A Muslim, Christian & Hindu at the Doorstep of God

Once there were three men who were in the search of God. All three were very good friends. One of them was a Hindu, while another one was a Muslim and the third one was a Christian. Hindu used to go to the temple & used to worship his God by doing Puja, Mantra Jaap etc. daily. Similarly the Muslim also used to go to the Mosque & used to do his Namaaz daily, four times a day. Christian too was a very poise man & used to go to the church daily in the morning & evening. He never missed any day when he never prayed to God asking to forgive him if he has done anything wrong in his life.

Days, months & years passed by & these three friends followed continuously, this routine of theirs without fail. They were happy that they were daily praying to their God & living a very poise life. One day while they were discussing the religious matters, Hindu asked the others two, whether they have seen their God. To this they replied that though they are worshipping their God in their own way daily but all these are only prayers to their God & they have never seen their God. Same question Muslim & the Christian asked the Hindu to which he too gave the same answer that though he is worshipping his God with his rituals daily but all these are only age old rituals, prayers & Mantra Jaap etc. & he too has never seen the God.

After this discussion all the three decided that they should do something by which they are able to see the God. They had heard about a wise man who was a real seer & mystic & people used to say that he is the real learned man & he has seen the God. They went to that learned man & showed their respect to him & asked him to train them in his own way so that they were able to see the God just like he has seen.

All three became his disciples. The learned man told the three that doing daily worship to God is good but that can give a person just peace of mind. In this way a person cannot see the God. He told the three that God is just sitting in their heart & the doorstep to the way to God is just between their eyebrows & just above the nose. This is the doorstep of God & if a person meditates regularly while closing his eyes & fixing the mind at that point then they can see the light of God inside their self only.

The three started meditating at the point between their eyebrows daily & their meditation went on deep & strong day by day. One day they saw the divine light within their body. That light was so peaceful & full of bliss. Now they were able to talk daily to God while in meditation. So what the three could not achieve while doing daily rituals of their religions, they were easily able to achieve just by meditating & finding the God within their body only. In Bhagwat Gita also God clearly tells that:

"ishvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese ’rjuna tishthati......

The Lord / Supreme God resides in the heart of all beings....O Arjuna

Antaryami - God is in Your Heart

In your hectic day to day life, you are very busy with your work & home life. You have not gone to the temple for quite some time. You used to visit the temple earlier routinely but now you are missing that very badly. You plan to visit the temple today evening. You want to see your revered God once again in the temple. You go to the temple in the evening & feel happy to be back in the temple once again. But Lo! when you come before your revered God, You close your eyes. Why have you closed your eyes when your revered God is in front of you? You were so eager to see your God but now why have you closed your eyes & started praying in your mind? Don't you want to see the face of your God with open eyes who is there in front of you?

Why do people close their eyes & start praying with closed eyes when they are in front of their revered God in the temple or church? Simple answer to this is that they feel God much closer to their heart inside themself than in the standstill figure or statue in the temple or church. Yes, God is there in your heart who is sitting silently over there watching you & your actions. This aspect of God is called "Antaryami".

"Antaryami means the one who can observe & know every thing of your heart without you being explaining anything to Him. So God is called Antaryami as we need not explain to Him about any of our problems. In this aspect He is Antaryami & He knows what we want."

Below verses of Bhagwat Gita explain this aspect of God only:

"jyotisam api taj jyotis
tamasah param ucyate
jnanam jneyam jnana-gamyam
hridi sarvasya visthitam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Thirteen verse 18)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, He is the source of light in all luminous objects. He is beyond the darkness of matter and is un-manifested. He is knowledge, He is the object of knowledge, and He is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s heart."

"ishvarah sarva-bhutanam
hrd-dese ’rjuna tishthati
bhramayan sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eighteen verse 61)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, The Lord / Supreme God dwells in the heart of all beings, who are mounted on the automation of this body, causing them by His illusive power of material energy to revolve (according to their actions) and is directing the wanderings of all living entities."

So when God is there in your heart in "Antaryami" aspect then you can always find daily some time from your daily routine & can pray to Him in your home only, while closing your eyes, sitting in a lonely peaceful place. Daily praying to Him like this shall make you more peaceful & shall make you feel more closer to God. A deer who is having the Kasturi (Musk) in his body only, searches for the cause of fragrance all over there in the wild, while that sweet fragrance is coming from the inside of his body only. Same is the case with us that we are searching for the God outside ourselves while He is sitting in our heart only.