Keep Calling Him
Mar 30, 2023Every time I light the altar candles holding the flame close to the wick, waiting for the wick to
catch the fire, I can’t help but think that we devotees are just like that candle... Waiting to light
up. Sometimes the wick doesn’t light up easily. Probably because I didn’t hold the flame correctly or had the wick in the bottom cooler part of the flame instead of the
upper hotter tip. I’m sure we all have had the experience.
But have we ever doubted if the candle will light up? Just because it takes a longer time to ignite, we don’t start questioning if it will light or not. Nor do we stop trying. How our concentration deepens, and we focus single-pointedly on the flame and the wick!
Each of us devotees is like that candle, trying to burst into the flame of Self-realization. Sooner
or later, no matter how long it takes for us, we are all destined to melt our ego-wax one day and
burst into Divine Light-flames. We just have to keep on trying to perfect our match of attunement
and devotion.
There is no room for self-doubt or negativity, no scope of giving up. Don’t doubt for a moment that your heart is waiting to burst forth with the spark of Divine Love. Our job is to just keep
trying to light it up by daily meditation, by constant God remembrance. And by ever deepening our attunement with our Guru whose guiding hand is waiting with the lighted match.
Here are a few lines from a song by Maitri Jones (based on a poem by Paramhansa Yogananda) called Keep Calling Him:
Keep calling him
Whether he replies or not,
Keep calling him.
In the temple of unceasing prayer
Believe that He’s approaching there.
And call to Him.
Keep calling Him.
Thou dost know I’m praying, Lord
You know I love no other.
I’ll speak not nor ask when
To expect from you an answer.
You know my heart.
I’ll call to Thee again.
Keep calling Him, friends. Never doubt for a second that your candle can’t and won’t light! Its destiny is to light up - it was created for that very purpose!
Let us keep calling unceasingly with ever-increasing sincerity and love; let us keep deepening our meditation every day with an unshakable faith in God and Guru that they are waiting for that perfectly right moment and before long our heart candle will burst out with the Perfect Divine Love and Joy it was made for.
By: Padma Haldar
