The Mystery of Divine Protection

Once there was a sage who used to recite beautiful poetry. Suddenly God appeared to him and said, “Here I am; ask whatever you wish of me and I will grant all your desires.” He answered, “Oh Lord, I have gained everything after I have gained you. Now I cannot lift my hand to ask for anything. All desires are fulfilled because you are here. Do you now want me to desire again and go back downward? I have desired only one thing, and that desire was met—you are here with me, I am with you. What else do I need? Now you are asking me to desire some boon? That would be my downfall, for I no longer need anything else.”

In meditation you become one with the absolute, for there is no time, no space, no causation. Everything is annihilated. There is only one line without any break, and that is the eternal line that joins you to the other end—the bridge between two shores. No matter how much the world tortures you, no matter how successful or unsuccessful you may be, you should meditate.

There is a story of a brahmin who was addicted to meditation from childhood on. He could not live without meditation, for it was a deep-rooted habit. He was so famous for his habit of meditation that everybody used him as an example. Later on, he got married and was taking his pregnant wife to his mother-in-law’s home so she could give birth there. The husband had to go through a forest along a river when his wife started having labor pains. They had not calculated the journey correctly; they thought it would only take one day, but it was taking much longer.

So a baby son was born under a tree, but the wife died in childbirth. It started to rain and he did not know what to do—a newborn infant on one side, a dead body on the other, in the heavy rain. So he covered the body with leaves and was gathering twigs to cremate it, meanwhile holding his child with the other hand, when suddenly he was aware that his meditation time had come. What could he do? He put the child down, saying, “Lord, I have been attending you regularly. You alone can help me now. O Mother Divine, help this child, for I am helpless; I must meditate.” And he left the child lying in some leaves and went to meditate on the riverbank, facing east. A snake came crawling toward the infant, and after an hour the man opened his eyes and looked behind him. There he saw the snake standing over the child, his hood protecting the child from the rain.

You see, those who have no protection, who do not depend on anything but God, are always protected. When there is no one to help you, I assure you that God will help you; but if you depend on any other help, you will be denied the direct help of the Lord. When a baby is playing, you are not concerned about her, but when she starts weeping you notice this and give her a bottle. When she is satisfied, you put her down to sleep; but if she is weeping for your warmth and tenderness, she will not stop until you hold her close. So, as long as you depend on external things, on other people, direct help will never come. But when you do not depend on anything, then suddenly that which you most need will come directly to you. This is the mystery of divine protection.