On Problems And Difficulties
We agonise ourselves in trying to make a problem vanish. God laughs
at us. But as soon as we accept a difficulty as inevitable, ordained
by Him, it slowly melts away until the day comes when we wonder where
it has disappeared.
As soon as you have conquered a difficulty, you will find that it
repeats itself on a higher and subtler level. It is the same essential
weakness in yourself which you are made to face in a more refined form.
A problem exists only in our own consciousness. The same external
situation becomes a problem for me but not for you. Why? Because it
disturbs some element of my inner harmony, while yours is left untouched.
There is no other way to spiritual success than to sit at the feet of
Patience, trusting to her lords, Time and Progress.
Adversity makes you dynamic. Adversity forces your eyes wide open.
Adversity teaches you the meaning of patience. Adversity endows you
with faith in yourself. Adversity opens the secret door through which
you can see the ultimate future fulfilment of God's Will.
Is there any way left for man to be free? Certainly there is. The
moment he feels his mind to be a thought of God, he can be at large
like a bird in the sky; his life, however fleeting, is a breath of his
Inner Pilot.
Aspiration can be raised to meet the Peace above; but Peace must be
brought down to remove one's difficulties.
Are you casting about for true happiness in life? If so, yield not to
reason, yield not to fate, but yield only to the dictates of your
inner Voice.
Difficulty is often fed by its master, Distrust. What is the function
of Distrust? Its function is to interfere with the action of the
Divine Grace.
An absolute surrender to the Divine is the only strength that can
help an aspirant to wrestle with all the outer and inner problems of
life. As our very existence depends on God alone, we must be
independent of the values of others, the opinions of others, the
demands of others.
Today properly guarded can easily escape tomorrow's snare. It can
even nullify yesterday's stumbles.
To think that pain is a well-deserved punishment is wrong. To think
that pain is an unavoidable heritage of karma is worse. To think that
pain can never be surmounted is worst of all. Pain is a momentary
experience of one's limited self before it enters into the sea of Bliss.
Question: When we find ourselves encountering difficulties in
the spiritual life, is the best thing just to surrender to God's Will
and leave it all up to Him?
Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on your own spiritual height, your
own achievement. There are two types of seekers. One seeker is very
idle, extremely idle. He has heard the idea of surrender to God's
Will, so he will not lift a finger. "Let me surrender everything to
God's Will and not do anything," he says. The other seeker will pray,
meditate and devote his life dynamically to God. "I am offering the
result of my aspiration to God," he says.
If one is sincere and really aspiring, he prays and meditates in a
divine way, according to his capacity. He does what he can, and at the
same time he watches all the situations, calamities and forces around
him. He says, "I have done my part. Now it is up to God to free me
from these undivine forces or unpleasant experiences." This is the
best attitude. If we can go deep within every day during our
meditation, we will become the observer, the witness, Purusha. But if
we cannot go deep within every day in our meditation, the next best
thing is to act like a hero. It is a kind of heroism when we offer the
results of our actions to God. The result may take the form of defeat.
But if we can gladly offer the result to God, we are a divine hero.
Unfortunately, most of us do not do that. We try a little, but when
we see an enormous elephant in front of us, we give up. "It is simply
useless," we say. And sometimes we blame God. Since we are
encountering so many difficulties now that we have entered into the
spiritual life, we think it would be better to return to the ordinary
life. But at this point we are making a serious mistake. When we go
deep within, we will realise that the difficulties we now are
encountering did exist before. But at that time ignorance knew that we
were absolutely at its mercy. Ignorance was our lord. We were fast
asleep in the ignorance-room, so ignorance did not take the trouble to
bother us much. Now that we are trying to come out of the sea of
ignorance, ignorance is trying to pull us back. "Where are you going?"
it demands. "You have to stay with me!" When we are conscious of the
struggle, we are on our way out of the ignorance-room. The
difficulties were there inside, but at that time we were totally
unconscious of them. Now we are aware of them.
So if you can go deep within, please ask God to take care of you. Let
your aspiration go high, higher, highest. But if you don't feel that
you have very free access to God's Will, the best thing is to fight
ignorance on the physical plane with your own eagerness and capacity.
When wrong forces disturb you, you have to fight. If you surrender,
many more wrong forces will attack you.
--Sri Chinmoy