MEETING WITH MAHASHAKTI

Is life a blessing or curse?

The morning was sunny. I got up and checked my wrist watch for time. It was eight o'clock. Birds were chirping outside. The aroma of tea was coming from the kitchen. The boy whom I taught last year was standing on his roof waiting for the girl he was in love with.The girl who lived on the third floor of her building would open the window with a textbook in hand.

Sattar had listened to a good deal of my talks about God and my experiences.
After a long time,he shot a question at me:"Is life a blessing or curse?.Answer me in a single sentence. I don't have time for a lengthy lecture..."

"Thank you for asking this question..." Then I said to him,"Life is a blessing because it is a curse..."

"Don't confuse me..." said Sattar.

I said,"I am trying to explain my meaning in the clearest possible way.When life becomes a curse it is full of pathos and disappointments which are the prerequisites for you to explore your divinity.Once you discover your spiritual existence,all your earthly cares will take a back seat for ever.Life will be sweeter than honey and brighter than sunshine."

Sattar guffawed heartily and said,"I like your sense of humour." My wife placed two coffee mugs before us.Sattar said to my wife,"Madam,is it not a strange coincidence that both you and your mister are full of notoriety and humour...?" I fell into bad company and developed a knack for notoriety and humour..." We had a neighbour who was a police officer. She boasted a lot about her courage in tackling dreaded criminals. One day she was sleeping with her window open to us. My wife slipped an artificial toy snake into her bed through the window. As the snake fell on her bed,she sprang to her feet and stormed out of her home and roused us all there..! An old tailor who came downstairs leaving his work, said,"Madam,you are a courageous police officer? Why are you so scared? "

The lady moved earth and heaven to catch the culprit.She told my wife how someone had thrown an artificial snake onto her bed.
Both were exasperatingly critical about the children there.

After this short chatter about humorous incidents,Sattar came back to his demand,
sort of challenging me to explain how suffering was not a curse but a blessing.
I was not in a mood to speak and hence I said,"What do you think must be your goal of life on this planet...?"

"I know that if do good things on earth Allah will give me a place in heaven.I will be provided with all the comforts I have here many many times increased.Life will be full of enjoyments and pleasures. I will be provided with seventy two hoors. Allah is going to shower us with the comforts we have here many more times doubled...."

"But Sir... tell me one thing. Does Allah Who is going to provide you with enchanting hoors and unlimited physical comforts, have any hoors for Himself...?Do you think He is always indulging in physical comforts and sensual pleasures...?Is He so short sighted that He denies Himself sensual pleasures,luxuries and comforts and lives an austere life..Why does He do so?He is surely wicked Who indulges His children with things which He Himself doesn't like to experience. He doesn't have a body.You Muslims say Allah is formless and omnipresent. But why is He making you,His children,assume forms and have limited presence...?He Himself is formless and present everywhere but makes you into a physical structure and gives you pleasures and luxuries in heaven... ?Also gives you seventy two hoors..Remember anything that has a beginning and an end will be destroyed. Allah is clever and knows it well. So He prefers to be formless and doesn't accept anything with shapes and forms. But you are lusting for beautiful hoors whose bodies haven't been touched by anybody.

Sattar was angry. " Remember you great man.!We are all slaves of Allah..Not His children.....!"

I said,"Then who has created man? "

Sattar had no answer. He left the house muttering to himself.

I wanted to convince Sattar of the bare truth that when you realise the Almighty,you experience such intense ecstasy and profound delight that you begin to sing and dance unawares.Even seventy two thousand hoors can't give you such powerful excitement and endless happiness one might derive from sex...!Oh Lord I wish I were capable enough to tell men that God can give you happiness unique.Not to be found from any other source on this planet or anywhere else.

It is very very hard to make someone feel how it feels when the Lord is present within your body. My wife and I discussed God and spirituality for some time. I asked her if she was reproachful of me since I meditated for long hours. She said,"Life is just a water bubble. Wasting time in pursuit of pleasures is unwise. I am rather happy that you are doing all this.As your wife I will have my share of what you are earning now.I said to her,"What I have acquired till today is not enough.When I was meditating last evening I had a vision. It came from our Guruji. I was shaking a tree laden with fruit. Not a single fruit was falling to the ground. I was disappointed with me."

She was hoping to hear more of it. I said,"At that time a voice from within me said I needed some more spiritual strength to shake the tree more violently for the fruit to fall to the ground."

"How can you acquire more spiritual strength? "

"I have to meditate for still longer. Minimum three or four hours..."

I said to her,"Yesterday as I was meditating I experienced a kind of peaceful mental equilibrium and I wanted to sit in meditation for one more hour. But I had to make questions for a class 12 girl.In the mornings I have to teach. After that I take breakfast and the body becomes heavy..."