” “Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him,” he was fond of repeating. “That is the true dialogue. Man questions God and God answers. But we don’t understand His answers. We can’t understand them. Because they come from the depths of the soul, and they stay there until death. You will find the true answers, Eliezer, only within yourself!” ”
-Elie Wiesel
Kabir – The couplet
करता दीसै कीर्तन, उञ्छा करी-करी तुण्ड ।
जाने बुझाई कुछ नाही, यूँही आधा रुंड ॥
Transliterated:
Karta Deesai Kirtan, Unchha Kari-Kari Tund |
Jane Bujhai Kuch Naahi, Younhi Aaadhaa Roond ||
Translation:
He is dancing and singing in praise of The Lord, raising his head higher each time|
But he seems not to understand what he praises, seeming more like a headless ghost ||
My understanding:
When we begin praying, we stumble over words, meanings, expression and tone. When we finally find the right cadence, we immediately turn around to demonstrate our new learning and mastery to the world; blithely ignoring the reality that prayer is a conversation with The Almighty, not a show to put on for humanity.
By the time we recognize the error and turn back to God, the ego has bolstered itself to the extent that it gets in the way of our conversation, playing out the role of Nero on the self, luring us away from our conversation by inserting self-admiration and pride into our presentation.
God’s infinite wisdom gives us responses to our prayers that we do not understand or do not find convenient. So our first prayer needs to be to ask for the strength to ask the right questions. And then we need the strength to hear and accept the responses we get. But then begins our true battle with the self – we will need to now digest the response and implement the suggestions – something the ego absolutely does not want us to do. For the first part of those suggestions will completely strip ego of all existential pretenses, baring our true soul to the world. Which is really the right way to be. But, as most argue, right is never convenient or seemingly fit!
Fight on!!