SHORT CUT TO GOD

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SHORT-CUT TO GOD

"Mere knowledge without love is dry; nobody wants such knowledge. Without love

there is no contentment; so we should have unbroken and unbounded love. How can

we praise love? Everything is insignificant before it. Without love our reading,

hearing and the study are of no avail" –Sri Sai Satcharitra, ch. XLVIII

After the Russian revolution, atheism proliferated, resulting in the destruction

of places of worship. A poor old woman was found praying turning her rosary

beads. She told one of the atheists calmly – everything in the Universe bears

witness to the truth that God exists. You cannot extinguish the stars at night.

If you ignore the Creator, then there can be no Creation.

God ‘is’. We may be unable to see, hear, touch or understand God. But then it is

like a child trying to empty the ocean by handfuls of water into his little

bowl. This is because it is impossible to comprehend God and His ways through

our mind.

Today emphasis is on the mind and the heart is ignored. There is belief in

existentialism. Philosophers like Jean Paul Sartre say that life has no

meaning. If that is so, then why live at all?

On the other hand, great souls of ancient times like Leo Tse, Gautama Buddha,

Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Kabir – all speak of unending bliss and ecstasy in the

divine. But for that we have to make God a reality. As the poet Tennyson says –

Closer is He to you that breathing, nearer than hands and feet. God is not a

distant being dwelling on a far off star. The mercy of God is such that like a

parent or a friend we can share our innermost secrets without any reservations

or fear. The malady of modern man is living in this excited agitated age of

science overpowered by comforts and conveniences. But science makes man

egoistic, specially the youth who feel that man can do all on his own. Thus

civilization has become sick with passion for power, lust for fame and greed

for gold.

Mental, moral, spiritual and physical health can only be restored when we look

to God as the source and sustainer of life. We can know God and have contact

with him by talking to Him with love and intimacy, feel Him constantly by our

side. Hence it is the simple village folk who experience Him more than the

apparently intellectual city dwellers who live in their minds.

To awaken our hearts we have to put in the efforts of cultivating longing and

love for God, which in turn leads to love of fellow men and creatures. This way

we can greet other communities and countries with love instead of bombs.

The ways to God are many but they will take several births. Hence the best

short-cut to God is the way of love and longing, pinning for the Beloved. We

should love God to distraction, to intoxication. To many God is like a

shop-keeper with endless wares which we ask for incessantly. But in silence

when you ask only for Him, then He will come unto you and reveal Himself.

We have several desires – the greatest being that of the ego or ‘I’ness. With

the ego, God cannot enter just like darkness and light cannot exist together.

As Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa said: ‘anything besides love will take you at

best only to the outer gate of the Kingdom of God. Only love will take you to

the innermost chambers of God.

God is the essence of love and draws us to Him by His very nature, but only if

we open our hearts. We should pray from the bottom of our hearts to be granted

the gift of the love of God. For this 10 practical suggestions:

Never try to show off. A true lover lives a hidden life in the hidden God.

Exhibitionism is egoism. One should be humble and sincere.

Spend as much time as you can with God. One should attend to one’s duties but

not overwork. Two things can facilitate that: (a) Simple life drop the less

important activities. (b) Try and get up early in the morning – Amrit Vela or

Brahma Muhurta is the best time to communicate with Him.

Never react. If one is elf-willed, with an inflated ego, one cannot love. Any

form of abuse will cause retaliation. One should remember what Jesus said about

turning the other cheek.

Love is a gift of God which cannot be earned, but can be obtained by the Grace

of God which comes by returning good for evil.

On waking up, one should breathe some aspiration or saying from any of the

scriptures; e.g. In the Koran it is said: "Allah is in the East and the West.

Wherever we turn is the face of Allah."

Let your day be of little turnings to God.

Whatever you eat, whatever austerity or charity you perform, do it as an offering to the Lord.

In every walk of life there are a hundred ways of doing the same thing, some

right, some wrong. But the best is that which is done as an offering.

Rejoice in everything that happens, knowing the meaning of mercy in all. This

faith will bring acceptance and closeness to God.

Hand yourself over to God completely with all your faults and failings, knowing

that He will make you ‘new’.

Help others. Lift the load of the less fortunate on the rough road of life. No man is an island.

Only giving happiness to others will make happiness flow into our lives.

As the Chinese proverb goes – if you want to be happy, go out and help others.

(Dada J.P. Vaswani in his talk on Short-Cuts to God on his 86th birthday)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

What, one must do and can do, is called duty. Not doing one’s duty is an error.

Negligence of duty is stupid and leads to hell. ‘Narakastama unnaho’

(Srimad Bhagavata XI.XIX.43)

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya .....

DOES IT HELP YOU TO TELL OF PAST EVENTS?

What is it that makes an individual heavy? Have you seen a file cluttered with

papers dating so far back that even the paper is discoloured? When that file is

carried around, all the big events are recorded in it.

Now-a-days however, science has given us the microfilm. No longer is there the

clutter of files. The whole record is put on just a little dot of film. Some

people are like walking files. Instead of being in the essence there is much

expansion not only in speech, but in thought also. They carry around with them

files of past events and they keep studying them. They become heavy. Not

realising this, repeat the old stories time and time again looking for sympathy

and understanding. They turn to the old discoloured pages and refer to events of

an era long gone. Then they wonder why life has been so unkind and are convinced

that they are only ones who have such stories to tell.

The truth is, we all have stories that can be told but how much benefit is to be

had from relating them? Will they bring joy or pain? Will they make you feel

light or heavy?

Perhaps you can consider such questions before you tell your story.

(Ideas Exchange, June 2004)

 

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