Radiant Atman, beloved children of Light. Blessed children of the Father, Mother, Universal; common parent of all existence, all life. You are part of that existence brought forth from the Unmanifest Universal Being. Therefore, you are part of that Being as children are part of their parents. You are part of that great manifestation that has come out of that supreme timeless, spaceless, transcendental, absolute Reality. You are part of this manifestation that is known as phenomenal existence, that is subject to the perception of the five senses, that is also a frame within which you are at this moment making your earth journey. It is a phase you have to pass through because you are there already, and you must pass through it with understanding. Then you will make it a gainful process, if you pass through it with a deeper understanding of why it has been given to you, to have been sent here, to be in this phenomenal appearance and to be made in it for sometime and go through it in it's various phases. If pondering this, you come to understand that this is not only something that has come to you and cannot be avoided, not only that it is necessary, but rather you need to understand that it is something very valuable and very important two... very valuable and very important--double two. When you come to understand it this way, then you will suddenly recognize it as a bestowal, something granted. It's a great large Heart, much love, much love, something granted, that is in the form of Grace Manifest,--Grace Manifest.
If very wealthy parents, multimillionaires send their children to the very best of the universities, top universities for studying and getting the best tuition, best environment, best training, evidently they do it, because they want their offspring not to just be literaturely learned and scholastic, they want their offspring to shine, to achieve, to be top scholars, golden crowned personalities in their own field of learning. It is with this intention they are willing and prepared to spend any money to get the best tuition for them, to send them to refresher courses, to top professors, and all that ... Why? Because they love them. Because they happen to be their children and because they happen to be their parents. They don't want them to opt for number two. They want to give them all, so they get their number one. And this you think is natural. This you can understand. The truth is, your father and mother are not merely multimillionaires or multibillionaires of inexhaustible wealth. No one can compare to your Father/Mother God--your parent God--illimitable wealth of the whole world that can never be exhausted. So, there you have as your parent, Father/Mother God whose wealth is illimitable. Nothing can compare to it, inexhaustible, illimitable. Naturally He can afford to do anything in order to make you become a top person in His creation. That is God's plan for each and every one of you who are present in this hall at this moment for this six day spiritual retreat from the 26th Dec. to 31st Dec., 1997 in this Holy Ashram of beloved and worshipful Master Gurudev Swami Sivananda. Believe me when I tell you that I'm not being poetical or fanciful, because I know that for each and everyone of you, God is focusing upon you with all His love and grace and with this one view that He wants to make out of you the supremest of human individuals on earth, on this planet earth, in this period.
Many horses run in a race, but it is the first one that crosses the winning line that gets acclaimed all over the world. Photographers throng around the horse, and the trainer, and the jockey, and then you have it all, media, the radio, all the TV stations and on all the TV screens, millions and millions of them in each home. Why? Because the horse out distanced all and came out to be the first. It is the horse of the year, super horse of the year, super horse. Yes! And the helper of the owner, the helper of the trainer, the helper of the jockey, ah, and those who bet upon him. I bet upon all of you, and God is your owner, your master, and your own life and your books are your trainers and you are the rider and the horse is what you call your life. The seat, support, of your life must take you to the winning point in a flash and you must come first and that is God's plan for you. Anyone may tell anything else, but I tell you this and I will keep on telling this and I shall have no reason to change. I will go on telling this as long as telling is good, because it is so. It happens to be so. Therefore, know that you are people of destiny. For each and everyone of you God plans that you should, as you move towards the conclusion of your present earth incarnation, you must be at the very top...at the very top. Each one must shine like a gem,...shine like a gem and God intends this. That is why God has brought you here. God has this plan for wherever you are. Right from your birth He has been working towards this. I know, because of this divine intention for you in your life, He has brought you here today. He has brought you here today and he has brought me also here today.
What I mean to say is.............. that I am here to tell you these things. It is because it is meant to be. You have to be told this at this point in time. You are here to obtain the supremest of all experiences, the greatest of all goals man can conceive of in life, an experience which is no less, no more than regaining your forgotten full divinity, total divinity, because you are of God. Every scripture says it in different ways: 'God created man in His image'. Then, as though it was not enough, God created you! Divinity in His likeness, because He does not have a physical image, He is not a corporeal being, so 'in His image' means like Him, or like God. So, likeness of God is your real nature. His divine breath is within you. You are a spiritual being and all the saints, all the illumined teachers, all the great masters, all the scriptures have been giving this call to mankind: 'Regain your lost status'.
This is your birthright. You're meant for this. Let me tell you, you are made for perfection. Your presence here today proves positively that you are made for perfection. Otherwise, you will have arranged a Christmas vacation with your family or your friends or some group, having late cocktail parties and having late night dancing and skiing down some mountain, and God knows what all, during this Christmas/New Year period. Bearing up with the cold and little inconveniences you had the urge to come and participate in something which is other than the secular field of your being, something which is different. That in itself shows, that in itself is a proof that you are meant for something greater, something higher. I only will tell you, you are not merely meant for something high, something great, you are meant for the greatest, you are meant for the highest, no less than attaining God experience. Once again, regaining your status as part and parcel of God, one with God. One with God--Divinity. Become to merge in Him as a river when it reaches the ocean. As long as it has not reached the ocean, even at the point of entry when it has not attained the ocean, it is the river and the ocean is the ocean. Once it has reached and entered and merged into the ocean then its riverness is no longer there. It loses its riverness and there is only ocean. There is only ocean. What greater good fortune can there be to the river than to become ocean?
What greater good fortune can there be to an individual soul to regain once again the supreme blessed experience of its spiritual divine oneness with the Universal Soul that is the source, origin, eternal abode as Father-Mother-Friend-Relative, Wealth, Wisdom, everything. That means everything. You are headed Godward, and this retreat as such has picked souls aspiring to attain that. No matter what your opinion about yourself at this moment may be, it does not alter the fact and the truth, you are meant for the highest. You are meant for the supremest experience. This experience is already inherent in you and each and everyone of you have got full potential, ability, capacity and full potential to attain this supernal experience. Shine like God, shine like Divinities on earth. Full potential is there. Put it first. See this full potential as part of your heritage, and put forth the necessary effort to bring out the divinity and shine within. You call it Sadhana, you call it Abhyasa, you call it Spiritual Practice, you call it Discipline, you call it Yoga, you call it Devotion, you call it Prayer, you call it Meditation, you call it Vedanta, and Upanishadic discourses. Call it what you will, these are all so many modes and methods of attaining to that great Divine Experience.
See,--what a great blessedness to be patient at the ways of life, so that you have this aspiration, have this superior knowledge. That is great! All this yearning, and you have the know how for it through various agencies. God bless you all. God bless you all to recognize this truth. God bless you all to live on the basis of this truth. God bless you all to realize that no matter what obstacles may come, what difficulties may arise, what complications, everything is necessary to overcome, to strengthen you, give you endurance, give you new sight, insight, and to tap into the inner resources to overcome and face all things, to attain victory. You are born to attain victory. In spite of all these, go straight to the goal. These things that come are outer, as well as inner. You have all the capacity to overcome the inner as well as the outer and victory is certain for you. Not in the distant past. Not in the distant future, or some other life after death. No, in this very life, in this very body, in this very incarnation. In this very time of existence, seek the Eternal. Unfold and put forth the divine perfection within you. That is the serious business of life. All other things are secondary. All other things are minor and secondary. Give top priority to this. Neglect not earthly affairs. Give them their due, but neglect not THIS! If you neglect THIS, everything is finished, there is nothing left for you. Only mere existing. THIS is Life. Other things are earthly existence. Making a living is necessary, but it is not the purpose, for you have incarnated here as divinities on earth, as parts of God.
God bless you all. Never, never forget a single word that has been uttered now. These words do not belong to me. They belong to you. They come from God. They come from the Holy Master. They come from all the prophets, sages, and saints from far away ancient times: Upanishadic sages, seers, the perfected Masters, from Zoroaster, from Moses, from Laotse, from Buddha, from Jesus, from Mohammed, and the ten Sikh Gurus. Whatever has been said and given, it comes from all of them. Not one single word, or letter of the alphabet belongs to this being through whom these have been uttered. They have been sent, and you have received it. No matter to whom it has been given, to have received it is your blessedness. Hold this treasure and crown yourself with eternal golden glory.
