them asartah and artharthi. There are two other categories, that also connect with God — jigyasu and gyani. Jigyasu is the one who seeks to know about God and makes serious attempts to do so. Gyani has prior knowledge/realisation about God and wishes to further cement it. lord Krishna though commends all, he calls persons of the last category wise and specifically mentions that they are very dear to him.
Therefore, we should be in the gyani category as early as possible. However, as stated earlier, it is not that simple. Varnashram system recommends that one should not delay it beyond the age of 50. I would go even further and recommend that one does so even earlier, ie in good times because that is most conducive for making such a connection.
Now I will go into the details about how to go about it. To connect with God, we must know where God is. It is not too difficult because God is omnipresent. However, he is present everywhere in his unmanifest form. And lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita that the goal of unmanifest is achieved by great exertion by the embodied beings. (12.5) There are good reasons for it. The unmanifest form is beyond our sensory perception; neither can we see God nor touch him nor hear him. like hearing sound waves, which we can only within a certain range, we, human beings, have not been given the faculty to sense the God’s presence through our bodily senses.
Then, how does one connect with GodIJ lord Krishna guides in the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. He wants us to worship his manifest forms. These manifest forms are those when God has incarnated. And there are several such as lord Ramachandra and lord Krishna. Additionally, God states that he is lord Shiva himself.
Now our job is simple. Either we can worship God in his deity form or photo form, both of these forms are visible to us. The only other requirement is to have faith because that is what connects. Why do people go to Tirupati and stand in long queues all day to have darshan of the deityIJ Because they have faith that the deity is God himself, which is true because God is present in the deity.
Personally, my preference is for God’s photo forms, which I can keep in my room. Yes, we have a pooja ghar in our home where we have God in his deity form, but my connection with God is continuously reinforced essentially by these photos. I thank God that I am so blessed. These manifest forms of God open other avenues of connecting with God, such as remembering him, talking about him, chanting his names or aum, hearing about him, singing bhajans, preaching about God, meditating upon him, praying to him, etc. One has many options to choose from.
Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com