Swami Shivapadananda Puri on ‘All in One and One in All’ – your deity.

Pictured: Sri Swami Purushottamananda Puri (not the monk referred to in post)

A sadhu [holy man, mendicant, monk] was in mouna [the practice of not speaking, or having too much 'chit chat' in the head at the simplest level] for twelve years. Somebody stabbed him one day. When the rogue was brought to him, he said, ‘Yes, this is the beloved that blesses me, this is my Lord.’

The idea is to see your Deity [whomever you regard as 'God'] everywhere and in everything. Try it as an experiment.

Even now I have reminded you; but while singing you will forget. When you sing of Krishna then you think of Krishna; when you sing of Shiva then you think of Shiva; when you sing of Ramakrishna then you think of Ramakrishna. This should not be so. The idea is that all these names belong to the One, your Deity.

You will only be able to do this if you sincerely believe that your Deity is everything, plus. Plus what? Only 'It' knows.

Only your Deity exists. So whatever name you sing, think only of your Deity. For all the names belong to Him. For what is He not?