Friday, October 11, 2013

Our thirst to know God

                                         
                        Human desire to know God is carried out through various activities. Some people are rooted in material pursuit and worship God, but only to fulfill their selfish desires and have their dreams realised, some devote a not so complete interest towards God, some perceive that Mother Nature is the essence of God and abide by a virtuous life and abstain from violence which they think is the duty of every ordinary mortal and most of the people belong to religions, worship man made Gods and follow the various rituals and scriptures that their specific religion dictates."Do we think getting devoted to God but only to cater to our needs and to know that God is only a desire fulfilling machine to accomplish our insatiable desires the right perception about God? Is it to know that God is to be taken for granted and whose aid and Grace can be sought only in times of dire necessity  and not to be worshipped when happy days are rolling by the other way to comprehend God? Is it to think that knowing God is only about putting on your pseudo virtuous qualities, abstaining from violence and not about instrumenting the spiritualistic nature which is the real essence of being born as human beings and that rituals and religion is the means to attain Grace, salvation and liberation and therefore the only means to knowing and realising God?"



                        The employment of Bhakti Yog to get devoted and to know God is surface level devotion and superficial knowledge. How can a false and transitory medium like the human intellect which develops pseudo devotion be employed to get devoted to God and have a direct knowledge of God? It is because the human mind is in reality a false existence and can be transcended through the spiritual growth process and the fully awake human soul which does all the thinking is the only medium which can generate the true devotion required to devote oneself to God and to have a direct  knowledge of God. Humanistic devotion to know God is bogus and is not unflinching and unwavering but in fact it is the restoration of the fully awake soul which is essential to get grounded in true, unconditional, selfless and pure love towards God and to have a direct knowledge of God. It is because the humanistic devotion is superficial and the spiritual devotion genuine and that the tool which develops the humanistic devotion, the human brain is transitory and the fully awake soul is a permanent reality. Genuine Grace and true salvation and therefore authentic knowledge of God can only be achieved  by being spiritually evolved beings.



                       Using the human intellect and pouring oneself into stacks and stacks of spiritual books is not the right method to have a direct knowledge of God. Metaphysical studies can give oneself deep insights into the Eternal play or leela of God but the antidote needed  to soothe and comfort your mind shall last only as long as the comfort moment  prevails. Once you are out of your comfort moment and start getting swamped by the conspiring play of the opposite polarities which are the  villainous human emotions, you shall again have to remember or pour through some insightful spiritual knowledge to revive your peace of mind . So the right antidote or the correct antibiotic to get you grounded into the field which is independent to the play  of the opposites, to give you a stable peace of mind or to get you established into the area of total peace, perfect composure and permanent happiness is the fully restored human soul.



                      Rituals, worship, pilgrimage, animal sacrifice, fasting, idol worship, praying,humanistic devotion, a Sunday mass at the church, superficial knowledge of God through metaphysical studies or adhering to some religion is not the direct method to know and realise God. Employing the human intellect and torturing the human physical body to know God are roundabout methods and indirect knowledge. Undergoing the spiritual evolution, undertaking the most rigorous endeavour in the entire manifested Universe, a spirtual exercise and fully reinvigorating the dormant human soul and restoring it with full awareness is the only direct method to know and realise the most Supreme Godhead.



                        There are primarily three categories of seekers who have a thirst to know God. The first category of seekers are inborn devotees of God who are knowledgeable about God early during childhood and start the Eternal quest to realise God. These are the highest category of spiritual seekers.You can  make this out by the exemplary lives these kind of seekers lead. Saints falling among this category is someone like Paramhansa Yogananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Saints like these are the very cream of the crop among the various kinds of seekers present on planet earth.The second category of spiritual seekers are the ones who start their spiritual journey by inquiring into the meaning of human existence. The greatest hunger human beings have is to have meaning into their lives and finding fulfillment. When they look at the life around them and start questioning their own lives, these kinds of seekers realise there is no meaning of a material life which is naturally a hellhole of suffering  and make an effort to find fulfillment by estabishing a direct communion with the Self. The last category of spiritual seekers to which I belong start their quest to know God when they are faced with intense suffering in their lives. If I had not come face to face with sorrow and suffering in my life maybe I would never have started my spiritual journey and would not be conveying God’s message to you all right now. Suffering is only a process of evolution and it can transform people’s lives if they look in the right direction.



                  We all have hunger and thirst for different things in life but we may not know that the desire for  all material possessions and their temporary accomplishments are not real fulfillment. The real fulfillment is found when we take a U-turn from the external to the internal or from outside to within or from the direction of the human intellect to the soul and get to abide in God forever.The thirst to know God and the quest thereafter may be challenging and very very rigorous but at the end of the journey when we get to realise that we have found what we have been looking for, we will know that the path had been worth taking and very very worthwhile.



“ May you all have that intense and deep burning desire and thirst that Paramhansa Yogananda had to know God.”
                                         (This article is the copyright of Ashwas Thapa)
                     

                           

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