Sharings from a Shopkeeper

CONCEALMENT AND GRACE, The Mystery of Life

When I began to meditate and integrate eastern wisdom into my awareness I thought I should go and have a talk with my grandmother who was about 82 at the time, a talk about God and not being afraid to die or something like that.

I wasn't sure what I was going to say exactly but since my father had been raised an atheist and since neither my parents nor grandparents never, even once, in my life that I was aware of ever went to a church except for a wedding or funeral, I figured that Gramma needed some advice and direction so that when she died - probably soon - she would not be afraid.

I had no sense that people needed to confess their sins so they could get into heaven or anything like that. I just think people should know that they have a soul that leaves their physical body and goes...... well.....that's another big topic.

So I went over to Gramma's for coffee and some of her delicious home-made bread with honey. We chatted about this and that and I was wondering how to bring up my agenda and work it into the conversation when all of a sudden Gramma went on one of her usual rampages about "those people who come to the door and try and convert me." She shouted in her broken English "I tell to them, pointing upwards, God is not some old man with a beard in the sky. Then jabbing at her chest, she said, God is right here in my heart" and she slammed the door on them. Although I knew how Gramma felt about these kinds of people I was a bit stunned as I didn't know Gramma had such a profound understanding of where God might be and what He was like. I decided she knew enough and was prepared enough to die and I just ate my bread and honey and kept quiet about "what I knew."

One thing I have observed is that most people seem to have limited or strange notions of what God might be like - if they have thought about it at all. For example some people think God IS a MAN in the sky somewhere with a beard. Well, personally, I don't like beards so that would not be an attractive God to me - if that counts for anything. Furthermore. the idea of God being a masculine figure is rather disturbing. After all, it is the feminine which brings forth life. So Creatrix not Creator seems more correct, logically. But then there is something amiss with that. (Is sex even involved with creation of the universe??) and so androgynous maybe?... but that conjures up impotence and probably God is Omnipotent. This leads me to the most common big 3 adjectives to the Divine Being - omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. This seems pretty much obvious. Could God be anything less? All powerful, everywhere at all times, and all knowing. (That's a lot of gigabytes.)

I recently had a conversation with someone about God being omnipresent - they hadn't thought about it that way and the concept was overwhelming. Considering how big the universe is, then yes, EVERYWHERE is quite unfathomable. God is sometimes referred to as all-pervasive consciousness. What is consciousness? Smartness? Intelligence? Awareness? Awakeness? We often hear the idea of a loving God - perhaps the most common descriptive word used and yet I hear in people's comments regarding, earthquakes and landslides, diseases, starvation, and war as well as their ideas about growing old, dying and the afterlife that they think God is nasty, mean, vengeful, cruel and has a really good, long memory (probably especially about all the stuff they've done).

There are philosophies in the world which have, in my opinion, really good descriptions of the nature of the highest reality. Anything which describes the Ultimate in any sort of limited way or way which sounds personal or cultural and not universally true seems unlikely to be accurate descriptions/concepts. Religions and cultures come and go. Nations rise and fall. But the underlying substratum of the universe is unchanging. Everyone who experiences That, may describe it in their own way, but what they experience is the same for all.

One of these good descriptions is found in the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism. The nature of God or Shiva is described by a five-fold function - creation, sustenance, destruction or dissolution, concealment and grace. These five things happen all the time over and over and over. The first three everyone experiences all the time. Something comes into being or is created (a person for example), is sustained for awhile (eats, sleeps, does stuff, walks around) and then is destroyed (dies). We could also say that most of us experience the concealment concept of Shiva because God does seem to be invisible or hiding. Grace is something talked about in all religions and spiritual paths. Grace means you wake up to the divine reality. Since God is omnipresent, and grace is an attribute of God then grace is available at all times and in all places. God is not holding out with this grace: it is really up to you when you want to experience this aspect of Shiva, i.e. when you are ready for God's grace, you get it.

The first game that children learn to play is hide-and-go-seek. You hide somewhere where you think you can't be seen or found and wait for the other person to find you - which of course they always do and then everyone, jumps up and down, hugs each other and laughs. Small children think if they can't see you, you can't see them and sometimes they will just close their eyes and think that is good enough, they think they are hiding. This game provides delightful entertainment for everyone.

When I heard the following story I am sure the person said it was a true story which to me makes it all the funnier, but even if it is just a story, it's a good story. There were two mischievous boys in a small town in the southern states where there were a lot of problems - vandalism, thefts, you name it. Whenever anything bad happened in the town everyone knew for certain that it was these two very mischievous young boys. The parents had tried everything and were at their wits end to try and do something about them. One day they heard about this priest who was supposed to be good with correcting the behaviour of wayward boys. They went to him, told him their plight and asked if he thought he could help them. He said yes he would see the boys but to send them separately, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. The next day the parents dropped off the eight year old. He goes into the priest's office and the priest immediately grabs the kid holds him up in the air and shaking him he yells "WHERE IS GOD?" The kid is terrified and trembling. The priest continues shaking him and yelling "WHERE IS GOD, WHERE IS GOD?" The kid finally wriggles free, runs out, runs home, runs into his house and hides in the closet. Awhile later the older brother comes home from school and finally finds his little brother in the closet scared to death. He asks him what happened. The little guy manages to say, " oh brother, have we done it this time, oh man are we in big trouble. God is missing and they think we did it."

Could God be missing? Playing hide-and-go seek? Is God everywhere, including the space of the human heart? Is God loving in the midst of our suffering? Has God forsaken anyone? I believe we all know the absolute truth and are just enjoying the game. A couple having marital difficulties once went to my guru, Baba Muktananda, and looking for advice asked him why if they loved each other so much did they fight all the time. He spontaneously replied, "Because you enjoy it." I have pondered his answer and applied its essence to many situations in life and I think it is amazingly profound. If we didn't like most of the stuff in our lives, we'd change it, including imagining we are ignorant of the true nature of reality.. In the midst of the Cosmic Drama, I think we can open our eyes anytime and realize God is looking right at us all the time. That recognition would change everything.

By Bonnie Castonguay