CHANT OF GOD NAME

Can devotion to the Supreme be achieved while still attached to worldly desires? Without giving up such attachments, claiming “I am a devotee” is incorrect. Where there are worldly desires, there is no devotion, and where there is true devotion, worldly desires cannot exist.
To be a devotee means to belong entirely to God. Without surrendering to Him, one cannot truly become His. As long as pride remains, true devotion is not possible.
First, we must learn how to eliminate this pride and strive to act accordingly. In worldly life, we behave with the attitude, “Whatever I decide will happen.”
Just recently, someone came to see me; looking at them, anyone could tell they had only a few days left to live. Yet they kept saying, “I will do this, I will accomplish that.” Even at the very edge of life, what immense pride remained!
That is why I say: abandon the thought “I am the doer,” and instead keep the feeling that everything happens by His will, and as long as He wishes, He gets it done through us.
When one lives with such an attitude, attachment to worldly desires naturally begins to fade away.
Without dissolving the feeling of “I am the doer,” true spiritual progress is impossible.

The Vedas state that every action leads to a corresponding result. Some people therefore argue that the Vedas encourage worldly attachments. But this is not so — it is like when elders give children a sweet along with medicine, just to make them accept it.
Similarly, encouraging action with the hope of reward is meant to get a person started on the path.
Once action begins, attachment to the reward gradually diminishes.
Eventually, pride fades, and one begins to feel that “I am not the doer; He alone acts through me.”
At that point, whatever actions one performs are naturally offered to God.
In times of difficulty, we often vow offerings to God, and if things don’t turn out as we wished, we conclude, “There’s no point in trusting God.”
But can anyone deceive God?
He knows, “While this person was comfortable, they did not even remember Me; and now they call out desperately!”
In truth, what have we really done to deserve His immediate grace?
Thus, one should never attempt to deceive God — because in doing so, we only deceive ourselves.
We put in immense effort for worldly affairs every day, but do we dedicate even an hour to God? One must ask themselves this sincerely.