07 Feb 2005
[My wife, Smt. Devi, was pressing me to ask You regarding the measures to be taken by us to send away our daughter, who is one and half years old now, for the work of the Lord. We wish that the child should walk out of the home like Adi Shankaracharya. Should we leave this task to the Lord Himself or should we take any effort?]
I am shocked by this question. Swami has not seen such a devotee in this creation so far. Swami has seen parents obstructing their children when they walk out of the home for God’s work. Swami has seen very few devotees, who do not have any objection if their children walk out for God’s work. But here are these wonderful parents, who want to throw out their only daughter for the work of the Lord. Swami is more astonished to note that this wish arose in the heart of a mother. The mother has the strongest bond with the child since the child was in her womb for a long time. The gender-bond (Linga Abhimana) is also not working in her case, which is common in this world. Thus she is the best of all the devotees and she is your [Nikhil’s] half. Thus she alone deserves to be called as the best half. Praising her is equal to praising you. When your half is praised, you are also praised. This is the appreciation coming from the deep heart of Swami. It is only due to such infinite real love for God, that you both are working so much for the mission of God in developing the website to propagate this infinite real knowledge of the Lord.
Even the mother of Shankara obstructed her son from going for the work of the Lord. Finally somehow she agreed and gave her no objection certificate to Shankara, when the crocodile drama was conducted. She never encouraged Shankara to go out for the divine work. Smt. Devi exceeds even the mother of Shankara because she is encouraging her child to go for spiritual work. Swami has seen children, who walk out like Shankara but Swami has never seen any mother who encourages her child to do so. Your wife is not in the place of the mother of Shankara but she is in the place of Shankara. Swami feels that you are the luckiest devotee in this creation to have such a soul associated with you. There is a saying, that there is a lady behind the success of every man. This holds good even in the spiritual success.
Therefore, you can put all your efforts on the child because she is in constant association with you. Your effort is the external atmosphere, which is also essential. Swami will create the internal atmosphere in her mind, which is the main requirement. Thus both the efforts are necessary and your effort will reduce the burden of Swami. Both Krishna and Arjuna were necessary in the war. The effort of Swami is real and final. Even if the external atmosphere is opposite, Swami develops the soul internally. Prahlada was an example of that case.