We are not products of blind chance; we are highly intelligent creations. Therefore it stands to reason that some great intelligence must have created us. There is no doubt about this. And certainly an intelligent God would not bring us on earth with so many inequalities without giving us equal opportunities to forsake evil and express goodness. He would give us time in which to practise that goodness and reap the blessings of right action. What is the use of scriptures, or of following divine laws, if this life is the end? Where is the love and justice of God if the hereafter is eternal heaven for a chosen few and eternal torment of hell for the error-stricken? God’s law of reincarnation shows that when a person is evil- and no one can be so wholly evil that he can be forever barred from the kingdom of God- he is given a chance to work out that evil and to turn to goodness. Evil is like a graft; it is not a permanent quality in man, for everyone is a child of God. Every night God reminds you in sleep that you are not the body and its habits. You are free, you are happy. The purpose of reincarnation is to provide opportunity for man to go on working out all his desires and expressing all that he wants to express, until he realises his true nature as a child of God, and understands that reunion with God is the true object of all his seeking, the Goal of all mankind.
We seek religion because we want to do away with our suffering forever. Worldly methods are not the answer. God is the answer; true religion that brings God-realisation is the answer. So now is the time to wake up; take the sword of wisdom and slash away all bad habits. Most of you know the Bible story about the servants who stopped their work while their master was away. Only one of them kept on with his duties. When the master returned unexpectedly, and saw what had taken place, he dismissed all the other workers and rewarded the one who had faithfully continued to fulfil his responsibilities. So remember, the Lord has gone away for a time, but He says, “I will come back again, and I will see whether you have done your work or not. I will see whether I find you sleeping, or building up material desires, or if you are dutifully tending the house of life I have given you to care for.”
Extract from the book ” The Divine Romance” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.
