Guest column | Lead a life to make the ‘Father of fathers’ proud

Once we realise that Divinity is immanent in us, life becomes a beautiful journey of looking within.

As a child, I thought God was someone who lived in Heaven, a place beyond the seventh sky. At our missionary school, we were told of a place called the Kingdom of God. Our morning prayers at school started with the words, “Our Father in Heaven…” Suffice to say, God was a father figure who lived in Heaven. If we did not commit any sin, we would join Him there on conclusion of our earthly sojourn.

God can be thought of as a father, mother, friend, guide, or guru. I have always looked up to Him as a father. With a father, one can share everything, ask for anything, confide, seek guidance, rant like a child and so much more (HT Photo)

Once we realise that Divinity is immanent in us, life becomes a beautiful journey of looking within. Most of us grow up fearing God, but as we get on in years (if we acquire a spiritual bent of mind) we understand that there is no need to be God-fearing. All that is required is being God-loving. Love is the most potent force in the world, more powerful than hatred, anger, or jealousy. Love here does not refer to the attraction or lust between a man and a woman. It is all about giving, forgiving, caring, and sympathising. Divine love is all about focussing on the other person, as opposed to lust, which is about self-gratification.

Divinity is present in every living organism in the ‘waking state’. At the same time divinity is present in every non-living thing in the ‘sleeping state’. One thing is for sure, it is definitely present in every atom of the universe.

God’s plan is immaculate and everyone takes their own time to comprehend it. We often hear people say, ‘God is nowhere’. If one pauses to comprehend it, one may realise that, ‘God is now here!’ Over the years, I, too, grew to realise that God is here and now. He resides in each one of us. He is present in each form as the formless essence. He is the power by the virtue of which we are alive. The forms in which we worship Him just make it easy for us to connect and visualise.

God can be thought of as a father, mother, friend, guide, or guru. I have always looked up to Him as a father. With a father, one can share everything, ask for anything, confide, seek guidance, rant like a child and so much more. The old saying, ‘Sau daaru te ek gheo, chaalee chache, ek peo’ (what a hundred bottles of medicine or wine cannot do, can be done by desi ghee alone; what 40 uncles put together cannot do for you, a father alone can do), encapsulates the greatness of a father and the magnitude of a father’s presence in our lives. This proverb pertains to the physical father. How many times would this be multiplied for the Divine?

A child would pray every night, “Dear God! I want to grow up, to be like my father.” The father would listen to the innocent prayer and would think to himself each day: ‘Am I as good as my child thinks I am? Oh God, make me such that I can be all that my child thinks I am!’. The child’s prayer made the father introspect and improve. As we pray to our divine Father, let us also emulate Him. God created man in His own likeness, thus let us live our lives to make our Father proud! Happy Father’s Day!

priyatandon65@gmail.com

The writer is a Chandigarh-based freelance contributor