It’s a hectic life that we all lead. We all have our duties to attend to. We have several obligations to fulfill. We cannot retire to the tapobana or the forest of meditation, as the holy men did in the dim, distant past. We have to live in this world, we have to carry out worldly duties. But while we attend to our duties sincerely, faithfully, honestly, earnestly, let us also carry the consciousness of God within our minds all the time.
A holy man was invited to visit the estate of a wealthy landowner. The rich man took the visitor to the spacious terrace atop his mansion and pointed to each direction.
“Do you see those orchards to the East? Do you see the farmland that stretches to your West? Do you see those beautiful gardens to the South and those virgin forests to the North? They are all mine!”
“I have worked hard over the last 30 years and built up this green treasure and it is mine, on merit!”
He waved his hands all over, turning triumphantly in all directions. “It’s mine and I own all that you see in any direction from my home!”
He paused, searching the holy man’s face for some reaction, expecting words of praise, admiration and appreciation.
The holy man laid his hand upon the wealthy landowner’s shoulder and pointed upward. “Tell me brother,” he said gently, “how much do you own in that direction?”
We are told that on an average, over 300,000 people die every day— men, women and children. Does it not make you wonder, when my turn will come, when your turn will come? Therefore I say, let the thought of God be in your consciousness all the time!
To get nearer to God, one should develop deep longing in the heart within. This is possible through sitting in silence and growing in the spirit of humility.
Spend some time in silence, every day! And put to yourself the questions, again and again: What am I? Whence have I come? What is the purpose of my visit to the earthplane? One day, the answer will come to you out of the depths within. And to you will be revealed the Secret of Life. You will see, and you will know!
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
