On November 11th, after breakfast, Norina asked Baba, “Why should everything apparently go wrong when you wish to work in Ceylon? The weather is awful, we cannot find a place to stay, the press interview you gave was not successful. And now some of the local Christians and Buddhists are stirring up things against you.”
In reply, Baba explained:
I have come here for work, and only work matters to me. What is praise or insult to me? Opposition is a help, not a hindrance in my work. The sun shines daily, shedding light on all. It is not concerned with whether people praise it or speak ill of it. It sheds light equally on those who praise it and those who curse it.
But when the clouds appear, the sun is hidden. Then people long for its light and warmth. When the clouds disperse and the sun shines with full splendor, only then do people know its true value. Were it not for the clouds, people would not appreciate the sun. In this way, opposition is like the clouds – to appreciate the value of the sun’s light, clouds are necessary.
Can you see how God works? No. Yet whether the atheists believe God does not exist, or whether others worship Him, God keeps on working in His own way. He is unaffected by praise or insult.
Take, for example, the ant: you hardly think of its existence; to you it is absolutely insignificant, yet it has a body, soul and lives in a world of its own. Let’s say you are spiritually ants, and I am spiritually human. I work for the evolution of the ants to make them become human beings. If an ant bites you, you brush it off. Therefore, what does it matter to me if an ant bites me or brings me sugar? I remain unaffected, but naturally it reacts on the ant. It is nobody’s fault. It all has to be.
–www.LordMeher.org, p2635