A stingy person counts every penny before spending. Similarly, think about God without wasting one second. Refuse to spend your time on any other matter. Then, stinginess can be turned into Yoga

Pathways to Divine … (Cont.)

Smaranam – This is chanting the names of the Lord. Continuous chanting is a very good sadhana. It is the best sadhana for the present age, the Kali Yuga. We cannot do penance and yogas. This is a fast-paced age of instant gratification. There is no time or patience for the slow and steady ripening of the spirit. So Nama Japa is the best. Valmiki became a Maharishi due to chanting. He was a robber. Sage Narada corrected Valmiki’s mind and told him to chant the name of Rama. However Valmiki could not chant it because he had amassed to great an amount of sin. So he chanted “MaRa” and on repetition it sounded as “Rama”. He continued chanting in this way for many months and years. Hundreds of years he chanted and an anthill grew up around his body. So he was called Valmiki, which means anthill. He then wrote the epic Ramayana. Thus Rama smarana transformed a robber into a Saint.