This month we are telling you a lot of things through this letter—one great truth and many related inspiring anecdotes.
You know, there are many people and many things in this world. Their forms, complexions, voices, tones of voices, handwritings, ways of walking—nothing looks alike. At the same time, in spite of these differences, there is something which is common to all of them. And, that is God who should be treated by you as your dearest object of love. Dwelling equally in all, God becomes a common factor. Let us call Him the highest common factor (H.C.F.)—a term which you might be familiar with.
So God is the H.C.F. He is inside all that exists in the form of the soul (the Atman)—the same soul. Now, to feel that everybody and everything has one and the same soul, which is another name of God, is something very great. This feeling makes one think that all are one through the H.C.F. called God or soul, although they are different externally. This feeling makes one see the vision of God in all. This feeling serves as a reminder that there is a sort of commonness between all beings and things. If you have this feeling, you will understand that God who is in others, is in you too and you and others are never apart. This makes you very intimate with others, with all, with both the good and the bad.
Dear children, be up and doing to have this feeling. Think again and again about God and your oneness with others through Him. Swami Sivanandaji, our most revered spiritual master, had translated this feeling into his behaviour to the letter. Here are some anecdotes which testify this fact.
- In the year 1960, one day, to the Sivananda Ashram Hospital was admitted an injured looter who had fallen into a deep pit while running away to escape his capture. Many people who came to see him were filled with scorn for him. Swamiji reacted differently. He said to the hospital staff ‘‘Nurse him well. God has come in his form.’’
- Once a visitor was astonished to find that in a shed two residents of the Sivananda Ashram were tending a dying bull by order of Swamiji.
The visitor screamed, “My God!”
Swamiji remarked, “You have said rightly. It is your God. You are seeing God in it and so am I.”
- Once someone killed a scorpion with the back of his torch. Swamiji was moved to pity and said to him, “By killing one scorpion are you able to save people from the stings of several scorpions in the country? To kill the creature, it probably took you only a few seconds but can you give it its life back again?”
How intimate Swamiji was with the creatures!
- Once one Dr. Thompson asked Swamiji, “Have you seen God?”
Swamiji replied, “I see nothing but God in the food I take, in the water I drink, in the people I greet and meet and in you Dr. Thompson.”
- Once Swamiji had prayed to God by chanting a Mantra for a long time for the peace of the departed souls of a mother rat and its newborns. Not an ordinary thing! He was so mindful of the presence of God even in small creatures! He regularly fed ants, birds and monkeys on sugar, rice-grains, grams, breads etc. He never ignored any injured stray cattle lying at the roadside. His feet never trampled ants moving on the paths. He rather preferred to go by long routes to save their lives.
Dear children, have you ever heard about anyone shading an aged or sick co-pedestrian with his umbrella from the sun, or untying the shoe-laces of old and obese people who faced difficulty in bending down? Perhaps not. We tell you—it was Swamiji.
A saint had rightly remarked —“Swamiji is all heart from head to feet.” He had a big heart, expanded heart. He beckoned everybody into that heart. He kept everyone and everything a place there. Why? Because he saw in every being and thing and in himself the same God.
Dear children, make a habit of seeing or having a feel of something invisible behind whatever you see with your eyes. And that ‘invisible’ is God who is always present everywhere. This will make you children with a difference. You may not be, then, in a majority but you will, certainly, be a source of peace and joy for others. Your words, thoughts and actions will act as a balm to the sorrowful.
Little readers! read these anecdotes again and again. Contemplate the messages they convey. Remember and re-remember the messages. This will prove very rewarding finally.
We expect you to go through this column regularly. Rest assured, the mental food we are providing though this column will nourish your personality in a big way.
Be in touch with us.
With Om and love from
The Divine Life Society Headquarters
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