Swami is Selfless

Question: Swami, we don’t find out our own faults. Even if we recognize them, we justify them. Because of our narrow-mindedness, we don’t understand Your infinite love. We doubt and limit Your love. As ill-luck would have it, You don’t seem to look at our faces when we sit in darshan lines—and sometimes it appears that You are avoiding us. We are depressed because You don’t talk or look at us. How are we to take and face this sad situation?

Bhagavan: Believe it or not, from top to toe there is not an iota of selfishness in Swami! Whatever I do and say, it is for your own good. Why am I harsh with you at times? It is My love for you, and in order to check and transform you, I pretend to be harsh and serious. If I don’t feel that you are Mine, why should I bother to correct you? It is My duty, since you are Mine, to set you right when you are wrong.

You feel sad when I don’t talk to you because you value My words. Your wavering mind and your shaky faith make you listen to and act according to the words of some irresponsible persons. You are carried away by them. So, there arise some undesirable thoughts in your mind and some unbecoming traits in your behavior. Therefore, I act as if I am keeping you away from Me. Why? My intention is to correct you quickly.

Take one example. When a road is under repair, what do you do? You take a diversion and pass through another route, don’t you? Similarly, to bring about reformation in you, very often I pretend to be avoiding you and not observing you. The day you change, everything becomes normal, just as the traffic is resumed soon after the road is repaired. God, out of His intense and infinite love for you, incarnates only to correct and guide you. So, I treat in this manner those people who tread along the wrong path in My ‘hospital’ of Prasanthi Nilayam. Soon after they are cured and their health is restored, I discharge them, and then establish with them the same old and usual relationship.

I have to re-affirm, re-establish, and rejuvenate your faith. I have to lay the proper and strong foundation for you so that you may lead a happy and dharmic [righteous] life. I have to infuse self-confidence in you so that you don’t fall victim to worldly, sensual pleasures. Your prayer may not bring about world peace, but see that you don’t have bad qualities like greed and violence. This is a tough, rough, and difficult path to follow. But you have got to follow it. Tarry no longer and do not allow the bad qualities you have long adopted and nurtured to have a firm grip over you and your life. Do give them up forthwith.

In the olden days when anyone fell sick in Puttaparthi, they used to get him treated by a non-medical, unlettered, unqualified, and inexperienced fake doctor. As a result, the condition of the patient often became very serious. Later they began running to places like Anantapur, Chickballapur, Vellore [various towns in South India] and so on to save the patient. Had they given proper treatment to the patient by a senior qualified doctor, this situation would have been averted. Isn’t it so? Some self-styled gurus, who have failed to solve their own problems, go around like beggars, and you run after them. What do you expect from them? Don’t give any scope for ego and pride in you. Accept God as your guide and director in your life and follow Him strictly.