We have a tendency to think of worship
as one part of our life, as a part of our day,
and so we set aside a certain time for
prayer. We often deem spiritual life as being
separate from daily life. And we might also
think that the only way to communicate
with and reach God is through prayer.
However, life itself can be worship. We
can live in this world and perform actions
with our thoughts anc d in God, rather
than thinking of worship as something that
must be done in the morning or before we
sleep at night.
Do not neglect responsibility and worldly
duties for the sake of prayer. Carrying out
our day-to-day work is as important as
taking the name of God. If God is in our
consciousness, knowingly or unknowingly,
then worship becomes a part of us, and our
actions become a form of worship. By
dedicating all that we do to the Supreme, all
our actions become the work of God. In this
way, the importance of our work, of what
has become Gods work with sheer
dedication, is tantamount to the name of
God, to prayer.
Hanuman did not perform puja; he
devoted himself to service of God, of Rama,
making himself a humble servant of God and
society. For those who carry out their work
with a sense of duty, honesty and energy,
sleep is samadhi, soul is Brahmn, body a
temple and speech is as good as stotra.
If work and taking the name of God are of
equal importance, why then should spiritual
life be separate from routine life? Rather,
daily activities should be converted into
sadhana. Because jivan hi sadhana hai life
is itself worship.
Many make a temple in their homes they
designate a special place where they sit and
pray or perform rituals in front of deities.
This is good, of course. However, why not
extend the concept and make the entire
home a temple? By taking each person that
lives with us to be God, loving and treating
one another with compassion, God will be
living in our home.
Furthermore, when immersed in prayer,
when chanting, let us not ignore family; let
us not ignore the requests of our children.
Yes, it is good to drown in the name of God
naam mein doobo but let us remember
there are no conditions or rules to naam
sankirtan or taking Gods name.
We must simultaneously give respect to
those around us. If your children want to be
taken somewhere, then take them for an
outing; take them to the cinema, even if it
might be in the midst of your prayers. And
there is nothing wrong in watching films,
those that expose us to good culture and
values.
By feeling the presence of God in whatever
we do, by remembering Him, we will
eliminate the ego; we will not take credit for
whatsoever is good, nor will we blame God
or fate for that which goes wrong. Our
work will then have the impact of divine
energy.
Just as hair and nails, separated from the
body, become waste, Bapu explains that
worship that is separate from and does not
conform to ordinary life is also a waste.
There is therefore no need to forsake
worldly things, to forsake our duties in
order to worship the Lord. Instead, let us
surrender our actions, our thoughts and our
possessions to Him, such that our entire life
is a form of prayer.