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Seeing the Lord Everywhere

यत्रैव यत्रैव मनो मदीयं तत्रैव तत्रैव तव स्वरूपम् ।
यत्रैव यत्रैव शिरो मदीयं तत्रैव तत्रैव पदद्वयं ते ॥
– त्रिपुरसुन्दरीवेदपादस्तोत्रम् ११०

yatraiva yatraiva mano madīyaṃ tatraiva tatraiva tava svarūpam |
yatraiva yatraiva śiro madīyaṃ tatraiva tatraiva padadvayaṃ te ||
– Tripurasundarī-vedapāda-stotram 110

Translation

Wherever is my mind, there indeed I find your real form. Wherever is my head, there reign your holy feet.

Points for Introspection

When we think of God, our heart gets filled with devotion. The heart melts with a very pure feeling which is without any motive or desire. The mind becomes full of love for everybody. Everything seems to be divine.

Our day to day life is full of anxiety, tension, fear and disappointment. We are no doubt happy at times, but mostly, the mind is turbulent. Whenever the mind undergoes such emotions, the thought of God relieves the mind. We feel light and free. We feel we have an achor and feel owned. When we think of and contemplate on God, we experience a divinity which washes away all impurities from the mind. The mind experiences pure delight and bliss.

Our problem is that we are not able to think of God always. Our days are full of hectic activities revolving around ourselves and our possessions making the mind scattered and agitated. Where is the time to think exclusively about God at any time? And for how long?

We understand very well that whenever we spend time in the contemplation of God, or sing hymns in His praise, read about His excellence and exploits, the mind forgets all problems of life. The mind becomes placid and reaches a depth where there is brilliance and expansion alone.

But, however much a devotee longs to be in such contemplative company of his beloved Lord, the situations in life appear as severe distractions. A devotee may follow a regular devotional routine of one or two hours, when he sits near his own pooja-shrine, worshipping the Lord. He feels very sublime and divine at that time and his mind becomes full with devotion. But the rest of the day, engagement in worldly affairs takes his mind far away from God and divinity. A devotee who yearns to be in contemplation of God and feel the presence of God within him always, feels frustrated and sad when he is not able to find enough and exclusive time with his beloved God.

What should he do then? How should he remain in constant touch with God even in the face of intense worldly distractions?

A devotee undergoes this suffering of feeling separated from God because he looks at the world as different from God. He finds divinity only during the exclusive time that he spends in contemplation of God as well as in all the devotional activities that he takes up while worshipping God. He does not find divinity anywhere else.

As long as a devotee will not contemplate on the all-pervasiveness of the Lord, he will miss the unbroken presence of God everywhere. One must practice to see God everywhere and in everything – in happiness and sorrow, in pleasure and pain, in beauty and ugliness. In whatever is favourable and unfavourable, whatever is likable and unlikable, in everything small and big, one must see the Lord and Lord alone. And thinking that everything that one comes across is essentially God, one must bow down in humility and devotion.

When a devotee looks at the whole world as a manifestation of God Himself, he sings aloud in devotion: “O Lord! I used to feel your presence only in idols and images, in devotional acts and in holy spots. I missed you in everything else. O my dear Lord, are you not everywhere? Whatever my mind contemplates upon, in every thought and action, divine or worldly, my mind sees You and Your form alone, and nothing else.

“I used to feel I have prostrated at your holy feet only when I prostrated at Your images and idols. But now understanding that you are everywhere, wherever my head is, it is in constant prostration at Your holy feet.”

Such a devotee, experiences the presence of God unbrokenly everywhere, not only during the so called divine moments, but also in the seemingly non-divine moments of worldly activities. He never misses Him. Understanding Lord’s divine presence everywhere, the devotee gets filled with supreme devotional bliss and his whole being becomes an offering in humility at the holy lotus feet of the Lord.

A devotee who chants this shloka, getting absorbed into its meaning, sees the Lord everywhere in this creation, gradually feeling the expansion in himself, and eventally becoming one with the Lord.

Word Meaning

यत्र (yatra) = where; एव (eva) = indeed; यत्र (yatra) = where; एव (eva) = indeed; मनः (mana:) = mind; मदीयं (madīyaṃ) = belonging to me; तत्र (tatra) = there; एव (eva) = indeed; तत्र (tatra) = there; एव (eva) = indeed; तव (tava) = your; स्वरूपम् (svarūpam ) = real form; यत्र (yatra) = where; एव (eva) = indeed; यत्र (yatra) = where; एव (eva) = indeed; शिरः (śira:) = head; मदीयं (madīyaṃ) = belonging to me; तत्र (tatra) = there; एव (eva) = indeed; तत्र (tatra) = there; एव (eva) = indeed; पदद्वयं (padadvayaṃ) = pair of feet; ते (te) = your;

अन्वयः

यत्र एव यत्र एव मनः मदीयं तत्र एव तत्र एव तव स्वरूपम् । यत्र एव यत्र एव शिरः मदीयं तत्र एव तत्र एव ते पदद्वयम् ।

yatra eva yatra eva mana: madīyaṃ tatra eva tatra eva tava svarūpam. yatra eva yatra eva śiro madīyaṃ tatra eva tatra eva te padadvayaṃ.