One Karta Krishna met Ramdas with anxiety weighing on his mind. "Maharaj, I pray to you to get me transferred from here to some other place. I am tired of the present office."
The way how he appealed to Ramdas showed that he firmly believed that Ramdas was the sole dispenser of all things in the world. Ramdas interrupted and told him in plain language: "Look here, Ram, Ramdas is only an humble servant of God.
All things happen by His will. No doubt the Master dwells in the servant, but don't mistake the servant for the Master. If Lord wills, nothing is impossible. By the way, what is it that ails you?" Karta Krishna continued:
"The fact is my superior officers and co-clerks in the office are harassing me. They have all conspired to make my life utterly miserable." Ramdas, after a short pause, spoke as follows: "Now listen, beloved Ram, bring back to memory your days in Lalitpur a year ago. What was your condition then? It was simply unbearable.
God in His mercy delivered you from it. He has brought you here, provided you with a good house and is keeping your children in sound health. Now you speak of your office troubles. Nothing is wrong with the office. People dislike us because our own attitude of mind towards them is not right. Love can never beget hate.
On the other hand, distrust and hate breed every kind of evil. Give up fretting. Be reconciled to the lot that God has chosen for you. Be tolerant and patient. Above all, be humble, kind and forgiving towards all in your office - nay towards all in the world.
With a mind whose passions are uncontrolled, wherever you may go, you can never know peace. You will then be only ceaselessly fighting with the world and find no haven of rest and contentment. Look within yourself. Surrender to the will of almighty God.
Humble yourself before Him and extend your love and sympathy towards all beings. Take it that God does everything for the best. If you are obedient to your superiors and kind to your co-clerks, they are bound to change their attitude towards you, and then you will find the very office from which you desire to run away a delightful place for work.
Kindly come to Ramdas again day after tomorrow and report to him how matters stand with you. But do act as Ramdas has told you." He left Ramdas.
The other clerks of his office who were also visiting Ramdas informed him that Karta Krishna was a very short-tempered man and would be always picking quarrels with everybody in the office. As requested, Karta Krishna turned up on the due date.
He came with a bright and joyous face. "How are you getting on?" Ramdas asked. "I followed your advice, Maharaj," he replied," and the result has been marvelous. There is an entire change in my office mates in regard to me.
My officers have been kind and good, my colleagues helpful and friendly. Oh! How happy I am! I do not want a transfer." "Ram," Ramdas said, "the change is in you. The whole world is good to us if we are good. If we love the world, we may be sure, in return we shall receive nothing but love from it."
When asked about controlling the mind, he said, "The best and easiest method is to repeat constantly God's Name. Concentration is attained by fixing the attention on the sound of the Name. As the mind is concentrated, there must follow meditation upon the glorious attributes of God.
Continuous practice of utterance of the Name and meditation stops the restlessness of the mind and merges it into the blissful, eternal and universal Self. God remembrance is not possible unless you have an intense longing to realize Him.
This intense desire is called bhakti [devotion]. This longing must so seize your mind that you should feel a sensation of acute pain when you forget God on account of selfish desires. Your actions should also go to purify your mind, i.e., they should be done in a spirit of nishkama [desirelessness].
Purity of mind means freedom from lust, wrath and greed. For a pure mind alone can see God. Concentration itself is purity. Forget not that the God that you seek is within yourself."
Excerpted from 'In the Vision of God, Volume 1' by Swami Ramdas
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