A divine relationship lasts not only in this, one lifetime, but scores of lifetimes, for all eternity. Romancing God should be everyone’s dream to reach eternal bliss, says OSWALD PEREIRA
Have you ever imagined romancing divinity? Wouldn’t that be too presumptuous, even blasphemous? However, for many sages and even ordinary but spiritual beings God is more beloved than even one’s beloved.
We often hear the expression Friend Beloved God. It’s an expression that gives immense joy to seekers, when uttered with sincerity and true love for God.
The best romance is with the Infinite, says the great sage and yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda. He exudes joyfully: “The greatest romance you can have is the romance with God. He is the lover and our souls are the beloved, and when the soul meets the greatest lover of the universe, then the eternal romance begins.”
As Lord Krishna says: “Unattracted to the sensory world, the yogi experiences the ever-new joy inherent in the Self. Engaged in divine union of the soul with Spirit, he attains bliss indestructible.” (Bhagavad Gita V:21.)
God is more real than one can ever imagine. He is always so very close to us — much closer than any near and dear one. But He won’t come to us, unless we reach out to Him. When we seek Him we will find God everywhere. Then when we go deeper within ourselves, he may even talk to us, both in good and bad times.
He will guide us and be by our side all the time. That’s the beginning of the romance of divine love.
When you experience divine love, you will see no difference between one human being and another. Divine love breaks all distinctions of caste and creed, helping us to love entire mankind equally, making us all one and united — as children of one God. “True love is divine, and divine love is joy,” affirms Yogananda.
He adds: “The more you meditate, seeking God with a burning desire, the more you will feel that love in your heart. Then you will know that love is joy, and joy is God.”
“But love is not the ultimate; the ultimate is bliss,” says Yogananda. God, indeed is bliss. God is Sat-Chit-Ananda, ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss.
We as souls are individualised Sat-Chit Ananda, remarks Yogananda. “From Joy we have come, in joy we live and have our being, and in that Sacred Joy we will one day meet again.” (Taittiriya Upanishad 3-6-1)
A question often asked is does one have to be a renunciant to love God, and live a secluded life in a monastery? The answer to this question is an emphatic no. Renunciation doesn’t mean living in seclusion in a cave, a mountain, a jungle or a monastery. “Whoever performs not for self, but to please God becomes a true renunciant and a true yogi,” observes Yogananda.
Such a woman or man becomes God’s divine soulmate — a divine relationship that lasts not only in this, one lifetime, but for scores of lifetimes, for all eternity.
Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and practises Kriya Yoga.
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So beautifully written Oswald ji.
God is indeed eternal romance and the ecstasy of that perennial joy of union shines through, (if we can intuitively feel), in every speck of the universe.
And hence, as the seers have experientially felt it, God is a here and now experience wheresoever, in whichever state we are.
Bliss becomes a perennial affair then, when we fall in God’s love affair. May we make ourselves worthy of this lovely love affair…
Dear Baturam Ji,
You have articulated it so beautifully when you say, “Bliss becomes a perennial affair then, when we fall in God’s love affair.”