There is the one who takes advantage of opportunities, and there is the One who creates the opportunities.
Over the past year we have made a number of efforts in different directions. We’ve trekked over town and put in offers on different spaces. We’ve tried to get electrical work and facility upgrades done on the Loft. In spite of so much effort, there has been little to show for it. In spite of doing everything possible, there were no results. It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
Now everything is falling into place. We’re not putting in any more effort. We’ve tried to the best of our abilities before, and we continue to try to the best of our abilities now. Now however, things are happening.
This shows that our effort alone is not sufficient to produce results. The results of our actions are dependent on the superior force of “circumstance”. When Krishna wills it, it will happen.
At the same time, our effort is a necessary ingredient. It is not dependent on our effort. Our effort in fact is useless. It is not what we do, but what we are. What we do, however, is a function of what we are.
Krishna does not need our contribution. The opportunity to give a donation, or to do some voluntary service, is not an opportunity for us to provide something to Krishna that he lacks. There is no benefit for Krishna, or loss for Him if we don’t want to give. The opportunity to give a donation or to give voluntary service is like an amnesty where we can return stolen goods. Krishna doesn’t need us to give. We need to give to Krishna.
Anyway, we keep trying, no matter what result we get. When the results come, we can understand that Krishna is acting. Yesterday as we left the new facility Elliot turned to me and said: “If Krishna isn’t God, then I’ll eat my hat!”
Today Acyuta Bhava called me at work to tell me about the effort to have the electricity connected. We were concerned, because this is a commercially zoned facility, and we have two meters, one for each side of the floor. At the Loft we had to pay $500 as a bond for the electricity. Our concern was that we would be paying at least $1000 for a bond - money we don’t have. Acyuta told them that we were a community-based not-for-profit organization, and they hooked us up for free. When she mentioned the word “Krishna”, the young lady on the other end of the phone started gushing about her visit to India, and the lack of vegetarian food options in Brisbane. When Acyuta told her we do yoga and dinner as a package deal, she took down the address and the hours. She lives in Spring Hill, an inner city suburb close by.
I will not be so bold as to say that I have seen God, but I have seen signs along the way, and I am encouraged.
