What is left is only Him......

When you start chanting the Divine Names, for the Lord to reveal Himself to you, you have to prove yourself, also. Of course, everything happens through His grace, nothing happens through your grace. Even moving, even for me to talk, it is only through His grace that this is possible. But, as man has a mind, you have to prove that you really want to let go of this mind. So, by chanting His Divine Names, you start to call Him. So, the more you call Him, the more you are tuning yourself into His tune and the old you becomes less and less, until only His grace starts to shine through. It’s very simple. For example, when you start chanting Krishna’s name, at the beginning you will feel tired about it, you know. You will feel “Oh, what is happening? Why is He not listening?” But actually, these are all different qualities that awaken, you see, even to be angry with Him, because you wish for Him. In the same way that you wish for Him, He wishes for you much more. Let’s say you get depressed or you say “Ok, I’m praying, all this, you know, but He’s not listening,” and it happens, you know, but actually, this is Maya, His game. When He doesn’t show Himself, it is for you to long for Him even more. Of course, we can talk about it, you can think about it in the mind, but when you are in it, it is completely different. For you, it’s like the world is going upside down. I was talking with somebody yesterday, actually. This person said to me “Swamiji, I would love to see Krishna!” And then he reminded me of something that happened about twelve years ago, when he had the wish to see and I, well, He showed Himself to him, but because at that time he was not ready, I took this grace away from him. Then he said to me “Look, what happened twelve years ago, you took it away. I would love to see Krishna and I want it back!” And I said “What would you do to get this?” Well, he said “Anything!” And I said to him “Are you sure?” You see, it’s easy to talk about, but when it comes to the act, when it comes to practise, it’s difficult. Many people say “Yes, we love God”, but how many really do everything so that this love may grow? Very few do. Like the Lord said “I can count them on my hand.” Well, His hand, His hands are not like a human hand, you know. He has not only one; He has many. So, in the same way, the more you chant the Divine Names, the more you tune yourself into this Divine Name, the more He starts to shine through you and the more He starts to act through you. But of course, not Him, only His qualities do. To get Him fully, you have to go deeper and deeper. It’s the same as when you dig the hole. First you get a little bit of water, which is muddy, but the more you dig you have more water, which is clearer. It’s the same with the qualities of Him. Because, you see, when people reach a certain degree of spirituality, they develop certain qualities. He gives them certain qualities, but the sad thing is that people get stuck to these qualities. They think they have already reached a very high level of spirituality, you know, and they think of themselves as being everything. Then, of course, nothing further happens. But whereas, when you forget about these qualities, don’t give them too much importance, but go for Him, He will not be able to deny you His presence. He will even not be able to deny you Himself. The way you give yourself to Him, He will give Himself to you. It’s so easy, actually, but yet, difficult for the mind to understand, no? You see, it’s because everybody wants to understand how to do it, you know. When I just say to chant the Divine Names, you know, just recite His name, think of Him continuously, well, you say yes, you will do it, but in between, what happens? If you analyse your day, very often you forget about Him. You actually forget about Him more than you think about Him. That’s why it doesn’t happen. And, also, when you tell somebody to chant the Divine Names, they just chant mechanically, you know “Because Swamiji said to chant, let me chant it, chant it, chant it”. No, it’s not like this, because when you chant His name, your mind has to have His vision, also. You have to have His image in the mind. Of course, just to chant His name, it’s very good to do it. It’s better than nothing, but if you really want to achieve Him, chant His Name and visualise Him. Visualise Him, like He, Himself, said in the Gita, visualise Him in your third eye, visualise Him in your heart, visualise Him in each breath that you are taking in and out. Let’s say you are chanting the Maha mantra: Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. You don’t need to rush; you have all the time. When you have a party, you have all the time for that. It’s the same thing when you take time to chant the Divine Names, you have to take your time, you know. And you sit, chant, visualise Him sitting in your forehead, in your heart. In each breath that you take in and out, it’s only Him. So, the more you chant like this, the more you are aware that He is not outside of you, but He’s inside of you. You will not just know it, you will start to Realise it. Then, this identity that you put always to yourself, this I, I, I, will start to dissolve. It will become You, You, You. So, it dissolves this ego identity and what is left is only Him.