I am not treacherous
Author: Sekhar Reddy Vasa
Forward
Everyone
who believes in existence of God follows some kind of doctrine. Why? It is
because they want to live peacefully and also to reach heaven. For this they
follow the doctrine and try to live virtuous life. There are so many different
doctrines in this world. Identifying a good doctrine is hard; it is only known to the person who is following the doctrine or to the one who prays to God the
almighty that created this world to show him the doctrine he needs to follow. If
someone finds a good doctrine which definitely takes him to heaven and he is
enjoying, shouldn’t he inform his beloved about this new doctrine or not? The
person who doesn’t share this happiness with his friends is treacherous one.
Your
friend who doesn’t want to be treacherous,
Sekhar Reddy Vasa
Story of two friends
There were two best friends named
Edward and Jerry living in a small town.
One day, Edward came across a sage
who was exhausted due to his tiresome journey. He took pity on that saint
and took him home, fed him and did services. The saint admired Edward, his wife
and his children for the services they had rendered and had preached him one
axiom, a doctrine that was quite exquisite. He had told him that whoever had
followed that doctrine would certainly acquire the place in Heaven, in the same
way; he also told him that they would live peacefully there upon. Not just
that, he had also told him that to whomever Edward would teach this doctrine,
all those would have the access to the Heaven.
Edward
decided that he should not only follow it but also preach such great doctrine
to his best friend Jerry. But he knew that Jerry was content to follow the
doctrine of his ancestors. Because Edward knew this, he hesitated to share the
new doctrine that he was following. But Jerry was his best friend; he had an
ambition that Jerry also would come along with him to the Heaven. Even Jerry
also had known that Edward has been following a new doctrine. Jerry hesitated
to ask Edward about the new doctrine he was following because he feared that
Edward would feel bad. And so, he never enquired about it. While they both kept
silent, time was passing.
Both
Edward and Jerry died and their spirits stood in front of God for judgment. God
called Edward, “You are treacherous friend because you didn't even try to
reveal to your best friend that would lead him to the Heaven, an access to the
Heaven, at least once. You should have told him about the doctrine you have
been following. So, as you are a treacherous friend, you just deserve the
Hell.”
In
the same way, God told to Jerry, “You have complete knowledge that Edward had
been following one new doctrine! But you had never questioned him about it or
enquired to find if it was good or bad. He is your best friend and you never
wished to find whether he had chosen the right doctrine or not and you never
felt that you should correct him if he were wrong. So, even you are a
treacherous friend. So you too deserve Hell!” Saying so, God had sent both of
them into the Hell. Both these friends, scolding each other, have been
suffering in Hell ever since then!
-----------------End of Story of two friends -----------------
Dear
friend, is it possible that a silence has spread over the two of us, just like
between the two friends in the story? You are not asking me about my faith, and
I have not had the courage to tell you. If I don't share my faith, my God will
not be pleased with me. My dear friend, do you like anything as such to happen
to me? If not, you listen to what I say about the doctrine that I have been
following at least once, and relieve me from my responsibility. I would never
urge you to follow my doctrine because, that is related to you and God. In the
same way, you preach me about the doctrine you have been following. In this
way, let both of us relieve ourselves from our collateral responsibilities.
We
should spend hundreds of hours sharing our life stories. I won’t ask that of
you. But I would like to briefly share my faith with you, if you would be kind
enough to read on…
Story of a Prince
Once
upon a time, there was a king who had a son who was the apple of his eye. The
king also loved his citizens. The king and the prince looked after the people
as their own children.
As
there were no sins, in his kingdom, there was peace and harmony in the kingdom.
But eventually, sin entered into the kingdom due to sly plotting by enemy
kingdoms. The people had got habituated to do sins. There were theft,
fornication, murders and violence etc. The king had understood that the peace
and harmony had diminished. So he had decided to imprison all those who had
committed sins and decided to punish them. At the time of the implementation of
the punishments, the sinners used to beg for pardon.
The
king used to take pity at their piteous situation. He used to show pity on
them, instead of punishing or imprisoning, he used to warn them and commanding
them not to repeat the sins; he used to pardon them and release them. Though
there was no change in the situation, they never stopped committing crimes. The
citizens used to commit sins and used to ask the king for forgiveness, this had
become their habit. In such critical and complex situation, the king had
decided that he shouldn't bestow them forgiveness freely and there should be
some penalty they have to bear as a sort of punishment and for this a penance
and atonement is introduced.
Even these punishments couldn't
bring any sort of change in the situation and the citizens didn't stop
committing sins. For that reason, the king gave them further severe
punishments. One of the punishments is that the sinner must offer one of his
animals which are the source of his livelihood. Due to this reason, some people
were scared and had stopped committing sins. The reason was, wasn't it
difficult for them to part from the animals which were the source of their
livelihood and which they had brought up with extreme love and care, wasn't
it?
But most of them
continued committing their sins. Don't the rich have numerous animals? It had
become quite common thing to sacrifice those animals. It had become a natural
part of their life.
In this bad situation, the king sent his ministers to the people
to preach to them to not commit sin. Some people had changed after they had
heard their words. But some people had no change in their behavior used to
attack the ministers and murder them. The king was outrageous at this. With
that rage, he could have killed them but by seeing some people, who had
changed, he showed mercy upon them due to the love he had for them, he had
pardoned them. He had sentenced only those who had committed terrible and
dreadful crimes alone to death. The king was not willing to punish his
citizens. He desired that they would change.
Because of his love for his citizens, the King sent his beloved
son to them. The Prince had given up his authority and had lived among the
citizens just like as if he was a part of them. As one among them he had been
living without committing sins and had been teaching those good practices.
When they met the prince, most of the people repented from their
ways. Some people had even transformed into his helpers with his preaching. The
Prince had been touring in the kingdom along with them, he used to teach good
path and the love his father had for the citizens. The main points of his
preaching were:
* You must love your
God with your whole heart, mind, and spirit.
* You must love your
neighbor as yourself. You must forgive each other instead of seeking revenge.
If you all follow these willfully and wholeheartedly, you would
never commit any sin. One whoever is, by loving God willfully and considering
his neighbors as himself, won't he look after his own mother and father well?
Does he steal? Does he adulterate or fornicate? Can he murder any one?
Can he speak false witnesses?
Now let us consider
one parable, the Prince had given here.
"A slave
owed a lot of money to a master and he was brought to the master. As he did not
have anything to repay his loan, the master had ordered him to sell his wife,
his children and his entire property and repay his loan. So, that slave lay
prostrate before him and appealed to give him some more time and told him that
he would repay the whole sum. When he had appealed the master so, he took pity
on the slave and had forgiven him and had acquitted him, and also had written
down the loan. But that slave, as soon as he went out, he held the throat of
another slave who was in debt to him some small amount. For that the other
slave lay prostrate before him and had requested him to give him some more
period of time and had appealed him that he would repay soon entirely, but that
slave didn't agree and he had him imprisoned until his loan is repaid.
By seeing this,
his co-slaves grieved to great extent, they all immediately approached their
master and informed him about this in detail. The master immediately summoned
him calling him, "You the wicked! You had appealed to me and I had taken
pity on you and had forgiven you and had got your entire loan written off. Exactly,
as I had forgiven you, you too could have forgiven your co-slave, couldn't you?
Thus saying, he had got him thrown into prison.”
Among yourselves too, if each and every one
wouldn't forgive your brother whole heartedly, my father also would repay the
same to you too, thus the Prince had given parable.
With his preaching’s he informed them that
love of his father is great, and the father would forgive them all if they had
acquired the repentance and change of heart.
He told them another
story about his father’s love.
"There was a man
who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share
of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after
that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country
and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything,
there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So
he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his
fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs
were eating, but no one gave him anything. "When he came to his senses, he
said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am
starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to
be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and
went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw
him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms
around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, 'Father, I
have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called
your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best
robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring
the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son
of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
In the same way when a
sinner acquires the change of heart and repentance, the father also would be
happy. By giving such numerous parables, he had appealed them to have
repentance.
But, some people who
couldn't stand his preaching had subjected him to extreme acrimonious and cruel
death. The King's heart trembled with sorrow when he saw his son in his death
bed. The king, with sorrow and anger, decided to terminate all those sinners who
were responsible for this situation of his son. His anger had shattered and
trembled the whole earth.
But, the Prince who
was in the death bed appealed to his father, "Father, they are ignorant of
what they are doing, please forgive them. These words melted the hearts of
those who heard them. One among the conspirators responsible for the death of
the prince had started crying in this way, "Oh Lord! Though I had committed
such a horrible crime against you, are you forgiving me? You have taken the
punishment that I deserved! "You have taken the punishment that I
deserved! This extreme love overwhelms me, and in gratitude I repent from my
sins." In this way numerous sinners had got relieved from the sins due to
the sacrifice of life of the Prince.
………………………………………..
Here the very
important fact is that this is not a fiction! This is a real story! That king
is none other than the Lord of the Lords, the creator God. We are all his
beloved children. Any father wouldn't be happy, he would be sorrowful if his son
falls into false path, in the same way the Lord of the Lords is sorrowful for
his children who got deviated from the righteous path. The reason being Lord
God had created man by keeping his Spirit in us. How he had expressed his love
towards is:
* Alas, I had
protected you just as how a hen protects its chicks under its wings! Though,
you had forgotten.
*Would any father tell
his children to eat a stone when they are hungry and asks for food? You those
who are in sins also would love your children so much, do you know how much
love I have for you?
The relationship
between God and us human beings is just like the relationship between the
father and his children.
Then, we have learnt
that the king is the creator God, haven't we? Then who is his son? Now let us
learn about him.
The word of the God is
the Son of God. This God’s word created the universe. The God's word alone, as
the Son of God, as an ordinary man took his birth in this world for our sake
had sacrificed his life. So, the Prince mentioned is none other than the Son of
God! In the sense, he is God himself! From here, let us consider the king
mentioned in the story as the God himself and the Prince is the Son of God.
Now, let us get into this real story.
The Son of God, in the
form of a human being, he was tortured cruelly and remorselessly and was in his
death bed. His mother who had borne him for nine months in her womb and had
brought him up was weeping by seeing him dying. We can't even imagine how a
mother would feel when her son is being tormented and killed in her presence,
in front of her eyes. Heart would have agitated in turmoil; it felt as much
sorrow as a huge spear is pierced into her heart. The Son of God had suffered
the torment of death for a few hours and finally he had died. After his death,
that poor mother had performed the last rites of the funeral with her own
hands. This has put an end to the incarnation of the Son of God. "Isn't it
quite common doubt to ask, "What God had been doing while such horror was
going on?” The reason is that, all this has happened according to
his manifesto itself. He is not only saying that he has as much of love as he
could sacrifice his life, but also did it and proved it.
As a human being, he
had fulfilled the divine manifesto, and as triumphant he acquired resurrection
and had reached his father in glory. God had given the entire authority to his
son; he also told him that his son alone would give judgment. This is a
delightful fact to the entire human race because as the Son of God had lived as
a human being, he understands very well all the woes and troubles in living as
a human being. Since, he is the judge, it is better for us to follow all that
he had preached on this earth. Here in one parable he had given in this way.
"When the Son of
Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his
glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then
the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and
clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' "Then he
will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a
stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe
me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also
will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will
reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of
these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
So it is far better
for all of us to help fellow human being, anyone who is in need.
We have learnt that
this universe is created by the word of God. When he had created this world,
there wasn’t sin at all. Hitherto how did the sin enter into this world?
Hitherto, what is sin at all?
God did not create
human beings as robots. He had given human being the stamina to think for
himself and take decisions but he had not given him the wisdom to distinguish
between the Good and the Evil. Due to that reason, in the first human beings,
there wasn’t sin at all as they did not know what is good and what is evil, and
they were as innocent as infants. As there wasn’t any sin, they did not have
even death. Henceforth, due to the instigation of a putrefied angel of God,
acquired the power of distinguishing the Good and the Evil though the God
reluctant to offer, as human had urged, God had sealed the inscriptions in our
hearts which enabled us to distinguish the Good and the Evil. Due to these
inscriptions, each and every man can distinguish what is good and what is bad
if he thinks just a little. It is a quite well known fact that man is a fickle
minded creature. If one does a deed with full consciousness that what he is
doing is a wrong is sin. It is a true fact that there is no one who had not
committed a sin. Due to that alone, man is bestowed with death. All of us are
sinners. We all had committed small or big sins in our lives. All of us would
die one day. And all of us would be made to stand in front of God for judgment.
So before our death itself, we all must cleanse our sins. Because, the Son of
God is busy in the task of creating new earth for us. Those who are in sins are
deprived of entry into this new world. Then how can we get relieved of our
sins? It is possible only through the Son of God alone. The reason is, he had
taken the death sentence which we all deserved and also had appealed the Father
God to forgive us for his sake. Due to this reason, it is just sufficient if we
all acquire repentance, and accept the alms of forgiving that he offers. He
would cleanse and wash off all our sins with the blood he had spilt on his
death bed. He would emend us to make us eligible for acceptance of his Father,
the God. However sinner is a person, he could acquire forgiving.
This is a free call of
the Son of God to each and every human being in the world. There isn't any
segregation in the name of color, caste, creed, religion, nationality the rich
and the poor.
The Son of God is
calling the human race in this way. “My dear children who had been shouldering
the burden of sins with great endeavor, come to me and I will give you rest”.
So, all those who
approach the Son of God listening to his call, would acquire forgiving of sins.
The defilers named the sins would be cleansed off and their Spirit would
acquire their earlier beauty.
Henceforth, the only
thing we too have to do is "Just as God had forgiven us, we too must
forgive each other freely without conditions.
It is said by people
that a man would consume even phenol when it is offered free of cost, isn't it?
In such cases, we who are getting forgiveness of our sins free of cost must
have anxiety in approaching him. This we need to consider seriously. Because,
we don't know ourselves when our death would overtake us. We need to get
forgiving for our sins before our death. The reason is the Son of God had
fulfilled the oblation named the “Salvation to the world” on this earth itself
when he was on his death bed, when he was born as a human being. So, we too
must acquire this forgiveness of sins on this earth itself.
If the sins of all are
forgiven freely, what would be the difference between the Good and the Bad? Are
all equal in the new creation? Isn't there any benefit in leading a good and
pious life now? This question would surely torment us. So, let us learn a few
more facts.
Is there anywhere
anyone who had not committed a single sin at all? There wouldn't be even one
who had not committed a single sin, speaking at least a lie; there wouldn't be
anyone who had not committed a single sin. In the sense, each and every one
requires forgiveness for sins. The Son of God would bestow this forgiving of
sins to each and every one, those who would approach him. In the same way, each
and every one would have performed a single virtuous deed at least. These
virtuous deeds would be transformed into their golden crowns and they would be
so glorified that their Spirit would be eligible to carry them even after their
death. According to their virtuous deeds they had performed in the new creation
God would bestow the gifts and remunerations that they deserve.
All this is fine but
if we want to ask for forgiving of sins, where will be this Son of God? To
which temple must we go to find him? Which mountain should we mount? Whom
should we inquire? How should we find out?
When the God had
created us, he had established an abode for himself in our hearts. Our body
alone is the God's temple. Due to our sins, we had distanced our God farther.
The Son of God is eagerly waiting for us to open the doors of our hearts! He is
the truth. He would surely show the path to those who are searching for the
truth. He would recognize us himself. The words he spoke are like this, "You
ask! It is bestowed to you. You search and it is found by you. You knock and
the door would be opened for you. Each and every one who would ask would
acquire, everyone who searches for truth would find, everyone who would knock
would be opened the door and allowed entrance". So, all that we have to do is
just prepare ourselves to search for the truth with courage. If you all put
this small effort to find out truth as the below mentioned without fear, it is
sufficient. "Oh Lord God who had created the entire universe, please let
me know the truth. I am destined to know the true God. Please show me the path
and please walk me to your presence. I offer and sacrifice my heart to you.
Please make your abode yourself in me."
The almighty God will
show you the way.
Thanks for your
valuable time. Please do not hesitate to discuss with me.
Your friend forever,
