What we call “God,” is the Cosmic Consciousness. It is our natural state of peace and joy. That Cosmic Consciousness is infinite. It has no limitation, it never changes, it is omnipresent and eternal. That’s what is meant by immortal. It is in you, as the real you. So in simple words, God is the peace within you and the reason you are asked not to disturb your mind.
What is it that disturbs your peace? It is anything to which you are attached—anything and everything, including name and fame. Every attachment will disturb the mind and when the mind is disturbed you are no longer peaceful. So free yourself from selfishness. Free the Self from the fish. Become a vegetarian! Free yourself from any attachment, any affliction. Then, you can remain in that peace and that means you have found God in you. When you recognize the God in you, you get everything else because God doesn’t come alone. First realize God, then you will have everything.
If you only want to get everything, you may get something, but not everything and even that something is not going to make you happy. That’s why the Bible says, “Seek the Kingdom of God and everything else will be added onto you.” The same thing is said in another scripture: “Know That by knowing which you will know everything.” What is it we want to know? Our peace. In other words, when you decide not to want anything what happens is that all those wants that you wanted earlier, will now want you. It’s a fact. A mind without any want, is a contented mind. And contentment brings gold. Don’t we say, “Contentment is golden.” The Bhagavad Gita says, “Tyagat Shantaram Anataram.” The translation is, “By detachment, by dedication, by renunciation, you get eternal Peace.
When you lose your peace, you lose everything, even though you have many things. How many people lose their peace due to some attachment and then they become more or less incapable of doing anything? Take the case of a doctor a surgeon. They may be a very able surgeon that can do any kind of operation—even complex ones—easily. Imagine that an able surgeon comes home after a day’s work. As he walks into the house he says, “Honey, where are you?” He hears a little moaning sound and goes into the bedroom. There she is, lying in the bed, holding her hand and moaning. He is already shaky as he asks, “Honey, what’s happening?” “Oh, it’s an awful pain, maybe an abscess.” It’s an abscess on her arm but she expresses so much agony. Just think of the situation and the status of the doctor. He could have easily made an incision, squeezed out everything, and placed a bandage on the wound. That’s the end of it. Does he do that? He immediately dials a friend who is a doctor, “Hey, please come over and do something.” He seems to have lost all his skill. He couldn’t even perform a simple operation, a minor operation. Why? Because unfortunately that simple abscess is not somewhere on any patient’s arm, it is on his beloved honey’s arm. So, the best way to always experience your own inner peace, which we have named as God, is to maintain your equanimity, your peace, under all conditions.
