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THE BARBER SHOP

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children?"

"If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy hair and an untrimmed beard; he was looking dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and said to the barber, "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.

"I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.“

"Ah, but barbers do exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, does exist! Because people do not look to God for help is why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Bhagavan Baba explains this whole problem as a simple lack of awareness of who we truly are. He says:

“When anyone asks you, ‘Can you show me God?’ You should reply ‘You are God; that is why you are able to talk and act.’ To know divinity, you should know the sacredness within you. Keeping salt in your mouth, you can not taste anything sweet. Only by rinsing your mouth and getting rid of the salt can you taste sweetness. Worldly desires are like salt. Discard them; then you can realise divinity.”

Illustrations: Rahul Raja, SSSU

- Heart2Heart Team

 

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