From here to eternity

Aye ghame zindagi, khucch toh de mashwara (Oh grieving life, give me some recommendation)

Ek tarf uska ghar,ek taraf maikada. (On one side is his house, and on the other side is the bar)

—- Ghazal, Pankaj Udhas

This sums up the precarious position in which one finds him/herself. Where to go? On one side you find God’s way and on the other side is the attraction of Maya. (this illusory world). The bar is a metaphor for life where we get drunk (with our desires). Most of us live in the world for the enjoyment that it can give us, not knowing that all these enjoyments are transient. The only true enjoyment is in God, which is unchanging.

Lord Buddha used to ask people ‘Koi paraga?’, which means anyone for the other shore? He is one of those holy people who not only attained Nirvana but brought that capability to people. His four noble truths and the eightfold path is the shortcut to Nirvana. When he attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, his face was so radiant, that people asked him ‘Are you God ?’. And his reply was ‘No. I’m awake.’

He is one of those great souls who came down from the ‘Buddhic plane’ to the ‘Physical plane’ to impart his teachings to the world. Another example of a great soul is Jesus Christ, who descended from the ‘Love plane’ to the physical realm to spread his word of Love to the entire world. There have been many sages who have entered Nirvana, but some of them chose to shed their physical sheaths. They still guide us from higher planes.

So, do not for a moment think that shedding the physical body is the end. We keep living on. The spoken word does not go back to the tongue. But we, a ray of light that came from the Sun, shall return back to the Sun.

That’s our journey.

God Bless!