Murder in the Pearl District (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) (16 page)

“That's a good one,”
said one gal, giggling.

"Human dodos
abound, the world is full of them, and to make things worse - they love to hear
the sound of their own voice. So their mouths are open 24/7," said the
chairman.

Between giggles, the
young girl glanced at the paper airplane on the floor.

“Can you give us an
example of imaginary sin?” a young man asked earnestly, and wondered if someone
was going to pick up the bill.

“If you don’t fast
during certain times of the year you are labelled a sinner," said the
chairman.

“Even though you refuse
to accept the concept of fasting and put up a brave front, internally it's
eating you up. You tell yourself you are a sinner. To hell with it you say;
you’ve committed so many sins that you might as well embrace hell with all guns
blazing. In this way you condemn yourself to a living hell right here and right
now. If you do not conform to the
dodoisms of society,
then you are
gifted with the ultimate status symbol – there walks a sinner.

"The irony of the
situation is that when you condemn someone else you are committing a sin -
which is nothing but the absence of goodness. At that moment you are spewing
venom. No one likes to admit it but that's the truth. We all turn into the
devil every now and then.

"There's nothing
right or wrong about fasting. If it suits your spiritual path then embrace it
by all means. But coercing, castigating or intimidating someone to do something
they cannot 'relate to' nor are 'comfortable with' causes a lot of harm to both
parties," said the chairman.

"So evil is the
absence of goodness?" asked a young woman.

"Yes, in the heat
of the moment when you lose your sanity because of a lack of awareness you become
a sinner.

"It's so
deceptively simple. When
'goodness' leaves you
, however fleetingly, at
that moment in time you become a sinner," said the chairman.     

“Are non-vegetarians
sinners?” asked an elderly lady, with a worried look on her face.

“That’s a good
question,” said one girl.

“Hmm… ok here goes,”
said the chairman.

“If there is one sin
then here it is – emitting a negative thought. It does the only thing it can -
it comes back and bites you,” said the chairman.

“Billions of
vegetarians spew billions of negative thoughts on a daily basis and a few even
harbor thoughts of killing, looting and plundering on a global scale (if their
interests are harmed),” said the chairman.

“In many cases,
vegetarians wholeheartedly endorse murderous decisions. In this way both
vegetarians and non-vegetarians kill hundreds, maybe thousands in conflicts,
skirmishes and wars that take place on a daily basis,” said the chairman.

“So both are on the same
level, slightly above that of animals. Animals walk around naked, you have
clothes on -
internally both are looking to survive not thrive.
You
think that turning into a vegetarian makes you ‘spiritual’ automatically. How
smoothly you delude yourself!”

“Lottsa things are
beginning to take on a whole new meaning,” said one man.

“Looks like we have much
bigger issues to deal with,” said an elderly gentleman.

“Your thoughts are
diametrically opposite to ours,” opined one woman.

“Since sin doesn’t
exist, we can party a lot harder from now on,” said a young guy. Everyone
screamed: “Wooohooooooooooooooooo.”

“So what you're saying
is that we can commit a crime and get away with it?” asked an elderly
gentleman.

“Good question. Since
there’s no retribution, it’s a free ride, right?” asked one gal. 

“Well, it’s not that
simple,” said the chairman. “When you commit a crime your conscience gets
jolted. This jolt results in the formation of a negative imprint, which gets
added to your memory bank, which is already overflowing with billions of such
imprints.

"This imprint is
similar to the one made in molten metal. When you get hot under the collar,
these imprints register deep grooves into your psyche. Is it easy to erase
them? No. It takes a long time and until it exists you'll project the same
reality over and over again. You’re helpless.

"So prevention is
better than cure. Don't lose your bearings. Keep cool. You'll end up paying a
heavy karmic price if you don't.

“These imprints give
out a certain type of energy just like a magnet. This magnetic force attracts
you to people, places and things vibrating at the same energy level. You can
steal a piece of paper, a pen, a book or money from a bank; it’s all the same.

“So if you lie or
steal, no matter how small or how big, it gets registered, and this attracts
you to liars and thieves. They might be from the ghetto or they might be
wearing skirts and suits, but the undeniable fact is - ‘like attracts like’.

"Another way of
looking at it is - your conscience is the software and your memory is the
database.
When "an act" involves an emotion
then the result of
that act gets added to the database. The bigger the database the harder life
gets. In other words, keep your emotions in check and travel light. You'll go
fast and you'll go far and you'll be happy.  

“So it's back again to
the memory and its back again to the most important saying of all time – empty
yourself of your memories, for the reason your life is the same as your parents
or differs very marginally is because
the same memory patterns bring forth
the same experiences
.”

“So what you're telling
us is that there’s no entity sittin' in heaven doling out bouquets and
brickbats?” clarified an old man.

“That’s right,” said
the chairman.

“I’ve been terrorized
into submission by my folks who keep telling me that I’ll end up in hell if I
sin,” said a young gal, her cheeks pink with guilt.

“I’ve had a hard time
with this worship stuff,” said one guy. “Every time I’d ask a question they’d
frighten me by telling me that bad things happen to those who ask too many
questions.”

“So to recap, you are
bleeding precious energy because you daydream, blame, complain and criticize, because
of infatuation, because you are weighed down by useless memories, because of sin
and guilt (if not a lot then a little). Sin is a figment of your imagination
that never had anything to stand on but survived for so long
because you
energized it with fear
that sprouted from your inner being
,” said
the chairman.

"Women are good
when it comes to all of this. Their bullshit detector is far better than a
man's. They've always been the protector whereas man has always been the
provider. You put bullshit on a man's plate, he'll eat it and then say - Well,
that tasted kinda funny.

Everyone burst out
laughing.

"Learn from women,
you'll prosper tremendously," said the chairman

*****

Once, three beautiful
birds landed on the front lawn of a house. The lady of the house was busy with
her daily chores when she nonchalantly looked up and saw these heavenly
creatures. She went up to them and almost let out a shriek when the first bird
said: “My name is Love.”

The second bird said:
“My name is Success,” and the third bird said: “My name is Wealth.”

The lady could scarcely
believe her good fortune. She invited all of them in, but Love told her, that
she could only choose one of them.

She went running in and
called her husband. Soon, there was an animated discussion, about which bird
was to be let in. The fight was for Success and Wealth, neither wanted Love.

A little while later,
their eight year old daughter came out and saw the birds. Since her parents
were unable to come to a decision, they asked her to choose. The little girl
didn’t know what Success or Wealth meant, so she chose Love.

As soon as Love flew
into the house, Success and Wealth too flew into the house. This left the
parents perplexed. Love had conveniently forgotten to mention, that if it was
chosen, then Success and Wealth had no option but to follow it, wherever it
went.

*****

CHAPTER
7

Nothing
can Kill You!

The chairman
looked over at the paper plane made of money that still lay unclaimed on the
floor. No one had dared pick it up. Maybe they were afraid of being labelled as
greedy. Just when the chairman was going to reach down for it, the young gal
retrieved it for him. He thanked her as he pocketed the money.

“So, how many of
you are afraid of death?” asked the chairman.

All of them
raised their hands.

“Why?” asked the
chairman.

“It's game over
once we’re dead, ain’t no fun in that,” said one man.

“Here’s a
scientific fact that science does not know yet: you are immortal,
you will
never die or in other words - nothing can kill you, because
you are the
essence
,” said the chairman.

“Howz that
possible?” asked an elderly gentleman, who flashed a toothless grin.

*****

A day is
equivalent to a lifetime enveloped in 24 hours. A day and a lifetime are like
two gears, made of the same material, have teeth, and rotate in a circular
fashion. They differ in size -
not in function
. Hence, you are born
every day.

When you sleep,
you don't sleep, your body sleeps. When you die, you don't die, your body dies.
The sun doesn't rise in the east and set in the west. The sun always is just as
pure awareness always is. Don't let the rising and setting blindside you. Just
like the sun - You are Pure Awareness and Awareness always Is. Don't let small
things like birth and death fool you!

*****

"Once you
were a baby, is that baby still around?" asked the chairman.

"No,"
said the elderly gentleman.

"Are you
still here?" asked the chairman.

"Damn right
I am," he replied, as everyone burst out laughing.

"Once you
were a teenager, is that teenager still around? Once you were a young man, is
that young man still around? Once you were a middle aged man, is that middle
aged man still around?" asked the chairman. "None of them are around,
but you're still here, aren't you?"

"Yeah,"
said the elderly gentleman.

"So you
take up all these forms that are eventually discarded, but the "you"
still remains, this ever-present awareness that is witness to everything that
is happening," said the chairman. "The witness always was, is and
always will be."

“So why are we
not aware of this fact?” asked the senior gentleman.

“You hit the
nail on the head," said the chairman. "It’s all ‘bout awareness. All
of you sleep with your eyes wide open during the day so there’s ‘very little to
no awareness’ even when you are awake. With such low levels of awareness there
is very little difference between you and an animal.

“This imaginary
fear of death keeps you rooted to the same spot, every decision you take is
centered around your safety, your security. You might not be aware of it, but
deep down its playing on your ignorance (that you are unaware of your
immortality) all the time.

“When you die
you don’t die, it's not game over, it's just break-time. Tired of this
existence, tired of playing the game of life, you take a breather and then get
back on court with renewed energy,” said the chairman.

“Death is a
figment of your imagination. The fear of death sucks out enormous amounts of
energy from you on a daily basis. This stunts your growth and you live life
half-dead. Many diseases and bodily pain in life are on account of this fear
manifesting itself in myriad forms.

“You walk around
thinking that someone or something will harm you or your family; the funny
thing is – those who surround you also walk around thinking that you’ll stick
it into them at any moment.

“If you want to
tattoo one thing then let it be this –
Death is the ultimate illusion
,”
said the chairman. “It’s back to the concepts of ‘Empty yourself of your
memories, your past conditionings and bring down this wall of resistance that
has come up on account of your memories.

“When you try to
reason, you are standing on the foundation of your memories, for without the
support of your memories you cannot reason, so such a method of learning is
faulty. In Latin -
to educate means to draw from within, not to shove from
outside
.  Eternal truths bubble up from deep within and point you in the
right direction,” said the chairman.