See God Even in the Challenges

Nayaswami Devi shares this beautiful inspiration during her Sunday service talk at Ananda Village, January 2nd 2022. You can find the complete talk here.

Transcription

So then, we look at also, challenges that we may be facing in our personal lives and the world at large in the coming year. And Master said again, he gives us a great handle, how to work with this how to pick this up. He said, "Link your state of mind in every occasion with God." Link your state of mind in every occasion with God.

And I read that recently but I realized I had sort of begun doing that in this way. Because when things are going well, when everything is just as you expect, and people are just behaving admirably and honorably, you know, sometimes we forget, and then: yeah, yeah, that's a pretty good state of affairs.

But when people begin acting in ways that are difficult when things don't go as you expect, as you hope, whatever it may be—just something that I've started to do: I try to see that as the surface, just the surface of the dream and seek God's presence behind it.

Because it's in the imperfections in life, that you actually can tune into God more. "Oh, I feel how I'm out of 'consonance'," Master used that beautiful word... "I'm out of consonance with what's happening. Let me replace that feeling of dis-ease with the feeling of God's presence." And it transforms everything and you begin looking forward... hard to believe, but you begin looking forward for those moments where things aren't going so well.

Because then You let me replace anxiety, worry with God's presence. Link every state of mind with God and it becomes quite a beautiful thing. And you really begin seeing how in the imperfection, you see past the dream, and you see the dreamer God.

And, you know, the Native American Indians in this country, the Native Americans, they had—every tribe had a different culture. But I believe it was the Navajos in the Southwest who wove these beautiful woolen cloths, and blankets, they would always weave into any piece that they did, consciously, an imperfection. Because it reminded them that what man does is always imperfect; only what God does is perfect.

And so it's really a wonderful practice, to begin looking at all the imperfections and say, "That stuff, man, do I want to dwell on that? No. I want to dwell on what's God." And you begin to see behind all of it. And it's actually, as I say, one evening I was upset about something recently, and I did this and I felt so joyful and so free and it lasted a long time.

And so try it, play with it, feel it, how it works for you. You have to make it real, it isn't just... it's not denying that these things are difficult, but it's feeling God in the middle of the difficulty. And then there are no difficulties. It's only God in the beautiful moments and in the difficulties.