THE WILL, HUMAN AND DIVINE
The will is the same: whether it be human or divine. The only
difference
is that in one aspect it is the whole, in the other aspect
it is a part. In one aspect it is almighty, in the other it has only
a certain might, or a certain power; in one aspect it is unlimited, in
the other it is limited.
The difference between the divine and the human will is like the
difference
between the trunk of a tree and its branches; and as
from the boughs other branches and twigs spring, so the will of one
powerful individual has branches going through the will of
other individuals. In a tree there is a trunk, and there are some
prominent
or large branches, from these there spring many
smaller branches. So there are powerful beings, the masters of
humanity.
Their will is God’s, their word is God’s word, and
yet they share branches, because the trunk is the will of the Almighty.
As the branches grow, so we too grow; as the branches
develop, we develop; as the branches flourish, we flourish; as the
branches bear fruit, we bear fruit; as the branches are
capable of rising, we too rise. Whether the branch be large or small,
every branch has the same origin and the same root as the
stem. Therefore, whether a person be holy or wicked, wise or foolish,
he has in his innermost spirit the same essence and the
same power that the wise have.
There is no reason for anyone to feel discouraged by his weaknesses
or deficiencies, or by his actions that have dissatisfied
him, or by anything in life that has failed. He should forget the past
that has failed him, and begin to construct and mould his
future as he would wish it to be. Considering that as a branch is not
separate from the bough, and the bough is not separate
from the stem, so with all our limitations we are not separate from
the will of the Unlimited One.
In Sufi terms these two aspects of will are called Kaza and Kadr.
Sometimes
we think, ‘If I could see that friend it would be
so pleasant’, and at the same time there comes a desire, ‘If I could
have some nice flowers’, and then a friend comes bringing
a bunch of our favorite ones. Or we may desire to have fish to eat,
and the cook brings a savory dish of fish. Sometimes this is
due to the strength of one’s own will, and sometimes it is the soul
working in harmony with the divine will. One only knows
when it is in harmony with the divine will and when not by noting the
results, and the one who knows beforehand is the seer.
Sometimes things are accomplished without the least effort. When it
is the divine will it is like something floating on water; it
advances without effort. Problems and actions may be achieved in a
moment then, whilst at other times the smallest problem
cannot be solved without great difficulty. One finds that some persons
are very clever and experienced in industrial work or in
politics; and they have striven very hard to attain their goal, and
yet have accomplished nothing; they are always a failure. And
there are others who take up a thing, and without much effort, without
much worry on their part they complete it and attain
their goal.
All this is accounted for by harmony with the divine will. Everyone
experiences such a thing at some time or other. When things
are in harmony with the divine will, everything is there; we just
glance
towards a thing and it is found, as in the saying, ‘Word
spoken, action done.’ When we strive with all the material in our hands
and yet cannot achieve our desire, that is when the
matter is contrary to the divine will. Our success or failure all
depends
upon the harmony or disharmony of our individual will
with the divine will.
But if our individual will is a branch of the divine will, if its
source
is the same, how can it ever be out of harmony? Sometimes
the hand sympathizes with the foot, at other times it does not. We
hurt ourselves many times just because of disharmony; we
may cut ourselves, our fingers for instance. If then, I, who am one
with the divine person, can cause harm to myself, and suffer
thereby, why should it not be possible that the human will should be
out of harmony with the divine, so that the divine suffers
thereby? It is possible to act in a way contrary to the divine will,
even though one is only a branch of it. In a fountain there is a
big stream which flows up and then breaks into many drops. The stream
is like the divine will, and the different drops like the
wills in us. One drop goes higher, another lower, one falls to the
left, another to the right, one goes north, another south. But
the source of all this activity is one; it is one thing that turns
into so many, scattering in all directions. Thus from unity there has
come variety.
The sages have therefore taught the part played by contentment. It
is
said, ‘Resist not evil,’ and yet how many give in to evil
instead! The real meaning of the scripture is: suppose a person is
angry with us, if we partake of his anger we resist him; the fire
he sets alight in our minds we allow to become alight in ourselves,
and we have resisted. Do not resist evil in that way. Do not
partake of the evil of another. If you are quiet and calm, your
calmness
and quietness will have a greater effect on the other
than his anger, so that true resistance is practice of contentment.
Patience is the best quality that man can cultivate. We are
always apt to become excited or annoyed when another person does not
understand us. Why get excited if he cannot
understand us? If a person is foolish or cannot do things right, by
becoming excited we make him still more foolish, still more
stupid. We cannot help him in that way, and we partake of his quality
by allowing ourselves to oppose him. If we kept our
mind tranquil, if we had patience, we should keep in harmony. Harmony
is the greatest thing to learn in life. All the
disagreements between couples, friends, people in business and
politics,
comes from lack of patience. If we just had patience
and contentment, we could teach ourselves much better.
Contentment teaches resignation. But this resignation is not exactly
what people mean by fate. The true recognition of fate is
like the drop realizing that it is foolish to fight against the ocean.
Why want to fight it? If the drop does not resign itself, of what
profit will it be? Why believe what we think is right, and no one can
be right who thinks otherwise? We should remember that
another person does not see as we see, because each one sees only a
reflection of the highest Ego that works in man though
he is unconscious of it. To him it is right, but to the other it need
not appear right. It is only right for that one person, for that
one moment; later it may not appear so. The limited being cannot claim
the perception of the Unlimited; thus we cannot regard
our own will as being the universal Will unless our will is in harmony
with the will of God. We should therefore practice
harmonizing our will with that of our fellow-men, by tolerance,
patience,
endurance; because in this world every ego is working
for itself, however near or dear another may be. Everyone thinks, ‘What
can I make another person do for me?’ He wants
everybody to be in harmony with his way of life. That is why there
is a world full of rebellion, like the thorns in the rose bush.
It may seem a great sacrifice and torment to practice patience, but
it is the only way to get out of the whirlpool; it is the only
way that one can conquer life’s difficulties. If anybody has ever
conquered,
he has only done so by this means; never by the
means of resistance, but always by the way of resignation. All teachers
have taught this way, saying, ‘Prostrate thyself on the
ground; prostrate thyself before God; kneel down.' Some of us fail
to appreciate this, but the messengers do not leave anything
unspoken; it is we who do not understand what they say. People fight
for their religions; if we were just to learn the one
instead! The question should always be: have we learned our own
religion?
To have learned it means to practice it and see its
benefit. However fast we may try to run away from it, we will still
find this lesson to learn. We have to make ourselves strong
and prepared to withstand all that befalls us. Therefore we must
develop
our willpower first by such morals, and be able to
harmonize our will with others.
One thinks one can develop will-power by fighting, but that is not
so,
because by fighting we make very little progress; by
fighting with ourselves we progress a hundred times more. Our greatest
enemy is ourself. All weakness, all ignorance keeps us
from the truth of our being, from all the virtues hidden in us and
all perfection hidden in our souls. The first self we realize is the
false self. Unless the soul is born again it will not see the kingdom
of heaven. The soul is born into the false self; it is blind. In
the true self the soul opens its eyes. Unless the false self is fought
with, the true self cannot be realized. Therefore endurance is
necessary, patience is necessary.
If only we could fight with ourselves so that we became able to give
pleasure to others! Sages are as harmonious with a pious
person as with a wicked one, as harmonious with a wise man as with
a foolish, with a rich as with a poor man. We feel friendly
towards some, not towards others; we get on well with some, but with
others there is always disharmony while with others
again everyone feels peaceful and happy.
The lions could not harm Daniel because of the harmony of his will
with
the universal Will. The lions represent the destructive
elements in the human mind. They represent wars, disappointments,
rivalries,
jealousies, envy, passions, and so forth, in
different horrible guises. Our ego is the lion of lions, and if this
is conquered, then these external lions-different egos around
us-are conquered also, and wherever we go, with anyone, whether foolish
or wise, good or bad, we now have peace.
To learn the lesson of how to live is more important than any
psychic
or occult learning. Everyday we think we have learned
the lesson, but if we had the world would have become a heaven for
us now. We may seek the higher knowledge or the higher
things, but the very smallest thing, the control of all the creatures
of the mind, which seems as nothing compared with the higher
knowledge, once learnt and acted upon is greater than all. This is
a great step; yet how difficult to gain this, how reasonless it
seems! But when we pause to think of the difference between ourselves
and animals, we see the greatness in this simple thing
of yielding the will. If there is one animal in a place and another
one comes to it, the first one wants to bite or bark, or even
drive him out of his sight. A dog will do that even if he has finished
his dinner and does not want to eat the food that has
attracted the hungry dog to the place.
There is an Eastern parable of a dog going to a certain town. His
journey
was a very long one, taking two or three days as a
rule, and yet he arrived before sunset on the same day. The dogs of
that town were all very surprised to see him so soon.
‘Yes, it was a very long journey,' the dog said, ‘but I attribute my
speed to the kindness and help of my fellow-dogs. Since I
left home, Whenever I felt tired and tried to stop for a moment to
rest, four or five would run up and bark at me and want to
bite me. So I had to run on without staying to rest in that place,
or to search for food. And so it went on at every place I came
to, until in the end I have arrived here at my destination.’
This illustrates the animal nature. Man’s selfishness shows itself
in
wanting to get the better of his fellow-man. If we developed
humanity we should do differently. We should be satisfied with a slice
of bread if there were another in need, but as it is, it
happens that even when we are fed ourselves, we do not wish anyone
else to share the food. The human heart can only be
really satisfied by knowing that the other person is happy. True
pleasure
lies in the sharing of joy with one another. From the
day that we realize this we begin to act as human beings; hitherto
we have not done so even though we have human forms.
Sages have always repented of all things that make them animal. It
is
human beings that repent; the animals are pleased with
everything they do. The Bible says, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God
is at hand.’ This has to be done all day long. Once one
has realized it, the kingdom of God is at hand. The sinner can become
righteous at any moment if he makes up his mind; the
difficulty is to make it up. The next thing is to carry it out.
Revolutions
and harmony, war and peace, are all parts of the whole
being. But contentment and perfect resignation open up a harmonious
feeling and bring the divine will into harmony with our
own. Our blessing now becomes a divine blessing, our words divine
words,
our atmosphere a divine atmosphere, although we
seem to be limited beings; for our will becomes absorbed into the
whole,
and so our will becomes the will of God.