Man has a
natural curiosity to know God. Whenever there is distress, man instinctively
remembers God though not sure about his form and attributes. In
fact, God is beyond the perception of sense organs and the
mystery of God is revealed by God Himself. His exact nature can be recognized only
through the super-sensual faculty of intellect--the intellect
which is not swayed away by the senses and emotions--the
intellect which is ready to accept light as light and darkness as
darkness.
| ONE GOD - YET MANY CONCEPTS: |
It is universally accepted that
God is one, yet there are many contradictory beliefs about His
form and nature. Some believe Shri Krishna, Shri Rama, Christ and
many others are God’s incarnations or manifestations; God
and the individual soul are one (Shivoham); ‘Brahm’ is
God; God is formless; all creatures are various forms of God;
God’s abode is in Heaven; God is Omnipresent; etc. This wide
variety of ideas about God causes Confusion and has led many to
consider God to be the creation of man’s own imagination
and, therefore, doubt his very existence.
| KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL FOR REMEMBRANCE |
The fact that there are several
divergent concepts of God shows that people do not
correctly know all about Him. This is also the reason why all who
remember, worship or pray to God generally complain that they are
not able to concentrate their mind on Him. An example may clarify
the position: An unbetrothed girl cannot remember her would-be
husband because she does not have any idea about his features,
name, address, profession etc. However, after betrothal, she can
easily remember her fiance because his identity becomes known to
her. Likewise, Yoga or the remembrance of God becomes effective
only after the true knowledge about God becomes known to the
aspirant.
God being one, there can be only one true
Concept of God. In
the absence of true knowledge about Him that so many divergent
faiths have emerged. But with our limited perception in the human
body, how do we know who God is.The real nature of God
can, however be revealed by God Himself, when He incarnates on earth. An important
point is to be noted here--God cannot be born through the womb of
a Mother as that will entitle him to clear the karma incurred
with the Mother. His Birth (not physical) is divine.
No human being can perform this divine role.
In the following paragraphs, is
given the knowledge about God as per His own revelations through His corporeal
medium-- Prajapita Brahma. A question would
arise as to how God reveals this knowledge. This point has been
explained further.
| GOD’S DIVINE FORM AND NAME |
God reveals, ‘I am
Incorporeal’
(Nirakar). Many people misunderstand the word ‘Nirakar’
to mean that He is formless. In reality, anything that exist must
have a form. Attributes or qualities are formless but the entity
to which these attributes or qualities belong can not be
formless, howsoever subtle the form may be. For instance,
fragrance has no form, but the flower or any other people from
which the fragrance emanates, must possess a form. God’s
attributes such as love, peace, bliss and knowledge have no form,
but God who is the possessor and the source of all attributes
cannot be formless. If God has no form, Yoga (union) would lose
all its meaning because then, it would be impossible to remember
Him. Likewise, the devotees would not pray to Him for bestowing
‘Darshan’ (vision) of His ‘Swaroop’ (form).
Thus, God is bodiless but not formless.
| GOD’S FORM IS EXTREMELY SUBTLE |
God surely has a form. His form is
entirely different from any Corporeal or subtle form that we know
of. ‘Nirakar’ (Incorporeal) is a
relative term- God is Nirakar in comparison to objects having
gross or subtle forms. ‘Nirakar’ means belonging to the Incorporeal world
where matter does not exist. Only souls and Supreme Soul reside. God
is the Supreme Soul (Param-Atma). Even human souls are
‘Nirakar’ (Incorporeal) only in comparison with their
bodies. This does not however mean that they are formless. Each
human soul has its own eternal and imperishable entity, which
could not be so unless it had a form. Just as the soul is a
shining point of light and might, so is the Supreme Soul. This
form is extremely subtle. In reality, there is no difference
between the size of the soul and the Supreme soul. Both are
points of light energy. The difference lies in the intensity of
their light and might. One great difference between the Supreme
Soul and every other soul is that He never enters the cycle of
birth and death. As a consequence, He is never subject to
delusion or degradation of divinity and is free from Karma.
God’s name is unique. When a
human soul takes a body, it is the body that bears the name and
not the soul. The bodily name of the soul changes birth after
birth. Since the Supreme soul does not take birth like human
souls, He has neither a body of His own nor a bodily name.
God’s name is eternal and is based on his attributes and
divine acts. People attribute to Him different attributive names
in different languages. But God’s self-revealed name through
his medium is ‘Shiva’, which means benevolent. God is called ‘Shiva’ because He is the benefactor of all souls and bestows peace and bliss
on them.
| UNIVERSAL CONCEPT OF GOD: |
People all over the world say that
God is ‘Light’ or ‘Jyoti’ or ‘Noor’. In India the temples of ‘Shiva’ are found throughout the country. They are
variously known as Rameshwaram (meaning the Lord of Shri Rama),
Gopeshwar (meaning the Lord of Shri Krishna), Amarnath,
Vishwanath, Somnath, Pashupatinath (in Nepal), Mahakaleshwar,
Mukteshwar etc. which are the various atributive names describing
divine acts and qualities of God Shiva. The fact that the twelve
prominent Shiva temples of India are also called ‘Jyotirlingam
Maths’ (meaning
sanctuaries of the symbol of light) proves again the God’s
form of light and that Shiva-Linga is the symbol of God Himself.
Muslims believe God or ‘Allah’ to be ‘Roohani Rooh’ (Supreme Soul) who is ‘Noor’
(light).
In Mecca, where Muslims go for ‘Haj’ (pilgrimage), there is a holy stone called
‘Sang-e-Aswad’
kept at
‘Khana-e-kaba’. This stone is kissed from a distance by
every pilgrim before he starts the ‘Haj’. It is
noteworthy that ‘Sang-e-Aswad’ has striking resemblance with "Shiva-linga". Christians believe that Moses had a vision
of God in the form of a flame of light. They call him ‘Jehovah’. Christ as well as Guru Nanak, the founder
of Sikhism, both said that God is one and He is light. Different mystics and
yogis through the ages have had the same experience. Till today
an earthen lamp in temples, and a wax-candle in churches, is
lighted because the flame of light symbolises God. In Japan,
there is sect whose members concentrate on an oval-shaped stone
called ‘Chinkon
Seki’ which
means the Peace-giver. The Angkor-Vat Ruins in Cambodia show that
the worship of ‘Shiva-Linga’ prevailed far and wide in the ancient
times also. There is ample archeological evidence to show that
the ancient Egyptian, Arabs, Greeks, Indians and Indonesians
worshipped the oval-stone. Shiva’s worship is the oldest worship known to man and the
Concept
of God as a form of light is a universal belief.
There are many types of souls :---
- Ordinary
souls
--- who perform ordinary
deeds--the vast majority of the souls fall in this
category.
- Great
souls
-- who perform great deeds which ordinary souls
cannot perform like Mahatma Gandhi--Mother Teresa--great
kings of the past and the great present day leaders, etc,
etc.
- Pious
souls -- all
the saintly souls in various religions.
- Souls
of Founding Fathers of various Religions ---like
Christ--Buddha--Prophet Mohammed Guru-Nanak etc
- Divine
souls
--like Ram and Krishna and other Gods and
Goddesses who exist in the golden age---but are not Gods
accepted by all religions and ----------------- last but
not the least,
- The
Supreme Soul --who
never takes birth thru' the womb of the mother--but only
incarnates in a human body(called divine birth) at the
end of iron age to transform this vicious world into a
viceless world--He is incorporeal but revealed only thru' one
immortal chariot and that is ADAM--the first man.
The Supreme Soul is the only one God which all religions speak of---but
He has to be revealed thru' some
person to the whole world and this person is ADAM--THE
FIRST MAN --- who is accepted by all the
religions of the world---in Hinduism he is known as Adi-Dev or
Adi-Nath---in Christianity and Muslim religion he is known as Adam--and
in various other religions he is known by different
names.
- [ This immortal chariot of God--The supreme Soul-
is very much present on this earth in flesh and blood and
we have to recognise him thru' this godly knowledge.]
DO
NOT CONSIDER ADAM AS GOD—HE IS ONLY THE CHARIOT OF GOD.
BUT BOTH OF THEM CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ONE AND ANOTHER.
(Adam ko khuda mat samjho-adam khuda nahin hai.
Lekin adam khuda ke noor se jhuda bhi nahin hai).
THE DIVINE ACTS OF GOD ARE DISCUSSED IN THE NEXT LESSON
