The continuous search...

While mythological stories always caught my attention since childhood, understanding the significance behind the stories gives them an absolutely new dimension.

What also attracted my attention off late was the life history and commentaries of saints from the Indian tradition, peculiar amongst them being Adi Shankaracharya...

A shloka that really mesmerized me during the sanskrit biography of Adi Shankaracharya was...

आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम्
सर्व देव नमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति

AkAshAt patitam tOyam yathA gacchati sAgaram
sarva dEva namaskArah kEshavam pratigacchat

And its beautiful connotation:

Is this all that our existence counts for? One minute here, gone the next? Totally wiped out, non-existent? Yes, perhaps if we identify ourselves with our bodies. If not, then we are the souls, a spark of the Eternal Consciousness, The Divine Consciousness, whatever we choose to call it and hence immortal. So just as the drops of rainwater which fall into the streams flow into the river, thence into the river, sea and finally merge into the oceans, so too we, the individuals souls - Atma - (drops of rainwater) eventually merge with the Paramatama (The Eternal Consciousness) once we are liberated from the bondage of this physical body.

Now there is a different context to this shloka too. It is a very beautiful comparison between the drops of water which fall as rain and make their way into the mighty oceans. Similarly, the prayers offered to the different deities we worship eventually make their way to the ONE and only God. This is a shloka which makes a very strong case for universal brotherhood and the Unity of God, no matter what route we take to reach HIM/HER. All Gods are one. So all religions, all rituals, all forms of prayers eventually lead to that one, single God. Therefore all religions are only different means to the ONE end.

While all great teachings point to one direction, they also tend to deepen the hole of mystery.

What is this world about? Where are we headed? What are we here for?

My search continues...