Receiving
We spoke extensively about donating – how important it is and how it can help us to expand our consciousness. When we donate, we definitely activate generosity magnetism, then the Universe answers with the same generosity by sending us its gifts. These could be monetary gifts, or they could come in differents forms: for example, we could received something that is needed at that time.
Regardless of the channel through which that gift arrives, we should never forget that behind that unexpected surprise there is the ever generous and loving hand of the Divine Mother. By keeping this in mind, we are relieved of any embarassment as to the channel God has chosen to send us His thoughtful gift. We certainly must be grateful for Divine Mother’s human instrument, but it is, above all, to Her that we must give thanks.
In this respect, two stories come to mind – one by Master and the other by Swami Kriyananda, both in The New Path by Kriyananda.
Here are the stories:
Master, in his travels between Lost Angeles and Encinitas, sometimes stopped in the little town of Laguna Beach, at a Scottish tea shop where shortbread was a specialty. One day, going there for this delicacy, he sent Virginia Wright (later, Ananda Mata) in. She returned to report that the last batch had been sold.
@Unsplash: Shortbread
Surprised, Master prayed, “Divine Mother, how come?” It wasn’t that he was disappointed. Accustomed, rather, to receiving divine guidance in even the slightest details of his life, he wondered whether there might not be some lesson intended in this unexpected denial. All at once, he saw a shaft of light shine down upon the little shop. Moments later, the door opened and the proprietress came out.
“Wait!” Wait!” she called. Hastening over to the car with a little package in her hand, she said, “I was saving this order for a local customer. But I want you to have it. I can make more for him.”
Master had had no real desire for the shortbread. What touched him deeply about this episode was the divine love it exemplified. The more inconsequential the need to which God responds, the greater, in a sense, the proof of His love. Divine intervention in times of serious need might be attributed to other reasons – perhaps to the wish to see some important work finished. But what motive, save love alone, could there possibly be for intervention in such trivial matters?
@Unsplash
Years later, I had a similar demonstration – equally trivial, but showing me that God’s love extends even to ordinary devotees. My parents were living in France, relatively near Switzerland. During my school days in Switzerland, I had developed a liking for Swiss chocolate, and had bought it whenever I could. I kept intending to ask my parents to send me some, but the desire was so trivial that I kept on forgetting. One year, a week before my birthday, the thought came to me, “Too bad! Divine Mother, it would have been nice to have some Swiss chocolate for that special day.” I dismissed the thought as quite unimportant, and forgot it. I had addressed the thought, however, to Divine Mother. What was my surprise, the very day before my birthday, to receive a box of Swiss chocolate from a congregation member in Hollywood. She had happened to see some of it in a local shop (I hadn’t known that it was imported) and, though she didn’t know it was my birthday, and didn’t know my tastes in the matter, she had thought to send me some. I shared it gratefully with my brother monks. My gratitude went chiefly to the Divine Mother.
The New Path – Swami Kriyananda
Thank you Divine Mother for your constant, loving presence in our lives.
Clarita
