God's Abode

Rule 3: You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe because God is not confined to a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover.

According to a popular belief in India, in Hinduism, there are 330 million Gods and Goddess (Choose as per your convenience 😄 ). The universe is full of things and people that will bring you closer to God. I always say that everyone is unique and hence everyone's way to attain God, Gods or Goddesses is different too. It's like getting relief from cold or a disease. Everyone gets cured in a different manner, some by doing nothing and letting nature take care, some by allopathic medicines, some by homeopathic, Ayurvedic, Tibetan, etc. and some simply by praying. Similarly one finds God in different manners through different means.

I am born into the Hindu religion and hence it is easier for me to understand Shamz's rule, that God is not confined to a mosque, synagogue or church. Very True; look around you and you will find people trying to prove that God can only be found in one particular religion and one particular way. People always believe in fixed ideas and have religious philosophies and dogmas. They are so rigid that they are willing to kill each other in the name of the very religions that are teaching compassion and peace. One wonders why are there so many wars and so much of bloodshed in the name of religion when all religions teach peace and compassion. Is it that people are so engrossed in proving their identities that they forget the religion is a way to attain higher consciousness and not to separate people by labeling them as Hindus, Muslim, or any other religion. 

It is only when one truly loves that one realizes that God is inside oneself only. True love makes one realize that religion is only a path to attain God and not God itself. True love makes a compassionate, kind and giving soul who doesn’t differentiate in self and others. Heart of a true lover reaches that higher consciousness where all are one and hence it is the very reason one starts to believe that true abode of God must be in the heart of a true lover. 

Who is a true lover? We all really yearn for true love. We are so much in love with the idea of true, divine love that most times we misunderstand love whenever our desires to get affection, attention, and pleasure start getting satisfied. Our ego is filled with joy and we feel that we have found love. We think this way because our selfish needs are being met and we are willing to reciprocate. We are willing to give the same attention, affection, and pleasure in turn but nothing more. We bargain with God whom we love (and fear to some extent), by negotiating; "Please let me have this job and I shall come to church every Sunday. Please let my son be healthy and I shall pray five times a day religiously. Please calculate my good deeds in this world and give me a better place in the next one." 

This reminds me of a story of Buddhist monk Bodhirama and Chinese King Wu. King Wu asked Bodhirama that he has devoted his treasures in building Buddhist temples and his bureaucracy and armies in spreading Buddhism. And so he questioned Bodhirama, “What will be his benefit in the other world?” Bodhirama replied that whatever King Wu did was meaningless as all was done out of the greed to get a better place in the other world. This kind of so-called love is selfish and ultimately doesn't last for long for desires have no end and can stretch satisfaction in this world to the next one. 

So how do you find true love and how is it that God resides in the heart of a true lover? True love comes from the depth of knowing of the heart and not mind. The heart knows that love is all about giving. Giving unconditionally. True love is not selfish and hence doesn’t demand anything in return. It’s not an exchange of feelings, emotions, and things. True love is compassionate and patient. Love rejoices in just being one with the beloved. It is beautiful and pure and shares the bliss that it experiences. A true lover loves unconditionally and yet is detached because attachments start causing a feeling of propriety and possessiveness. Love makes you who you are and what you become after being a lover. The true lover is compassionate to the whole world, the true lover is kind and without malice. It is in when the love, lover and beloved become one the God starts residing in the heart of the lover. 

As is written in Bible, ‘God is Love’ (1 John 4:8). Unless we feel love, we can't know God. I guess that people who so fiercely fight for God and their religion should start loving. Love doesn't insist on its own way. It rejoices in giving and spreading joy and happiness. In a state of love whatever you do turns out to be good.  It celebrates the creation and its differences and elevates the human soul to the next level. Where do you think God lives, in a temple or in the heart of a true lover?