Actually, Where is God?

 (26)

So what is the first important thing you need when you pray?”

“Accept God as My Father.”

“Good and the second one?”

“Be present for God.”

“Exactly, Now for the third one, try to bring something special for God, which you feel He would love it.”

“Rafael, God is God. He is the owner of all creation, what can we give Him, when we have nothing?” Rafael nodded.

“In the story of Lord Krishna and Kuchela, which I told yesterday, there are two things that touched me, one was Lord Himself coming to meet His friend when Kuchela was in front of His corridor and the second was Lord eating greedily the pounded rice presented by His friend,  poor man’s last morsel. Do you think He had nothing to eat in His palace? What does that mean?”

“His friend is very very special and his gift was very precious.”

“Exactly, it is not the size of the gift, what counts is the attitude. In Kuchela’s case, the strong bond of love. Your presence is a very big gift for God, but along with that if you could give Him something special, very unique, that is yours alone, then that would be a bonuswhat do you think?”

“Ohhhhh!!!!!!!!!How happy, God would be?”

“Yes, Rebecca, He’d be. “Good, now can I ask one question? I was thinking you’d ask it, but since, you haven’t I’ll ask?”

“What is it Rafael?”

“Where is God? Where are you planning to be with God? There should be a meeting point? Right?” All nodded

“In our heart?”

“No Monica, He is not in our heart.”

“Really, but I thought....”

“Yes Monica even I too thought so, but the truth is,  He is in heaven. His abode is  heaven.”

“But Rafael, can you just elaborate it?”

“Sure, When He started the creation. He divided this creation into two, Earth and Heaven. So be sure, Heaven is not an imaginary word or place. Its there and God resides there.”

“And in the old testament, God used to come to Eden, where Adam and Eve resided every evening and they used to have a chit chat, but only in the evenings. So naturally till then where was God??

“In Heaven?”

“Exactly. Do you remember what was the height planned for The Tower of Babel, where the mixing of tongue took place?”

“Heaven.”

“Quite Right, the people of the Old Testament knew, there was a physical heaven because the building of the tower was proof enough. Then when Jesus came, Jesus taught the prayer, He  specifically told “Our Father in Heaven, not Our Father in our hearts or Father who resides everywhere.” All smiled

“Before the death of Jesus, he told His disciples, that He is going to prepare a place for us in the abode of His father. And whenever God acknowledged that Jesus is His son or when Jesus prayed, the focal point was Sky above. So never think, that Heaven some fluke of imagination of the writer, because it is not.” All nodded.

“But how would you go there?”

“Have you heard of travelling thoughts?”

“Do you mean to say, the thoughts we think, travel?”

“Exactly Mark . Thoughts travel just like electricity but much much much more faster, when we think of a person, that person gets the message, at that very moment sometimes they respond immediately by calling.”

“That might be true Rafael because I have got calls, immediately when I think of my friends or cousins.” All nodded.

“Do you know if we go deeper in search of God, we would gain the power to send not only our thoughts but our person as a whole along with our thoughts.”

“Really, Woow!!! That’s superb”

Yes Mathew, its simply superb. But that we’ll discuss later. So we’ll continue, how we’ll go to heaven. First, you should know, for God there is no special place, wherever you are is also fine with God.” All nodded.

“So now you are going to travel with your thought, First and foremost   shut your brain and your five senses.”

“How do we do that, Rafael? Its simply impossible.”

“At first, it’d be next to impossible, but as God said, for man, if he puts his will, he could achieve the very impossible. He said it so with His very mouth.”

“The Tower of Babel, Right?”

“Yes, Exactly. Always Bring this thought forward, whenever you find any task difficult. For man, God has given everything to be conquered and not be subservient. If God is above us, then we should be above God’s other creations. When Man first stepped on the moon, he conquered the sky. Is it an easy task?” All nodded in the negative.

“So never ever think the word impossible. Take it out of your vocabulary, united with God, you can conquer the Universe and all above and below it. But we should be compulsorily with God. That is what we are going to learn.”All nodded.

“So there are some etiquettes, which we have to follow, when we have to meet God. I’ll give an example just evaluate it yourself.” All nodded. “A very important person invited you because you saved his son’s life. You are in front of him. He says profusely thank you then he gets a phone call and he is on the phone, but he shows action to you to eat and still on the phone hearing someone else and in between his eyes on the television, seeing something else and munching what has put in front of you and you are there in front of all these commotion. What would you feel?”

“I’d never ever make the mistake to see that man. I’d rather flee to my worst enemy than tolerate such torture. What a gratitude. Rafael, can anything become so vulgar?”

“Exactly, Rebecca, we make the same mistake when we are with God, thoughts somewhere, eyes watching the TV, ears, eavesdropping, nose sensing  good smell. So what is the point in being with God. He would really hate our very presence. Never ever do that.”

“Thank you Rafael, you really opened our eyes. But how do we shut our brain and senses?”

“Stop your worldly thoughts and focus on God, stop your sight, you can keep your eyes open but if you chose you cannot see, likewise all the senses. Focus all of it to see heaven and God alone. When you decides, God will come to you to help you. When Kuchela came to Lord Krishna’s door. God Himself came to welcome Him and the rest of the Journey was with God. That is what you should know. God is always focused on you alone. He knows your every thought, every wish. So the decision to be with God is your turning point. He will guide you. When the three men decided to meet God, look what all gifts God gave and do you know the best character which we would gain when we find God? In all the stories, you will find that. Can anyone say?” All nodded in the negative.

“Humble, humility.”

“Kuchela after departing from God, he didn’t boast that he came from Lord Krishna. The three men, when they were told that the Lord has taught a prayer, they were humble enough to learn that even when they knew that their prayer were far superior. This is not done purposely. It comes naturally because when we are in front of God, in front of the love of God, we are just ants. He keeps everything at our disposal, but our focus would never wander to anything worldly at that time, that love of God is all consuming, a blanket which warms every pore of our being. The fulfillment, which we had been craving for is fulfilled. Then there wouldn’t be anything you’d ever want. You’d never want to move away from God. In the coziness of His embrace. At that moment, our every cell, all the organs of our body our senses, would never wish for anything other than the presence of God.”

“Oh!!! Rafael, hearing it itself, I feel so happy. How can God really fulfill all our craving in a moment?”

“When you come to know the uselessness of what we are surrounded with, nothing can stop our cravings and that is when God sents the cross road to you. You choose and that choice is what makes you special. God doesn’t force Himself on us. If you want God, you should choose and not He.”

“But Rafael, is it important to choose?”

“Yes Mathew, it is very very important, that is what decides our destiny, no other person can be blamed for that. In the very beginning, when Adam decided to disobey, he broke the connection with God. When Mother Mary, mother of Jesus decided to bear God Himself in her womb, we were saved. When Jesus decided to take the cross on himself, that torture He went through to make that decision. When Kuchela decided to meet Lord Krishna, when the girl decided to live with the boy, when the three men decided to meet God, when man decided to build the tower that touches heaven. All these are decisions, either yes or no. The choice is there. Do you know why He gave us the choice?” All nodded in the negative.

“Because He gave us wisdom, the only creature with wisdom, the power to know what is right and what is wrong.” Rebecca’s eyes brimmed with tears and she spoke incoherently.

“Why Rafael, we didn’t know all these things before? How do we stand before God, which we had to be there long time back.” All nodded.   

“Don’t feel sad for that Rebecca, you’re lucky, you came to know of this at least now, but there are people, who are still in the dark. God opens Himself to the people who are good at heart. we’ll discuss it tomorrow?” All nodded

...to be contd....(27)....

Until then... Take care.....Bye

Meena