The Universal Truth

  

We always think that the truth we know is the universal truth but what if the truth on which you were living was a complete lie.

***

A monk was walking through the roadside. It was past noon, the screeching heat and the pollution on the road didn’t help either. The monk's only option was to take a lift and reach the shrine quickly but nothing came to help him. After walking half a mile, a bus driver stopped the bus and asked him if he wants to ride. The monk happily accepted the help and continued his journey.

 

The driver introduced himself as Sam Rodriguez and the monk smiled at him whenever he would ask something. Monk would happily reply to him and would thank him for the offer. Sam asked him out of nowhere “If you don’t mind, what is the reason that made you think to become a monk”.

To this monk smiled and replied, “We all are one, I always believed since childhood that the universal truth is God and all other things are materialistic which ruins our devotion towards the Almighty”. Sam was perplexed by the answer as he was an atheist, had different thinking than the monk. “If you consider worshipping god by leaving all the materialistic things is the true form of devotion than what about the farmers who work hard in the field and provide food for all the hungry people, isn’t it a true service to serve other people. That is the children of God”.

 

Monk didn’t fear to answer the question but rather was curious and was excited to answer all his questions. He replied, “Yes, that’s absolutely true. Farmer is doing the deed what he is meant to do. His only purpose of life is to serve people and be helpful by providing food as much as he can”.

 

Sam understood what the Monk is trying to say and nodded his head whenever he would listen to the Monk’s words. He waited for a moment to completely soak Monk’s words into his mind and grew curious to ask one more question,

 “ if the farmer’s purpose of life was to serve other people, wouldn’t that mean we all have a purpose of serving God’s children that is humans, other living beings and if that’s the truth, being monk you do not serve people at all but rather it is selfish of you to think about yourself and leave all materialism behind by thinking nothing should come in between to serve God”, he further said adding “According to me, all this materialism is part of our living and our purpose, God wants human to use it to our benefit and enjoy your life, what do you think in this matter.”

 Monk contemplated for a minute, he started thinking from his point of view and was surprised by how Sam could be right in his own way so he replied after pondering over it for a very long time and thoughtfully answered his question,

 “Yes, you are right in your own way. But I strongly believe that materialism loses the value of life, money and other attraction makes us lose our morality and belief system and stray away from God, without thinking we go closer to the greed than worshipping God. We should be thankful for our life and be humble and grateful in our attitude”.

Sam agreed by saying “That’s true I agree with you, but please do tell me if materialism was such bad and harmful for our moral beliefs why is it so helpful for life if there were no advances in medical or internet

How was it possible to save a human life? If you ask me, I would consider doctors as God rather than an imaginary model of truth. We suffer through our life but other people help us to motivate and be confident again.  Is it wrong to believe that be kind and helpful to people not because it’s the purpose of our life but that deed would help someone and that action of helping would make someone happy?”

This baffled the Monk maybe his novice understanding of religion and God could not help him to reply or defend himself against such strong points. He tried to come up with an answer but couldn’t say anything.

“Here you go, your shrine is here, have a good day ahead, sir”. Sam greeted the Monk and thanked him for such wonderful conversation along the way.

 

***

After entering the shrine, Monk went straight ahead to his master and discussed all the conversation he had with Sam, to this the Master replied to him “Sam, like every other human, was a form of God and he came into your life to make you understand that materialism is not different or we should leave every materialistic thing to reach closer to God. But rather everything on this earth is to be treated with respect and consideration as a form of God coming to you and helping you in every way. The universal truth, which we always believed, that God exists or help only those who leave everything for Him is completely wrong. Rather, God is in everything and should be treated with most respect in every way possible.

This made the Monk rethink his principles and understand the true meaning of religion and spirituality.

With an open mind, he accepted that his belief system before meeting Sam was completely wrong and should be improvised and rethink about what the master said to him. He was grateful and happy to meet Sam who changed his point of view and respected him for all the guidance he provided during the travel.

In the end, this world is created by the Almighty, He is in everything and everyone, respecting each and every living being on this planet is what we should do and help those in need and be courageous whenever an obstacle make you stop reaching your goal.