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Prayer 30. Prayer is the very soul and essence of religion, and therefore, prayer must be the very core of the life of man, for no man can live without religion.-YI, 23-I-30, 25.
31. When a man is down, he prays to God to lift him up. The appalling disaster in Quetta paralyses one. It baffles all attempt at reconstruction. The whole truth about the disaster will perhaps never be known. The dead cannot be recalled to life. Human effort must be there always. Those who are left behind must have help. Such reconstruction as is possible sill no doubt undertaken. All this and much more along the same line can never be a substitute for prayer. But why pray at all? Does not God, if there be one, know what has happened? Does He stand in need of prayer to enable Him to do His duty? No, God needs no reminder. He is within everyone. Nothing happens without His permission. Our prayer is a heart search. It is a reminder to ourselves that we are helpless without His support. No effort is complete without prayer, without a definite recognition that the best human endeavour is of no effect if it has not God’s blessing behind. Prayer is a call to humility. It is a call to self-Purification, to inward search. It ask those who appreciate the necessity of inward purification to join in the prayer that we may read the purpose of God in such visitations, that they may humble us and prepare us to face our Maker whenever the call comes, and that we may be. –H, 8-6-35, I32.
32. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. -–YI, 23-I-30, 25.
33. We are born to serve our fellowmen, and we cannot properly do so unless we are wide awake There is an eternal struggle raging in man’s breast between the powers of darkness and of light, and he who has not the sheet-anchor of prayer to rely upon will be a victim to the powers of darkness. The man of prayer will be at peace with himself and with the whole world, the man who goes about the affairs of the world without a prayerful heart will be miserable and will make the world also miserable. Apart therefore from its bearing on man’s condition after death, prayer has incalculable value for man in this world of the living. Prayer is the only means of bringing about orderliness and peace and repose in our daily acts. We inmates of the Ashram who came here in search of truth and for insistence on truth professed to believe in the efficacy of prayer, but had never up to now made it a matter of vital concern. We did not bestow on it the care that we did on other matters. I awoke from my slumbers one day and realizes that I had been woefully negligent of my duty in the matter. I have suggested measures of stern discipline and far from being any the worse, I hope we are the better for it. For it is so obvious. Take care of the vital thing and other things will take care of themselves. Rectify one angle of the square and the other angles will be automatically right. –YI, 23-I-30, 26. |
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Life and Death
28. We are living in the midst of death. What is the value of ‘working for our own schemes’ when they might be reduced.
To naught in the twinkling of an eye, or when we may equally swiftly and unawares be taken away from them? But we may feel strong as a rock, if we could truthfully say ‘we work for God and His schemes’. Then nothing perishes. All perishing is them only what seems. Death and destruction have them, but only then no reality about tem. For death and destruction is then but a change.-YI, 23-9-26, 333.
The Desire for Moksha
29. This led the interviewer on to a fundamental question. From a reading of Gandhiji’s writings the friend had gathered that the root of all of Gandhiji’s activities was the desire for moksha, emancipation. But why was not this aspect emphasized sufficiently?
Gandhiji replied by taking recourse to a simile. He said the desire for moksha was indeed there, but it was not meant for anyone other than the individual himself. The world was interested in the fruits, not root. For the tree itself, however the chief concern should be not the fruit, but the root. It was in the depth of one’s being that the individual had to concentrate. He had to nurse it with the water of his labour and suffering. The root was his chief concern.-H, 28-9-47, 340.
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Regarding himself 25. I have no special revelation of God’s will. My firm belief is that He reveals Himself daily to every human being but we shut our ears to ‘the still small voice’. We shut our eyes to the Pillar of Fire in front of us. I realize His omnipresence. –YI, 25-5-2I, I62. ‘One step enough for me’ 26. I do not want to foresee the future, I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following. –YI, 26-I2-24, 427.
27.The impenetrable darkness that surrounds us is not a curse but a blessing. He has given us power to see only the step in front of us, and it should be enough if Heavenly light reveals that step to us. We can then sing with Newman, ‘One step enough for me’. And we may be sure from our past experience that the next step will always be in view. In other words, the impenetrable darkness is nothing so impenetrable as we imagine. But it seems impenetrable when, in our impatience, we want to look beyond that one step.-H, 20-4-34, 78. |
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Self-surrender 22.Our existence as embodied being is purely momentary; what are a hundred years in eternity? But if we shatter the chains of egotism, and melt into the ocean of humanity, we share its dignity. To feel that we are something is to set up a barrier between God and ourselves; to cease feeling that we are something is become one with God. A drop in the ocean partakes of the greatness of its parent, although it is unconscious of it. But it is dried up as soon as it enters upon an existence independent of the ocean. We do not exaggerate, when we say that life is a mere bubble. A life of service must be one of humility. He; who could sacrifice his life for others, has hardly time to reserve for himself a place in the sun. Inertia must not be mistaken for humility, as it has been in Hinduism. True humility means most strenuous and constant endeavour entirely directed towards the service of humanity. God is continuously in action without resting for a single moment. If we would serve Him or become one with Him, our activity must be as unwearied as His. There may be momentary rest in store for the drop which is separated from the ocean, but not for the drop in the ocean, which knows no rest. The same is the case with ourselves. As soon as we become one with the ocean in the shape of God, there is no more rest for us, nor indeed do we need rest any longer. Our very sleep is action. For we sleep with thought of God, in our hearts. This restlessness constitutes true rest. This never-ceasing agitation holds the key to peace ineffable. This supreme state of total surrender is difficult to describe, but not beyond the bound of human experience. It has been attained by many dedicated souls, and may be attained by ourselves as well. This is the goal which we of the Satyagraha Ashram have set before ourselves; all our observances and activities are calculated to assist us in reaching it. We shall reach it some day all unawares if we have truth in us. –YM, 68.
23. No niggardly acceptance of the inevitable will appear pleasing to God. It must be a thorough change of heart. –YI, 2-2-22, 74.
24.I must go with God as my only guide. He is a jealous Lord. He will allow no one to appear before Him in all one’s weakness, empty-handed and in a spirit of full surrender, and then He enables you to stand before a whole world and protects you from harm.-YI, 3-9-3I, 247. |
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Perfection not possible |
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Perfection not possible 19. But it is impossible for us to realize perfect Truth so long as we are imprisoned in this mortal frame. We can only visualize it in our imprisoned in this mortal frame. We can only visualize it in our imagination. We cannot, through the instrumentality of this ephemeral body, see face to face Truth which is eternal. That is why in the last resort one must depend on faith.- YM,7.
20. No one can attain perfection while he is in the body for the simple reason that the ideal state is impossible so long as one has not completely overcome his ego, and ego cannot be wholly got rid of so long as one is tied down by the shackles of the flesh.-YI, 20-9-28, 3I9.
21.Man will ever remain imperfect, and it will always be his part to try to be perfect. So that perfection in love or non-possession will remain an unattainable ideal as long as we are alive but towards which we must ceaselessly |
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