Why do people come on pilgrimage to the burial places of certain holy beings, why do we come there to pray? We come to acknowledge there is a world beyond this one. We believe what the prophets have told us, what God has told us through all the prophets, that there is a world to come after this world. We believe there is a connection between these two worlds, that the next world can inspire and influence this one. We believe that at places of pilgrimage we are closer to that other world.
There are countless numbers of hypnotizing illusions and deceptions in this world. This means, in part, that there is an enormous amount of worldly static, influences from this world which are overwhelming. They capture us, hypnotize us, magnetize us, they lure us into various aspects of creation where we are enchanted, engrossed, and in a very real way, made sluggish, reduced to a state of torpor. We might come to a point at which we are so engulfed by these things they control our lives. We think we control them, but they actually are in control of our lives; we are so fascinated by these illusions we are committed to them instead of anything else.
What are these things? They are different for each of us because we are all caught in different ways. The forces of darkness and illusion attack us at the point of our weakness and drag us in their direction. Our differing weaknesses depend on the way we have been raised, where we have been raised, what our culture is like, the sort of religion we have been brought up in. Our differences mean we are caught in different ways, but the point is we are all caught, we have all been caught by the world.
We visit holy places to remind ourself that something else is going on although we are caught by the world; we visit such places to escape from things which have trapped us, hoping for moments of clarity or divine intervention. We go there hoping to have God interfere with our lives, we go to have God intervene in our lives, we ask Him to intervene in our lives. Now the interesting thing is that He is always involved in our lives, there is not a moment when He is not involved in our lives. We say prayers to invoke our God who is the creator, the sustainer and nourisher, the compassionate One whose mercy and compassion constantly sustain us. If He were to withhold sustenance for one second the world would no longer exist, but since we have lost touch with the reality of His existence, we ask for His intervention.
What are we actually asking for? We are asking that the hypnotism which has snared us in this world fall away, asking so that we can see reality, so that we can be in the moment which understands His grace, His glory and His involvement with us. We recognize the truth that this reality is always there, but we are not there, not there because we have chosen to be not there, or perhaps we have been so overwhelmed by the forces of the world we cannot involve ourself with Him. When we recognize this we go to a place like a shrine where we can remind ourself of our connection to God, our connection to the prophets and the great holy beings, our connection to the friends of God and all those who keep trying to intervene on our behalf.
We have to learn how to intervene on our own behalf, take control of this intervention so that we learn how to make the experience at the place of pilgrimage happen more often. This means realigning ourself, letting go of the things we consider important in our life, even if only for moments at a time.
We have been told that the best form of meditation is the constant repetition of the prayer that only God exists, we do not. If we can understand this prayer and practice it a little every day, changes occur, practicing this of course, in addition to all the other prayers and duties we have. The understanding that only God exists means all the other things we are concerned about do not exist—our ability to let go of these things is directly related to our ability to be in the moment, to exist now, not in the past or the future, to exist within the light of His grace at every moment instead of struggling to find it.
People trying hard to stay afloat in a difficult situation are helped significantly if they have something in the water to keep them afloat, like life buoys, a life jacket or something else to hold onto, almost anything to help them stay afloat. We have been given things to help us stay afloat, we have been given many things to help us reach the shore in this ocean which is illusion. We have been given all those divinely wise beings, we have been given a path which has a foundation, a form we can hold onto as we reach for the space with no form.
Because we ourself have form, it is difficult for us to relate to formlessness, we need help within this form, we need sanctuary within this form. The place of prayer is a sanctuary, a meeting place is a sanctuary for this form, friends are a sanctuary for this form. When we gather together with people who understand formlessness, who understand the need to escape to reality, they buttress us, they keep us from floundering. We come together to help each other recognize the truth, and when we love each other for the sake of God, this love carries a warmth, an invigorating fire which helps each of us turn more easily to Him.
In this way we become God’s assistants, helping in His work of returning us to Him. This is our work, to help each other with a smile, a hand, a good word. When we approach this work in an appropriate way it can have visible results, such a positive effect it overrides many of the fascinations of the world which capture us. Once we begin to understand, we are drawn to this kind of work, to this kind of situation.
What is this prayer called the remembrance of God? It is the prayer of remembering moments when we are free of the world, only in moments when we are free of the world do we remember Him. We need to remember Him and those moments when we are free of the world, the path to Him. The straight, true path lies through moments which are free of the world, moments when we are together with friends who are friends and companions in the name of His love. When love enters the equation, when we learn to love for the sake of love and not for the sake of other things, when we learn to love for the sake of the truth in each of us, for His sake, for the sake of the great holy beings and the prophets, everything inside us begins to change, we begin to melt. And what is it that melts? The lower self melts away, the thing that grasps the world and wants to hold onto it, savor it and collect it begins to melt. God’s hands replace the hands of desire.
We have to decide whose hands we use, do we use the hands of desire or the hands of our Lord? What does our Lord want, what do our base desires want? There is a difference. Once we recognize the difference we drop certain things we can no longer hold onto because of the stench within them, the seductive outer perfume no longer hides their inner stench. We need to see what really matters.
Our time in this world is allotted, we do not know how much there is, but we do know it has an end. Where are we at that end, who are we at that end, what have we collected by then? The love in our hearts stays with us, His grace stays with us, the truth of His existence stays with us. If we focus on that, if we focus on Him we change, our life changes, the life of the people around us changes. There is a transformation, a glory and light beyond our imagination, beyond our ability to think. We are limited by what we can see, hear and feel, but when He intervenes there are no limits. When He touches us there is no end, there is no beginning, there is endless glory which comes from Him alone, which is His, which He has given us, made our birthright.
This is available if we stop holding back, if we run towards it, excited because it is available and we have discovered its availability. Sorrow must disappear, we have to shout our joy that we recognize God, we recognize He is here, He created us, He nurtures and sustains us, we recognize that His secret is hidden within us, a secret which will unfold. When this secret unfolds our true glory is known, the glory of each of our companions is known and visible on all our faces.
We need to look, we need to look for that glory. As we walk down the street and pass by other people, understand that glory exists within each person; recognize it in ourself and in others. We have to keep resentment away, keep jealousy away because they separate us from God. We must not be separate from Him, we must come close to Him. By coming close to each other we come close to Him. May God help us come closer to our companions in love, may He help us form strong relationships in this world based on love, based on His rule. May He intervene in our lives to bring us closer to Him.
