Skip to main content

NO GAURANTEE

There is no guarantee that a strong person will live long or a weak person will die soon. There is no guarantee that an educated person will be successful or an uneducated person will be a failure. There is no guarantee that a pious person will not become sinner or an impious person will not become a saint. There is no guarantee that a rich man's son will not become poor or a poor man's son will not become rich. There is no guarantee that one who joined the race early will be the first to finish it or one who joined late will be last to finish it.

Life is such that nothing is guaranteed - everything is predictably unpredictable. God's plan and logic will defy all our logic and short-circuit it. If He wishes, He can make a plum into an apple or an apple into a plum. If He wishes, He can make a King into a pauper or a pauper into a King. God's ways of working are inconceivable. We are always subordinate to His wishes. That's why, whenever any disciple of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati (a great Vaishnava reformer) asked him about his plans. He would invariably answer - "If Krishna so desires then I will do so and so." He knew that ultimately only His wish prevails. We also should add the words, "If He so desires" in our language and in our thoughts.

In conclusion, we need to be always humble and never arrogant about "who we are" and "what we have" while being completely nonjudgmental about "who others are" and "what they have" for if He wishes things can change in a moment.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE POWER OF QUESTIONS

The quality of answers in our life depends on quality of questions we ask. Special prerogative of the human mind is that it can think and ask questions. Given a problem, we have the ability to find solutions. The ability for making inquiries is in-built in us. That's why one of the most important medium of knowledge comes through questions and answers. It's not astonishing then to understand why both the most important Vedic scriptures - the Bhagvat-Gita and the Srimad-Bhagvatam are in a question-answer format. But not everyone is interested to ask questions and find solutions to problems that they face. Most people prefer to embrace a life of unthinking - "of playing dead", they prefer to run away from problems rather than find solutions to them. Why? For the simple fact that the answers - the truth may not always be palatable and the more difficult part is that, it may be demanding of us. We may have to leave our comfort zone and tread an unknown path. The e...
Post a Comment
Read more

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...
1 comment
Read more

THE DEFECTIVE PURE DEVOTEE

Reading this topic, our mind naturally challenges - How can a pure devotee have defects? Shouldn't he, be free from defects? The 100% perfect person! The Mr. Perfect! The point is that a pure devotee can't be seen with material eyes and material logic. Just like Lord Krishna can't be seen with material eyes, so also His pure devotees. You need spiritual vision to appreciate God, His abode, His name and His devotees. Thus Bhakti Vinod Thakur, one of the greatest spiritual teachers of all times quotes the following verse from the Mahabharata which is generally sung before honoring prasadam. maha-prasade govinde, nama-brahmani vaishnave, svalpa-punya vatam rajan, visvaso naiva jayate. " Those who don't have sufficient pious credits cannot develop faith in Maha-prasadam, Lord Govinda, Holyname, Brahmanas and the Vaishnavas. " Sometimes Lord Krishna puts an apparent curtain of imperfection in front of our eyes, so that only those with faith can appreciat...
Post a Comment
Read more