omkar
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Read "Many Lifes Many Master" Brian L. Weiss
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« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2009, 08:30:37 AM » |
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I am reminded of a beautiful incident. It happened that Edmund Burke, one of the great historians
of England, had a friend who was as famous as Edmund Burke, but as a theologian. Even the king
and queen used to come to listen to his sermons on Sunday, but Edmund Burke never went.
One day the friend asked him, ?This is a little hard on me. I have been expecting that one day you
would come. Even the king, the queen, the whole royal family comes. All the great scholars of the
university come. You, who are my only friend, are the only person... just for courtesy?s sake, you
should come at least once.?
He said, ?It is because of that, that I have not come. But you are insisting. This Sunday I am coming
? be ready.?
He said, ?What do you mean by ?be ready???
He said, ?Everything will be clear when I come into the church.?
The friend prepared a really beautiful sermon. All Christian priests prepare their sermons. This is
something unknown to the mystics ? preparing a sermon. Are you a teacher in a school, a professor
in a college? Don?t you have anything spontaneous to say? At least those who have experienced
should have each moment a spontaneous flow of fresh water, fresh energy. A prepared speech,
however articulate, is basically false because it is not of the heart.
Edmund Burke came. The friend had prepared his best sermon; he wanted to impress Edmund
Burke. He continually watched the face of Edmund Burke ? but no emotions, no feelings, no impact
of what he was saying. He started stuttering, he became nervous: that man was sitting in the front
row like a stone statue.
And then there was the question hour, and the first to stand up was Edmund Burke. He said, ?I
have a question. You said in your speech that a man who is good, virtuous, a believer in God, goes
to heaven. And a man who is not good, not virtuous, does not believe in God, goes into hell, into
eternal fire. My question is,? he said, ?that you have simplified things too much. I want to know: if a
man is good and virtuous and does not believe in God, where does he go? A man who is bad, who
is not virtuous but is a believer in God ? where does he go??
The theologian was at a loss, because any answer would be troublesome. He said, ?Forgive me, I
cannot answer it spontaneously.?
Edmund Burke said, ?I knew it, because the whole speech was not spontaneous at all. You are a
parrot. How much time do you need to look into scriptures and libraries and find out the answer?
You don?t have the answer, and you have the nerve to say so emphatically who goes to hell and who
goes to heaven. And I have asked a simple question... ?
The theologian said, ?I want seven days. Next Sunday I will answer.?
Those seven days were really hellfire. He tried hard, this way and that way, ?But whatever you say
seems to be wrong. A man who does not believe in God but is good, is virtuous ? you cannot send
him to hell. Then what is the need of being good and virtuous? A man who believes in God but is
not good, is not virtuous ? you cannot send him to heaven, because if you send him to heaven then
what is wrong in being a sinner, being bad, not being virtuous? Just believe in God... Then drop all
this nonsense, make it simple: those who believe in God go to heaven and those who don?t believe
in God go to hell. Then why unnecessarily bring these qualities of goodness and virtue??
He was going crazy. He could not sleep and Sunday came ? and it came fast. Time is very nasty.
When you want it to go slowly it goes fast, and when you want it to go fast, it goes very slowly. It
always goes against your wishes.
He went to the church one hour before he had to give the sermon. Still, he had no answer. He
thought he should pray to Jesus Christ: ?Help me. Scriptures are of no help. Libraries... for seven
days I have worked hard, but no answer. In fact, Edmund Burke was right; it was out of courtesy
that he was not coming. I unnecessarily dragged him in and now he has created trouble not only for
me, but for my whole congregation. Now it is up to you to help me.?
So bowing down before the statue of Jesus Christ, putting his head at his feet, he said, ?Help
me because it is not a question of my prestige; your whole religion is at stake. I am simply a
representative.?
He had not slept for seven days, so he fell asleep just at the feet of Jesus Christ. He had a dream,
a dream in which he saw that he was sitting in a train, a very fast train, and he inquired, ?Where is
this train going and where am I going??
They said, ?This train is going to heaven.?
He said, ?This is good. It is better that I should see with my own eyes what kind of people are
there.? So he figured it out: if he can find Socrates there, that means that just goodness, innocence,
sincerity is enough; there is no need for belief in God. ?If Socrates is there, Gautam Buddha is there,
Mahavira is there... but if I don?t find these people there, then I can see what kind of people are
there ? because Adolf Hitler believes in God, Napoleon Bonaparte believes in God, Alexander the
Great believes in God and goes on killing people. Nadirshah believes in God, and his only joy is
to burn people alive. If I find these people there then I am finished; I have to say the truth to the
congregation.?
He reached heaven. He could not believe his eyes. He cleaned his glasses, looked again. The
station was looking just like a wreck, a ruin. There was written ?Paradise? but the word had faded; it
was perhaps millions of years before that somebody had written it. And all over, it was dirty.
Perhaps he thought... has he come to India or what? This is not paradise, maybe Vileparle. What
kind of paradise is this?
But he got down from the train, went to the inquiry office ? there was nobody. He tried to find out.... ?I
want to inquire about a few people, whether they are here ? Gautam Buddha, Socrates, Pythagoras,
Heraclitus, Epicurus, Mahavira, Lao Tzu.?
People said, ?Never heard of them.?
And he saw people... just dry bones, as if all juice had been taken out of them, skeletons. He
inquired, ?Who are these people? And somebody was a great saint ? he had heard the name.
Somebody was Saint Francis, somebody was Ekhart...
He said, ?My God!? And dust, layers of dust on all these people ? and the whole place looked as if
the rains had not come for centuries. Everything was dry, nothing was green ? no flowers, no foliage.
He had never seen such a place. He said, ?My God, if this is paradise, God save the queen! This is
a dangerous place.?
And the saints were there, sitting under trees which were naked, without any leaves. He asked
whether spring comes here or not ? they said, ?Never heard of it before. What do you mean by
spring?? No dance, no song, no joy...
He rushed back to the railway station and inquired whether there was any train going to hell. They
said, ?Just now it is standing on the platform.? He went on the train to see hell, what the situation was
? because if this is the situation in heaven... you cannot conceive what the situation will be in hell!
But as he went closer, the breeze was becoming cooler, fragrant. And when he reached the station
he saw beautiful people ? men, women, children. He said, ?My God, there seems to be something
wrong. This place should be paradise, everybody looks so happy.?
He got down and he asked somebody, ?Have you heard about Socrates, Gautam Buddha,
Bodhidharma, Basho??
They said, ?Those are the people who have changed the place. This place used to be so rotten, but
since those fellows came here, they have changed the whole place. Now everything is green, an
oasis. There is love, there is song, there is music. Wait for the night, when everybody dances, sings;
right now everybody is working in the fields. Look at that man ? he?s Socrates working in the field.?
It was such a shock. He woke up, and it was time for the congregation to arrive. People had started
coming and they were standing around him and watching him: ?What is the matter? Has he fallen
asleep, is he unconscious or what??
Edmund Burke had come to listen to the answer.
The theologian said, ?I tried my hardest but could not find the answer. Just now I have had a dream
? I will relate the dream to you and you can draw your own conclusions. My conclusions are this:
I?m sorry, but what I have been telling you was not right. It is not the question that the good people
or the virtuous people go to heaven; on the contrary, it is just that wherever the virtuous people and
the good people go, they create heaven. And belief in God is irrelevant. It is your individual whim ?
you can believe, you can not believe. It does not matter in the ultimate conclusions of life.
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