About God

Once upon a time there lived a farmer. He worked hard all day to produce enough harvest to feed his family and make some money to go about his daily chores. He went about his routine daily with complete sincerity. He had no weekends and medical leaves as farming was his sole source of livelihood. No matter how difficult and tiresome his life was, he never complained. However, he had a habit of quoting the Lord's name just five times before going to work on the field each day. He didn't pray or remember Him throughout the day and night after that but still God had given him enough to sustain himself and his family pretty well.

This made Lord Narada restless as he was in a habit of reciting God's name all day and night but God was never as happy with him as He was with the farmer. One day, Narada went to God and asked, "Great Lord, I sing in praise of you more than I breathe but your grace is never as much as it is on that petty farmer who quotes your name only five times a day. I find this unfair on your part and wish for a satisfactory explanation."

God smiled (just like He always does in every Indian TV show, movies and books) and said, "take this lamp filled with oil up to the brim and come back to me after you have taken one full revolution around the earth. But make sure not a single drop of oil spills from this lamp." And handed Narada a lamp filled with oil up to the brim. Narada set out on his voyage happily as this was as easy a job for him as is for a child to cry out for his mother. He returned to God after completing his journey with no drop of oil spilled from the lamp and said with his head bowed, "Lord, I have completed the job you gave me but I'm still waiting for my answer."

The Lord replied, "how many times did you think about me when you were taking a round of the earth?"

"I didn't think about you anytime my Lord as the task given to me was directly by you so on doing this task I'm always connected to you."

"The task of farming given to the farmer is also given by me but still he quotes my name five times a day with complete dedication. Had he been doing it only once, I would be as much happy with him as I'm now. Now, I think, I have answered your question."

"Yes my Lord. I have received my answer and I promise that I shall remember you even while doing the work given to me by you and I will never doubt your grace over your followers."

So, if you're one of those who spend hours in the morning or/and in the evening praying to God, there's good news, it isn't that necessary.

What is God? God is just a feeling like that of wind and pain. You cannot see Him but your sincerity can bring you close to Him. He's just a means of growing your strengths and damping your weaknesses so that you achieve what you strife for. The Ramayana and Mahabharata give accounts of even demons fulfilling their wishes because of their sincerity towards God. If God can help the demons then why not us. We're far better than them, aren't we? God did not fill Sir Edmund Hillary with extra physical strength and climbing skills to climb Mt.Everest but it was his own determination and probably his belief that God is with him that helped him become the first man in history to achieve such a feat. So belief in God is just a positive source for energy which helps us get what we want if we do our duties with all dedication.

Now that we know what God is, how do we reach Him? If you read the scriptures you'd notice that all we dwellers of earth have been asked for is being nice to one another. The Gita, Quran, Bible and other holy books state a path towards the supreme Lord. This path is treaded by following the basic lessons of 'Humanity' such as respecting and loving each creation of God, respecting the work assigned to us by Him and establishing faith in Him. The path is easy and simple, just love your fellow beings and you reach God. But like they say, it's never easy to be simple. There's no point in wasting time praying if you close your window on a traffic signal if a hungry child approaches your car or if you turn your head away if an elderly woman comes to you begging for food or money. The fact is, you do not have to spend a single minute praying if you're a good human because then you wouldn't have to pray for yourself, there will be others praying for you.

To quote Sir Edmund Hillary, "when I've been on slightly questionable expeditions, people have prayed for my welfare, but I certainly haven't."

WAKE UP!

We all do believe there is some super natural power controlling the whole universe. There is something undiscovered by and probably beyond the reach of science that is manipulating the universal objects.

"Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy," said director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado Mr.Thomas Bogdan (for details click here). Well, considering the vast expanse of the universe and its hidden, but open, chambers of secrets, weather forecasting will never attain puberty. I'm not trying to be a pessimist here by downgrading Mr.Bogdan, I'm just trying to make a point that some secrets, some cycles, some elements and some phenomena are beyond human capability......right now. We humans have the capability to uncover all secrets and hidden messages, but is it really us? Is it really our own intelligence that is helping us become the most powerful species ever in the history of Earth? Is there a possibility that someone is only manipulating our lives and we're nothing but mere pawns of the game he's been playing with us since our advent on this planet? Here are some facts which say we're just a bunch of over rated mammals.

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  We hardly have any idea about extra-terrestrial life.
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  There are many unsolved mysteries about our home planet itself.
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  There are loads of uncovered mysteries about the HUMAN BODY.
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  We maybe the most intelligent species on earth but there's no denying the fact that we're making rapid progress towards our own extinction.
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  We're are the only species who kill for purposes other than food and defense (can someone forward this to Osama?).

No matter how advanced we are, if the earth has to come to an end in 2012 or if the blackout in 2013 has to occur, we by no means can stop these phenomena just like the tsunami of 2004.

These facts coupled with some more like, our inability to gain knowledge of man-made or natural disasters before they occur or atleast take precautionary measures, make us just another species to rule planet earth like the rulers of the jurassic period. The only difference is that they had physical strength and we have brains. But are we really using our brains effectively?

Is it too late to shed our ego and live with nature, not as its counterpart, but as its part? It's never too late (exceptions are always there guys). It would be a bit difficult to cut down on carbon emmision, a bit tiresome to plant a tree once a month, a bit 'anti-religious' (to all so called jihadis) to not kill anyone and a bit strange to live up to the meaning of 'Humanity', the word which sounds so hypothetical today, but c'mon we all have the incredible ability to adapt to any given situation. A few weeks of following 'Humanity' will turn us human and who knows, maybe the next Satya-yuga, from the Hindu scriptures, is just round the corner. If we all adapt to the actual meaning of 'Humanity' there would be a majority of us treading the right path and the minority will we compelled to follow us. This requires initiative and in the beginning there would be some resistance but isn't a peaceful world desired by us all? To quote Gandhi, "be the change you want to see in the world."

I know what I just said is nothing new and it's something realised by all long long back, but that's exactly what I'm saying. We have only realised what we ought to do but we've not acted on it. Maybe it's high time we stop dreaming, of daisies swaying along with the wind in spring, the sun shining turning everything its light touches into gold and children playing happily in the fields like there is nothing they have to be worried about. Artists have been dreaming about a world like this since ages. They have shown us our destination and it's time to wake up and catch the first flight for such a world. The soldiers fighting in Iraq, in Afghanistan, on the Indo-Pak border and at many other parts of the world have a life too. They have a family who prays each moment for their father, husband, son, brother to come home safe, let's give them that. There are still babies taking birth with disabilities and defects in Japan, thanks to the nuke missile from US. Imagine your child or sibling without a limb, imagine him/her without an eye or imagine the worst case of a child born dead. This could all happen to anyone, we're all vulnerable.

What if we're unable to curb our activities harassing the environment? Soon there would be air for sale, 20 bucks for a little bag of Oxygen? Why not? We're selling water today and we've been selling food since ages so why not air? All this feels like a night mare, right? But we can prevent it and nobody needs to tell us how. We're the most intelligent and powerful species on earth and we know we can make the dream of an artist's world come true through a basic action to convert our dreams into reality......wake up!