(2016) new year for remembrance of god

God is ever within you

Look within

He is kind, loving

Compassionate

Playful

Even blinks

The world is but His divine play

Ever His servant be

Worshipful, prayerful

Sadhana-oriented

Life ̶ a flower offered to Him

Blissful

A light unto yourself, a beacon to all

“Om” is the immutable aspect of the Divine. “Sri” is the dynamic aspect. “Ram” is both together they call it ̶ Purushottama, the all-comprehensive.

Ram has two aspects, the immutable and the dynamic. Dynamic is the Nature, Prakriti ̶ the names and forms of the universe. All names and forms belong to the immutable aspect and the dynamic aspect has its base in the substratum, the immutable aspect ̶that is “Om”. These three together make the all-comprehensive Godhead.

That “Ram” is seated in our hearts. He is hiding now as if He is imprisoned by the ego. “Jai Ram” means victory to that Ram: Let Him come out of that cage! “Jai Jai Ram”, “Victory, victory to that Ram!” It means we pray to Ram to reveal Himself from His ̶hiding place and make us realize our oneness with Him. Why Ram is hiding and we have to pray for liberation? Sounds funny, isn't it? This is the language of the devotees. The Jananis say all is an illusion (mithya), there is only Brahman (Ultimate Reality). Brahman appears as the universe. The truth is that it is only Brahman. To see it as the universe is an illusion. Jnanis call it illusion but devotees call it the play (leela) of the Lord. They compare it to the drama we are enacting just for the fun of it. The Lord wanted to have some fun, so He became the many parts and He Himself is the audience or the witness. Everything is He.

Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram

“God is a wonder. His name is a greater wonder. As a worm bores through the wood until it makes the inside hollow, the Ram mantra gradually destroys all your desires and purifies you through and through. By chanting it, a new strength, a new joy and a new light will reveal themselves in you. Then you will realize you are an immortal and radiant Spirit ever identical with God”.

- Swami Ramdas(www.anandashram.org)