Posted on: 12 Dec 2023
[Ms. Bhanu Samykya asked:- Paadanamaskaaram Swami,]
Swami replied:- The Veda says Satyaṃ Jñānam Anantaṃ Brahma. It means that spiritual knowledge is true and infinite. We say that God knows all the spiritual knowledge. In such a case, how can spiritual knowledge be infinite? Spiritual knowledge is finite for God and infinite for souls. There is a tradition to say a very large number of items as very very large number of items. Sahasra patram in Sanskrit means lotus flower. The word ‘Sahasra patram’ means flower with a thousand petals. But, if you see the lotus flower, there are not a thousand petals. At the maximum, 50-60 petals will be there. Following this tradition, a very large number of items can be told as a very very large number of items. Therefore, infinity also means a very large number of a finite number of concepts. A very large number of items are exaggerated as an infinite number of items. Hence, the word Anantam here means a very large finite quantity exaggerated as infinite number. This is a figure of speech called Utprekashaa. The spiritual path cannot be infinite. If it is infinite, nobody will reach the goal. Then, the spiritual path will be rejected by everybody putting a salutation! It also means that the spiritual path is very long.