Everyone in the village got
"pilgrimage fever" and everyone got busy packing up some traveling
clothes and food for the road. All except for Nasrudin, who watched them
laboring away. Soon, all of the village: the men, women, and children, were heading
out to Mecca. They were singing songs and shouting with great excitement about
how they were off to find God.
They got about one mile away, when Nasrudin
suddenly riding up on his donkey, shouting about some terrible emergency. They
caught the donkey and made him tell them what the problem was.
"I'm trying to find my donkey! Where is
my donkey?"
"Why, Nasrudin, you're sitting on
top of your donkey," answered the villagers.
"Oh really. Is that so? And why are
you all going on a pilgrimage to find God?"
Nasrudin in his
inimitable humorous style was telling all his village men that God is within each of them and that they need not go far but look inwards to find
Him..The quotes from many religions emphasize this universal spiritual journey. and their commonness is striking.
Guru
Nanak(Sikh)
As fragrance abides in the flower,
As the reflection is within the mirror,
So doth thy Lord abide within thee,
Why search Him without?
Lord
Buddha (Buddhist)
The subject on which I meditate is
truth.
The practice to which I devote myself is
the truth.
The topic of my conversation is truth.
My thoughts are always in truth.
For lo! myself has become the truth.
Jesus
Christ (Christian)
Being asked by the Pharisees when the
Kingdom of God was coming, he answered
them,
"The kingdom of God is not coming
with signs
to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo,
here it is!’ or
‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God
is within you”
Vedas
(original Indian holy text)
There is one Supreme Ruler, the inmost
Self of all beings,
who makes His one form manifold.
Eternal happiness belongs to the wise,
who perceive Him within themselves - not
to others
Prophet
Mohammed (Islam)
He who knows his own self, knows God
Zoroaster
(Zoroaster)
One need not scale the heights of the
heavens
nor travel along the highways of the
world
to find Ahura Mazda. With purity of mind
and holiness of heart one can find
Him in one’s own heart
Zen
(Zen Buddhist)
One moon shows in every pool; in every
pool, the one moon.
Sri
Sankaracharya (Hindu)
Curb your senses and your mind and see
the
Lord within your heart.
Swami
Vivekananda (Hindu)
It is impossible to find God outside of
ourselves.
Our own souls contribute all of the
divinity that is
outside of us. We are the greatest
temple.
The objectification is only a faint
imitation of
what we see within ourselves
But sometimes we need validation of our thoughts..need to see him in real..in temple:)
ReplyDeleteOne has to be minus all sins to see God within oneself, else there is no option but seek solace in temples and likes.
ReplyDeleteLove the collection you presented here.
Agreed completely God is within us! It is how we perceive. For some, places of worship radiate an aura which perhaps makes them near to god. To me, God is within me - the way the hand holds and leads my way, feel ethereal when I pray/meditate for there is this feeling of his force
ReplyDeleteI also totally agree with L Kruppa. I am also not crazy about visiting temples, I feel his presence right inside me, and he/ she is always there for me to talk with. I don't have to go anywhere to see him or feel him.
ReplyDeleteHowever, each to their own, if going to temple and seeing him there, is the route for some to reach God so be it, for, finally our goal is the same.
It is many ways to reach same goal of godliness within. Two quotes to share " as many opinions, those many paths" but it is ultimately the same.Thus said Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Another from Swami Vivkananda " development of one's divinity is. religion".
ReplyDeleteEven my husband doesn't believe in going to temples to 'see' god. He just stands in front of the gods' photos and pray whole heartedly, closing his eyes. He doesn't get disturbed even when his mobile rings continuously! When asked, he says that he didn't see any image in his mind but the feeling was good!
ReplyDeleteNice compilation of the same meaning from all scripts!
As the Bhagvad Gita says there are three realizations of the Absolute truth- The brahman, Parmatma and the Bhagvan.
ReplyDeleteI will explain with an analogy of the sun (again from the Gita). We see the sun and see its effulgence (brahman), we strain to see the sun amidst the effulgence and see the disk (Parmatma) and if we see more clearly we see that there is a Sun-God too (Bhagavan)
It is upto us whether we want to see the radiance, the disk or the SunGod.