God and Myself

Good evening. Sisters and brothers, let us know that good morning is God's morning, and good evening is God's evening. Good day is man's day, and good night is man's night. God's morning and evening say to I man, "We do nothing but think of you." Man's day and night say to God, 'We can do nothing but pray to you."

God and myself. God is my Father. God is my Mother. This is what I know. Also, I always know what to do.

When I say I know what to do, I am afraid you will misunderstand me. There is every possibility that you will doubt my sincerity.

Let me try to defend myself. Let me tell you my inmost secret: "I know what to do, precisely because God does it for me." You may then ask me why God does everything for me and not for you. If such is the case, God is unmistakably partial. To be sure, God is not partial. He is anything but that.

I know what to do, for God does it for me. I know that I do nothing and can do nothing. God is the Doer. God is the Action. God is the Fruit thereof. My life is an Eternal Experience of God.

Unfortunately there is a slight difference between your approach to God and my approach to God. Do you remember what the Son of God said to humanity? He said, "I and my Father are one." I believe in the Son of God. I try to live this truth. I also believe in our Vedic seers of the hoary past. They said, "Brahmasmi"-"I am the Brahman. I am the One without a second." I also have implicit faith in Sri Krishna's teaching, which I have learned from his Gita, the Song Transcendental: "A man is made by his faith. Whatever his faith is, so is he."

I know that God can be seen. I know that God can be felt. I know that God can be realised. I know that each human being, with no exception, will grow into God's Transcendental Vision and His Reality Absolute.

You are apt to cherish a few striking ideas in the inmost recesses of your heart. First of all, you get joy in telling the world that there is no God. There can be no such thing as God. Even when you feel that there is a God, you tell your near and dear ones that God is for them and for others, but not for you. With all the ignorance at your command, you proclaim that God does not care for you. You feel that God is terribly angry with you, for ten years ago you told a fatal lie, or deceived someone in the street. Poor God, as if He has nothing else to do than to get angry with you and punish you mercilessly.

Believe it or not, I tell you that God has many, many significant things to do with your life. To you, your life is nothing, a perfect zero. To God, your life is everything-to be precise, His everything. You are His unparalleled Pride. You are His only Dream. You are His only Reality. With you He sings the Song of Immortality. In you He sees the embodiment of His Existence-Consciousness Bliss. For you, only for you, He exists through Eternity. He molds you. He shapes you. He guides you. He transforms you into His very Image, His Life of the ever transcending Beyond.

Dear students, dear professors, dear sisters and brothers, you are now in the same boat as I. Together let us sing: "I know what to do, for God does it for me."

Let me sing one more song. And I do hope that you all will learn it soon. This song tells me what to say and what to aspire for:

Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.

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March 26th, 1969
Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.