“Lady Zina, Lord Buddha, will you please assist me?”, Lord Vishnu called. They were all quite relaxed after being temporarily done with the hard issues, and were all smiling.
“Of course, my Lord”, they both nodded and joined him.
“Lady Kay, Lord Azrael, would you too please join us as well?”, he waved.
“How may we be of assistance?”, Azrael replied, and Karuna smiled.
“Lady Karuna is the Mind of God, and I will want her to listen to what we’ll say and give me her opinion, since she is the wisest and her thoughts are deepest”, he smiled at the blushing girl. “Lord Azrael, along with the two of you, has the greatest experience with humans, so I would appreciate his feedback as well. The thing I want to consult with you about is something I’m personally uncertain of, since it deals with matters of religion, or, more precisely, spirituality and spiritual ethics based on actual realities, but from a human perspective, when incarnated on Earth”, he nodded.
“Oh”, Buddha nodded with understanding.
“Indeed”, confirmed Vishnu. “The religious philosophy that you established seems to be a resounding success. I think we need to learn from this success and build upon it, which is why I will ask you first: when establishing another religion, what would you repeat, what would you do differently, and what are your general comments on the matter?”, Lord Krishna inquired.
“An interesting question. Well, first of all, I would want to establish the cornerstone elements of reality, because any religion that is to succeed must be based on reality. They are in a world that is in its essence a persistent, very convincing illusion, especially designed to inhibit insight into reality, and substitute its own false perspective. If we are to successfully fight Sanat Kumar’s plans, this is the primary vector of attack that I would implement. Do you agree?”, Buddha looked at his esteemed coleagues.
“Indeed”, Vishnu confirmed, and the Mind of God nodded in agreement. “Fighting illusion with reality is an excellent approach. However, may I ask about the specifics? How would you approach reality from a world that is specifically designed to make it nigh impossible?”, Kay asked.
“Without knowing what is technically possible, I would concentrate on things that actually matter the most, and cause the most problems to incarnated souls. I wouldn’t necessarily make it complicated. Things like, this place is not all there is. There is God, meaning transcendental supreme reality. This reality is not something distant, it’s within you and everywhere around you. Your actions and choices matter, as they determine your destiny in the afterlife, and yes, there is an afterlife, and it’s better than what you have now. Have faith in dharma and don’t retaliate, don’t react with evil and hatred to evil and hatred. Love, truth and compassion will free you, while anger, hatred, malice, envy, spite and cynicism will doom you”, he was deep in thought. “The part about this not being all there is, and the fact that there is eternal life beyond it, that is very important”, his wife interjected. “That’s what almost killed me, the belief that there’s nothing past Earth, no eternal life, just what we have there, and Mother had to save me by showing me transcendence and eternity in order for me to be able to process it emotionally”, she nodded.
“This was one of the errors of my former approach”, mused Buddha. “I didn’t want to talk about transcendental realities because if people can’t see them in person, they will fill their heads with all sorts of nonsense that will actually stand in the way of salvation. However, without clear ideas about salvation as a positive thing, it’s very hard to get a clear grasp of things and the philosophy becomes mostly about avoiding bad things, without a clear goal”, he shrugged.
“I think I would want to keep it simple. If at all possible, show them what we feel like. For all of us, the goal isn’t abstract. It’s us, to each other. We all have a person we adore and belong to, and we are saturated with what God feels like. I would want to show them what God feels like, and then give them intellectual framework to conceptualise this in whichever way they are comfortable with; but without actual spiritual connection with the goal, it’s all going to become just another worldly religion people kill each other over”, the Mind of God voiced her opinion.
“I would want to have some actual evidence and demonstration that physical death is not the end. I’m afraid that without that, it’s all going to be dismissed as a coping mechanism. This belief that death is the end is one of the most harmful consequences of Sanat Kumar’s evil. If they think death is the end, they will be open towards all evils – indulgence, despair, cruelty and so on. Also, I would be very careful to avoid mentioning the fact that most bodies are empty, in a sense that souls are actually rare. This is a super sensitive information that should be shared only by a God who can explain it as well as you could”, Angel of Death nodded at the Buddha. “They need to treat everybody as if they were a child of God and their best friend. That’s the only way they will act ethically and in ways that are conducive to positive soul formation”, he concluded.
“All of your ideas are excellent, and offer a much needed clarification to my general and vague concepts”, Lord Vishnu bowed to his friends. “I now need access rights to the Jewel and the Earth system”, he was deep in thought. “Ah, Anthea. She belongs to Sanat Kumar, and is outside the Throne of God. She is his property and acts in his name”, he smiled.
“And she insulted an angel and a God”, Lady Zina smiled widely as she understood what he was getting at. “This is a karmic offence which creates an opening for you”.
“Exactly”, he smiled at the wise Lady. “And also, the Sentinel, who was the person in charge of giving access to the Jewel. Lord Shiva, will you please join us?”, he waved at his buddy.
“Sure thing, Lord Krishna”, Shankar joined them. “May I understand that you have need of that frozen scream of terror that I preserved, thinking we might find a use for it at some point?”, he grinned at Vishnu.
“We would indeed be in a pickle without your foresight, brother”, Vishnu clapped Shiva’s shoulder. “Gentlemen, may I claim your grievances?”, he addressed Buddha and Azrael.
“You are welcome to them, Lord”, they nodded.
“And Mahadev, may I get access to the Sentinel, and through him, to Earth?”, he bowed to Shiva.
“By all means, my Lord”, Shiva bowed back.
“Then I have all I need”, Vishnu grinned, turned his eyes inward, and started making hand movements. The Gods and Goddesses all felt a stirring within Reality, as something changed, and they looked at each other and Lord Vishnu.
“Done”, he sighed and smiled.
“What did you do?”, they inquired.
“I implemented your wise and good ideas, my Lords and Ladies. There are going to be visions of us, and there are going to be religious scriptures describing our persons, actions, thinking and feelings, with enough mantric accuracy as to enable transcendence and salvation if proper discernment is present. They aren’t going to get everything right, but it’s going to be close enough. Also, there is going to be a surge of ethical philosophies that in essence amount to what Lord Buddha suggested, with more or less resonant accuracy. And finally, there is going to be an attack on Sanat Kumar, and a resurrection”, he concluded.
“What kind of an attack?”, the Mind of God asked.
“Resurrection?”, inquired Buddha.
“You just conceived a son with another woman”, Lady Lakshmi pretended to be distraught. “That’s not fair; what about me?”, she smiled at her husband and poked him in the ribs.
He smiled back and kissed her ear. “As far as I can recall, you recently had a beautiful Goddess daughter quite on your own, and without my assistance”, he said. “Besides, I conceived a child in a wonderful young woman that just happens to be conceived from one of your tears, artfully placed by our beloved and hundredfold-worshipped Lord Shiva, which means, if she keeps being a good girl, and comes back to you, it will have been you, truly”, he whispered seriously.
“Wow”, Lakshmi was astounded.
“I will get to actually have given birth to our son?”
“With your blessings, oh Fortune”, he smiled mischievously.
“By all means, my Lord”, the Lady curtsied, unable to hide a blessed smile.
“But now that we’re on the subject of…”, he turned inwards and an angel appeared.
“Hello Gabriel”, he smiled. “Will you please do something for me?”
“Of course, my Lord”, Gabriel bowed deeply.
“There’s a young girl on Earth that is in the process of conceiving a child due to my intervention. Would you please make sure there are no misunderstandings and that no harm comes to her?”, Vishnu asked. “Here are the permissions to access and intervene”.
“It would be my pleasure, Lord Krishna”, the angel bowed again and shimmered out.
“Now that’s taken care of, may I have another coffee?”, he sighed and smiled, and his glowing wife rushed to refill his cup.
“I’m going to actually be a mom”, she whispered.
“You already are”, her daughter winked.
“You know what I mean”.
“I do, but this is fun. Congratulations on your magical pregnancy”, the Goddess of Wisdom patted her Mother’s tummy and made her giggle. “I can’t wait to meet my baby brother”.