Picture: Sri Yukteswarji and Sri Yoganandaji: like God’s promise, a true guru and disciple is a bond of love and divine friendship–always.
A spiritual life comes with a promise for a better life, Lahiri Mahasaya said if we make spiritual effort now, our future is bound to improve. So we head off into life full of enthusiasm and high hopes.
Then something untoward happens: financial problems, relationship issues, illness and even death. In those moments we may feel let down, a crises of faith that all we held to be true was a lie. The devotee may reason, “I do my part: I proceed in faith, I meditate daily, eat the right food, love God, and now this!
Sri Yukteswar found practical, methodical people admirable. Mother Hamilton gave people practical advice on everything from grooming, keeping an orderly house, to being business-wise. Master wrote Mother a letter in which he added some wise counsel for a devotee who was an inventor, saying that he needs to be practical and have a job. Practicality and daily wisdom easily mixed with esoteric wisdom of the highest order for these realized Beings.
Yet, even applying all the wisest and wordly-wise principles, there is the long arm of the law of cause and effect. Babaji said that in a previous life, while attaining high spiritual consciousness, still Lahiri Mahasaya’s karma had swept him away (he died) and that Babaji lovingly followed him in his astral life between physical death to his re-birth. Life and death still happens to highly realized souls. And, I do not know a business owner, even those following a spiritual path, who has not faced downturns, perhaps selling off assets, including prized personal items to keep the business afloat. Even with the healthiest diet and exercise regimen one may become ill. If you think that leading a spiritual life makes you immune to any of life’s hardships, then you may find yourself disappointed.
The only sure result of knowing God is that you will be in His presence in thick and thin. Like marriage vows–for better, for worse, in sickness and in health–you are married to the Beloved, and in all situations your Heavenly Father, Divine Mother promises to be at your side through it all. It is only God who is with you from your first breath to your last, it is only God who will be with you in your astral journey in between lives here on earth, and for all time.
Our simple love and faith forms a bond with God that cannot be broken, and while it is true that all souls have God with them, it is only His awakened ones who are conscious of this omniscient Presence–and this makes all the difference. What is it that causes the greatest suffering in this world? More than physical pain, financial downturns, or even death, it is the feeling of isolation, that no one knows or cares about our life. With God we have an eternal friend, well-wisher, beloved, and confidant.
There is no doubt that God also provides a route to miracles, extraordinary events both large and small; healings, clearing the way for financial success, and every sort of amazing occurrences. I have seen them with my own eyes. A small miracle once happened to me that to this day is inexplicable. I had made a math mistake and overdrawn my checking account by over a hundred dollars. By the time I discovered my error I knew I did not have the funds to cover the shortfall. It would result in a bounced check and further banking fees; oh dear! On that same day I received a check from a company in New York that I had never heard of, for the amount of money I was overdrawn plus five dollars! I never did know why that check arrived, but it saved me much embarrassed anxiousness that day, as well as the additonal fees.
God creates us, He sustains us, and when it is His will, He withdraws us back into His Being. He is our well-wisher, yet there may be certain things we have to go through. It may be the result of our own doing in the moment, something from a distant, unremembered past, or from the collective karma of the world we live in. The one thing that we, as devotees and aspirants, may depend upon, that through our oneness with Him, God will be ever-present with us. We may feel His peace, love, joy, inner-direction, wisdom-thoughts, comfort–all that is His. For reasons known and unknown we may have certain things we must go through, but in our faithfulness God will never abandon nor forsake us. This is His promise.