Pujya Guruji laughed and said, “Yes. To put it very simply, when you do everything feeling that god is doing it, you are a Karma Yogi. When you love the Divine Soul in your own heart, it is Bhakti Yoga. When you are aware of the Divinity within yourself and all beings, you are following the Jnana Marga. Always remember that sadhana is a continuous process and is always in the present.
Never tell yourself, ‘I’m driving now or working now and I’ll meditate when I go to the temple, ashram or satsangh.” Your mind must always be in a state of meditation. There are no compartments in life. It is only the fragmented mind that creates these compartments.
“When you are constantly engaged in sadhana like this, you are blessed with god Realisation. You will have the vision of god in the form that you have been worshipping. This is called Saguna Darshan. This is only the first step of Enlightenment. Coming face-to-face with your own Soul and effortlessly feeling the Presence of god everywhere, all the time, so that you are completely one with Him, is Self-Realisation. This is the final stage of Enlightenment.”
As Shri Nimishananda Guruji completed his explanation, the door of the Darshan Hall opened and Sarla, Chandra, Devi and Nandini walked in and prostrated at Pujya Guruji’s Lotus Feet. After they had seated themselves, Pujya Guruji continued, “All souls are Divine. All Creation is the Leela (Divine Sport) of the Divine Mother. Why are we creating the barriers of religion, nationality, gender, caste and creed? Why have we allowed our mind to become so obsessed with these divisions?” Umanath asked -“Pujya Guruji, a few centuries ago, the worship of Divinity as Devi (Mother) was usually accompanied by animal sacrifice. When Sanathana Dharma is based on Ahimsa (non violence), how did this practice arise?”
Shri Nimishananda Guruji said, “That’s a good question. This custom of animal sacrifice (bali) came from an imperfect understanding of the scriptures. In the Vedic days, when ghee, cloth, food etc. were offered to the sacrificial fire as an offering (ahuthi) so that the Gods could receive it, those who performed the ritual were also asked to offer their ego and all their negative qualities to the fire as a sacrifice (poornahuthi). This purified the mind and brought about a state of surrender to the Divine.
When people began the worship of Devi in Her Rajasic Form, they did not understand that they were worshipping the Divine Mother as the destroyer of their own ego.
Instead they wrongly felt that they had to appease Her through animal sacrifice or Her wrath would wreck their lives. In the ancient days of the Mahabharatha and Ramayana, the horse was offered as a sacrifice during the Ashwamedha Yaga.
This article has been taken from the book Wisdom Through the Eyes of Nimishananda by Nimishananda Guruji