Spanish Visitor:  There is so much suffering, and struggle; a war is going on right now because of egoism, power, pride...

SWAMIJI:  You see, sometimes you sneeze, sometimes you have pain the stomach, sometimes you have fever; are these good things or bad things? These things are not called good things, but why do they happen, if they are not good? Why do people vomit sometimes? Why do these things happen?

The reason why these things happen is also the reason why the other things happen, to which you made reference. It is a cosmic dislocation making internal adjustments. These things, sneezing, stomachache, fever, etc., are internal adjustments of the body to maintain its balance. It passes through certain peculiar painful adjustments for the purpose of maintaining a balance of health. Otherwise, unnecessarily, why should you vomit and all that? No purpose is served. Nature maintains a kind of balance where certain extremes take place, which maintain the balance.

When you eat too much, you will have a loose motion. Now, it is not a bad thing that is happening, though it is certainly not a happy thing. It is necessary for the maintenance of the health of the body. You have done some extreme thing by overeating. You have walked in the rain, which is an extreme thing that you have done, so you got sneezing and fever. You have not slept properly, because you travelled too much in the railway train for days together,

Mild dislocations are set right by mild adjustments. Serious dislocations may lead to surgical operations. Then, destruction, flood, earthquake, war, and wholesale wiping out of humanity in certain parts also can take place, as when some extreme illness has crept into the system, some limb of the body may have to be severed by amputation. It is not a bad thing, because it is necessary for maintaining the balance of your system. It is a painful thing, but it is a necessary thing, also.

You have to see as Nature sees, not as one person sees. A limb that is severed by amputation may not like to be amputated, but you must not see it from the point of view of the limb only. You must see from the point of view of the whole organism; then, you will see the necessity for it, though it is a very unpleasant thing. So, unpleasant things are not always unnecessary things.

We cannot have a cosmic eye, and we cannot think as Nature thinks. The total eye of Nature alone can see the total need within its constitution, which includes people like us. We are also a part of Nature only. So, when it does something for maintaining its own internal constitutional balance, and it does it for its own purpose, which is the well-being of the whole, we, as isolated individuals, who cannot think as Nature as a total thinks, find that some odd thing is taking place; it looks like it is not very good.

Nature never does a bad thing. There is no such thing as a bad thing for Nature. It looks unpleasant, because we are outside Nature, psychologically. If we are one with Nature, we will see nothing improper taking place. We are looking at things by standing outside nature. That is why we cannot see things properly and impartially.

American Visitor:  War and hunger and these things have been happening since the beginning of time, and you said something about Nature taking its course. Could you clarify that for me, on how Nature affects?

SWAMIJI:  I have already told this, and again you are asking the same question. Which point is not clear to you? We are parts of Nature. Every one of us is a part of Nature. Do you understand? And every part is supposed to be in harmony with the whole. A part should not be in disharmony with the whole; otherwise, the whole will take action against the part, and set it right by doing something, which is what I mentioned in some detail, and that something is the thing that you see with your eyes.

We are in disharmony with Nature, disharmonious with God Himself. We are asserting our individuality too much, which Nature abhors. No limb of the body can assert independence totally out of harmony with the organism; then, pain will start, aches and all sorts of illness will arise. That illness is rectified by Nature's medical activity; the medical activity may be bitter medicine, or it may be a surgical action, which it does, as all these events that you see in the world taking place. It can be a thunder, it can be a flood, it can be anything; it can do whatever it likes for its purpose.

In the same way as you do not complain against anything that is happening within yourself, you will not complain against anything happening in the world, if you are one with the total whole. You do not go on complaining against yourself. You know the reason for it. You do not complain, you simply see that it is rectified. Similarly, you will not make complaints against anything if you are one with Nature, and if you can think through the mind of Nature and see it with the eye of Nature. Now, we are not able to do that; we are thinking individually, so we do not understand what is happening. The lower whole has to be sacrificed for the higher whole.