Posted on: 29 Apr 2021
[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on April 17, 2021, in which several devotees participated. The questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]
[Śrī Anil Antony asked: Pādanamaskāraṃ Swāmi! In Your knowledge it was mentioned that when God Datta gets bored watching the world for entertainment, He takes rest by entering into a state of yoga nidrā. In this state, creation gets condensed into a subtle state. This yoga nidrā is needed since the energetic body gets tired due to decrease in density. In this context, could You kindly respond to the following:
(1) Can we compare yoga nidrā to a state in which God is aware of Himself alone and is not aware of anything else, including creation?
(2) While the creation is running, God is aware of creation and also of Himself simultaneously, but to derive entertainment, He imposes ignorance on Himself. How can God simultaneously be in the state of self-awareness and self-ignorance for enjoying creation?
(3) Datta is the first Energetic Form and the unimaginable God has merged in Him. This form of Datta is eternal. If this form (medium) is eternal, then it should not get tired. Its intensity of energy should never get decreased? Then why does His body need rest? Does it mean that the energetic body of God Datta undergoes decay? So, under which of the following conditions does God Datta go into yoga nidrā? (a) When the humanity degrades to a state where it is full of only sinners. This might make God Datta want to dissolve the world temporarily which is like ending the movie show (until the next show). (b) Or when His medium feels tired.]
Swāmi replied:
1) If God is not aware of anything, that thing will not exist because anything can exist only when God grants His absolute reality to that thing. The very generation of that thing happens only when God wishes about it. Yoga Nidrā is only condensation of the elaborate creation just like the exhibited film show is maintained in the form of film reel.
2) Self-ignorance imposed by God can be understood from the example of daydream in which the imagining soul also imposes self-ignorance in enjoying its imaginary world. The same self-ignorance in the night dream is not self-imposed, but is imposed by the powerful sleep, which is the direct form of ignorance. In daydream self-ignorance is imposed by self while self is well aware of its imposition of self-ignorance on self. In the night dream, the self is controlled by ignorance and loses its identity with respect to the real external world. In the night dream, the self is related to the imaginary world created by the awareness of the same self, but the same self is not related to the external real world in anyway. In the night dream as well as in the day dream, the self is aware of itself and the surrounding imaginary world. The soul is forgetting the real external world for the sake of enjoyment in the daydream whereas in the night dream, the soul is forced by ignorance to forget the real external world. Due to this difference, the soul can come in contact with the external real world whenever it likes. But in the case of night dream, the soul cannot come in contact with the real external world whenever it likes because the ignorance is prevailing over the soul. Hence, whenever you compare God and His creation, you must take the daydream only and not the night dream. If you take the night dream as comparison, you will get confused with such questions.
3) There is no question of tiredness to the energetic body of God Datta because unimaginable God merged with the body of Datta also. In our case not only the body but also the soul gets tired because unimaginable God is neither merged with the soul nor with the body. The reason for withdrawal of world film show is not definitely the tiredness of body or soul of Datta since unimaginable God merged with both and hence, both the body and soul of God Datta have unimaginable omnipotence. The reason for withdrawal can be anything other than tiredness. It may be due to boredom or it may be due to vexing with the sinners as you said.
When you are comparing God and the world with yourself and your day or night dream (daydream means dreaming in awaken state), you are taking your awareness and the imagined world consuming your awareness. The awareness is also directly linked with the body, because awareness and matter are direct forms of inert energy only. Since all these three items (awareness, inert energy and inert matter) are inter-convertible items, when the imaginary world is running, then there will be deterioration of inert energy, matter of the body and awareness simultaneously. But, in the case of God, the awareness is not linked with inert energy and matter because God thinks without inert energy and without materialised nervous system. Hence, the imaginary world (this real world) of God does not consume awareness that is generated from inert energy and matter. The awareness of God is not a specific work form of inert energy functioning in working nervous system as in our case. The awareness of God itself is unimaginable because its source is the unimaginable God Himself and not the energetic form of awareness as in our case. Only to some extent, you can draw comparison between awareness of God and awareness of human beings. Total comparison between the unimaginable awareness of God and imaginable awareness of the soul leads to problems of confusion.