How To Become God Conscious INSTANTANEOUSLY!

Most people assume that to attain God consciousness must take many thousands of years or even lifetimes. But is it possible to become God conscious instantaneously?  Perhaps not in the way you're thinking, but YES!

You may think this is kind of a "cheap shot" but Consciousness is what you are, what you perceive, what is the basis for everything.  You arise within consciousness. Your thoughts arise in consciousness. Space arises in consciousness.  So, how do you become God conscious instantaneously?  Simple - Think of God! 

When you think of, or feel, or meditate on God...you ARE God conscious! Whatever you are thinking of, you are 'that' conscious. So thinking about food - you're food conscious. Thinking about sex - you're sex conscious. Thinking about politics - your politics conscious. And so on and so on and so on. 

I know this feels like a stupid and too simple of an answer - but is it?  What do you think God consciousness is?  Flashing lights?  Knowing everything that is? Having omnipotent powers?  Reading others minds?  Walking on water?   Those aren't God consciousness - those are powers, siddhas, abilities that may be nice, but have nothing to do with God consciousness.  God consciousness is simply the consciousness OF God. 

The problem is, that we think of God for a half second, and then we think of food, sex, TV, the weather, those damn Republicans/Democrats, money etc.  The reason it generally takes thousands of years/lifetimes, is we are not consistent! 

There's an old saying that 'you can have ANYTHING you want, but you can't have EVERYTHING you want'.  There are unlimited success stories of people who decided they wanted something, and they put 100% of their energy into that thing. They fashioned their life in such a way that their goal was their entire focus - the ate, breathed, slept that goal. They are "Goal Conscious!" 

When I was younger, I was incredibly frustrated that I couldn't get up early in the morning to meditate.  Every morning, the same thing.  The alarm would ring, and I'd keep hitting "snooze" time after time until an hour had passed.  I seriously considered trying to figure out a way to attach a gun to my alarm, so that if I hit 'snooze' more than once, it would shoot me!!  :-D    Obviously, I never did that, nor do I recommend it, but I think you get the picture of how dedicated (or fanatical) one could become. 

So consider How Important Is God Consciousness to YOU?  Is God consciousness the "ANYTHING" you must have?  Or is it just a cool idea, but not for you.  You still need to 'make money' or 'find that true love', or finally get those damn Republicans/Democrats out of office?   Just how important ARE those things? 

You are going to die!  At the end of this lifetime, whether it's 80 years from now, or 8 seconds from now, you will be giving up this body and moving on.  What do you want to have achieved?  A lot of money?  True love? To become the world's best <input thing here>?  I'm not judging....Really, I'm not.  But we ARE what we decide to be.  And that includes God conscious.

Okay, so back to the problem - We think of God, and then we think of something else - again and again.  So how does one be God conscious all the time?  Answer: By being God conscious all the time! 

In my tradition, which is Vaishnavism, there is a verse that tells us: shravanam kirtanam vishno, smaranam pada-sevanam, archanam vandanam dasyam, sakhyam atma-nivedanam.....These are the 9 ways of performing service to God:
1. Hearing
2. Chanting
3. Remembering
4. Serving the feet
5.  Ritual worship
6. Praying
7. Service
8. Friendship
9. Surrendering the Self

Most traditions have similar methods or words, but they give you a variety of methods to keep your focus on God.  Hearing can also include reading. Kirtanam means chanting, or speaking, or discussing.  Remembering is what we first spoke of - Think of God, including His attributes, qualities, greatness, pasttimes, etc.

One of the simplest means to continously remember God is prayer, meditation, or repetition of a name of God.  Many traditions also speak of the greatness of the Holy Names.  Whenever you are chanting God's name - you ARE God conscious in that moment. 
Again, in our tradition, we chanted the Hare Krsna Mahamantra - Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare - a mantra that is given in ancient Vedic texts. 

The wonderful thing about chanting God's name is that you can do it anywhere, at any time, or any place. It can be done out loud, or simply in the mind. It can be done while you're doing most other things, from the moment you wake up to when you go to bed - brushing your teeth, showering, dressing, cooking, eating, much of your work, etc.  Eventually it will also show up while you're sleeping as well.  All this time, you are focused ON God!  THAT is God consciousness. 

Ideally, when chanting (or praying, or listening, etc) one should actually be focusing one's attention on God, and not just repeating the words or sounds thoughtlessly.  But as it is said that God is Absolute, so His name is Absolute and non-differerent from God. In other words, God's names ARE God.  Actually EVERYTHNG is God or God's energy, but especially those things, such as the Name, which are directly related to God.  In fact, one could simply chant "God, God, God, God...." 

Another Vedic verse which is a favorite of mine is: Smartavyam satatam vishnur, vishmartavyo na jatucit, sarve vidhi- nishedhahsyur, etayor eva kinkarah

"One should ALWAYS remember God, and NEVER forget God; All the other rules and prohibitions are the servants of these two principles (to always remember, never forget). 

What happens when you always remember and never forget God?  THAT is truly God conscousness, and its effects absolute and purifying. But in can start in THIS instant. Right now, in this moment. Carrying it on is up to you.

deep love

Aja

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linktr.ee/ajathomas

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे 
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे