When we make a plan, whether a simple shopping list before we go to the market, or something as serious as charting a multi-year course of study, we take into account what we are aware of, but there will always be the unexpected in our path. Perhaps on the way to the market, we discover that the bus drivers are on strike. Or we reach the market, but the fruit we want has not arrived because of events in another country. And of course with a larger plan the room for the unanticipated also increases. What if, for example, three years from now, with the course of study not yet complete there is another epidemic and everything is frozen again? In other words, human planning is often a statement of hope rather than a prediction of the future.

And what about God’s plan? The wise have said that all that happens in the world occurs by the will of God. If there is only one Being, and if the Divine Presence is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, how could it be otherwise? But for many people, accepting the concept of a Divine Plan is difficult for two reasons. One is the apparent randomness of life – the orbits of the stars may be predictable, but we tiny humans seem so chaotic that the word ‘plan’ can scarcely apply. The other point that makes us hesitate over a Divine Plan is the question of our own free will. If we have the liberty to choose which way to walk through the park, then it seems to leave God’s plan on the shelf. If, on the other hand, our choice of route has been predetermined, then why are we urged to make efforts toward kindness and compassion, toward the perfection of love, harmony and beauty? Why bother if it has all been decided?

If the wise have assured us that there is Divine will behind all that happens, it is because of their experience; for the illuminated souls ‘unity’ and ‘the only being’ are not simply philosophical concepts but perceived reality. When we discover that our ‘self’ is only a bit of foam floating on the surface of the ocean, the significance of our free will becomes vanishingly small, but paradoxically we also discover that the walls of our bubble-self are made of that same mighty ocean on whose breast we ride. Therefore we ourselves are also part of the plan, and if we make an effort to attune to the Divine Spirit, we may have the privilege of collaborating in the plan’s execution. In Gayan Alapas we find : “Whichever path you choose, the right or the wrong, know that there is at the back always a powerful hand to help you along it.” And in Gayan Boulas : “It is God who, by the hand of man, designs and carries out His intended plan in nature.”