Times of India has a beautiful column called the Speaking Tree. It my not be missed reads in the newspaper along with the cartoons section. A sample read for u...read on

Look for the Mandir That's Within You
Satya Vedant

One morning a poor man approached a priest standing at the door of his temple and asked him permission to enter. The priest said: "My friend, what would you do in a temple? So long as your mind is impure or restless, what good will it do getting in?" In times past, the priest would have been very curt. But times had changed and so he too, had changed his tone. However, his heart had not changed. He still managed to keep those he considered undesirable out. So he continued: ''How will the likes of you understand God? Go and purify your mind first."

The innocent man immediately withdrew from the temple precincts. The priest heaved a sigh of relief. He thought he had effectively gotten rid of the man as he would never attain peace of mind so easily — and so would never come back again. A year passed and one day the priest saw the same man walking down the street in front of the temple. He looked totally different. He radiated a divine glory. The priest thought he was going to try to come into the temple again, and the idea upset him greatly. But his fears were groundless. The man continued walking down the street without so much as a glance towards the temple. The priest could not contain himself. He ran after him and asked: "Where have you been? I have not seen you around here for quite some time."

The simple man laughed and said: "My friend, thank you. I followed your advice. For the past year I have been trying to attain peace of mind so that I might come to the temple. But last night God himself appeared in my dream and said: 'Why do you want to go to the temple? To see me? Let me tell you, I have been trying to get in myself for the past ten years. If the priest hasn't let me in, he'll never allow you to enter!'"

Osho often pointed out that no church or temple built by man can be greater than man. And man-made churches and temples are so small and insignificant there isn't enough room for God! A temple built by someone whose mind is not a temple itself is of no use.One who has never experienced God within will never find Him outside. God makes his first appearance to a man within the man himself. And that first appearance is total. There is no outer way to reach the totality; the inner is the only route. One's self is the closest thing to God; instead of searching for him far and wide, one has to discover him within. If a man cannot find something so close, how can he expect to find anything that is far away? All along, sages have told us God is not experienced in the temples; God is experienced within.

Teachers like Osho have maintained that there is a real temple of God, but it cannot be built from bricks and mortar. A temple built of stone can be Hindu, Christian, Jain or Buddhist, but it cannot belong to God. Something that is the private property of a particular organisation cannot belong to God as well. God cannot be confined in a temple — God is omnipresent, He is whole, total. God's temple can only be the temple of consciousness. It is not in the sky or on earth, it is in the soul itself. And it does not have to be built. God's temple is already there. It needs only be unveiled. Love is both a temple and a sacred scripture. "The man who has had a smattering of love's language," says Kabir, "is a scholar." Nothing remains to be learned if one has learned to love. Mastery of love implies mastery of all learning. He who hasn't learned the art of loving is ignorant of everything. No knowledge, no sensation, no experience is superior to love.