Forms of Love for God By PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA An informal talk given at Self Realization Fellowsbip Unternational Headquarters ‘Those who forget God do not find real happiness. So when God takes possessions away from you, He is telling you not to become entangled in matter. He wants only to remind you to seek Him; because if you forget the Creator, everything will forsake you—all happiness and peace will fly away. The fulfillment of life's purpose really begins when the search for Him begins. ‘There are various relationships that can be developed between the devotee and God that characterize the divine search. This is not a generally accepted concept in the ‘West. But God has appeared to His devotees in numerous forms. >West. But God has appeared to His devotees in numerous forms. > You can look upon God as the Master and yourself as the servant—yet the inherent defect in this is that you are made in His image and are thus His divine son. One may even accept God as the Servant, for He is serving the deyo- tee in everything, He is the supreme Servant, tending to all needs of the universe. He showed the greatness of His humble servitude when He, in Jesus, washed the feet of the disciples. Another form of relationship with God is that of Father and son, Jesus had that relationship with God. But again, that relationship can be transposed with God as the Son and yourself as the fa~ ther or mother. A sainted devotee in India found God by looking upon Him as her son. One day the infant Lord Krishna, an avatar (divine incar- nation of the Infinite), prankishly stole some milk-curd cheese, filling his mouth with it. His mother Yasoda came running, scolding, “You will choke! Come here.” At last she caught him and put her finger in Krishna's mouth to make him open it. When he opened his mouth, Yasoda saw the whole universe within him. Quickly she turned away from the vision, desiring to know the Lord only in the form of her adorable baby. Then there is the love of the son for the Mother. That has becn my principal relationship. We are devoted to the father, but we love mother because her compassion for- gives us when the stem reasoning of the father will not. Mother's love is always forgiving. That is the unconditional love of God, the love of God incarnated in the mother’s heart. The Divine Mother-child relationship is so wonderful because no matter what you are, She always loves you. Never call yourself a sinner, for you are a child of God, aSEG SLUM Oe NT nT TEREST CEE MRCS net NE ne hoes TE. ee Nem child of the Divine Mother. And the Mother never forsakes you when you make mistakes, for She knows that then you need Her even more. She will help the repentant child to reform and to rectify its errors. ‘There is another relationship —God as the Beloved, you as the loved one. That is a very difficult conception, but some pure souls have succeeded, It is not a path for those who have not mastered body consciousness, because that re- lationship with God is nullified by any taint of carnal thought. To find God by that relationship is thus difficult, be- cause it demands only the purest love. hen you think of God as your Friend, that rela- tionship expresses the grandest form of love and devotion. Friendship is the touchstone by which we may know the purity of any relationship, human or divine. It has the sweetness of all forms of love without their contamination. In parental love there is a compulsion of nature; and in all other forms of human love there is some selfish compulsion—but not in true friendship. When you speak of a sibling and say, “He is my brother,” that means he is born of the same parents and you have to Jove him as such. But when you say of another, “He is my friend,” that means you offer to him your love that is pure and unconditional—that you have freely chosen to give your love to him. A friend may be like a father or a mother to us, or a faithful confidant and supporter. In all human relations God has tried to express His love for us. So look to Him as your Divine Friend, the one you freely choose to love uncondi- tionally and who loves you etemally. Such was the relation- ship between the devotee Arjuna and his intimate Divine Friend Lord Krishna, the avatar in whom Arjuna saw the In- finite incarnate. Through his devout, worshipful friendship, he received enlightenment and liberation from the Univer- sal Spirit as his Divine Friend Krishna. = n the friendship relationship with God, there is both de-1n the friendship relationship with God, there is both de- yotion and love: the reverence of worship and the con- summation of union. Love is complete surrender. Devo- tion says “I adore Thee’; love says “Thou and I are One.” Devotion is a deeply reverential admiration for God. It is characterized by an element of separation between the soul and Spirit. In love, there is a merging of the two into One. In de- votion, your desire is not to establish oneness with God, but to keep your separate identity for the joy of standing apart and worshiping the Object of your adoration. The attitude of devotion is, “I am Thy son, and Thou art my Father”; or, “I am Thy lover, and Thou art my Beloved”; or, “I am ‘Thy devotee, and Thou art my Lord.” In. this state, the devotee doesn’t want to say or feel, “Thou and I are One,” but rather, “I adore Thee.” Even though liberation has been attained, the devo- tee is free to retain his individuality in ‘order to enjoy, throughout this life and all eternity, the bliss of beholding God and worshiping Him with the offering of devotion. When love and devotion are combined, that is the supreme form of expression toward God. Along with the reverence of devotion and the surrender of love, there must also be knowledge and application of the law by which He can be known. If you follow the law of scientific yoga concentration and meditation, you learn how to rise above your flesh consciousness; then you will realize God and can go back to the Infinite. However, with- out love and devotion, the law alone is very exacting, But when with the faithful practice of the guru-given yoga tech- niques of God-realization, you can say with the fervor of your heart and soul, “God, You are my Divine Friend—my Divine Mother, my Divine Father’—His heart melts. These things that | am telling you are not from any text. These are wuths that I receive in my communion with God. Love and devotion for God is something I can talk about ll i a i athings that | am telling you are not from any text. These are wuths that I receive in my communion with God. Love and devotion for God is something I can talk about day and night and never end. It is something very intoxi- cating, very solacing. The Lord says, I can give you salva- tion if you make the effort; but I cannot give My love and devotion, for if | give that away I become poor.* This is the treasure of God, His very essence. It is so all-fulfilling; He has naught else of worth, in comparison, to give. He has, veritably, given Himself. od has given to you the blessedness of belonging to Him always. You have only to realize that. He feels insulted when you base your relationship with Him on prayers for money or fulfillment of material desires, Why make prosperity your utmost goal, for it will seek you when you seek God. There is not a need or wish that God hasn't satisfied for me. And I do not have to ask. You should pray only for one thing: that you may be with Him always. When you have prayed for that, you have prayed for every- thing else. ‘One great saint said, “He who seeks God is the clever- est of all persons,” because others seek God a little bit and then lapse into dependence on material things for their happiness, and instead they get sorrow and trouble. In God you will find everything that will make you lastingly happy. In seeking God, remember, there is one thing He lacks, one thing He is seeking from you: your love and devotion freely given to Him from your heart. When you are en- gaged in outer rituals and vocal prayer your mind cannot go deeper within, and your feelings will be restless. To reach God, your prayers must be interiorized with concentration and permeated with devotion. No matter how you try, with- “From an old Bengali chant, “Divine Mother's Song to the Devotee,” trans- lated and set to music by Paramahansa Yogananda in his Cosmic Chants (published by Self-Realization Fellowship), out devotion you are a poor, poor marksman.* But with de- votion, you have touched God; He will surely come to you. ee ee ee edout devotion you are a poor, poor marksman.* But with de- votion, you have touched God; He will surely come to you. od is not a respecter of persons as to their worldly ~ merits. Those who make the real effort within their hearts, they alone can find Him. Your highest duty is to seek God and to spread this message. For to give food to the hungry is good, to give strength to the weak is better, but to give God is the highest good. Every day, bring the word of Self-Realization to hungry souls. By your example, bring devotion for God to the hearts of those that you love. Meditate at home regularly in the way you have been taught. Before you begin meditation, prepare your con- sciousness with devotion, with the thought that God has ex- pressed Himself through all loves. His love is the reservoir, and all these forms of love are openings in that reservoir. So invoke the Divine Presence as “Heavenly Father, Mother, Friend, Beloved God.” ‘After you have meditated, tall with God. Take any as- pect of love you want and give devotion to God in that form. Again and again pray to Him and demand, “Never leave me, Father, Be with me always and always and always.” That is how my time is passed in great joy. In devotion is the con- junction of your feeling with intellectual and intuitional per- ception of God. Meditate at night; don’t go to bed until your heart is aflame with devotion. And every day be fishers of men, to establish His temple in the hearts of others. Life will be just a dream of happiness if you do this. “God; God; God; God. Be with us always.” a ‘Reference to Paramahansaji's prayer “Heavenly Hart, I hunted Thee in the forest of consciousness,” in Whispers from Eternity (published by Self Realization Fellowship).