5. WHAT IS GOD? And why is God externalized?

“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.” 
― John Lennon

While growing up, we are told about a higher power, a God who will always take care of us no matter what. This god resides in the nearest temple/church/mosque/gurudwara according to our elders. This my friends is called 'Religion', believing blindly in what other people tell you to believe, while these other people were also told to believe it by some other people. So where is the truth? Who is God?

I don't believe that God resides in some temple or an idol or a murti that you keep in your bedroom. It would be a disrespect to my being if I was forced to believe that. I'm lucky that my parents never told me what to believe and gave me the freedom to have my own understanding for life and God, and have faith in my own religion. People get disgusted my the fact that I don't visit holy places and get surprised by the fact that I still believe in God. "How is this possible?" they ask me, "You must be a nastik (atheist)."

God is pure love. God is everywhere. God is within us.
Religion is believing in someone else's experience. Spirituality is having your own experience. A prayer is when you talk to God. Meditation is when you listen to God, so I suggest everybody to include any form of the same in their busy lives as the answers that you seek do not come when the mind is busy, they come when the mind is still. Have your own understanding of things and the world around you, don't just abide by the norms that the community has made. So, don't go around in search for God, instead find love in everyone and everything.