Solve Problems Spiritually!
- Swami Vimurtananda
'We are forced to accept and support various members of our family, Swamiji! Hmm.... you may not understand that." The devotee heaved a sigh after telling this.
"Why sir, what happened?" asked the monk. The devotee narrated his family’s petty worries, problems, difficulties, etc…
“Swamiji, daily while doing puja I sweat a lot. But still, my wife would deliberately, switch off the fan, with the aim that I should finish the puja quickly. I’ve been going through this type of torture for a long time. Even then, I was handling all these problems easily."
By saying this, he raised his collar. The monk understood the internal meaning of his words. He decided that it was of no use telling him about all the hurdles, difficulties, complex situations, lack of cooperation, shortage of funds, etc., he was confronting while maintaining an ashram and performing public service. The monk did not say how he is solving his various problems by chanting the holy names. Then he explained to the devotee, “Sir, I believe that even if there is neither fan nor electricity during puja, fortunately, we get God’s grace in three ways”.
First, when there is no fan, I feel the breeze, coming like the wind to cool me. That is a tangible grace of God, I experienced many times.
Secondly, I have observed that despite the extreme external heat, our concentration of mind and devotion also improve.
Thirdly, even the slightest of problems also threaten us because of the idea that “I am the body”, i.e., “the body attachment” and also "I am the doer".
“At times like these, I would pray to God that we should have a state of lack of sense of having a body. During that time, I have experienced a state of bliss that transcended me, and I have forgotten the awareness of my body. I shall narrate an incident from the life of Swami Ramakrishnananda, alias Sashi Maharaj when he was staying in Chennai.
It was summer and the weather was hot and dry. Sashi Maharaj could not tolerate the heat. Then suddenly his thoughts went towards Sri Ramakrishna, who is worshipped as the deity in the temple. 'If I am unable to tolerate this heat, then Sri Ramakrishna must also be suffering because of the heat'.
The next moment he picked up a hand fan, ran to the temple and started fanning the image of Sri Ramakrishna. Then a miracle happened. To quench the heat of the deity, when Sashi Maharaj was fanning, he experienced that the heat and his own body had cooled down. This is the power of devotion.
The monk said, “Dear Devotee, as Sadhus we think deep, hard, pray and meditate and find answers to any problem in many ways. The devotee felt an enjoyable breeze blowing, even during the summer.
Swami Vimurtananda
08 June, 2022
Wednesday
Ramakrishna Math, Thanjavur