By Dr. Sahadeva dasa
For centuries, saints, prophets and mystics have searched for God, within themselves or outside in the phenomenal world. For centuries, the pious souls have established temples, churches and mosques where God is supposed to reside. For centuries, people have set out on daring journeys in their religious quest for God.
But here is a breaking news! God has been spotted in the streets of the world. God is reportedly out in search of man, in the boulevards and thoroughfares of the world. He is a wide-eyed God, looking with dismay at the prevalent insanity. He is looking with dismay at what the man has done to this world and how far he has strayed away from Him. He is looking at the office workers, giving Him a cursory glance, before continuing on with their chores. He is looking at the cabbies, cursing Him for blocking their way in the late morning rush hour. He is looking at the tall offices and plush malls, wondering why do they need all this! He is wondering about the business of busyness, from early morning to well past midnight. His eyes become wide out of loving concern, out of fond apprehension. He is almost sad, His large eyes reflecting the pain of His suffering man, who is too busy to realize his own predicament.
He is looking at the hazy sky, black from the exhaust soot. He is looking at the ocean front, littered with plastic, in the name of civilization. Bikini clad women and clothing optional beaches surprise Him. He feels like jumping out and almost burn down that hamburger joint on the street corner. He can hear the muffled cries of His cows from the neatly stacked burgers.
He never felt so upset. And He ought to feel that way ‘cos this is His world. His anger at Ravana and his men suddenly seems to subside. Those upstarts never opened abortion clinics or mechanized slaughterhouses. Whenever hungry, they pounced on some poor animal. They never experimented on millions of animals in hellish laboratories. Arson, bribery, burglary and child abuse were hardly so common. They barely knew anything about pornography, credit card fraud, domestic violence or drug trafficking. Neither were hate crimes, extortion, kidnapping, prostitution or racketeering so much in vogue. They never dropped an atom bomb on the innocent citizens either.
He suddenly gets that feeling of being in Lanka. He realizes that the countries have become Lankas and citizens have turned into Ravanas. He has that same raw feeling as he had while entering Lanka, except that it’s much worse this time.
Down in the dumps, His heart melts and flows out as a sound vibration – hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare / hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare. His heart beat, assuming a rhythmic form, makes the world dance. As the world dances and sings in mad abandon, the spiritual world descends and all one can see is bliss, eternity and cognizance, and absolutely nothing else.
Dr. Sahadeva dasa