This article is dedicated to my parents, who are always bit concerned about I am not being very religious.
-RL
My words are containers, content is silence. - Osho.
Finally I have gathered the courage to write something on God. The article is a group of anecdotes which I have collected over a period. The stories are not mine. My only credit is that I have put them in a single article.
The article will not counter the faith of believers nor clear the doubts of agnostics. It is kind of a meteor in a dark night, may not affect lot of people but a thing of beauty for the observer who is bored by the stillness of the sky.
I hope the mystics will enjoy the mysticism, while the skeptics can simply enjoy the stories.
Are you there?
There was a mountaineer, who lost the grip at the top and started rolling down. He was about to fall in a deep trench when he caught a small shrub and was hanging on one hand. The shrub was not strong enough to sustain his weight. The mountaineer realized that any moment from now he will fall.
At the final moments of his life he thought of taking refuge from God, started screaming “God, if you are there, then save me and I will worship you all my remaining life!"
There was a long silence.
Finally he heard a voice - “I am here of course! Leave the hand from which you are hanging and I will save you!"
Are you listening?
There was a small village adjacent to the sea shore. Bit far in the sea there was a tiny island with a temple. The temple had thousand bells. Whenever there was a good breeze, these bells used to ring with a melodious chant. Villagers used to enjoy this.
Years later, the island submerged in the sea, along with the temple. There was no more music from the bells. But the myth said that if you listen carefully you could hear the music even now. No one tried it, so the myth was not confirmed.
One day a traveler visited the village and came to know about the myth. He didn’t have much to do, so he decided to test the myth. He sat on the shore from morning till twilight trying to listen to the music of mythical bells.
Day after day he tried to listen but could hear only the roars of sea waves. The time came to move on from the village. He was frustrated and decided to give up the whole thing. On the last day, while he was lying on the shore, a thought came to his mind- So far he was trying to listen something which was not there. Because of this he had missed the music of waves.
He decided to listen to the waves.
He was enjoying the music of the sea waves, and realized how melodious they are. When he was in this trance, he felt that the music of waves is slowly fading, there was nothing for some time. Only silence. And then piercing the silence, he heard the beautiful chants of thousands of bells ringing with a resonance!
Are you God?
A group of salespeople were delayed at an out of town meeting and had to catch a train. They came to the station just at the last minute, with tickets in hand, and ran, hoping the train hadn't departed. While running, one of them hit a table and on the table was a fruit basket.
All the fruit got scattered and bruised but they didn't have time to stop. They kept running and made it to the train and all of them breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it, except one. He went to the table that was knocked down and behind the table was a ten-year old blind girl who was selling the fruits to make a living.
He said, "I hope we haven't ruined your day." He pulled out RS 500 from his pocket, handed it to her and said, "This will take care of the fruits," and he left. The girl couldn't see what was going on; all she could hear were the footsteps leaving. As the footsteps faded away, she shouted from behind, "Are you God?"
Greatest Knowledge
There was a simple man living in a village on the banks of a river. In front of his house there was a big stone, which he considered as God. Daily morning he used to stand in front of the stone and pray. Whenever he had problems he will sit in the shades of the stone and discuss them with his God.
Years later he found a better house in town and decided to move there. He transferred all his belongings to the new house, except the stone in front of his house, his God.
Life moved on, and one day a thought came to his mind. He had transferred everything from old house to the new one, even some unwanted things, but NOT his God. Is God cheaper than the unwanted things he has already shifted?
He went to his old village, caught hold of some guys, paid them and requested them to help him move God to his new house. When the time came to cross the river, God was put in a boat, in the corner. There were few children, women and laymen on the boat, also crossing the river.
When the boat was in the middle of the river, there came a wild tempest because of which the boat was about to sink. One of the travelers took charge of the situation. He invited everyone to throw heavy things to the river so that boat will be lighter and easier to manage. People started throwing things but the boat was still not under control.
Our simple man was sitting in the corner with his God, nothing to throw. Traveler came to the guy with a skeptic look and said “Mr. You need to throw that stone to the river”
“It is NOT stone, he is my GOD! I am NOT throwing him anywhere!”
There was a long silence, frantic looks on the women and children, no one knew what to do.
Finally the traveler asked – “Is your God more important than the women and children who are going to die, if you don’t throw him?”
End credits
As I have mentioned earlier the stores are not mine. The credit goes to following authors,
Are you there? By Anthony De Mello
Are you listening? By Anthony De Mello
Are you God? - By Shiv Khera (from the book You can win)
Greatest Knowledge By N. D’souza
I have slightly modified the stories as per the need of this article.
Further reading
If you liked the above stories I am sure you will love the following books.
Prayer of the frog By Anthony De Mello
Song of the bird By Anthony De Mello
One minute wisdom By Anthony De Mello
One minute nonsense By Anthony De Mello
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
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