We have seen in our life ups and downs, disappointments, happiness, good times, bad times. Have we ever been contented in our life? Sometimes, for a short while, but not for a long time. That's the nature of the world. Divine happiness is not a feature of this world. We have to decide to find Divine love from God, not from the enjoyments of the world. When we seek Divine love from God rather than material love from the objects of our senses, we are called a seeker of God.
Now the question comes: What is the path to God? If God is the first step, now we are ready to follow the path to God.
Through the examples in our scriptures and through the writings of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati we learn that the supreme absolute Bliss is Shree Krishn Himself. During the time of Krishn all the Gods and Goddesses came to have His darshan, to see His leelas and to have His blessings. Even Mahalakchmi came to Braj and stayed there forever, serving Krishn by giving prosperity in the country. They all served Krishn. It means that Krishn love is so sweet, it is desired even by Divine Gods and Goddesses.
A devotee feels, "Oh, my supreme beloved Radha and Krishn, please give me Your Divine love." That is the only thing you have to do. That is the path. There is no other path. This has been said in may ways, prappati by Ramanujacharya, sharanagati by Shankaracharya and in the Gita, pushti by Vallabhacharya, raganuga bhakti by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They are all the same: asking earnestly, wholeheartedly, unquestioningly, with full confidence. When you do this 100%, you will be instantly God realized, take it for a fact, instantly.
Goswami has said this beautifully in a half-chaupai: Jasu naam sumirat ik bara, utarahin nar bhav sindhu apara. Ik bar - only once. To make that happen, you have to do something. That doing might take a long time: a few months, few years, a few lifetimes, many lifetimes. It depends on you. This is called bhakti. So, there is only one path to God realization and it is called bhakti. Just ask Him. In Sanskrit, bhakti means bhaj sevayam, to submit yourself unconditionally. Unconditional selfless submission. That has to be 100%. To make it happen 100%, you have to do something that is suited to your nature. Now came back to your self again.
What do you like? You like to eat delicious food. Make nice food and offer it to Radha Krishn and eat it. You like music. No problem, listen to the chanting. Your mind can never stay idle. No problem, think of the leelas of Radha Krishn, their pastimes, how He played with the Gopis, how He loved Mother Yashoda, how His playmates loved and teased him. He has uncountable leelas that suit your nature. You can't sit and do thoughtless contemplation. Impossible. Try it and you will fail. It has been seen that some people have done this kind of meditation for their whole life. In the end they failed because they couldn't do it. Our mind has a nature of being fickle. Arjun also had this problem. Chanchalum hi manah Krishn... Krishn said, "Arjun, you are perfectly alright." Asanshaya, No doubt about it, the mind is absolutely fickle. It can't be controlled except through abhyasen and vairagya. Abhyas means doing bhakti and vairagyen means thinking, believing that this world is where you live, but it isn't yours forever. This means thinking that worldly entertainments and enjoyments are only physical. They don't relate to our soul. Only God relates to our soul. Only He is truly ours; the world is not ours.
Shree Swamiji says that we shouldn't be fully attached in the world in the belief that it is the only place to find happiness. Instead, we should think it's just a place to live. This is called renunciation. Then keep our mind busy in devotion, thinking of God, Radha Krishn and their leelas. This is the easiest path to follow for any soul. This is the path of devotion, bhakti, divine love consciousness, divine love devotion, karm yog - we can call it whatever we like.
It is a very simple path. We don't have to study big huge books because our scriptures are so extensive, even a few lifetimes is not enough to study all of them. But, they all come to the same conclusion.
So, in fact, according to Shree Swamiji, the path of receiving Krishn love, Krishn's vision, is only the one that Krishn Himself has said: dharmo yasyam madatmakah. Krishn said to Uddhao, "In the Vedas, I mention the path to attain Me. I mention only one path and that is bhakti. Through bhakti any soul can attain Me. Any kind of soul. If he is a very fallen soul - it doesn't matter. If he is a very highly evolved soul - it doesn't matter. Whoever he is, if he does bhakti to Me, he can attain Me. But that bhakti should be unconditional. Bhakti means loving Krishn. The word bhakti comes from bhaj sevayam dhatu which means to just surrender, submit without any condition, just pure love. Love Him, and He will give Himself to you, but that love should be unconditional.
When there is some hope, we begin to love someone. This is just understanding. So, Krishn can give us everything, all that is in our best interest. So if we think that we really could receive Krishn love in this lifetime, we could love Him very easily. Our world will remain as it is. Don't reduce anything, just add more of Krishn love. Just start loving Krishn without any speculation. Just start loving. Start loving Him with a complete hope that we can receive His vision and hope. Then slowly our love in the world will decrease. Our attachments will slowly decrease automatically withoute any further effort. This is the second step of devotion. That's called bhakti, true bhakti. And that takes us up to God realization; first we develop understanding , and then step into devotion. There is no other path, no other steps, it is just straight going towards God.
Some people might question that they are very busy in the world; how can they spare time for God's devotion? No matter how busy we are, we can sit for a lot of time if we want. We waste time unnecessarily, hours and hours and hours. How much hard intellectual work do we do every day? Hardly 5-6 hours maximum. We go to office for 8 - 10 hours, but do we work for 10 hours continuously? No. There are gaps in between. So we waste lots of time. So start with 10, 30, 45 minutes morning and evening and just think of loving Krishn and Radha. So just develop our love for Radha Krishn, that is bhakti, that's devotion, that's the path. Whatever feelings we have for them, start with that.
Shree Swamiji attests that we should start our spiritual journey from today, right now - we should have the aim to attain Krishn in this lifetime. Krishn is our Divine beloved, He is our best friend. He is willing to Grace us; we simply have to open your heart and just come to Radha and Krishn. "Oh, my supreme beloved, I am Yours now. Please take me." That's the feeling. This feeling you have to develop. You can develop this feeling through study, chanting, listening. At our Barsana Dham ashram we have morning and evening sessions and we do namsankirtan, listening to the names and leelas of Radha Krishn will enhance our feelings for them.
In this way, through namsankirtan, pad sanskirtan, studying of such books that help you develop your faith in Radha Krishn, doing devotions regularly, you will find they are all helping you come close to Radha and Krishn, and you are having more contentment in your life than you had before. In this way, the path to God, Radha Krishn, is one, bhakti. The path is very simple. Anyone can follow it, anyone in the world. There is no restriction of caste, nationality, or health of any kind. This is a brief description of the path.
Excerpted and adapted from Speech P3-1A: "Material love and hate is not a reality; it is a mental illusion. Your soul is longing for Divine love. The three situations of peace, happiness and love." Copyright © 2009 Swami Prakashanand Saraswati.