About GOD !

Dear K~,

As you keep growing, you will be exposed to a multi-faith based society and many schools of thought on GOD. I encourage you to form your own views after having absorbed even the tiniest detail around you.

For me, GOD is Spirit - Soul, Endless Energy which can be rightfully experienced through Spirituality. We often confuse Spirituality with Religion. Believing in the Almighty does not always imply that one fasts on each sacred day of the religious calendar nor that a ceremonial worshipping session takes place every single day! The urge to worship should stem from the unconditional faith and love for HIM and not due to any kind of social pressure or force of habit.

I place someone who is in a constant state of joy, spreading smiles all around while performing even the most routine daily tasks (reminds me of Bharti Didi, our present maid!) on a higher spiritual plane than even the most impressive religious scholar indulging in unnecessary debate and sermon in a subtle effort to prove his superiority yet failing in basic human tenets of exchanging love and harmony. The pleasing and contributing disposition of the former is far more appealing and impressive because it silently nurtures and recharges every being around who then achieve higher goals in life having been placed in such a pacific mental and emotional state.

GOD for me does not always mean a photo or statue of a Hindu GOD or Jesus or Buddha whom I have been worshipping since childhood .... whenever I shut my eyes with deep reverence I behold many more faces .... the loving gaze of my lost Maa, the serene face of my best friend who heard my woes out one afternoon with patience, the happy face of the garbage collector after I rewarded him a hundred rupee note for returning me my wallet, one word of love and care from your Papa, the tight kiss planted by you this morning .... any intensely felt emotion assumes a divine form for me and I am filled with the strongest urge to remain in a constant state of bliss which only increases each time I do something to please the living world around me. For me, this is true prayer because I can see the tangible manifestation of HIM who comes to life in many forms instead of being buried in complex chapters of books or a still statue. The real meaning of prayer is divine communication which generates endless emotional, mental and physical energy .... liberates one of all woes of heart, mind and body!

I do not intend to challenge any faith, any worship method, books or gurus .... No! That's not my intention but for me GOD is a very private and personal experience which I fail to achieve in the crowded temples getting pushed by a rude policeman from one row to the other, silently watching a VIP being quietly ushered inside the altar by the priest .... true devotion for any guru is hard to generate when I am asked to offer a thousand rupee donation as a mandatory gesture .... when it can be better utilised to cover the shivering bodies in an attempt to sleep on the footpath of Nizamuddin Railway station .... the highly sanskritised slokas fail to ignite the same bhakti in me as the soulful bhajans of Meera Bai and Sant Kabir who never shunned even one soul from their abode based on caste or illness.For me, any thought or person invoking love and compassion becomes my GOD because I am inspired to perform good deeds.

Light an incense stick and read prayers only if it calms and soothes you every morning.

Draw strength in your weak and sad moments from my words and photo once I am gone from this world like I do remembering your Dida.

Don't nourish any hollow virtues based on the religious texts but live the smallest of your convictions to the fullest if they generate happiness and love around you.

Never hurt anyone and learn to forgive and forget .... it helps one to stay fixed on larger goals of life and focus on more consequential issues.

That will be a true prayer!

K~, I urge you to define your own GOD !

Stay Happy! My little girl ....

Love

Mumma