Part IV

Love or indifference

From the beginning Mother Earth tries to nurse all her children with love. A particular child may be very indifferent. He may grab everything from Mother Earth and pay no attention to her love. Then she tries with devotion. Mother Earth constantly shows her concern and devoted qualities to her son, but the son remains absolutely indifferent. He takes everything from Mother Earth and still he remains silent. Then Mother Earth goes one step further and surrenders to his whimsical will. There is no rhyme or reason to the individual human will, but Mother Earth does not mind. Even then she wants to surrender her will to her child.

If her son still remains indifferent, eventually she nurses grievances. She says, "I have surrendered to you, I have given you everything, but even now you are not paying any attention to me. There is no response from you." Then she feels miserable. Everything that she could do for her son on earth, she has done. She has offered her utmost capacity. But each time she has tried to get some response from the human being, she has totally failed.

Finally she says, "All right, since you are such a great man, let me also play the role of indifference. I have done everything, far beyond your imagination, to please you, to make you feel that I am yours and you are mine, but you have paid no attention to me. You have been showing indifference to me. I can also do the same to you!" Then Mother Earth withdraws her affection, love and concern from that individual being. Immediately the person misses all the love, devotion and surrender he had been receiving. He misses all the divine qualities that used to give him joy. When one is no longer getting something, then one begins to value it. For example, when spiritual Masters live on earth, people mock them, or worse. Then afterwards, when the Masters leave the body, people immortalise them.

There comes a time when the Master has to show his divine authority. In the beginning he tries with love, devotion and surrender. But there comes a time when he has to use divine force. This is the only way he can conquer ignorance. Love is the highest force, true; but when we deal with the human mind, a so-called outer force is sometimes necessary. Love and force complete God's game.

In this case, indifference is the force. Mother Earth showed her love, devotion and surrender, but the indifference-force of the ungrateful human being was more powerful than the love-power that Mother Earth was offering. Then Mother Earth said, "All right, let me use the same power. If you are using a hand bomb, then I will use an atom bomb. I tried the love bomb, but it was not powerful enough. Now I will try another type of bomb."

When Mother Earth uses the same indifference-force, the person feels that his days are numbered. When the human being sees that Mother Earth is offering her indifference, then he comes to his senses. He touches her feet; he becomes her slave. He realises that if Mother Earth does not care for him, then he will never be able to realise God. If she withdraws, then all his divine qualities will go away from him. And if he does not use these qualities, if he does not value them and offer them to God, then Mother Earth will just show her indifference. In this way the person comes to realise that if he does not offer gratitude, if he is not pleased with what Mother Earth is doing for him, then he will be totally lost.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Opportunity and self-transcendence, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ost