The Impossible remains
impossible to all men. Exceptional people find it possible. He who seeks the
Spirit truthfully becomes that rare exception. My impossibilities are
realities in life. A half-starved, last grade servant seven years after
retirement hospitalised and kept alive on oxygen, especially when it is the
third attack, does not consider survival possible. To him it is a real
impossibility, even in thought. What is impossible for one in unhelpful
circumstances is possible for another in supportive affluent circumstances. To
the former it remains impossible.
To plough deeper than six
inches is not possible for the country plough, but is possible for the tractor.
A powerful tractor can plough five feet deep. The change of the instrument
changes the result. We know the physical man whose only instruments are his
hands and legs cannot understand law or medicine, but the educated mental man
can. Mind is a superior instrument which makes what is impossible for the
physical man possible. The Spirit is a far superior instrument which makes
possible what is impossible to the mental man.
The Spirit is there in every one of us. Our tradition has not taught us to rely on it in our daily lives except through worship. Worship will reach the Spirit in the rare few in moments of crisis. To believe in the Spirit inside is itself the beginning of such an invocation. One can feel a greater energy or an inspired enthusiasm when the mind turns to the Spirit. To see the extraordinary power of Spirit in everyday activities is possible for us.
You may be one who at the
age of 45 has never found an employment; or a girl who has missed marriage till
the age of 38. There are students who always secure the 40th rank in a class of
60. A good job, a welcome alliance or a first rank to these people is really
impossible. They can try an experiment in their inner domains. Whether it will
succeed is never a question. But such an experimentation cannot be repeated a
second time as a test. Lord Krishna desired to know whether he was really a God
and pushed the hill and it moved. Should the first experiment succeed, one must
try to secure that power as a permanent endowment.
The above mentioned old man
survived, became dynamic, fulfilled a long unfulfiled ambition of building a
house and lived for another twenty-five years. To believe in Spirit one needs
no such example. Any such example must be able to inspire one to call the
Spirit. How to call the Spirit into action?
The mind will alternate
between the old and new ways. Be steady and move entirely to the new poise.
Maintain that poise of mind. The anxieties and frustrations that were a
pre-occupation until now, will recede into the background and an inner
spiritual calm will steadily grow until it becomes a joy and cheerfulness. It
will be evident they are spiritual cheerfulness and spiritual joy. They are the
surest indications of the answering Spirit. Life will change its attitude to
you. As the inner peace collects, the outer environment will change from
indifferent politeness or insufferable superiority to interested attention and
pleasant recognition. One MUST note it as the clear outer reflection of the inner
change for the better. We must understand and appreciate it and never make an effort to accept
it as final, as by doing so one will level off at that point. Such a changed
behaviour may be from an affluent neighbour or a stiff boss. A clerk in the
education department, in such a situation, was sought after by his superiors
with deferential attention. This clerk, who came by chance into contact with
his colleague who was seeking spiritual solace, discovered that his friend was
doing something unusual. Knowing his friend to be genuinely interested in
learning about invoking the Spirit, he shared his sacred trust. The clerk
found he was in the process of an inner efflorescence. The next day he received
such a warm welcome at the office, which he had never been used to. He was
constantly courted. His boss came to know something was going on and sent for
the clerk. The boss, usually a glum old man on the verge of retirement, glowed
with a ray of brightness in his countenance and behaved just as his other
colleagues had behaved. To the clerk, it was heaven descending on earth. In a
week, everyone started calling him 'Divine.' News came from the regional head
who was in the same premises that the clerk was wanted there. There too the
same welcome awaited him. "Whenever you have some time to spare, please
come here and spend some time", were words the clerk could not believe
came from this superior officer. It
is not easy not to lose one's inner balance on such an occasion. Everything can
be recognised, received with a steady idea that that is not final. At
the end, the Spirit will play a magnificent role. The boy in the 40th rank will
find himself in the first rank, as one actually did.
Inner unsteadiness shows we
are still on the way. When there is no urge inside to avail of the outer
reward, we know we have arrived. As long as we are concentrated on establishing
the Spirit inside, these vacillations will not arise as all the energy is
required here.
One who was unable to keep a
job on Rs. 500/- had a view of getting the next job on Rs.1200/- in about a
year or year a half. At the end of that period, he was in USA on a monthly
salary of $4000.
India is a land of Rishis.
Their light is in our bodies, said the Divine Mother. Purity and Truth will
call up that light on the surface of our lives if we are in tapas, as it is the
light of the Rishis who attained it in tapas. That light was not directly meant
to play any role in our domestic or official life. Surely it will have a
beneficial effect in the life of one wedded to Truth. The Spirit that is
being explained here is the evolving Spirit in the everyday life of Nature called
prakriti.
v This Spirit does not require
one to shun life, rather it is in life that this Spirit finds a play.
v Not any worship at a temple
or rituals at home or japa of any description can evoke this Spirit, but anyone
of serious disposition and abiding interest in his own life activities can
commission it into action.
v On its appearance, the
phrase 'The Impossible has become Possible' will be on everyone's lips.
v It is the heritage of India
and to me herein lies the infinite prosperity of her vast masses whose bodies
are filled not with the darkness of those who merely toil but the light of the
Rishis of old.
Examine your life and you
will certainly see at least one event that qualifies for this description. Now
that event, in the context of this new understanding, will stand out
prominently in recollection. As we relate to our life by the result, not the
process by which the result is arrived at, we miss such events.
What miraculous events occur by the conscious invocation of the Spirit, occurs by themselves, so that life can be sustained. Coming to such events in one's life, casually in one's conversation we hear people exclaim, "Somehow something happened and I got into IAS, otherwise I would have ended up as a nobody somewhere". Luck seeking one, or misfortune missed are events in anyone's life. In your own life, there certainly can be one that was a landmark but was blissfully forgotten. Some instances are,
v One who could not digest
anything other than rice and buttermilk easily until his 35th year, suddenly
found that he could eat and digest anything on joining M.A. Literature. Only
that he had not noticed it.
v One who had fits once in a
few months stopped having that visitation on his forging a new friendship. He
too missed taking it into his observation.
v People who could not borrow
a few rupees were, by a public scheme, offered thousands of rupees credit at
their doorsteps. A journalist who went there to study their prosperity heard
all the eventful stages of their progress but not how it was initiated. When
that was pointed out, everyone acknowledged it went out of their memory.
To go over one's past and locate one such event is a
good beginning for one who wishes to know this phenomenon and is enamoured of
making it a permanent feature of his own life where the Spirit plays no
inconsiderable role. It is Spiritual GRATITUDE.