God, Life and Death

God

Each one of us has a very personal impression/feeling/understanding and connect with God. No two people have the same image of God. Based on our life and learning, we customize our impression of God giving him qualities, shape and form. Each one of us has our own personal God. When it comes to talking about God and his existence, we human beings are like the Seven blind men, touching and feeling an Elephant. Nothing is reality, everything is almost a perception. This is quite contradictory. If God is present everywhere, how can one capture his impression and store him in our memory? This is because human being experience life through our sense organs. And everything has to be captured through the sense organs in stored in our brain/memory. And it is a common fact that different people store images differently in their brain. Hence my idea of a personalized God.
 
Excuse me saying so, but there are many who have no connect with God and would care less about his existence. God bless them too!!

For me God is very important and integral part of my existence and what I am. Like I have stated about, God is one side of the Triangle of my life. How do I relate with God? Does God have a Shape, a Form, a Colour, a Dimension? May be. May be not. I don't know. And care less about. The most important aspect of my relationship with God is that God is someone I talk to very often and share all my thoughts with. Challenges and issues of my life which I might not want to share with anyone else. In a way I talk to God and discuss with him what is happening in my life and seek solutions from him. I often talk to God. And yes, the beauty of this relationship is such that God talks back to me. God listens to me patiently and answers all my queries and concerns.  So in a way God is my Friend/Brother and confider.

During turbulent times when things are not going right and I am low, worried and have given up, I seek motivation, wisdom and support from God. Till date he has never failed me. God guides me and ensures I get all the required resources and support. So In a way God is like my Parents (Father/Mother). Always there for me and encouraging me. Looking at me but not interfering until I seek help. His hand is always there on me. To hold me anytime that I may fall. Like my Parents.

There are times when I feel alienated, unloved and lonely. This mainly happens due to my own attitude and negativity. When I hurt those around me and they turn against me, I feel lonely and unhappy. These are the times when I love God the most and he in turn loves me and forgives me. So I share a loving relationship with God. I love God and he in turn loves me. Just the way I love my Husband and my Son.

There are times when I want to connect with my inner self. Such as this time when I am penning my blog. He glides me through and helps me find my higher self. My inner self. He guides me to himself. To God. God helps me find the God within myself. So in a way God is my Teacher/Guru. He helps me find the purpose of my existence. He helps me tune in with nature. God helps me find God! God helps me find God in others.

For me, God is all around me and his reflection I see in all my relationships. This way there is no special occasion when I look for God. There is no special ritual required to be performed to meet him and see him and feel him. There is no special place I have to visit to feel God and sense his presence. My relationship with God/ Experiencing God is Free of/Independent of Festivals/Rituals/Offerings/Days/Months.

All through my life and various stages of life, my relationship with God keeps changing. In turn God too keeps changing his shapes and forms. I see him as my Parents when I am sick and down, I see him as my Husband/Son when I seek love, I see him as a Friend when I seek caring and advice, I see him as a Teacher/Guru when I want to find myself.

God is within me/us, So God is like me/us as he created me/us in his image. But we are his image only when we shed our negative attributes which harm other beings and think about the good of the World and all the beings in the World. Of which we are capable. 

My learning through my faith in God has been and I am sharing it here....don't wait to be told when to reach out to God, where to reach out to God and how to reach out to God. Where anger and hatred ends, where selfishness and materialism ends, where lies and dishonesty ends, where human knowledge ends...God is that starting point. From there on till infinity. 
 
Like I had read somewhere and strongly believe in it, " At the end of life and in death, it is between me and God."

Violence in Kashmir, what an Indian is feeling right now.

Kashmir is fast becoming a state of concern not only for the Government and security forces, but for the common Indian too. When there is disturbance in a house, all the members in the family get affected. What one sees on the Television, images of angry people in the valley out on the streets, shouting anti-India slogans is disturbing. Why have people in valley given up their day to day life, livelihood and are so methodically singing this tune of "Freedom"?

Kashmiri's were always known for their friendly and gentle nature. Mainly because for a long time tourism has been the main source of income for these beautiful and friendly people. Images of the beautiful Dal Lake and Shikara's, Flowers and Apples, Snow covered mountains, hot Kahwa, and beautiful women singing folk songs, where has all that beauty gone? Kashmir and its beauty has been immortalized in the Hindi Cinema so often. Where has the heaven on earth called Kashmir gone? How did we loose that state?

Suddenly when I see anger and hatred on the faces of people in the valley, it comes as a surprise and angers me too. Why are they doing this? The degree of damage the Kashmiri's are causing to their state (yes, they are a state and a part of Indian Republic how much ever they dare to deny or what so ever name Pakistan/China/US wants to name them) will take many many years of hard work to undo.  Yes, may be people who are not living in Kashmir don't understand their problems. But then there is always scope for a dialogue.

To Indians living outside Kashmir it is very evident, that the people of Kashmir are innocent and gullible. They are being mislead by their own local self proclaimed leaders and those across the border.

War and anger has caused the collapse of so many nations worldwide. Afghanistan is struggling, Nepal is struggling, Sri Lank is at an internal war. What will the Kashmiri's gain from this bloodshed and freedom? Freedom from what? From your motherland? freedom to do what? And become what? Who knows Kashmir and what will happen to an independent Kashmir. It will be a matter of time before it is gobbled up by the Dragon or taken over by the Afghan Taliban. Kashmir is safe as long as it is under the protection of the vast Indian state and a strong capable Indian army. Why don't the people of Kashmir understand this. Or is it that they have been completely blinded and brain washed to the extent that they cant see the danger in independence?

Also, all this bloodshed and fighting. Who is benefiting if any one. None. Indian government is loosing out huge sum of money each year in peace keeping. And the people who are loosing out the most are the Kashmiri's themselves. They are loosing their lives, near and dear one's, they are loosing their reputation, they are loosing their livelihood and most important they are loosing trust and respect as a state from rest of India.Give it some more time and if they continue this anti-India campaign, Rest of India too will loose its patience with Kashmir.

It is but evident that Kashmir is a political issue (If anyone knows what are the issues) which needs a political solution. What are the issues and what is the solution, only the ruling government can decide. Common man in the valley must/should stay out of this and concentrate on getting his life back to normal.  People of Kashmir must revert back to their true nature, which is friendly and gentle. Please stop throwing stones and shouting anti-national slogans. Cooperate with the security forces to bring peace back to the valley instead of competing and fighting with the armed forces. Your victory lies in peace and amicable relationship with India.Indian/ Indian government/Indian security forces does not wish to kill Kashmiri youth. A nation that practices the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, opening fore on its own brethren does not happen easy. Keeping peace in Kashmir is fast becoming a head ace for the armed forces. Their Jawans too are getting killed. And for what? Protecting a state which is Indian and belongs to India.

Kashmir is India and will always remain so. Dialogue can happen in this periphery. Leave the neighbors out of this. It is our internal matter and others have NO say in this.

God created heaven on this earth and gifted it to the people of Kashmir. Please, if you have faith in god and respect for god, preserve his heaven and don't turn it into hell. People of Kashmir, keep peace and be happy. God bless you all.