Chapter FIFTEEN Portland, Oregon USA ~ ( God's Will )

This year we were staying at the beautiful home of twin sisters, who were both wonderful artists. A large gathering was assembled at the Church of Religious Science. The Ministers, a husband and wife team, came to Dadaji for Mahanam.

At the church, so many questions were asked. Someone commented, "Dadaji, we ask so many different questions, and you give the same answer to all the questions."

Dadaji rep1ied, "That is the difference. You see so many, Dadaji knows only ONE."

The final question of the evening was, "How can we know what God's Will is?"

Dadaji answered, "That is the question. God's Will is that you have come here in this life to taste God's Love, to taste God's Peace, and to live at one with God. So you see, God's Will is the same for everyone.

However, each person has come with a different destiny. This destiny is not possible to discover in total, nor can it be changed. Within this destiny, what you Call God's Will also operates. When you are in harmony, then Grace, mercy, and Providence descend upon your lives and it Seems like a miracle. This is the end product of being in tune with God's Will.

You are not to submit to ·your destiny or life itself for that matter. You are merely to accept life as it is. To do any action, in tune with God's Will, is only possible from the point of acceptance.

If a person does not respond with acceptance to all situations of life, it is like going from New York to Los Angeles and starting the journey from Texas.

The Gita says: · 'You attain Peace, into whom all desires flow as into the ocean, which though ever being filled remaineth unmoved.'

Acceptance is not submission, that feeling of submitting outwardly and still having an inner feeling of resistance. This will cause an endless pattern of conflict between inner and outer. True acceptance cannot cause conflict. For when life is received in tune with God's Will, there is no inner and no outer. This is the proper starting point for your journey in life. 

As the Gita says, the ocean receives all the rivers and streams. It neither permits nor does it resist. The ocean is neither elated nor depressed with the clear or muddy content flowing into it. The ocean never says, I am already full, do not send anymore water. I have enough. So it is with life. You cannot say, Stop the world, I want to get off. I have had enough already!' Life will keep on flowing.

The person who is at peace with God, is at peace with them self, and so is at peace with all. This state is to be brought about by acceptance. 'Thy Will be done, Lord.' This Will, will be what you have prepared for yourself in the sense of mind and body. This is the cause and effect, for you have been led by your senses, the world mind and consciousness, and have not experienced the silence of the Holy Communion with the Supreme God.

With this experience, you will be led to your rightful harmonious place in the world. There will be no conflict between your will and God's Will. The part and

the whole will form a beautiful tapestry, which will result in fulfillment of the

Divine plan for you

The following verse from the Gita describes those on the spiritual adventure of life. That which is night for all beings, for the disciple of God is time for waking, what is time for waking for other beings is indeed night for the Sage who seeth.

"Once during his sleep, · a Sage had a visitation from an Angel. He was told that

at 6 a.m. all the wells of the town would be poisoned and every person would go mad from drinking the water. He awoke and spent hours draining water from the well. Sure enough next day everyone in the town was mad, except himself. Naturally the townspeople thought he was the only mad one. They had to lock him away. He finally caused so much trouble with his ran tings and ravings about poisoned well water that they decided to execute him.

When faced with his last request, he drank from the poisoned well water and was just like everyone else. "This is your tendency, to say, 'Well, that's how the world is.' Then you immediately suffer from the maddening pressures that life presents.

"Dadaji is telling you that you can leave behind, that you must leave behind, the limited world of cause and effect, probability, possibility, luck, fear, and worry.

You must enter into the world of Truth and Faith, where all things are possible and nothing is partial or limited, where healings and that which you call miracles take place naturally.

In this place of Truth, Dadaji baffles the computer experts by making green into yellow and where two plus two can equal three. This is that place where you no longer need to be a victim of circumstance, but instead a survivor in God.

These seeds of wisdom which Dadaji offers need not be taken up by you, nor need they be planted. You need do nothing. The seeds will either fall on the fertile deep soil of your life and blossom forth. Or they will fall on the shallow earth of your mind, sprout for a moment and be destroyed by the first harsh hot or cold encounter with life. And then again, you may be such a great skeptic, so enmeshed in the world of things and illusions, that these seeds will fall on the rocky and barren soil of your being and never germinate.

"Some people think that their mind is greater than the Creator's. Ego is speaking.

How can it be when you can do nothing of yourself?"

AS SOON AS YOU SAY, I AM THE GURU, AM THE DOER,

YOU ARE AN EGOIST.

"Everyone has self interest', you cannot help it. Even when you love another person from the heart, caring for their happiness and well-being, still self interest remains. Even a mother, whose greatest interest is in her baby, is not free from self-interest. Do not expect another, no matter how close, to understand you completely, when you fail to fulfill their knowing or unknowing needs."

There is a story about how one day a Master asked a man to leave his work and family to follow him. The man said he could not leave, for his family so loved and depended on him, that they would even lay down their lives for him. The Master went to the man's home that evening and slipped a potion into his drink. It made it appear that the fellow was dead, although he could hear everything going on.

The Master told the family that it was possible to bring the man back from the dead, if one went in his place. The wife declined, saying she had children to raise. The children declined, saying they were so young, it would not be fair for them to go. The man's mother was afraid to die. His brothers and sisters declined saying he was not so kind to them in life. With this, the man jumped up and he realized the frailty of human love.

So leave all your hopes and yearning to God. He will get your things done, never Deserts you, and has designed your way smoothly. Just remember God.

"We come into this human form to experience God's Will, to experience God's Love and Truth. You will see if you go through life, with God fully in mind, your sincerity will take you to a natural living, where any sense of poverty, wants, confusions, and nervousness of mind will have no place.

"Actually, you do not understand what real happiness tastes like. So you remain deprived of that taste. Your natural tendencies are to get involved in the myriad of mind functions. When you walk daily, with the conscious companionship of the dearest, the Supreme Soul, only then is your inner Divine Consciousness awakened.

"When you go without God, keeping Him away, you always remain in want. You are hurt by the love of your fellow human beings. To Dadaji, real character, God's real Will, is to put God at the helm of one's affairs. No one should, under any circumstances, shun God for any worldly interests. That is the real strength of character, strength of mind.

"You falter and stumble in life and suffer by discarding God, but in Truth you can do nothing without God. Have faith in God, unflinching faith. Remembering and depending on God, makes you fearless in life, whatever may happen."

HUMAN LOVE IS FICKLE AND FRAGILE. IT IS EMBEDDED WITH EGOISM.

GOD'S LOVE IS PURE AND EVERLASTING.

The following article, published on May 27,1978, in the Indian newspaper,

BLITZ, tells of the experience of a man, who was Deputy Director Genera1 of Civi1 Aviation of India.

The article is entitled,

DADAJI PUSHED THE SPIRIT BACK

INTO MY CORPSE - AND I LIVED AGAIN, by A.K. Sarkar.

Before meeting Dadaji, I was a man bordering on the fringes of agnosticism and scepticism. It was in the winter of 1974 that I heard about Dadaji. Subsequently, I met him and what happened as a consequence had a profound impact on my life.

During one of my whirlwind tours to Bombay, I squeezed in a wee bit of time to ring up my old friend Abhi Bhattacharya. After a brief exchange of pleasantaries, Abhi asked me whether I had any plans to go to Calcutta in the near future. On my

replying in the affirmative, he mentioned on~ Dadaji and asked me to meet him if possible, adding that he was a wonderful man.

My interest remained dormant in spite of the colourful picture that Abhi painted before me. However, I promised him that I would try, adding the imperative clause, "If I had the time." Abhi invited me to his place the following day, but wedged deep in my work, I could scarcely afford such an extravagant luxury. The day following I took the morning flight back to Delhi.

A week later, I was in Calcutta as planned. Abhi's words remained in the twilight recesses of the mind, half forgotten, half-dormant. However, it was here that a surprising coincidence occurred. Returning home from the airport in the evening, I bumped into a common friend of Abhi's and mine.

He too spoke of Dadaj i and asked me to meet him. Abhi's words echoed incessantly in my thoughts. I had the evening to myself and the vague "promise" tortured me into making the visit.

The Dadaj i that I found recumbent on a pillow took me totally off guard. The disparity between my expectations and the reality was too wide to be bridged immediately. Here was a man, quiet, unassuming, armed with a disarming smile and clad in total simplicity (a simple vest and lungi) in a simple house in Tollygunge.

Dadaji apparently fathomed my confusion, smiled and in a benign and kindly voice addressed me by my name and told me that he had been expecting me for a long time. The refreshing condour of his smile and the affection that he showered so lavishly upon me moved me as one is moved by an elder brother one has known and loved all one's life. Dadaji presented me with a book about SATYANARAYAN on which he inscribed my name in indelible red ink by just putting his palm over the page. He then took me to a small prayer room, gave me a blank piece of paper and chanted something melodious. He then asked me to look at t he piece of paper. Words had appeared on the till now blank paper - words that Dadaji instructed me to remember.

It was not at all like one of those 'deeksas' used as a means to delude and make money. It was an atmosphere of grace, reverence and quietude where money was in anonymity. Dadaji smoked openly. He declared his abhorrence for the traditional epithet of a Guru: "No man can be another man's Guru because the Divine is present in both without any sense of distinction." Dadaji would like to be referred to not as Guru but as an elder brother – simply as Dadaji.

I met Dadaji several times after that during my later visits to Calcutta and every time I had the good fortune of having his blessings.

Whenever he blessed me, my body was filled with fragrance which lasted for days.

It was Dadaji's presence that saved my life at a critical juncture. I had gone to Islamabad in connection with bilateral talks for the resumption of air links between India and Pakistan.

At the meeting, I suddenly felt a stabbing pain in my chest that seemed to knock the breath out of me. I was on the verge of a collapse when, like a drowning man, I seized the glass of water before me. The water was suddenly transformed into a liquid of the sweetest fragrance. I drank it and the pain subsided gradually. It was as if someone had lifted a heavy weight off my chest. This incident took place in 1976.

Immediately thereafter, I proceeded to Bangladesh in connection with some other agreement and on my way, I met Dadaji in Calcutta. As usual, he blessed me and asked me as to what had happened to me at Islamabad. Without waiting for my reply, he also said that I should be more careful about my health. He then materialised a gold Satyanarayan medallion from apparently nowhere and asked me to wear it around my neck.

In June - July 1977, I was going through a minor heart trouble. I was admitted to Willingdon Nursing Home for a check-up. The check-up proved to be a long drawn out affair of over a month. Perhaps it was this steady monotone that played havoc on my nerves and contributed in creating a steady decadence health wise.

On July 24, my condition suddenly deteriorated to its ultimate and I had an acute heart attack. On that day, I was expecting a discharge from the hospital, but at six o'clock in the evening, when I was sitting in the verandah of the Nursing Home with my wife, I suddenly felt very uncomfortable and immediately moved to my bed.

My wife noticing my uncomfortable condition, rushed to the doctor. By the time she returned, my heart was thumping and I was in agonising pain. There were beads of sweat on my forehead and my tremulous frame.

I remember distinctly that I told my wife I was leaving, and I believe it was a see-saw struggle between the doctors attending on me and death, with the latter dominating for nearly five hours. At about ten o'clock, the doctors (including two specialists) asked my wife to inform all the near and dear ones. Though they promised to do their very best, in the general gloom of the hour, their promise was

like a vacant mirage on a hopeless, unbroken stretch of sand.

Frantic calls to my brother at Calcutta and to Dadaji ensued. I was dying, to be sure. Yes, I was dead and the spirit had darted out of my body. I stood there beside the corpse, a bit confused. But a flood of light enveloped me; and, believe me, Dadaj i was there and he pushed me back into my corpse. Back to life again, I felt his hand on my forehead when they were shifting me from the room to the Intensive Care Unit.

Immediately thereafter, around 11 p.m. I assured my wife that I would survive and there was no danger to my life anymore, as I had seen Dadaji and got his blessings. After this, there was a gradual improvement in my condition.

I have not a speck of doubt that my life was saved because of Dadaji on that fateful night. To thank him would be to restrict my gratitude; to honor him would be to limit his greatness. To love him and remember him as an elder brother and as a friend, philosopher, and guide is all he wants and all that I can do.

Dadaji said that He did nothing. It was all God's Will. 

In Los Angeles, the Editor of the LOS ANGELES TIMES came to do an fnterview with Dadaji. The Editor asked Dadaji why He had come to America. Dadaji answered that He did not know. The Editor replied, "It is obviously to do God's work and to spread God's message." Dadaji laughed and asked, "How can man do God's work? That is absurd! God does everything, man can do nothing. Do not believe anyone who says that they are doing God's work or that they can take you to God. They are saying that they are God and you are not.

It is God's Will that Dadaji is here in America, to disclose Mahanam to a select few individuals. Dadaji also does not select these few, they are selected and brought to Him by destiny.

These Gurus coming from India are looking for crowds of thousands and millions, for the purpose of collecting money. Dadaji is only interested in a handful of persons, who are truly interested and ready for God. All that is necessary in America, is one thousand brothers and sisters joined together, and the work is complete.

Within each person's body is the city of the Supreme Lord. In the area of the heart dwells Mahanam. This Mahanam is the Truth, the Love to be sought after, inquired about, and realized.

What is it that dwells within the lotus of the heart, that must be sought after, inquired about and realized?

Even as large as the Universe outside, so large is the Universe within. Heaven, Earth, Air, Moon, Stars - all is contained within. All things that exist, all beings, all desires dwell within the city of Mahanam.

And when the body dissolves in death, this never dies, nor does it know old age.

This is where the Supreme lives, that place and not the body itself, is the home of the Almighty God. Untouchable by any deed, ageless, deathless, free from guilt, free from hunger and from thirst.

So God's Will and your will, free will, will-power, are merely problems and concepts created by your mind. When you transcend the mind, there is no such problem. What appears as free will, will power, has only to do with likes and dislikes. Where the opposites drop away, only one path remains. There is no other path to God, but God. Realization is the final feeling of, 'Lord, I shall do thy Bidding.

Be always as a pilgrim and a stranger upon the earth, as one who must finally leave and has no permanent business in this place. The lukewarm believers have trouble upon trouble. When you grow lukewarm, you are afraid of work and find so many reasons not to do so many things. When you have come to the point of seeking no special work, consolation, or identity, then you can first taste the sweetness of God. When you have God, you are truly rich.

How silly that you expect that all should love you and be kind and understanding to you, when God Himself has so many that call themselves His enemy.

Refusal of outward consolation is often necessary to experience inward joy. Give

yourself into God's hands and suffer silently if you must. The Divine knows the time and manner of your Deliverance.

Be at peace, for the peaceful person does more good than the most learned one.

When you accept that it is all God, then every created thing will appear as a book of holy teaching. The one who walks with God is not bound by outer affection or affliction.

START YOUR DAY WITH GOD. SPEND YOUR DAY WITH GOD.

END YOUR DAY WITH GOD

When things seem troubled, remember the tide can only go out so tar, and then it must reverse itself. A little more effort, a little more patience, a little more remembrance, and you shall overcome rather than be overcome.