Divinity Lies Within Us

Divine presence, presence of God, inner God, etc is a concept in religion, spirituality, and theology that deals with the concept of a god "present" in human beings. We are all part of the human race and have the spark of God's light within us. All religions teach basically the same thing.

According to Hindu legend, there was a time when all human beings were gods. But instead of using this quality of being divine for good and noble purposes, they started abusing their divinity. The abuse reached such proportions that Brahma, the chief God, decided to take the divinity away from the humans and hide it somewhere so that they could never find it.

Brahma called the council of gods to help him decide where to hide the divinity.

“Let’s bury it deep in the earth,” said the gods. But Brahma answered, “Humans will dig into the earth and find it.”

Some gods suggested, “Let’s sink it in the deepest ocean.” But Brahma said, “No, humans will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it.”

Then some gods suggested, “Let’s take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there.”

Brahma replied, “Humans will eventually climb every mountain and get hold of the divinity.”

Then all the gods gave up and said, “We don’t know where to hide it, because it seems that there is no place on earth or ocean that human beings will not eventually reach.”

Brahma thought for a long time said, “We will hide their divinity deep into the center of their own being. Humans will search for it every where, but they won’t look for the divinity inside their true selves”.

All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done.

And since then, humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing, and exploring, searching for divinity, without realizing that it lies within themselves!

A Sufi Story

Here is another variation of the same concept, through a Sufi story. In Sufi stories Mulla Nasrudin is often depicted as an amalgam of foolishness and unparalleled wisdom and stories about him use humor to convey life lessons. His actions reflect the confusion we all feel, while revealing the deeper wisdom seeded within each of us.

A man is walking home late one night when he sees an anxious Mulla Nasrudin down on all fours, crawling on his hands and knees on the road, searching frantically under a street light for something on the ground.

“Mulla, what are you looking for?” the passer-by asks.

“I lost the key to my house,” Nasrudin says worriedly.

"I'll help you look," the man says and joins Mulla Nasrudin in the search.

Soon both men are down on their knees under the streetlight, looking for the lost key.

After some time, the man asks Nasrudin, “Tell me Mulla, do you remember where exactly you dropped the key?”

Nasrudin waves his arm back toward the darkness and says, “Over there, in my house. I lost the key inside my house…”

Shocked and exasperated, the passer-by jumps up and shouts at Mulla Nasrudin, “Then why are you searching for the key out here in the street?”

“Because there is light here and it is quite dark inside my house,” Mulla Nasrudin answers nonchalantly!

Search Within

Close your eyes and reflect on this story, create a silence within you and let the story reveal its inner depth and meaning.

Soon we realize that all of us are constantly searching for the key to happiness, the key to good health, the key to bliss, the key to freedom, the key to inner peace and tranquility, the key to love, the key to God…

However, we are all looking for the key in the external world of things when the key is really lying deep within us…

For many people it takes a lifetime to realize that we will not find the key in the external world, and that it is really inside us, so we have to look inwards to find it…!