WHERE EVERYTHING STARTS AND ENDS- GOD!

WHERE EVERYTHING STARTS & ENDS- GOD!

Sunday morning. 5 AM.

The alarm started screaming at my ear.

I switched off the alarm & woke up drowsily.

Waking up so early on a Sunday mornings- the most terrible thing, ever.

Yet, I woke up (without snoozing the button 1000 times like I usually do).

Bathing & getting ready, I left my place by 6 AM, along with my parents. The short journey was a pleasant one. Being a Sunday, the trains weren’t crowded, & to top it, it was 6AM in the morning.

We reached our destination by 7:30 AM. Alighting from the taxi that we had taken from the destination station, we were greeted by the divine smell of agarbatti & flowers. The streets were crowded & the shops wide open. People were all dressed in colorful clothes, chattering happily, and buying pooja thaalis. The vendors were in an equally enthusiastic mood. The whole atmosphere was filled with a sense of serenity- a different kind of early-morning serene enthusiasm that you would find only at a temple.

Yes, we were at the Siddhivinayak Temple.

We stood in the queue that would take us to the main dome where the idol of Lord Ganesha is placed. The queue is a fast moving one  & it seldom happens that you are stuck in the queue for long intervals (except when it is some religious occasion or a Tuesday). So, we soon reached the dome. The moment I entered it, the man in front of me moved out, & I could clearly see the idol. One long look at the Ganesha’s idol, & I forgot all my worries. I forgot all that I had to ask for. I forgot all the complaints I had with him. That moment, it was just me, & my Ganu (as I fondly call Him). The only thing I could feel was, the strong sense of belongingness. The only thing I knew was, I have God with me. The only thing I could remember was, the Lord himself.

See, that is how it happens when you are a person who really believes in God. The moment you become one with him, even try to; that very moment you forget everything else. All the worries, all the sorrows- He makes you forget everything. The only thing that He lets you feel is His Divinity.

Let me tell you here that I am not God fearing person. Neither am I a person who doesn’t trust God. I am a neutral person as you would say. Well, neutral would be the right word though. “lovingly religious” would be a better one.

However, at times it so happens that certain things take place in such a manner that you are forced to question your faith, forced to question the existence of God. At times, you fall into such situations that you just do not understand why a thing happened just to you, why did God let such injustice happen with you.

Let me put my experience here. I am a Law & a CS student. Many of would be knowing that CS results are one heck of weirdness. It so happened last year that in spite of preparing really well, I lost the exam by a mere 2 marks. I still did not lose heart. I attempted again, & this time, fared well. But as though my happiness couldn’t be seen by Him, I lost my First class in my Law exams by a mere 1 mark as well. That very moment, I hated God. I hated God for being so cruel towards me. I hated Him for being such a horrible person. I hated him for doing this to me, even when I had put in soooo much effort- as much as I could. As it goes, success is 99% hard work & 1% luck. & I had lost by that 1%, which was completely in His hands. Just a matter of time till I received my mark sheet when I realized, a friend of mine who had cheated in the examination by carrying chits, had scored 2 marks more than me. I felt backstabbed. I had been so honest & this is how God paid my honesty. How could He do that? Isn’t it always taught to us that we should never lie, never cheat? That we should always be honest, always be faithful? Then when I had been just the same, why did God play this cruel game with me? I was overcome with angst against him. All I knew & could think of was- God is nothing but a back stabber. He loves annoying the good people. & He always favors the bad ones.

With this, my mind jumped itself back into another story which had occurred a few years ago. When I was 16 years old, my dad had had an accident. A major, severe accident. As it was, being in a blaming mood, I blamed God for what had happened then. No doubt God had saved him, but why did He let it happen in the first place? Why put a person in a horrible situation, & then take him out of it. That is like, in a movie, just to impress the girl, the hero hires fake gundas, who chedofy the girl, & then the hero comes, beats them up & wins the girl over. But wasn’t the hero wrong in the first place to hire such gundas? Nobody thinks of that once he saves the girl.

I am very sure, all you also must have come across similar situations & reached a point where you started hating God. All such people who are in that state of hatred or neutrality, read on. Also, people who do not believe in God can also read on.

It so happened that, within few days of the incident, I got selected in a company for my CS internship. Without much ado, I got a great office, cooperative boss & lovely people, not to mention the flexible & convenient work environment & office hours. I soon forgot that I was so devastated losing those 1 mark each time. I got happily settled in the new found comfortable work environment, getting the exact exposure as I needed. The next exam arrived soon, & I fared quite well this time. One of my best friend with whom my relationship was on rocks, up to the extent of breaking our friendship, suddenly fell into place & became steady. As if, the boat which was by far sailing in storm waters, suddenly found a smooth flowing river. My parents, who had always been the most sweetest ones, turned even more cooperative & proud of me over small-small things- even my interning. In short, everybody was happy with me, including myself.

But all this while, I very easily forgot God. I forgot to thank Him for what He had done. I forgot to thank Him for all the blessings that He had showered upon me.

Isn’t that how we all are? When faced with problems, we immediately blame God, not taking even a moment to think. But when showered with happiness, we don’t think even for a moment to thank Him. Weird.

I personally feel everybody should believe in God. Believing in Him, gives you strength. Believing in Him, gives you the assurance to forget your worries. Believing in Him, you have the power to live freely, happily.

But this belief should be a whole hearted, true belief. Not one where you believe in God only when faced with difficulties & forget Him when things fall in place.

In my case, though I did forget to thank him for my happiness, I did eventually remember & return back to Him as I have been brought up believing in God. Believing in His powers. Believing in His magic. & when I returned back to Him, I realized what had been missing all the while. My faith.

When you decide to believe in something, you should always believe in it whole heartedly. Be assured that no matter what happens, your faith won’t erode. But what did I do? I let my faith wear away- as per the situations. You cannot keep sailing a boat in any direction that the wind takes it. Similarly, when you believe in God, you should have complete utter faith in Him that no matter what happens, He does it for your good.

Would you ever doubt your mother for anything that she does? No matter you like it or not, but you would still believe it that she did a certain thing for your good.

Just remember the time when you were a young child & your mother made you give up your habit of sucking your thumb. You so hated her for that. You did not even understand what the problem was if you kept sucking your thumb forever. & so, you hated her when she spanked you when you did that. C’mon, you loved doing that, the thumb tasted so good & it was so much easier to fall asleep sucking it on. Why could she not understand that?

Actually, it was you who did not understand the problem with your kid-habit. She did. She always understood it wasn’t good for you. She always understood that it was easier for you that way, but she also understood that just because it gave you happiness & comfort didn’t mean she could let you do it forever. She had to be stern. Hadn’t she been stern then, you would probably be sucking your thumb in public even at the age of 18 (unknowingly).

That is exactly how it works with God. He is at the place of your mother, & you are at the place of that young child. You do not understand why is He doing certain things or what is the reason behind His acts. But just as it wasn’t important for you to really understand your mother’s actions then, so is it not important for you to understand God’s acts now. You just need to keep that same faith in Him, & as you grow up (reach nearer to Him), a day will come when you will realize God’s intention behind every single thing that ever happened to you. & trust me, you will thank Him then!

But that will take time. A lot of time. & for that, all you need to do is, keep your faith in Him. Complete faith. Unless & until you do not place your 100% belief to Him, how can you expect him to fulfill 100% of your wishes as you want?

A person who believes in God is undoubtedly the happiest person. He has someone with whom he can share everything- every single thing that comes to his mind. He has someone with whom he can open up his innermost secrets & wishes. He has someone on whom he can rely completely. He has someone on whom he can ward off all his worries. He has someone whom he can blame for things that happen to him, which are beyond his control. He has someone who will always stand by him no matter what happens. He has someone in whose magic he can believe. He has someone to still go to when everything is beyond control & he doesn’t find a way.

Because God’s way starts just where a person’s all other ways end. You will find him standing there, with a whole new way, just when you thought all routes have ended. You will find him with a whole sunshine when you feel drowned under the clouds of sorrow. You will find him standing there with a sword in his hands, ready to fight for you when you feel you have lost all the battles. You will find him waiting to embrace you under his shield when you find yourself taken over by fears.

He is there, just there. Always standing there. He just wants you to reach out for him, after you have tried all you could.

When a child starts walking, he puts his tiny feet forward, stumbles, falls, and cries. But he still gets up, puts one more foot forward, & there- falls into his daddy’s arms- who had always been standing there- waiting for his child- to take him under his shadow. But he lets the child walk- lets him cross the distance, no matter even if the child falls, cries, stumbles- he still doesn’t melt- not that it doesn’t hurt him when his child falls down & starts crying. But he knows how important it is for the child to cross that distance on his own. & the moment the child does it, he finds his daddy, waiting for him, just there- with open arms. Who then wipes off his tears & kisses his wounds.

That is exactly how you should see God. That is exactly how he is. How things with him work.

Never ever feel he isn’t there. Never ever doubt his existence. Even if you do not understand the reasons behind his acts, still have the faith in him that he must definitely be having a valid reason for doing what he does.

Even the non-believers should agree here as don’t you always find the doctors- the life savers- relying on God after a certain point of time. You cannot prove the existence of God, but so can you not prove the existence of your love for your child. You still cannot answer a few questions by science, & there are still a lot of things that happen to you, for which you have no logical argument. You still witness a lot of magic’s which are way too huge, to name them as coincidences. God starts where Science ends.

All of you- believers, non-believers, always remember that believing in God is always good.

You have a soul mate in Him… You have a listener in Him…

You  always have someone to blame for everything that goes wrong...  & at the same time, you have someone to go to with the same problems…believing he’ll do some magic & make things normal again..

God is, I guess the only one who is so generous…so trustworthy…& so much “our own”

We blame Him for all petty illogical things… get angry at Him…at times, our faith in him diminishes….but He still listens to all our whims… accepts us for who we are…forgives us…& helps us out whenever we call out to Him…

The greatest support we find only in Him…the greatest belief we can place only in Him…

Agreed His ways are different, tough & at times beyond our understanding capabilities or normal reasoning… but they are still worth trusting… because

The only one who won’t ever let us down…is HIM…

The only one who won’t ever give up on us, no matter how lame we behave… is HIM

The only one who you’ll always find when there’s darkness in life… is HIM

The only one who won’t lose hope even if you lose your faith… is HIM

God is great… He is the only true strong support….

Always remember, the easiest way to go through this life happily is- by believing in God. 

Believing completely, fully, & faithfully. 

We all ultimately have to reach God, then why not try & make the journey easier, happier & worthwhile?