But I have definitely
refused it." I added hopefully, "Sir, will you not make me a monk of
the Swami Order?" I looked pleadingly at my guru. During preceding
years, in order to test the depth of my determination, he had
refused this same request. Today, however, he smiled graciously.
"Very well; tomorrow I will initiate you into swamiship." He went
on quietly, "I am happy that you have persisted in your desire to
be a monk. Lahiri Mahasaya often said: 'If you don't invite God to
be your summer Guest, He won't come in the winter of your life.'"
"Dear master, I could never falter in my goal to belong to the Swami
Order like your revered self." I smiled at him with measureless
affection.
"He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord,
how he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the
things of the world, how he may please his wife." {FN24-1} I had
analyzed the lives of many of my friends who, after undergoing
certain spiritual discipline, had then married. Launched on the sea
of worldly responsibilities, they had forgotten their resolutions
to meditate deeply.
To allot God a secondary place in life was, to me, inconceivable.
Though He is the sole Owner of the cosmos, silently showering us
with gifts from life to life, one thing yet remains which He does
not own, and which each human heart is empowered to withhold or
bestow-man's love. The Creator, in taking infinite pains to shroud
with mystery His presence in every atom of creation, could have had
but one motive-a sensitive desire that men seek Him only through
free will.
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