I feel alone
Even among people, I am alone. Nobody really knows me.
Sarada Devi owns this question. Her last words on earth were about it: “Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.” And, for the nights when that is too large: “Whenever you are in distress, just say to yourself, I have a mother.” The Mother says the same from the other side of India: “Never forget that you are not alone. The Divine is with you … the companion who never fails.” Yogananda turns it around—“You are not forsaken. It is you who have forsaken your Self.” Shirdi Sai Baba's tortoise feeds her young across a river by her glance alone. Neem Karoli Baba: whoever remembers me, I go to. The Īśā Upanishad gives the ground under all of them: one who sees the Self in all beings does not shrink from anything. And Vivekananda gives the practice: loneliness is dissolved by service, not by company.
Never forget that you are not alone. The Divine is with you helping and guiding you. He is the companion who never fails, the friend whose love comforts and strengthens.
I am but Thy child. I am easily worried and frightened. I want a Mother.
If you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child; the whole world is your own.
They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.
காக்கை குருவி எங்கள் ஜாதி — நீள்
கடலும் மலையும் எங்கள் கூட்டம்The crow and the sparrow are our caste — / the long sea and the mountain are our company.
Kākkai kuruvi engaḷ jādhi — nīḷ / kaḍalum malaiyum engaḷ kūṭṭam
I am here and I am in America. Whoever remembers me, I go to.
The (mother) tortoise is on one bank of the river, and her young ones are on the other side. She gives neither milk, nor warmth to them. Her mere glance gives them nutrition.
You are not forsaken. It is you who have forsaken your Self.
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥
Those who think of me and no other, who worship me always joined to me—I carry what they need, and I keep what they have.
यस्तु सर्वाणि भूतान्यात्मन्येवानुपश्यति ।
सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं ततो न विजुगुप्सते ॥
One who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, does not shrink from anything.
Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.
بشنو این نی چون شکایت میکند
از جداییها حکایت میکند
Listen to this reed how it complains: it is telling a tale of separations. Saying, “Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament has caused man and woman to moan.”
Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
The Divine alone is the support that never fails.
Service, in the right direction
- Find one small, concrete act of help you can do this week for someone who cannot repay you.
- Do it without telling anyone and without expecting thanks.
- Afterwards, reverse the usual accounting: they did you a favour by letting you serve. Sit with that for a minute. He held that this, repeated, is how the chains come off.
Who could you serve this week, without being thanked?
Other questions