Keeping faith in God and his promises is an art that is intertwined with the very art of living life well. When one masters it, he/she is likely to gain a sense of peace and happiness, believes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

When I had first read the verse # 2.66 of the Gita, I was not exactly convinced. The verse tells us that there is neither peace nor happiness for the faithless. But aren’t well off people happy? Does money not give happiness? Though I was neither happy nor peaceful myself, I didn’t discount the possibility of others being happy.

Many decades have passed since then. Only now I am beginning to see the connection. Logically speaking, if our consciousness is not spiritual or godly, then, it has to be material. This means that the thinking will be related to basic instincts for survival, ie food, sleep, money, pleasures, etc. Once someone has secured these, one thinks of gaining attention/fame, power, etc. The mind remains busy in such thoughts throughout the waking hours. Such thoughts also affect dreams. Where is peace, then? As regards happiness, is it not linked to obtaining what we desire? We never reach our targets because in such consciousness it is a story of moving the goalposts.

Now, let us turn to God consciousness. How does everything change for the better? This has to be experienced to believe. The primary requirement for God consciousness is to think about God, ie God must be part of our thought process. For example, who should be our guiding light? God of course and His instructions. But prior to getting habituated to do this, one must have faith in God.

I will share how I achieved such faith. I have been able to collect many facts, which I am unable to disprove. For example, a properly made horoscope foretells about some future events, occurrences, etc. in one’s life. This is impossible to do unless the karmaphala principle is valid. And for this to happen, there must be an authority to enforce it. Good astrologers are almost 80 per cent accurate in their predictions. This is remarkable because what we do in the present also makes a difference.

Once such faith develops, one becomes eager to gain from God what all He has promised. For example, Lord Krishna states that for a God conscious person, He helps in getting what one does not have and provides security of what one has. Why should one, then, keep on mediating on what one needs and how to protect oneself? This is what I do. Suppose I am troubled by something, and I don’t know what to do, because I don’t have all the relevant information, I go into the prayer mode for guidance and sure enough I get it. Similarly, when I am afraid of something, I pray for protection and try to stop my mind from constantly thinking about it. As the process goes on, one begins to have firm faith in the involvement of God in one’s life. I have been really surprised. The concept of God being in heaven has distanced Him from us. We feel that we are on our own. This is not true for devotees of God. Lord Krishna states that God accompanies such persons. Rather God never abandons His devotees. One begins to live in God. And God makes sure that we realise that He is active in our affairs. This is when peace becomes a feature of one’s life. Blessed with God’s bounties, one will be happy for sure.

A question may be raised here about the general miserable existence of the populace, if God has such a presence. The answer lies in the fact that God intervenes only for those who follow His instructions. For others, He stays neutral. If God was to get involved in anyone’s life without that person wanting it, we will all turn into robots. God honours our free will. It is up to us to exercise it in the manner He has instructed. Then, we can obtain all that He has promised, which includes peace and happiness. He helps all his children to do so and responds to them individually.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com