Baba's Storytime - Look Upon God as your True Guru

We alone are responsible for our doubts. The Divine acts as only a Witness. The Divine shows you the path to self-realisation. Your doubts arise or disappear because of your past karma (action). To realise Divinity you must first get rid of all your doubts. From time to time, God subjects you to various tests. These are not intended to be punishments as you may imagine. These are intended to strengthen your faith. 

Arjuna himself was subjected to such a test by Krishna on the eve of the Kurukshethra battle. Arjuna was worried about how to wage the war against his kinsmen and what strategy he should adopt. Krishna took him to a forest in the evening. It was twilight. 

The light of knowledge was setting and the darkness of ignorance was emerging. Krishna wanted to find out whether Arjuna was fit for receiving the Geethopadhesa (spiritual initiation to Geetha) the next day. 

He pointed out to Arjuna a bird on a tree and asked him whether it was a peacock. Arjuna said: "Yes, my Lord". "No, no. It is a dove," observed Krishna. Arjuna immediately said: "Yes, it is a dove." Krishna then said: "You senseless fellow. It is not a dove but a crow!" "Yes, Swaami! It is a crow," said Arjuna. 

Krishna then told Arjuna: "You have no power of discrimination at all. You cannot decide whether it is a peacock, dove or crow and only say 'yes' to whatever I say. Should you not have this much of understanding." 

Arjuna replied: "Krishna, if one does not know your real nature, one may attempt to agree or disagree with you. But I have understood the truth about you. If I declare that it is not a peacock, a dove or a crow, you have the power to turn it into a peacock, a dove or a crow. I have therefore no need to enquire into what it is. Your word alone matters for me. That is sufficient authority for me." 

When Arjuna displayed such implicit faith in Krishna, he felt that Arjuna was fit to receive the message of the Geetha. Hence He told him "Nimittha maathram Bhava!" ("Be thou my instrument"). 

Therefore, the first requisite is deepening of one's faith in the words of the Lord. It is not possible to know the Lord by book knowledge or by human intelligence. When the Lord comes in human form, His measureless powers are not to be judged by looking at his age, size or innocent behaviour. Such judgement will only lead to greater misunderstanding of the Divine. 

(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)