THIS DIVINELY ORDAINED MOMENT

 
Baba further told us that there are thousands of persons who invoke Divine Grace. However, after many years, only one among them is blessed with it. And the instant it descends, the recipient experiences God-realization.

No one should regard this rarity with extreme pessimism, but with the optimism of the brave. It is the height of this optimism which inspires true heroes — the real men of God — to lay their lives at God's feet for a taste of His Love, without any expectation, even for Union with the Beloved....

Baba continued, "In the darbar (the gathering of the close ones) of the Sadgurus, history repeats itself. There are always some disciples or devotees who grumble about the delay in getting a response from God the Beloved. They think: 'In spite of our intense and earnest longing, why haven't we seen God? Why haven't we had even a glimpse of Him?' In fact, they should well know that God, who is equally in us all, is infinitely more anxious for Union with each one of us than we are for Union with Him. But He knows and waits for the opportune moment."

Tukaram, one of the prominent Perfect Masters of Maharashtra, is well known for his profound love of God and the intense agony of separation that he experienced, like a fish out of water. After God-realization, he wrote in one of his abhangas [a meter used in Marathi poetry], "Dear one, remember well that Union with God is never the result of your efforts, however desperate they may be. Your longing will not bear fruit until the divinely ordained moment dawns upon you. He knows best!"

With God's infinite, unconditional compassion, this divinely ordained moment (ghadi) instantly annihilates all separation. It is the descent of the eternally benevolent Infinite, crossing the "abyss" to reach the "finite" and engulf it into Itself as Itself.