Consciousness Responsibility
By Karmayogi
In order for a meeting of ten
people to commence punctually, all ten of them should turn up on time. One man's presence does not depend upon another
man. No man can hold himself responsible for another man's
punctuality. The heads of the departments, especially Ministers, hold
themselves responsible for what their departments do. It is called
constitutional responsibility. When Lal Bahadur Sastri was Railway Minister, a
train derailed and fell into a river. He took upon himself the responsibility
and resigned. In the life of the Spirit, a similar phenomenon exists. In a work
done by several people, if there is a devotee – one who invokes the Spirit or
the Mother – he assumes such a responsibility. He need not be the head of the
group. It is enough he is a member. Suppose a dozen people go on a tour of
which a devotee too is a member. The devotee is of higher consciousness than
others. Therefore, all that he does will find a reflection in his own work. The
perfection of his work will exercise a control over their work. The Mother said
that until the Ashram outgrew the strength of 150 members, She held all the
sadhaks in Her control. She said they could not think without Her permission or
knowledge. It was so because She identified Herself with them so totally. Also,
it was possible for Her to do so because they submitted to Her happily,
surrendered their life, work, wealth and soul to Her. It was a spiritual union,
called communion. It is best seen when a work that went wrong is corrected.
Someone applied for a visa to Canada to attend a conference. Another person
escorted him. He had to go for an interview in Delhi at the Canadian embassy. The
visa was refused. Both returned. There were a few people intimately connected
with the procurement of the visa. One of them understood that he could take
that responsibility and he decided to discover any defect on his own part. He
did discover a hesitation on his part and tried his best to remove it. It got
removed. That evening, an industrialist holding a five year visa visited them. On
hearing what happened, he was sorry that such a genuine case had gone wrong. He
knew the Deputy Chief of the Canadian Mission. He asked the applicant to
reappear. This time the visa was sanctioned. He who invokes the Spirit holds
the consciousness of all others he relates to. It is Consciousness Responsibility.