519. Who is your GOD???

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/god-and-i/who-is-your-god

Once a Sadhu (Adept) from Himalayas came to a village and sat in the seat of silence under a Banyan tree at the outskirts of a village. The radiance in the face attracted some of the ongoing public. They went near him and took his blessings. The news of the arrival of the Sadhu from Himalayas at the outskirts of the village spread like wild fire and the whole village flocked to have a glimpse of the Sadhu. One evening the villagers squatted down before the Sadhu expecting a discourse from him. For a alone time the Sadhu was closing his eyes, some of the villagers gathered courage and asked him, “Oh, Holy Sage, will you kindly tell us which God or Goddess do you adore?”

Sadhu calmly opened his eyes and said, “Rig Veda declares, ‘Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti’- meaning: ‘Truth is one, learned people call it by different names’. So, according to me to adore that Truth it really does not matter whom I worship.”

But this answer did not satisfy the villagers so one of the villagers said, “We have many Gods and Goddesses with different names. There are endless discussion and debates to decide who the best among them is. You have meditated in Himalayas so you would be the perfect person to tell us whom you would prefer.”

The Sadhu sat thinking for a while and then said, “Before answering your question I would like to tell you all about an incidence that happened which my Guru told me from his real experience in life.

“There was a small village by the side of River Ganga. The river was the source of water for drinking bathing and washing for the village. Once a peculiar type of germs contaminated the water of the river as a result of which the villagers fell sick. Due to the illness the villagers’ memory started to fade and they were unable to recognize things.

The Sarpanch (Head of the Village) made a plan and called all the villagers and said, ‘Brothers and Sisters, this disease is making us forget everything before it is too late and we get completely detached from this world, let us write the names of all things over them. It will help us remember them.’ 

And as told by the Sarpanch the villagers started writing names on all the things they found.

As time passed the disease took an ugly turn and the villagers started forgetting the use of the things they had named. Again the Sarpanch ordered the villagers to write the brief application of the item which was named so that they could read them and make use of it.

Now the Sadhu from Himalayas said, “It so happened that my Guru went to that village after he heard of the dreadful disease. Before the villagers’ memory was completely lost, he gave them a portion of herbal medicine he had made from the roots of some medicinal plants in Himalayas. The portion worked well and the villagers’ memory started to become sharp. After getting back their memory completely, they were astonished to find every thing in the village had a name tag and a brief note on how to use them. Thereafter, when they came to realize what actual had happened and how they had named all the things and written down how to use them, the whole village burst out with laughter.

Sadhu continued, “Look, my children when one is under the influence of the worldly illusion (Maya) he starts losing the identity of his Consciousness, hence he starts calling God in different names. If one drifts far away from Consciousness, he loses the ability to understand the omnipresence of God. Hence he depends on the names and forms. If your Mind (Manas) gets aligned with your Individual Consciousness (Jiva Chaitanya) and your Individual Consciousness with the Universal Consciousness (Brahma Chaitanya), there is no necessity of giving different names and assume different forms of the one and only God.”