WHY GOD CREATED US... STORY TO REMEMBER

[Guest guest]

WHY GOD CREATED US During the last couple of weeks, the BBC has been airing many programs

on religion. I managed to listen to quite a few of them and found \ them most absorbing as well as interesting, especially as the BBC has done an extensive global survey on what people round the world

think of God, religion etc.

Many interesting conclusions have emerged and those interested may

visit the BBC web site. Let me mention just a couple of interesting

observations that I heard. One was that even atheists pray!

The second is the observation of one person who when interviewed

said that Spirituality looks Inward while Religion looks outward.

I found this observation extremely interesting as well as thought

provoking. My purpose in bringing up the BBC features is not to comment

upon them – perhaps I shall do it later – but to draw attention to an interesting story narrated by one of the panellists, a Professor of I forget what.

Anyway, the story narrated by the Professor is more interesting that the

subject that he/she professes. The story is about a Sufi saint and goes as

follows: One day, the Sufi saint prayed to God.

“Oh God, You are so wonderful. You have created marvellous things in

this world. Yet, in this beautiful world created by You, there is so

much misery, suffering, pain, violence and what not. Why don’t You

do something about it?” “I have done something,” replied God.

“You have done something? Where is that? What is that? I don’t see it,”

said the Sufi saint in reply.

God then slowly whispered, “Son, I created you!”

Wonderful story is it not? I think there is a deep message and if we reflect

carefully, we would realise that Swami is telling us precisely the same

thing over and over again. Yes, all we have to do is to serve mankind,

remembering that service to man is service to God. If we wipe one tear

in one eye, we would be not only making God happy but also experience Ananda ourselves. By the way, this reminds me of an incident recorded by late

Mr. J.R.D Tata, a towering figure in modern India. He was half Parsi and half

French, and India was his home. He was an enlightened citizen who incidentally was also a great business manager.

He won the highest honour in India, the Bharata Ratna.

Once he invited Mother Teresa to Jamshedpur, where the Tata company

has a huge steel plant. Mother came there to participate in a function.

After the function was over, Tata took Mother back to Calcutta [about 200 km

away] in his private executive jet. The Sun was setting and Mother took

out her rosary to pray. Just then, the plane was flying over big

slums near Jamshedpur. Tata then said to Mother, “While you are praying

to God, why don’t you ask Him to do something about poverty and misery?”

Mother turned to Tata and said in a stern tone, “Mr. Tata, God does not

require our advice. You might instead concentrate on doing your bit

by trying to create more jobs!” This has been recorded by Tata himself.

Yes the world is packed with misery by way of providing opportunities

for us to experience Ananda. Pure and true joy comes not from expensive vacations, but from service to the Lord. Think about it!

G.VENKATARAMAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volume - 2 Issue - 7

Radiosai Journal - PSN 2004

Ram ChuganiKobe, Japan