Shun
showiness and secure the pleasure of the Lord
Whatever gift you make, whatever
help you give to another, whatever effort you make by way of God-remembrance
and meditation on God will remain free from blemish only when you are no
longer actuated in the least by the motive of displaying it or giving publicity
to it.
A gift should be made for the benefit of the
individual whom you seek to benefit and for your own satisfaction; help should
be given to relieve the distress of the distressed as well as for your own
satisfaction. Even so remembrance of and meditation on God too should be carried
on for earning His pleasure as well as for securing your highest good. If,
however, the idea of making a public show of these activities of you’re ever
crosses your mind, you deviate from your goal. Then you fail to achieve real
success or see the real fruition of your efforts.
Display and publicity alone
become the goal of an activity which is carried on with the object of showing
or making it known to others. When others fail to see or know what you are
doing, you relax those activities of yours cease to be free from taint.
It is very essential to
remain honest to one’s own self. God can never be deceived. It is you who remain
deprived of the true reward of your activity or spiritual endeavour by
practising self-deception. Therefore what is desirable is that the gift
received by him is from you; or at least no one else should come to know of it.
Bear this in mind even while giving help to anyone; while the idea of showing
or making known to others what you do by way of worship of and meditation on
God should not be entertained on any account. These constitute your inner
wealth and should be constantly earned and accumulated within your heart. They should
be known to you and to your Deity alone; none else should have anything to do
with them.
 |
| Jagannath puri Images |
Even while contributing to
some public relief fund, take care to refrain
as far as possible from divulging your name. Even if you make your
contribution through some institution let not your name be given publicity as
far as possible. This will raise the value of your gift and render it extremely
pure.
Whatever you give belongs to
the Lord alone and the recipient of your gift too is none other than a
manifestation of the Lord. Therefore deem it your good fortune to be able to
offer unegoistically to the Lord what belongs to Him and make the gift only in
a spirit of offering to the Lord.
Gift and relief should be
given and worship of God and meditation on Him practised only to secure the
pleasure of the Lord. They are conducive to your good even if undertaken to
attract others’ notice or from any other good motive; but their real and
faultless character is brought out and their true reward in the shape of
God-Realization ensured only when they are practised secret and only for
earning the pleasure of the Lord.
- Jagannath puri Images
- Secure the pleasure of the God