Searching for God

Wherever you look, it appears that religion is making a revival. Unfortunately it does not seem to be doing the world much good. People are just as much if not more unhappy, frustrated and miserable as they were before.

Religions produce obedient followers and are therefore helpful for maintaining social order because they are supposedly based on scripture and the words of a Guru, Saviour, Prophet etc. Religion supposedly based on unchallengeable truths is more powerful than the authority of men even if they are rulers and government.

While providing some degree of solace to the masses, religion is  so powerful that it's leadership has been mostly hijacked by the wrong type of people. Power hungry and not necessarily good people have over a period of time taken over the reins of religious institutions. Pandering to insatiable demand of their followers for miracles and to cope with their fears, these powerful people are only concerned with themselves and have only marginal interest in religion. When the main interest of religious leaders is enrichment and enhancement of power, then religions cease to provide joy and liberation.

However if one seeks liberation and joy then one has to progress from religion and make the spiritual journey.

Most people consider religion and spirituality to be one and the same. In fact the two are completely different.  Religion is living life through others experience, spirituality is living through one's own experience.

Finding God is impossible through the mind. Unfortunately religions and  preachers appeal to our minds and ask us to follow blindly as if we are sheep. They claim that we are following God, but in reality we are only following other people.

The search for God is really the search for oneself. No one can discover themselves outside of their beings. Spiritual journey is introspection, looking within and meditation. Spiritual journey is the path of love.

If we are fortunate we experience love. Love is probably the most used word in the world and yet the least understood. Love is delightful and exhilarating because it is a feeling and not a thought. Love emerges from our spirit and not from the mind.

The search for God can be fruitful only through the heart and our spiritual being.

The beauty of love is that makes us blind. Probably the only way to find God is the blessing to fall in love with Him. Only then will we the little droplet travel to meet and merge into the ocean we call God.

Love cannot be found by understanding or application of thoughts. The mind will lead us to follow scriptures, but scriptures are dead to us if we are not enlightened. Religion makes shepherds of the priests and mere sheep out of us.

However spirituality leads our soul to discover and experience the unknown and thus enlighten us.

Spirituality is to experience and that too without thinking. This is why it is called 'falling in love'. We cannot force ourselves to love it just happens and it merely flows we simply fall in love.

Like all falls, love is initially frightening. Love after all means surrender. However we remain so guarded and fearful that we often lock ourselves inside our being. We have to be open and honest with ourselves.

Unfortunately when we surrender to people, a lover, a partner, parent, child  we are always disappointed, because nothing is permanent. The loved one changes and then we fall out of love. If we are jilted and lose someone or something our heart breaks. However when you fall in love with God, nothing changes and that love is pure and everlasting.

You may say, yes, yes, .......... I have heard all this before but how exactly will I find the way forward?

If you want someone else to answer that question, then once again you would be on the path of religion and not spirituality. We can only observe the experience of others and then examine our own experiences. This blog is but just another feeble attempt to reach your spirit through the mind.

My own experience suggests, love can easily blossom in healthy environments. On the other hand love cannot take birth in a toxic desert. It always helps to avoid people who exude negativity, who are cruel, preach and practice hate, cause divisions and exploit others, and are power hungry.

I have experienced that when we love the Creator, we love creation. We will see more and more goodness in people. All of His creation will be beautiful and even the experience of pain will be beautiful. As we evolve further we will exist beyond the experiences of joy and sorrow.

So friends love whoever you meet without hope of getting anything in return. Only God can do that. Love is an overflowing of goodness, which is inherent within all of us. Turn the tap on and give of yourself and your possessions as much as you can keeping only that which you need.

If you can cross this great step, then there will be no difference between you and the Creator.

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