Life Without Spiritual Gain Is Totally Fruitless

Let us say, there is one Mr. Bachmann. All his life he has worked hard. He has won so many distinctions and earned so many doctorates. He has a wonderful job, great wealth and fame, everything you can think of. Through his hard work he has obtained all the riches and pleasures. Yet, what has he gained in life? Nothing! He is full of human weaknesses, sorrows, anxieties, ignorance and restlessness. What has he gained by becoming exceedingly rich and famous? What do you gain when you win the whole world but lose your soul?

The story of Mr. Bachmann is everybody's life-story: day and night struggle and hard labour for a monthly salary, to collect riches. And through all this what do you gain - real peace? Never. True happiness? Never. Lasting joy? Never. Freedom from anxieties, problems and sorrows, from fear of death and so on? Never.

An ashram grants us strong, dynamic ties with the Divine. It reveals to us the blood relationship with the Creator that every creature enjoys. And when we acknowledge our blood relationship with God, our inseparability from the Divine, when we practise the exercises that lead to the experience of our oneness with this wonderful Source of all bliss - God - then we have gained everything.

Without a little growth in wisdom, without a small gain in spiritual knowledge, human life is totally fruitless. Even if that life was happy and full of wealth and luxury, it ends with a question mark - problems over problems come, even after death. Therefore, we should do whatever is possible to attain wisdom, to increase our piousness, to grow in faith, in devotion, in goodness, in inner purity, in self-control and to pursue divine values.

Just imagine how many people's prayers the Divine Mother has answered! Just imagine, to how many people She has appeared! To countless people. Imagine the number of people who in desperation called on Her and whose prayers were fulfilled. She has saved innumerable people from their miseries. If you thus ponder how wonderfully the Divine Mother is functioning everywhere in the world, automatically something in your heart softens and begins to genuinely believe in Her immediate presence, in Her readiness to listen to your prayers.

The spiritual history of mankind is filled with numberless devoted persons and the way their prayers were answered. When we reflect on this fact automatically our devotion grows. The Divine Mother is always there with us, full of boundless mercy, twenty-four hours, everywhere, all around us, caring for us. And if we approach Her in earnest we are bound to get an answer.

The Divine Mother is unlimited mercy and grace. We should reflect on this fact, how Her grace works and worked in the lives of so many people, all around the world, decade after decade, century after century.

- Swami Omkarananda