August 19, 2008

The Plus Points of Human Birth



The Supreme God Almighty – the holy divine spirit - has endowed every human being with HIS complete divine power and knowledge - all Plus points. However, forgetting our divine origin, inherent Power, Knowledge and Reality, we convert our Plus points into Minus points by considering each other separate from us.

We think that we are an individual human being, with separate body, soul, and the God, the World is separate from us. We feel that we have taken birth on the earth to learn our individual lessons and to live happily. Whatever is agreeable to us and makes us happy is perceived as Right, rest is all Wrong.

Have you ever noticed that when we do not agree with someone, we are actually looking at their minus points and ourselves with plus points. We feel we are more knowledgeable and correct while the other person is ignorant. Similarly, when we interact with people who make us happy and comfortable, we are looking at their Plus while their minus are completely overlooked.

The fact is that there is no Minus. Only the Plus. Within You, Me and Each and every thing around us that we Sense ( including that which we cannot Sense ) is filled with divine knowledge, existence and bliss. The entire creation of God is Pure and Perfect.

Look at the nature. Tree, rivers, oceans, sun, moon, stars etc all are Perfect. A seed may be dry but God has hidden a life inside it. When we soak it overnight, we start seeing birth of a new plant from that very dry seed. Isn’t that a miracle of God. In our day to day life we overlook so many other miracles taking place around us. We ourselves are a perfect miracle of God. However, in our ignorance we develop a feeling of duality (separated-ness) in us. This starts when we are a baby. As we grow, we start calling selected couple as ‘my’ parents. Then I have ‘my’ siblings. Then something belongs to ‘me’ and something else belongs to ‘others’. As we grow our mind gets conditioned between ‘me, mine’ and ‘their, others’. I start thinking of myself as a separate entity.

As time passes, knowingly or unknowingly, some of us want to save that God given Plus only for us. We do not want to share it simply because we have conditioned our physical mind (call it Ego) to believe that we are lacking in our Plus so we need to hoard it for ourselves and for people whom we believe to be our loved ones. We unintentionally cover our divine bright spark with darkness of ignorance. This happens because we start judging everyone around us and then decide whether to let that divine love flow through us to the other person (depending on our judgment)? Whereas this divine love is meant to flow and pass through each and everyone of us but we arrest & lock it within ourselves because of our feeling of lack ness. We forget we are perfect, complete and full of divine love. We wrongly categorize people as – relatives, loved ones, friends, acquaintances, unknown, enemies, neutral etc.

As per sacred Hindu Scripture, The Bhagvad Gita, the Supreme Purushottam (the God) created Prakriti (i.e, us, his creation) from himself. In other words, the Supreme Divine Power fractured itself to generate a creation which was perfect just like the creator and had all the inherent power of its creator. At the same time, the Creator retained its own original form. This is just like an actor who enacts different roles, dresses up like different characters, behaves differently but does not lose his own originality. Though roles, the get up, the surroundings etc are different each time but the original actor is one i.e, Plurality in Singularity.

However, despite knowing this truth since centuries, we have forgotten our origin. In fact, we just cannot believe that something like this is possible. How can we be God? We are poor, meek and suffering creatures in human garb! We are convinced that God is sitting somewhere else, up above, and is sitting their in judgment over us. We need proof of all that has been said by Sages, Holy Messengers & scriptures related to God about our origin, our aim of life. What cannot be proved analytically and logically has to be wrong. But we forget one thing. It is a fact that just because something cannot be seen or proved, it does not mean that it does not exists or its untrue. This is creation of God and everything has definite logic behind it which we cannot perceive with our limited mental faculties. Our earthly acquired intelligence and reasoning skills have prompted us to ingrain this sense of duality in our mental makeup, thereby completely smothering our spiritual understanding. This has created chaos in the society.

Think about this. Normally, it is very difficult to perceive and believe that ALL IS ONE. Even when I write this, I know it is very difficult to imbibe the crux of this TRUTH. This is something which seems to make sense only in theory and just cannot be put into practice. The question is, if we know that WE ARE ONE and I AM THAT, how can we get rid of this sense of duality completely?

Firstly, we have to start believing that ALL IS ONE. This setting of Intention is very important. Secondly, we have to think consciously and continuously on these lines. Thirdly, we have to contemplate on its hidden meaning. Finally, we have to be prepared to sense, feel and experience that ALL IS ONE. I have firm belief that once we are able to experience it, we will be one with the Supreme Power and will be able to create our own realities which resonate completely with the Universal Divine Power.

All we have to do is to take an initiative to alter our thought pattern and work towards our inner and spiritual growth in firm belief with loads of patience. This does not mean that we will have to stop doing our day to day duties and living and enjoying our life. We do not have to go and sit atop a mountain, in a cave or in a jungle or a beach. While carrying on with our worldly life, we have to meditate for few minutes on regularly and reap the benefits..

It is said that one feels all united and one with the creation and the creator when one is all alone. It does not mean being lonely. It means being in solitude and peace, time when the mind is not occupied with day to day worldly and family work. As our first step is to start believing in non-duality, we have to focus our thoughts on our own inner being and ignite that spark which has been lying all extinct & hidden in our core/self. We have to be just with ourselves and our thoughts and nothing else. In still silence, our inner voice, which we do not hear otherwise, speaks with us. It gives us creative and positive ideas. It gently guides us on the lines of divine principles without harming anyone around. Truth is all inside us. We just have to tap it. Silence brings clarity in our thoughts and solves so many unseen mysteries around us. It is so very amazing. Just few weeks of sitting in silence, for few minutes regularly (at any time) without thinking anything and doing nothing, gives so much nourishment to our hungry soul and produces such outstanding results in our persona. But still we do not want to do it. Why?

It sounds very easy but is the most difficult thing to do. People are scared to be left alone. We are so very attached to this world around us. When we are alone we feel useless and cut off from the world. Our inner doubt prompts our ego ( mental logical mind ) to convince us that sitting idle is madness, laziness, selfishness etc. Lot of overly worked and socially active people call this as wastage of precious time. I call it proper usage of our spare time, a time when we are working just for ourselves and for our own betterment and growth. What’s wrong with that?. Have we taken birth to add to the worldly chaos or to discover our true self?

When we are discovering ourselves we are discovering society also and thereby making such an enormous contribution to our immediate world. A person who meditates is always enveloped with a magical, peaceful and divine aura. Have you noticed, last time you had a meeting with such a person and felt so very peaceful without him or you ever speaking a word. I use word ‘feel’ because ALL IS ONE is something that has to be felt and sensed, it cannot be seen with our physical eyes. We need that divine vision and for that we need grace and this grace will not come from outside.

This grace is all inside you. When we are working towards realizing our true potential we are not wasting our time. We are contributing to this universe through our positive thoughts, emotions, aura and by becoming a perfect creation once again. Just imagine the impact it will have on our actions henceforth. To escape from our own ego, we have to seek help of the universal power by admitting that our ego is coming in way. The universe will immediately respond and try to increase our focus because we are doing something which we should have done long time ago and it is the correct path and the reason for taking human birth.

When universal love surrounds, protects and helps us in our Self Discovery, I am sure that with enough faith and patience, a new layer of knowledge will sprout up within ourselves (just as it is hidden in dry seed) and make us realize the ultimate truth of ALL IS ONE which will bring to us what is known as sheer BLISS because in that state we will realize the ultimate knowledge that WE ARE GOD and ALL IS GOD.

Vandana Ritik
New Delhi

August 8, 2008

Love All Love God


When we say that we love God, it automatically follows that our love now extends to entire humanity. Humanity is creation of THAT creator. Not loving HIS creation would mean disregarding and disrespecting HIS existence thereby implying that our love for HIM is superficial.

Often we hear learned people saying that they love God and love everyone. However, it is easier said than done. The very same people will be seen judging others, telling others what is wrong in their behavior and how to behave rightly etc without realizing that each and everyone behaves in a particular manner due to various reasons (karmic, Prarabdh etc) which one cannot comprehend with his limited knowledge. We do not know why a person behaves in a particular manner because we know only about his present lifetime and not his past births.

Loving God means accepting each and everyone just the way they are and not passing any judgments. Everything that God has created is in perfection. All that we see around us and also what we cannot see or feel through our five senses is result of that Divine Will. Therefore, it has to be PERFECT. What is perfect need not be judged.

Our Shastras are full of stories where one person’s bad behaviour (like Kekayi in Ramayana) has resulted in destruction of demons. With our limited capabilities we cannot judge what the cause of someone’s action is and what will be the ultimate result of that action. Keeping this in mind, if we stop judging others, and love everyone equally we will be reflecting back what we have got - God’s Love back to HIS creation.

True divine love is impartial. It knows no difference. The Sun, the Moon, the Trees - The Nature offers its love, services, comfort & grace to all equally without any discrimination. We are also part of this creation and most intelligent of all then why do we distinguish when it comes to giving out love. It could be because we consider ourselves and others separate from each other. This is mine, that is theirs etc.


While interpreting a verse of The Bhagvad Gita, Shirdi SaiBaba has very kindly explained that “the disciple also is in fact of the same swarupa(form). But, it is overlaid by the effect of the samaskaras(impressions) of innumerable births in the shape of ignorance, which hides from his view that he is Shuddha Chaitanya (pure divinity)(see B.G. Ch. V-15). As stated therein, he gets the impressions - "I am Jiva(a creature) humble and poor." The Guru(spiritual guide) has to root out these offshoots of ignorance and has to give upadesh or instruction. To the disciple, held spell-bound for endless generations by the ideas of his being a creature, humble and poor, the Guru imparts in hundreds of births the teaching - "You are God, you are mighty and opulent." Then, he realizes a bit that he is God really”. In a state of ignorance, the human believes that I am a Jiva (creature), Body is the soul (I am the body), God, world and Jiva are different, I am not God, Not knowing that body is not the soul and Not knowing that God/ world /Jiva are one. Unless these errors are exposed to his view, the disciple cannot learn what is God, jiva, world, body; how they are inter-related and whether they are different from each other, or are one and the same.


Our body is vehicle of our soul and our soul is part of Divine Spirit. We have what God has but in our ignorance we fail to understand this and feel that we are different, separate and better than others. When in ignorance we compare ourselves with others we are admitting that we are separate from each other which is not true.


Now that we realize we are God really, it means the whole humanity is God indeed. If that be so we are all One with the creation and creator. If there is no separation, there can be no comparison and difference. All deserve love without any discrimination.


It is a fact that divinity is embedded in our inner being (we being his creation). Thus, we have vast ocean of divine love flowing gently within us. We all are full of Love and we are not even aware of this. All we have to do is to accept this fact, realize it, tap it and shower our inner divine Love outwards - towards whole humanity. What we give out we get back. Therefore, this greatest gift of God that we have- LOVE, is meant to be shared impartially with everyone so that it easily comes back to us too. SOW love REAP love.

Vandana Ritik

Heritage of Shirdi Sai
New Delhi