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Posts Tagged ‘God’
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Do you know that Obedience is the number one thing which impresses God. When we remain obedient to the Word of God and what God asks us to do we remain in the circle of His blessings; but the moment we choose to do our will and go beyond the circle of obedience we face adversities and sometimes severe adversities. There is a very prominent example that has been explained to us through Ramayan. When Laxman the younger brother of Sri Ram had drawn a circle of safety for Sita, she was safe till the time she was within it but the moment she chose to walk out of it out of fear, Ravana in disguise of a Sadhu kidnapped her and she got into severe adversity. Same way in Bible it says “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands…you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country” (Deuteronomy 28:1-3, NIV) Now this does not mean that God is a dictator and if we do not abide by what He asks us to do He will curse us. God never curses, God only knows how to love His children.
One might wonder then how come our life becomes a curse. It’s like this when God wants us to do something it is for our good because He wants our life to grow in a certain way, the way He knows is best for us. Sri Ramakrishna Parmahansa explains this with a beautiful example, he says, when a father holds the hand of the child to cross a rivulet the child never goes astray but when the child holds the fathers hand it is possible that some distraction might make the child leave the fathers hand and the child will go astray.
Now I want to share with you an example that I experienced yesterday which would explain my point further. Yesterday after few months I met a friend who had promised to help our Foundation with the donation that we were managing to sponsor for the PID (Primary Immune Deficiency) child patient. At that time every commitment counted and I was very sure she would help our Foundation with much more than what she had promised. But suddenly she stopped taking my calls and neither did she convey that she was not interested in being a partner or donor any more. I really didn’t know what had happened all of a sudden. Yesterday I met her after more than four months and saw that there were hardly any hair left on her head and she looked tired and fagged out. When I inquired she told me that probably I had cursed her for not giving the donation and her life has been like as if she was on a roller coaster ride. On further inquiring she told me that she had been in a spin as her mother suddenly took ill and she had to take her out of the country for treatment and her father met with an accident at the same time. And since she is running her business also, her life has been like one foot here and the other somewhere else. To top it all she burnt all her hair while using hot iron at home. And she thought because she behaved with me in that manner her life had been cursed.
What had actually happened was that she had cursed her own life. When we are not obedient to God and do our will we lose our peace and life seems to be like a roller coaster and you crave for peace. This is happening with millions of people everywhere. Some are making wrong adjustments in accounts just because their customers want it but they are not at peace with it. Some are not treating their colleague’s right or someone in the family right so they are not at peace. But what we need to understand is that we are not being obedient to God by not doing things right. So if you think that there is something in your life for which you are not being obedient to God do not reason out with Him why in your opinion you are right, just obey you’ll make your life meaningful, peaceful and blessed. Be blessed-Shalini Mehta.
Tags: blessed, curse, God, obedience
Posted in God's Child | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
I recently visited an acquaintance’s home which was being renovated; they had called me to suggest them on using colour on their walls. After we had gone around the whole house and suggesting them various colours for each room we sat down for a cup of tea. During the conversation the lady of the house asked me if I had seen the room especially made for her and her family to worship God. I was a little confused because I had not seen any such room. She told me to have a look at it under the staircase on my way out. It took me some time to understand, but I confirmed with her the place where she told me. I was taken aback and I simply asked her a question that if her son built a house and left a room with a ventilator instead of a window and asked her and her husband to stay there and lavishly used the other part of his property to live comfortably with his wife and children, would she like it? She answered no, and I said that is how God feels in your this room.
Some of us are callous enough and use God only when we are in dire situation, some of us use God when it is convenient to us. But I encourage you to make God the centre of your life and revolve your life around Him rather than fitting Him into your life. He should be the number one in your finances, decisions, time, relationships and in your home. If you wish to have a place of worship in your home, give Him the best place not a leftover not after every member of the family have selected their rooms.
When you keep your eyes on God, God also keeps His eyes on you. He looks for His children who need Him and want Him. In Bhagvad Gita 6:30 the Lord says- He who see Me everywhere and sees all in Me, he never becomes lost to Me, nor do I become lost to him.
So I encourage you today that God is the vital ingredient of your life, do not use Him as a convenience. He loves you and wants to do some amazing things ‘in’ you and ‘through’ you, give Him His rightful place-God loves you-Shalini Mehta
Tags: God, Life, vital
Posted in God's Child | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Yesterday morning while coming back from the market along with my daughter Aanya, I saw a good built German Shepherd dog behaving very abnormally. The dog seemed lost and had no sense of what it was doing or where it was going. Sometimes it would just smell the grass, sometimes it would look around with wandering eyes. I could immediately recognize that it had lost its way. It seemed so different in its behaviour which was contrary to a German Shepherd. Immediately I got a revelation in my heart from God, as He spoke: “if you lose Me in this world, this is what becomes of you.” Just as the dog lost its owner, a person in the world loses the sense of ownership that God has on each one of us.
What makes you lost in this world – your ego, your job, your status, your money, your intellect, your talent, your busy-ness, your pity-party, your circumstances? Most of us are, in one way or the other, lost in this world because of our own making, forgetting how much God loves us, cares for us and is waiting to talk to us. Later in our lives, we regret about what we were doing.
One of my ex-colleagues was busy being the best worker. He was thus spending no time with family, parents or friends. One day he got involved in a terrible accident and was immobile for two months. Another example is of an aged lady who was fixed on the idea that God does not listen to her prayers, while she dealt with a grown-up son who was an alcoholic. This was till she got desperate in her prayers for her son to change and she had to send her son to the de-addiction centre.
All such people are actually lost one way or the other, unaware of the change God wants to bring in them. Instead of seeing God’s hand in putting them in specific circumstances, they blame the whole world and lose sight of God’s purpose behind these. When that lady or the colleague of mine realised what God wanted from them, they felt stable, confident and at peace.
In case you are feeling lost, start spending time with the Ultimate One starting today. He shall guide you, take care of you, watch your steps, order your direction in such a minute details that you shall never feel lost! That’s when you get most secure in your mind and take on this world like a winner! – God bless you – Vinay Mehta
Tags: God, lost, prayer, Ultimate
Posted in God's Child | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Last couple of months I’ve been listening to so many people using this term-‘it’s God’s will’- that it actually rung a bell in my ears. I noticed many of us use this term-God’s will- not knowing what it actually means. A job that someone accepted and then got fired after few months was construed to be God’s will. Someone else was desperately seeking to buy a bigger house and then when they got one, they termed it as ‘God’s will’.
I wondered in both the situations – was it really God’s will in the first place or was it our own will and when things didn’t work out as it expected to be or just because our wish got fulfilled, we termed it as God’s will.
What is God’s will? Simply explained God’s will is what God has ordained for us, what He wishes for us and what He knows what is best for us.
How do we know it is God’s will in our life? This happens only when we surrender our actions completely to God. For example, if I like someone and through permutation and combination get into a friendship with her and say it is God’s will – No, that’s not what would be God’s will. That’s my will that got through by my own permutations etc. But if instead I do this: when I want friends I need to ask God to send His people into my life and keep having a positive attitude towards every person I meet; instead of judging or criticising anyone, when I expectantly wait for God’s timing – that is God’s will. When it is God’s will, we have complete peace about it. Even if sometimes doubt crops in, you just need to tell God – “God, I am going ahead in faith believing it’s Your will. If it’s not, then just stop me.” And you will find that if God stops you, you will never feel disappointed or frustrated.
When we lust for something and want it at any cost, we tend to not see what God has actually reserved for us. And God has always reserved the best for us. Let us leave our escapist attitude by doing everything by our will and then putting the onus on God. Rather we should take responsibility for our own actions and wait for God to move in our life. This way we’ll get the best what God has reserved for each one of us. And let God be in the driver’s seat of our life rather than we driving it our own self- Love, Shalini Mehta
Tags: Faith, God, Life, will
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
We do not realise this but God is the only indispensable One in this world. Without God we can do nothing. Living my life and making Him the centre of my life for past five years now, I’ve realised that without Him I can do nothing. And it is so much freedom to do the right thing. There are no confusions, anxiety and fear because I know the Righteous One is always with me, guiding me at every step.
And you know God wants to and does guide each one of us, but because we have not made Him the most important part of our lives, we fail to understand what He is asking us to do. We think from our heads and at every point make dumb mistakes and decisions because we construe (understand, read) our minds voice for God’s voice.
Recently I experienced something that was hilarious also and sad also. I met someone who had retired from the government service, at a senior position. We’ve met three or four times and in every meeting all that I could hear this person speak was how well connected he was in the city. In our last meeting I casually talked about shifting my daughter to a new school and he asked my preference, my daughter blurted out and he was about to call the Director of that school to reserve a seat for her when I stopped him mid-way saying let my daughter clear the entrance test on her own. If she is capable enough, she will make it.
He was helping people do all kind of activities not viable unto the law. And he believes that people respect him in spite of him being retired for past two years. I wondered in my heart do they really? If someone is using you to get wrong things right, how can they respect you?
I then realised that most of us spend all our life basking in the glory of giving importance and proving to ourselves how indispensable we are not knowing that God and only God is the indispensable one. Without God we can neither have wisdom to do things right way nor how to use that wisdom? We are just fooling ourselves by letting other people fool us.
And God, because He is the best Father for us, warns us through small not so significant incidents, but when we do not listen to Him, He touches our circumstances to get our attention. So it’s very important for each one of us that rather than basking in our own sweet-self (as whatever we are today, we are because of Him) we need to depend on God who is the most intelligent One-Shalini Mehta
Tags: God, indispensable
Posted in God's Child | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Every one of us today is aware of the very recent Tiger Woods story. Much has been written about his character and also spoken about. Almost every news channel and every talk show and every speaker in America has given his/her comments on it. Not only them but the general public has also has been discussing about his awful character behind closed doors. We in India were also awed by the golfer’s rise.
But I realised this that each one of us wants to be successful and many of us want to be famous. If we look around us so many people are cashing on the talents and gifts God has given them so they could be popular. In fact the popular bug has bitten even the young children who through the talent shows want to be popular on television and when they lose the opportunity some of them have even taken extreme steps. But one thing that each one of us forgets in desperation and desire to be popular, is that popularity or being famous comes with a big price that one has to pay and that is the price of integrity.
So many of us want to be famous and want people to applaud our achievements, know us by face, cheer and woo us when we are in the market. Or feel awed of our position and get by with anything, as is the very famous case going around in the media about ex-DGP Rathore. But in our desperation to rise and rise we somewhere lose touch with integrity, which is actually the most important and precious thing which we should shield like a priced possession at all times. And when we become popular we think anything done in the secret won’t be known to anyone, but we forget that God sees us in our secret places too and if we misuse His gifts and talents, He will bring those secrets in the open one day. That is where all that we’ve earned out of our gifts and talents over a period of years; we lose it in a moment, just a moment.
If we want to be famous we must pay the price of keeping our integrity, because people who are promoted by God to a level where people love them and applaud them for being special will have to pay that price.
So all I want to remind myself and all you precious children of God, not your money, not your position, not anything, keep your integrity safe and under the lock and key of God’s safe- Love, Shalini Mehta
Tags: fame, God, Integrity, popularity
Posted in God's Child | 20 Comments »
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
As we move forward in the New Year 2010, for a new level of growth, I look back at how 2009 was. It was indeed a beautiful and a very progressive year for us. In fact since I realised my relationship with my Ultimate Father, which is little less than five years now, every single moment has been new to me. Vinay and myself have grown in a humongous way since.
Today morning someone wished me – This year is gone, may the next year be better than this one. I replied that this was the most fruitful year ever in my life and the next one is definitely going to be even better. I would like to share as to how this has been really fruitful year of my life:
1. We’ve become more established in God as we’ve never been before.
2. We have heard God more than we’ve ever done before.
3. We conquered many old mindsets and reached new levels in our walk with God.
4. We’ve been obedient to God in more ways than we’ve ever been.
5. We’ve out reached many more hurting souls with His Word, as never done before.
6. We’ve been able to make a difference in many more peoples’ lives as never done before.
Then how come this is not a fruitful year for us? I would like to share the following ways God used us for His work this year:
1. We went online and have outreached souls through this blog, launched in September 2009.
2. We started a daily SMS service of His Word for the precious children of God.
3. We started two projects with the UT Chandigarh Administration:
a) Partnership Initiative Program with the Education Department for out of school children. This gave me an opportunity to impregnate the Word of God in children’s lives through story sessions and separately holding motivational sessions through the Word of God for teachers, volunteer and their co-ordinator. Not only that, we got the children immunized as well.
b) Our Foundation has also partnered with the Department of Social Welfare and adopted more than hundred families for impregnating values in them. This has given me an opportunity to outreach approximately 500 people with the Word of God.
4. We adopted a girl child from SOS sponsoring her yearly education and other expenses.
5. We outreached to UNICEF for the immunization program of children.
6. We outreached many children for bearing their medical expenses and one child was suffering from Immune Deficiency.
7. We outreached to another family with child undergoing treatment for Immune Deficiency problem by giving them emotional support through the Word of God.
8. The readership of our magazine NUPUR which we publish twice a year has increased manifold and many who read NUPUR were counselled to build a personal relationship with God.
We truly believe if you are obedient and available to God all the time, God will use you in ways unthinkable. It gives us so much privilege and confidence that God, the King, the Creator, the Sustainer and Destroyer of this universe has used us. Wow! How awesome. I firmly believe that the coming year 2010 will be a much more fruitful year and we’ll be used by God in much bigger ways.
I want to thank all those people who have associated with our Foundation in some way or the other, people who have read our blog posts and especially those who have taken out time to comment. Thank you all for your confidence in us. God bless you and God loves you – Shalini Mehta
Tags: God, new year, relationship
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Friday, December 11th, 2009
Each one of us has three main constituents: our physical body – the outer cover, the mind (will, emotions, feelings, thinking) and the Soul which is a part of God Himself. I know that the Soul is what we are and that is what our identification is with that One God. But this still did not become a realization to me. About two weeks back however, it went inside me as revelation and made me realize this truth that God is in me!
Yesterday while I was studying Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. Sri Ramakrishna (Thakur) while talking to his disciples said: After one has realized their relationship with God, one does not have to be reborn again and again and reap the fruit of sinful actions, which would otherwise have resulted in several rebirths. One has to live till the momentum of the actions of previous births has been exhausted. However, the impetus of current actions does not give rise to future births.
I shared this with Vinay and he got a revelation about it of our very widely used kitchen item – Pressure Cooker! A pressure cooker is kept on flame to cook food. After the food is cooked it is put down from flame. But the steam keeps its pressure till the cooker cools down. Same way once a person has realized his/her relationship with God, s/he is put down from the flame of getting heated again and again symbolizing the pain of cycles of birth and death. The steam of our past karmas though will still keep its pressure but shall not spoil the food inside. In-fact it will cook it well. And since the food is cooked well, it shall not be put on the flame of births again.
Further to this, God revealed me – more the quantity of food, longer does it take for the steam to cool down, and lesser quantity of food makes steam to cool down in lesser time. This means – more the negative attitudes and incidences accumulated in the previous births, the longer one takes to clear the “account” by being in this body in the current birth – but after this birth the journey ends in God Almighty alone!- Be blessed Shalini Mehta
Tags: Birth, God, Realization, Soul
Posted in God's Child | 44 Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
My five year old daughter went through a terrible asthma attack. It all started on Saturday, 28th November night, whole night she kept vomiting mucus and was feeling breathless. We did our best to medicate her however we could in the middle of the night. I couldn’t believe her asthma had triggered again. The very first time she was diagnosed with cough variant asthma just after her third birthday those times were like night mare, seeing her sick almost half the month. We did our best to give her the treatment that was available; she was being treated by the best paediatrician in PGI Chandigarh. I also started her ayurvedic treatment alongside and soon she became healthy once again. She took medication for a year and not once she was taken ill, infact she was becoming healthier by the day. Soon her inhaler was weaned off. And this was a year back and suddenly this happened and with much severity. It was like the old memories just came back as a scene being replayed. But there was a difference this time; the difference was in our attitudes. This time we were seeing God’s favour at every step.
But that’s not how when it started because almost a month ago God made me realize that no matter what, I’ve to keep repeating ‘God I need You’, and I was doing it and seeing that to every situation in my life there is only one answer God and His solution to everything is the best. So then as Zig Ziglar says that ‘I don’t need to know my future, I need to know who holds it’, then why should I get perturbed about anything? Also on Thursday, 26th November our Foundation got forty one children immunized along with iron, folic–acid and de-worming tablets. These children belong to poor families and have never been immunized because of unawareness. Now here our Foundation has sown a seed of health in the life of forty children and exactly two days later my child takes ill that too so severely. I was at first taken aback and asked God, why God? God reminded me just trust me and keep repeating your mantra-‘God I need you’. Though I was a little upset but I kept repeating it and her treatment went off ever so smoothly and by His grace she is recovering very well.
Now you might wonder what were the lessons learnt through this?
1. Keep your eyes on Him rather than on your situation. So keep repeating ‘God I need you’, rather than complaining or feeling fearful and perturbed.
2. This was a test by God for us for what we had been repeating-‘God I need you’ because on all previous occasions I used to get bitter seeing my angel suffer. Thank God we passed the test because at every level you’ll be tested.
3. Trusting Him that even though the situation seems severe we will sail through that too with flying colours.
4. Once when I got operated someone asked me that you love God so much and do His work then why did God make you go under the knife? The answer is that irrespective of what we are or what we do, we all have to go through situations in life we wouldn’t want to go through. And all this is for us to grow and become how He sees us because He is not satisfied with the way we see ourselves.
So what I learnt I want to tell all you precious children of God that God loves you very much. If you are going through something right now, just believe it is for your good. You might or might not know why but just believe that it is for your good and you’ll get the answer to it at God’s timing- with love Shalini Mehta
Tags: God, grow, Love
Posted in God's Child | 22 Comments »
Monday, November 16th, 2009
God has consistently been putting one or other situation in my life and all situations appeared like patterns, repeating again and again. And every time some situation would come around, I would ask God’s help and intervention and unknowingly my whole focus would shift to that situation. God as He is very patient, He has consistently been nudging me and telling me – “Shalini, ‘I’ should be your sole focus, not your situation, and you need to be excited not only about what I can do for you but excited about Me (who He is) alone.”
Because every time a situation arose invariably the mind would go to the favours’ God could give me rather than He Himself. And then He made me realize – “since your focus remains on the situation or what I can now do for you, you forget this that I am the only Key in your life that can open any lock. In other words, I am the only Key to every lock (situation) in your life.” But when our mind moves from God to the situation we start to look for our own keys and no matter any number of keys we fit into our locks but because they are not the master key, they never fit in well.
So irrespective of any situation, whether or how I might be feeling I started to repeat -‘God, I need You’ till it actually got locked in my heart and now I do it almost 24/7.
The more you fill your life with God the more you deepen your relationship with Him, like Sri Ramakrishna always said, ‘Mother please come and reside in my heart’. In Bible Jesus said, ‘I am the vine and you are the branches, without me you can do nothing.’ Remember – if you keep repeating “God I need you, I need more of you, fill me with yourself,” you’ll see that you are getting answers to all unanswered questions of your life, and you being filled with more love and peace-Shalini Mehta
Tags: God, Key, lock
Posted in God's Child | 1 Comment »
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