What should we do when our mind wanders away when we are trying to meditate or perform the recitation of the Divine Name? Bhagawan explains with a brilliant example and lovingly implores us to persist in our Sadhana.
Let the mind run wherever it likes; just be careful not to follow it, seeking to discover where it is going! It will then wander about for some time as the fancy takes it; soon, getting tired and exhausted, it will come back to you in the end! It is like a little child that knows nothing. Since the mother is following it and calling it back, it gets the courage and confidence to run forward in any direction, but if the mother does not run behind the child and instead retraces her steps quietly, the child too, of its own accord, will run back to the mother! Do not care for the vagaries of the mind. Carry on remembrance and meditation of the name and form that you like best, and in the manner you are accustomed to. In this way, you will acquire one-pointedness (ekagrata); you will realise your heart’s desire.
– Dhyana Vahini, Ch 8.
How can we lead a life of divine contemplation even as we dispense our duties? Bhagawan lovingly coaches us, taking an example.
Do not give up your worldly duties, but do them with the name of God on your lips, inviting the grace of God on your heads. Do not involve yourselves in the affairs of your neighbours or others to the extent that you get so entangled that you cannot extricate yourselves. Spend your time in the contemplation of the beauties of nature, which are spread out before you in earth and sky — green expanses of the crops you have raised, cool breezes that waft contentment and joy, the panorama of coloured clouds, the music of the birds, and so on. Sing the glories of God as you walk along the bunds of the fields and the banks of the canals. Do not talk hatefully in the midst of all this evidence of love, do not get angry in these placid surroundings; do not disturb the sky with your shouts and curses, and do not pollute the air with vengeful boasts.
– Divine Discourse, Sep 02, 1958.
