Who the hell are you?

Fifteen years ago, as highly successful industrialists our family was very comfortable and we had almost everything we desired. We had it all.

It was after lunch one day that my brother  Parvinder and I, decided to go for a walk  around the neighbourhood. Dressed too casually in shorts,  T shirt and sandals we walked around for a while before we came to a bungalow complex where a friend lived.  We were thirsty and decided to go to his home and get something to drink.

Shockingly the security watchman refused to let us enter the complex. We initially tried reasoning with the rigid oaf, then demanding, and finally threatening him that he would lose his job. All to no avail, he was one stubborn man.

Not being able to quench our thirst was one matter but when the watchman asked, "Who the hell are you? I don't know you." our egos really took a beating.

This very same watchman would leap into action to fling open the gates of the complex whenever we drove into the complex in our Mercedes, now refused to let us enter. What was wrong with this man?  I was upset and getting angrier by the minute.

My philosophical and logical brother said, "Hey! he does not recognize us, he recognizes only our cars. Since we are now on foot the man is acting silly. Let's forget this rude man and your friend, let's just go home, we will be there in ten minutes"

Blinded by my ego and inflated impressions about myself,  I learnt nothing from that experience until almost a decade later. In the intervening years our industries grew from strength to strength only to unfortunately collapse during the next recession.

With the downfall was lost most of our material possessions and now we stood as individuals, laid bare without those superficial layers of wealth with which we adorned ourselves. It was a time of reckoning.

The world had nothing to offer to heal my spirit and my thoughts turned to God and I began to introspect. I found incredible courage in prayer and meditation, and thanked my elders for having taught me  how to reach out to God. 

I finally realised that in essence, there was this little soul of mine and that great soul of our Creator and nothing else that really mattered. With this realisation came a liberation of the being and I was born anew.

Irrelevant was my rank or the glittering riches and the props I used to define myself. I began to look for meaning in my existence and finally discovered that living each moment that I am nothing and a nobody except what my Creator wishes me to be. 

The higher we rise materially the more pompous we become with an increasing fragile ego. The more we progress spiritually the more humble we become as the ego dissolves, and the stronger our being becomes. 

Only those that have felt pain and sorrow can truly appreciate joy. Only when one has faced destruction that we can begin to sense  the meaning of creation.

Keep me in palaces or in a hutment, rich or poor, alone or with dear ones, if I accept my destiny and do my sincere best the joy will always be there.

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Albert Einstein once said, "Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value."

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I want Happiness.

My thanks to Mr. Nemi Chand for this beautiful words of wisdom

Old man goes to church.

One Sunday morning an old man entered a church just before services were to begin. Though his clothes were spotlessly clean they were old, worn and quite a bit ragged. In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally well read Bible.

The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old man had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and jewellery.

As the old man took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.

As the old man was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the man to do him a favour. 'Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in church.' The old man assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged clothes and hat. Once again he  was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the man and said, 'I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church.'

'I did,' replied the old man.

'If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?' asked the preacher.

'Well, sir, God told me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear. He said He'd never been in this church.'

My thanks to Trilok Singh Anand and Sanmeet Singh Anand for this wonderful article.

Must I live in fear?

The other day our friends accompanied by an intelligent and deeply religious man dropped in at our home. He spoke authoritatively on God, and religious practices and morality, which sounded more like a recording of the priestly class. The monologue was heavy and made worse by the lack of life in his lecture. My son whispered a question to me  "why does he never smile and why does he look so weary?"  

It soon dawned on us that the visitor misguidedly believed that  that religious people are not supposed to be joyful. God and religion was a heavy burden to be carried only by the   privileged few such as our visitor. To be joyful was taboo because being happy was considered frivolous. Lost deep in his religious dungeon he refused to enjoy the food, the beautiful weather, the lovely company of the people present.  The man might as well have been a totem pole for all the life he demonstrated.

We saw the light when he uttered the words "I am God fearing". That was it, the man lived in dread. He was consumed by fear that God would smite him down if he made an error, expressed a desire or to have wants.  To be happy was a sin in his belief system.

This belief system is not unique to our guest, for this fear is widespread. This malaise has afflicted a large chunk of humanity and many of them occupy high and exalted position in our society. All they do is spread the gloom. They have surrendered not to God but to priests who have evolved a self serving distorted message of God and the path to reach Him.

More hate has been spread, more blood has been shed in the name of God than in any other name or cause by these peddlers of organised religion. The continuous and ever increasing focus on fear gives rise to even more dread and then society begins to decay from within while maintaining a superficial sheen. This approach by Aurangzeb  is what caused the end of the Mogul empire in India.

God who created everything can only be found by love and compassion. He who creates need not destroy, He merely takes it away. Why would He want to harm insignificant creatures of cosmic dust like you and me?  He who protects and nurtures us looks after us like a loving parent, He would never harm us.

Many of the holy texts have been written by people long after the messenger of God has left this world in their physical form. To build their armies of followers, the leaders of organized religion only want compliance and rigidity, they care not for your spiritual development or growth. 

Compliance from the masses can only come from fear. That is why they advocate fear. Fear of God, fear of living, dying, loving and just being human.

Fear not God, nor tyrants who claim divine right to have the right rule over us by their terrible ways. Do not be God fearing but God loving.

Embrace God and love Him as a child loves the parent. Only the Creator can give you all you  need. Surrender to His will and live each moment as if it is your last, and you will live happily and die blissfully.

“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.