Indian, Gorakh, Death is Divine Chapter 4: See the unseeable, Question 2

Question 2

THE SECOND QUESTION:

I WANT TO ASK GOD FOR SOMETHING, WHAT SHOULD I ASK?

Asking is not a dignified thing. Don't go to god's door as a beggar. "Without asking the pearl is received, ask and get not a grain." And it is not that no one receives, but one who doesn't ask receives. Those who ask are sent back. Who welcomes beggars? The guards posted at gods door say, move on! People are pestered by beggars.

A Jew died. He had spent his whole life praying. He went to the synagogue and shouted his prayers out loudly. When he went to bed at night he would again shout out his prayers. If his sleep was broken, again he would shout his prayers -- "Listen god!"

In front of him lived an atheist, who never prayed and never went to the temple. The Jew thought in his heart -- he was religious -- he thought, "Child, enjoy your two or four more days of fun and then you will fall into hell, then the score will be settled." And he was happy that, "I will be in heaven. I have done so many prayers, I have earned so much virtue. You will fall into hell. Now enjoy your four days pleasure and delights. Enjoy playing on your flute. But after these four days of moonlight come dark nights."

Thus he thought to himself, doing his prayers more and more loudly. In his prayers he asked heaven for himself and in addition asked hell for his atheist neighbor. By coincidence they both died the same day. The angels came to take them. They took the religious man off towards hell. He screamed loudly, what are you doing? And they took the unreligious man towards heaven. The Jew said, "This is unfair. My whole life it was unfair and now injustice again. I was suffering then, but I kept patient in every way, assuring myself, 'It is nothing, endure it. Just four days of suffering, then heaven.' And you are taking this sensualist off to heaven? Certainly there has been some mistake. You must be carrying orders to deliver me to heaven, look at your letter. Take him instead, you have made a mistake."

But they said, "There is no mistake. If you are too upset we will take you both to meet god."

He said, "Take us. Certainly. It can be decided there."

Coming in front of god he shouted again, it was his old habit. God said, "I am in front of you, now why are you shouting? What do you want?"

He said, "Some mistake has happened, they were supposed to take me to heaven and took this knave. He is a sensualist, and he spent his whole life doing wrong things. He has never prayed. I was always praying, why was I being taken off to hell?"

God said, "Because of your prayers. You have been eating my brains. Should I invite you to stay in heaven now and put my life in danger, in this harassment? This is the fruit of your prayers. This fellow I am inviting because he plays flute, he lives in music and melody. He will bring a little gaiety to heaven. Your staying would not add gaiety, what little gaiety there is here would disappear ."

You want to ask god for something, what will you ask? You will ask for something lower. It is better you don't ask. If you can manage not to ask that is the best. If you must ask then ask only for god, not for anything else. It is the second choice. If the mind won't listen, if it has become the mind's habit to ask, if it's not ready to go without asking, if the thorn goes on pricking, then ask only for god.

Rahim has said,

What will I do with heaven? Or the shade of the wishing tree?

Rahim, even this scrub tree pleases me, when my arm is around the beloved.

What will I do if you take me to your heaven? And what will I do with the shade of the wish fulfilling tree?

Rahim, even this scrub tree pleases me...

The ugly dhak tree is also very pleasing if just one thing should happen --

... when my arm around the beloved.

If my arm is around you and your arm is around me, then heaven has arrived beneath this dhak tree. Then what will I do with your wishing tree and high heaven? Then this is paradise.

So if you have to ask, ask for him. Don't ask for anything else. If you have to ask then ask that one so undeserving be accepted. If you have to ask, ask that you be granted shelter, that your surrender be accepted, not refused. As a lover asks of his beloved, or the beloved asks of her lover.

Go to god's door as a lover, not as a beggar.

Beloved of my heart, everything is an offering at thy feet --

it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!

Open thy own trumpet flower eye

ages and ages heart depth affection

my ache becomes the river Yamuna --

dissolving in a breath of remembrance;

Beloved muse, melody and rhythm an offering to thy song --

it is the sacred moment of resounding songs!

it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!

Today I become a bard

the song of the heartbeat's sigh

the music of the sky -- lost

such an abundant wave!

Beloved of my heart, mind and heart on the jingling of thy anklets

it is the sacred moment of the sun bursting forth!

it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!

Today dreamlike ancient

novel sweet new,

past future including all --

thy bracelet filled with dance;

Gay colorful one, sweet love surrendered to thy union --

it is the sacred moment of creating!

beloved of my heart, everything is an offering at thy feet --

it is the sacred moment of choosing thy lover!

Like a lover putting everything at the feet of his beloved, like a beloved putting everything at the feet of her lover -- make your relation with god like this! Not of give and take, not of strategy and tricks, not of desires and expectations.

Don't ask, prayer is soiled by asking. Let prayer remain free, free from asking. Only then can prayer fly up into the sky. Otherwise the stone of asking is heavy, making prayer fall to the earth, unable to rise to the sky. What will you ask? You mind will ask, will it not? One has to become free of the mind. How will you become free if you satisfy its demands? What will you ask for? Asking too is a thought, is it not? One has to get out of thoughts and how will you get out if you ask for thought to be satisfied?

Don't ask, become silent. In front of him a silent submission is sufficient. Flow over his feet like the waters of the Ganges. Wash his feet with your life, this will be enough. And much will be received, without asking one receives. I am not saying one doesn't receive. But one who doesn't ask receives. One who asks does not receive. One who asks creates difficulties by his asking.

Nevertheless, if you cannot hold back, if you must ask for something then I say, ask for god. Or, if the desire to ask for god does not arise, because it is very difficult for the desire to ask for god to arise. Only one whose love has awakened within can ask for god. But inside most people there is no love. They can ask for money, ask for power, ask for prestige, things like this. They can ask for long life, ask for health. They can only ask for things like this.

If there is love in your heart then ask for god.

If there is meditation then don't ask for anything. Meditation is the highest peak there is. Don't ask for anything. Remain quiet -- silent, speechless, facing him in awe, absorbed in mystery, dissolved, immersed... You will receive much, full godliness will rain upon you. Blessing upon blessing will fill you like flowers to the very brim.

But if you don't have the ability to remain silent right now and some wave or another must arise then ask for god. That is the wave of the lover. This is number two.

And if love has not arisen yet then the third suggestion:

Fill my heart so much with love today

that I become a laughing lamp!

Let my eyes remain lustrous jewels

let not the melody be lost somewhere in the throat

I am afraid in the deep shadow of darkness

my own flame may become more veiled

the border of death is pulling on life

I take each step shaking, staggering

one moment a man child's laugh

then holding back, each eye deceiving

O life! Fill me with such delight today!

that I disperse sweet silvery laughter.

Fill my heart so much with love today

that I become a laughing lamp!

O blossoming earth flowers

don't lift the dark veil from your buds yet,

I laugh with the smiling, wandering sun;

the flowering branch laughs now;

place a blanket of sunshine on the flowers

so the eye of the new buds may smile,

a few moments creating new melody

so lips can sing with a free heart.

Place a drop of honey on my tongue today

so that I can sing and sing and even drink venom!

Fill my heart so much with love today

that I become a laughing lamp!

The first: don't ask for anything. This is meditation, this is being, the state of no-thought. Second: if you ask then ask for god. That you can be accepted, ask for such a kindness. But if this much love has not arisen then just ask that my heart be filled with love:

Fill my heart so much with love today

that I become a laughing lamp!

Place a drop of honey on my tongue today

so that I can sing and sing and even drink venom!

Don't fall below this. If you go below this then prayer has become completely corrupted, it is no longer prayer.

Gorakh

DEATH IS DIVINE

Chapter-4

See the unseeable