03 Aug 2008
Note: This article is meant for intellectuals only
Propagation of knowledge is the greatest task and hence, it is done by God only directly. To satisfy an intellectual is very difficult. To convince the greatest genius like Mandana Misra, it requires super-intelligence and so God alone can do it. No intellectual human being can convince another intellectual human being. Therefore, God Himself incarnated in human form as Shankara. To propagate devotion and service, such incarnation of God is not necessary. Developing devotion through praise and songs is easy work. Therefore, Adisesha, the most beloved servant to God, incarnated as Ramanuja. Propagation of service is still easier and hence, another devoted angel, Vayu incarnated as Madhva. Vayu is in constant service of God by constant movement to give breath for all human beings. This does not mean that devotion and service are cheaper than Knowledge. In fact, devotion is more valuable than knowledge and service is more valuable than devotion. Knowledge generates devotion and devotion generates service. God is really pleased by service only. In this angle, devotion and service are more important than knowledge. But, without knowledge, devotion and service are not generated at all. In this angle, knowledge is more important than devotion and service. To establish the true knowledge, God comes down because knowledge is the most difficult part.
God is unimaginable but exists. God does not exist at all. These two statements are quite different from each other. The first statement is the top most truth of theism. The second statement is a false conclusion of atheists. Generally, the existence is linked to imaginable items only. If you understand something, then only you say that it exists. You say that cat exists because you have understood the cat. But, you cannot generalize this in practical experience. Sometimes, you link existence and unimaginable nature. Suppose a room is closed from all sides and you hear some sound from the room. You will say that something exists in the room. But, that something is unimaginable. It may be cat or rat or dog or simply air. Therefore, you need not link existence always with imaginable items only. The atheist says that he has examined the room and nothing exists. He says that the sound from the room is an illusion. The atheist says that there is no unimaginable event in the entire creation. He does not accept any miracle. He tries to analyze every miracle to disprove it. He tries to prove every miracle as an imaginable event only. In such case, the source of every miracle must be imaginable and hence, there is no unimaginable item like God. But, what about the boundary of the universe? Is it not unimaginable? Every atheist or scientist has to accept the existence of this unimaginable item and therefore, has to accept indirectly the unimaginable God, who created the unimaginable boundary of the universe (infinite Universe). We have no objection to accept the unimaginable boundary of the universe as God Himself because it is always better to accept one unimaginable item than two unimaginable items. Instead of accepting the unimaginable boundary of the Universe and the unimaginable creator of such boundary (two unimaginable items), there is nothing wrong to accept the unimaginable boundary of the Universe as God. The unimaginable boundary of the Universe is beyond the imaginable boundary of the Universe. If you consider the part of the Universe up to the imaginable boundary as Universe, God (unimaginable boundary) is beyond Universe. For a lay man, the imaginable boundary is fixed by the naked eye. For a scientist, the imaginable boundary is fixed by the most powerful telescope. For both lay man and scientist, the unimaginable boundary of the universe (God) exists. This is the theme of the cosmic vision (Vishwarupa Darshana) of God in the Gita. A lay man can see the space up to some extent within this galaxy. A powerful telescope may show some galaxies. Arjuna with more powerful vision (Divya Drishti) could see some more galaxies (upper worlds). But, even Arjuna did not see the end of the Universe as per the Gita (nantosti mama divyaanaam…). Therefore, the unimaginable boundary of the Universe is a common point for a lay man using the naked eye, a scientist using the powerful telescope, and Arjuna using the most powerful Divya Drishti. For all these three, the existence of the unimaginable boundary of the Universe or God is clearly established.
Relative Reality and Absolute Reality
The existence (Sat) is the only characteristic of God that is available in this creation anywhere. Shankara captured this characteristic of God and made it available to anybody including atheists. Even Buddhists, who propagated the non-existence of everything, was questioned by Shankara regarding his own existence that grasps or establishes the non-existence of everything. If the establisher is also non-existent, then the non-existence itself has no existence. Any atheist has to accept the existence of himself. Buddhist, the worst atheist was made to accept the existence of himself and thereby, the existence of existence (Sat vada) was established by Shankara. The scientist is a reformed Buddhist, who accepts the existence of creation denying the existence of God only. The scientist accepts the existence of entire creation, which is the ladder of relative realities. A wall is relatively real with reference to the existence of bricks in it. The existence of the wall is nothing but the existence of the brick since the wall does not exist at all without the existence of the brick. Brick is the cause (Karana) and wall is the effect (Karya). With reference to wall (relative reality), brick is the absolute reality. But, brick is again a relative reality with reference to its crystals existing in it. Again, a crystal is absolute reality with reference to brick but, crystal is again a relative reality with reference to atoms present in it. An atom is absolute reality with reference to crystal but, the atom is again relative reality with reference to sub-atomic particles like protons, neutrons, electrons etc. Similarly, a sub-atomic particle is again a relative reality with reference to energy. Thus, energy is the ultimate absolute reality (Sat) in the creation. Here, the scientist stops.
Philosophy begins here, which says that this energy (cosmic energy) is again a relative reality, which is generated from the unimaginable God. The Sat (energy) was created as per the Veda (Sadajaayata) and can disappear at anytime as per the Gita (Ubhayorapi Drushtontah…). The energy is unimaginable for a lay man but is imaginable for a scientist. This does not mean that every unimaginable item becomes imaginable in course of time. God is unimaginable for all times. You may not touch the roof of your house by high jump. A talented person or even you after long practice may touch the roof of your house. This does not mean that every untouchable today becomes touchable in future. The sky is untouchable for anybody in all times. Similarly, God is unimaginable for anybody at anytime. The existence of unimaginable events (miracles) proves the existence of unimaginable God. Some false miracles (magic) may be disproved. But, this does not mean that there is no genuine miracle. The atheist says that even the genuine miracle will be disproved in future. We will then show the case of unimaginable boundary of Universe, which is accepted by scientists as the everlasting unimaginable item. If the atheist says that the unimaginable boundary of the universe will also be seen in future, he must be the biggest unscientific fool!!
God Associates With Awareness Only in the Incarnation
There is no possibility of seeing the unimaginable God at anytime. How can your eye capture the God, when even your intelligence fails? But, for the devotees, who are very anxious to see God, God has adopted a special technique. God enters a finite quantity of creation, which may be energetic form (Narayana or Father of heaven) or material form like human incarnation. God will never enter the entire cosmos because it is not convenient for the devotee to see and have the full satisfaction of close approach. However, even the entire cosmos can be treated as God (if a beginner-devotee is so fascinated) for worship and in such worship the cosmos stands as a representing model (Pratika) of God. This is quite different from the worship of the finite medium in which God is actually present (Saakshat-upasanam). Whether it is finite form of energy or finite human incarnation, the most important point is that awareness is always associated with God. This only means that whenever God enters a finite medium, awareness is always associated with it. This means that wherever God exists, awareness must exist there. This concept is twisted and misinterpreted as the present Advaita philosophy. The twist is that wherever awareness exists, God must be present there. The twist reached the climax and the final result is that awareness itself is God. God can be called as awareness but awareness cannot be called as God.
Eg. Ajay may be wearing a red shirt always. Wherever Ajay is present, the red shirt is compulsory there. This does not mean that wherever red shirt exists Ajay must exist there. The constant association of God and awareness is accepted in one direction but not in the reverse direction. In the case of constant association of two objects, one object can be taken as the other object. For example, if somebody asks you about the recognition of Ajay, you may say “that red shirt is Ajay”. Here, the word red shirt stands for Ajay. But, this is limited only to the case of Ajay. This should not be extrapolated to point out that every person in red shirt is Ajay. Red shirt stands for Ajay (i.e., only in the case of Ajay) and not in every case. Similarly, awareness stands for God only in the case of human incarnation and not in the case of every human being. The statement of Shankara that the individual soul is God (Jeevo Brahmaiva…) is valid only in the case of human incarnation and not in every human being. Therefore, the spirit of Advaita Philosophy of Shankara is quite different from the present twisted spirit of Advaita Philosophy. Shankara (God) sent His devotees (Ramanuja and Madhva) to remove this twist and clarify. God did not come again because it was only clarification of the old concept.
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