You never know when the universe is going to give you an important piece of the puzzle. This happened one time when Devi and I were with Swami Kriyananda in, of all places, a shopping mall in Sacramento, California. He had gotten a letter from someone who was discouraged after comparing his own accomplishments to those of Swamiji’s. (Aside: Comparing ourselves to great souls is fruitless and should come with a warning label: “Do not try this at home.”)
Swamiji’s response was very instructive. He said, “People shouldn’t be discouraged. They need to understand that I’ve just been at it a little longer. Everyone will find God in the end.”
Many people deal not only with feelings of inadequacy, but also with the feeling that they are losing the battle against life’s pressures to perform, and the accompanying stress. Growth requires a struggle—this is the lesson of the Bhagavad Gita—but we don’t need to compound external pressures with internal resistance. When we accept our challenges without feeling that they are unfair, most of our resistance vanishes. That resistance is born of self-absorption. As we overcome it, life becomes happier and, finally, joyful. One of the best ways to do so is to expand our sense of self by serving others. There is a lovely passage that has been attributed to Rabindranath Tagore: “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
There is also a deeper, more spiritual layer. Ultimately, we don’t do anything. God does it all. He is the dreamer of the whole universal drama. Once we truly grasp this truth, beyond mere affirmation, all the angst and pressures of the human condition burst like a soap bubble. One night I dreamt that I was pushing a bus up a long hill. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t get it to move more than a foot or two. When I awoke in the morning, I saw all that work to have been only a dream. So long as we see ourselves as the doer, however, the spiritual path seems like pushing that bus.
A friend sent this quote from Anandamayee Ma: “You think that you are engaging in sadhana, but actually it is He who does everything, without Him nothing can be done. And if you imagine that you receive according to what you do, this is not correct either, for God is not a merchant; with Him there is no bargaining.”
This is deeply comforting and reassuring. We don’t need to accomplish anything. We just need to awaken from the dream of ego. That is both our challenge and our goal. All else is God’s lila.
In joy,
Nayaswami Jyotish
17 Comments
Nayaswami Jyotish,
Thanks for the post. The following has resonated with me:
“Growth requires a struggle. But we don’t need to compound external pressures with internal resistance.
When we accept our challenges without feeling that they are unfair, most of our resistance vanishes.”
Thanks again. You have expressed the thought beautifully.
Anil
Lovely Words, Jyotish. Every such connection with such wisdom works wonders for my journey.
Stephanie
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish,
Thank you for the Article. Swamiji made is very clear “Everyone will find God in the end”.
“We don’t need to accomplish anything. We just need to awaken from the dream of ego. That is both our challenge and our goal. All else is God’s lila.”. Thank you for the inspiring lines
Aum,
Prem
This is so beautiful. Thank you, Jyotish.
Thank you, Jyotish! Just what I needed….
Many blessings to you. And keep reminding us God is the doer.
Please and thank you.
Thank you Jyotish! This was very inspiring and a wonderful reminder of what’s true.
Love to you and Devi, Denise
Thank you.
Vahini
Thank you, Jyotish! I especially appreciate:
“We don’t need to compound external pressures with internal resistance.”
A joy to read as always!
Dear Jyotish,
Thank you for this. It came at the end of a week during which I felt like I’d also been pushing a bus. I’m printing this out to have to refer to at home, office desk, and the car to read at every opportunity!! Thank you!
I felt…this article is a food for devotion. After reading, I could feel my devotion and that it wants to come out and burst into service to people (dream forms)..the dream forms, which are essentially nothing but dream thoughts, appears to be very solid but they are just a play of vibration, and frequency, created essentially so god can experience god, which can happen only through human body form.
Merrily, Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream!
Thanks Jyotish
~~~Peace, Josette
Dear Sir,
For the last 4 years I have been struggling to get hold on my career which was devastated since 2011, when I had to quit my last job. I have been struggling to enroll myself into a quality MBA program ( I have been offered admissions in some of the best Business Schools in the World) but God has been cruel to me so far. I have tried a lot of avenues to find some sponsors for the program but it never worked out. But I haven’t lost my faith on God, as I know he will certainly listen one day and fulfill my wishes. Please pray for me.
Thank you Ji inspiring words at the right moment – aka bus breakdown !!
Looking forward to seeing you both soon
Exquisite. The quote by Anandamayee Ma is deeply affecting. This impulse to sweat and strain, or to give up or despair — it’s beautiful to feel it pop just reading this. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for writing these tiny jewels of helpful encouragement. No small achievement to do them in such bite-sized pieces.
Thank you Jyotish for this timely reminder. Jerry
So god s typing this comment through me.
And god did the sadhana through the swami.
So only God has to grasp through all that is saud through me??
And god will find himself through me…since he’s the doer, right?
There never was or is a me? It’s been god all the while.