{"id":441,"date":"2012-09-11T10:20:19","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T15:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/?p=441"},"modified":"2012-09-11T10:20:19","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T15:20:19","slug":"god-is-but-a-stepping-stone-to-the-ultimate-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/god-is-but-a-stepping-stone-to-the-ultimate-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"God is but a stepping stone to the Ultimate Existence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf 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.\u201d<br \/>\n<em>\u2015 C.S. Lewis<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Kabir &#8211; The couplet<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n\u0905\u091a\u094d\u091b\u093e\u0908 \u092a\u0941\u0930\u0941\u0937 \u090f\u0915 \u092a\u0947\u0921\u093c \u0939\u0948, \u0928\u093f\u0930\u0902\u091c\u0928 \u0935\u093e\u0915\u0940 \u0926\u093e\u0930 |<br \/>\n\u0924\u093f\u0930\u094d\u0926\u0947\u0935\u093e \u0936\u093e\u0916\u093e \u092d\u092f\u0947, \u092a\u093e\u0924 \u092d\u092f\u0947 \u0938\u0902\u0938\u093e\u0930 ||<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>transliterated:<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nAcchai purush ek ped hai, niranjan vaaki daar |<br \/>\nTirdeva shakha bhaye, paat bhaye sansaar ||<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Translation:<\/em><\/strong><strong><\/strong><br \/>\nExistence(the Ultimate Soul) is like a tree, the Creator being the trunk |<br \/>\nThe Triumvirate (Creator, Sustainer, Destroyer) are branches, all of creation the leaves||<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>My thoughts:<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nWe 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s notice. They can both give and take life, and can reward their favorites with all of the world\u2019s greatest material pleasures.<\/p>\n<p>Let us sit back and think \u2013 is this not the true definition of maya (illusion)? We are enslaved by maya \u2013 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 \u2013 when we are happy, we can truly perceive the misconception of the rest of our times.<\/p>\n<p>In that perfect world, bereft of maya, we can see, perceive and realize the true meaning of God \u2013 and then will realize that God is but a stepping stone to the next world \u2013 the next level of existence. As we keep peeling away the onion\u2019s layers, we will come to the core \u2013 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf 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.\u201d \u2015 C.S. Lewis Kabir &#8211; The couplet \u0905\u091a\u094d\u091b\u093e\u0908 \u092a\u0941\u0930\u0941\u0937 \u090f\u0915 \u092a\u0947\u0921\u093c \u0939\u0948, \u0928\u093f\u0930\u0902\u091c\u0928 \u0935\u093e\u0915\u0940 \u0926\u093e\u0930 | \u0924\u093f\u0930\u094d\u0926\u0947\u0935\u093e \u0936\u093e\u0916\u093e \u092d\u092f\u0947, \u092a\u093e\u0924 \u092d\u092f\u0947 \u0938\u0902\u0938\u093e\u0930 || transliterated: Acchai purush ek ped hai,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kabir","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441\/revisions\/443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akella.org\/mani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}