Is God's power limited?

The other day a young friend of mine asked me why God had not yet made the whole world spiritual after so many thousands of years. “Is God’s Power limited?” he asked. “Does He not choose to make the world spiritual?” I wish to say that God’s Power is unlimited, but it is we who do not want to become spiritual. That is to say, earth does not want God’s Light.

God is wise, infinitely wiser than we are. Someone with less power than God can force another individual to do something that he does not want to do. But God does not force anyone to do anything. He feels that if He uses force, then we cannot get the ultimate Joy. You can force someone to eat, but inwardly he will curse you. God only says, “My child, I am telling you to eat this for your good. If you eat this food, you will get nourishment. Then you will be strong and you will be able to fight against ignorance.” God offers His Light, His inner nourishment, but he does not force anyone to accept it. This is what His policy is.

God sees the past, the present and the future. He knows that the right thing is to constantly offer us His Wisdom and infinite Patience. Human beings do not have patience and they feel that by striking their child, by forcing him, they are doing the best thing. But when this child grows up, he will only want to strike his parents in return. Right now, he is innocent, he is helpless. If the father beats his son, the child will remember this very incident. He may leave home at an early age and have nothing to do with his parents. Or when he becomes an adolescent, he will play tit for tat: you struck me, now I will strike you. This is what happens when human parents misuse their power.

But God the Father will not act in this way. He will only show abundant Compassion, infinite Compassion. Then, in return, His child will eventually offer infinite gratitude to God for showing His infinite Compassion-Light. The child will receive this Light and he will try to become worthy of his Father. When Compassion works, when Light works, then Wisdom works. If you offer wisdom to someone, then in ten or twenty years that person will also want to offer you wisdom when he himself has achieved it.

God will never give anything untimely. That would be like plucking an unripe fruit from a tree, thinking that it will be most delicious. If you eat it before it is ripe, it will taste deplorable. You always have to wait for it to ripen. Similarly, if somebody is fast asleep and you go and tell him that it is time for him to get up, then he will just kick you and you will feel miserable. He will say, “What are you doing? It is all well and good for you to get up. You do whatever you want to do. It is time for me to sleep.” Sleep is what is giving him joy. You are powerless at that time.

Look at the power of a Justice of the Supreme Court when he is in his office. Again, when this same man is with his wife and children, he cannot exercise this kind of power. His own son won’t listen to him. He may ask his son to bring him a glass of water and his son won’t do it. The Supreme Court Justice and the father are one and the same person. When he is in court, the whole nation listens to him; whereas at home his own children won’t listen to him.

When in Heaven, the Supreme is really the Highest and, at the same time, He is constantly transcending Himself. The Supreme has that kind of supreme Power in the inner world. But when He wants to operate here on earth with His children, He has infinite Patience. He becomes one with their ignorance. He says, “All right, if you want to disobey Me, if you want to play these kinds of silly games, then let Me also play a little with you.”

You may ask how God manifests His Power in man. I wish to say that He manifests not only Power but all His other qualities through Love. God uses Power, but he prefers to manifest Himself through Love, Concern and Compassion.