Words from the Master

Let me narrate to you one incident:

I went to a Shiva temple in a remote village in India.

At the entrance of the main deity, there was a tubelight burning.

The light was hardly visible because on it was written in black ink, Vishnunathan B.Sc.

I was wondering how Lord Shiva was called Vishnunathan. Then under that I saw in small font written, Kailasanathan – the correct name for Shiva.

Vishnunathan was the name of the person who donated the tubelight!
(Laughter!)

We are so fearful of missing out on collecting good deeds in our lives, that we become materialistic and start creating bank balances of good deeds for ourselves. And we don’t stop at that. We inform God repeatedly about all the good things that we have done so that he doesn’t forget! We become so materialistic even when it comes to matters concerning God!

Understand: God is not running a resort in heaven wherein you can get an entry by doing the so-called good things on earth. When you live, you are always trying to do these kinds of material things with no idea or feeling of the Truth behind them. With these things, you build a big castle called punya. Then you expect that castle to stand by you at the time of death.

It is something like this: You build a house in your dream, paint it, decorate it and enjoy it. What happens when you wake up from your dream? Where is the house? Is it of any use to you after you wake up? No! In the same way, you are only deluding yourself by this punya concept. We reduce everything including the Divine to ‘simple trade’, that’s all.

I have seen people: They will decide to visit a particular deity in a particular temple with an offering, every Saturday of the week. If they are not able to make it on a particular Saturday, they will send their driver with the offering to the deity! Be very clear: The material world will not come with you when you are dying. Only moments of awareness, consciousness and meditation will come with you.

And understand this one thing: God knows all about you better than you know yourself. You cannot hide anything from him because he knows. So, there is no reason to fear him and please him. If God cannot understand you, then there is no understanding in the whole world.

Even better than your mother or father, God knows you. He knows you not only in this birth but in all the lives that you have taken birth till now. So there is nothing to be afraid of. You are an open book in front of him. He can refer to any page at any time!

So drop your fear of God and look upon him as a totality of Existence. Look upon him as a friend. However hard society tries to make you afraid of God, don’t listen to it. Develop your own relationship with God - a solid and trusting one; the only relationship that is required in one’s life.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.