Question: At one place in the Gita we are asked to engage in Karma or perform sacrificial rites and at another place to give up Karma. How are we to reconcile these two contradictory injunctions?
Sri Anandamayi Ma: Judge for yourself at what stage you are, when to practice sacrificial rites and when to give them up, throwing yourself wholly unto His mercy. These are different stages with their appropriate duties and responsibilities.
If you are asked to rely absolutely on Him, is it possible for you to do it all at once?
You have to train your mind and body by constant practice and to purify yourself by spiritual exercises. Read the Bhagavad Gita everyday.
You will find God revealing Himself through His words recorded there. A doubt may arise in your mind:
“How can words reveal Him?”
You know before the Gita is read the book has to be worshipped. By “book”, His words and their import are meant.
As you continue to practice day after day, you will gradually reach a stage when absolute reliance on God will be your final achievement. There is nothing higher than that.This body tells you again: read the Gita daily and do some spiritual exercise, you will find answers to your queries revealing themselves in your mind. If your desire to know Him is sincere and earnest and comes directly from the heart, the solution must come. It is inevitable.Without steady concentration on one aim no result can be achieved. The word ekagra (one pointed) is a combination of eka (one) and agra (pointed). Our mind is the swiftest thing in creation. Let the mind move at its own speed constantly towards the One Aim which is God. He will shine forth. As long as He is not revealed through His words in the Gita, never give up the practice of reading the sacred texts.
- Conversation with Sri Anandamayi Ma
"As you continue this practice day after day, you will gradually reach a stage
when absolute reliance on God will be your final achievement." Sri Anandamayi Ma