What is the methodology to approach God?
First, we should know whether God exists or not. If He exists, then, what are His attributes, works and nature? Where does He reside? How can He be known? knowing the answers to such questions refer to first two stages of theism. Third and last stage of theism is to imbibe the qualities of God. The method to imbibe the qualities of God is communion, that is, Upaasanaa. A person who knows that God exists and also knows His attributes, works and nature but does not meditate over Him cannot and should not be called a theist.
For development of our life, there should be right mixture of knowledge, actions and communion. Non-existence of any of these three in right proportion blocks our development. Worldly meaning of the word उपासना is ‘to sit close’ but generally this word is used to refer to sit close to God. Like in a wet cloth, water pervades all the strings of cloth, in the same manner, to fill one’s soul to its capacity with qualities of God is उपासना. It is the only source of making soul powerful. The more we imbibe the qualities of God, the better we are to move on the path of knowledge and actions. A combination of all these three, that are knowledge, actions and communion enable us to listen to the voice of God. Voice of God is always there but we generally, fail to listen to that. What is this voice-When a soul thinks of doing a bad act such as theft et cetera, the emotions of fear, hesitation and shame spring up and likewise when a soul thinks of doing a good act, the emotions of fearlessness, enthusiasm and joy come up to him. These emotions come not from the soul but from God.
Actions in accordance with God’s voice only take us forward on the path of freedom from the bondage of birth and death.
Man who wants to start उपासना, should go through all the eight steps of Yoga as propounded by Maharishi पतंजलि.
Method to do उपासना
When one desires to practice communion, he should go to a clean, secluded place, sit in a posture in which backbone and neck are in a straight line. Posture should be such in which one can sit for a long period with comfort and without any movement. His eyes should be straight but closed. After that, he should ponder over the changefulness, that is, perishableness of the natural things. After that he should think over the extent to which यम and नियम were obeyed by him in the last day. After that he should practice प्राणायाम—प्राणायाम should not be done, if, the conditions attached to it are not adhered to. After that, he should place his ‘मन’, which is non living, in the center of his ribs, that is, where a blank space like a thumb exists et cetera and think of attributes of God. Mere, words referring to certain attributes of God will not suffice. With words, their meaning should also be thought of. With words and their meaning, feelings of such attributes of God should also find a place in his thought process. In उपासना, we should feel the nearness of God. On deviations, ‘मन’ should be put to this task again and again. After a few days’ practice, one can see improvement in waywardness of ‘मन’. Communion with God improves power of soul to a great extent.