Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo.
Ber. Who’s there?
Fran. Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.
And thus begins the protagonist’s quest to truth, the ride to avenge his father’s death and so on, in the great Shakespeare’s rhetorical “Hamlet” written as early as the dawn of the 17th century. Interestingly “Who’s there?” is something being asked by almost each one of us at some point of our lives. Although a little unlike Hamlet, who is seen seeking revenge of his father’s death in his tale of betrayal, love, kingship etc. While we the commoners, ponder of the told and the untold truth of the universe and beyond, quite often. We know it yet we doubt it often. We keep on asking ourselves, sometimes we ask others too, “Who’s there?” (for us) , “Who’s there?” who is beyond our imagination, “Who’s there?” who is beyond our sight. In our “Who’s” often an “Why” accompanies our thoughts. “Why” is He not visible? If He is there, “Why” does He let us suffer? “Why” doesn’t He protect us round the clock?. In this quest to the ultimate truth, to find out, “Who’s there?”, some of us turn blind and regard ourselves as atheists. While many among us turn out to be a theist only, years later. There is another brigade among us, who are born with the same thirst, as in to know the source of infinite energy, infinite bliss. But over the years their thirst is quenched with the belief that “Someone is there”(for us).
An infinite blessing overpowers them, their inquisitiveness and they end up being diverted towards the All merciful. Their heart and minds sync in with the One, the one who is formless, the One who is everywhere, the One and only All mighty. And wholeheartedly, they sing to the Divinely tune all the way...
“O Light of all lights, lit my path always . Torch me through the dark woods of life.
And guide me to the cliff of grace, to the cliff of solace.
O All merciful, shower your mercy on me, and divert my mind to “Thee”.
In a way, we all are “diverted”. Some (as in the monks) to the Divine, while most of us to the earthly life. The only difference is that we seek immense pleasure in our temporal attachments, money, real estate, bodily desires and what not, our unending list, while they seek contentment in the divine. We are so engrossed in our daily materialistic mundane lives that we easily tend to be ignorant towards the sole feeling, the sole feeling that would make us a nearly complete being. It’s not that we do not bow down to Him, many of us do. But admit it, we are so religiously distracted to our temporal belongings that we tend to think of these only. All we pray is for and end to our pain, our grief. Fools are we that we do not really comprehend that seeking Him would end our grief for good... not to seek the attachments, but see to it you seek Him only. If you have the deepest reverence and faith, you ought not cry to Him literally everything. He will be anyway be there for you always.
Being a householder it is not a child’s play to all of a sudden refrain from your commitments; social as well as personal and neither are we expected to do so. No such Institution is there which would ask us to do so, to neglect our daily chores, to neglect our loved ones and begin seeking Him. Seeking Him does not mean an end to our duties. It can rather be said that is even tougher to remain completely dutiful to your engagements as a householder, non attached to any “Maya”. The day we coordinate our initiatives and merge both into one, our hand to work, our heart to God, we may smell some contentment, we may attain ultimate freedom.
As Swamiji says
“I shall read to you a few passages from Maha Nirvana Tantra, which treats of this subject, and you will see that it is a very difficult task for a man to be a householder, and perform all his duties perfectly: The householder should be devoted to God; the knowledge of God should be his goal of life. Yet he must work constantly, perform all his duties; he must give up the fruits of his activities to God.”
Love Him for the sake of loving Him. Pray to Him for there is nothing worth praying to. Try not trade in love, in your prayers.
“You are the captain of my soul and I am the sailor,
Help me sail through the troubled waters, help me drift through the crest of sorrows..
And keep me grounded through the ripples of joy”
As Swamiji says, “just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits, were there before their discovery and would remain even if we forgot them.”
These words of Swamiji echo in our lives every now and then. As the Newton’s law of gravitation, the laws of spirituality existed before they were known, similarly spirituality rests within each of us even before we came into be being and will be there even after we cease to be. The fortunate are the ones among us, who are able to manifest the practice, or at least try to. They are unfortunately regarded by the commoners as the “diverted beings” . The society regards them as vague, while themselves being unaware of the one and only truth of life, before and thereafter; the Brahman, the Parmatama. They easily tend to forget this distracted path is the one and only path that may lead us to freedom, to salvation, to heavenly solace.
Never think of the monks and saints as vague, as abstracted. In the deepest sense diverted are we as we are running after something that was never ours and nor it would ever be. When we are put to our final rest, we will be as naked as we came into being . One who leads a spiritual life is the blessed one, who thinks of Him and Him only.
O Lord, Must I seek none other than “Thee”
Must my brethren follow none other than “You”.
Caress my mind and heart forever
O captain of my soul,
Must I seek, none other than “You”...
All I can say, have faith on Him, and if you are not, try being one. You will feel blessed, you will feel it.
“Om Tat Sat”
Jay Guru Deva
Thank you for reading this.
