In search of GodA Story by Ratish KumarChapter 1 - The Meeting He bent through the door to enter the room where he was
told the answer for his question lies. He was expecting an old age long bearded
image to be sitting over a podium with beads in his hand and chanting
"OM" in a dark room with a lamp lighted in front. But to his surprise
the room was a quite a ventilated one with the rays of sun thrusting into the
room and he couldn't stop wondering that the design of the room and its windows
are such that the Sun would be in the room as long as it brighten the sky. The
man standing before him wore such a smile which makes him think of the reason
for his happiness. Unexpectedly this man doesn't have any beard; just a well
combed hair and he can't think him over 50 yrs of age. "This must be some
follower or an orderly", he thought. The man the so called saint understood his glare and said
"Welcome, it’s me whom you are looking for. And before we begin our
conversation", he said with an authority which this visitor couldn't defy for a reason he himself couldn't understand, "there are
three rules in this room. First, We will respect each other and their views.
Second, all the answers to my questions should be unambiguous. If its yes or
no, you can't say may be. You have to answer in affirmative or negative. And the
last is once this conversation begins you are supposed to do whatever I tell
until this conversation is closed." He looked at his guest and gave a small
stare for his answer, the stare was a gentle and brief but the visitor felt as
if he has been commanded to follow, though it didn't feel him like an order.
The guest, Vivek, just looked at the saint’s face then at Sun, the brightness
of which made him quickly turn his eyes back to the glowing face of his host.
"I agree" was all he could manage to speak. He was wondering whether
he would really get the answer to his question or will be disheartened like
earlier. But he wanted to take a chance; anyway he was not going to lose
anything, even if this next saint fails him. But then this saint looks quite
different than others, if he would go in a crowd nobody could guess that he is
saint. He even felt like asking this saint why he is not having a beard, a long
hair and all those articles to give a feeling of his identity but then decided
not to ask. The saint said "I will answer your long disturbing
query so take out the doubts from your mind and please have a seat". "How do you know that I have come with a
question?" he just asked in the impulse. "It’s in your eyes" was the answer. "So you read the eyes, I heard most read the hand",
just after his statement he himself felt ashamed for that comment, guilt of
offending his host but the response was something quite unexpected. "I am bad at reading hands" with a smile the saint
said, "But the eyes are easy to read, no confusing and complex lines to
decipher. Just the reflection of your mind." This made Vivek little comfortable that at least he
escaped from an offence and though he thought most of the people come with
their problems, it would be easy for anyone to guess, he thought of putting
some praising words, may be as a penance to his earlier remark, "I am
impressed with your philosophy" trying with a smile. The Saint just moved his glance from Vivek’s face to the
Sun outside and said "It’s no philosophy, it’s pure science." Wow, now that was a very different term used by any Saint
ever that Vivek came across or did he hear something wrong....how can a saint speak
of science? They are the ones who prophases power of the God and this saint has
just referred science. This may be the reason why Vivek was advised by his
mentor to meet this man. But wait, is he really different or is just playing
with the words. This curiosity made him ask "I thought you saints just
believe in the power of the unknown character called God and it is really
surprising that you have mentioned the logic of science. Do you really believe
in science?" The saint gave a gentle smile with a non disturbing
calmness, which has now started making Vivek jealous - how can anybody be so
happy, so calm, or just showing off that he is undeterred. May be yes, he is
just trying to influence with his tranquility, so there is no need of being
jealous, everyone has his own share of pain, at least what these God loving,
God fearing people say. The saint said “Most of the thing which happens around
you can be explained by science only the rest is inexplicable. That’s what is
governed by the power, the power beyond the logics of science but still
exists.” There he is, this is the time to hit the right question
thought Vivek, “So, this power is called God right?” he said. The saint unmoved by this question, still in his state of
calmness asked “So, you don’t believe in God. Can you please tell me which
definition of God you deny?” That was quite unexpected and frankly unclear to Vivek,
what does that question mean? “I just do not believe in God” was all he could
utter, still thinking whether it answers the question correctly. The saint asked again “You might have an idea of God
which you feel is impossible and hence you defy His existence in your mind. I
want you to tell me what does the term God means to you.” This was in an understandable format for Vivek, he responded
“God is something invisible power they say who governs this whole universe, who
defines death and birth, who decides what to happen and what to deny. I cannot
see Him and I cannot feel Him so I don’t believe in such a power.” He was
suddenly happy with his answer, maybe because he has also given the reason for
his atheism along with the description of the God. “Have you ever prayed, for yourself or for someone dear
to you?”, came the question. “I have never been to any temple, church or mosque”, he declared
proudly. “You didn’t answer me, I didn’t ask whether you have
visited any holy place, I asked whether have you prayed for anyone ever?”
questioned the saint. “Prayers are made in temples right?” looking at the saint
he said. When he didn’t get any response he said “I have wished things to get
better but never prayed.” “What have you wished most desperately in your life?”
looking straight into the eyes of Vivek, the saint asked. The stare disturbed somewhere within Vivek, though it
wasn’t a harsh stare or an angry message but still he felt a shiver running
through his body. Gulping a little pool of saliva in his mouth he said “It was
after my brother had met with an accident. I wanted him to be safe.” The
memories of the worst day hit him. The flashback was so clear as if it has
happened a few days back. It was almost 16yrs when the heroics of the two kids
ended up in a nightmare. And it was his challenge that endangered his brother’s
life. The reason he wished for the good health of his brother was more out of
guilt than love, though love was never less and he couldn’t have taken the
shock of the loss, but his desperation was not to live rest of the life as a
murderer, murderer of his own brother, though nobody will ever know the reason
of the death but it would keep killing him slowly for rest of his life. The
fear the pain all came into him again; he felt the tears flowing down his eyes.
Then suddenly he realized where he was and quickly gained his composure. He
wiped his tears in a way showing as if there is itching in his eyes, so that
this saint who caused the bad memories to come back doesn’t see the grown up
man crying. He still felt that the saint has noticed his tears someway. “Can you please go to a temple, pray and comeback in next
one hour.” Said the saint. “I told you I do not go to temples. I don’t believe in
God and I never pray. So I cannot do this.” There was a resistance in his voice
still he tried to be as polite as possible. “Remember, you agreed three conditions in the beginning.
You are free to go if you wish so.” This was something quite absurd. Enforcing faith is not
something he had expected from this saint, a saint whom he thought was
different. What should he do now? He can definitely close this off and go back
home thinking that this was also one of those fakes or he can stay until the
saint gives up or may be though looked most
improbable would answer his query on the God. “When you have come this
long, you can wait a bit more. Even if you go to temple and pray you won’t lose
anything and that won’t make you a theist.” said his active rational mind. He
stood up with a gentle movement of his head from right to left and left to
right in agreement and enquiring eyes for the permission to leave for now " to
the temple, to do something he has never done and was still thinking how to do
it? May be just standing in front of the lifeless idol of the so called God
with eyes closed and hands joined that’s what he has seen his neighbors doing
and the mothers in the bollywood movies. He can definitely act that way, he
thought. “When you pray, pray as if God exists, pray as if your
wishes will be fulfilled if you pray with faith and sincerity.” The saint stood
up saying this and escorted Vivek to the door. Outside looking up the blue sky and the dazzling sun,
Vivek amused at his own decision. He was surprised at his own decision. This
was the most unexpected of him. He has never gone into temple even for the bets
his friends would keep during his childhood, the prizes vary from five rupees
to a plate of samosa to a packet of marble or a dozen of mango from the hilltop
house, the toughest barricades to break in. He would look at them with a smile
as if these prizes allure him and then stand up and proudly decline their
requests and leave everyone guessing what could happen if he go to temple. One
of them even came up with a theory that he might be a devil in disguise and
hence afraid of going to temple. Few agreed but most of them denied, some out
of fear of accepting this, as they spend so much time together " won’t it be
dangerous then if it’s true? So they simply rejected this, to feel themselves
safe. Some told their parents who laughed and told them that his family might
be atheist so they accepted this concept, anyways parents cannot be wrong. The
rest declined this theory just because they hated this theory boy. And as Vivek grew up his first love in college tried to
cajole him to the temple for the blessing so that they could stay together, he
refused silently. She insisted later and they broke up as she thought he was
afraid of keeping commitment. He once thought whether their broke up was a
result of him not going to temple and God being angry, but then there was no
God for him so it was the girl who was stupid to leave him for something which
doesn’t exist or she didn’t deserve him…..yes this looks more appropriate. There
must be somebody else for him. Later in his job a few years back, one of his closest
friend, Manoj, was tying the nuptial knot in a temple. He was aware that Vivek
doesn’t believe in God, but he thought that not for the God but for their
friendship he would come, he would come to wish them good luck. But Vivek
didn’t go. And that put a full stop to their friendship. None of these made him go to temple. He had made
sacrifices in his life for his rationality but he had always kept it. But now
he was breaking his oath, not if oath at least his belief or the way he lived,
for a saint, more surprisingly a stranger, isn’t it an irony? He was out of the math, he could now refuse to go to
temple and there was no witness of the conversation in the room other the saint
himself. And he assumed that the saint would rarely go outside to reveal this
secret. The saint will forget it in a few days amid his long list of visitors.
He wanted to run away from this. He doesn’t want to go to temple more because
never in his life has he done this for anyone how dear the person would be.
What would they all say? But he can keep this secret. He can just slip into a
distant temple and pray for few seconds and come back. Nobody will know. But he
was unsure of answering to the part of his self who was against the belief of
the existence of God, he can fool everyone but not himself. He was now
confused. But there was one thing he was told that he would, and not could,
find an answer to the theory of God from this saint. He wanted an answer, so he
has to go back. Of course he can go back without visiting a temple and tell
that he is done. How could the saint know the difference? But if this saint is
someone really powerful, or different, what he prefers to say, may find out. So
now he was sure of what he is going to do. Outside the temple there wasn’t much crowd at this time
as most devotees seek their blessings early morning or in the evening. He
thought only the lazy creatures would visit the temple just before the noon. He
is here at this time because he has his own reason but if someone is theist
shouldn’t he follow the basics. So strange he thought. He cannot waste time
thinking on these slow and lazy devotees, he has to visit and set back as soon
as possible. He has two reasons for this; one he has to get back within an hour
and secondly the most important, he didn’t want to seen in a temple by any of
his acquainting. As it always happens
that you are always caught where you want to be seen the least. Once he was
with his recent girlfriend quite outside the city in a small tea shop still he
managed to find a distant relative there. Surprise!!! There car gave up just
before this tea shop. What an injustice. And it doesn’t stop here, the one you
find is the one who would be more curious to discuss this matter with your
parents first. He had to stay away from her for quite a long time owing to his
mothers self imposed promise. But men are men; they can’t leave their girl like
that. They can be dumped but they can’t dump. He went inside the temple, removed his shoes outside,
following the devotees in front. He wondered what envy the God has with these
leg covers which come so close to the God but are disallowed of His blessings.
Is this what they call as God? Where is the equality? At many temples he has
learnt that the rich and VIPs can steal into via a different door and the poor
are made to stand in a long line for hours just to get a glance of their God
for a few second or maybe less. Some are unlucky to measure the distance but devoid
of the ‘darshan’ of the God in the pushing crowd, where most of the time a
uniformed guard is there to direct the way out with a push and a stare. He came in front of the idol, it was of Lord Krishna, he
had seen such similar stone structure in many hindi movies. He just looked at
the people around just to take the assistance on how to pray. An old man was
standing there almost half bent chanting the Lords name audible to at least
around him. He turned back expecting few other as he didn’t want to go the old
man’s way as if begging for something, or it may be the hunch on his back or it
might his weak backbone which has made him bent like that. At the back he saw a
mother holding a baby in her hand and pulling another girl who found the
enjoyment in running around in the wide open space. He wanted her to start
praying but it looked the elder girl of her would keep her busy for some more
time. Then he just reminded of the word from the saint; eyes closed, hands
joined and pray with sincerity and faith as if God existed. So he closed his eyes, the darkness he
expected but a lot of thought and pictures make the screen filled like a
running movie, a movie of all the random thoughts and colors and sound. He
couldn’t concentrate. He opened his eyes and realized the fear of being seen in
the temple is causing the anxiety in him. He took out his handkerchief and
covered his face. The again closed his eyes, this time it was better. Now it
was time to think of a power which existed, the thought which he had defied
whole his life, but he has to think. “Fine”, he said inside “Okay God exists”
and he then just tried to think of something he could imagine as God, the
sculpture kept in front of him which he had just seen didn’t entice him much to
declare it as a figure of God. With his closed eyes, he imagined nothing, just darkness
and expected or tried to believe that a power lies there which would listen to
him and so he made his prayer. “Oh God, forgive me for all my sins.” Thinking
of the childhood saga, again the picture went fresh before his eyes, guilt
filled into him and he wished if he wouldn’t have made such challenge, his
brother would not have been paralyzed in the bed, just living on the mercy and
sympathy of the others. It could have been him lying on the bed if his brother
would not have sacrificed himself to save Vivek. With his closed eyes he kept
asking why. Why it happened and why did his brother saved him. He deserved the
punishment which his brother embraced. Those ten minutes of their life changed things
forever. Sometimes he felt that it was after this incidence he lost his faith
on God but he couldn’t remember believing the God before that either. Now
whenever he look at his brother, the face which cannot give expression, only
the eyes which could move, thankfully at least something left to speak himself.
But all these eyes spoke was hunger, pain or need to clean up but mostly the
pain not sure whether its only the physical pain or something held inside, the
cursed life of his whatever it was he couldn’t stand the tears of those eyes. These
tears have kept his thoughts of the incident fresh in his memory and he hated
that. How can he ask for forgiveness? Wasn’t that mean?
Shouldn’t he ask for his brother’s well being rather than self relief? Was he
being selfish? Yes, he has lived his whole life living for himself defying
everyone. Selfish is a small term before his deeds. His brother was an example
of selflessness. He sacrificed his life for him and still what he was
thinking…..just to get rid of the sins. Why can’t he think of his brother to
get well rather than asking forgiveness for this unforgiving sin? He just
wondered whether he was like this to all. Just steering his mind back to past
he tried to think of something good he has done selflessly. He can’t remember
of any such act. He felt so ashamed so guilty that he wanted to cry. Tears had
already made their way down to his cheeks. He didn’t want to think of anything
else other than taking his emotions out in tears. He just couldn’t stand
anymore and broke down to the ground lying there for the next few minutes. He suddenly woke up and realized that he was sleeping for
almost last half an hour. He gained his consciousness and stood up. For some
strange reasons he felt good maybe better. He remembered the reason for his
being in the temple. Those few minutes of sleep felt to take out all the toxic
out of his body. He bowed before the figure with hands clasped and prayed with
feeling, perhaps for the first time. He asked for his brother to get well, he
prayed for him to stand again on this feet, to get back his strength in his
hand so that he could hold them again, hug him again and say sorry for
everything, not just for what he did to his brother but also for the way he
lived this long. But he didn’t want anything for himself, for the first time.
He just wanted his brother back, back out of the world of pain and agony. He
wanted to stay there for some more time but his clock was running out to get
back to the saint. The first drop of faith entered his mind and he accepted it
with pleasure. Outside the math, the saint was standing as if waiting
for him. He greeted Vivek with a smile and asked “So, how was your
prayer?” Vivek couldn’t dare to look at
him thinking of the thoughts he earlier had. But he was now a better person and
maybe the saint will understand this. This thinking of being better gave him
the courage to look at the saint. He said “I prayed for the first time in my
life and I felt peace. I am happy. God may or may not exist but I am happy that
I did that.” He felt truthful and sincere. The saint guided him inside the
math. He offered him a seat and seated himself in front of him. He asked “Did
you feel anything new?” New, of course new, altogether a new feeling, a totally
new birth he felt. He answered “Yes”, a satisfying answer. “Good” came the
response. “Step one done. Two more to go for your answer” “The next step starts tomorrow. You can now go back and
return in the morning”, said the saint. This confused and surprised Vivek.
“then why did you ask me to return in one hour?”. “If I hadn’t said that
wouldn’t you have disturbed your schedule by staying late in the temple?” with
a smile, commented the saint and left the room. “Was he following me? How could he know that I wanted to
stay? Does he know magic?” his mind kept asking these questions. He went to his
office took the half day leave and went straight to his home. He raced to his
brothers room where the half dead body was lying. He expected his prayer to
work like a magic, he expected his brother to stand up and talk. But nothing
like that happened. He felt sad as if he has woken up from a dream. He went
close to his sleeping brother, kissed his hand and left the room. He slept peacefully that night. Chapter 2 - The Realization Next morning he reached the math in the morning. The
saint welcomed him saying “Good Morning!! Hope you had a good sleep last
night”. “How could he know this?” Vivek puzzled. “Is that too in my eyes?”
asked Vivek. “Of course, see how fresh you look”, said the saint with a
taunting smile. “Of course he knows”, accepted Vivek in his mind. “So what do I have to do today?” asked Vivek. “Nothing. It’s my turn today.” said the saint.
Vivek was about to ask a question when the saint continued “I will tell you few
facts. You just have to listen. No questions please. Save your questions for
tomorrow for the last session”. Before Vivek could think came another statement,
“Today you just answer what I ask for and listen to what I say.” And finally
came the question “So do you agree on this?” “I think accepting is the only
option I have.” came the answer. They took their seats and then began the teaching. “Which
human creation do you think is indestructible? Or will stay forever or seems
immortal?” asked the saint. Though Vivek wanted to ask a question first before
thinking for an answer but then he has to keep the promise. He thought for
sometime but couldn’t think of any such thing. “I don’t think I know the
answer. Every man made thing looks perishable to me”, came the modest reply.
“Exactly! Because there is nothing which is made by man and will be retained
forever. Humans are mortal and so is his creation. And so is the religion.
Religion is human defined concept to define the divine power as per his own
convenience. And that’s the reason we have so many religion. Don’t you think if
there is only one super power governing the laws of nature shouldn’t there have
been only one religion”. “That makes sense”, thought Vivek and just moved his
head in acceptance to the saint’s word. “So do not believe the definition of the God that has
been told by the religious prophets. They have their own limit of acceptance of
the fact. Their vision on God is blurred. So it’s fine if you don’t believe in
that God.” “At least he said something good about my thinking” amused Vivek
within. “God is a power which is omnipresent. This power is not with a person
like structure who has to be present in person to see things. God is a flow of
energy and that is the only reason He could be present everywhere. There are
layers of energy around us and the outermost covering shield is of the God.
This is the reason only few saints could feel the actual God after meditating
so deeply. It takes so much effort to touch that layer that these saints had to
go into a lonely and peace place so as to meditate this deep. Meditation is one
of the ways to reach this power but it takes years of exercise to perform this
act brilliantly. And those who have done never speak of Religion but only God.” “Another way of reaching the God is your soul. The energy
level of your soul and the God is same or you may say it comes from the same
energy layer. The energy from this layer in you gives you the life. So understand
the God as the energy and not as a defined structure like an idol. Just tell me
what’s the difference between a living being and a dead man?” “A living man can breathe and walk. His heart beats, his
brain thinks” answered Vivek. “This is fine but give me a very basic difference”,
requested the saint. “One has got a soul and other doesn’t have. May be this
is what you are expecting”, said Vivek. “The answer is correct but how do you prove this. Let me
answer it. The living man has a body temperature and the dead man is cold. The
temperature is always associated with energy. So when this energy is gone, the
temperature is gone and thus comes the end to life of this body. You cannot see
the energy but you can very well establish it presence. Science approves the
presence of energy, so you cannot deny the being of soul even if you are a
rational thinker. And if this soul leaves the body where does it go? Of course
the answer is given by the science itself. Energy change from one form to
another form but can never be destroyed. This is the reason the religious
people believe in rebirth and immortality of the soul. But only they do not
know the reason. They can preach but they do not know to prove it
scientifically. This is the reason why there are people who still doubt the
fact of soul because there aren’t enough literate to educate them of this fact.
The only thing these religious priests say is never to question the Gods
creation of soul so that they do not have to find the answer themselves. I pity
them for their lack of knowledge. And I am sorry for the people who follow the
path of religion taking pain believing that this will lead to God. How can the
directives of the religion lead to God when it itself is based on insufficient
knowledge ?” “When I said that God could also be reached with the help
of soul, it is so because it is a part of the God. You might have sometime felt
that the wish comes true when you have wanted it deeply, sincerely and desperately.
When you are in this state you subconsciously send the ripples to your soul.
The soul of all living being and the God is at the same level so when this
ripple reaches your soul it is transported to the God itself and then
automatically to the soul of the expected person. Just think of a case where
you have seen a beautiful girl somewhere and wished her to be there where you
are now in the crowd and suddenly she appears from nowhere. What happened here
is you sent the demand subconsciously to your soul which reached the common
energy level from where it is transmitted to the soul of the person you wished
to see. The soul then once again subconsciously made the brain take a decision
to go and visit the place where you are waiting for her.” “Same thing happens when you get a call from somebody you
are just thinking of. The science has a name for this " Telepathy. Every act of
the soul and thus the God can be established with science. So where is doubt
for his existence?” “When you reach a level where you can consciously
interact with your soul you are a learned man. All the knowledge flows through
this layer and through this layer you can touch any other living being without
reaching it. Did you realize that your wish yesterday reduced the pain of your
brother so he slept calmly and didn’t even realize your presence in his room.” “But how did you know about my brother and all that
happened yesterday at my home?”, Vivek couldn’t just stop himself from asking
this question. “All questions for tomorrow please” demanded the saint
and Vivek realized it quickly. Realized not just not to ask the questions today
but also how this saint knows about the last day’s incident. “This is all for today. Please come at tomorrow morning”,
signed-off the saint. When Vivek came out, he was elated. The questions which
he was asking always about the existence of the God has been answered and that
too so simply. He didn’t need to read any religious books or epic to understand
this. So lucky he felt that even the follower of the God’s doesn’t know the
fact of his existence and he who was atheist for all his life realized it in a
day, so strange. He wanted to jump and shout with happiness but controlled his
emotions until he reached his car parked outside. He went inside the car locked
all doors and windows and shouted “yahoooooooo!!” and felt so relaxed. Chapter 3 - Knowledge Vivek arrived the final day with his questions. “Why there’s only one God?” was the first question after
the greetings. “I mean if there is a layer of energy which governs the balance,
how you can be sure that there is only one such layer?” The saint replied “The layer of energy is not one. There
are many layers surrounding us but then definitely there has to be one
outermost layer which is the one indirectly uniting all. Doesn’t it make sense
that only the outer covering of any human could touch the outer covering of another?
Just like you wearing a coat and another gentleman in jacket just passing
across and brush with each other, the actual physical contact will be of your
coat and his jacket. Similarly the outer shield of energy of each living being
is touches to each other and using this energy, things can be controlled. When
I say the actual power which governs which you may call God is this outermost energy
level. So of course it can be only one.” “Also the question of singularity
arises when you understand the God as a definite power which is not the case.
It is actually the flow of energy.” “If it’s an energy how is that it could listen to our
prayers?” came the second question. “This seems fair to me. But how will I know whether my
prayers are intense enough to reach the God? What are the ways of actually
touching this layer of energy?” asked Vivek. Vivek was somewhere within happy to get answers to his
questions which recently he had started believing could never be answered. “But
isn’t there still few things which happens around that cannot be answered by
the laws of science?” asked Vivek. “Science is not the ultimate tool because science is
still developing. It has provided a lot of laws and of course at many places
with exceptions. The science which we are aware of is still not complete. Every
day a new finding is published so how can you say that these things which
happen cannot be explained by science. I say that if this book of science is
complete some day, it will be able to answer to all the occurrences around you.
If you have heard about any learned saint who has acquired knowledge by
meditation never tries to explain things. He knows that his knowledge is far
above the considered standard and nobody will ever believe him even if he tries
to explain. So he just gives his advice and predictions.” “I just cannot believe that you really have got answers
to all my questions and am jealous enough to find this answers being explained
so simply, logically and scientifically that I cannot challenge anything. I am
so happy to meet you and to know the God that, I do not know what to do. These
three days have been so special to me, so impact-ful that I feel myself changed.
I am so thankful to you that I can give you anything in dakshina (payback) that you ask
for.” , cheered Vivek. The saint gave a gentle smile and commanded “As you have
let me ask for guru-dakshina, I command you to spread the truth of God to the
ignorant around you who blindly believe the stories of their religious teachers
and prophets.” “I will be glad to do this for you, sir.”, for the first
time came this acknowledgement for the saint as ‘sir’ by Vivek. “Just one more
thing I want to know sir. If I pray sincerely, will my brother will recover?” “I hope by now you have the answer with yourself. Trust
yourself and the God.”, replied the saint. “The final session is over and you
are now free of the three conditions made at the beginning. Good Bye” and the saint © 2015 Ratish KumarAuthor's Note
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Added on October 23, 2015 Last Updated on October 25, 2015 |