God Is Seeing Me-Part III (Contd)

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The devotee may, in the initial stages, discipline his life out of 'fear' of God. But this phase normally passes away soon. How long can he really fear someone who is always nearby? Even the capacity to fear has its limits. Besides, as the devotee's understanding grows, he thinks of God not as a policeman sticking around to catch the culprit red-handed, but as his all-in-all, his father, mother, friend-all rolled into one. The devotee realizes that far from wanting to punish him, God is, on the contrary, eager to reward him. God wants him to succeed and is ready to help and cheer his efforts. Can there be any place for 'fear' of God now? Never. There is only the urge now to live a true and authentic life, and measure up to what God expects of the devotee. Thus 'God is seeing me' sends entirely different signals to a devotee than what ' A cop is watching me' sends to a mugger.

Thus we see that the practice of always remembering 'God is seeing me' frees us from the spells of loneliness and depression, helps us in focusing our mind on God, drives away anxiety and fear, fills us with strength to forge ahead toward the Ideal, protects us from the slips and stumbles in spiritual life caused by careless living, and disciplines and makes our life divine. What is remarkable about the practice of remembering 'God is seeing me' is that it is within everybody's reach.

With the faith of a child and a little persistent effort, anyone can discover for himself the enormous benefits this practice can bring. These benefits become infinitely more potent when the faith that 'God is seeing me' blossoms into the actual, living experience of the truth 'God is seeing me.' This blossoming occurs only by the grace of God. It can take any length of time depending upon the purity of our life and the intensity of our effort. Thus the period could be in terms of lives or years or months or even days. Maybe even a few hours. Our job is to fire on all cylinders and leave the rest in God's hands. Who knows what surprises He is having up His sleeve for us ! ?