Hi,
If one tries to understand the concept of self realization at large...
one can definitely become a man god in ones life time. This essay
relates to "This world is full of Gods & Goddesses. It is difficult to
know whom to worship? Can a person be a god?"
No doubt ... every lady is a potential source of energy ... a
representative of mother Goddess ... but you fail to remember that a
woman only gives birth to a child ... it can never create a child ...
none on earth a man or a woman can never create anything. We cannot
even create a pebble out of nothing ... what to say of creating a
child.
A very interesting episode occurred in the times of Mira Bai- Mira Bai
wanted to go to a temple for prayers ... the head priest of the temple
objected to it. For him women were only meant for taking care of
children and the household affairs ... reading of the Sacred
Scriptures ... gaining spiritual knowledge was the domain of men. In
spite of repeated reminders by Mira Bai ... the head priest did not
budge.
Mira Bai ultimately sent a small chit to the head priest. Immediately
thereafter the head priest was at the feet of Mira Bai. He profusely
apologized for his mistake. What was it that Mira Bai had written in
the chit? Mira Bai had only written that there is only one man ... one
Karta (Purusha) in the whole cosmos ... and he is God, the Almighty
Creator ... rest are all ladies. The priest understood the underlying
meaning and henceforth all ladies were permitted inside the temple. It
is only God, the Almighty Creator who can create and dissolute
anything. We as human beings are only required to perform our karma.
Nothing beyond.
A very wise question indeed- whom to worship in the vast expanse of
gods and goddesses ... it is said that there are above 90 million God
and goddesses in Hindu mythology. If we look at the affairs of God ...
we find there was only one Lord Krishna, one Buddha, one Mahavira, one
Jesus Christ and one prophet Mohammed. Why only one? For the simple
reason that if there were 50 Mahaviras at a time then it was not
possible for the common man to know whom to worship!
In every era ... in every century ... there cannot be more than two
god realized souls at a time ... it is just not possible ... it will
simply confuse the humanity ... God desires every human being to
emancipate after a long journey of 8.4 million manifestations (a total
cosmic life cycle of 96.4 million years for the Atman, the soul
within). A long journey indeed!
Even before Lord Krishna was born ... there existed Vedas ... and even
before the Vedas there existed Dharma. It is Dharma which has existed
since times immemorial ... from the beginning of time when the
humanity gained its footing. Dharma inherently guides one on the right
path ... it is the force of our Atman (the soul within) which is
always existent in us. One truly cannot survive without Dharma ... we
can say we are an atheist (nonbeliever of God) ... some can say they
do not believe in any religion as they are so confusing ... yet people
continue to survive ... it is the power of Dharma within which guides
us on our cosmic journey.
When the humanity started ... the lipi (alphabets) had not yet evolved
... everything was passed on from one generation to the another by the
word of mouth ... Veda ... the spoken word! All the mantras and every
hymn was mentally learnt by heart and passed on from the guru to a
Shishya. Eventually when this Shishya became a Guru he passed on the
knowledge of the Vedas to his shishyas. It was only in the second
century when the lipi was developed that the Vedas were reduced to
writing.
Lord Krishna came about 3500 years before ... at that time four Vedas
were prevalent among the society ... Lord Krishna could see that it
was very difficult even for a experienced spiritual master to fathom
the depths of all four Vedas in a lifetime. Whatever was contained in
all the four Vedas - the Rg Veda (Rig Veda), Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and
Atharva Veda was consolidated and reproduced by Lord Krishna in the
form of Bhagavad Gita.
Bhagvad Gita contains everything that is contained in all the four
Vedas excluding those rituals, which are not necessary to be performed
today. Whatever is worth knowing in the Sacred Scriptures of all
religions of the world is contained in Bhagavad Gita. This one simple
document contains the total essence of the cosmos. Beyond this
document even God, the Almighty Creator has nothing more to say.
Amongst all the gods and goddesses ... we are only required to
assimilate the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. The knower of Bhagavad Gita
becomes the knower of Brahman ... one reaches the 8.4 millionth
manifestation the moment one realizes the absolute truth. In all
sincerity it can be explicitly said that we only need to follow
Bhagavad Gita ... if we desire to fathom the depths of the spiritual
knowledge.
Every human being can become a living God ... a man God like Buddha,
Mahavira, Jesus Christ, prophet Mohammed, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and
Maharishi Ramana only after one has gained self-realization. Every
godly figure becomes liberated from the cycle of birth and death
forever. No further manifestations ... we pray to these man gods and
invoke their blessings.
A normal human being even though has an Atman within cannot be termed
as God ... it is only after we burn out our karma ... remove the dross
from within ... and our Atman (the soul within) comes back to its
pristine pure form ... can we say that so-and-so has realized God ...
reached the 8.4 millionth manifestation ... the last in the stage of
emancipation. It is our Atman (the soul within) that has taken this
body and not vice versa ... it is our Atman the soul within which
wants to liberate forever from the cycle of various manifestations.
God, the Almighty Creator and all Atmans (souls) in the cosmos are of
the same nature. If a grain of wheat is an Atman than the whole mound
of grain is Parmatman (God, the Almighty Creator). Both are pure forms
of energy and so potential that a normal human being cannot even
visualize the structure of an Atman or Parmatman.
If I agree with you that you are a power ... then can you produce
something out of nothing ... is it within you that you can create
something from nothing ... it simply is not possible ... and when this
is not possible how can you be a power. The body of a human being is
powerless ... the moment our Atman (the soul within) leaves the body
... it becomes dead! To become all-powerful we need to realize God ...
we need to come back to our pristine pure form ... we need to become a
living Atman (a living soul).
Every human being is the highest manifestation on Mother Earth ... it
is only as a human being that every Atman can liberate itself ...
reach the 8.4 millionth manifestation. Be it Swarga (Heaven) or Naraka
(hell) ... to gain emancipation every Atman has to take a body as a
human being ... only then it can achieve moksha (salvation). We are
lucky to be born as a human being! To be born as a human being means
we have already crossed about 7.3 million manifestations and a total
cosmic life span of about 83 million years. We started the cosmic
journey as an amoeba (the first manifestation as a single cell) and
subsequently evolved into an insect, then a plant, an animal and
finally a human being. It has taken about 7.3 million manifestations
to reach from amoeba to the level of a human being (a journey above 83
million years).
In the cosmic hierarchy there is not much confusion ... the wisdom
contained in the Bhagavad Gita is self explanatory ... if we follow
truthfully the dictates of our Atman (the soul within) ... we try to
hear the promptings of the sweet small inner voice coming from within
then we can always remain hopeful of completing the cosmic journey
within this life for, the voice of our Atman (the soul within) shall
never guide us on the wrong path.
Vijay Kumar ...
(The Man who Realized God in 1993) |
