You should not misunderstand the silence of God to

[dattaswami]

You should not misunderstand the silence of God to your prayers in your problems. Why God is careful while granting boons?The treasure of God is infinite and will not exhaust by giving you some money

The treasure of God is infinite and will not exhaust by giving you some money. Similarly, if He cancels your sins, there is no body to question Him. Then, why is He delaying in giving money to you and in removing your problems by canceling all your sins? The reason is that His single aim is to transform you in to a divine soul. If He gives you money, what will be the change in your behavior? If He removes all your problems, what will be the change in the practical style of your life? If God is sure that there will be no change in your behavior, He will certainly make you wealthy and will remove all your problems.

A doctor is careful to give sweets to a diabetic patient. If the sugar-level of the patient rises, the problem in treating the patient also is on the head of the doctor only. If you become wealthy and get rid of all problems, you may become an uncontrolled demon and disturb the society. You may be immersed in endless luxuries and fall down. In such case, to save the society and to save your self, God has to act. Therefore, God is careful in granting boons. Except this complication, God is not worried in any way because His power and wealth are infinite. If you can become a realized and liberated soul through the spiritual knowledge, then, there will be no change even if you become wealthy and happy. The spiritual knowledge is like the sugar tablet given to the patient in advance. In absence of such medicine in advance, the doctor will not give you more sweets since he is aware of your sugar (ego) level in your blood. Hence, you should not misunderstand the silence of God to your prayers in your problems.

[Josh]

What exactly do you mean by God's single aim is to transform us into divine souls?

Also, some thoughts on this:

"If God is sure that there will be no change in your behavior, He will certainly make you wealthy and will remove all your problems"

In the Old Testament book of Job, there is an example of God actually allowing catastrophe to befall a man who is already righteous-- a man whom God, in his foreknowledge, alreadys knows will not change in his attitude and behavior.

There are many other examples in Scripture where this plays out-- most notably in the life of Jesus. God did not remove Christ's problems even though he was already sinless- in fact, Christ suffered intensely, though perfect.

[Alex]

I agree there is truth that God acts in accordance with the well-being of a person's soul rather than situation. It also seems to be the reason he withholds blessing and allows hardship, sometimes as if stripping physical trappings knowing that a person's spirit is what matters.

I think Jesus takes a more holistic view influencing lives, arguably far beyond the implications and instruction to the one person alone. His sacrifice on the cross being the greatest representation of this, an event not for his instruction but for our salvation.

A continual, repeating theme of the Bible is that He uses the hardships of life as tools to strengthen and instruct us. But beyond that also as an opportunity to influence others by how we respond to the experience. An acceptance of Jesus is also accepting our role to carry the light to others, in His way, knowing we are secure in Him. Paul is a prime example of this, as are so many others.

The beauty is that He liberates us when we open the door, accepting a truth we already knew within us and simply stop denying, less a tome to be understood but a holy fire carried from lip to lip; as if we were made for it. As spiritual beings we are awakened by the spiritual, our redemption already purchased.

[dattaswami]

admin said:

What exactly do you mean by God's single aim is to transform us into divine souls?

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Knowledge is like sitting in your house without happiness or worry. Devotion is like travelling to the Lord by bus or train, which gives you happiness only. But service with sacrifice is like travelling by aeroplane to the Lord, which involves full worry and misery only. To reach the Lord, only aeroplane is effective and therefore you hear that a divine aeroplane came down to take a devotee. A bus or train does not come down from heaven. The path is full with thorns. After reaching the goal also, you have to sit on the thorny thrown with thorny crown only. Lord Jesus is said to be the ocean of bliss. This means that He is not enjoying the bliss but He makes His devotees to enjoy the bliss as said by Veda .The Lord transfers the evil effects of His devotees on to Him and always suffers. By this the devotees are blissful. Therefore, the path and goal are full of misery only and not the bliss.

The spiritual aspirant must always invite troubles and misery in his life, which are the real friends to give the advanced training. But if you analyse carefully, such misery gives you the real eternal bliss. This bliss is eternal because it is associated with misery and is not affected by misery. Thus, the real eternal bliss comes only through the misery in the sacrifice. The bliss that comes in the happiness of selfishness is always temporary. It disappears when the misery attacks it. Therefore, you must try to derive the internal bliss through the misery obtained in the sacrifice. Misery also comes by sins but such misery will not give the eternal bliss. Therefore, you should try to attain the eternal bliss by sacrificing every thing and every body in this world for the sake of the Lord in human form.

Jesus says that unless one sacrifices all the bonds and even is prepared to sacrifice the life by carrying his own cross for the sake of the Lord, He is not pleased with such disciple. The bliss rising from misery and associated with misery can never be effected by misery and therefore remains eternal. A person who is grown up by the poison only as the food cannot be effected by the bite of a serpent.