Radhanath Swami

Little Richie (now Radhanath Swami) was shaken by the experience at Danny’s cellar; he was exposed to hand grenades, pistols, and words of hate. He wondered if God hated him. Despite his mother’s assurances, Richie struggled to reconcile the emotions of love and hate, and the connection of these emotions to God. He often stayed up in bed praying to God. In prayers he felt a sense of shelter and and that someone up there was listening to him. He however desired to know this person called God; was he some invisible cloud or a friend whom he could touch with his thoughts.

I was stunned on reading this account. Even as a young child, Radhanath Swami prayed and felt prayers as the best means to reconcile confusions about life in this world. So often we seek to reconcile contradictions by relying on our intelligence. The more we analyze the complexities of life and especially human relationships, the more it appears bewildering. We wonder why certain situations are the way they are; why people don’t change and toe our line of thought. We wonder why the world is so different from the ideals we strive for. The constant and rigorous search through intellectual wrangling is not only tiring, it often offers inconclusive results. On the other hand when faced with such confusions, we could attempt an alternative- helplessly praying to God- and experience a world of difference. Not only is this exercise refreshing, over a period of time, God also reveals the answers from within. The confusions that Radhanath Swami experienced as little Richie, we face in our daily social interactions. Unfortunately, due to a lack of spiritual training most people attempt to resolve them by forming opinions and passing prejudiced judgments. Radhanath Swami is wonderfully teaching us the merits of taking shelter of prayer in such situations.

Radhanath Swami shares his experiences candidly; helplessly praying to God shifts the focus from the self to God. Most anxieties occur due to our deep rooted conceptions that I am the doer. When we instead turn to God we access a power beyond our own- the spiritual power of God. This experience fills the heart with inner contentment and provides us the strength to face unexpected trials soberly.  This also purifies our intelligence and enables us to discover reasonable solutions to our confusions.

Even if our problems are unresolved despite constant prayers, we can seek solace in the fact that a bigger problem is getting solved; our loving relationship with God which was hitherto dormant and unexplored now promises to blossom. The maturing of this relationship then ensures eternal residence in the kingdom of God. Radhanath Swami’s realizations give me strength and hope, “please remember that God is more desperate that you turn to Him than you are interested to revive your relationship with Him. If we just make a beginning by taking one step towards Him, He reciprocates by taking ten steps towards us.”

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