TWELVE WAYS OF REALIZING ME

LONGING ... If you experience that same longing and thirst for Union with Me as one who has been lying for days in the hot sun of the Sahara experiences the longing for water, then you will realize Me.

PEACE OF MIND ... If you have the peace of a frozen lake, then too, you will realize Me.

HUMILITY ... If you have the humility of the earth which can be molded into any shape, then you will know Me.

DESPERATION ... If you experience the desperation that causes a man to commit suicide and you feel that you cannot live without seeing Me, then you will see Me.

FAITH ... If you have the complete faith that Kalyan had for his Master, in believing it was night, although it was day, because his Master said so, then you will know Me.

FIDELITY ... If you have the fidelity that the breath has in giving you company, even without your constantly feeling it, till the end of your life, that both in happiness and in suffering gives you company and never turns against you, then you will know Me.

CONTROL THROUGH LOVE ... When your love for Me drives away your lust for the things of the senses, then you realize Me.

SELFLESS SERVICE ... If you have the quality of selfless service unaffected by results, similar to that of the sun which serves the world by shining on all creation, on the grass in the field, on the birds in the air, on the beasts in the forest, on all mankind with its sinner and its saint, its rich and its poor, unconscious of their attitude towards it, then you will win Me.

RENUNCIATION ... If you renounce for Me everything physical, mental and spiritual, then you have Me.

OBEDIENCE ... If your obedience is spontaneous, complete and natural as the light is to the eye or smell is to the nose, then you come to Me.

SURRENDER ... If your surrender to Me is as wholehearted as that of one, who, suffering from insomnia, surrenders to sudden sleep without fear of being lost, then you have Me.

LOVE ... If you have that love for Me that St. Francis had for Jesus, then not only will you realize Me, but you will please Me.