Posted by Bansi Pandit on March 27, 1998 at 14:40:06:
In Reply to: Does God hear us? posted by Nicole on March 15, 1998 at 14:18:03:
: I read a response of yours ("spiritual path") and you were talking about prayer - you said to for the Heavenly Father to guide you and reveal himself to you. I was a fundamental Christian for several years and prayed that same prayer but never felt any guidance. I could never tell if god heard me or not; I always wanted a guiding hand on my shoulder but did not feel it. How would this be different as a Hindu, if at all? Is asking for guidance "too Christian"? What do you mean by saying do not pray like a beggar? These are my sincere questions as I search for a spiritual path to follow. I am trying to believe in God or a God-force again after disillusionment in Christianity and then brief and unhappy atheism. Can Vishnu help me? Is he really there?
: Thank you.
Response:
Dear One
I feel a current of sincerity in your query. Accordingly, my response is as follows:
If you didn’t feel any guidance, it does not mean the guidance was not there. If a radio cannot tune in a station., it does not mean the signal is not present in the air. May be the radio needs tuning , a repair, or even a major repair! Sages of all religions have declared that God hears us, but we don’t hear Him. The problem is not with Him, but with us. Parmahamsa Sri Ramakrishna, one of the widely revered Hindu sages of the modern era, always told his disciples that he directly talked with the Divine Mother, Kali, on numerous occasions, just as he talked with them.
We are neither sinners, nor slaves of God. We are His (Her) children. He created us; we did not create ourselves. Does a father (or mother) ever think that his (or her) child is his slave or inferior to him? How can that be? Our only problem is that we are ignorant of our own divine heritage. We sin because of ignorance. We cling to the things and beings of the world for our security and happiness; and forget that God is the ultimate source of our security and happiness. We do not feel close to God when we pray. We lack the conscience of being close to God. We pray like beggars. When a beggar asks for alms, he never feels close to the giver. Instead, he feels inferior and wretched compared to the giver. When we pray with the beggar-mentality, God stays away from us because he knows we only want this and that and don’t actually love Him. God has everything, but our love. He will never have it, unless we give it to Him. It is because he has given us the free will and he does not tamper with it. He keeps His promise, not to interfere with our free will. God answers our prayers only if we love Him and feel close to Him during our prayers. Thus, the prayer must come directly from the heart with tremendous closeness and devotion to God. As I have said earlier in response to Spiritual Path, if a prayer is said properly, a feeling arises in the heart, then and there, and that is the divine response to the prayer. If the heart has any impurity such as hate, jealousy, or anger towards any creature, the prayer will not be answered. It is because who we hate are be angry with also belongs to God. One has to rise above limitedness, bigotry, blind faith and theological dogma to be able to commune with God, says my revered Guru, Paramahansa Yogananda. The ego must get out before God can come in. He is waiting out there for us to let Him in our lives. This is possible only through a spiritual discipline.
Can Vishnu help? Vishnu is just another name for the same Ultimate Reality that Christians prefer to call Heavenly Father, Jews love to call Yahweh, and Muslims like to call Allah. Just as there are no different suns for the astronomers of different religions, there are no different Gods for the followers of different religions. It is the same one Ultimate Reality that is worshipped by different religions by different names.
Thus, your question, can Vishnu help, really means, can God help? My answer to this question is if God cannot help, tell me who else can?
Your question “Is he really there?” The very fact that you are asking this question and the fact that you do not doubt your own existence shows that God, call Him Vishnu or whatever, exists and is more real than you are. Behind every physical phenomena there is an invisible phenomena. When an apple falls from a tree, we see the apple falling. We don’t see the gravitational force that makes the apple-falling possible. We see the person, but we don’t see his inner Sprit. The purpose of life is to develop enough intuition (not reason) so that we can feel through our hearts, what intellect cannot perceive. Intuition cannot be developed by following blind faith or theological dogma, or trying to be intellectual. Intellect is useful for investigation of the physical universe, but it is limited in its ability to probe into the nature of the Spirit. From the depths of his own spiritual experiences, Swami Ramdas says, “The intellect is too feeble and limited to gauge the depths of the infinite. It cannot find out the how and why of ignorance. Once we know we are caught in ignorance, our concern must be only to remove it, to get out of the cage, and not to be inquiring into its cause and source. A spiritual discipline is meant to break the walls of the cage.”
Let me conclude with the words of Swami Ramdas, “ A God-realized soul alone can awaken and kindle another soul. Going to temple (or church or a mosque) alone will not do. Reading books will not do. Contact of great souls who have realized God is essential.”
Bansi Pandit