WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO REMEMBER GOD?

Now, supposing that God invariably awards the fruit of our actions according as they are good or bad, and if he cannot reduce or enhance it, why should we remember him? Let us now consider this question. In the first place, remembrance of God is a principal item of worship; is a very noble act and a royal road to spiritual advancement; nay, it tops all spiritual practices. By practicing this we feel the urge for it more and more and the result is that we actually remember God more and more so that our mind gets purified and the supreme light of divine wisdom begins to be reflected thereon. The fire of wisdom burns away the stock of sancita Karmas and thus destroys the seed of rebirth. That is why worship of God is supremely necessary.

The next reason why we should worship God is that this constitutes the paramount duty of our life. People serve their parents as a matter of duty. Naturally, therefore it is our foremost and paramount duty to remember him who is the supreme father of all parents, who is extremely benevolent, who has afforded us all sorts of facilities, who constantly showers his motiveless blessings on us, whose commandments and injunctions are conductive of our lasting good, who is the beacon-light of our life, who acts as a guide to those who have lost their vision and is the support of the drowning and the pole star for the crew who have lost their way in this vast ocean of samsara.

It is sheer ungratefulness on our part not to remember God. When we cannot repay the obligations of even our parents and teachers, much less can we repay the obligations of God, who is our best friend. Such being the case, it is sheer ungrateful- The meanest of all means acts – to forget him.

God can do anything and everything. He is able to do, undo and re-do a thing, but he does not do so; he respects his own laws and we should surely not make use of his remembrance for the condonation of our sins and for having our good actions rewarded. Sins are destroyed as a matter of course as a result of remembering him, just as darkness disappears even before sunrise. Saint Kabir has said:

“our sins are destroyed the moment we remember the Divine name, just as a spark of fire is enough to burn away a whole stack of old hay”.