THE LORD IN THE HEART

Years later, I came in touch with the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā. The Gītā says that the Lord, in His form of Paramātmā, is situated in our hearts, witnessing our activities. Skeptics often ask, “Why are we not conscious of His presence?” “Why are we not conscious of His watchful eye?” “Why are we not aware of His pleasure and displeasure with everything we do?”

The Lord makes Himself invisible to our consciousness so that we can exercise our free will. Without free will, there cannot be love. I was adamantly defying the will of my father and, subsequently, out of love for me, he made his ‘watchful eye’ invisible in the first phase of my journey. Similarly, if again and again we defy the direction and will of the Lord within our hearts, the Lord, simply in order to facilitate our free will, makes Himself invisible. Those engaged in irreligious activities do not want the Lord to watch them, so the Lord hides Himself.

I wanted my father to leave me alone during the journey, and he did so, but still he never abandoned me because he loved me. Similarly, each Paramātmā is personal, intimate. He never gives up on us. Even if we blaspheme the Lord or His devotees, and do the most nefarious activities that give the greatest amount of displeasure to the Lord, still He is always there in our hearts to give us shelter. There is no one closer than Him—spiritually, physically, at every level. To whatever extent we abandon Him, He always remains the closest person to the soul. Out of the unlimited living entities that are envious of Him, He never leaves even for a moment, even a single one, only out of love.

In my foolishness, I did not know what was good for me, and so I disobeyed my father. To love Kṛṣṇa, to serve Him, to willingly, spontaneously surrender to the will of the Lord is our constitutional nature. It is the essence of our existence. In that position, we experience unlimited happiness. When we forget our constitutional position, we come under the grip of the laws of karma. And the laws of karma are so designed by the Lord that we ultimately have to make the right choice of turning to Him, and then He gives us the highest ecstasy. He knows what is best for us.

When I looked for shelter, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my father was ‘waiting for me’. Even if we are sent to hell, even if we are in the species of some bacteria, our loving father, the Supreme Lord, is always there waiting for us to turn to Him. When we actually turn to Him, and to the degree we take shelter of the Paramātmā within the heart, the Lord makes His presence visible. As we progress spiritually, we get more and more experience of His ‘watchful eye’.

The man was arranged by my father to help me out. Similarly, the Supreme Lord has made so many arrangements to deliver us. He is speaking through guru, sādhu, and śāstra.

All we have to do is cooperate with Him.