Often you query the Guru to seek the Lord, to assimilate, to make Him favorable, but you do not know where to start from. Start from anywhere. Start from the mosque, from the temple, from the gurudwara, or start with the idol. Start from the Quran-Gita, or Veda-Purana, or somewhere else. Start by praying to a river, mountain, stone or anything else. But do start. If you want to follow my advice, then I shall recommend to start with the nature. Because Almighty God is hidden within nature. Look at the trees-flowers, moon-stars, or rivers-oceans.
God is hidden in all of these. So take the first step towards God from the nature. He will start to appear everywhere, once you start to see Him in nature.
Start from anywhere, however just start, God, is omnipresent and is all-pervading. Wherever you start from, it is a good step. Do not get confused with the question of where to start from. Because God is a kind of circle. That is why there are so many religions in the world, there are three hundred religions in the world. There can be three thousand religions in the world, or even three lakhs or three crores. There can be actually as many religions as there are people in the world. Because every person will start differently. Every person is slightly different from all others.
Start from anywhere. Don’t put a lot of weightage on this particular question. Value the actual start. Start and remember that whenever anyone starts anything, mistakes are bound to occur. Where to start from 0 is a logical question. It is full of fear of starting on a wrong foot, or fear of mistakes, or where to start from.
If an infant asks before starting, how to start, where to start from, how to avoid injuries, then the infant will never be able to walk. He has to start. He has to take up the risk. He has to start in-spite of fear. It seems impossible that the infant will be able to walk, when, one day, he gets up on his own feet. He was crawling until now, suddenly he has stood up.
How happy the mother is when the infant starts to stand up. Even though, this is the dawn of the risky times. Now, he will start to fall down and shall injure his knees. He will now become familiar with the bleeding of cuts. He may fall from the stairs. The dangerous period has begun now. The risk was minimum and the safety was high when the infant was just crawling. However, we cannot stay trapped within safety forever. The infant will have to learn to walk. He will have to start taking risks, else he will remain lame forever. And he will certainly fall if he starts to walk…
When the infant starts to speak the first time, he stammers garbled words. Nobody can become the master of the entire language at once!
None has? The voice will be stammered-garbled, and words will be forgotten. He will utter something else. His mind will prompt to say something, while his mouth will utter a completely different tone. But the infants dare – to stammer. So, they are able to speak properly one day. They dare to stammer, and therefore, turn into Kalidas and Shakespeare one day. They try to stammer and voice out their feelings, and become Buddha and Christ one day.
So whenever you start, it will be just like stammering. Do not dream of perfection on the very first day. He used to crawl until now. Now he has stood up – increasing the risk. The mistake is bound to happen. A mistake will happen. He who wants to avoid mistake, he can never do anything. He cannot walk, cannot speak, and he will not be able to live. There is no punishment for such a mistake. No retribution at all.
It often happens that those who avoid the mistake remain left deprived of the wealth of life. There is only one mistake in the world, and that is the effort to avoid making the mistake.
A famous English poet Tennyson noticed a flower blooming within an amazing position. There was a small space between stone walls, and a flower germinated within it. Tennyson stood up in surprise and he wrote in his diary- I shall be able to comprehend the entire vagaries of Almighty, the meaning of this whole creation if I can understand this blooming flower.
Because this sometimes bestows sparkle in life or gives a taste of bliss, and soul sparkles from within this. That is why a glimpse of the ocean sometimes initiates meditation automatically. Something inside us greens up while enjoying the beautiful greenery of the Himalayas. Something opens up from within while enjoying a glimpse of a rose flower.
We are part of this nature. We are also a plant. We too have roots here. This land belongs to us. As much as it belongs to the trees. These trees germinated from this soil, and so did we. The water waves in the ocean are similar to the waves within our own self. The greenery of the trees in our own life. Look at this beauty. See how it imparts immorality to the nature. The trees germinate and wither away, yet the greenery remains. This greenery is immortal. There is a plant today, tomorrow there will be another one and a third one on the next day. However, all three are parts of a single life.
There is only one syllable and only one who sees nature can avail of the new perspectives and new sights being bestowed by this nature. He develops new eyes to analyze this beauty, to test it out.
And through the same nature, the spirit gets civilization. People who are unfamiliar with nature, are always rude. One who hasn’t seen a single flower bloom can never become a full person. One who hasn’t quietly listened to the songs of the birds, who has listened solely to the voice of the humans, is not a man. One who has never spoken to the stars and moon in the night sky is incomplete.
If you want to seek God, then search where things grow. Even a big mansion does not grow automatically. There is no life in it. Even the longest way does not grow on its own. It lacks life. A seed hides much more than London, New York or Mumbai. The seed has high potential because it germinates and grows. The seed encapsulates life, and the life encapsulates Almighty God.
And the man who only saw the artificial things made by man will become a brute. On the other hand, one who sees the soft creations of God will become civilized in thoughts. The only one who can see nature will be able to love the eternal. Only he can see the eternal. The flowers of rose bloom and wither away, yet the rose flower is created. It simply does not matter. A flower withers, another one takes its place. The creation of the Almighty is infinite. If you look closely at this nature, only then you will notice the various kinds of flowers, of diverse colors, assorted shapes, and distinct uniqueness. Rose, marigold, lotus, magnolia or jasmine. Each is distinctive, and yet the same energy pervades everyone. Everyone bestows the same aroma.
Similarly, people are also distinct, and diverse. Their prayers will be different. Their emotions will be distinctive. Nature will show unity in diversity. And one, who can see this unity in diversity, will easily understand the basic essence of humanity.
With divine blessings,
Kailash Shrimali
