When I take shelter at the feet of God...

[Caveat:A non-culinary post]
An incident which I listened from my mother, when I was 2 years old--My granmother & my mother went to a temple & took me alongwith them. After the visit in the temple, they went to the book sales office & were looking for books. A nun in the temple took me & asked me which book I would like to buy??Obviously, by then I didn't know what to answer, but I pointed my fingers to a book on Holy mother Sarada devi.
After then, few years later, when I grew up, my only *play* used to be worshipping God. I never knew any mantras then, but as if I am worshipping God. My supporter was my grandmother. Eventually, I stopped it, since my mother was not supporting me.
My faith in God was mostly during examinations, though I used to visit a temple nearby my house, quite often, specially during the evening prayers.
In the year 1997, when I was 12 years old, I witnessed a hindu priest worshipping Shri Ramakrishna. That re-initiated my interests in worshipping God. At this point, I must tell you, if you are not aware that members of Hindu religion are divided in four castes, viz., Brahmins- who are supposed to earn through teaching, worshipping [i.e. performing holy acts], Kshatriyas- who are protectors of people & religion, Vaishyas- who are the trading class & Shudras- who are supposed to serve the aforesaid three classes. I belong to the class of the second one, that is Kshatriyas, by birth. So worshipping for us, is a kind of a blasphemic act. But still I continued & I learnt how to do a worship, as a Hindu Brahmin should do. In due course, I installed a puja altar at my home & started worshipping my God on daily basis.
At the age of 14, in 1999, I was initiated with the Holy Mantra of Shri Ramakrishna & since then, I took my shelter at the Holy Feet of God. Amongst my daily readings, scriptures found a revered place, specially Upanishads, Shrimat Bhagavat Gita, Vedas, Puranas, Tantras & many more. But when shall we seek his refuge??A question for all. Mostly people ask God for help, when in distress but when they are out of distress???An ideal man is who is undisturbed during unfortunate times, who is calm during fortunate times, and who is free from anger, fear & passion--such says Gita. Which means, in distress & when not in distress--seek the refuge of God. For me sometimes, its a distant possibility, but nothing is impossible. Its all about practice. Such says Swami Vivekananda. He said, "Be & Make". If you can become, you can also make.
Visiting temples to find the existence has been weird, as God dwells in everyone's heart. One who serves God in the form of Human beings, has served God Indeed--Swami Vivekananda said long back. However, visiting temples, helps in gaining some spiritual power. Any place, which has a number of congregation is obviously blessed as such place has special presence of God--else people would have never visited that place---I strongly believe in this.As of now, I visited few of the important temples of Bengal, few of the 12 most important temples of Lord Shiva, Jagannath temple in Puri, Tirupati temple, Kanyakumari, Shirdi Sai Mandir, Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum, & many more [Cant recollect all now].But now, only aim is to visit the temples in the lap of Himalayas, for centuries...where sages were enlightened, they had vision of God..

On different religions...well, I have deep respect for all religions. You call "water" in so many languages, but you refer to the same water, which is life. Similarly, all rivers lead to the same ocean...so all religion lead to the same God. Vedas proclaim "Ekam Sadvipra vahudha vadanti"--The same lord is many--the learned people say so. Very recently, I have come to Dubai, however, on requests of colleagues, I also attended the Church services. One is of St. Mary's Church, a Roman Catholic Church & another one "Kings Revival Church" a church of Protestants. Fortunately the ruler of Dubai is equal to all religions, so despite it being a Muslim nation, it has got a Hindu Temple & a Gurdwara too.

Change of religion has never beckoned me--for I strongly believe that ones own religion is better than any other religion. Still, people convert--its their prerogative!!

There have been times, when I have gone through worst moments of my life--personal, professional, family, financial & many areas of life. I have never lost faith in God--all I did prayed to God to give me power to face the worst conditions in my life. Sooner or later, my prayers were answered. Sometimes, he has denied my prayers--but later I found out it was for my benefit. Sometimes, we dont know what is good for us & what is bad. We just demand things from good, which are bad for us indeed in the long run, but when we can foresee the outcome, we tend not to ask which will be harmful in longrun. Sometimes I run after something yelling "C'est, C'est, C'est", but later God told me, "No dear son...not this one!!!" & then I give up!!!I can always feel, God is always with me, protecting me from every fall...

A final message--Dont lose faith in God or never give up your prayers. He listens, He sees the truth but waits--He waits for the right time, when to kickstart for you to enjoy the ride... :)