“Agni Meele Purohitam”

HMV Company had once published a pamphlet outlining the history of gramophone record, which makes fascinating reading. The gramophone was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in the 19th century. Edison, who also invented numerous other gadgets such as the electric light bulb and the motion picture camera.

After inventing the gramophone record, Edison for sake of posterity, wanted the first recording to be that of an eminent scholar. Impressed by the scholar  Prof. Max Muller* of Germany, Edison requested for an appointment to travel to Europe to make the recording.

 Max Muller an admirer of Edison's work suggested that Edison make the recording and demonstration at a conference to be held shortly in England where many of Europe's finest scientific minds would be present.

Soon thereafter Edison voyaged to England. At the conference, after a grand welcome and introduction, Edison invited Prof Max Mueller onto the stage and to speak into the instrument. After making the recording Edison rushed to his laboratory and returned with a gramophone disc which he duly played on his instrument.

The audience was enthralled and after several rounds of ensuing applause and congratulations to Thomas Alva Edison, Max Muller addressed the august gathering. He asked "You heard my voice, did any of you understand what I said in the morning or what you heard on the recording of this afternoon?"

There was pin-drop silence in the huge hall as none of the scholars had understood until it was revealed to them that Max Mueller had spoken in the ancient yet highly scientific language of Sanskrit.

Max Mueller a renown Indologist explained that  the the words "Agni Meele Purohitam", was the  first shloka* of the first verse of  the 'Rig Veda', and he chose this because  "Vedas are the oldest text of the human race.  In the most primordial time, when the people did not know how even to cover their bodies and lived by hunting and housed in caves, Indians had attained high civilization and they gave the world universal philosophies in the form of the Vedas.”

When “Agni Meele Purohitam” was replayed the entire audience stood up in silence as a mark of respect. This verse means; "Oh Agni***, You who gleam in the darkness, to You we come day by day, with devotion and bearing homage. So be of easy access to us, Agni, as a father to his son, abide with us for our well being." *   Prof. Max Mueller was an Indologist & a great scolar of Indian sacred books. ** Shloka - literally means song.  *** Agni - means fire and a manifestation of God who is immortal and the source of all energy and life.

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I am grateful to my noble friend, Capt. Niteesh Krisnhamurti for this wonderful and informative insight.

Sharing Samosas with God

Everyday a little village boy heard and watched his mother pray. He loved his mother and wanted to meet God, who his mother said, could be found everywhere, but he would have to wait a long time to meet him  

Patience is a virtue rarely seen in people, and almost impossible in children. One morning the boy declared, that he could wait no longer and he wanted to meet God now.  If mother could not show him God, he would just go out and find God by himself.

The mother knew this search would result in a very long day The poor child would be disappointed and definitely get hungry.

The mother packed him some samosas (dumplings) and a bottle of water and then saw him off at the door with trepidation and a big hug. The little boy trotted off looking back and continuously waving bye to his mother before he passed out of sight.

The mother knew her son would not go very far and let him go alone.  When he had travelled about a kilometre, the boy came upon an old woman at the edge of a lake. She was gently swinging her legs as she sat at the edge of an outcropping rock, just looking at the ducks and birds in the water. 

The boy sat down near her and opened his sling bag. He was about to take drink from his water bottle when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry. So he offered her a samosa which she gratefully accepted, and smiled at him.

She radiated an appealing warmth which was even more engaging whenever she gave that glorious smile. After a while he felt compelled to offer her another samosa, just to see that smile again.

Smile she did, filling the little boy's heart with joy and delight. There they sat there together all afternoon enjoying the beauty and tranquility of their surroundings without exchanging a word., There they sat just eating and smiling. It was just so wonderful.

As twilight approached, the boy realised how tired he was and he got up to leave. Before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him another big smile. Then he scooted off home.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. 
She asked him, " What did you do today that made you so happy?" 
He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. 
Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" 

She replied! "God and I shared some samosas near the lake. You know, he's much younger than I expected."

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Quite late in life, with the blessings of my spiritual teachers, I have awoken to the realisation that many achievements I ascribed to my intelligence, hard work and good luck, was actually divine grace. Many problems I experienced were actually boons in disguise.

All of us get to share samosas with God in many ways, only most of us fail to realise it. 
Challenges and problems are always there, but beauty, love compassion and friendship is also abundant everywhere. We often see the blemish but not the moon.

Racing through life, chasing God alone knows what,  I had frequently overlooked the touch, smiles, love, kind words and deeds that I was fortunate to have received. So many people have touched my life in special ways that I know not even where to begin thanking them. 

I believe I am a little wiser and a lot humbler, to look back and now recognise many of these contributions with gratitude.

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This post was inspired by a mail I received from my dear friend Anoop Desai

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. 

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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.
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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?