Remembrance of God in Times of Ease

In May 1982, the editor of The Hindustan Times did a field-study to understand the mentality of Indians. On the basis of his research, he concluded this about them:

When a catastrophe strikes, God is tops. When all is tranquil, money manages to push God down to the second place.

This is true not only of Indians, however. It applies to most people across the globe actually. A person remembers God when he is in difficulty or feels helpless. At that time, he thinks only of God. But when the situation improves and he is no longer faced with any problem, he makes his perceived material interests his sole concern.

But this sort of religiosity is no religiosity at all. It is simply an expression of a person’s mindset – of having forgotten his Lord. He does not remember God when he should, and then God shows him how utterly helpless he actually is. In making an individual face various trials and troubles, God lifts the veil of negligence from his eyes, forcing him to recognize how utterly dependent he actually is on Him. And when this happens, a person gets terribly frightened and calls out to God.

A human being is completely free, having been bestowed with the gift of free will. God desires that a person should, of his own free will, and not out of compulsion, worship and surrender Him. And so, a person’s remembrance of God is true remembrance when he remembers God when he is in comfort and ease. To forget God when you are happy and in ease and to rush to God when you face some difficulty has no value whatsoever in God’s eyes.

Those who consider wealth to be the greatest thing have made a false god their deity. How can something that cannot be a support when you are in trouble, something that you yourself forget in moments of extreme difficulty, be anyone’s deity?