Posted on: 12 Jun 2007
The unimaginable God requires a medium for expression. When the medium is charged by God, the medium is treated as God directly and service to this medium is the direct service to God. When a wire is charged by electric current, touching the live wire means touching the current itself. But if you touch the picture of a live wire on paper, you are not touching the current. It is only an indirect representative model of the live wire. Service to the charged medium is called as sakshat upasanam, which is direct service. Service to the representative model is called as pratika upasanam, which is only indirect service. Indirect service is a total waste because neither are you experiencing God in the model, nor is God experiencing your service. This second type of worship is the worship of statues of God. Then, why not do away with this second type of worship? No, this type of worship becomes necessary since the majority of human beings does not recognize the contemporary human incarnation due to the repulsion between common external media (common external gross human bodies).
The model worship is maintained for this majority, so that through such worship, at least the psychological repulsion to the human form is removed. But because even the statues are carved in human form like Vishnu, Rama etc, some people have repulsion even to the human form in the statue. For such people the Shiva Linga, which has no human form, is established. At least the concept of formless God is removed here since the Shiva Linga has a form. Some worship formless objects like light energy as representative models of God. Some worship qualities like love, bliss, etc as representative models of God. Actually the human body contains awareness (soul), qualities (jeeva), matter (gross body) and energy as the shine and heat of the body and thus is a complete medium.
Only for such psychological treatment of human beings, to remove their repulsion to the human form, are the rituals in the temples being carried out. Of course in such rituals, the service part is a waste. The initiation of life in the statues in temples indicates the concept of life in an inert material body (statue). This initiation of life (prana pratishtha) advises you to go for the living human form and it does not mean that the same inert statue has become alive after such initiation. Clearly no sign of life is witnessed in the statue after such initiation. The ignorant priest says that the radiation of life (pranakala) enters the statue after the initiation, but all this is just brainwash. The fact is that the statue does not even vibrate once.
Even in indirect worship, the worship is not aimed at the model but it is aimed at the God alone. God is pleased to some extent in such worship also because the aim is God after all. Of course, in direct worship, God is extremely pleased because God, who always exists only in the human form, receives your service directly. God does not exist in the inert objects (Natasya pratima asti—Veda) but still He is pleased in such worship also because the aim is God alone. People worship the shalagrama (a piece of stone) as a representative model of Vishnu. Here, the worship is aimed at Vishnu and not aimed at the stone.
Sumati worshipped her husband Kaushika as God. Kaushika was the greatest sinner and was ready to go to hell. But from such worship of Kaushika, Sumati derived the super power to stop the sun from rising. Only God controls the sun (Bishodeti suryah—Veda). The wretched Kaushika could not have given such power to Sumati. This power is derived from God alone, because when Sumati worshipped her husband as God, the worship was aimed at God and not aimed at Kaushika. Kaushika was a representative model of God for Sumati, like the petty stone (shalagrama) representing the all-pervading Lord Vishnu. If such was the power of Sumati, which was obtained from mere indirect worship of God, what will be the power of a devotee, who worships God directly through service to the contemporary human incarnation? Hanuman worshipped Rama who was His contemporary human incarnation and became God and controlled the sun forever. The Veda says that the sun moves constantly due to the fear to God. Even in His childhood, Hanuman was meditating upon Rama as instructed by His mother. The result of that was that He developed the power to swallow the sun like a fruit!
In the spiritual field there is one marvelous advantage. Assume that you have worshipped a human being as God under the illusion that he is the contemporary human incarnation. What is the result of such a mistake? Will it yield a positive result or a negative result? The answer is that it will not give any negative result. It will certainly yield a positive result, but it may not be the highest. The highest positive result is obtained in the service done to the correctly identified contemporary human incarnation. But just like Sumati achieved partial positive power of controlling the sunrise on one day, you will certainly achieve partial grace of God. Such advantage is restricted to the spiritual field only. In the materialistic field if you have served somebody mistaking him to be the king, you will not get any gift from the king. Moreover, the king may scold you for your foolish ignorance. But God, who is very generous and very kind is quite different. God will certainly punish the human being who posed as God but you will not be a loser.
Service to God is Your Test
Some clever people say that God does not require any service from anybody because He is the basic potential doer of any work in this world. But if you go to that fundamental stage, God alone remains and the entire creation disappears. Along with it, you will also vanish. But you are asking the help from God and hence you are not in that fundamental state of realization. While asking for help from God, you are confining to the stage of ignorance-based dualism. You are going to the fundamental basic stage of the realization of monism only to avoid the service to God. This shows your intellectual interpretation to suit to your convenience. It is like a monkey that avoids participating in the construction of the bridge over the sea, in the service of Rama, stating that Rama is God and that God requires no service from souls. When Rama is realized as the Absolute God in the fundamental state, God alone exists and the monkey does not even exist since the creation itself vanishes in that state. While praying for the grace of Rama, that monkey joins the other monkeys, standing in the first position! A student who is ignorant of the subject questioned by the examiner may say “Oh Sir, you know the answer to the question very well! If I answer, it may look as if I am teaching you”. The examiner will not give marks for his smart obedience. The examiner is asking the question to test the student and not to learn the subject from him.
Hanuman was a devotee of God in human form and was in the highest level of faith. At that level the tests of God are always severe. As soon as Rama arrived at Kishkindha hill, He started testing Hanuman, who was waiting for Him there on the advice of His mother. Rama behaved like a selfish villain by making an agreement with Sugriva to kill his elder brother so that Rama could get help from Sugriva in searching for Sita. It looked very selfish and Rama tested the internal faith of Hanuman. However, when Vali was about die in a few minutes, Rama had to answer Vali since Vali charged Rama with an allegation of selfishness. Then Rama had to reveal the truth by saying that He had only punished Vali for his injustice. This clarified the confusion. Unless the clarification was given, Vali would not be convinced on his deathbed. Hence, there was no alternative for Rama and the test on the mind of Hanuman could not be continued. But He conducted the same test on the first day of the war with Ravana. Rama told Ravana that if he returned Sita, Rama would go back without fighting the war. This appeared as if Rama was very selfish about His personal work and did not care for social welfare. If Ravana had returned Sita, Rama would go away and Ravana could have continued his crimes against society. This confusion was kept in the mind of Hanuman forever. Rama acted helpless on several occasions and was saved by Hanuman everytime. By such tests Rama tried to observe the mind of Hanuman, if any ego would enter Hanuman and if subsequently His faith that Rama was God, would fall. Again at the end, Rama rewarded all the monkeys who participated in the war, but neglected Hanuman and acted as an ungrateful human being. Rama never told Hanuman that Hanuman would become God and this was a test till the last minute to see whether the aspiration for the fruit of His service would arise in the mind of Hanuman.
The highest level of spiritual effort will have the highest fruit and at the same time the tests will also be very severe and continuous. The extent of digestion of the spiritual knowledge is reflected in the faith on the contemporary human incarnation. God told the same Gita to Sun [Sun-god] in the beginning of creation (Imamvivasvate yogam—Gita) and the same Gita was preached to Hanuman by the Sun. Hanuman was a student of Sun. God told the same Gita to Arjuna. But the assimilation capacities of Arjuna and Hanuman were quite different. Hanuman saved Rama on several occasions in the war but Hanuman did not show any ego before Rama. In fact He claimed to be only the servant of Rama forever (Dasoham kosalendrasya—Ramayana). Krishna saved Arjuna several times in the war but on the last day, Arjuna was sitting in the chariot with ego and did not get down before the driver, Krishna got down. Hanuman became God and was worshipped forever in temples. Arjuna was born as a hunter and was never worshipped as God. Sun was neither an energetic incarnation of God nor a human incarnation of God. Yet Hanuman understood the essence of the Gita and captured the concept of the contemporary human incarnation. Krishna was actually the contemporary human incarnation and the Gita was directly preached by Him. Still Arjuna could not catch the concept of the contemporary human incarnation. This is the difference between a bright student and a dullard.
Neither Krishna nor Jesus said that since He is the final human incarnation, future generations should worship only His statues or photographs. If that were the truth they could have said this very clearly for the sake of future human generations because they knew very well that their human bodies would perish shortly. Therefore, whatever they said about themselves was only about the contemporary human incarnation for the contemporary human devotees.
Mini-World Within the World
The Veda (Ishavasyam) says that the Lord can enter any mini-world existing in this infinite world (Yatkimchajagatyam jagat). The word “jagat” meaning world appears twice. If the repeated jagat also means the infinite world, then the adjective ‘kimcha’ (little) cannot be used for the infinite world. If you say that the little indicates any little object, that little object cannot be the world (jagat) because a little object like a piece of stone is only matter which is only one component of the world. The “little world” means the human body containing the nine items (five elements and four antahkaranams) which are categorized as apara (eight items which are five elements and three antahkaranams) and para (one antahkaranam which is chittam). Due to the common existence of the nine items, the human body is a mini-world (pindanda) representing the infinite world (brahmanda).
The Veda says that any such human body can be pervaded over by the Lord. Here the verb is in the future tense (vasyam) and is not in the past tense. If you say that the income tax officer can enter any shop, it does not mean that he has entered every shop. Hence, the existence of God in every human being is ruled out and Advaita has no basis. If you say that the awareness existing in living beings is the cause (God) that has entered the effect (creation), this is also not correct. In that case, the cause should have been an independent entity and not a generated item. The gold that entered the chain is the independent item and is not an item that is generated in the chain. The awareness in human bodies that exist in creation is not independent and it is generated by the combined function of inert energy that is generated by the oxidation of food and the nervous system.
The Vedic prayer called, as Mantra Pushpam is a clear explanation of the human incarnation. The same little world mentioned in the Ishavasya Upanishat is referred here also (Kimchitjagatsarvam)[1]. This little world means the human body. The human body existing now and the human body that existed in the past i.e. the present and past human incarnations are referred to here and are said to be the same in this respect (Drishyate shruyatepiva). The Lord who imagined this world has entered this world in His original state (Tadevanupravishat)[2]. But the objection here is that the person imagining can never actually enter his own imaginary world in his original state just like fire cannot enter water. Here, the Veda gives a beautiful simile of the existence of volcanic fire (Vadabagni) inside the ocean (Samudrentah pratishthitam). For the omnipotent God, nothing is impossible and hence any simile in the world suffers from some limitation. Here, God is said to be pervading all over the body (Antarbahishcha) and at the same time God is said to be confined only to a particular region of the human body (Tasyasikhayahmadhye). This means God is confined to His guest room whenever His involvement is not required. In this time the individual soul, who is the owner of the house (and God’s personal assistant, P.A.) deals with all the worldly matters as usual. The individual soul can alone act as hundred percent ignorant in worldly matters and therefore, the worldly experience derived out of it is also hundred percent. God being associated with His P.A. derives that experience and is entertained. Ignorance, directly superimposed on God, can never be hundred percent and hence, the worldly experience can never be full. God enters the human body for this reason alone. In this body, the individual soul (son of God), who is His best devotee, exists. The Son of God is also equally benefited by the association of God in divine experiences. Thus the human incarnation is a two (Nara and Narayana) in one system (human body).
Advaita means the unity of two items. If there is only one item the word Advaita has no place because in that case the word ekam (one) is used. When two things exist and become inseparable, then alone is the word Advaita used. If you take God and a human being separately, God is one item and the human being is another item. Electric current is one item and the wire is another item. When the current enters the wire and pervades all over it, the word Advaita can be employed. Giving an electric shock is the property of the current, but it cannot be directly experienced from the invisible current; it requires the presence of the wire.
When the knowledge contains unimaginable clarity, it creates unimaginable happiness, which is called as bliss. The clarification of confusion gives real happiness to the climax. Removal of confusion and ignorance cleanses the soul, resulting in bliss. It is like the removal of gas and undigested matter from the stomach which cleanses the body resulting in immense happiness. Such unimaginable nature of the knowledge is the property of the unimaginable God, like the shock of the electric current. But it cannot be experienced directly from the unimaginable God. The unimaginable knowledge indicates the existence of God in a particular human body like Krishna, Jesus etc.
Silence About God
Finally, only the existence of God is experienced because the unimaginable God and the unimaginable nature of His knowledge always remain unimaginable. Only His existence is imagined and such existence is called as Sanmatravada (Astityeva…—Veda). Since God and His nature remain unimaginable, you cannot say that God is awareness or that awareness is His property. Therefore, Chinmatravada[3] is not acceptable. Awareness in creation does not exist independently since it is always a generated item; generated by the combined operation of the respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems. Charvaka[4] or science should be respected in this point.
The cause or the quality of the cause should be an independent item and should not be a generated item. The individual soul is a bit of awareness and hence it can neither be the total God and nor can it be a part of God. God’s unimaginable power of creation or control of the universe is neither seen totally nor partly in any individual soul. In the ancient days awareness was thought to be an independent item due to the lack of scientific knowledge. But now science has clearly proved that awareness is only an item of creation and is not the Creator. Thus science cannot prove the nature of God directly. But it can prove the nature of any item of creation. Every item of creation is a non-God item as in the case of awareness. Science is very useful in rejecting any non-God item projected as God by people, who are ignorant of science. For that matter, not only science, but even angels and sages cannot speak a single word about the nature of God. It is beyond words and can be best explained through silence alone.
Lord Dakshinamurti who is considered to be the best incarnation of Lord Shiva in preaching the spiritual knowledge to even angels and sages explains God only through silence (Maunam vyakhya prakatita para brahma tattvam). Here Shankara used the word Parabrahman and not the word Brahman. Any greatest item in a category can be called as Brahman. Parabrahman is a negative word indicating that God is not Brahman or God is beyond Brahman. Every word is denied in indicating God[5] (Neti neti, Yato vachah…—Veda). The silence of Buddha also means the same. Buddha is also the best incarnation of Lord Vishnu to preach the spiritual knowledge. Science also keeps silent about God. In the above prayer of Dakshinamurti, even Shankara said that God cannot be explained by any word. How can you say that Shankara means that awareness or an individual soul is God? If the individual soul were unimaginable, then you could say that the individual soul is God.
You are an individual soul, who knows itself and who knows items other than itself. Awareness cannot be ignorant of itself and other things also simultaneously. In meditation, awareness is ignorant of other things but it is aware of itself. In deep sleep it is neither aware of itself nor aware of other items because it remains as inert energy. But here, the inert energy is not transformed into awareness at all, due to the nervous system being at rest. If you say that such inert energy in deep sleep is God, then your argument that awareness is God is contradicted by yourself. You must note one important point here, which is that Shankara used the word Brahman for the individual soul and not the word Parabrahman. Since Brahman means any greatest item in a category, several items can be called as Brahman. The Veda, food, life, mind, intelligence, knowledge, bliss, etc were called as Brahman in several places (Brahmakshara samudbhavam, Annam Brahma, Prano Brahma, Mano Brahma, Vijnanam Brahma, Jnanamantam Brahma, Anando Brahma, etc). All these statements mean that these items are greatest among their own categories. Similarly, the individual soul is the greatest among all the items of the creation due to its specific property of knowledge (Jnanitvatmaiva…—Gita).
Creator, Controller and Destroyer
Awareness can handle the inert energy in a tactful way but that does not mean that awareness has full control over the inert energy. For example the powerful nuclear energy is controlled in atomic reactors and is used by the scientist for various purposes. This does not mean that the soul can control the powerful atomic energy directly. When atomic energy attacks the soul directly, the soul in the human being runs away due to the destruction of the human body. This is true even in the case of a human being, who is a scientist and who handled the same energy tactfully. Therefore, if you take God to be awareness, God could only handle the universe in a tactful way like a scientist. He could not be the direct controller of the universe. But Lord Krishna swallowed the huge fire-energy in the forest, which shows the direct control of God over the inert energy irrespective of its intensity and quantity. If you say that awareness in Krishna is the controller, then the awareness or soul in every human being must be similar. This proves that there is a difference between the awareness in Krishna and the awareness present in all other human beings. The control is due to the difference between and not due to the similarity. This means that the extra component existing in the awareness of Krishna is what has the controlling power and not the common general awareness. This extra component is God or Brahman. Similarly the huge Govardhana hill was held on the tiny finger of Krishna for seven days. The reason again is God, who pervaded all over the body of Krishna and not the finger and not the power (inert energy) of the finger, which is common to anybody. Therefore, neither matter (finger), nor the inert energy (the power of the finger), nor the awareness (soul) is the controller of this universe. The unimaginable God existing in Krishna is the Creator, Controller and the Destroyer of this universe.
The soul creates an imaginary world or a daydream, controls it and finally dissolves it into itself. The imaginary world is neither the total real world and nor is a component of the real world like a hill, a river, a tree, etc. The capacity to create the dream is in no way related to the capacity of God in creating the universe. The soul, its capacity to create a dream and the dream itself, can be compared to God, His capacity to create the world and the world respectively. A simile can never be an identity. God created such examples in the world to teach us concepts related to Him. You can say that God created this real world, maintains it for entertainment for sometime, and finally dissolves it in Himself just like the soul creates the dream, maintains it for sometime for entertainment and finally dissolves it in himself. Since the dream is not even a tiny part of the real world, the soul is also not even a tiny part of God. Since God is unimaginable, the imaginable soul cannot be a part of God. Today due to the latest developments in science the soul or awareness or the nervous energy flowing in the nerves as waves is even visible through powerful microscopes.
God is understood as the basis (adhara) of the universe (Brahma puchcham pratishtha—Veda) and this does not mean that the nature of the basis is understood. Assume that we understand that an object, which alone is visible, is standing on some support. Now whether the support is a table, or a person or some other object is not visible. In that case we are inferring the existence of something as the support but the nature of the support is not understood. The cosmic energy is independent since electromagnetic waves have an independent identity. But even though it is independent, it cannot act as the designer [of creation]. Awareness has the designing talent but it does not exist independently. If radiations of awareness or nervous energy existed independently in space, like the independent electro magnetic radiations, the scientist could have tapped them. Then he could have used them to raise a dead body, just as cosmic energy is tapped to recharge a battery. Thus both inert energy and awareness suffer from these defects and cannot be claimed to be the defectless God.
If your goal is to become God, you must understand the Ramayana and practice it in your spiritual effort keeping Hanuman as your guide, since He became God. If your goal is to become the master of God, you must understand the Bhagavatam and practice it in your spiritual effort. Here you have to keep Radha as your guide, who became the queen of Goloka, which is above the abode of God. In both cases the direct worship of the contemporary human incarnation i.e. Rama and Krishna is the main essence. In any case, understanding the Mahabharatam is very important, since it teaches you where you can slip in your spiritual effort. Such slips can lead to your downfall. In any case you must be careful about the inevitable cracks in your faith regarding the contemporary human incarnation.
Arjuna was born as a hunter in his next birth because he could not believe in Krishna who was God in human form before his eyes. Instead he had worshipped the irrelevant energetic form of the upper world (Shiva) to win the war. Arjuna acquired the Pashupata weapon from Lord Shiva but Lord Krishna showed in His cosmic vision that He was simply swallowing all the Kauravas in His mouth. The firm faith in the contemporary human incarnation is very important and it is also impossible. The fundamental reason is the nature of negligence resulting due to the repulsion between common external media. The Veda says that it is like an incurable disease even in the case of angels, to like things which are not before their eyes and to dislike anything that is before their eyes (Parokshapriya ivahidevah pratyaksha dwishah). Lord Krishna clearly said that He will come again and again whenever there is a requirement. God comes in human form to guide everyone through divine messages and also to give the experience of Himself to the devotees, who cry for it in every generation. If He favored only one generation in the form of Lord Krishna, God would become partial. Then God would remain as no-God.
[1] Narayana Suktam, Taittiriya Aranyakam 4, 10, 13
[2] {, #2}
[3] The philosophy that Awareness alone is the ultimate reality or God.
[4] An ancient sage, who maintained that direct perception alone, can prove the truth. His theory was similar to modern science.
[5] No word is capable of indicating God.