Listening to God

Kishore   

God talks to us but we don't listen to him. Does it sound strange. I believe in this. I have been experiencing this for a long time. Are you thinking : When you can't see God how can he talk?

I found in my experience that whenever I had a problem, I received solution from others. It happened many times. I watch for hints in various ways. 

• God talks through the subconscious mind
• God talks through friends and relatives and everyone around us
• God talks through books and various other written sources

God does not appear in a form we worship but can talk to us in many ways. He can convey his thoughts to our subconscious mind. I read that our subconscious mind is connected with divine world which we can not perceive with our senses. Thoughts conveyed to our subconscious mind come to us as "IDEAS". Have you not experienced creative ideas flashing in your mind? Where do you think those ideas come from? There is a super power which conveys those thoughts to us. Lot of times I have received these flashes which we can also call as intuition, suggesting me to do so and so. I took all such ideas as divine guidance and sincerely did what came to my mind. When I followed those ideas I found that my problems are solved. 

God talks through the subconscious mind:

All Great scientists also received these flashes as God wanted to convey those truths to us. It is their blessing to have received the truth from God and revealed the same to the world. I always remember this sentence: All scientific theories existed long before they were discovered. These theories were only discovered and not invented. e.g. Gravity existed even before it was discovered. It didn't come into existence the day it was discovered. It was only revealed. Who revealed it? God revealed it to us so that we can make use of this natural law to improve the world. 

• God suggested what spiritual books I should read and when I read such books I knew those were the books I wanted to read. When I went to library looking for books, I found the books I should read without any problems. During last year I read books of Paramhamsa Yogananda and Avatar Meher Baba. When I was reading those books I felt my Guruji and God were talking to me through the books. All those reading were the right things I wanted to understand. 
• Recently I was working on a project and there were couple of technical challenges we had to solve. I was not getting any ideas and I prayed to God and started going through some documentation and within 15 minutes a solution came to mind. I was happy that we could put the solution to work and get ready for a customer demo. 

There are numerous examples I can mention. I treat every 'creative' aspect of my life as a divine blessing. As my Guruji told me, when the need comes God will talk to you and you will know. Some examples are:

Talking through friends and relatives and everyone around us:

So I watch for hints that come to my mind continuously. As I write these words I feel as if God is directing me to write these words which will inspire others. This idea has helped me overcome my ego to some extent. When I do something good, I don't feel what I have done is because of my skill but because of God's blessing and God has chosen me to be the instrument in his work. 

• When I was buying car from my colleague he casually suggested that I should take AAA (Automobile Association) membership. I took that as a hint and took the membership. Couple of months back I had a flat tire and that AAA membership came in handy to get the flat tire replaced without any problem. It was a blessing. 
• Recently I had to buy Microwave Oven. I was looking for good deals and went to one retail store. We went there to buy but could not get the deal we were looking for. At that time my wife suggested we can try another store which is nearby. In normal circumstances I would have ignored the suggestion and come back home. Ever since I started looking for hints I treated this as a divine suggestion and immediately heeded to the suggestion. 

I also received suggestions come through my friends. When I have problems I talk over those problems to my friends I know and I somehow hear a very good solution from them. 

God talks through books and various other written sources

World of internet gives lot of chances to get suggestions from others. Lot of times I get to read highly inspirational stories, passages and without regarding them casually I take those suggestions as hints from God and try to implement them. 

There are also occasions where books I read. Since I enjoy reading I find it easier to read large volumes of spiritual books and they always give a better understanding of the divine principles. Every time we read a spiritual books we gain better understanding. 

Summary

Don't expect God will come someday and give darshan. Look for his presence every day and everywhere. He is nearer to you than you think. He can convey thoughts in various forms. Change your attitude towards God, if required and be blessed with his guidance and presence always.  And every word of Guruji is a command to me from God. I completely trust my Guru and take every word of his as a word from God and seek his blessings always. I feel fortunate to have received his blessings. I hope to continue to listening to God and do his work in a humble way. God bless everyone. 

Jai Sriram, Jai Hanuman

April 2002

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