God Bless You
origin source quote

Query: What is the origin of the saying "God Bless You"?

Vijay Kumar:
God bless you is not a simple phenomenon. Can everyone in this World say God Bless You? No. It would be wrong if anyone who has not yet understood the right meaning of "God bless you" and has reached a certain stage in Spirituality says God bless you.

What do we actually mean when we say "God bless you"... is it that someone who is on the higher plane of Spiritual development can say to another amongst the community, "God bless you". If it were so then the saying "God bless you" would carry no meaning for it may sometimes be embellished with a streak of untruthfulness when emanating from a person full of ego.

If a true Guru, a truthful Spiritual master says "God bless you" then it not only carries a meaning but many a times it may result in removal of the veil of ignorance from one who is on the lower plane. And why would a truthful Spiritual master say so. The prime reason behind such sayings is that the Spiritual master is already aware of the ignorance of the seeker (the seeker of Spirituality) yet when the master sees that the student is making no efforts then it automatically flows out from the mouth of the Spiritual master, the blessings of the ages "God bless you".

The hidden truth behind such blessings is that the common folk continue passing their lives in ignorance. And by repeated use of "God bless you" it is sometimes possible that this student realizes that one is missing something that the master desires of him. One may go to the church every Sunday but only as a ritual. Why go at all to the church if going is not benefiting one. But when the master says, "God bless you" to someone he also explains to him the meaning behind.

I shall narrate an example that shall make things more clear- During a Rotary club meeting, one of our members was the guest speaker. He is a devout Hindu in the present manifestation. But he had clear memories of his earlier life since childhood. He could even foresee that he was a Muslim (follower of Islamic Dharma) in his earlier life and he was able to visualize the house where he lived in his earlier life.

Many a times out of curiosity he wanted to visit the house located in another town about 500 kilometers away from his present town. How many times he may have tried but he was unable to reach that place which remained firmly located in his memory. Sometimes the vehicle he was traveling broke down, sometimes the weather turned hostile... whatever may have been the reason but he was not destined to develop a contact with his earlier life.

Unless one has the grace of God... we cannot move ahead even a single pace. God forbids it. It is not just that God prompts us for everything we do or act upon but with the grace of God supporting us we can accomplish tasks that we would not have been able to do otherwise. By saying, "God bless you" to the seeker or the student the Spiritual master only desires that people may get ahead in life by the blessings of God. Similar is the case when an elderly person of the house blesses the young generation.

By saying God bless you, the master is invoking the powers of God on behalf of the ignorant seeker or the student and blessing him so that the seeker or the student reaches his goal in life. Whenever we try to say to someone, God bless you, we do not mean that God shall definitely bless him but we desire the well being of one. Invoking the powers of God on behalf of the other is not something born out of ignorance. Only when we mean it do we say so and never otherwise.

Whenever we come across someone who is physically retarded... maybe due to performance of the bad Karma in the earlier lives but when we find such a one trying to perform well in this life then one always tries to bless one on behalf of God. There is always a possibility that having been forgiven by God these people in their next manifestation may be born without any deformity.

Talking to a child and saying God bless you inspires him in the journey of life which he has yet to seriously start. We have already covered much part of the journey and having known the pitfalls we always try to bless the child on behalf of the God by saying, "God bless you". Every child would always react with a thank you. And why would he do that... it is because he feels that we are much more matured than him and would only think the better of the child.

Arianna, suppose I chance to meet you on a street and after introducing ourselves then my whisperings for you would be, "God bless you" and why would be that. I have reached the last manifestation of my life, the 8.4 million manifestation. Beyond this life I have nowhere to go. I have realized self and within this life I shall take salvation (moksha as recorded in Hinduism). Everyone whom I meet and love dearly, I cannot help myself but invoking the blessings of God for the person whom I meeting with.

It may be because I have already covered and reached the end of the cosmic life and wish the same for all following behind. Think of Jesus... to each and every person who may have had the opportunity of meeting him in person, Jesus Christ would have always said to them, "God bless you" and why would he not say that again and again for he had reached the end of his journey and wanted all to follow the route he had taken.

God bless you contains nothing in the negative. It is only invoking the pure powers of the God to bless someone and that too on behalf of the God Almighty.

We also need to understand one important aspect of Spirituality that God Almighty never interferes in the working of his creation. As we perform so shall we get... nothing less or more? Everything is based upon the Karma we perform in our daily life. We can never expect mangoes to grow on a guava tree.

God Almighty acts as a Dhrishta (onlooker)... the total cosmic system is based upon theory of karma. As is our residual Karma in the earlier life... so shall be our life in the present manifestation. If the residual Karma of our earlier lives permits us to be born in the house of a king then it is just not possible for us to be born in the house of a cobbler. We only reap what we sow nothing less or more!

We also need to remember that only those accomplished souls who have reached a certain level in the field of Spirituality can only invoke the powers of God on behalf of the other. Most human beings cannot do so and when such people say, "God bless you" it is totally meaningless.

People from world-wide come to my website with the hope of gaining some wisdom out of the essays and the glossary contained therein. God bless you is primarily meant for all such seekers of Spirituality and it is my true desire that God blesses all these souls to understand the hidden meanings of the Scriptures.

I would also emphasize here that when one Human being addresses the another... although the address is pointed towards the atman soul of the another but in actual it is the physical manifested body imbibed with an ego which reacts to the same. Like Namaste in Hinduism it is saying, "God bless you" in the western culture. Namaste means invoking the welfare of one being addressed.

May God bless you to understand meaning of words narrated above!

Always there to clarify your queries (send your query),

Vijay Kumar "Atma Jnani" Vijay Kumar... The Man who Realized God in 1993 on God Bless You. For more details on god bless you- origin source quote visit - god bless you. Send your query - click here

Full text of query: You wrote:" God” bless all these souls who in their search for “God” fail to understand the basic rudiments of Spirituality that .. “God” lives in all”. To serve him .. You must learn to serve Humanity with humility and without any selfish motive.

I have been reading your web site and the many discourses. I have ALWAYS had a problem with people who are ask to say "GOD BLESS YOU".. or to BLESS OTHERS. For me.. a GOD that is ALREADY PRESENT.. OMNIPRESENT.. within ALL THINGS...and in fact is the POWER that is SILENTLY BEHIND ALL THINGS.. does not NEED to Be BLESSED at all.. IT IS

Gosh this seems very odd for a Human ego to say GOD BLESS.. I can see where being that have GREAT HUMAN EGOS... that do not surrender to their highest within does need to be given wisdom to elevate their ignorance... but for a Human to BLESS another Human.... that seems very strange to me. One Human Ego BLESSING another when the one BLESSINGS does NOT UNDERSTAND and is not SELF REALIZE ... seems crazy to me.

These words "GOD BLESS YOU" seem only a game a Human ego might speak to make another Human ego in ignorance FEEL BETTER about it ignorance. But where is the TRUE POINT OF POWER.... hardly within the Human ego self.... For me, these words spoken for a person who has not SELF-REALIZED is like VOMIT to the WIND.