To search for God is to search for purpose, to find God is to find meaning in the search." - Anonymous
In our own unique ways, we are all on a journey, a profound quest to find something greater than ourselves. Some might call it the pursuit of inner peace, the longing for tranquility amid life's storms, or the striving for excellence and beauty, both within ourselves and in our surroundings. However, at its core, this pursuit is a search for something divine, something we often refer to as God.
I think every time we seek peace over turbulence, we are searching for God.
When we choose calm over anxiety, we are searching for God.
Whenever we reach for excellence and beauty within ourselves or our environment, we are seeking God.
Today, I want to share a beautiful passage that I stumbled upon by sheer chance. It's a treasure penned by the enlightened spiritual teacher, Rabindranath Tagore. His words resonate deeply with the essence of our relentless search for God.
He says, I have been seeking and searching for God for as long as I can remember, for many, many lives from the very beginning of existence.
Once in a while, I've seen him by the side of a faraway star and I have rejoiced and danced that the distance, although great, is not impossible to reach. And I have traveled and reached to the star. But by the time I reached the star, God had moved to another star and it has been going on for centuries. The challenge is so great that I go on hoping against hope that I find him.
I'm so absorbed in the search. The very search is so intriguing, so mysterious, so enchanting that God has become almost an excuse. The search has become like the goal itself. And to my surprise, one day I reached a house in a faraway star with a small sign in front of it saying,
‘This is the house of God’
My joy knew no bounds. So finally I have arrived, I said.
I rushed up the steps, many steps that led to the door of the house. But as I was coming closer and closer to the door, a fear suddenly appeared in my heart.
As I was going to knock, I became paralyzed with a fear that I had never known, never thought, never dreamt of. And the fear was, if this house is certainly the house of God, then what will I do after I have found him?
Now searching for God has become my very life. To have found him will be equivalent to committing suicide. And what am I going to do with him? I had never thought of all these things before. I should have thought before I started the search.
What am I going to do with God?
Then I took my shoes in my hands and silently and very slowly stepped back, afraid that God may hear the noise and may open the door and say, where are you going? I'm here, come in. And as I reached the steps, I ran as I have never run before.
And since then, I have again begun searching for God, looking for him in every direction and avoiding the house where he lives. Now I know ‘that house’ has to be avoided. And I continue the search, enjoy the very journey and the pilgrimage.
Tagore's words from 'Gitanjali' serve as a great reminder that the pursuit of God is an ongoing journey, not a finite destination. It urges us to appreciate the profoundness of our search and to relish the pilgrimage.
So, as you go about your day, take a moment to reflect on this eternal quest, this seeking within us, and the beauty it brings to our lives.
Thank you for joining me in this contemplative journey!
Until next time…
Cheers!
Ritu Malhotra
ritulifecoach@gmail.com
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