Posted on: 03 Feb 2005
As long as the human incarnation is alive there is no distinction between the original Lord and the human incarnation because the original Lord merges and pervades all over the human incarnation from top to bottom. The Lord created this universe for His entertainment through His inherent power called ‘Maya’. The Maya is modified into the world and not the Lord. But Maya cannot exist without the Lord and therefore the Lord is the real cause of this universe. The Lord is not modified and so He remains unchanged. Thus the Lord is only the indirect cause of this universe. The sunlight is trapped by a solar heater and is converted into heat. By this, the sun is not converted into heat, but still the cause of the heat is the sun alone.
The Lord can be compared to a daydreamer who is aware of Himself and the dream, and who also enjoys under the influence of the self-imposed apparent ignorance. Thus the essence of creation is only this ignorance. Ignorance helps give enjoyment. Ignorance of the truth is falsehood and the falsehood also leads to true experience. For example: We experience solid matter when our finger does not penetrate through a solid. In fact according to science a solid is mainly made of vaccuum. The actual volume occupied by the matter in the form of of sub-atomic particles, in the solid is very very negligible. But still our finger does not penetrate through the solid due to the force exerted due to the kinetic energy of these particles. But in experience, we do not feel this force. What we experience is the solid nature of matter. Thus a false thing can also create a true experience like a true thing.
As far as this illusion leading to a true experience is concerned, the Lord is at par with any individual soul. But the difference is that the individual soul is unable to overcome this ignorance and its experience, where as the Lord overcomes this at any instance. The individual soul is under the control of the ignorance like a dreamer in the sleep. The individual soul is a tiny particle of the huge dream of God. In the case of the Lord, the whole dream is a tiny particle of the Lord. Therefore the universe is controlled by the Lord where as the individual soul is controlled by the universe. For the Lord, the universe is true as far as the experience in the enjoyment is concerned. But at the same time there is a basic stream of the true knowledge at any instance. For the individual soul that basic stream is absent.
Now suppose the daydreamer has entered his own dream through his own duplicate imaginary form. The dreamer is completely identifies himself with this imaginary form. The will of the dreamer is exactly the will of his imaginary form. [This imaginary form of the dreamer is like the human incarnation of God]. When another imaginary form [any general person within the dream of the daydreamer] called as the individual soul (Jeeva) touches the imaginary form of the Lord, the original Lord gets the experience of that touch. The original Lord speaks through that imaginary form. When the Jeeva sees that imaginary form, the Jeeva has seen the original Lord. This unity between the original Lord and His imaginary form is the monism (Advaita) as propagated by Shankara.
The Lord created the entire universe and forms its basis, but the Lord does not identify Himself with the creation. Thus the individual soul [any ordinary soul] cannot be treated as the original Lord through Advaita. The liberated and blessed souls, who are the servants of the Lord, are also identified with the Lord through Advaita. But such liberated souls cannot be the creator and the basis of this universe. The original Lord can withdraw Himself from such liberated souls if they fall under the influence of egoism. But in the case of His imaginary form, which is called as the human incarnation (Avatara Purusha), such a withdrawal cannot take place because there is no difference between the original Lord and His human incarnation. The original Lord withdraws from the human incarnation only at the time of its end or death. No individual soul can cross the boundary of the dream of the Lord and can see the original Lord. The human incarnation need not see the original Lord because there is no difference between the two [God’s incarnation and the God who is beyond creation]. Even great scholars misunderstand this concept and neglect the Lord in human form.
The Lord in human form alone can give complete bliss to the human being, but the human being is unable to receive it due to the negligence caused by the common plane (the gross body made of five elements) between the human being and human incarnation. The Lord in the higher plane, who is covered by the energetic body, cannot give the complete bliss though negligence towards the Lord, who comes in an energetic body, does not exist. But when the human being leaves the gross body and goes to the upper world covered by energetic body, he neglects the Lord in the energetic body, following the same principle of the common plane. Therefore whenever there is a possibility of receiving complete bliss, negligence hinders it. Whenever negligence vanishes, the possbility of receiving the full bliss vanishes. This is the whole problem that hinders the salvation of human beings. Therefore one can attain salvation and become near and dear to the Lord only when he or she crosses over the negligence towards the Lord in the common plane. Hanuman and the Gopikas could cross such negligence and were blessed by the human incarnations i.e., Rama and Krishna respectively.