Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

51. Worried about the World

(Darshan given in December 1999)

Swamiji [to a visitor from Yugoslavia asking why there is war there and what can be done]: Whatever one can do must be done. Whatever ability you have got, whatever strength you have got, whatever capacity you have got for rectifying things which you consider as very bad, do that. But if you cannot do anything, if you are helpless, then you pray to God and He will set it right. If you have a capacity to do something, do it. But if you have no capacity, God will bless you.

So you cannot worry about the whole world like that. The world is much bigger than Yugoslavia, and do you know how the other part of the world is getting on? What about the United States? What about Moscow or Russia?

Visitor: Generally I'm worried about all the world because...

Swamiji: Because it is not a problem of Yugoslavia, it is a problem of the whole world.

Visitor: Yes, definitely.

Swamiji: So finally what I want to tell you is, whatever is in your capacity to rectify things as far as possible, do it, but beyond that you cannot do. You cannot convert the cold water of the Ganga into hot water. You cannot do that, but God can do that also. He can convert Ganga into hot water if He wants, but you should not say like that. Some people have got power like that. Christ touched water and it became wine, so God can do that. He can convert the whole ocean into sweet water. Why He has created the ocean with salt? The whole ocean is full of salt. Why is it made like that? Is salt the only important thing? God could have made it a milk ocean; what is the harm? The ships will flow on milk only afterwards.

These are all useless questions. Unless you have a cosmic mind, you will never understand anything that is happening anywhere. The happenings are not only in this particular planet, they are happening everywhere – in the stars, in the sun, moon and the whole space and time. But you do not know what is happening in space and time. Comets come and hit something, and there was a Big Bang, and the whole universe split into two parts. Who did it? If you ask me questions of that kind, you must be God Himself. Why the Big Bang took place and the whole universe split into two parts, the positive and the negative? And we are trying to join them together. You cannot join what has been split by the Big Bang, but your soul is greater than the Big Bang, so that will work wonders.

So the only thing that you can do is close your eyes, and expand your consciousness: Space and time are all within this great universal consciousness. This is meditation on God. If you do that, some miracles can take place, miracles.

So this is my brief answer. You have to be a spiritual person and daily meditate on God. 'God' means not any person. God is not sitting anywhere. He is not Hindu, He is not Christian, He is not Muslim, He is not a religious man, and He is not a man also. It is the universal substance operating within itself like the ocean, you may say. The ocean is not a human being. You cannot say the ocean is a good thing, you cannot say the ocean is a bad thing. Because of the ocean, rain falls. Rain is good, so in that way the ocean is a good thing. But the ocean can sink ships into it, so it is a bad thing also. So what do you say about things? Everything is okay. The sun is very hot. If you walk in the streets with very hot sun, you will have a headache; but if the sun doesn't rise, you will die of cold. So the sun is good or bad?

These questions are human, but human questions cannot be answered by human methods. Human questions can be answered by super-human methods – that is, divine methods, by the invocation of God Himself. Until God enters your heart and you get accustomed to the universal operations of the cosmos and become one with the universal cosmos, you will not be able to answer any question.

To know any one thing. you have to know everything. Like a medical expert, a doctor. Suppose a person is sneezing. It is not that the nose is suffering. The whole body is suffering. The nose is only an indication of the trouble that is in the whole body. Any trouble in the body is the trouble of the whole body. So likewise, anything that happens is a cosmic action, and it is not an action of Yugoslavia or India or any country.

This requires a broad vision of things and you must become a super individual, neither a man nor a woman. You do not belong to Yugoslavia. You belong to the whole universe. “I belong to the whole universe,” you tell, “so big, so large. I am a citizen of the cosmos, not of Yugoslavia. I am a citizen of the whole universe.” If you are convinced about it and you are deeply contemplating and meditating like this, universal forces will enter into you and you will have immense blessing. The answer is meditation. There is no other way except meditation, which you should practise. This is my answer.

You think the world is outside. Your eyes are not seeing properly. You are a part of the world and, therefore, the world is not outside. But still we are thinking the world is outside and so you are condemning, criticising what the world is doing. But what the world is doing you are doing because you are not outside of the world. Anything that you say about the world is something to be told about you also. You cannot stand outside, looking at the world outside. The world is not outside. You are a part of the world. So if you are a part of the world, what remains? The whole universal remains. And if you merge in the world, the world and you become one person. That one person is called God Almighty. If this kind of thinking is possible, and you meditate like this, you can do miracles.

But you should not worry about little things, which is God's way of doing things. This universe does not belong to you. Why are you complaining? It belongs to the Almighty God. He can do whatever He likes. He can create honey, He can create nectar, He can create salt water in the ocean. Plant yourself in God. You are considering you are a separate person. This is a mistake. I told you several times that you are one with the whole universe. Therefore, why are you worrying?

You are not believing it. Your heart is revolting against it. You cannot believe that you are one with the universe. You are thinking it is outside. It is not outside because you are a part of it; if you are a part of it, how can it be outside? So the idea that the world is outside is wrong and, therefore, any thought that you have got about the world is wrong. You understand me?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: It is a very high teaching I am giving you. Is it is not enough if you merely hear it from me, you must actually do and pray and meditate.

Visitor: Is it possible to change some bad karma?

Swamiji: You forget this business. When you are one with God, karma will not trouble you. If you are one with the president of the country, police people will not come to you. You understand? Okay. Hari Om. Thank you.