Faith is the Foundation for Paramartha
Just as money is a basic requirement for prapancha, faith is a basic need for success in paramartha. Prahlad believed God to be present everywhere, so He manifested Himself even in a wooden post. Saint Namadeo's faith made even the stone idol of Shri Vitthal eat the food offering that he had brought. For success in paramartha we must also have the same genuine, unflinching faith in God. We say only verbally that God is omnipresent and omniscient; if we genuinely believed this, could we ever dare to commit sinful acts, or even to entertain immoral thoughts? It clearly means that we pay only lip service to Him, and our faith is not firm and genuine. We claim to be believers in God, and feel we need Him, but He is not considered indispensable. Prapancha we must have, while God we would like to have; the former is a necessity, the latter is a desirable superfluity. This, really, should be the other way about. We should feel that God we must have, prapancha we may or may not. We should have a liking for the duties of prapancha, not for prapancha itself; the body may be kept engaged in these duties, but the heart should be kept riveted on God.
We can control passions if we desist from doing anything that bites the conscience. We should do only such things as will not shame us in the eyes of God.
Those who have a lot of worldly business, toil, and turmoil to face, complain about it; but, then, those who are free from these are found equally complaining and unhappy. Wherein does happiness lie? Does money give it? Making money is not easy; and after all, money cannot last forever. The same is the case with all worldly things. And do we ever come across a person who has all kinds of happiness all the time? Everyone has one complaint or another, one deficiency or another. Everyone hopes to be happier tomorrow; this hope is never fulfilled, and the complaining never ends. And thus goes on the endless cycle of hope and frustration; for all things in the world are imperfect and perishable, and therefore, result in misery or unhappiness. It is in this sense that prapancha is illusory. One who thinks on this experience and remains unattached to prapancha can alone be happy; one who disregards this experience remains unhappy.
* * * * *
