Why should we praise the Lord?

Last week we were passing by a church while driving and my eight year old daughter read the board in front of the church – “Praise the Lord”. She asked me, “Dad, does God gets pleased when we praise Him?”

I always feel delighted whenever the young ones show some spiritual inquisitiveness. With a smile on my face, I answered, “My dear, God is not a personality that gets pleased when you praise Him or that gets annoyed when you begin to ignore Him or curse Him – just like humans. We should praise God for our own good. The omnipresent God, that resides everywhere and in your own heart, is eternal, conscious and blissful energy - The Sat-Chit-Ananda. When we praise God, His supreme peace, supreme knowledge and supreme happiness begins to flow within our own heart.”

After a brief pause, I said, “Otherwise also, when we praise someone we feel better ourselves. And when we curse someone, we aggravate ourselves. Isn’t that right, dear?”

Learn the art of dying also

Those who consider this world to be real, also consider themselves to be the mere body and remain ignorant of the Truth. Behind each and every act of such worldly beings, there is a selfish motive to gain wealth or health or fame for the body. Throughout their life they keep worrying about the future and resolving problems, one after other. And then ultimately, one day, leave the world in the same anxious state of mind. When such a worldly being encounter death, he cries and grieve over all the things and people that he is about to leave.

However, those who have realized themselves as the consciousness or the soul, remain unattached to the body and the belongings of the body. For them, this world is nothing more than an illusion or a dream. For such mystics, death is just a confirmation of their beliefs and their realization. Not only they smile and remain in the blissful state of mind while living, but they also leave the world with the same beauty and elegance. Just like we shed our clothes, or a snake leaves its skin, the Self realized ones leave their body just as a mere witness, in the blissful state of mind. They remain unperturbed and calm during the last moments of life.