What belonged to us that God took away? We can only file a missing report about our belongings. What did we create? You are a part of God, so what was your effort in creating yourself? If He removes one eye, it’s His discretion. He wants you to see with one eye. It’s His belonging; what belongs to you, tell me? If you are educated, God has given you that intelligence. If He took away the intelligence, one may roam the streets like a madman. What belongs to you?
Now, regarding the point of your belongings and loved ones being snatched away, that is destiny. Your good and bad karma(reactions to sins and good deeds of this and past births) has not been destroyed yet. Whatever you have sown in the past will have to be reaped. If you achieve knowledge of self or devotion, impressions of previous births will be burnt away, and you will be enlightened with pure knowledge. This question of God snatching away our belongings will never arise in that state. What was snatched? Illusion, ignorance, attachment and sin. This is what God snatches to purify us.
What Belongs To Us?
One may say – He took away my son. Wasn’t it an illusion that he was your son? God Himself came in this form; were you able to perceive? To fulfil the gratification of your action, God Himself had come for a set time frame in that form. You perceived it as your own, in illusion, so now you cry. The illusion will make you cry that He seized my opulence. To whom does all the opulence of the infinite universes belong? It belongs to God.
If you work as an employee, you get paid irrespective of whether the owner makes a profit or loss. But if you try to become the proprietor, you will become happy or sad based on the outcomes of your business. If you understand this principle, you can never blame God for anything. There is no one more merciful than God. There is no path comparable to spirituality.
Looking At Reality With a Spiritual Lens
The spiritual path is to obtain supreme bliss. When we tread the spiritual path, God burns the sins of infinite births. However, this body has been created by taking some of the fruits of the sinful actions from past births, so we will have to bear them. The result of the entire life of the body has been written according to our karmas before the birth of this body. After this much time, this disease will occur, the hand will break, etc., according to our previous actions. Even the biggest of saints, like Sri Ramkrishna Paramhans ji, had cancer in his throat, so similarly various reactions come.
God has clearly stated –
Avashyamev Bhoktavyam,
Every living entity has to suffer the consequences of the good and bad deeds done by him.
Kritam Karm Shubhashubham
We are performing our devotion now, so that devotion will destroy all the previous karmic reactions. From here on, whatever karma is there, if one is a devotee, they won’t be contaminated. If we get contaminated by mistake, God forgives us.
Rehet na Prabhu Chit Chook Kiye Ki
Shri Ramcharitmanas
Karat Surat Sehbaar Hiye Ki
The Lord does not remember the mistakes of his devotees (he forgets them) and keeps remembering their good deeds a hundred times.
How To Become Free From Karmic Reactions?
You will have to bear the consequences of your actions. There is one solution: surrender so that even the self(individuality) surrenders, and everything will get burnt. Accept God’s grace and move forward in devotion; then, you will see the grace of God in every little thing. If I had an agreeable family or wealth, I would have been entangled in enjoying it. I would have never received this blissful state. How merciful of Him that He didn’t give me what I wanted. I would have got entangled; He didn’t grant it; how merciful of Him.
We are now attached to pleasures, family, and the world. Therefore, we think that God is awful. Whoever worships Him gets beaten up and gets pain. It’s not like that. The accounts of infinite births are getting cleared, and the game will end soon. Then you will go back to Him. If you could see, you would understand that He is erasing the sins of millions of lifetimes by giving you trivial pains. He calls us towards Himself, how merciful, so I can only see His grace and nothing else.
God Is A Giver
God has not taken away from you; He has given to you. He has given us everything: this human form, rare satang (spiritual discourse) and the rare name of God. What you mention as being taken away is perishable; it will be destroyed in time. If you keep a food item, it looks good when fresh, but after 3-4 days, it will develop fungus and smell rotten because that is what its real form is. There was a time when we were young, but when we grew, we started to get old, wrinkled, and approaching death. God is not doing this; that’s the nature of it.
This world is called Dukhalayam Ashshvatam (a temporary place full of sorrow and illusion). The place you have come to is called the planet of death (Mrityu Lok). It is full of sorrows, and everything will be left behind. Only the holy name of the lord is eternal — the supreme wealth of Radha Naam.
Kabira Sab Jag Nirdhana, Dhanwanta Nahi Koye
Saint Kabir Das Ji
Dhanwanta wahi janiye jaake, Ram Naam Daan Hoey
Kabir ji says that the whole world is poor, in reality no one is rich. Consider only the one rich who has the wealth of Ram’s name.
Ram Naam, Krishna Naam, Shyam Naam. Brother, God has only given to you. He is a giver, not a taker.
Conclusion
When a government employee becomes too attached to government property given to him for service and refuses to give it up once the service is complete, he is thrown out and becomes sad. Whatever you have belongs to the supreme government. It was given for service. For serving the Lord and the family, getting free from the debt of your karma, and going back to the Godhead. Now you have accepted it as your own and want it to stay that way forever. That is an illusion (Maya).
Only God is true, nothing else. Only Maya is making us see other things as real. Perform devotion, Maya will be destroyed. You will understand that there is no one. We are true selves, supreme selves; we are not humans. You are not some living entity. You are a part of God. That is what we have forgotten. If we remember this, we become blissful immediately and filled with joy. No one was there, is there, or will be there. There was only one that was, and that will be, hold onto this. What you have accepted as yours is your illusion, so you must cry and be scared. That is what is happening to you.
Original Question – God is slowly taking away everything I have; please guide me.
Answer by – Pujya Shri Hit Premanand Ji Maharaj
Answered on – 24.04.2023
