What we find in our self is what we will find in others!

I was not feeling very well. So went to meet our doctor. While waiting in the clinic, I chanced upon a poster that most hospitals display. It was about a hospital in Dieunne (Dijon) run by Sisters of St Martha. The Sisters have been serving the sick from 1443 AD. Wow! What dedication, I said to myself and decided to check upon the same in the net. What I found on the net really set me thinking about life and faith.

Martha, along with her sister Mary and brother Lazarus lived in Bethany, a village about two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus was fond of the family and came to visit them thrice. The first time when Jesus arrived, Martha readily welcomed him in and immediately set about preparing food for Christ. To her dismay She found her sister Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him, instead of helping her. So she complained to Jesus. Jesus smiled and said:

You worry about so many things while she is doing what one must!

Martha, realizing the true implication of what Jesus said, remained devoted to him. During his later visit, she even left the grieving household to listen to him. Later, she went to Avignon (Tarascon), where legend has it that she flayed a dragon and became the patron saint of hospitality.

In many ways Martha reflects the normal humans that we are, always worried about something or other. If the past does not worry us, then it is our future that bugs us. If it is not our wife, then it is the children. If it is not the boss, then it is some colleague. If it is not an enemy, then it is our friends. In the constant process of these worries, there is only one thing that we seem to forget – to have faith and to live today.

Faith is not about God. It is about one’s self. When we do not have faith in our self, how can we ever have faith in God?

What we find in our self is what we will find in others!

If we do not believe this all we have to do is look around.

There are millions of ‘faithful’ we see who go to their temples, masjids and churches without fail.

Just across the fence, we also see thousands of non-believers and atheists.

Both seem to have the same amount of joy and sorrow mixed in their cups.

Is there a case then to believe that there is a God for only those who believe? For the rest who do not, there is a NO-GOD?

Much after the great war, the story goes in Mahabharatha, Kunthi the mother of Pandavas, called the famous charioteer, Vidhur, and said:

Go to Dwaraka and ask Sri Krishna to come here. It has been a while since I have seen him.

So, Vidhur meets Sri Krishna, who readily accepts the invitation.

As the chariot rolled, Krishna noticed that Vidhur was rather silent and withdrawn. When queried, Vidhur simply replied:

Lord, you are omniscient and I need not elaborate.

My dear Vidhur, if there is something that you want to know, then you must ask!

So be it, Lord, then. You knew that brothers would kill brothers and millions would perish on the battlefield. You being the Lord God could have prevented this. All you had to do was to wish it that way and the Kaurava and Pandava clan would have lived happily ever after. Instead you let them kill each other. Why?

Krishna smiled. Tell me Vidhur, what did the brothers ask me when they came to see me before the war?

Well, Duryodhana who came first asked for your army to fight on his side and Arjuna who came later asked for you to be his charioteer.

Did they get what they wanted?

Yes, my Lord. Duryodhana believed that he will win the war, with the army on his side. Arjuna believed that he will win the war with you on his side. Eventually, Arjuna won, for you the Lord God was with him.

Sri Krishna laughed. Vidhur you seem to have missed something.

Insightful and intelligent that Vidhur was, he understood. Yes, my Lord, none of the brothers believed that they could live together in peace. Though both of them came to you, all they believed was mutual destruction. That is what they got!

So, my dear Vidhur, it is not what I want that you will get. It is what you desire from the core of your heart that you will get. Have faith!

Have faith. What we find in our self is what we will find in others!