The Search for God

Fig 1: the famous Musk Deer

Hey!! Look at that, the famous Musk Deer!! I said to my husband as we both were on a tour to NandaDevi National park, in Uttarakhand, India. Musk deer is famous and an endangered species for its Musk (Musk is a famously fragrant thing found in a male musk deer and it is called “Kasturi” in Hindi language). It is said that the Musk deer (Kasturi Hiran in Hindi) keeps going places in search of the source of this fragrance and never realizes that he actually does not need to search for it outside because the source of the fragrance is within him. Not realizing this he keeps searching every other place that he can.

I was reminded of my encounter with this Musk deer and his this nature as the thought of GOD came into my mind. Some years back I was searching for God and had many questions in my mind like where is God? Who is God? And what does God look like? Just like me, all of the science fraternity of the world has always been in the search of God. They searched for him everywhere, all places that they could (the sky or the universe where God is generally believed to be). After they finished searching for him all the places that they could, they concluded and announced – We did not find him anywhere, there is no God.

It’s not just the Science fraternity but also the common man. No one has seen God ever. There is no documented evidence of his existence. Though all religions of the world have certain model images of something/somebody that they worship and can call God. And there are many people who believe that their religion and its conceptions are superior to the all others. But these are “only beliefs” and not “FACTUAL EVIDENCES”. So, the question remains there itself; where is God and what does he look like??

While I was thinking so, I realized yet another fact, surprisingly, all religions of the world talk about some common things like…

• Love
• Brotherhood.
• A model for a living a healthy life, physically and psychologically.
• Doing good for the society and so on....

You name it and you will find that almost all religions of the world have been concerned about these issues in common and even more. How can all religions have so many characteristics in common? Why would they ?

I concluded that all religions are only a “MODEL” for people to follow so that it becomes easier for them and the people around them to live a better life. I concluded that every religion is like a school of thought and people are supposed to “study them” and choose which one is closer to their heart and then follow the guidelines. So this means that we follow a particular religion because it is closer to our heart and not because and not because other religions are not worth following. But the irony is that the majority of people have not even thought about this issue and seem to be far from understanding it.

Also, if you carefully notice you will find that almost all religions of the world have been modified (in practical life) in at least one or more than one ways by none other than the same people who claim that they follow it. These modifications have been done for primarily three reasons:

1.For human convenience
2. Misinterpretation of what was originally postulated by the makers of that religion
3.Lack of will to study and understand the religion thoroughly instead of blindly following it.

Let me give some examples of these modifications here:

• Most people and even countries that call themselves predominantly Buddhist now easily eat Non-Veg food, even in everyday life.
• Most people who call themselves Hindus and follow the caste system have forgotten the essence of “The Caste System” and are now following it wrongly.
• Many people who call themselves Islamic have forgotten the essence of “Qurbaani” during Bakr-id and now it is a common practice to perform Qurbaani without first loving the animal like one’s own child.
• Many Christians misuse the otherwise very respected concept of “Confession”. And the list goes on…

This means that almost no religion today is being followed in its “purest” form. Almost all have been modified to suit human convenience in more than one way. Therefore, common sense says that people today are not getting benefited from their religions as much as they think are OR as much as they should have been, all because they are not following it properly!!

Anyways, my search for God still continued…They say that God made the world!! This means that God is the parent and the world is the child. And how are children made? As we know, all children/babies are a part of their parents or may I say an extension of their parents. This is how it always happens, this is nature. Now, if this is nature, it must also imply that the universe (of whom God is the parent) is an extension of God or is a part of God himself!! All dogs produce dogs, all cats produce cats and oak trees produce only oak trees. Therefore if God produced the world then, for sure the “WHOLE UNIVERSE IS A FORM OF GOD” (by whole world I mean everything and everybody living or nonliving in this universe).


Just as these strings of thoughts came to my mind, I was overjoyed with MY INSIGHT!! It was a moment of enlightenment for me… as in Hindi we call it “dimag ki batti jal gayi”. I was very happy at my discovery. Now, I began to realize as to why the world is so beautiful!! God is in everything and everything has God in it. Just like the musk deer keeps finding the fragrance of his own body in the outer world, not realizing that it is in fact coming from within him ; I was searching for God everywhere outside, not realizing that God is in fact within me and within every “being” and non being in this universe. Doesn’t it make sense??


I began to see God in Everybody and everything, irrespective of colour, sex, species,caste, creed..irrespective of anything, I saw God. Every human being, every animal, every bird, every tree and every plant, every river and every mountain, in virtually everything I could see God. Soon after this realization I found a new way of worshiping God too.

Fig: 2 these are only some examples of how I see God

Some of my friends sometimes drew allegations against me with a grimace on their face like.. “How bad of you to not worship God!! What do you actually think of yourself? You have become so arrogant!! (Many equated my not going to shrines regularly with arrogance)”.
To this I would simply try to smile and answer…who said I do not worship God?

“Every time I feel for a poor, I worship God..

Every time I feed a hungry child or a hungry animal, I worship god,
Every time I nurse an injured or a dying animal, I worship god,
Every time I water a plant or a tree, I worship God,
Every time I admire nature, I worship God.

You visit shrines regularly, may be because you do not know another way of worshiping him. May be because you are yet to discover “GOD HIMSELF”, the way I did. You might not like me or even hate me for a number of reasons, but I am always going to love you and respect you because I know you God is there within you। I love god therefore I love you and I love myself and I love everybody I come across .
I never ignore, ridicule or disrespect anyone (at least I try not to) because this will mean each time I do this to someone, I do this to God!! And this is essentially my way of worshipping God!!”

It would be false if I say, that I never feel negative about anyone.. Yes, I do! But at least I know that I made a mistake and I am continuously trying to overcome my shortcomings like this. I have improved a lot and I am still improving. I find infinite pleasure in helping the poor, feeding the hungry and nursing the sick or the injured. And I am sure, all those people who perform these activities feel the same way down in their hearts. Now that I have discovered God, I found the purpose of my life!! I want to help the needy to the best of my capabilities always and till the last day of my life.

People see God every day, they just don't recognize him.
~Pearl Bailey