Radhanath Swami on Power and the Powerful

The Lord is the doer; He has the power which we all live by. He gives us the power to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to walk, to talk, to think. He gives us all the facilities of this world. But He also gives us independence: we have the choice to properly use or misuse all that He has given us. We have the choice to use it in His service, or to use it for our own selfish purposes. The power is coming from the Lord, all we have is the choice how to use it. Therefore the greatest foolishness to take credit for anything. We are just instruments, we are puppets, either directly or indirectly, because the power is ultimately coming from Him. Whatever we have is His gift. But God can also take it away. He will take it away just to prove to us and give us the realization that it was never ours in the first place. It was never ours to enjoy either with our senses, our body, or with our mind through the credit and the prestige that comes with whatever we have done. It is all meant to be enjoyed by God alone.