Facing Trials, Difficulties and Problems

Brave All Trials by Swami Sivananda

Trials, difficulties, troubles and sufferings are necessary for your purification and to strengthen your will and power of endurance. Face them bravely and come out triumphantly. Press on. Strive on with all your will; only then is the grace of God bestowed. God helps those who help themselves. If bad thoughts enter your mind, simply ignore them. Offer a prayer to the Lord and substitute divine thoughts by studying the sacred books. The spiritual fire should be generated day after day. Hold fast to the ideal. Keep the flame of aspiration ever bright. Scorn mundane delights and strife. Dedicate your life to God. Meditate. Scale the spirit's steepest height and reach the peak of eternal wisdom and bliss divine. Nothing is able to daunt the firm and resolute aspirant or turn him from a course which he considers to be right, or which he holds to be his duty. Be brave and courageous. You must pass with one breath over the mountain of difficulties. The atman cannot be attained by a life of weakness and error.

You have infinite strength within you. Be strong. Look within. Meditate. Tap the source. Have an indomitable will, backed by an abiding faith. You are bound to succeed in everything. God is the light of lights. He is knowledge. He is the knower. God is the same from age to age. God never changes; he is ageless. God has no opposite. God is truth, beauty, goodness. God has no religion; He is the source of all religion. God is one. God is peace. God is universal harmony. God is love and law. As a lamp cannot burn without oil, so man cannot live without God. Creation reveals that God is dharma (righteousness). God is the bestower of grace which is boundless and inexhaustible.

Source: https://www.sivanandaonline.org/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=423

Difficulties Strengthen You by Swami Sivananda

Difficulties come to test you and thereby to help you by strengthening your will, patience and power of endurance. Be bold. Be cheerful. Be calm, cool and collected at all times, even in the face of difficulties. There is no spiritual sadhana (practice) completely free from obstacles and difficulties. God sends consolation, encouragement at every step to the sincere aspirant. Defeat and failure have their purpose. Criticism too has its uses.

Be free from depression and irritation. Remain unmoved by criticism or praise. Be steadfast. Stand firm like a rock - unshakable by emotional storms, frustrations and defeats. A spiritual aspirant is backed up by the whole spiritual world. All saints lend their invisible help and support to such a struggler. You are never really left alone. You will get help from saints and yogis internally. Their spiritual vibrations will elevate and inspire you.

Without great patience and perseverance, the spiritual quest becomes an uphill task. No half-measures will do on the spiritual path. Give your whole heart to truth and to sadhana. Have faith. Be firm. Unfold. Attain. All defeats are transitory. All set-backs are needed experiences. Muster up your courage. March forward. Success and victory are yours. Have patience first, second and last! This should be the motto for those seeking the inner light.

Great things have small beginnings. All growth is gradual. To be perfectly unperturbed, by anything, in all circumstances, looking upon all things as passing phenomena, ever feeling a distinct, silent witness to all the experiences of life - these are the marks of a spiritual aspirant.

These qualities have to be carefully and consciously cultivated. They do not come in a day. But they do come gradually by faithful practice. An unseen power guides and guards you. Feel his power and presence. He who is endowed with dispassion, compassion, serenity, self-control, and who has given up the desire for this world and the next, and who has control over his mind and senses, is fit to tread the spiritual path.

Source: https://www.sivanandaonline.org/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=392