Different Conceptions of the Divine

Monday, 23 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Different Conceptions of the Divine

The various conception that seekers hold about the Divine vary with their growth and knowledge. As a Sanskrit text points out. “The higher castes worship God in the fire, the advanced seekers meditate on Him in their own hearts, the ignorant think of Him in the image and with religious stories, and those who have attained to the infinite realize His presence everywhere “

There are devotees who think of God as always associated with divine forms and attributes. Others consider Him to be formless but endowed with not only omniscience and omnipotence but also omnipresence. Some again combine these ideas and look upon the holy forms as manifestations of the Formless. To them the personal aspect of the Divine is a manifestation of the Impersonal and both are real . There are others again who try to realize the Transcendent Being who , as they hold is in His real nature beyond all forms and attributes but appears to be associated with them . Speaking of the different aspects of God, Sri Rama Krishna remarks; “God with from and without form are not two different beings. He who is with from is also without from. To the devotee God manifests Himself in various forms. Just think of a shoeless ocean-an infinite expanse of water-no land visible in any direction. Only here and there are visible blocks of ice formed by intense cold. Similarly, under the cooling influence, so to say, of the deep devotion of His worshipper, the infinite reduces Himself to the finite and appears before him as a being with from. Again , as on the appearance of the sun, ice melts away, so on the appearance of knowledge. God with from melts away in the Formless.” He says further “God is formless and God is with from too. And He is that which transcends both from and formlessness.”

What lies beyond

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Acharya Mahaprajna

Take a lemon in your palm. You know that it is a lemon by seeing its colour and form. In darkness, you can recognise it by its smell or by touching or tasting it. All physical objects are recognised by the sense organs.

But the colour and form of the lemon are not the lemon. These are mere modifications of the lemon. Each sense organ is capable of recognising only a single modification of an object. What, then, is the object whose modifications alone are known by the sense organs? What is the real nature of objects? Scientists have come to know the particles of which things are made but the real nature of objects continues to evade them. Philosophers are also in search of the basic substance of the universe.

The universe is composed of waves. No sense organ is capable of comprehending what lies behind the waves or modifications.

Therefore, what lies beyond remains a mystery. Both the knower and the known are themselves nothing but waves. Breath is itself composed of waves.

Living bodies are conglomeration of waves. We can perceive the subtle vibrations of our bodies by means of anitya anupreksha, or contemplation on the transitory nature of things.

How can the mind comprehend that which is beyond it? The mind knows nothing except itself.

Like a tape recorder, it communicates only that which has been recorded in it. We are so enmeshed in the world of modifications and waves that we are unable to see anything beyond.

It is our limitation that compels us to search for the soul and this is the starting point of spiritual quest.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

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