Once a question was asked to Sathya Sai Baba, "God is the creator. He should have created only Happiness. Why did He create difficulties and troubles? Pardon me, Swami, for putting this question."
Sai Baba replied :
Without difficulties you can never get happiness. You do not get happiness out of happiness.
No hardships end up in hardship. Without troubles, you will never know the value of pleasure.
For instance, you are spending your time in this air-conditioned room. If you have to know its value, what you should do is to come out and go round in the open space in bright daylight.
| You should face all the difficulties as tests of God. A devotee should welcome troubles which are the tests of his devotion and faith. How do you expect a student to be promoted to the next higher class without facing a test? Otherwise, he remains in the same grade. Even a mother would not be able to love her child, if there is no death in her family. Look at an orange fruit. It has an outer bitter skin, but within it you find sweet juice. So, both good and bad co-exist. The bitter skin protects the inner sweet juice. Another thing you will notice is that a thing that gives you happiness now may make you unhappy later. Similarly, an unhappy thing now may make you happy later. So, nothing gives you absolute happiness or unhappiness. A woollen coat in winter makes you happy, but in severe summer it makes your life unpleasant. So also a heater in winter makes you warm but in summer it same equipment makes you very uncomfortable.Therefore, happiness and unhappiness depend on the time, circumstances and position. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. Pain is an interval between two pleasures. If you think of the difficulties and the intensity of suffering in times of sadness the pain doubles. In bad times, you should think of those days and moments when you were happy. Then, the intensity of suffering decreases. You should face all the difficulties as tests of God. A devotee should welcome troubles which are the tests of his devotion and faith. How do you expect a student to be promoted to the next Higher Class without facing a test? Otherwise, he remains in the same grade. |
This post first appeared on Treasure Trove Of Love & Light: Introduction To Spiritual Treasures, please read the originial post: here
