God is omnipresent and giving. Work on improving your karma to get rewarded by the divine powers that be, writes AJIT KUMAR BISHNOI

What does God do being all-pervasive? He sees, hears and even knows what we are thinking. Why does God do this, because He must respond, if required. Suppose a little girl is praying in her home for quick cure of her sick mother, then, God must act, because He must respond. Such is the Cosmic Design. How He will act and when is entirely upto Him, but He will definitely do something. No prayer ever goes waste except when it is against “Rs rma”. Similarly, all our spiritual acts will be noticed by God and duly rewarded, again as determined by Him. Because God must encourage such acts. These distinguish one from a good person. Such souls are spiritual besides being good persons.

Good people are born with divine endowments. (16.1-3) They have yet not progressed to the spiritual level. However, as their purity level goes up, they will ultimately accept the existence of God and begin doing spiritual acts such as chanting Lord’s names. Good people are rewarded for their pious deeds by the divine authorities. And if such good persons become doers of welfare acts, they are assured of not ending up badly. (6.40)

Spiritually-minded persons on the other hand are known as devotees of God. As God is seeing, hearing and is aware of everything, all their spiritual acts are noticed by God, and He takes cognizance of them through appropriate rewards. For instance, when you chant “Rama”, God hears it. And as God knows what your thoughts are behind doing so (13.2), He must respond suitably. As God is unlimited, He can give whatever He feels His devotees deserve. God’s reaction is very different from what a common man will do in these circumstances. Suppose someone calls my name, I must be within hearing distance to be able to hear. If I do hear, then, I have to ascertain the purpose of such an act. Even after that, I have to determine whether I can help or want to help, because we are limited and have narrow self-interest; God does not have such limitations.

Back to God’s motivation for wanting to be aware of everything. The first is the need for continuity. The creation lasts millions of years. God cannot allow any act, which could endanger the longevity of the Creation. Therefore, He must be aware of everything, i.e. which goes on in His Creation, even what we are thinking. God will not allow any serious damage to His Creation. The second motivation is proper functioning of the Creations. That is why gods and goddesses have been created; these are special souls different from us. They administer the Karmaphala principle under His superintendence. (9.10) The third motivation is to encourage good people, who are vital for the functioning of the Creation. Imagine a world with only bad people, i.e. those in whom demonic qualities are predominant. (16.6) That will not work. Such good persons are duly rewarded for their pious deeds by the divine authorities.

The fourth motivation is to reward those good souls, who have progressed from the level of goodness to the spiritual level, i.e. those who are now also engaged in doing spiritual acts, as mentioned earlier, when goodness increases, one will be inclined to turn spiritual; this is natural. And when one does spiritual acts goodness and purity increase manifold. Such persons are extremely useful for the Creation and must be encouraged, which God does as He notices them. These spiritual acts differentiate devotees of God from good persons.

Bishnoi is a spiritual writer and can be reached at spiritual@ajitbishnoi.com