In the last article, “How to practice karm yog in our daily lives?“, it was explained how it is possible to remember God all the time, even while engaged in worldly activities. Remembering God at all times sounds very ambitious, especially when one is engaged in worldly activities on a day to day basis. However, if Arjun could practice it during a war, why should we feel discouraged?
We will now learn some useful & practical techniques to achieve constant remembrance of God at all times, in order to become successful Karm yogis.
- Practicing the presence of God
There is an effective technique which can be employed to practice remembering God throughout the day. Wherever you spend your day – at the office, in school, at home, etc – choose a location where you are going to mentally place Shree Krishna. It could be in front of your desk, or by the window, or in the air – the location is not important, as long as you fix a place. Before beginning your activities, visualize Him at that place and feel that He is watching you. Then start your work. After that, every hour, stop what you are doing for a few moments to glance at the spot where you placed Shree Krishna. Remember that He is with you, and you are not alone. You do not have to take the time to visualize the details of His appearance – you only need to remember that He is there. This will habituate your mind to feeling His constant presence. It also interrupts any negative or critical thinking that may be going on in your mind. Once you get used to this time interval, you can shorten it to every 30 minutes. When you become accustomed to that, then you can do it every 15 minutes. Eventually, you will find that you naturally feel Krishna’s continuous presence with you.
- Chant Radhey Name With Your Breath:
Whenever you get a longer break from your work – anywhere from one minute, to five minutes, or longer – instead of spending the time looking at your smart phone or in idle conversation, you can engage your mind in doing jap of Radha-Krishna name. This is done silently, and in coordination with the breath. One way to practice this is to silently say “Ra-” in your heart as you inhale, and “-dhey” as you exhale. Alternatively, you could say “Radhey” on the inhalation and “Shyam” on the exhalation. Aside from the obvious spiritual benefit of helping us towards our goal of remembering God all the time, this technique is also a powerful stress reliever. It instantly causes you to relax and deepen your breathing, and it puts you in a completely different mental space for a few minutes.
- Bring Shree Krishna With You
If you have to go somewhere, for example to another classroom or even to your car, there is another technique that can be used to feel that you are bringing Shree Krishna along with you. Place Him in your heart and then go on your way. When you reach your destination, again take Him out and place Him in a specific location near you so that you feel He is with you and watching you.
Implementing these techniques, along with deeply understanding the philosophy behind karm yog, will put us on the path to actually living the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita in our everyday life. When we do that, we will begin the process of gradual heart purification which is the true goal of spirituality. Regarding the benefits of karm yog, there are a few questions left unanswered.
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