"Spirituality is the science and the art of remembrance."
The mind is the thing that troubles all of us, now going this way and now that way, wandering where it will. But we should not be sorry for this, because without this wandering of the mind there would have been no evolution. It is the wandering mind that makes evolution possible. So the mind must be there, but its working must be regulated. But it must not be forced or blocked, as that will not help us. Only, we must give the mind work, to keep it occupied, so that it does not wander. And what is the best thing the mind can be occupied with? It is the thought of the Divine. When it constantly thinks of the Divine, then we have what in our Sanstha (system) we call Constant Remembrance.
What is Constant Remembrance?
Apart from meditation, we need other processes like cleaning and constant remembrance, to make it possible that meditation succeeds, eventually, in our plunging into ourselves, and finding out that my Self is much more immense than any cosmic universe, or super-cosmic universe outside me. The cleaning removes what I have created for myself as samskaras (impressions), which have been pulling me and pulling me here and there, and makes me now do things by myself. Constant remembrance is to keep the mind employed so that it doesn't wander.
The method for cultivating constant remembrance is to think with firm conviction during your leisure hours, whether in the office or at home, in the street or in the market, that God is pervading all over and everywhere and you are thinking of Him. Try to remain in the same thought as long as you can.
We must remain in touch with the idea of God in all phases of our mental and physical activities. It can be easily accomplished if we treat all our actions and work to be a part of divine duty, entrusted to us by the Great Master whom we are to serve as best we can.
How Will Constant Remembrance Get Established?
We have meditation at the first step; through meditation we are reminded of our goal, because we meditate on the Divine Light in the heart. The more we meditate, the more the remembrance of what my Master calls the Original Home is reinforced and the reinforcement of that memory creates a longing in us to go back to that home. So meditation essentially is a technique to create a remembrance of what we come from, where we have descended from - our Home. So remembrance is the result of meditation. Now this remembrance itself has to be reinforced in the sense that from a spasmodic or an occasional remembrance of the Home, one must have it in a constant way present, ever-present in one's mind, which becomes Constant Remembrance.
The Efficacy of Constant Remembrance
What you have done in the past, you cannot change, absolutely. It is finished. But I have a right to change my life in such a way that the past has no effect upon me - through cleaning, through meditation. Cleaning gets rid of the past, meditation creates the future, remembrance now prevents me from indulging myself in my fancies. In His remembrance what I do is always right.
When you are in Constant Remembrance, you are only with the Beloved, and nobody else. Not even in your thought, because all mischief begins with the thought. So, when the thought is regulated and directed towards the Beloved, it is like floating on the river - no right, no left. I am following Him whom I love. He cannot mislead me, because His interest is in me, in my growth, and in my evolution.
So, attach your mind, your thought, to that which is eternal and unchanging, which is so captivating, so beautiful, so brilliant - I mean it is an embodiment of every virtue, beauty, blessing that you can think of - then your mind cannot stray from that Constant Remembrance.
(Excerpts from the writings of Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur; and Shri P. Rajagopalachari of Chennai.)
Aphorisms
Constant remembrance does not mean excluding everything else but that the remembrance should form a sort of substratum on which activities take place.
When you will reach the state of constant remembrance you will have no problems with your past - because you will live in the present.
Constant remembrance doesn't mean forgetting everything else and giving up the worldly life. Spirituality is not an escape from worldly life, nor should it ever be so. Rightly practised, constant remembrance should become the substratum of our twenty-four hour daily activities.
You are feeling lonely. This is the time to practise constant remembrance and if you do this successfully, you will understand that you are never alone.
Forget all these attitudes about yourself and stick to constant remembrance which will take your attention away from yourself.
The more you are able to be in constant remembrance, the less you will be able to worry.
You should not worry about what other people think, nor should you have the fear of being exploited. The more you are in constant remembrance, the more you will be insulated from other external influences including adverse emotion of other human beings.
We have to forget ourselves; we have to forget our self-esteem; we have to forget that we have any personality that can be damaged. If we can be immersed in His remembrance, then we have no time, no possibility even, to think of ourselves, and of what is happening to us. That is the only thing that puts an armour - a spiritual armour - around us, and makes us impervious to the outer world, good, bad or indifferent! This, then, is the marvellous efficacy of constant remembrance.
(Excerpts from The Spider's Web, Vol. 1, Shri P. Rajagopalachari)
