A message for Gobind Sadan USA
We are all members of God’s Team. How did we get on this team? He chose us. As the Guru said, “Latturee madhuree thaakur bhaaee ouh sundhar har tul milee”—“The bride may be hunch-backed and short, but if she is loved by her Lord Master, she becomes beautiful, and she melts in the Lord’s embrace.” He does not look at our beauty, our wealth, our age, our gender. He chooses people who love Him. That is our only qualification. Our weaknesses are still there.
How can we function as His Team when we have all human weaknesses? Inside us there is anger, inside us there is resentment, inside us there is jealousy, inside us there is greed, inside us there is pride. We see others’ weaknesses but do not look at our own. None of us is worthy to be on His Team, but here we are, for He has selected us.
To be on His Team, we cannot just serve Him individually, according to our own wishes. We have to find ways of working together with the other team members whom He has chosen. Whether we like them or not, He has also selected them to help carry on His mission. But we don’t like what they say, we don’t like what they do, we don’t want them to give us orders. We want them to do things our way. How then can we work together as a team if we are all going our separate directions and don’t even want to see each other, much less talk to each other?
The only remedy for this hopeless situation is to love God more. The more we love Him, the more we will want to please Him. The more we love Him, the more we will love all His creatures. The more we love Him, the less we will be concerned about ourselves. If someone criticizes us, we will understand that perhaps He is speaking through their mouth. We do not like to be criticized, but perhaps it is good for us. The criticism of others is His way of chipping away at our stubborn ego. The Master Sculptor has to carve away so much unnecessary stone in order to reveal the beautiful figure that only He can see inside the stone.
If all of us are flawed, imperfect, egotistical, then who is to be our leader? Our spiritual teacher is God Himself. He has spoken to us through all the revealed scriptures. We must never forget to seek His guidance from the great holy books that He has sent through His messengers. They all gave very clear guidelines for how to live—for how to deal with our many human weaknesses. Every instruction is a spiritual practice for us. He tells us to pray for our enemies. He tells us to turn the other cheek when someone slaps us. He tells us to put others’ needs ahead of our own. He tells us not to worry about material things. He tells us to turn toward the Light. He tells us to love each other.
If we really follow His eternal teachings, the issue of worldly leadership is less problematic. We all have our duties, and we are to do them. Where our duties overlap with others’ duties, we have the chance to deal with the ego whenever it raises its head. We can be just, and merciful, and generous, and wise without personality clashes. We can fit together with others in the complex network of players on His Team, who are spread all over the world. The more we love Him and surrender the ego to Him, the better He can use us to bring forth His Kingdom right here on earth. The more we love Him and love each other, the more we are living in His paradise already.
– Baba Virsa Singh Ji Maharaj