Victims of Ignorance
Some people [victims of ignorance] say that Swami does magic, and I agree with them. Swami Himself says that God is a magician and I know that Swami is God. The Lord created this world with His maya shakti [power to create illusion]. So long as we remain ignorant of the underlying principle, we take this maya [illusion]-created world as reality. We are all under the spell of avidya-maya [illusion of ignorance]. The reason is inherent in the very nature of birth. The world is full of people who can recognize the Lord’s glory only through His mahathmya [magnanimity]? We allow ourselves to be carried away by the floodwaters of maya, until destiny leads us ashore by its providential hand.
O, my dear honest doubters! Bhaktas [devotees] know how Swami creates what He wishes by a wave of the hand; that is, by His sankalpam [will]. The things He thus creates are transitory in the sense that the world is transitory. They are permanent in the sense that the world is permanent! The materialization of Swami’s sankalpam [will] can be called a miracle for a miracle is anything that surpasses our understanding. The actual emergence of the article is beyond our powers of comprehension.
Saints like Sri Ramakrishna have objected to sadhakas [spiritual aspirants] performing such miracles, because they feared that these would ruin the development of the sadhaka, who aspires for spiritual elevation and the liberation of soul. They should not waste the priceless spiritual powers they have acquired after great effort, just to satisfy their vanity. But that is not the case with Swami, who is Paramatma [supreme self] incarnate. He loses nothing by His miracles; we gain much by being attracted to His lotus feet. They have the force to draw nara [man] to Narayana [God].
What a grand puppet show this is, what a wide stage, and what a huge audience! We are at once both actors and spectators. The play is the cycle of birth and death; it is non-stop and gives no rest, but continues even in sleep, until the entrance into the jaws of death. Our existence on the stage is dependent on the pulls and pushes of the stage-manager, the magician who manipulates the thin invisible threads. Are we aware of that magician?
One fine morning, I saw millions of minute white insects on a black stone, each no bigger than the head of the tiniest ant! They were jumping as high as a foot and falling down on the stone! What was the reason for all this activity? What was the motive force? On what did they live? Why did they exist at all? It is all beyond us. What is the secret of that chaitanya [awareness]? Do you not find the magical hand of God in all this?
Some people, the victims of avidya [ignorance], say that ‘all sorts,’ of people go to Prasanthi Nilayam and our Swami gives them refuge! If they are referred to as ‘all sorts’, because they have failed to observe the moral standards of human conduct, but then these standards differ from age to age and place to place. So, why cannot you sympathize with those who, in their distress, go to the Lord? Surely, your attitude toward these ‘all sorts’ is not one of love. Whether I am pious or not, it is my life’s purpose to lead ‘all sorts’ of people to Parthi for they are in need of the Lord’s grace. Instead of searching for faults in others, let us look for our own and correct them, setting a good example and making ourselves lovable. As Swami says, the greatest need for His presence is where hell or dukha [pain] is, not where heaven or ananda [bliss] is. We find both good and bad in creation, and as the Creator, there is none more competent than Swami to sort out which is which. Let us therefore leave the decision to Him.
Some other victims of avidya say that Swami’s predictions sometimes fail. But does He really predict? The trikalas [past, present, future], the trilokas [three worlds], the trigunas [three attributes] all form only a small portion of the Lord. He determines the future and seems to fail us only when we fail to understand His Divine nature. Much depends on our approach; nothing happens without faith. All that Swami has told me has come true in my own life. Have faith in Swami and no problem will remain unsolved, no doubt to be dispelled, and no question to be answered.
God has never been free of criticism. We have not yet forgotten the remark made by a dhobi (washerman) against Swami [as Rama] during the days of Rama-avatar [divine incarnation]. Under the influence of avidya, he questioned the chastity of Sita, the ideal of womanhood. During Krishna-avatar, too, Swami [as Krishna] was subjected to criticism. It all depends on one’s vision. Sri Krishna demonstrated this by the following test: Once when Dharmaraja, the embodiment of dharma [righteous action] and Duryodhana, the embodiment of adharma [unrighteous action], were both before Him, He asked both of them to bring their opposites to him. But, though the opposite of each was right in front of him, and each knew that Krishna wanted him to point out the other, Duryodhana, through dweshabhava [feeling of hatred] would not agree that Dharmaraja was his opposite. Dharmaraja also could not point Duryodhana out, for he was so full of premabhava [feeling of love]!
Let people say what they like about Swami. I am not worried. Nothing on the face of the earth can shake my faith in Him. It defies death and will survive death. My knowledge of Swami is His gift, for He is the source of divine grace. Swami is nityam [perennial]; Swami is satyam [truth].
~Challa Appa Rao
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, June 1959
