“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
― C.S. Lewis
Kabir – The couplet
अच्छाई पुरुष एक पेड़ है, निरंजन वाकी दार |
तिर्देवा शाखा भये, पात भये संसार ||
transliterated:
Acchai purush ek ped hai, niranjan vaaki daar |
Tirdeva shakha bhaye, paat bhaye sansaar ||
Translation:
Existence(the Ultimate Soul) is like a tree, the Creator being the trunk |
The Triumvirate (Creator, Sustainer, Destroyer) are branches, all of creation the leaves||
My thoughts:
We use the concept of God to explain that which we cannot perceive, understand or explain. We then layer philosophy, religion and social practice around this concept and give it form.
Since we are most comfortable with our own form, we make our God in our own likeness, and then swathe God with those human behaviors, attributes and passions that we hold dearest. Into the decoration of this image, we then lavish our hearts deepest desires and wildest dreams. So our Gods walk on water, create and destroy universes within the blink of an eye, and can manifest into the most unimaginable of forms at a moment’s notice. They can both give and take life, and can reward their favorites with all of the world’s greatest material pleasures.
Let us sit back and think – is this not the true definition of maya (illusion)? We are enslaved by maya – and so we have hidden our concept of God behind the same veil. To Realize our God, we need to rid ourselves of this dogged determination that we can only be happy in a perfect world. The world is always perfect – when we are happy, we can truly perceive the misconception of the rest of our times.
In that perfect world, bereft of maya, we can see, perceive and realize the true meaning of God – and then will realize that God is but a stepping stone to the next world – the next level of existence. As we keep peeling away the onion’s layers, we will come to the core – which is when we will see that it is bereft of material existence. And that is when we will unite with the Ultimate Reality. For only when we cease to exist, do we really begin to EXIST.