Digging deeper into the Nature of Illusion.

Upon waking up this morning i stood facing the mirror in the bathroom and gave myself a goo look over. Not good! What i was looking at was not what i'd like myself to appear before others. Then i asked my face looking back at me with strong conviction like never before. "What the f..k is going on?! Is this all there is to it! The fever the coughing the aches and pains all over this body is driving up the walls! What has all the Yoga and the meditation and the self reflections all these years amount o?!" I should have taken a picture of my ugly mug and posted it too, but the camera is dead like all else in my life of late. 
Off course there was no response from the face staring back at me reminding me of an old Hindu Sadhu with the over grown  beard and long unkempt hair, a sad and tragic image to look at to start the day off. Then it occurred to me to drive the demon of despair or whatever that is bugging me by reciting the Lines from the Holy Quran..."A'Uzubillah himina shaiton nira'jim. Bismillah hirRahman Nir Rahhim..." Three times. Simply means, Not in the name of the accursed, Satan, but in the Nam of the Most merciful and Most Compassionate. "Allah hu Akhbar! Allah hu Akhbar!" God is Great! "La illaha illalah hu Allah hu Akahbar!" There is none but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger!" Before i could continue my recitation of the short verses that i normally add to this, my whole body was gripped by a violent convulsion that shook me up from head to toe. As instantaneous as it occurred it was gone like nothing had happened. This has happened so many times before, so i was not disturbed. But then questions began to arise in my mind ...
Like what of the teachings of the Buddha that I have taken refuge in all these years? How do i pretend like it never took place and simply ignore the wisdom the i have gained through my practice in Buddhism? Would it be okay for me to pay my homage to this Great Being who I had taken to my spiritual Teacher since i was a child? Would I be committing the unforgivable sin of Shirik or an apostate in the eye of my Lord? So I looked in the mirror and said, "Dear Lord forgive me if I sin in doing that which I am about to do, I worship none other but You and I invoke the Name of the Buddha out of a sense of gratitude and respect as a Great Teacher. "Namo Tasa Bhagavato, Arahto, Sama Sam Buddha Sam! Homage to the World and Time Honored One. ( Three times). Then I took refuge in the Tripple Gem as taught to me when I was a child. 
It dawned on me as i was reflecting on my actions before the mirror that although my Lord is One, I wear the garb of many through my  years of devotion towards understanding all religions of the World,  From the ancient Vedas and Upanishads, from the great Gurus and Rishis of old and contemporary, all these are my links and chains in my armor that i wear, only i had failed to acknowledge them as such. I was so trapped into the right and wrong choices of what to practice and what to believe. I was often blinded by guilt, the result of my own ignorance. 
To be Contd...