Now ordinary folk may get some doubts on this point. The Lord says that all things both good and bad originated from Him and that He is the prime cause; but at the same time, He declares that He is neither bound nor affected by the effects or defects of all that has thus originated! He says He has no relationship with them and that He is above and beyond that for which He is the cause.

You might infer that man too is not in the least responsible for the good and the evil that is done through him by the divine, that his real nature is beyond both good and evil, that his acts, however evil, were basically prompted by the Lord himself, for man has nothing he can claim as his act. True; but faith in this attitude that "nothing is done by you," that "it is all the Lord's will that is being worked through you," must be steady, sincere, deep and unshaken. There should be no trace of ego. If that is so, then certainly such a one has attained the highest goal of life. He is blessed to the uttermost. That reality has to be known; that knowledge has to be stabilised. Indeed he who has the conviction that all this is God, that he has no sort of relationship or kinship with the objective world, that he is above and beyond it, is the Sathya-jivi, the individual whose sojourn here has been worthwhile.

Words however are futile; you may repeat like a parrot what has been taught for long, certain phrases like "Every thing is the Lord's," "I am but a puppet; He pulls the strings and I dance as He wills," "Nothing is mine; I am just carrying out His will." But what do you usually do? When a praiseworthy act is done, you claim it to be your own; when a blameworthy act is done, you ascribe it to the prompting of the Lord! You shout from platforms till your throats get dry that you won by your own effort, honour, fame, status and standards, authority and position, property and possessions, attainments and achievements; but when it comes to confessing your share in earning ill fame and defeat, evil and wrong, you conveniently transfer the responsibility to the Lord, saying, "I am but an instrument in His hands, He is the master, I am but a tool." This has become the habit of man today. Nay, it has developed into a fashion. People swing from "I", to "He" like the pendulum of the clock. This is sheer deceit, hollow spiritual sham.

Mind, word and act, all three must be filled with the belief that all is His play; that is the genuine path. It is a human frailty to separate things as good and as evil; to impute this to God is sacrilege. It might appear sometimes that the Lord too has that weakness, but it is a passing phase, a cloud that hides His glory, not a blemish that adheres to Him.