How to Meditate on Shree Krishna Part 4 of 7
Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj
And you all know about navdha bhakti (nine kinds of devotion).
You also have to understand one more point. What is that? The soul of everything. What is it? Loving remembrance of God’s form. This is the very first, and also the very last: loving remembrance of God’s form. Some naive people say that because they haven’t seen God, their love for Him isn’t growing. Love for their mother, father, wife, or child grows quickly because they are in front of them; they are visible. Love grows quickly for what is visible.
“For that which is not visible, which is beyond the senses, how could you love Him? What does He look like? Whatever is written in books isn’t of much help. Remembrance is very difficult. Chanting is easy. Out of nine kinds of devotion, eight kinds are easy, but this remembrance is the most difficult!” People talk like this.
However, I say the opposite: there is no other devotion easier than loving remembrance. It is the easiest. Your father whom you have seen thousands of times, so now close your eyes and imagine his face. You can’t do it! Exactly imagine: his eyes are like this, his nose is like this, his mouth is like this, his ears are like this… just imagine these parts correctly. You can’t do it. No one can do it. If you can’t do it, you are wrong when you say,
“I am remembering my father.”
When you can’t even form a correct image of your father’s face, how are you remembering your father? You remembered his nose correctly, but couldn’t get his mouth right. If you remembered these two, then you forgot what his ears are like. You never look at your father so attentively. Even if you were able to form a correct image, it would only be after great effort and practice. If you desire to change his appearance, you can’t, because you have to remember him. If you change him even a little, he won’t be your father.
But there is no problem in remembering God’s form. God says,
“Whatever form you like, imagine Me like that.”
Whether you like big eyes or small eyes, blue eyes or black eyes, or a big long nose, whatever interests you, make My form accordingly. This is remembrance of God’s form. And everyone will imagine this differently. All rasik Saints have described God’s form differently. If there is oneness in their descriptions, it is that Krishna wears a peacock feather. All rasik Saints have described Krishna with a peacock feather. No one ever put a pigeon feather on Krishna!
But whatever Krishna’s form is, it cannot be the same for even two devotees. First, there is a difference in age. Someone likes Krishna of a very young age. He remembers Krishna of five years. Others remember Him as a baby, as a child, or as a teenage youth. They all worship Krishna of different ages. For this reason alone, there is a difference.
Then there is the color of His body. Someone likes a darker blue. Someone else may totally dislike that,
“Is dark blue some kind of color? It should be light blue!”
Everyone has their own liking. Just as in the world, you prefer certain saris. Like this, everyone has his own preferences, which are due to their sanskars (impressions) of uncountable previous births. They arise from one’s sanskars. For this reason, God gave us all this facility,
“My dear children, I have not kept exclusively one form. This way you are not faced with any problem. I have uncountable forms. Think of Me as a round stone, even this way you will find Me, just like the Gopis (cowherd maidens) found Me.”
We know that even the greatest yogis and sages cannot conceive God’s form. Why? Because the one who conceives the form is the mind, and the mind is material and God is Divine. How could a material mind do correct remembrance of God’s Divine body? It couldn’t even be imagined.
गो गोचर जहँ लगि मन जाइ । सो सब माया जानेहु भाई ।।
Go gochar jahaṁ lagi man jāī. So sab māyā jānehu bhāī.- Ramayan
In this way, the form of God imagined by the mind could only be material, no matter if done by a yogi, sage, or common laborer. Whatever the mind conceives is all material. Thus, whatever remembrance it does is all material. So who could do real remembrance? It is impossible.
Yet, by doing material remembrance, when your devotion becomes complete, when your loving attachment and surrender become 100%, then God will bestow on your mind and senses His swaroop-shakti (Divine power). This is called Divine sattva (pure mode). There is also a material sattva, but this sattva is Divine. When the mind receives this power, then it does true remembrance of God’s Divine form. Now true remembrance starts. So after God-realization, God’s true remembrance can happen. This is a simple thing to understand. But how will you do it before this? For this reason, God says,
“Before God-realization, I haven’t made any form that is difficult to conceive and expect you to remember Me like that.”
अनंत नाम रूप आया…
Anant nām roop āyā…“My names and forms are uncountable.”
Your imagined form would also be among these. Someone might say,
“I will make a form where God’s nose is in the back of His head.”
This form must also be among His uncountable forms! You may imagine this. When God appears for you, He will appear with a nose in the back of His head. But the bliss you experience from God won’t be either more or less than an artist who conceives an extremely beautiful form, or an illiterate person who meditates on a round stone. All are meditating correctly.
When a devotee becomes God-realized and receives the Divine vision,
चिदानंदमय देह तुम्हारी,...
Chidānandamaya deha tumhārī,...
he will see Krishna’s Divine form. Everyone will attain the same Divine Bliss.
Just think how causelessly Graceful He is! No one has said to God, “Maharaj, I can’t meditate on You. Please tell me what to do.”
Even before the creation of this universe, Krishna proclaimed His rule,
The Vedas say, “However you wish, form a feeling of loving relationship with Krishna and conceive His form. Krishna resides within your heart, noting your thoughts; thus, you will receive a true Divine consequence. When your devotion is complete, then your senses, mind and intellect - everything - will become Divine. Then, with your Divine senses and mind, you will perceive Krishna in His true, original Divine form.”
Source: Excerpt from the lecture published on Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat Philanthropy YouTube channel.