God's Birthday

Awakening of the great saint - 'Baba Farid ji'
Hazrat Khwaja Fariduddin Masud Ganjshakar (1173 - 1266)

One night Baba Farid ji dreamt that by the grace of God, he has reached paradise. The whole of Paradise was beautifully decorated, millions of lights and flowers everywhere.
Obviously, a great celebration was going on, and beautiful music filled the air. 
He inquired of a passerby  "What is going on?"

The stranger said, "It is God's birthday, we are celebrating it. You are blessed for you have come at the  right time."

So Farid ji stood beneath a tree to see what was happening.  
Soon a great procession starts moving on the road. A man is sitting on a horse; Farid ji enquired, "Who is this man?" and they say, "Don't you know him? He is Hazrat Mohammed"

Millions upon millions of people walked behind the Prophet. Farid ji asked, "Who are these people?" and he is replied, "They are Mohammedans, followers of Mohammed."

Then came Jesus, and millions were following him. 
Soon Lord Krishna appeared in a splendid golden chariot, and millions were following him. 
Then there was Gautam Buddha and countless people followed him too.

On and on went the procession and baba Farid ji grew weary of the magnitude of the procession and the followers.

Finally, in the end, Baba ji noticed an old man riding a donkey and he is all by himself and no one walks behind him.
Farid ji began to  laugh looking at this man. It was a ridiculous sight compared to the magnificent processions that preceded the old man and nobody followed him. And why he should be going on his donkey? 

Baba ji could not contain himself and he asked the old man  "Who are you, sir? I have seen Mohammad, Christ, Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha -- who are you? Is this some sort of joke, for nobody follows you!"

The old man with sadness in his eyes  says, " I am God and it is my birthday. People have become Mohammedans, some Christians, others Jews, many have become Hindus or Buddhists, unfortunately no one is left to follow me me so I walk alone

Farid ji woke up with a shock. 
He told his disciples the next day, "I had a revelation and I met God. From now on I am no more a Mohammedan nor do I belong to any other organised religion.  I will follow the One and only true Master and Creator of the universe.  I shall simply be me, myself. I would like to be with God, at least one person following him."

This awakening transformed Baba Farid ji and he was able to enlighten the world with his message of love and universal brotherhood.

Men of God belong to no one religion, yet the universe belongs to them. 

________________

My thanks to Jagpreet Ghai who was kind enough to share this piece of spiritual wisdom with us.

330 Million Gods & Goddesses.

Topics such as politics and religion never fail to raise tensions, generating lots of heat and often very little light.  Maybe it is not the topics per se but how we deal with them.

Not long ago a potential customer living overseas came to visit us in India. He was aggressive about his religion as was apparent in his attire, manner and speech. Our guest never passed an opportunity to lecture me on the wonders of his faith.

'Athithi Devo Bhava'  is an ancient Indian tradition  meaning 'our guest is like God'. This gentleman was pushing his welcome to the maximum and it was all getting a bit tiring.  

Our work took us to several cities all across India and our guest got to see a bit of our great country. I tried to show him the kindness and spirituality of our people, the depth of our compassion and knowledge and the beauty of our land. What he chose to see was the squalor of our cities, the bazar like manner of our driving. He was particularly fascinated and confused by the existence of so many cultures, religions and also the  temples devoted to  so many different Gods and Goddesses.

Our guest can be forgiven for he had inherited a very successful business, He was very wealthy  and was also a prospective customer. This combination produces a heady mix which often breeds arrogance and blinds people.

During a tour, one of our flights was delayed for a while and as we waited in the airport lounge he asked me a question "Exactly how many Gods and Goddesses do you Hindus have?". 

I told him that we had 330 million of them.

"Incredible", he said "no wonder there is so much confusion in your country". Then he went on to deliver a long lecture on what was wrong with India and Indians. He eventually asked, "Why do you not believe in only one God like we all do? ".

Is it not puzzling that even though we grow up in age and like to believe we are all grown up and mature we very often behave rather childishly? 

We are always squabbling, arguing about silly things and trying to outdo each, boasting about what we possess. We are always comparing with others in silly ways. 'I am bigger and wealthier than you, my country, my family, are greater than yours' and of course we must not forget that to mention 'my religion is better than yours and my God is the only true one and greater than your God'.

Had this conversation taken place a decade ago I might have reacted with anger and entered into a fruitless debate. Now I was older and a bit wiser, thanks to the teachings of my Guru. I merely smiled.

I responded by asking him a question " Can you tell me with confidence that there is no violence, nor disagreement nor strife between the followers of these religions that believe in one God you so proudly speak off?"

He replied " of course there are differences, but this cannot be helped."

I informed him that even though there were 330 million Gods and Goddesses that are worshiped by a billion Hindus  across the world, there was no strife, nor hatred nor any disagreement between the followers on account of the Gods. They have existed in total harmony since time immemorial.

"There is only one God and he is known by countless names for He manifests Himself in countless forms", I explained

No conversation took place after that  until we arrived at our destination.  My customer was lost in thought. En route to our hotel we drove past a  temple lit up with lamps for the evening prayer and people were singing hymns joyously. My guest asked if we could stop for a while and enter the temple. We removed our shoes and washed our hands and went in. We sat there for a while enjoying that feeling of closeness with The Almighty. Then we took the 'prasad' and left for our hotel.

My customer looked at me and said sheepishly "I have behaved rather insensitively.  I did not realise that it is the same one God we all believe in, it is just His countless forms that you worship. I am very sorry for much of what I have uttered"

No business was transacted between us but we became friends.

Talk to me about God.

It has been the fashion to teach children, that, peace and happiness that we seek  can come only by acquiring increasing wealth or power. In due course of time we discover that this advice is useless. We mistake happiness with temporary excitement from our possessions and our escape to various indulgences be it intoxicants, politics, violence, gambling etc. Most people claim they want to meet and be with God. What the vast majority really want is to be at peace and happy. For them God could possibly be just the best way to achieve that. Therefore believer, agnostic or atheist everyone is curious about God.  Who then or what is God? This is a good question, but what is the answer?  Like most people I talked and listened about God for most of my life. Talk unfortunately is rather cheap, so we indulge in lots of it. The more we talk the more confused we get. Parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, teachers,priests, media and God-men, all just talk and talk of God. Yak, yak, yak, is all we get and more confusion. It is extremely rare for anyone to be satisfied with the answers that we are doled out.  Most people merely accept the situation not daring to believe that the majority could be wrong, so they  accept what is told and move on. It seems that the effort required for comprehending God is so significant that the vast majority simply give up. Many sincerely hope to find the God, but that will have to wait for another time as most of them have more pressing matters to attend to. The challenge is even greater when God is sought to be explained within the boundaries of a religion. All organized religions great and small have been converted into nothing more than social institutions and serve no purpose other than to increase their power and reach.  Our entire society and world is driven by these religious zealots who have enormous political, economical, legal and self authorized moral clout.  They tell us that we can do business with God. So being the self centered fools that many of us are we try to bribe Him or His agents in the hope that our dreams and desires will be fulfilled. The more we go down this route the more cheated we feel. No wonder it is rare for us to speak with  so called religious leaders, because they often do not inspire us much about God. In fact they have ambitious targets and incentives to increase their headcount. They are like farmers, but who harvest souls and bodies. The self appointed agents of God serve only themselves, but we happily oblige them. What is the harm in offering a bribe if He grants me a favour for a minuscule fraction of my wealth?. _________________________________ Does this mean we should give upon God. On the contrary we must embrace Him, but how? Our curiosity often turns to confusion, not because the search for God is wrong but the way we seek to find the answer.  Mere utterances by us or outsourced to priests, rituals, pilgrimages etc. is not of much use except for fooling ourselves.  Knowing that we do not know is the first step in fulfilling our thirst to find God.  This search is an individual journey and I share mine with you.                                  ____________________ The first thing about God is that He can never be understood only experienced. God can be experienced both from within and outside of our beings. God can be experienced by us all the time but we do not realize it because we have lost touch with ourselves. Experiencing God from the outside.  Just look around us and see the wonder of His creation.  We struggle to build minuscule things and manage a few relationships. Just admire the  magnificence of creation and life. Only when in awe can we begin to search for the Creator. The more we connect with nature the closer we will feel ourselves near to God. Unfortunately we live in synthetic worlds and increasingly toxic environment. Rarer it is becoming for us to experience the clean air and water, the birds and the creatures that share our world.  If we want to experience God on the outside we MUST start with respecting creation and live in harmony with our environment. Comforts are required and we should attempt to be comfortable, healthy and safe, but must it be at the cost to the emotional and physical well being of ourselves and with whom we share this world? Experiencing God from within our beings. The greatest confusion is caused by the mind because  we try to logically understand God. God can never be analyzed but He can only be experienced. In addition to Gurus, messiahs, prophets a number of people have experienced God. Their experiences is sometimes outlined in stories, prayers, hymns and their works. However everyone's experience is different. So great is God and so diverse is his many forms and manifestations that each person who experiences Him has a different perspective. When we talk to, or read about or hear about those that have experienced Him we are enthralled and blindly try to copy them.  It is useless, because copying is like trying to merely fill a vessel.  There is no awakening nor is their any enlightenment. No wonder the atheist and the agnostic ridicule the believer and unfortunately their numbers grow especially among the young. Those that seek Him must do so not  with their eyes, ears or tongues but with their hearts. Find a master who will open your own heart to Him and you will discover and meet God. From my experience I can share with you the following; Respect and connect with nature and our surroundings.  Seek harmony with nature, our fellow beings and ourselves. Pause and still the mind by meditating.  Only the stillness we can discover ourselves and connect to the cosmos and God. Only the one who meditates can reach beyond themselves and seek God. It is said; "When we pray we talk to God, but when we meditate God converses with us."When the person is dominated by greed, anger, lust, ego and attachments to worldly things we distance ourselves from God.  All these things are transient and only God is permanent.  When we free ourselves of attachments our being is free to search for God. Be sure we will experience Him.  I should know for I have experienced Him at the height of my  joy and in the depths of despair. As Dada JP Vaswani the great spiritual soul said "Religion lets talk about it less and practice it more." Clinging to our puny egos and our material wealth we fail to realise that God is waiting for us to open the door of our beings to let Him in. It is useful to keep in mind that unlike us humans He is not swayed by mere talk. Wish you all a happy Diwali and a spiritual new year.

Show me God, if He exists.

I had written earlier about my travel and interaction with Mr. Kulwinder Singh. 'The Bitter Woman' - http://missionsatkartar.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitter-woman.html

Driving a cab in New York city for a living, he embodies the great qualities of a noble spirit. This he attributes to walking the path shown by Baba Ishwar Singh ji our spiritual teacher and guide. 

One day Kulwinder picked up a fare. The passenger was a smart looking young man.

As is with most people who start start achieving even a bit of material success they tend to become egoistic, often making them arrogant and critical of others. The young man looked at Kulwinder and his rather long beard and commented. "Are you a Sikh?"

After Kulwinder confirmed he believed in universal brotherhood and Sikhism was just an effective path he had discovered, the young man said "Mr. Singh, looks like you believe in God. You people are so simple, that any one can mislead you. Don't you know there is no such being as God?"

The mainly one sided conversation went on for a while with the young man becoming increasingly  provocative in his utterances. Kulwinder being a man of God and who walked the path as guided by his Guru, did not get angry or upset. Had we not learnt that anger is a form of insanity which often leads to shame & regret?

Finally the young man impatient to show his triumph said, ' "Have you seen God? If He exists show Him to me."

Silence, a long pregnant pause followed.

"You see you have nothing to show", said the young man.

A wise person responds never reacts. Kulwinder gathered from their earlier conversation that the man drew a handsome salary as a technician of sorts working at a reputed company.

He asked the passenger " Sir, can you tell me how many years did you have to study to acquire this knowledge that you possess?"
The young man replied " I studied for nearly 20 years to be able to get this job and to be where I am today."

Kulwinder asked him "You mentioned that you are a scientist. Maybe you can assist me with something that has bothered me for a while.  I have always wondered where cheese comes from"

The young man laughed and said " That is easy, cheese comes from milk."

Kulwinder appeared awestruck. " Really? I have to see this." At the next block Kulwinder pulled up in front of a grocers shop, ran in and quickly returned with a bottle of milk.

He gave the bottle to the young man and said, "I have never seen cheese in the milk, which I buy everyday. Can you please show me?"

The passenger broke into a guffaw, after a while he settled down and said "You really are a simpleton. You have to churn this milk and process it to get cheese, you can't see cheese just like that. It's not that simple."

Kulwinder broke into a smile and said, "My friend you have spent 20 years of hard work to acquire a bit of knowledge that allows you to do a small job in a very large organisation which permits you to merely exist and survive. Yet without putting in any effort to search for God you want to see him in 20 seconds? Have you ever asked yourself,  how much effort did it takes to build the universe and all that exists within it including millions of creatures? Make your honest effort and this I promise you will not need me to show you God."

The young man was stunned into silence. For the next 20 minutes he sat silently and deep in thought. When they arrived at the destination and after he paid the fare, he stretched out his hand to Kulwinder.

Something fantastic and invaluable requiring no words was exchanged that moment between two of them as they shook hands. Then the young man walked away, slowly turning around and with glassy eyes waved a farewell.
________________________________________________________

If we want to find God then we too must make an effort. God is everywhere, He is omnipresent.  All we have to do is open ourselves and our heart to Him.
We do not need to hunt for Him. We just need to meditate, be good and do good  He will find us.

We often deceive others not sparing even ourselves. If we are sincere and stop play-acting, our efforts will make us worthy for God to find us. After all who would want to visit a home that is not welcoming? 

The Bitter Woman

We may not be aware of it but every encounter with a living being effects us in some way or the other. 

This is why the ancients stressed upon the company we keep. Good, noble and loving people enrich us and some not so good people tend to impoverish us.

With good fortune, it was on Guru Poornima (full moon) at the ashram of Baba Ishwar Singh in Dehradun (India) that my wife Mohini and I met a spiritual man, Kulwinder Singh who drives a taxi in NewYork city (USA) for a living.

Contrary to perception, truly spiritual individuals are genuine egoless people, often witty, deep in character and exuding peace & joy. Their presence always leads to an awakening, like the petals of the bud blooming into a flower. An spiritual person can impart positive energy to us if we are receptive.

Kulwinder had many experiences to share as a cab driver. People drifted into his life for a few minutes to a couple of hours. After much prodding by me he shared several of the experiences he had with various passengers.

Here is an experience he shared about ‘The bitter woman’.

       ________________________________________________

One day a lady got into Kulwinder's cab. She was busy on her cellular phone and snapped an address at Kulwinder. She was in a terrible mood and was quarreling  with someone at the other end of the phone. Soon after they started they got caught in a traffic jam.  

The woman turned her wrath on Kulwinder screaming and using rather foul language, venting her bitterness and unpleasantness on him also. She blamed Kulwinder for getting them stuck in the slow moving road traffic and then she went back to her war against the unfortunate person on the phone. This was repeated several times during the long drive. Kulwinder remained unaffected by the woman's disgraceful behaviour.

About 10 minutes before they reached their destination the woman hung up her phone, brooding for a while before holding her face in her hands and began to cry.

When they arrived Kulwinder said “ Miss we are here” . The woman just sat unmoving in her seat. Kulwinder reminded her a couple of times that they had arrived at her destination.

She looked up and started crying again and said “ I am sorry, I abused you, I know my behaviour was unacceptable. You may not know it but I am not a bad person, and normally do not behave in this way. However I am very curious as to, why did you not react and say something back?”

Kulwinder replied “ Miss, I do not know what your problem is and why you behaved in the way you did. I cannot change you or your circumstances but I can definitely manage my response. If you permit me I can tell you what I believe in and maybe you will understand why I did not react”

The woman still sniffing requested Kulwinder to say more.

“ Let me first tell you a story about Mahatma** Buddha” Kulwinder said;

One day as he approached a village, Mahatma Buddha met an aggressive man who was in a foul mood. He started abusing Lord Buddha, who merely stood there listening to the man for quite a while as the insolent man went on and on with his acidic tirade.

At last, exhausted and emptied of his toxic anger the man sat down.

Mahatma Buddha politely asked " If you have finished , may I proceed on my journey?

The foul mouthed man looked at the Mahatma in astonishment and said; “ I have been so bitter in my behaviour towards you and abusive in my conduct, yet you just looked at me smilingly. Are you deaf, a coward or mad? “

Mahatma Buddha said “ I have just come from the neighbouring village. As I was departing from that village, a kind man presented me a tray of wonderful sweets. I took the tray, and I shared the sweets with other residents of the village and everyone was happy. Unfortunately my brother, you gave me something which I cannot share with anyone else, therefore I cannot accept what you have showered on me. You must take what you have brought here for me, back with you.”

Kulwinder told the woman “ Had I accepted what you gave me, I would have shared the misery with the next passenger, and whoever I came in contact with for the rest of the day. Imagine the pain and anguish I would have inflicted on my family when I returned home. Forget me for a while , think what will happen to you when you walk around with this toxic anger? How will be your behaviour with your loved ones and your family?”

The woman started sobbing uncontrollably and after a few minutes said “please forgive me and thank you for your words of wisdom”

Kulwinder Singh, replied “ It is God you must thank for his great mercy and kindness and my Guru for his teachings which I imbibe.”

*Guru Poornima is also the auspicious day on which lord Buddha gave His first sermon at Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh, India).

** Mahatma means great soul.

Being SPIRITUAL is different from being RELIGIOUS

We have often heard the phrase 'Religious fanatic' but it is doubtful if we have ever heard of a 'Spiritual fanatic'.

I too like many other people had made the mistake of thinking of religion and spirituality as one and the same thing.

We claim we are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians etc, simply because we are born to parents who made the same claim, like their parents before them. Most of us are mere zombies mindlessly following practices and rituals. Do we really follow the teachings of Christ, or Buddha, the Guru or Prophet?

 Their comes a time when we begin to seek answer to such questions? If we are lucky we find someone who provides us some answers. If we are blessed and extremely fortunate we need not be told, for our answers will be born out of our own experiences.

We discover spirituality in many ways and this is one incident that helped me to become a less religious but more spiritual person.

I had to attend to business in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and decided to fly from Delhi to Benares and then drive on to Allahabad.

Located on the banks of the holy river Ganga, Benares is supposed to be the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

 As I sat down in my aircraft seat and buckled myself in, I noticed two South Indian gentlemen, dressed in their traditional clothing of Lungi and shirt but they were barefooted.

It is rare, even for us Indians to see barefooted passengers on an aircraft. This however was not the only eye opener.

As is my habit I always greet my co-passengers and converse with them. If I am lucky I am able to engage them in a fruitful discussion. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn about random matters and opinions which I am rarely exposed to during my other social interactions. I was intrigued with my fellow travellers and we started to converse.

Residents of Malaysia, my co-passengers were Dr Arjunan Balasubramaniam and Swanand . They remarked that they were on their yearly pilgrimage to various holy Hindu shrines in India. I learnt a little later that Arjunan is amongst Malaysia's leading attorneys and Swanand manages his own shipping company.

They planned to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Benares dedicated to Lord Shiva and then bathe in the holy Ganga adjoining the temple.

I with my curious but immature mind remarked to Arjunan that it was quite obvious that he worshipped Lord Shiva, and Arjunan must be very religious to undertake this pilgrimage every year.

Arjunan responded, "I worship the One True lord and all his manifestations, including Lord Shiva.". He further added, "On the contrary I am not religious at all, but I am deeply spiritual."

I was puzzled. This was a revelation for me and I began to think, I always used the words religion and spirituality interchangeably believing them to mean the same thing. This interaction planted the seeds of a friendship. We decided to hang out together in Benares.

We arrived at Benares and I was appalled at what I saw. Here was one of India's most religious places, mentioned since ancient times. Hindu teachings have referred to Benares for more than twenty thousand years. The great city had been turned into an ugly mess with no discipline and garbage strewn everywhere, except at the temple premises.

Shock gave way to anger, then sadness and despair as I travelled through the city to the temple of Kashi Vishwanath, the temple of 'The King of the Universe'. The temple itself was magnificent and clean but the surrounding areas was indescribably bad. Food was strewn everywhere, dogs, cattle, monkeys abounded in their feasting of the food so wasted and discarded on the roads and by-lanes by 'devotees'.

We washed up and entered the temple and paid our obeisance. The vibrations from within the temple were overpowering and soothing to the soul. My anger and despair was transformed into hope as I bowed and surrendered to Him, and said a silent prayer.

For fleeting moments I felt calm before I was rudely shoved by people standing behind me, waiting for their turn to transact whatever they had come for.

I emerged from the temple recharged, and back to the reality of this beautiful world made ugly by our neglect and abuse.

We debated what to do next. We decided to take a bath at the bathing ghat near the temple. I took one look at the state of the river Ganga. Mother Ganga, which is considered to be the holiest of holy rivers. She has the power to wash away the sins of all those who bathe and pray in the river. I could not but help feel that the Holy Ganga was herself being overpowered by the sinners and the pollution we humans had created.

There was so much debris floating near the banks that devotees had to push the rubbish away to find a clear patch in the water in which to bathe. I balked at bathing or even touching the Ganga’ s water because I was not yet willing to believe. However Arjunan and Swanand calmly disrobed and after clothing themselves in 'dhotis' waded into the river and offered their prayers while taking a dip in the holy Ganga.

The terrible state of the Ganga is an example of human selfishness and apathy. We seek salvation but we cannot even provide the basic courtesy so required to take the first step in this direction. I swore that I would do something about this situation and decided to devote some part of my life to preserving the environment and our cultural values.

I sought to continue our discussion on spirituality and religion and the meaning of life, but the pressure of the appointment in Allahabad meant I had to leave with my doubts unanswered. Reluctantly I bid adieu to my new found friends and drove off to Allahabad.

Many questions nagged me until nearly three years later I met Sant Baba Ishwar Singh ji of Dheradun. I sought his guidance on religion and spirituality. I have summarised what I learnt and wish to share it with you.

• There is, but one God.
• He is known by many names. The names being given by people as they have learnt of Him and how they have experienced His greatness.
• He is not like a human being but is energy manifest in this universe.
• There are countless religions, but all religions are merely roads to reach Him.
• To merge and be one with Him should be our aim.
• However we forget the destination and our stuck on our various roads. We fight for religion but not truth, each religion claiming that "my God is better than your God", and "my road is better than your road" etc.
•  Organised religions are ever growing and powerful institutions serving to fulfil mainly social and political needs. Performing rituals for birth and death, marriages and separations, acquisitions and losses, etc. Religion has come to be associated with power, greed arrogance and falsehoods. 
• Religion has become materialistic and at best offering superficial solace to the masses, often failing to touch the soul or the consciousness.
• Organised religion as practiced nowadays is a hijacked and distorted version of the teachings of Gurus, Prophets, Messiahs, and Saviours.
• Religion which was meant to bring people closer to one another and to God had actually caused great divisions between men and distanced humanity from God

On spirituality and spiritual beings he said;

•       Spirituality means love, compassion, tolerance, friendship and contentment with what we have and with the universe in which we exist.

•      Spiritual beings do not follow a particular religion save that of truth. They do not believe in dogma and rituals, they will spread joy and peace wherever they go, for the Lord travels with them.

•      All people, creatures and nature are precious to the spiritual being.

•      A spiritual person never gets provoked into anger.

•      Spiritual people do good things and help others without expecting anything in return, for they know it is not their own doing, they are merely doing God's bidding.

If something is burning we can pour water to cool it off, or we can find and eliminate the cause of the burning. 

Religion is like water thrown on an inextinguishable fire and more often than not organised religion is like adding fuel to the fire. Spirituality on the other hand removes the burning caused by fire of hate, greed, false ego etc.

I was until not long ago a bad guy, but the good thing is I knew I was bad and I needed to change. I consciously tried to change my nature, but always relapsed because our sub-conscious is much more powerful than the conscious mind

With the blessing of Babaji my spiritual teacher and guide, I have changed considerably for the better, because my core has changed

I no longer struggle to be something I am not. I hope and pray that you too are as lucky as I have been.