Creation – The Cycle of Nothingness

(12)

“Have you heard the story of Adam & Eve?”

“Are you kidding Rafael? It has been literally drummed into us, from class 1 onwards. But it’s a Bible story, Isn’t it?”

“Bible is no story book, Monica, in fact no religious scriptures are story books. It’s a User’s Manual.”

“Users Manual?”

“Yes, “Users Manual, those who are planning to live in this universe, should get the maximum output from it and how to get it, is written clearly and elaborately by different people whom God had destined.”

“But, its really a complicated book, Rafael. If it is the story part, its OK, the other things, its Aramaic for us., if we read it before bedtime, it sure gives us good sleep.”

“Yes Mathew, what you say is very true. But, that is because the cycle of nothingness came into being due to a simple act of our forefathers. We will never understand anything of the Bible, until it is opened to us.”

“Come on Rafael, please don’t talk in riddles. We have heard the story of Adam and Eve and they ate the apple and God threw them out of Eden.”

“Good, it is somewhat similar, but the throwing out part is not correct. God never throws anybody out, especially his first children. They are too precious to Him.”

“Ohh... that’s a relief.” All smiled, Rafael nodded and continued.

“Man was created with God’s own hand, they were the perfect man and  the perfect woman but they were created from soil. They did an error which led us to live a life of voidness.”

“What error did they do, Rafael?”

"Silly, they ate the forbidden apple, Rebecca." Mark interjected.

"Yes Mark, its true, but you will have to make a slight change of the sentence, "they disobeyed." All nodded.

"In the scriptures, there is nothing straight forward, all are in riddles. If it says ate the apple, don't take it literally. So leave behind the apples and oranges and think of the act. Its less complicated." All nodded

"But Rafael, its a bit confusing."

“OK Rebecca, I’ll go a bit more further and give you the example” all nodded. “ Can you say the opposite of light?”

“Darkness”

“And what is the opposite of wet?”

“Dry, Rafael what’s the matter?” Rafael smiled.

“It's not yet over, opposite of Man?”

“Woman.”

“Opposite of good?”

“Bad”

“Opposite of life?”

“Death”

“Opposite of obedience?”

“Disobedience”

“Yes Rebecca, all the opposites you said are absolutely correct. Now I want to look at God’s creation, God created this Universe inside a void, which means, nothingness is behind this universe. If you take out the universe, there is nothing. Likewise, darkness is there behind the light. If you take out light there is darkness.”

“What are you trying to say Rafael?”

“I’m trying to say, that in the Universe, opposites are joined together, dark and light, water and land, Man and Woman, good and bad, etc...etc... And man knew which was good and bad because he was the only creature bestowed with wisdom of God. He chose to take the bad and naturally he received all that is connected to the negative part of nature thus losing the connection with God. When Man chose disobedience, naturally he was in darkness, he had a void in him, his insides became dry, nothing could satisfy his thirst and above all he brought death unto himself. So, when you choose wrong you get all the wrongs of the universe because all are connected in the universe.”

“Connected to the universe? Can you just elaborate Rafael?” Rafael nodded

“When you look at nature, there is a rule behind each and every creation. Man is connected to nature for life, like plants, air, sun, water and they too are interconnected between themselves. If one link is broken the whole chain goes in disarray.” All nodded

“The creation around man goes on and on with clockwork precision. It cannot do as it wishes, because it is the command of God. But for man, He gave the freedom. He gave him wisdom, so he had lots of options. So when he chose what is not right for him all wrong of the universe like the dryness, darkness, voidness, death, etc..got attached, that is what happens  to you too, if you choose the wrong. ”

“Ooh, but for such a minute thing as disobedience, why such drastic measures.”

"That was the question I was waiting, Thanks Rebecca. Now to that story. Imagine, a king gives his palace, (just imagine it is the world's biggest, most beautiful palace) to you and says, "Son or daughter, I am off to a far off land. I am not planning to use this palace. So I give this to you, all of the palace, food, servants, rooms, clothes, gold, silver and what all in it is yours, but be careful with the door, if you shut, it will automatically lock up, never to open and nothing would come in or go out and all that is good is on the other side of the door. What would you do?"

"I would just jump high up in the air shouting Yippee!!!!" all smiled and nodded.

"Exactly Mark, We all would do the same, but when we have had our fill of the palace, we would come to that door, just to see what it does, just to test, whether the King has really spoken the truth and you close very very slowly  and if it is a small closing or a big closing the act would would be the same "Close” and it would literally be Closed Forever" and when the door closes what happens, the air, the light, the people who brings food, water are shut out of your reach, depriving of all what you had.” All nodded

“So how would you categorize the act of closing the door, a small act or a big act?” all were silent, Rafael continued, “That is what happened with our first parents. There is no act small or big, joking or serious. When you lie and say you were joking, its not joking, its lies. When you disobey and say, you were just joking, its disobedience and not joking.  Likewise setting up pranks, hurting others by it, in short, if you are untrue to yourself, then you will have to face the consequences children."

"But... Oh I don't know."

“It’s the mechanism of nature, Monica, as I told you, when God created man, He gave us all His powers too. So naturally, we should live accordingly, don’t you think its fair enough? Just imagine, that we work like a robot, like the sun always rises and sets, the plants always grows in the same place, unable to move, the cuckoo always has to sing, but not talk or dance. But for us, if you wish to watch a movie, you can watch it, if you feel like playing you can play, if you feel like eating, you can eat, then why can’t you do what is right?”

“Sorry Rafael, its just because, its natural to be naughty, to poke others, make fun of others. So when you made us aware, that for these small acts, we will have to pay for it, I just felt scared.” All nodded.

“Don’t be scared, we are here in this universe to live, we are here for a purpose. So when we have a purpose, naturally, we take the risks and not have fear, but for the small act, there is no small or big in actions, if you prick with a pin or a knife, it produces pain, don’t you think. What would stay back, the pin prick or the pain?”

“Naturally, the pain.”

“Yes, Mark, the pain, we don’t look at what the source or reason, it’s the end result. So don’t categorize your actions to small and big.  So back to our first parents.” All nodded.

“So if the door of the palace is open without even bothering about the door. What would be the consequence?”

“Eternal happiness.” All smiled and nodded.

“Exactly Mathew, the first parents if they had not disobeyed then  all things good would get attached, like eternal life, a completeness in everything, happiness, love and above all the presence of God would always be there, that is why everyone says, “Do Good and Reap Good”.” All nodded.

“Wow!!! Its simply superb, that feeling of completeness, isn’t it?”

“Yes Rebecca.”

“OK now, I understand, why you are saying the nature is a “Zero”. Our forefathers chose the wrong by disobeying God and the saga is continuing, as you told in the story of the boy and the girl. Now, I know, why you told, the boy would not be happy if he married his dream wife. Its because, the first parents have already sown the voidness, the dryness, death and all that is opposite and we are reaping that fruits, right? So he would never be happy.”

“Exactly Rebecca, its not his fault or the fault of any person connected to him, that you should know. You make a mistake, because, it is already there, the tendency of making mistake, passed on from our first parents. Now our duty is to come out of that tendency or else we would be doing the work of the cycles, repeat it and repeat it.”

“Oh, that might be the reason, why all the religions have a ceremony for the new borns, while introducing them to their religious fold.”

“Yes, Mark.”

“In Christians, its Baptism, isn’t it Rafael?”

“Yes, Mathew, and in Hindus, it’s the naming ceremony, on the twelfth day, after the baby is born, they have a grand ritual, where the child is purified with the five elements of nature and the child is blessed and named.”

“And for Muslims too, do they have it?”

“Yes, Mathew, they have it but in a different way. Immediately after the birth of a child, they whisper “the call to prayer” in the right ear. Then a small ceremony of reading from the Quran, so that the first hearing of the child should be the word of God. It’s a ritual to ward of the bad, which the new born child has with him, when he arrives in this world.”

“So in short, it proves that we are impure when we are born?”

“Yes, Rebecca, we are not pure.”

“OK Rafael, our first parents disobeyed and the door got closed. So now you said is clear, God never threw man out of Eden, it befell on our first parents. And after that what happened?”

“After their disobedience they couldn’t feel the presence of God because the light had gone from their hearts. And would you be able to see in darkness?”

“No Rafael, its impossible.”

“So do you know the direction where we are going, in the darkness?”

“Are you kidding, what is the use of looking for directions, when we are unable to see our own body parts? To think we can move to a goal in darkness, is simply laughable.”

“Yes, Monica, that is what happened to our first parents. God never threw them out of Eden, our parents strayed out of the presence of God because, they lost the light to see the creator.”

 “So what should we do, to piece it together?”

“Good question, God loved man so much, that he promised, He’ll try to rebuild the broken connection from man to God. Like opening the palace door again. It was a promise and man awaited for the promise” All nodded.

“In the mean time, man knew how he felt when he was with God, so he tried to recreate the fulfillment, in the darkness, but his life became more miserable. He never had that fulfillment, that contented feeling, the sense of achievement, there was always something missing. And he craved for more and more but no use. When man was very much immersed in unhappiness, God sent prophets, wise people, etc.. to show the right way, some understood and got corrected, but it was not complete. There was still that nothingness within. If we have to conquer nothingness, we will have to know, the root cause of it and act accordingly or else we will be entangled in the maze lifelong.”

“Do you mean to say, that nobody of the human race was unable to come out of this maze?

“There have been many people, who have conquered the darkness and there are many more to come. But it can be conquered only if you go in search of it, each person, not a group or a community. If you need the light, you will have to get it. If Mark needs the light he has to get it.”

“In short its self-service.” Mathew Interjected

“Exactly Mathew, self service.”

“But Rafael, there is one question nagging me, we are already in darkness, then how do we know to get the light, even if we want it?”

“The strength of the wanting is what ignites the light in you Mark. That is when the promise of God is fulfilled.”

“Oh, yeah, the promise, do you really believe that there is this promise of God, Rafael?”

...to be contd....(13)..

Until Then......

Take Care. Bye.

Meena