A DIVINE MESSAGE
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2013 New Year
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Philosophy
Difference between God and Saint |
Kids Story
Example of Humility |
Philosophy
Question
Maharaj Ji, at some places Ved Shastra say that God is greater and at others they say Mahapurush (God - realized saint) is greater and at some places they say both are equal. These statements are very confusing. Could you please clarify?
Answer
Saint and God have only 1 difference. Vedant asked this question and Ved Vyas answered
Maharaj Ji, at some places Ved Shastra say that God is greater and at others they say Mahapurush (God - realized saint) is greater and at some places they say both are equal. These statements are very confusing. Could you please clarify?
Answer
Saint and God have only 1 difference. Vedant asked this question and Ved Vyas answered
जगद्व्यापारवर्ज्यम्
वेदांत 4.4.17
वेदांत 4.4.17
God creates the world, nurtures it and destroys it. He does not give this work to any saint. Additionally, upon God realization God gives the same bliss, knowledge and eternal life to a saint. Saint is not the originator of these qualities. God bestows these qualities upon the saint. So according to “जगद्व्यापारवर्ज्यम् ”, creating, maintaining and destroying the creation is the only difference between God and saint.
Saying “saint is greater” is a matter of perspective. From the time we start treading on the path of spirituality, until the time we attain divine love and become a saint ourselves, a saint takes care of us. A real saint shows us the way, teaches us how to walk on that path. God does not tell us the way to attain Him nor does He help us walk on the path. Also, once our practice is perfect, God does not grant Divine-Love Himself. A saint does all this for us. Thus according to this point of view it is right to say
Saying “saint is greater” is a matter of perspective. From the time we start treading on the path of spirituality, until the time we attain divine love and become a saint ourselves, a saint takes care of us. A real saint shows us the way, teaches us how to walk on that path. God does not tell us the way to attain Him nor does He help us walk on the path. Also, once our practice is perfect, God does not grant Divine-Love Himself. A saint does all this for us. Thus according to this point of view it is right to say
राम ते अधिक राम कर दासा
Ram’s servant is greater than Ram), or “a saint is greater”.
मद्भक्तपूजाभ्यधिका सर्वभूतेषु मन्मतिः ॥
11.19.21 ॥
11.19.21 ॥
First worship My devotee then worship Me. In Vedas, a question was asked, “Who is God”. There is a beautiful description.
भृगुर्वै वारुणि: वरुणं पितरमुपससार अधीहि भगवो ब्रह्मेति। तस्मा एतत्प्रोवाच ।
Bhrigu Muni asked his father Varun, a Brahm- gyani, (one who has attained God by walking the path of knowledge), you have attained God, please tell me the definition of God.
Varun replied
Varun replied
यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते अप्राप्य मनसा सह । आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् न विभेति कुतश्चनेति।
The One from whom
1. The world is created,
2. Protected and nurtured, and
3. Annihilated is called God.
This definition cannot be applied to anybody else.
Bhrigu Muni said, “Father I don’t understand”. Varun said, “Yes it is not a matter of knowledge. It is a matter of experience. Go and practice austerity. That is the only way to know Him”.
Bhrigu after practicing severe austerity came back and answered his father Varuna
1. The world is created,
2. Protected and nurtured, and
3. Annihilated is called God.
This definition cannot be applied to anybody else.
Bhrigu Muni said, “Father I don’t understand”. Varun said, “Yes it is not a matter of knowledge. It is a matter of experience. Go and practice austerity. That is the only way to know Him”.
Bhrigu after practicing severe austerity came back and answered his father Varuna
अन्नं ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात्
"Grain is God".
Varun smiled at his innocent answer because body is formed in the mother’s womb from the food that the mother ate. After birth this body was nurtured by the grains. And after death this body will again merge back into the 5 elements (Space, air, fire, water, earth)”. Varun told him to go back and practice more devotion. Bhrigu went back to practice austerity and searched a new answer,
Varun smiled at his innocent answer because body is formed in the mother’s womb from the food that the mother ate. After birth this body was nurtured by the grains. And after death this body will again merge back into the 5 elements (Space, air, fire, water, earth)”. Varun told him to go back and practice more devotion. Bhrigu went back to practice austerity and searched a new answer,
प्राणो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात्
“The air that we breathe is God”.
Varun sent him back to practice more austerity. This time he came back with the new finding -
Varun sent him back to practice more austerity. This time he came back with the new finding -
मनो ब्रह्मति व्यजानात्
“The mind is God”.
Varun sent him back to practice more severe austerity. Bhrigu practiced austerity and came back with an answer
Varun sent him back to practice more severe austerity. Bhrigu practiced austerity and came back with an answer
विज्ञानं ब्रह्मति व्यजानात्
“Soul is God”.
Varun smiled, at least now he came to a conscious entity. So he encouraged him to back for little more endeavor to know God.
Bhrigu practiced austerity more seriously and came back with a profound answer,
Varun smiled, at least now he came to a conscious entity. So he encouraged him to back for little more endeavor to know God.
Bhrigu practiced austerity more seriously and came back with a profound answer,
आनंदो ब्रह्मति व्यजानात्
Taittriya 3.1.3.6
Taittriya 3.1.3.6
“God Is Happiness”.
Varun said, “Yes now you understand the definition of God”. What is Happiness? This cannot be explained. God is one, who is desired by all the living beings, yet nobody knows Him. Why does everybody desire for Him? This is because everybody is part of that Happiness.
Varun said, “Yes now you understand the definition of God”. What is Happiness? This cannot be explained. God is one, who is desired by all the living beings, yet nobody knows Him. Why does everybody desire for Him? This is because everybody is part of that Happiness.
यतो वा इमानि भूतानि जायन्ते।येन जातानि जीवन्ति। यत् प्रयन्त्यभिसंविशन्ति।
Since all are born from Bliss, we naturally desire Bliss. The Vedas state that every part naturally desires for the whole. This world is made by God; the one who made the world is called God. Further Vedas say:
सोऽकामयत
He made a desire. God is self contented and Ved says God desired to make the world. Why?
तस्मादेकाकी न रमते
He was all alone. There was nothing, we too were not there. Any insentient thing was also not in existence.
नैव रमते
His mind did not enjoy that state. He felt lonely. So He made this world.
तदेवानुप्राविशत्
And He pervaded the entire world to govern it. Then He revealed all the souls, and resided in everyone’s heart keeping a record of the past actions of countless lifetimes. He just desired to create the world and it was created. There is no element of surprise in that, since God is “satya sankalp” means He just resolves and things happen accordingly.
The question is, Since He is all Bliss, why did He create this world which has a myriad of miseries. He is all-knowing, we barely know anything. He has eternal life and here everything gets created one day and will go through dissolution one day. Everything in this world is perishable. A child is born. People rejoice and distribute sweets etc. All year long you are troubled by cares of the world and then you celebrate birthdays. Birthdays are not for celebrating, those are a matter of grave, as moments of human life are fleeting past. And one day the person leaves the body and departs. You earned millions and billions for comforts of this body, by performing millions and billions of wrong deeds. And that body one day was separated from you. None so far has succeeded in preventing the moment of death. All saints, sages, seers had to meet that day. So this whole world is contrary to the nature of God.
Why did He create the world contrary to His Being? In this world a cow is born to a cow and human to a human and similarly the world created by God should be endowed with the attributes of God.
Vedas say -
The question is, Since He is all Bliss, why did He create this world which has a myriad of miseries. He is all-knowing, we barely know anything. He has eternal life and here everything gets created one day and will go through dissolution one day. Everything in this world is perishable. A child is born. People rejoice and distribute sweets etc. All year long you are troubled by cares of the world and then you celebrate birthdays. Birthdays are not for celebrating, those are a matter of grave, as moments of human life are fleeting past. And one day the person leaves the body and departs. You earned millions and billions for comforts of this body, by performing millions and billions of wrong deeds. And that body one day was separated from you. None so far has succeeded in preventing the moment of death. All saints, sages, seers had to meet that day. So this whole world is contrary to the nature of God.
Why did He create the world contrary to His Being? In this world a cow is born to a cow and human to a human and similarly the world created by God should be endowed with the attributes of God.
Vedas say -
सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् ।
God made this world reappear, the way it was before dissolution. This world is eternal. Soul is eternal, Maya is eternal and God is also eternal. The Sanskrit word for creation is “shrishti” which means revelation. Like a child caught a fly in his hand and told the other, “I can create a fly”. Others say okay, show us. The first child opened his hand and the fly flew out. The others shout no, you were holding it. You did not create it.
Similarly, God did not create anything new; He merely released all that was lying dormant in Him after dissolution. At the time of dissolution the material world and all living beings, with all their past good and bad actions, merge in to His infinite belly. At the time of creation, He releases everything in the same form. That is why in the beginning of creation somebody is a mosquito, somebody is a human and somebody is a tree. God did not decide who should be what. God merely made everything appear in the same form. God did not show any partiality in granting different forms to different souls So there is ONLY one difference between God and Sanit. That is managing the creation which God continues to control.
So there is ONLY one difference between God and Sanit. That is managing the creation which God continues to control.
Similarly, God did not create anything new; He merely released all that was lying dormant in Him after dissolution. At the time of dissolution the material world and all living beings, with all their past good and bad actions, merge in to His infinite belly. At the time of creation, He releases everything in the same form. That is why in the beginning of creation somebody is a mosquito, somebody is a human and somebody is a tree. God did not decide who should be what. God merely made everything appear in the same form. God did not show any partiality in granting different forms to different souls So there is ONLY one difference between God and Sanit. That is managing the creation which God continues to control.
So there is ONLY one difference between God and Sanit. That is managing the creation which God continues to control.
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Kid's Story
King Raghu, grandfather of Lord Shri Ram was a very respectable king of Avadh (current Ayodhya) dynasty. The subjects of his kingdom were very proud of their king Raghu due to his generosity. One day he, dressed as an ordinary man, was passing by through the village with the entourage. He galloped way ahead of the staff.
On the way he stopped by a pond to quench his thirst. There were a couple of people sitting beside the pond and sharing stories of how generous their king was. One of them narrated the story of his extreme generosity.
Raghu heard his own praises but didn't find himself to be worthy of those. So he commented, “What is so great about that, Raghu was not born with the wealth. Neither can he take it with him when he leaves this world. He got this wealth here on earth and that he gave to others. There is nothing exemplary about his behavior. This is exactly what he should have done.”
The villagers were offended hearing that this man does not respect the sacrifice of their king. By then the troops caught up and addressed Raghu as, “O King!” Now the villagers realized that they were talking to the king Raghu. Now they saw an extremely important virtue of Raghu “humility”.
Raghu gave away everything including the pride of having given away. This is true humility.
Humility is a virtue that we need to cultivate, for this is the first step towards spiritual advancement. Without humility one will frequently keep falling off the spiritual path. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said “Be more humble then a blade of grass, and more forbearing than a tree, give respect to all and don’t expect respect from them”.
Question is how can one become humble?
The best way to develop humility is to see your dearest Shri Krishna in all living and non-living things. Shri Krishna sits inside the heart of all living beings, no matter how good or bad they are. When you see your beloved Shri Krishna inside them then you will be able to treat everyone with respect and you will progress faster on the path of devotion.
On the way he stopped by a pond to quench his thirst. There were a couple of people sitting beside the pond and sharing stories of how generous their king was. One of them narrated the story of his extreme generosity.
Raghu heard his own praises but didn't find himself to be worthy of those. So he commented, “What is so great about that, Raghu was not born with the wealth. Neither can he take it with him when he leaves this world. He got this wealth here on earth and that he gave to others. There is nothing exemplary about his behavior. This is exactly what he should have done.”
The villagers were offended hearing that this man does not respect the sacrifice of their king. By then the troops caught up and addressed Raghu as, “O King!” Now the villagers realized that they were talking to the king Raghu. Now they saw an extremely important virtue of Raghu “humility”.
Raghu gave away everything including the pride of having given away. This is true humility.
Humility is a virtue that we need to cultivate, for this is the first step towards spiritual advancement. Without humility one will frequently keep falling off the spiritual path. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said “Be more humble then a blade of grass, and more forbearing than a tree, give respect to all and don’t expect respect from them”.
Question is how can one become humble?
The best way to develop humility is to see your dearest Shri Krishna in all living and non-living things. Shri Krishna sits inside the heart of all living beings, no matter how good or bad they are. When you see your beloved Shri Krishna inside them then you will be able to treat everyone with respect and you will progress faster on the path of devotion.
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