Not For Me!

His eyes slowly opened.

To his amazement, he was finding himself himself in a unique, magical and serene place.

 
He was lying on a cloud. 

The ambience had was a different slight bluish diffused light.

He was feeling as if in a dream and  trying to understand his environment.

 
He recalled his most recent memory of him lying in a bed of some hospital and Doctors and Medical staff moving around him in their uniforms. He recalled himself being in acute pain also.

Now, where was he? Which was this place? Must be a dream?

 
He slowly rose and stood up. Suddenly he heard a voice calling his name. He turned to find an old man at a distance, with a white flowing beard and a face which was as if glowing, sitting on a golden throne, beckoning him to come to himself.

He approached the old man in heightened amazement and asked in a quivering voice :
"Who are you? Where am I?"

The old man said "I am your God. You are with me."

He said: "You mean I am in heaven!"

 
God: "Nope. U were in heaven earlier, when u were alive."

He asked in a shock : "What? And Hell!?"

God: "That was also there."

He:"What? Meaning?" 

God: "That, ur life, was everything. U cud make it Heaven or Hell also. If u were happy, then it was heaven, if you were sad it was hell."

Man: "Lord, What r u saying? I was told that u are the most merciful and award the good people by bringing them to heaven."

God: "And where did I say or write so? It's u humans who say and write such things. And where is the mercy in giving something after death?"

Man: " Then what about those pleasures of heaven like golden Palaces, beautiful consorts, delicious cuisine, finest wines.. Such pleasures for an eternity? "

God :" Eternity? Meaning millions, Billions, trillions of ur years? "

" Forget such an infinitely long period, can u enjoy the luxurious pleasures of most decelicious food etc, even for one month, without being fed up of it? Can u eat ur most favorite food for three days consistently? Even ur most favorite food would taste like poison to u by the 4th day. Then any pleasure would feel like pain of hell in long run or no? Also, just think about how it can be justified to award or torture someone for "eternity" for his/her act in a life of 1, 10 or even 100 years? "

Man:" But Lord that's u taking our test about who is Good and who is Bad, no? Good ppl go to heaven and Bad ppl go to the hell. "

God:" Really? Ok take it this way, you all believe I am all knowing and almighty also, or not?
If I am all knowing then what's there that's unknown to me and that I need to conduct a test to find out? "

Man:" Then why did u make sin and virtue? "

God:" Why I would I, God, make such thing as sin?"

Man:" Yes lord. It wasn't you, it was Satan who created Sin, in rebellion against you . "

God:" But as per you it was I who created Satan, because, as per you, nothing happens without my will, no?

Man:" But satan rebelled, Didn't he Lord?"

God: "Could this alleged rebellion have happened without my will, my being almighty and all? Or cud I have been unaware of the future while making him, being omniscient either?"

Man: "Lord I am highly confused!"

God: " It's simple. You have beliefs that your almighty and all knowing God created Satan, who created sin in rebellion with him,no?
Now these beliefs are contradictory as well as mutually exclusive & therfore cant all be true at the same time. Therefore there can't be no such thing as a God-Satan duality or if Satan exists then there can't be no such thing as a God. And if everything happens in the world by my will, why would I torture u for an eternity for being an agency of my own will?"

Man:"Then these books I have been following my whole life?"

God:" I never wrote a Book and why would I need a Book or a person or any medium to get to you. I should have given everything to you when I created you or not? So I did. I gave you wisdom, rationale, distinction of Good and Bad. Now live ur life freely with happiness. Tell me did u feel right when giving pain to others?"

Man:" Not at all, but while giving pain to others, I was thinking of myself as fighting being your soldier, so that those who don't believe in you are eliminated and your kingdom should be everywhere. "

God:" When I alone is the creator, father and master of whole infinite universe of Billions of galaxies  stars, planets, then where is the question of wars & kingdoms on specks of planets to be won and lost?

Man: "Then plz tell me, what is there at all after death?"

God:" Nothing! Death is the end, period."

 
Man:"Nothing after death? Then what's the objective of living the life?"

God: "The only objective of the life is to live this beautiful wonderful life with joy, happiness and bliss. What could be a greater objective!"

Man: "OoooooKkkkkkk! Now I see, but Plz tell me. All these religions, do they all worship you actually?"

God: "Only those worship me who love all humans, animals, beings, things i.e. all my children."

Man : "Is this form your true form?"
God: "Whatever you form u see me in your mind and imagination that is my form. Otherwise all animals, things, you yourself are my forms. Why should I need a form like a human or why should that only be my form."

Man:"Lord, if there is no Heaven or Hell, where do u live? What is this place?"

God: " I am everywhere. In each and every living being and thing, in every particle. And this place here where we are talking is in your own mind."

Man: "Then can I talk to you anytime?"
God: "Why not? Whenever u in a peaceful state ask your mind a question, you will get my answer too."

Man: "God then isnt it wrong that People are fighting and slaughtering  each other over difference in Belifs, religions, scriptures etc? Why don't u do something?"

God:" I already did. I gave everyone wisdom and thinking capability. Do they use it? They simply follow whatever they see their parents, elders, peers doing. Why don't they apply their own minds to what they are told. "

Man:" Then how come u talked to me today then?"
God:" Because u had conflicts and grave doubts about what you were doing. That's why I am asking your question from inside your own mind. "

Man:" Now I get it. Now if I go back, I tell spread your message to everyone, all my life. "

God :" No. You didn't get it even now. Don't live and do things for me. Live for urself with joy. Love others, love the world, love the life, love urself. Not for me but because it feels Good. "

Man:" Oh! Now I see it. Wonderful is your creation."

He bowed in deference. When he rose there was no one around. It was dark. He had a feeling of falling, falling continuously for long, then he passed out.

When he again opened his eyes, this time he found himself in an ICU of an hospital. His wife, his kids had gathered around him. His family was crying as well as smiling.

They told him, he had an accident an dhis heart had stopped. Doctors declared him dead and were going to keep him in the morgue when suddenly there was a spasm in his body and his breath returned.
All were taking it as a God's Miracle.

He smiled and embraced his family.

When coming out of the hospital he saw an old man cleaning the stairs. The old man smiled at him and went on with his work.

Love is God!

Love is not only the happiness and joy of life but Love is the path to God also.
The road to God goes through the steps of Query, doubt, knowledge, assimilation and application of this knowledge with meditation for instance, Achieving Awareness of the true nature of the life, the world and God and then comes the enlightenment leading to God.

But, On this path, our brain and thinking can only take us upto the level of knowledge only and no further! The thinking brain can look  but it will not see or percieve.

After that level only the heart can be the guide, to the hidden path of Love.

God and his spirit is everywhere in this world, all around us and in fact inside us also. Every Human, animal or particle us hiding the divine glow inside itself and this cloak of invisibility of is called 'Maya' or Ignorance.
Ishvasyopnishad says that all that is visible and all that is invisible is Supreme God himself. Also it says that "The enlightened is the one who sees all in God and God in all."

In an anecdote, Once when Guru Nanak Dev ji was sleeping in Holy Mecca with his feet towards the Kaaba, he was reprimanded by somebody for keeping his feet towards the "Home of God". He expressed his tiredness and requested the person to kindly move his feet towards the direction where God did not reside. When the angry person started moving his feet he was amazed to see that whatever direction he moved he would see Kaabasharif in front of him. God was residing everywhere, and he was blessed to see it.

Our God, whom we try to love with all our hearts is with us and inside us all the time, yet we, the innocent children in our ignorance can not see him. Our reliance on our physical eyed fail us. We search him in temples and churches. We go to far away places for pilgrimage. We go to Masters, Gurus and Babas. Finally we find him, if we are successful, in our hearts. We find him in ourselves, in our parents and family, in our neighbours, in all humans, in all living beings and in all the non living as well and then is our journey to our dear eternal home completed.
When we see God in all humans, it is not just a statement but acceptance of all, any caste, creed, color, age, gender or wealth as our dear ones. When the enlightened sees into the eyes of any person he sees the spirit of God hiding in those ignorant eyes. He treats all the Living with same compassion as with his beloved.

The sufis and fakirs have realized this for a very long time and in a story, once  a fakir was sharing a bread with a dog. When somebody asked him why he behaving so absurdly, he was answered by the fakir that, " The  God and The God are sharing The God, why are you asking O God."
This is the true path to God and whatever form we worship our God in and whatever temple or church we go to, let us first love ourselves, our parents and family also. Let us embrace our neighbors and all others with the same compassion. Has anybody ever seen any fault or ugliness in his beloved, his mother or his child. Love sees only the good and that is why Love is the beauty of life. Yes, it is not easy and yes, it will not happen any time soon. But, it is the true path, it will happen gradually and surely and life will be much more beautiful on this path.
The person who needs the most compassion  from you first is nobody else but yourself. Forgive yourself for past errors and all, accept and appreciate yourself the way God has made you and look at yourself with the same compassion. Then let us do the same with the family, the neighbours, the acquaintances and the strangers, whoever they be. What is the surprise is that the Love spread by you is also returned to you by others and the only way of getting Loved has always been by Giving the  love.
Since we already love our family, the first person of non-family encountered to us is our neighbour and maybe that why God askes us to "Love our neighbours" as that is the first step to loving all living beings.

This is the way to have a happy life and build up a Beautiful and Happy world brick by brick and also the path to our beloved God.
The path of Love.

The Heart of the Religion and the Religion of the Heart!

One of my favorite Zen anecdotes,
In a Japanese monastery, a naughty cat used to disturb the daily meditation practice of the disciples. So, the master ordered the cat to be tied up during meditation. This goes on for a while. Later on, the master passes away, disciples pass out and finally the cat passes away too. Unfortunately tying of the cat has now become a ritual, a custom. Cats are purchased, if needed, but no meditation session allowed without the tying up of the cat. One master is so convinced of the benefits of this practice that he even writes a book on this subject.

It is an amusing story, but unfortunately it is true. Our religions have changed a lot too throughout ages. Lot of things got added, another lot deleted or obscured. Sometimes the practices start going in the opposite directions too. While the common source of all human races is an interesting subject and another one is the mutual interchange between all major relegions through time and trust me there is a lot of material available in this regard with lots of surprises.

For  example, the concepts of Vedanta goes on evolving with time and after thousands of years, Buddhism is born in India with common elements of Mediatation or Dhyan. The Buddhism travel north with several monks, Bodhidharma most famous of them. Buddhism is assimilated by China, but in synthesis with Taoism evolving as Chan and these practices finally become Zen in Japan, which again branches into many schools.
There are many such instances with every relegion. Our ancestors in ancient times were far more connected, open and exploring than we think.
The fact is that while every relegion has branched into many sects with overlapping but yet unique beliefs and practices, through generations our practices have also diverted far greatly from our ancestors. Even in a family there are minor and subtle differences in individual beliefs and practices. It seems that there are hardly even two households having exactly same set of beliefs and practices.

So, who is correct finally? Which religion and sect is accurate?

They all are. While a lot of ornamentation of rituals and practices have evolved in every religion through the millenia, deep down every religion teaches us a few most important things like,
Belief, faith, love and surrender to one Almighty God,
Being good to others,
and Compassion to all. This is the nectar, the soul, the message of every religion.
Surrender to God and Love to fellow human beings is the Heart of every religion and God, whatever name or form we percieve him by, would like us to focus on these only.
Ishvasyopnishad recognises the learned or the enlightened as only those who see everyone in God and God in everyone.
Whatever be the frequency of worshipping or size of sacrifice, God would pefer if we treated all his children lovingly instead of harassing or quarreling with.

So, let us keep following the religion of our forefathers and follow their practices, but with a total faith and surrender to God and a heart full of compassion for all our fellow human beings as the children of the same  father.
This Love will only come from the inside, the soul.

So dear friends, Surrender and Love resides in the Heart of every religion and it is the Religion of the Heart.

God bless all of us!

Quotes of Guru Nanak Dev:

“Of all religions, the most exalted is to worship the lord and do good deeds.”

“The enlightened God-conscious person takes delight in doing good deeds for others.”

“Do not say that the Vedas, the Bible and the Quran are false. Those who do not contemplate their scriptures are the ones who are false.”

“I see no stranger, I see no enemy- I get along with everyone.”

“Whoever God has created, I accept as good.”

“This is the sublime I have obtained from the Holy and the Wise. The Divine Light of God is pervading in all. Beholding him Nanak blossoms forth in Joy.”

“Answer Evil with goodness, do not fill your mind with anger.Your body shall not suffer from any disease and you shall obtain everything.”

“The God-conscious being delights in doing good deeds for others. The God-conscious being acts in the common good.”

“Recognize the Lord's light within all, and do not consider social class or status, there are no classes or castes in the world thereafter.”

“In the beginning, Allah created the Light, from that light, He has created all mortal beings.

From the One Light, the entire Universe came. So who is good, and who is bad?”

“The clay is the same, but the cosmic potter has created vessels of many kind. There is nothing wrong with the pot of clay-there can be no error by the potter. The One true Lord abides in all, by His power, every thing is fashioned.”

“In that place where the lowly are cared for-there the blessings of your Glance of grace rain down”.

Quotes of Jesus Christ!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

“So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

“All the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.”

“And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”

“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.”

“Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in this world.”

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?”

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”

“You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Tao of Toughest Time in our Life!

Tao of toughest times

Toughest times are faced by most us of us at least once in the lifetime. By toughest times I mean the months/ years when financial/health/social problems come together with other issues like conflicts etc. These are the days, when one finds himself alone against everyone including some dark elements, when enemies seem indomitable, when one is lying down hurt and the list of friends start getting shorter, courage and patience run low and living one day more seems strenuous, when the darkest thoughts of running away or even suicide become frequent. Some of us finally can not take it any more and then the unfortunate incidents of suicides take place.
It may be surprising but at least 75% of us have had serious thoughts of suicide at some time or other during some phase or other of life.
However, such times and phases are surmountable and can be survived with courage, patience and absolute faith in god along with the following.
To begin with, the first thought one should keep in one’s mind is that, “As good phases pass away, bad times also pass away.” There will be life after this evening, tomorrow morning and later on. A movie has an end, good or bad, but life doesn’t ever, ever end. Life goes on and on and on. It never stops. So the spell we have to survive is not this week or month or year. What we have to survive is today, this day. Just survive this day. Carry on for this day only, tomorrow things will change for better. Don’t give up now. Tomorrow favorable winds will blow. Tomorrow, shoreline will be sighted. Tomorrow we will land. God is with you. Before betterment, things also look at their worst. Hold on! Help is on its way! God works in a mysterious elaborate manner, and help is received from quarters unanticipated and unheard of. Blessed will you be, darkness will wane and finally disappear, starting from tomorrow. Good Tidings are on their way. Hold the fort for the hour. Believe in tomorrow and go to bed with faith in God.
Also, the late be the hours, the nearer is the first light of the rising sun. Sleep and tomorrow will be a better day. The first step towards the oasis in the seemingly endless desert. Many face the same and that’s the way they endure.
Don’t ever harbor a thought on the lines of, “It is always me to have the most rotten luck.” or “With my luck it can only get worse”. No my friend, you are one of the most lucky, you are alive and with most bodily organs working. People have survived with far less and with sunnier dispositions. One can not the worth of an arm, an eye, an ear, a liver, a kidney, a heart, a leg or even few fingers till he has seen the prospect of loosing them quite close. You are blessed to have them with you.
You are also blessed to have a supporting wife/children/parents, that hold you high and love you more than anything, though they are stressed and burden and depressed under the same condition and that spark of love is right now is clouded by the smoke. However, with this warmth of love you will ride triumphantly out of this dark freezing night.
The better parts of such bad times are that they show us true faces of our ‘Friends’ and ‘Family’ and one can count the hands truly on his side.
The other thing is that when your family emerges out of the abyss, they would have learned many a things including value of family, the limited value of money and luxuries of life, the true worth of courage and togetherness, the belief in god, destiny and worth of one’s own toil. They will also learn the value of perseverance, humility and simplicity of living. These lessons will be with them as well as you forever and will turn out to be more helpful than a few temporary luxuries and few short lived comforts. This wisdom, maturity, inner depth, thoughtfulness can neither be tutored nor imparted, but only earned by sweat of toil.
The faith in god and destiny is the true worship, as well as the lifebuoy, the solitary raft. Your belief, faith and devotion will bring you to the shores. Find dome time daily for worshiping/mediation at home/temples/churches etc. Sit with like minded people. Do it surely. Be connected with your inner self.
For dealing with worries, please go through my post on worries. Please also go though posts on worries, absolute faith, relationships, angers, violence.
Bad accidents do happen by divine will, some are compensated over time, some are not, but life won’t stop. Move on, the past never happened, the future will never come. What you have is today. Even most unfortunate death in a family will not stop the clock. God will provide you all with strength to fill the shoes left vacant. Remember his name and keep walking. Keep taking one step at a time, the voyage will not sustain against your individual steps.
May the most merciful god impart you courage, patience, strength, inner peace, faith, hope that sees you through the darkest hour of your life. After this there will only be better times. God be with you. Bless us all!