God will never force you to take up
a particular name and form of the Lord.
The Lord has a million names and a million forms,
and He wants that faith and attachment should be evoked
in you by any one of them, as you recite the Names or contemplate the Forms.
That is why there is a string of 1008 names
to use for worship; the devotee might be drawn closer
to the Lord while any one name is being repeated,
however distracted or inattentive he might be during the rest of the list.
Suggestion is this:
just as you attend to the needs of the body,
feeding it three times a day, in order to keep
it in good running condition, so too, spend
some time regularly everyday to keep your
Inner Consciousness also in good trim.
Spend one hour in the morning,
another at night and a third in
the early hours of the dawn, for recitation
of the Name and meditation on the Lord.
You will find great peace descending
on you and great new sources of strength
welling up within you as you progress in this spiritual quest.
After some time, the mind will dwell on
the Name wherever you are and whatever
you are engaged in; and then, peace and joy will be your inseparable companions.
Like the coldness of the atmosphere
which freezes the water, the compelling agony
of the devotee's heart solidifies the Formless absolute
into the shape and attitude that are yearned for;
for, "as felt, so fashioned." He bows to your will,
He carries your burden, provided you trust Him with it.
divinely sent
