dattaswami
God Experience
God should be understood as the unimaginable creator. Next, God can be understood as the unimaginable spectator of the world. Lastly, God should be understood as the unimaginable actor who has entered the Universal Drama in the form of the human incarnation.
In the first state, God is called as Brahman. The same God is called as Parabrahman before that first stage. In the second stage God is called as Ishwara. In the third stage God is called as Avatara Purusha or Sadguru. One can go up to the first stage only and no intelligence can go beyond that first stage. This means Parabrahman can never be understood. The climax way to understand the Parabrahman is to grasp Him as Brahman. If you analyse carefully, Brahman is also an incarnation. The Parabrahman is embedded in the pure awareness. The pure awareness is the medium, which can be understood by sharp intelligence. Therefore, one can understand God only through a medium. The finest and the subtlest medium is pure awareness. Scholars like Shankara like God in such a rich medium. Some people like a person in a costly silk dress.
Others can understand God in the form of Ishwara.
Ramanuja and Madhva have stopped at the level of Ishwara, who is God in a terricot shirt which is a mixture of silk and cotton. Brahman is the unqualified pure awareness, which is called as Nirguna. Ishwara is the qualified pure awareness, which is called as Saguna. Therefore, Shankara preached about God to scholars. Ramanuja and Madhva preached God to ordinary people. There are some people who are ignorant and cannot grasp even the form of Ishwara. For this third category, God-in-Flesh is the easiest way, who is God in a cotton shirt. The Brahman is the electrified raw gold. Ishwara is the electrified golden chain [gold with a form; qualified]. The human incarnation is the electrified iron chain. Gold is costly and iron is cheap. The awareness is subtle and can be grasped only by scholars.
The human body is very easy and can be grasped directly by the eyes. But in all these media, the electricity is one and the same. When you touch any of these three media the electric shock is one and the same. Thus, the experience of God can be obtained from Brahman in transcendental meditation (Samadhi). The same experience of God can be obtained when Ishwara appears in energetic form when pleased by severe penance (Sakshatkara). The same experience of God is also obtained by seeing a human incarnation like Lord Krishna (Darshanam). The experience of God is one and the same. The medium and the approach differ. The first two methods are very difficult. The last method is very easy. The goal and the benefit are one and the same. Among these three, who is wise?
The last person is the wisest who obtained the same goal through the easiest path. The experience of God is obtained only through a medium. The medium alone indicates God. When you want to drink hot tea, you are shown a cup. You are told, “Have that cup”. Here the word cup means the tea and not the cup without the tea. When you touch the cup you are experiencing the heat of the tea through the cup. If the tea is absent, the cup is cool. Thus, you can differentiate between a cup with tea and an empty cup. Thus by experience you can differentiate Lord Krishna from any other ordinary human being. The very presence of the human incarnation electrifies you with divine experience even without the preaching from the human incarnation. But sometimes mere experience may mislead you. Experience belongs to the faculty of the mind. Sometimes there may be false experience due to a defective mind. You may feel the divinity through a miracle. Both God and Satan do miracles. Most people decide the divinity through the experience obtained from miracles.
Therefore, the faculty of intelligence should be opened to decide your experience. You must hear His knowledge. You must analyse His discourse. Knowledge is the inseparable ornament of God although knowledge is only a characteristic of a medium (awareness). God has given us the facility to identify Him through that inseparable characteristic. Love, bliss and miracles should associate with such knowledge. Without knowledge, the decision should not be taken based on the other three characteristics. The other three are always associated with the knowledge but they also exist independently even without the knowledge.
God should be understood as the unimaginable creator. Next, God can be understood as the unimaginable spectator of the world. Lastly, God should be understood as the unimaginable actor who has entered the Universal Drama in the form of the human incarnation.
In the first state, God is called as Brahman. The same God is called as Parabrahman before that first stage. In the second stage God is called as Ishwara. In the third stage God is called as Avatara Purusha or Sadguru. One can go up to the first stage only and no intelligence can go beyond that first stage. This means Parabrahman can never be understood. The climax way to understand the Parabrahman is to grasp Him as Brahman. If you analyse carefully, Brahman is also an incarnation. The Parabrahman is embedded in the pure awareness. The pure awareness is the medium, which can be understood by sharp intelligence. Therefore, one can understand God only through a medium. The finest and the subtlest medium is pure awareness. Scholars like Shankara like God in such a rich medium. Some people like a person in a costly silk dress.
Others can understand God in the form of Ishwara.
Ramanuja and Madhva have stopped at the level of Ishwara, who is God in a terricot shirt which is a mixture of silk and cotton. Brahman is the unqualified pure awareness, which is called as Nirguna. Ishwara is the qualified pure awareness, which is called as Saguna. Therefore, Shankara preached about God to scholars. Ramanuja and Madhva preached God to ordinary people. There are some people who are ignorant and cannot grasp even the form of Ishwara. For this third category, God-in-Flesh is the easiest way, who is God in a cotton shirt. The Brahman is the electrified raw gold. Ishwara is the electrified golden chain [gold with a form; qualified]. The human incarnation is the electrified iron chain. Gold is costly and iron is cheap. The awareness is subtle and can be grasped only by scholars.
The human body is very easy and can be grasped directly by the eyes. But in all these media, the electricity is one and the same. When you touch any of these three media the electric shock is one and the same. Thus, the experience of God can be obtained from Brahman in transcendental meditation (Samadhi). The same experience of God can be obtained when Ishwara appears in energetic form when pleased by severe penance (Sakshatkara). The same experience of God is also obtained by seeing a human incarnation like Lord Krishna (Darshanam). The experience of God is one and the same. The medium and the approach differ. The first two methods are very difficult. The last method is very easy. The goal and the benefit are one and the same. Among these three, who is wise?
The last person is the wisest who obtained the same goal through the easiest path. The experience of God is obtained only through a medium. The medium alone indicates God. When you want to drink hot tea, you are shown a cup. You are told, “Have that cup”. Here the word cup means the tea and not the cup without the tea. When you touch the cup you are experiencing the heat of the tea through the cup. If the tea is absent, the cup is cool. Thus, you can differentiate between a cup with tea and an empty cup. Thus by experience you can differentiate Lord Krishna from any other ordinary human being. The very presence of the human incarnation electrifies you with divine experience even without the preaching from the human incarnation. But sometimes mere experience may mislead you. Experience belongs to the faculty of the mind. Sometimes there may be false experience due to a defective mind. You may feel the divinity through a miracle. Both God and Satan do miracles. Most people decide the divinity through the experience obtained from miracles.
Therefore, the faculty of intelligence should be opened to decide your experience. You must hear His knowledge. You must analyse His discourse. Knowledge is the inseparable ornament of God although knowledge is only a characteristic of a medium (awareness). God has given us the facility to identify Him through that inseparable characteristic. Love, bliss and miracles should associate with such knowledge. Without knowledge, the decision should not be taken based on the other three characteristics. The other three are always associated with the knowledge but they also exist independently even without the knowledge.