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life, doing the daily chores, doing his regular workto earn a living,

and enjoys the usual pleasures andsuffers the usual pains from moment

to moment. Yet itcan be clearly seen that his face is usually without

anxiety, his body usually relaxed and generally seemsto be 'in good

humor'. People seem to seek his companynot just for 'time pass' but

are often seen seekinghis advice in situations in the daily living

;they see

him offering his advice, only when it is sought andwith an

astonishing sense of humility combined withcompassion, sometimes even

with affection. They seehim someone transparently opens, without any

guile at

all and, yet, he is obviously no one's fool! This isperhaps what is

meant by the high –sounding words: heis anchored in peace and

harmony. But what oneactually sees is that while he is not

particularly

keen to offer any advice, he does so when asked, witha great deal of

simplicity, confidence, and utterhumility.One is so impressed by the

personality of the sage,the utter naturalness of the sage that one

finds

oneself in his company more frequently than one wouldimagine, even

when there is no particular situation tobe discussed with him. On

such an occasion, one mightfind oneself asking the sage what made him

what he is

– so likeable. The sage would perhaps smile and say,again with utterly

simple humility, "nothing butGod's grace" and you know that he really

meant it. Ifyou were to gently pursue the matter, the response you

would get is quite likely to be that he has a deepconviction in God's

Will being present all the time,at all places. Indeed, he has

accepted with totalconviction that in, whatever one may think one

isdoing, whatever is actually happening, could not be

happening unless it was God's will, according to acosmic law. At this

point, you find yourself askingwhether the sage truly believes that

all action isnot anyone's doing but a happening that simply had to

happen. The sage may seem to hesitate a little, butthe answer will

come with great confidence, "withoutany exception". You are, frankly,

not quite ready toaccept this unequivocal assertion. So you persist:

does not that mean abrogating your responsibility foryour actions?The

sage would probably look at you a littlepiercingly but when he finds

total sincerity in yourprobing, he would open up completely. He is

likely to

explain to you: "There is really no question of

any responsibility.When I do believe totally, without any

reservation,that nothing can happen unless it is God's will,

itcertainly does not mean that, in a fatalistic manner,

I shall stop doing anything. I know I cannot donothing; and,

therefore, if there is something for meto do in my daily living, I

shall, of course, make adecision on what to do in my daily living, I

shall, of

course make a decision on what to do and how to do it.Having made the

decision, I shall put in my besteffort to make that decision

fructify. However, havingdone that, I know with total certainty that

whatever

happens, thereafter, will be out of my control andwill depend entirely

on the Will of God.I shall be waiting comfortably without any stress

andstrain for the result of 'my action'. The result couldbe

successful or not successful and, therefore, the

consequences of that result would again dependentirely upon God's

will. A happening is God's Willand the consequences – good, bad, or

indifferent-would also be God's ill and my destiny. There's trulyno

problem, no avoiding responsibility."(to be

continued )Ramana sarma