Swami! We come to the mandir regularly and do bhajan-bhakti. But we still experience pain and misery in our lives.

Swamishri: For one who keeps faith in God, everything works out for him. We must be firm that ‘this is God’, that only God gives us happiness, and even in times of joy or pain, God only does what’s best. If we keep such beliefs then we’ll be happy.

Those who do not worship God and who do not come to the mandir may appear to be happy, but that happiness, is only on the outside. What does Gunatitanand Swami tell us? ‘Poisoned sweets taste nice in the beginning but afterwards they’ll kill you.’ Similarly, worldly pleasures such as eating at restaurants, drinking in bars, going to parties or to the cinema all seem like fun. A rich man may drive an expensive car but if he doesn’t believe in God, then is his heart he will be burning. He’ll always feel miserable.

When you go to school wearing a tilak-chandlo, some may insult you. And yet nobody ever insults a man who is drunk! Whenever we try to do good deeds, we will always face opposition. But we shouldn’t give up the road to God. So what if there are hardships? Ultimately there is happiness. Those people are ‘enjoying’ themselves now, but ultimately they will be miserable. At the end of their road is suffering, not redemption. So we shouldn’t let go of our dharma for the worldly pleasures we see outside - even if we have to suffer. The Pandavs suffered. Dada Khachar suffered. All great devotees have had to suffer but as they kept faith in God their names have become imprinted in history books.

Even if we may get only a small amount of money, earn it by honorable means. Live according to dharma. Money obtained by cheating and adharma will never make you happy.