07. Realization of God |
I believe it to be possible for every human being to
attain that blessed and indescribable sinless
state in which he feels within himself the
presence of God to the exclusion of
everything else.
Young India, 17-11-1921, p. 368
For me Truth is the sovereign principle, which
includes numerous other principles. This Truth is
not only truthfulness in word, but truthfulness in
thought also, and not only the relative-truth
of our conception, but the Absolute
Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God. There
are innumerable definitions of God, because His
manifestations are innumerable. They overwhelm me
with wonder and awe and for a moment stun me. But I
worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him,
but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to
sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of
this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded be
my very life, I hope I may be prepared to
give it. But as long as I have not realized
this Absolute Truth, so long must I hold by the
relative truth as I have conceived it. That relative
truth must, meanwhile, be my beacon, my shield and
buckler. Though this path is strait and narrow and
sharp as the razor's edge, for me it has
been the quickest and easiest. Even my Himalayan
blunders have seemed trifling to me because I have
kept strictly to this path. For the path has saved
me from coming to grief, and I have gone
forward according to my light. Often in my progress
I have had faint glimpses of the Absolute Truth,
God, and daily the conviction is growing upon me that He alone is real and
all else is unreal.
Autobiography, (1948), p. 6
The further conviction has been growing upon
me that whatever is possible for me is
possible even for a child, and I have sound
reasons for saying so. The instruments for the
quest of Truth are as simple as they are
difficult. They may appear quite impossible to
an arrogant person, and quite possible to
an innocent child. The seeker after Truth
should be humbler than the dust. The world
crushes the dust under its feet, but the
seeker after Truth should so humble himself
that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and
not till then, will he have a glimpse of Truth.
Autobiography, (1948), p. 7
If we have faith in us, if we have a prayerful
heart, we may not tempt God, may not make
terms with Him... .Not until we have reduced
ourselves to nothingness can we conquer the evil
in us. God demands nothing less than complete
self-surrender as the price for the
only real freedom that is worth having. And
when a man thus 'loses himself, he immediately
finds himself in the service of all that
lives. It becomes his delight and his
recreation. He is a new man never weary of spending
himself in the service of God's creation.
Young India, 20-12-1928, p. 420
Man's highest endeavour lies in trying to
find
God. . . He cannot be found in temples or idols or
places of worship by man's hands, nor can He be
found by abstinences. God can be found only
through love, not earthly, but divine.
Harijan, 23-11-1947, p. 425
To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of
Truth face to face one must be able to love the
meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who
aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any
field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has
drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say
without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all
humility, that those who say that religion has
nothing to do with politics do not know what
religion means.
Identification with everything that lives is impossible without self-purification, without self- purification the observance of the law of Ahimsa must remain an empty dream; God can never be realized by one who is not pure of heart. Self- purification, therefore, must mean purification in all the walks of life. And purification being highly infectious, purification of oneself necessarily leads to the purification of one’s surroundings. But the path of self-purification is hard and steep. To attain to perfect purity one has to become absolutely passion-free in thought, speech and action; to rise above the opposing currents of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion. I know that I have not in me as yet that triple purity, in spite of constant, ceaseless striving for it. That is why the world’s praise fails to move me, indeed it very often stings me. To conquer the subtle passions seems to me to be harder far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms. ... So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him. Ahimsa is the farthest limit of humility. Autobiography, (1948), pp. 615-16
Realization of God is impossible without complete
renunciation of the sexual desire.
Young India, 24-6-1926, p. 230
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