God’s Love is Equal for All
God’s love is indeed equal toward all. A fragrant flower emits the same fragrance irrespective of the hand it is held in; be it the left hand or the right. It is not for God to treat one with liking and another with dislike. But man, by his nature, feels guilty and tries to see anomalies in God. A man, with his worldly intelligence, cannot properly understand the Divine. How can a fish vendor evaluate precious gems? As is the thought, so is the fruit. Each one differentiates good and bad as per his own outlook and thus experiencing the good and the bad, binds himself with self-inflicted worry.
The axe ruthlessly chops off the sandalwood tree. But the sandalwood tree, without any malice or anger, leaves its fragrance on the axe that cuts it. So does Divinity. Out of ignorance, pride, arrogance, or blinded by self-indulgence, men may undermine God in a number of ways, in thought and word. Some might even think that they could cause pain to God by speaking ill of Him. But these do not affect God. Even to such cynical men, He grants His goodness and good will.
Good and bad are two sides of the same coin. The citizens of Ayodhya were greatly devoted and dedicated to Lord Ramachandra. However, disregarding all their prayers, He proceeded to leave for exile. The same people who had shown love, loyalty, and devotion toward Lord Rama became angry with Him for going against their wishes. They criticized Lord Rama saying, “We mistook Rama to be soft and sweet at heart, like butter and nectar. Never did we imagine that He would turn out to be so cold, with a heart of a stone.”
Now, this criticism is a reaction that contradicts the praises showered earlier. That is how everything inherently has components of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and censure, etc. Good men and bad men, both cause sorrow to the Divine. In fact, believers and non-believers, both speak ill of Him! Both, the good and the bad are violent toward the Divine! What is the inner meaning of ‘violence’ here? How can we consider it to be violence? On reasoning out, it is understood that separation from the good and association with the bad are the reasons for the root cause of sorrow. Thus, separation and association both can cause sorrow. That is why the Divine blesses both equally.
What exactly is this blessing? He blesses that one may never suffer the association of bad men or the separation from the good men. To get in touch with good men and to break up with bad men should be the basic practice of a human being. Then again, both these association and separation are born within our heart. The nectar and the poison were produced from the same sea. The nectar gave happiness and the poison led to sorrow. The nectar rose to fame and the poison became infamous. Hence, one should cultivate goodness in pursuit of the great glory that the human beings can reach. Man today craves for meritorious positions but doesn’t come forward to perform meritorious deeds. He refuses to accept the results of his sin but is ever ready to commit acts of sin. This is the basic problem. “punyasya phalam ichhanti, punyam na kurvanti maanavah; na papa phalam icchanti, papam kurvanti yathatah“. (If you do not desire a bad outcome, do not embark upon a bad activity. When you desire good results, take the initiative to perform good deeds only.)
The principles of good and bad are inherent in humanity. In some, the good and bad principles are fused together. The crow consumes bitter neem [tree indigenous to India] with relish. The cuckoo relishes sweet mango. In the same way, some men desire worldly pleasures, which they firmly believe to be the source of happiness and run after those. Good men aspire only to experience love and Divinity and crave for these. Good and bad are inherent in the nature of both these types.
Goodness is always accompanied by suffering. In the eyes of the world, it is a lowly and deprived way of life. But, then, the wish-fulfilling tree is merely a tree belonging to the lower forms of life. The ocean that gives precious gems is all salt water. So, when the good and the bad within human nature is analyzed deeply, it is seen that good and bad arise out of one’s wishful thoughts and have nothing to do with the object that is judged.
Man must duly persevere to take noble ideas to heart and experience the happiness thereof. Man must foster the principle of love within himself. Giving and forgiving—by these alone can we fill our life with love. By getting and forgetting, selfishness grows. Forgetting the favors taken from others is the prime reason for growing selfishness. Hence, to develop love in us we should go on giving and forgiving.
Source: My Dear Students, Vol. 1
