155. We see a very good man suffering too much. Why? The answer may be: "Because of his previous Karma in his previous Janma". This we can trace back to the day of creation.

The law of Karma is inexorable. Every one reaps the fruits of his previous births. A good man only will suffer a lot, because he is hurrying up in the spiritual march. Many of his evil Karmas have to be worked out and purged out quickly to hasten his salvation in this very birth. But, God gives him extraordinary power of endurance through His grace. An aspirant or a good man gets many difficulties and sufferings. But he rejoices even in sufferings and destitution on account of the descent of the Lord's grace. He voluntarily welcomes these sufferings. The only best thing in this world is pain or suffering, because it is the eye-opener towards God.

156. How to develop Bhakti?

By Satsang, by repeating the Lord's Name, doing Kirtan, hearing Kathas, reading the Ramayana, Bhagavata and the lives of Bhaktas— Bhakta Vijayam and Bhakta Lilamrita— Vishnu Sahasranama, Narada Bhakti Sutras and Sandilya Sutras. You must develop Vairagya. This is important. Live amidst Bhaktas. Live in Ayodhya. Respect Rama Nama. You will develop Rama Bhakti. Live in Brindavan. Study Bhagavata. Do Japa of the Dvadasakshara Mantra, "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya". You will develop Krishna Bhakti.

157. This creation is the result of Isvara's Eshana-Matra. Nothing less than or beyond that Eshana can happen. Isvara is not ordaining things all the time; else He would be too busy. This means determinism which leaves very little scope for individual effort.

The notion that Isvara ordains things only sometimes and not always and that He would be too busy if He ordains things all the time is a puerile one. Isvara can look to everything at one stroke of His Being. There is no such thing as His ‘being too busy', for He is not like man, using his senses for the purpose of acting. Isvara does not act with a changing mind as man does, for Isvara's action is inseparable from an undivided, ever-vigilant, all-powerful, all-pervading Consciousness which neither sleeps nor takes rest. Isvara is essentially this sovereign Consciousness itself. The whole universe is determined by Isvara's creative Will. But this is no determinism in the sense of a denial of free will to man. Man has a comparatively clear consciousness of himself and of others related to him outside, and he is possessed of the power of discrimination and willing. Isvara is the basis of cosmic activity as well as individual action, and yet, He is not involved in the actions of the individual. To Isvara, everything is determined. The past, the present and the future are all Isvara's Being alone. But from the individual's own limited standpoint, there is, in spite of the fact of a changeless universal law, a sort of apparent freedom of action imposed upon himself by his own individuality. Though the individual's freedom of thought and action is not the final truth about it, it assumes a relative importance and begins to affect the individual with its reactions, as a result of the individual's notion of the reality of a limited personality and its thoughts and actions. On account of this self-created bondage the Jiva suffers and this suffering comes to an end the moment the Jiva realizes its identity with Isvara in consciousness, in activity and in its very existence itself.