There is a Supreme Being to whom this whole Universe is the physical body, all the life in the Universe is a manifestation of His life and all the minds of all beings is a manifestation of His mind. The relationship between us and Him is like the relationship between the cells in our body and us. We are all cells in His body. As He is the Universal Being, He is omniscient. He knows everything. He knows every thought in every mind. He is omnipotent. Everything happens by His will. He is love. He feels the pleasure and pain of every living being as His own.
The goal of life is our spiritual development. Remembering and acknowledging the role of the Supreme Being in every situation that we face and every action that we do, is called spiritual development. We think that we depend on external situations for our security and happiness. In reality, our security and happiness comes from our aligning our intentions and actions with those of the Universal Being. Spiritual development is understanding this and aligning our intentions and actions inline to this. When a cell in the body is inline with the rest of the body, it is healthy. When it is not, it is unhealthy. An unhealthy cell will be cured, which can be painful to it. The Supreme Being lives through us, breathes through us, thinks through us and acts through us. If we let the love of the Supreme Being flow through us to everyone around us, everything will be fine. All spiritual practices are training to be an efficient conduit for the manifestation of the Supreme Being through us. Any resistance to this flow creates physical, psychological and relationship problems in life. Everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is by the will of the Supreme Being for our spiritual development. If we are not able to accept a situation in life, there is a gap in understanding. In every situation, we should see what the Supreme Being is trying to teach us through that. The sooner we learn, the faster we progress and the more peace we will have. As long as we feel we have a will separate from His, we should ensure that it is aligned with His. When we realize that it is His will that works through us, the alignment will happen automatically.
Through whichever name or form we worship or address an omnipresent, omnipotent and loving being, the Supreme Being responds through that name and form. He can be approached through whichever name or form that appeals to us – Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Ganesha, Devi, Hanuman, Allah, Jesus, Sai Baba, Ramakrishna, or just as Nature. We can develop a personal relationship which appeals to us – father, mother, teacher, master, friend, or even child, husband, wife, lover, etc. By deeply meditating on who the Supreme Being is and what His relationship is to us, we can progress faster spiritually.
Ultimately, there is nothing other than the Supreme Being. He interacts with us through every person we meet. Every situation in life is a message from Him. Everything we do to anyone is done to Him. Knowing this, we can give up all our regrets and grudges on anyone, including ourselves about the past. We can give up all anxiety and fear about the future. In any given situation, we should see what message is being conveyed by the Supreme Being through it. We should respond to situations as offering of gratitude to the Being.
The way to remember the Supreme Being always is to pick a Name or Mantra by ourselves or get one from a Guru, and repeat it as much as possible throughout the day within the mind. With this anchoring within, we can easily accept every situation as a gift from Him and do every action as a gift to Him. To give momentum to this, we should sit and meditate on Him for sometime everyday. We should spend as much time as possible in holy company in the form of meeting holy people, doing puja, going to temples, reading or listening about the life and teachings of devotees and saints, chanting bhajans, etc. We should do all the duties of life with the goal of aligning our intentions and actions with the Supreme Being. When choosing between alternatives in life, we should choose that which will take us closer to Him.
This is Bhakti (devotion).
Selected references from the Bhagavad Gita:
- I am the recipient of all action and austerities. I am the master of the Universe. (Everything happens by My will.) I am the friend and well wisher of all living beings. Knowing this, a person attains peace. (5.29)
- Residing in all living beings, I breath in and out, and I eat food of various types. (15.14)
- Residing in the heart of everyone, I perceive, remember, ignore and forget. I am the knower, knowledge and known. (15.15)
- From whom has come everything in this Universe, by whom this whole Universe is filled, by worshiping Him by doing one’s duty, man attains the Goal. (18.46)
- Whatever you contribute or consume, whatever action, austerity or charity that you do, do it as an offering to Me. (9.27)
- One who sees Me in everything and sees everything existing in Me, he is never away from Me, I am never away from him. (6.30)
- Whosoever worships with devotion through any means and any form, I respond through the same means and form to strengthen the devotion. (7.21)
- Having Me as the goal, one who offers all actions to Me and meditates on Me with single-minded devotion, I save him very soon from all sorrow in the transient world. (12.6,7)