A friend asked me a few days back as to whether one can see God. Responding to my statement that the spiritual quest would be in right direction if one’s pursuit is guided by the desire to loose one’s anger, fear, ego etc. rather than for getting anything (including any kind of spiritual experience), she asked, ‘What if one does not want to loose anything?”
There are two schools of thoughts on seeing the God. Dwaitvadi (believing in duality – God being separate from his creation) see the God as a physical reality. Adwaitvadis believe that whatever can be perceived is manifestation of God alone. It is like dance which has no existence separate from the dancer. All is God. God can, therefore, not be perceived as an entity other than its creation.
Both are right though it is difficult for the limited mind to understand. Mind is trained to think that something is right its opposite has to be wrong. But all the opposites and contradictions simultaneously exist.
The devotees (Dwaitvadi) like Meera, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishan Paramhamsa, Surdas (blind saint) see God as physical reality. There perception is at the level of Bhav (emotion). The infinite and formless intelligence (called God) can manifest in any form – all forms are his (In the next post I will be narrating an incident where a hugely built Muslim Saint transformed himself into a small statured saint to whom Aspatwarji was connected to). But seeing God is culmination of many lives of spiritual effort which leads one to a stage where one has no attractions in the external world.
In connection with other school of thought, one needs to understand that the mind is limited and can perceive only that which is limited, has a boundary and is circumscribed, i.e., the manifest world. Anything which is without boundaries (infinite) is beyond its perception. With all the advances of science we can observe some aspects (not all) of a minuscule fraction of the manifest world. And manifest part is only a minuscule fraction of the whole existence. The manifest springs up from the one which is unmanifest. And unmanifest is not subject matter mind. The ONE which we call as God is the one from which both manifest and unmanifest come. God can, therefore, never be perceived by the mind and, therefore, cannot be subject matter of ownership. It cannot be another feather in one’s cap. If one (a creation of God) limited being like us could perceive or possess God, one would become greater / more than God which is illogical and an impossibility.
A seed can never perceive the tree, it can become the tree. If a salt statue (made from ocean) tries to fathom depth and expanse of ocean, in the process it will dissolve into it and become one with it. It cannot know the ocean but can become ocean. The limited self (which we call as ‘I’) is dissolved into the ONE which alone exists and manifests in different forms. One cannot retain one’s identity and know the God. Osho used to say that there is NO GOD (as a person creating and managing everything) but there is GODLINESS (all pervading intelligence making things happen).
The limited self with sense perceptions can only feel the limited, i.e., the persons and objects in the external world. Logically also one can become boundless only by shedding one's boundary, i.e., our identity which limits us in every way. This is the only game where only those win who loose.
One cannot perceive but can merge into God when mental curtain gets removed.
The whole with human beings is that they identify themselves with the body, mind and things and persons outside each one of which is impermanent. This leads to greed and possessiveness . These lead to moha (attachments), anger, hatred, anxiety etc. which most consider as ornaments. Unless one finds them as chains and prisons (refer the post ‘How I was put on to the Path and got connected to the Gurus’) and tries to come out of mental slavery (please read the post titled as ‘Source of joy and mental curtain’), one would continue to be bound, limited and miserable.
‘If one does not want to loose anything’ and finds the worldly identifications (including body and mind) as ornaments and house and hopes for happiness through external pursuits, one has not yet realized the first truth “Jeevan dukh hai (life is sorrow)”. Time for spiritual quest has not yet come.
If one does not get it from Gurus (through Satsang – being with them) and Shastrapathan (reading of scriptures), one would learn the hard way – life will surely teach its lessons.
Intelligent are those who learn from experience (suffering) of others.
There are two schools of thoughts on seeing the God. Dwaitvadi (believing in duality – God being separate from his creation) see the God as a physical reality. Adwaitvadis believe that whatever can be perceived is manifestation of God alone. It is like dance which has no existence separate from the dancer. All is God. God can, therefore, not be perceived as an entity other than its creation.
Both are right though it is difficult for the limited mind to understand. Mind is trained to think that something is right its opposite has to be wrong. But all the opposites and contradictions simultaneously exist.
The devotees (Dwaitvadi) like Meera, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishan Paramhamsa, Surdas (blind saint) see God as physical reality. There perception is at the level of Bhav (emotion). The infinite and formless intelligence (called God) can manifest in any form – all forms are his (In the next post I will be narrating an incident where a hugely built Muslim Saint transformed himself into a small statured saint to whom Aspatwarji was connected to). But seeing God is culmination of many lives of spiritual effort which leads one to a stage where one has no attractions in the external world.
In connection with other school of thought, one needs to understand that the mind is limited and can perceive only that which is limited, has a boundary and is circumscribed, i.e., the manifest world. Anything which is without boundaries (infinite) is beyond its perception. With all the advances of science we can observe some aspects (not all) of a minuscule fraction of the manifest world. And manifest part is only a minuscule fraction of the whole existence. The manifest springs up from the one which is unmanifest. And unmanifest is not subject matter mind. The ONE which we call as God is the one from which both manifest and unmanifest come. God can, therefore, never be perceived by the mind and, therefore, cannot be subject matter of ownership. It cannot be another feather in one’s cap. If one (a creation of God) limited being like us could perceive or possess God, one would become greater / more than God which is illogical and an impossibility.
A seed can never perceive the tree, it can become the tree. If a salt statue (made from ocean) tries to fathom depth and expanse of ocean, in the process it will dissolve into it and become one with it. It cannot know the ocean but can become ocean. The limited self (which we call as ‘I’) is dissolved into the ONE which alone exists and manifests in different forms. One cannot retain one’s identity and know the God. Osho used to say that there is NO GOD (as a person creating and managing everything) but there is GODLINESS (all pervading intelligence making things happen).
The limited self with sense perceptions can only feel the limited, i.e., the persons and objects in the external world. Logically also one can become boundless only by shedding one's boundary, i.e., our identity which limits us in every way. This is the only game where only those win who loose.
One cannot perceive but can merge into God when mental curtain gets removed.
The whole with human beings is that they identify themselves with the body, mind and things and persons outside each one of which is impermanent. This leads to greed and possessiveness . These lead to moha (attachments), anger, hatred, anxiety etc. which most consider as ornaments. Unless one finds them as chains and prisons (refer the post ‘How I was put on to the Path and got connected to the Gurus’) and tries to come out of mental slavery (please read the post titled as ‘Source of joy and mental curtain’), one would continue to be bound, limited and miserable.
‘If one does not want to loose anything’ and finds the worldly identifications (including body and mind) as ornaments and house and hopes for happiness through external pursuits, one has not yet realized the first truth “Jeevan dukh hai (life is sorrow)”. Time for spiritual quest has not yet come.
If one does not get it from Gurus (through Satsang – being with them) and Shastrapathan (reading of scriptures), one would learn the hard way – life will surely teach its lessons.
Intelligent are those who learn from experience (suffering) of others.
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