In an interview last Friday, President Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

This comment reminded me of a story from ancient times in India.

Once upon a time there lived a virtuous man, Amit, deeply devoted to God. As Amit was walking on a path close to a forest one day, he noticed a young man running toward him.

“Turn around and run!” shouted the young man as he panted for breath, “There is a mad elephant a small distance away, coming our way!”

“God will protect me,” said Amit, smiling serenely, as he brushed off the warning. The young man ran on.

A few seconds later, Amit saw a small group of people running his way, all excited and shouting. “Stranger, turn around and run! A mad elephant has been running havoc in our village and will be here soon!” they yelled as they came closer to Amit.

Amit again pronounced majestically, “What do I have to fear? God will protect me.” The group ran past him, feeling sorry for what they saw was his impending fate.

Now a whole crowd of people emerged, fear-stricken, running in the opposite direction, warning him about an elephant. He repeated his mantra, “God will protect me”, and went on walking.

A few moments later, a mad elephant came charging upon him, held him in his trunk and threw him on the ground before continuing on its path of mayhem. Amit lay there, bruised and dazed.

A few days later, as he was being nursed back to health by his family, his spiritual teacher came over to visit.

“I learned you got in the way of a mad elephant. Why did you let this happen to you, Amit?” the teacher asked.

“Oh, I kept my faith, sir! I was so sure God would protect me!” exclaimed Amit. And then he sighed, “But he did not show up just when I needed him most, and now look at my condition!”

“Of course God did all he could to help you!” admonished his teacher.

“But sir,” protested Amit, “he was totally absent from the scene!”

The teacher patted Amit’s shoulder affectionately, “Who do you think sent all those people your way to warn you about the mad elephant — not once, not twice, but three times? It was the Lord, Amit! But you were not listening.”

Sometimes the Lord speaks to us from the whispers of our soul. And sometimes, from the warning signs around us. Almost never through a parting of the skies.

With what we have seen unfold in the Presidency over the last two years, could it be that perhaps the Lord Almighty has already been coming down and warning the President and his inner circle for some time now of what perils lie ahead, with the mad elephant of age-related decline that has been bounding toward the President, if the Democratic Party did not nurture younger leadership talent to prepare for the passing of the torch to a deserving candidate from this next generation to take on the electoral battle for the White House?

It is helpful to contrast President Biden’s response with that of President Lincoln in a story I shared in my book, Inner Mastery, Outer Impact. 

During the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln faced a terrible trade-off. Should he bring an end to the war and let the South secede from the Union, or should he continue with the war and keep steeping the nation’s fabric in rivers of blood? On one occasion, a pious individual sought to give Lincoln solace by assuring him that “God is on our side.” The president replied, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

In the face of daunting challenges and choices, the leaders we admire in history have all practiced some form of inner surrender like Lincoln’s. Their primary concern has been to do not what was their right, but what was right.

That concern for what is right, and not what is his right, is, one hopes, what will guide President Biden’s thinking as he deliberates on what to make of the warnings that are coming to him from so many people on his campaign path these days.

Warmly,
Hitendra

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