God Is Omnipotent, Omniscient And Omnipresent

~ this is god, god resides on the stone smearing in red kumkum with flame igniting from champor, at jadish temple in dark before dawn, god has no forms, but to the weak and oblivious man like me, god exists in various attributes, in the stone sculptures, wood carvings or even fire flames, god is there to see, listen and know everything including the past and future, i confess my everything to god ~

Day 40

29.3.2024
Friday

Udaipur, Rajashtan

Two nights ago, Jasmine contacted me through whatsapp. She asked my whereabouts now. She was my colleague when I was a white-collar executive in a book publishing company in Bangi. When I told her I am in north India now, and I will return from Udaipur to Delhi very soon on next monday, she would want to pay me a visit in Delhi. Immediately she decided she must come to Delhi. I told her I was on a backpacking trip but the way she replied to me, she already expected to stay in a budget lodge and eat a simple food by the street eateries.

Last night, we were in contact again. She told me, she had bought the flight tickets from the budget airlines online. On the return flight from Delhi to KLIA, she managed to secure a flight ticket of the same airplane I will board when I get home to Malaysia. Before she bought the tickets, according to her, it's either she will return home a day earlier or on the same day together with me depending on the availability of seats. However, she managed to secure this flight ticket last night. I did not know how she secured this ticket at the final hours because I bought this ticket three months ahead. Sometimes, airlines offer cheaper tickets at the final hours than buying them in advance by months. With the full tickets in hands, this means, we are boarding the same flight and returning home to Malaysia with Sri Lankan airlines. From Delhi, we are going to get a layover for several hours in Colombo before the airplane continues its journey to KLIA. We should be arriving at KLIA on the 12th of April.

So, this morning I write to Jasmine. I ask her to send me her full e-tickets to my mobile phone. I need this assurance of details, because she will be arriving at Indira Ghandi International Airport on next wednesday night, I'll meet her at the airport by taking the metro that is extremely efficient. The metro connects Paharganj, the enclaves of the budget travellers, to the airport with only one interchange at Hauz Khas station. My only fear that the metro will stop run early before midnight. Then we may need to take a taxi or autorickshaw from the airport to Paharganj. Jasmine's touching down at the airport is considered late night. When I check her itinerary, the airplane is expected to land at 10.05 pm. I am getting myself ready to bargain with the autorickshaw driver for the riding fare if the last metro runs by 11.00 pm and stops then.

When I write to her this morning, I suggest to her several temples and spiritual sites we may visit next week. But I tell her, most of the time in Delhi, we will be doing nothing. In the nothing doing, I suggest to her, we will rest our minds and perhaps sitting in the railway station watching people go by their daily lives. This is how I spend my days because I always pick to live near to the railway stations. The railway stations may be crowded and most of the time are chaotic, it is the train-watching known unforgettable. The train-whistles, their rumbling wheels, and screeching brakes, have many pictures embedding in my memory as they go by my sight.

I also ask Jasmine whether she has ridden a train in India. She tells me no. I tell her, I'll try to make a short day trip on train with her to elsewhere for her to experience the fun of riding a local train in India. The whereabout destination of riding the train is not known till I get back to Delhi next week. I'll need to go to the foreign tourist counter to find the availability of train tickets. If the train tickets are all sold out, I will tell Jasmine, she has to take the train next time on the future trip in India.

This early dawn when I get into the temple, I feel god's existence. God is sitting on the stone smeared with red kumkum near a little shrine where Ganesh sits on it. There are two small flames ignited from the white champor putting on the stone. I ask from god, who sits on that stone to give me a healthy body. Other than that, I do not ask for anything. Hindus have a very sensible teaching, there is no unity of only one attribute of god. God can come in different forms and attributes, by taking the example of several blind men touching the different parts of an elephant, each of them may describe the elephant very diversely and differently. It is the same teaching in hinduism, god's attributes vary and the hindu pandits or scholars may describe god as a unity single form whereby the oblivious man will see god as an attribute of an image he is taking into his heart. So, god can never be the same to every living being on earth. My god is your god and your god can also be my god. This is hinduism. It is about religious and spiritual attributes in toleration, which have never got confused in our minds.

On my birthday today, I am right on the dot of 50. At 50, I notice my muscles and physical strength have deteriorated by a lot but my mind stays younger. I only pray for health. Only with health, I can go seek for god. Without health, I can't reach his presence in any forms he may appear to me.

When I get back to the room, I receive a text from John. He sends a birthday greeting to me. He asks about my travel whether do I get more pure and virtuous. I thank him for his jest. I suggest to him, why not reading my blog about my progress in north India. I also receive a nudge from Lee Ong. We had a meet up in Sikkim 12 years ago when we were younger. I also introduce my blog to him and his wife. I have not revealed I have a blog writing to anyone till today because I have no flair of writing, and the blog is mere a diary. I write down of what have happened to me each day but not anything deeper than that. After finished writing, I post it on the blogpost. Someone may have read them but I assume they are not my known friends. Until today, only my family would have read them when I post them on the site.

I intend to accumulate them till I have reached a larger deposit of postings. I may wish to share them with my friends now when the postings have reached 200 posts.

~ this is jagdish temple, a view taken from the side entrance of north gate ~

~ myself right at the dot of 50 today, i ask for vaishnavite tilaka to apply on my forehead, my birth day vrata i must confess, contemplate, and reflect with more humility, i may have a low self ego in introspecting but god says, lets do it completely without you have of yourself ~