Our time now in India is fast drawing to a close. This morning during our daily walk, Devi asked me, “What is your main takeaway from this trip?” Without hesitation I replied, “It is the sense that we haven’t been doing anything. God is doing it all.”
We have been travelling since mid-August and, by the time we return to our home at Ananda Village, we will have been on the road for just over one hundred days. During that time there have been dozens of classes, satsangs, meetings, and teas. With a schedule like ours, if we had allowed the thought that “we have to do all of this” to slip in, we would be exhausted by now. But we are returning feeling full of energy and inspiration.
The body can get a little tired from time to time. but the mind and spirit feel tired only if we resist the flow of God’s energy. When you hold to the thought that you are working for God or Guru, then you find that God and Gurus are working for you. During this trip we’ve seen many blessings, seeming miracles, that we never initiated. God wanted it done, He did it, and we got to participate in the show as delighted witnesses.
There are some very practical benefits to realizing that God is the Doer:
We are comfortable everywhere. We have been around the world visiting many places, but we have always felt that we are at home.
We are starting to enjoy everyone. I feel more and more like Will Rodgers, the American humorist who said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” When you are friends with God, you get to be friends with all His manifestations. Even if there is a difficult situation, there is a sense of detachment and of “enjoying the show.” When we don’t agree with someone’s behavior, that doesn’t mean that we have to close our hearts to him or her. Love heals all.
God takes care of the details. Because we are trying simply to give, people want to give to us in return. We hardly manage any of the details anymore.
God takes care of the finances. We have given our lives and assets to God, and now there is an oft-verified sense that Divine Mother is taking care of us. We often help others financially, but we can’t seem to give money away. It always returns to us, usually in greater abundance. It has taken us some years truly to have faith that whatever we need will be given to us, but with that faith comes a deep sense of freedom from worry.
Most importantly, God seems very close. Swami Kriyananda often quoted a passage from the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna becomes disheartened with the struggles ahead of him, which represent the inner battles that we must all fight against our negative habits and tendencies. Krishna begins to console and advise him and, in one of the Gita’s sweetest passages, it describes him, “as if smiling. . . .” Swamiji has said that it takes time to win God’s smile, but when we feel it in our heart, it is worth more than all the riches in the world.
In the joy of God,
Nayaswami Jyotish
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14 Comments
Indeed it was a pleasure to read your email for the week. The journey you referred was not yours and I felt it as mine. It was comforting. Thanks for the blessings
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for this wonderful blog.
A great reminder and to be certainly practiced in every moment
Joy
Prem
Beautiful and inspirational
Aum guru
Thank you for this beautiful essay. My life partner does not believe in God. Even though I share with him that God is not a ‘man upstairs’ but pure love, consciousness, the deepest essence of our being, and he respects my beliefs and experience, he has no curiosity to explore or discover this state of being. I am having difficulty accepting this. Any words of advice?
That your partner isn’t standing in the way of your spiritual practice, and actually respects your beliefs, is already much to be grateful for. Do him the honor in turn of respecting *him* for who he is, and for where he currently stands on life’s path. Spirituality must unfold naturally and at its own pace, like the opening of a flower: It cannot be rushed. Any attempt to do so, in fact, is likely to backfire: Pushed prematurely, he will say No, creating a momentum that will predispose him to continue to say no in future, at a time when he might otherwise have grown open to saying yes. It’s for this reason that the scriptures warn against sharing spiritual teachings with people before they’re ready to receive them.
Best is to show your appreciation for him, and for the support he offers you. And simply to be a quietly shining example of the spiritual teachings, and of their power to bring joy to yourself and to those around you. That kind of magnetism can work miracles. Whether it ever awakens your partner’s spiritual interest will depend on his particular karma. But it will in any event bring out the best in him, and bring blessings on your relationship.
So beautiful-thank you! Namasté
How wonderful. You have our love and smiles too!
“God is doing it all” — Thank you, Jyotish and Devi. “That’s powerful,” said Dave, as we apply that to our own lives. Breathing gratitude and love – Stephanie
Wonderfully uplifting! Thank you, Jyotish!
Thank you so much. God smiling in our heart is a lifeline .
What an ecstatic state of knowing GOD. Very powerful experiences for us to re-live every moment. Thank you Nayaswamis Jyotish & Devi for these penned words of wisdom.
What an ecstatic experience that all is GOD & all is HIS subtle act of Divine Love. Filling each moment of my life with these grateful words of wisdom is my challenge dear Jyotish & Devi.
Great article! Profound wisdom.
Wow. What a lesson told in a simple way, for us to understand. Thank you so much ❤️ for the wonderful retreat at khandala. We could experience the same feel there.