[Advaita-l] The need for God in our lives.

[Jagannath Chatterjee]

The Need for God in our Lives
  Jagannath Chatterjee
   
  Despite our busy routines we often wonder about life. In the midst of intense activity we sometimes realise with a shock the purposeless nature of our instinct driven existence. Like a child searching for its parents we then look around searching for comfort. But the busy world has little time for us. The faces that look back at us are full of demands and expectations and not of unselfish caring love. This makes us wonder, what is life all about?
   
  A penniless dhoti clad Saint was asked the same question in the banks of the river Ganges. He smiled reassuringly and with the guilelessness of a small child replied, "You don't know? The purpose of life is to realise God". The youth who had popped the question was not satisfied. "What God Sir? Have you ever seen God?". The Saint smiled again, and rolled his beautiful eyes, "Yes, I have seen Him just as I see you now." The sceptic youth did not want to believe but something in the Saint's demeanour made him feel that there was an element of truth in his words.
   
  Had the youth been of today's generation he would have popped yet another question before being satisfied. He would have asked, "Why do we need God?". Perhaps the Saint would have shown a trifle impatience but would have said with the same enchanting smile, "Why do we need our parents?"
   
  God is our father and mother combined into one. He is even better than that because he is immortal, beyond death and decay, and also omnipotent, always at our beck and call. He resides in our heart and never leaves us for a second. Why do we not feel His presence? Because we do not stop to search. Because we are not aware of His existence. Because we do not feel His absence. Because we do not believe in His love. Because we do not have faith in His spiritual all pervasiveness.
   
  Is God religion? No. Is God business? Woe to them who think so. Is God a measure of our superiority? It is foolish to assume of one who is the embodiment of humility. Is God power? Of what need is power when you have Him? Then what is God? Is he love, friendship, or what? God is simply the overpowering presence that created us, sustains us and is ready to welcome us into His bosom when our work on this plane is over. As I said, God is our combined father and mother, more than the sumtotal of all the blessings of this world.
   
  Why have we forgotten such a wonderful presence? Because we are too busy with ourselves. Because out of an error of perception we assume ourselves to be the masters of this universe. The master of a house was supervising a festival in his palace.  Someone called out to him to get an item from the store. He went there but found his servant busy within. Silently he moved away, just as God moves away when he finds us behaving like the masters of His wonderful creation.
   
  But there are times when the child is tired of his toys. He then thursts them away and runs crying to his mother. His mother then leaves whatever she is doing to clasp the child into her bosom. The child stops crying. It does not have his toys anymore but his instinct tells him that his present state is worth more than all the toys of the world. Even if you offered toys to him now he would brush them away with an impatient wave of his hand.
   
  God is waiting for us to stop playing with our toys. He is waiting for us to turn our attention from them momentarily and seek Him within the recesses of our heart. The resulting union is an infinite source of joy for both. It is the union of the Absolute with the Absolute. It is like one huge ocean merging with another with a joyful rush of waters that dissolve silently into each other to become one, turning frothy with rippling peals of laughter. It is a fulfilling experience that rejuvenates us, makes us forget our petty worries, our enmities, our differences, our selfishness, our stresses and strains, our ambitions, our greed for money and more assets, our helplessness, our weaknesses, our illnesses, our wrong association with the impermanent body and mind, and reminds us about the infinite nature of our existence.
   
  A spiritual aspirant was walking briskly with a Saint as they rushed to catch a train. The aspirant secretly wanted the Saint to accept him as a disciple. But he was hesitant to ask. He could only seethe with turmoil as they waited in the station for the train to arrive, unable to pick up the courage to pop the request. At last the train arrived and the Saint stepped into the compartment. At this moment the aspirant burst out, "Master when will you accept me?" The Saint turned back and smiled. He replied with a miscievous twinkle in his lotus like eyes, "What is the hurry? There is all eternity!!" The aspirant could immediately sense the infinite nature of their relationship. All his longings vanished and he smiled back. The Guru had accepted the disciple in this life.
   
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  jagchat01 at yahoo.com 




    "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." -  Aurobindo.




		
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