HH SHRI NATHJI DEFENDER OF ALL FAITHS

 We have heard of people defending their own faiths, but we have never heard of someone defending ALL FAITHS of the world as if they were his own.

Yes, there was Shri Nathji defending the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Sikhs etc, all of whom he considered to belong to him, and all of whom he defended with equal faith.

When he was visiting the Colosseum at Rome, the ruins of the amphitheater in which the Romans of that age through the early Christians to the lions, he stood there silently in homage to those who had suffered and died for their faith.

When someone said to Shri Nathji:

"These believers in Christ were thrown to the lions, but he did not come to save them!"

Shri Nathji replied:

"He had already saved them. That is why they had the courage to march into the lions."

SORROWS OF THE WORLD

HH Shri Nathji had a heart that wept for the sorrows of the world, a heart that was so delicate that it broke each time that anyone's heart was broken. The sorrows of the world had become his sorrows.

He often quoted this verse in English:

"They say my verse is sad,
It is quite natural,
For it contains the infinity of sorrow,
Not mine, but man's"

He would also say:

"This world is full of sorrow and misery. The sorrows of the world are like the long and dark night of the winter, and the happiness that man experiences in this night, is like the small twinkling light of the stars.."

"Since there is already so much sorrow in the world, let us not add to this sorrow by intolerance and hatred and wars, on the contrary let us try to light up the darkness of this sorrow with the lamps of love and peace, which are the panacea of all ills.."

INTRODUCING GOD

When I hear people talking about God and saying, "God says this! God wants that!" I often wonder how they know how God thinks and what He wants.

Let us try to introduce a friend to a friend.

What will we say?

"This is my friend, Tom! He is an excellent guitarist and vocalist! He is a wonderful human being! He has a degree in Physics from Colorado University, is married and has three children. I know him from the past ten years!"

You can only introduce him to the extent that you know about him. Probably his wife will introduce him better and his children and fellow musicians will introduce him in their own way.

But do you know what he is thinking at any instant of time? Can you tell everything that he wants in life? Can you even tell what he is thinking when he is standing before you?"

No. Only he knows what he is, deep down within himself. Only Tom can completely introduce himself in his totality to anyone.

And even Tom cannot introduce himself in his totality -- even he does not know what new thoughts are going to enter his mind the next moment or the next day or in the future. No even Tom cannot introduce his own self.

Can you introduce yourself fully? No. Even you do not know what thought is going to enter within you the next moment. Even the bravest of men have been known to run with fear at the sight of a tiger come running after them. No one knows how he will behave in any particular situation. Will he become chivalrous and help others or run for his own life? Even he would not know.

When you go to sleep you have no control over yourself in your dreams- it is the dream that seems to guide your thoughts and movements. There are often times when a tiger is chasing you and you find that you cannot run, your legs are not working under you. There are times when you dream of falling off a cliff.

So how flimsy we are in introducing our own selves. How filmsy we are in introducing any other person in life.

And just imagine our bravado in introducing God-- who is Infinite, Absolute Knowledge, All Knowing, All powerful, Omniscient, Omnipresent. In fact he is beyond our imagination!!

Yet, everyone goes around introducing God to everyone else as if he is an expert on God. He would not be able to introduce Physics to anyone, but here he is introducing the Creator of Physics and all of Knowledge to everyone!!

Only a Ph.D in Physics can introduce a Ph.D like him, and even then not in totality. How can a child in kindergarten introduce a Ph.D in Physics?

How then can puny man with such a limited knowledge understand God in his fullest extent - and introduce Him to anyone!!

But he can get away with it-- since God is silent and does not come down to contradict anything that anyone says about him. Imagine the voice of God thundering down from the skies saying to puny

man:

"STOP! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I HAVE HAD ABOUT ALL I COULD TAKE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!"

The fact is that only God in His fulness can introduce God.

HH SHRI NATHJI EXPLAINS REINCARNATION

HH Shri Nathji was renowned for the manner in which he could explain complex spiritual philosophy themes with simple examples.

This is how he explained re-incarnation.

Imagine an author writing a story. He writes and writes until he has used up one pen. He puts away that pen and takes up another pen, and he continues writing until even that pen is used. Then he takes up a third pen and continues the writing of the prose. He goes on changing pens, taking up newer ones until all the chapters in his story are complete.

And when the prose is complete, he puts down the last pen and rests.

This is reincarnation. The soul takes up one body after another discarding one body and taking up another until at last the prose of its life is complete - and then it rests eternally in salvation, never to take birth again upon this earth or anywhere else in the Universe where there is life.

This is the story of the evolution of the human soul as it passes through numerous experiences in the numerous births and lives with numerous people all over the globe, passing through sorrows and joys, going forwards sometimes and sliding backwards sometimes in this process of evolution.

Ultimately going towards a better and better understanding of the meaning of human existence - and knowing that Love is the ultimate experience in life and that God is the Fountainhead of Love, towards whom the human soul had been evolving, and who is the Final Attraction which is pulling all souls towards itself.

The essence of reincarnation lies in the purification of the human soul -- when it passes through hundreds and thousands of births, going through sorrows and sufferings, joys and happiness, love and wars, it finally becomes purified of all sins, all faults.

And in that pure state it finally enters into the Kingdom of God and rests there forever to be with the Source, God, from which the soul had come.

Indeed when worldly things are so difficult to attain how much more difficult would reaching the Kingdom of God be! And how great the qualification required for it!

One lifetime is not even enough to acquire a mastery of playing the violin! One life time is not even enough to master any science or any subject in the world, so how much more difficult would it be for the soul to learn the meaning of life in one life only. Therein lies the reason for reincarnation.

It is like studying in a college or school. Going to higher and higher classes after passing many tests. And remaining in the same class if one fails! And ultimately passing out of the college with a degree.

Why do we go to the college? Only to pass out of it and to leave it forever. We dont go to a college to keep studying forever or to remain in the college forever.

In a like manner the soul passes through many trials and tribulations and many tests in successive lives until it has passed out with perfect marks, and then joins God and becomes One with Him.

But God may, in His intense Love and Mercy, free man of the bondage of births and deaths and reincarnation and bring him to himself after purifying him of all his sins due to his faith and devotion in God and his righteousness in the world.

Wealth and status and power are no qualifications at all. What are valued as virtues in the Kingdom of God are love and peace, humility, selflessness, forgiveness, service, compassion for humanity, faith and devotion and all that is noble and good.

If one has all these virtues then he will surely reach God in the end even if he has been an atheist in life. He will pass out of the College of Reincarnation with flying marks and never return.

REMEMBERING CHARLES DICKENS

REMEMBERING CHARLES DICKENS

IN HIS FAMOUS BOOK,

"A TALE OF TWO CITIES"

These two quotations from Charles Dickens have remained with me ever since the days when I studied Charles Dickens for my course in English Literature in High School in India.

Men like Dickens represented the conscience of the people of his time. Without being religious he was an intensely spiritual soul.

Here are his quotes in the above book:

"The greatest desire that I have in this world is to forget that I belong to it. It has no place in it for me, nor I for it!"

These were the words of an apparent drunk and wayward Sidney Carton who was shunned by the so called "good" folk of his time, but who was really a very good soul at heart.

When he opted to die in place of his double, Charles Darnay, who was also his rival in love, these were his words on his way to the guillotine to be beheaded in place of his friend:

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.

It is a far, far better place that I go to, than I have ever known."

A MESSAGE TO BIGOTS

Dear Bigoted Friends!

I know you are the best and your faith is the best, so be happy in that belief and thank God for showing you the best and only truthful path in the world.

Pray to God that he give similar insight to the poor pagans, unbelievers and heathens who are not fortunate enough to have been granted your faith.

But please remember this humble advice from me, who believes in all faiths.

1. You love your family, you have lived with your family all your lives, the very thought of them fills you with love, you cannot be without them, your dear children your parents , husband or wife. Yes, they mean everything to you. They are your very life.

2. Now look at your neighbour. He has lived with his family all his life. The very thought of his family and loved ones fills him with love. He cannot be without his dear ones, his children, his parents, husband wife. Yes, they mean everything to him. They are his very life.

3. Be thankful to God for giving you such a beautiful family.

4. BUT PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT TELL YOUR NEIGHBOUR THAT THE FAMILY HE HAS LOVED ALL HIS LIFE IS UGLY, THAT THEY ARE FALSE THEY ARE UNTRUTHFUL, THEY ARE NOT AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOUR FAMILY, HIS PARENTS ARE FAKE, HIS CHILDREN ARE FALSE, HIS LOVED ONES ARE ALL MEANINGLESS AND HE IS GOING TO GO TO HELL FOR LOVING THEM.

PLEASE DONT TELL HIM TO LEAVE HIS FAMILY AND TO ACCEPT YOUR FAMILY AS HIS OWN.

REMEMBER HE LOVES HIS FAMILY AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE YOURS.

REMEMBER HE LOVES HIS FAITH, HIS GOD, AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE YOURS.

REMEMBER HE FINDS ABSOLUTE PEACE AND CONTENTMENT IN HIS OWN FAITH AND SALVATION AS MUCH AS YOU FIND IN YOURS.

JUST LOOK AT THE FACES OF THOSE DEVOTED ONES PRAYING, SINGING HYMNS, LOST IN RAPTURES, EYES CLOSED IN COMMUNICATION WITH THEIR GOD, TEARS FLOWING FROM THEIR EYES, ASSURED OF DIVINE HELP IN LIFE AND SALVATION IN DEATH. HOW MUCH ALIKE TO WHAT YOU FEEL IN YOUR FAITH.

ABOVE ALL REMEMBER THAT IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE IN YOUR FAITH THEN YOUR FAITH DOES NOT TEACH YOU TO DERIDE ANYONE ELSE'S FAITH. IT TEACHES YOU TO LOVE EVEN YOUR ENEMIES.

A MAN WHO HATES THE FAITHS OF OTHERS DOES NOT IN FACT UNDERSTAND HIS OWN FAITH.

AND REMEMBER ABOVE ALL THAT YOUR GOD IS WATCHING ALL YOUR ACTIONS. DONT DO THINGS IN HIS NAME WHICH HE WOULD NEVER WANT.

HOW MUCH MATERIAL WEALTH?

HOW MUCH MATERIAL WEALTH?

A Maharaja used to come to see my father HH Shri Nathji, and he would always pray for some material gains in life.

One day he said to HH Shri Nathji:

"Due to the blessings you endowed upon me I have flourished in life. I am presently making one crore rupees ( 10 million) per month. But I have come to ask you now to bless me so that I may make 2 crores per month!"

And

Shri Nathji said to him: "Tell me first how many meals a day do you eat?"

"Oh, just 3 meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner!"

"This is what you eat when you are earning 1 crore per month.
Tell me, will you eat 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners, when you make 2 crores per month? Will you eat double the amount of food you eat when your income is doubled?"

"No, Sire, that would spoil my stomach!"

And Shri Nathji added: " No matter if you earn the entire wealth of the world you can only eat one meal at a time, take only one piece of bread at a time. Your body has a limited capacity for enjoyment and as soon as that capacity is reached it is saturated and can enjoy no more!"

"Man whose stomach is satiated by a single piece of bread,
Runs day and night in pursuit of the wealth of the world"

"A man had an empty glass with him and was thirsty. He refused a jug saying that it was too little, he refused a well saying that it was too little, he refused a pond saying that it was too little, and even a river of water. Then someone showed him the ocean.

"'At last! An infinity of water!' the man said with joy.

"He dipped his empty glass into the ocean and found that the glass could contain no more than its capacity, which had been enough to satiate his thirst in the first place."