So many of us, indeed, are willing and eager to lay our trust in God — but only up to a point. Our trust is partial, because our “experience” keeps us tied to dependence upon men and material possessions. The body needs food day after day: and so, we must always have a store of food in the house. The body needs many other things which can be had with money: and so, we must have savings in the bank. The banks may crash and houses may fall and stocks of food may be consumed. But there is One who abideth for ever. He was, He is, and He will be for ever and ever more. He is the Giver of all that is.
The tragedy of our life is just this that we rely too much on material possessions.
When Antoinnette Foligno left her home, at dead of night, in quest of God, she left behind all her goods and possessions: but she took with herself a penny with which to buy bread on the morrow. As she moved on, she felt a heavy load on her heart. Then she heard a Voice say to her: “Antoinnette! dost thou trust a penny more than thou dost trust thy God?” Immediately, she threw the penny on the roadside: and she felt relieved and happy in the heart within. Having surrendered herself completely to the Lord, she found the greatest security of life.
Did not Jesus say: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto you”?
The more we meditate on similar sayings of Krishna and Jesus and other Great Ones of Humanity the more we shall grow in that true life which is a life of self-surrender. It is a life of freedom from the shackles of earthly “experience”. And meditation must deepen into knowledge, into realisation, before freedom can be achieved. To be truly free is to be born anew, is to become a pure child of God. Such an one lives with God and walks with God and speaks to Him and hears Him speak. Such an one is granted the privilege of issuing cheques on a Bank that never fails — the Bank of the Bounteous One.
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
