The Ultimate Truth
By Anil Kumar

 

 Every individual in his lifetime confronts God and the Devil several times but is unable to recognize them for what they are.

I also faced both God and the Devil at a very early age but only after many years was I able to find out that they had been present in my life right from the beginning.

By the time I was about fifteen, my father's business had totally failed. The situation became such that our family had to go through a severe financial crunch and face many hardships. When even my last pair of trousers gave way, I was compelled to stay at home for several days. One of those days, as I sat by the window, looking out, I noticed a pair of pigeons. It occurred to me that the pigeons were truly the ones who were independent because they could go anywhere; whereas I was compelled to stay at home.

Next morning, when I found them sitting there again I remembered that I had seen the same thing the previous morning as well. But by then twenty-four hours had elapsed. Right then a realization came to my mind, which helped me free myself from all my sadness. From that moment on I became perhaps, the happiest man in this world. It is this very thought which is the central idea of the present work, which I want to share with you in the concluding parts of this book. I may not have been able to get rid of all my financial problems right then but the encouragement I got from my insight was no less than a fortune.

About a year later, when I did not have enough money to pay the college fee, I had asked some of my friends for loans but none of them had any money to spare. One friend suggested to me to rob the passengers arriving late in the night by train. This way I could get enough money to pay for everything. The entire day I remained mentally disturbed thinking that if I was not able to pay the fee in time, I would not be allowed to appear for the examination. At the same time, robbing people to have enough money was beyond my temperament. When I was not able to collect enough money by the evening, I went ahead to rob a few people with the friend who had suggested this to me. We went by my bicycle. At a certain spot I was ready and waiting while sitting on my bicycle, so that as soon as my friend was able to snatch away a bag from somebody he could jump on to the bicycle and we would decamp from there without losing any time.

As time went by, we kept on waiting for some passenger to come our way. At this time my mind was totally occupied with one single thought. I kept wondering about the point in studying off the earnings of looting poor, unsuspecting people. When nobody suitable came our way for quite awhile, I said to my friend that probably God was against our doing this nefarious act. I decided right then not to appear for the exams, therefore, we came back without looting anybody.

Those days, I was tutoring a businessman's small girl without any tuition fee. The next morning with a lot of apprehension I asked the girl's mother, "Sister, can you loan me some money?" I had heard from others that she was a very miserly woman; therefore, I did not expect her to oblige me. On my asking her for the loan, she took me along towards her almirah and opened the safe inside. Then she asked me how much money I needed. Again with a lot of hesitation I said I needed seventy-five rupees. She started laughing loudly at this. I kept on wondering why she was laughing in this manner. She then asked, why I was hesitating so much to ask for a meager amount. How would she know, that the person she opened the almirah for and later offered as much as money as he needed, had gone just the previous night to rob people off their belongings owing to his compulsions. You can well imagine what was going on in my mind at that time. On this occasion just as I had asked, I took only seventy-five rupees.

I do not know whether to call the friend who had gone along with me that night to rob others a Devil or to consider the woman who may very well have been getting me to tutor her daughter for free like a Goddess, because she was ready to help in at my hour of need.

I spent the next twelve years of my life in dire straits. Those very days I had come across several gurus as well as some cheats. It’s true that in our times of plenty we are unable to see the true picture of most of the people, but during the days of difficulties we are undoubtedly able to see their true picture. The pictures of people I have seen, has convinced me that this world has many more good people than bad. Probably, I am a unique individual in this world who had never met any evil person.

The Indian philosopher and poet Kabeer had said, "...when you look for the most evil person you will not find anybody more evil than you yourself...” It is true that all of us possess some good qualities and some bad. No individual can be entirely good or can he be entirely bad to another individual at all times.

Those who are disappointed with life, those who have given up hope due to living in difficulty constantly and those who have not been able to determine the true purpose of their life, I have written this book specially for them.

This world comprises God, the Devil and certainly Man. Perhaps we have seen them in different forms. In this book, God and the Devil I have referred to is not the God who dons a gold crown studded with gems and rubies nor is the Devil an ugly looking creature with long teeth, sharp nails and two horns on his head. The God and the Devil of this book instead of being connected with some religion are ordinary men. The ordinary Man of this book is the one who represents us, male and female.

While writing this book, I realized that God and Devil themselves were providing me the material to be written in this book. The pleasure I derived for over two months in their company has become an unbelievably pleasant and indelible part of my life.

Anil Kumar
anilkrantz@vsnl.com

Learn more about Anil Kumar at www.krantzpublications.com and www.anilkrantz.com.  Sunpiper Booksellers www.booksellers.sunpiper.com carries all books by Krantz Publications.