Insoluble Problems
There are nothing like insoluble problems for Mother. But, in the scheme of things, in the life of the devotee many problems are left unsolved which he comes to describe as insoluble problems. If problems of that description are taken up, there are two approaches that lead to solutions. One way is to change the human trait that generated the problem. That is a radical, substantial solution that would not only offer a solution to the problem on hand, but would usher the willing individual into a greater measure of prosperity. The other is to seek a limited solution. By isolating the problem from the man and his life, insulating it from other influences, concentrating our efforts on the solution, we find a solution. Either is possible.
For the first solution, it is necessary for a man to know why a certain problem arose. If he knows it and he is willing to change in himself that trait which created the problem, then it is good. Once he makes that inner change, a prayer will readily remove the problem, however knotty it appears to be. In case he is unable to locate in himself any characteristic or attitude or activity that led to the problem, he should come forward to assume that one exists inside him and be willing to give it up, whether he knows it or not. Before taking up a prayer to solve the problem, he must pray to Mother to remove what in him has caused it.
The second is not an attempt to change one’s inside but to aim at a limited solution, which is a total solution to the problem. A dozen methods are open to him.
- Intense Prayer: If one is unemployed for years or a girl’s marriage is getting postponed for 10 years or one is suffering from a chronic disease, an intense prayer will remove it. By intense prayer I mean that the devotee should go deep into himself, as deep as the problems constitute a worry in him, and from there resolve to pray to Mother. Prayer from that depth will be elevating. Should he reach such depth for prayer, he should set apart three or four days and be fully absorbed in it. The problems will melt away. As the devotee goes to a depth within himself and voices a prayer from there, the problem receives the full impact of the prayer whose intensity is equal to the problem. Naturally, it gives way.
- Deep Concentration: The first method of prayer and this concentration are the same in essence but their forms vary. This can be resorted to only by those to whom concentration is natural and easy. A concentration should be developed in meditation and tested for its intensity against the intensity of the problem. If it does not match, day after day the intensity of the concentration should be increased until it reaches the intensity of the problem. In a few days, one can reach it. Once it is reached, the problem can be forgotten and one can lose oneself in the concentration. The problem gives way on its own.
- Complete Consecration: Narrating to Mother in prayer or in imagination the sequence of events that led to the problem is called consecration. If it is done without reactions of mind, after a few sittings the knot will be broken. One significance of this method is all the harassing life events that led to the creation of this problem, once consecrated, will not recur in the life of the devotee anymore.
- Offering the karma: If the devotee knows now that his past actions have led to the present situation, he should offer to Mother the original acts so as to dissolve the karma at its roots. A father whose son had run away from home acknowledged that in his youth he had run away from home as a truant. His offering of his earlier actions now to Mother brought his son back to him exactly at the moment when his mind repented.
- Offering of the propensities that have created the karma: This is the same as offering of karma but is deeper and has a greater purifying effect.
- Constant remembrance of Mother: Instead of focussing on the problem, if one comes away in his mind from the problem and tries to remember Mother constantly, at the point the remembrance reaches maturity, the solution is found.
- Gratitude: Mother says the god of Gratitude is the youngest in the life of the earth. If one who is beset with a problem puts aside the problem itself and takes up other bright aspects of life and feels an intensely real Gratitude to Mother for each of them, before the list is fully covered, the problem will be solved.
- Faith: A renewal of faith in the context of the present problem and fuller affirmation leads to a solution.
- Higher Understanding: If one is of a mental bent, analysis of the problem in a wider context so as to arrive at a fuller understanding removes it.
- Grace: Grace acts on its own. For us to bring ourselves to move Grace, all that we should do is to withdraw the faith from every other aspect. That makes Grace act. For instance, when salary arrears of fifteen years are pending with the government, the mind will naturally rely on rules, procedures, etc. Grace cannot act as long as faith is there in any other aspect of life.