Negative Solutions Will Not Work

Divine Life Society Publications – A New Beginning by Sri Swami Chidananda

You are your own very best friend. Within you there exists total solutions to all problems in your life, total solutions, not negative solutions. The ostrich also has got a solution - a negative one. If someone comes to attack it, it does not want to feel threatened; it buries its head under the sand. Then it cannot see anyone attacking it. Like the ostrich, people try to have a negative solution. “No, there is no enemy.” “Why?” “I don’t see anyone.” And so they think that they have solved the problem. But this kind of solution - burying the head in the sand - does not work, because the attacker comes and kills the bird.

There is a lovely story in Brindavan in connection with child Krishna. He was troubling His mother to give Him milk. She said: “What do you mean ... I’ve just now given you milk ... and it is still not time for the next ... “When is it time?” the child asked. “Night time” said the mother. “What do you mean by night time?” “When the sun sets, when it is dark, that is the time for your supper. At that time you can have milk.” “What do you mean by ‘dark’?” “Dark” is when you cannot see anything, when nothing is visible. Then is the time to drink milk.” So the child Krishna closed His eyes and said, “Mother! It is dark and I can’t see anything. Nothing is visible. So now … please ... it is time for my ... give me my milk”. This also is a type of solution! It is a very clever solution.

In the case of the ostrich, it was a foolish solution. In the case of child Krishna, it was a very clever solution. But both of them do not achieve anything. But solutions that are contained within you for all problems of life - those solutions are positive, creative. Because, everything here is creative. Life is an evolution; it is an upward ascent. It is a process which is progressive, not regressive. Neither is it stagnant. Life is neither stagnant nor regressive; it is progressive. The law of life is progression, ascent into a state of perfection. The Divine Plan of God for man, for each individual soul, is for the individual soul to become like Him, to become like the Creator who made him. So, that is the Divine Plan of the Maker for each individual soul He sends forth here, made in His own image, fully divine. Jivatma Paramatma Ke Amsa Hai. Divinity is your goal, and therefore, all the potential for overcoming everything, for solving everything and arising victorious and attaining the Goal has been put into you by the Good God who made all things great and small.

So, within you lies a total solution to all problems. There is a strength to support every weakness of yours. There is a light to banish every darkness that lurks within you. And there is a total force working within you, as it is working within every little egg laid by a bird in its nest, as it is working in every seed which contains the potential for a tree, as it is working in every chrysalis within which there is held a potential butterfly with beautiful wings. Even as such perfection lies in all these things, within you is the potential for Godhead, for God-experience, for divine perfection. Within you is the potential for Satchidananda consciousness and liberation. Within you is the light to overcome all darkness. And you yourself are your best friend in this world, in this life.

Excerpts from:

Negative Solutions Will Not Work - A New Beginning by Sri Swami Chidananda

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