Truth is beyond Knowledge and Wisdom ( and beyond Mind and Intellect)

If you would like to be informed, read news papers, if you want to know a little read books, if you want to know everything lose yourself in understanding and becoming a scripture. Lahiri Mahasaya said, "He alone is wise who devotes himself to realizing, not reading only".

I have read a little from Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and only a miniscule from Islam, but do know that all paths are equally good and same. Examples I quote have nothing to do with a strain of certain religion, when you go deep into becoming a Sufi or Jew, you get free, same happens to one who diligently follows any other branch of numerous world religions.

India at large has forgotten the science of God contact, or how become one with God. God cannot be known, can only be fused with, i.e. Yoga or Union.

Vedas are, so far the highest watermark of India's civilization. Most people think of Vedas as something to be followed after retirement or after they have "made it", whatever that means :)

Most people are unlikely to understand the scientific basis of Christ's first commandment either. But I'll try to communicate in 21st century English, whatever I can of the unspeakable truth.

One of problems of blogging is that the ego understands a few concepts and wants to brag about it, and the role of teacher become the role of crammer who understands more concepts from books, more facts, more trivia to run on the treadmill of sermonizing. Giving your Ego a massage is exactly not the point.

There is an energy inside human being that can be awakened to become a Superman on the evolutionary ladder, that is what Jesus the Christ, Mohammad, Krishna became with their own effort and struggle. Before this energy is activated, it does the involuntary work of growth. 

Let's come back to the heading of this blog post i.e. Truth from Vedas.  The first Shloka of Ishavasya Upanishad:

ishavasyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyaam jagat tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma gridhah kasya svid dhanam. 

Isha – ‘that Supreme Lord – that Supreme Being,’ Ishwara; vasyam – ‘pervades’; idam – ‘here’; sarvam-’ everything.’ 

The Upanishad does not say, Ishavasyam sarvam – it adds a word idam – Ishavasyam idam sarvam – which means, ‘It pervades everything, here and now.’


There is the usual blame laid at the door of Upanishadic teaching, that it is an ‘other worldly teaching,’ something to take up after one becomes old, or may be in the next birth. This is not true. Ishavasyam idam sarvam- ‘that Supreme Being pervades everything’ – here and now!

Yat kincha jagatyam jagat – ‘It pervades all that moves, and also all that does not move,’ which means, not only living beings, but also non-living things.


The famous sage Ramana Maharshi of Tiruvannamalai defined the whole of Vedanta in a nut-shell, in one sentence which he used to oft repeat – deham naham koham soham. This is the essence of Vedanta.

So, deham naham – if ‘I am not the body,’ koham? – then, ‘who am I?’ If somebody says, ‘I am just a bundle of flesh and bones,’ it is fine. Let them be content with this feeling. But if somebody says, ‘Let me go deeper into this matter; I may not be just a bundle of flesh and bones, I may be something different. But who am I?’ Ramana Maharshi said that when one is asked this question, koham! ‘Who am I?’ koham? Soham is the answer – ‘I am not different from That Supreme Being.’ ‘That Supreme Self is not different from that Supreme Being’. ‘That Supreme Self am I’ is similar to the Upanishadic statement ‘tat twam asi’ – ‘You are That!’

Not for the weak

The study of the Upanishads is not for ‘weak minds’ because one has to take a totally different view of the world.

The Upanishad itself declares, Nayam atma balaheenay na labhya – ‘This atman cannot be reached by the weak.’ We are not talking about physical weakness but mental weakness. It requires a great deal of mental strength to understand the Upanishad theoretically, and more than that to begin to live and understand it. So a great deal of strength is required and therefore it is a strength-giving message. To repeat, it is not a philosophy of running away from anything, or worldly work and duties, but living where you are and understanding the permanence of the Inner Reality.

Mind cannot reach it

Shloka 4 of Ishavasya Upanishad says:

anejad ekam manaso javiyo nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati

Anejad means, ‘that which does not move.’ In other words, ‘that Supreme 

Self does not move’. It is that which is unmoving. Ekam – ‘One’ Manaso javiyo – ‘Even faster and swifter than the mind.’ If that ‘One’ is faster and swifter than the mind, there is no way that the mind can find It. Nainad deva apnuvan purvam arshat – ‘There is no way that the senses can ever reach It.’ Tad dhavato nyan atyeti tishthat tasminn apo matarishva dadhati ‘By itself It stands still. It out-strips those who run to reach for It. In It, the all-pervading air or energy – prana, supports the activities of all beings.’ Now, this again seems to be one of the Upanishadic contradictions, because in the beginning it describes the Supreme Self, anejad – ‘It does not move’ and later, it says, ‘It out-runs.’


What a contradiction for the mind

If we go into one definition, we would have explained the others. The first one is anejad – ‘unmoving’ and the second, manaso javiyo nainad – ‘swifter than the mind, and the senses too do not reach it, because it is ever ahead of the senses.’ This is a typical attempt at describing the indescribable, which is what the Upanishads are all about.

In the beginning of this Upanishad, it is said ‘Ishavasyam idam sarvam’ – ‘That which is everywhere, at all times.’ ‘That Supreme Being,’ the rishis declare, ‘is your Essential Self.’ It is not a material thing that you can describe. So, the formless, the ‘attributeless,’ if It can be defined at all, has to have certain ‘attributes,’ theoretically speaking, to help us understand. One is that ‘it does not move.’ This is with reference to the fact that the mind is always in movement. It is never still. It is here now, and elsewhere the next minute!

This unending movement is the quality of the mind-stuff, but the Supreme Reality, according to the Upanishads, is unmoving. Even the search for something is a movement. When one is trying to achieve something, there is the movement of trying. When the mind does not have something, it begins to look for it – so there is a movement, not in time, but in thought.

Now, the Supreme Reality which is called in the Upanishads as atman, or referred to in this Upanishad as Isha, pervades everything. Therefore, there is no question of moving from one spot to another. Movement takes place from ‘here’ to ‘there,’ but if something is everywhere, then there is no question of moving from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ It ‘is.’

As the Upanishads themselves have declared, Nayam atma balaheenay na labhya – ‘This atman cannot be attained by the weak.’ Strength is required. Manaso javiyo – ‘It is swifter than the mind,’ which means the mind is not swift enough to reach It. Now, the mind is very swift – in a second, from ‘here’ it moves ‘there.’ But what we are talking of is always ‘here,’ ‘there,’ ‘everywhere,’ at the same time. Therefore the mind cannot move to It fast enough because it is there already!

More contradiction

Next shloka says: 

tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike tad antarasya sarvasya tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah. Tad ejati tan naijati tad dure tad vadantike – 

‘It moves, yet it moves not. It is far and yet it is near.’ 

Tad antarasya sarvasya – ‘It is within all this.’ Tad u sarvasyasya baahyatah – ‘It is outside all this.’ Now, on the one hand, it is a confirmation of the first shloka – Ishavasyam idam sarvam – ‘That Supreme Being pervades everything here.’ If it pervades everything here and if it is your essential Self, then you will understand what is meant by – ‘It moves and it moves not.’ It moves when we think that we are separate from it – then we move towards it. But when we understand that we are not separate from that Supreme Being, then there is no movement. Therefore, ‘It moves and it moves not.’

A word of caution from the Upanishads for Knowledge Seekers

I'll jump a few Sholkas and come to the 9th Shloka. There are certain people in the world who think accumulating as much knowledge as possible like squirrel accumulates nuts is the aim of life. Two billionaire investors, who are otherwise noble have been instrumental in propagating this theory Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, a lot of their fans have been bitten by the "learning machine" or "lifelong learning" bug. Beware of the grave danger of this approach of learning and "knowledge".

andham tamaha pravishanti ya avidyam upasate tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah

The first part is, andham tamaha pravishanti ya avidyam upasate – ‘Into great darkness, blinding darkness, enter those who follow ignorance or worship ignorance.’ Now this is clear. We all agree that those who worship ignorance or those who follow ignorance will enter into darkness. This is understandable.

The second part seems to be a contradiction. ‘Tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayam ratah’ – but those who delight in knowledge enter into greater darkness. Now, this is a very big contradiction! Should we not learn? Does knowledge cause us to enter into greater darkness?

It is understandable that when we follow ignorance we enter into darkness. But, ‘those who worship knowledge or delight in knowledge enter into greater darkness’ – this is something one has to examine very carefully.

One interpretation:

The usual interpretation to this statement is that, by ‘ignorance’ is meant all the worldly knowledge which we have. Since it is not the knowledge of the Spirit, it is considered to be ‘ignorance.’ Only the understanding of Spirit is true ‘knowledge.’ Any knowledge which does not contribute to the understanding of the inner Self is still ignorance and therefore darkness – that is one theory.

What is Knowledge?

One has to look a little more closely at the word ‘knowledge.’ Especially because the same Upanishad says, ‘That Supreme Self cannot be reached by the mind or the senses.’ When one says ‘intelligence,’ ‘knowledge’ and so on, it is still within the field of the mind. So one of the interpretations that can be made is this: if somebody, after studying a lot about the Supreme Being, feels he has understood the Supreme Being and is therefore rejoicing, ‘he is entering into greater darkness,’ because he has not understood it. He understands it only when the mind has become absolutely still and that is not the function of knowledge. The function of knowledge, the function of the intellect, the Upanishads say, is to lead one to understand its limitations in the field of the Spirit.

The Upanishads go further: ‘Nothing that you worship here is the Supreme Being’! This is what the Kena Upanishad says: 
Yan manasa na manute yenahur mano matam tadeva Brahma tvam viddhi nedam yad idam upasate – ‘

that which the mind cannot reach, but which is the basis of the mind, know That alone is Truth, nothing that you worship here.’ When he says, ‘nothing that you worship,’ it does not mean that you are not supposed to do any worship. It means no activity, pravritti, on your part can bring about the realization of the Supreme. In fact, no pravritti can bring it about. It is the nivritti marga. Therefore, when the mind becomes quiet and when quietness enters, then ‘That’ is revealed.


The other point is that if one examines the actual character of what we call ‘knowledge,’ we come upon something very interesting. Let us say we don’t have knowledge of a particular subject, and we set about trying to understand it. After some time of study, we understand it. That understanding is important. But after the understanding, what happens? When I say, ‘I have knowledge of the subject’ it means I have stored the understanding in my brain in the form of a memory. All knowledge is memory that has been stored, ready for retrieval. And when one says, ‘I have a good memory’, it means one has the capacity to retrieve correctly what has been stored at any time in the past. This is what is meant by ‘having a good memory’ or, in other words, ‘knowledge of the subject.’ Memory cannot be a thing of the present, it can only be of the past. We would not have to recall it if it is not a thing of the past. Therefore, any knowledge, including theoretical knowledge of the scriptures, lies in the past.

Is Knowledge the Aim of Life ?

And what does the Upanishad say? Ishavasyam idam sarvam – ‘That Supreme Being pervades everything, here and now!’ So, the knowledge of the Supreme Being, is not something that can be understood, stored and kept for reference! When it is understood, it is always understood, it is always present. It is not something that can be recalled. It is not something that can be recorded and retrieved. Once there, it is always there! If it goes, then it is not the knowledge of the Supreme; because it is a memory, it has vanished. So, ‘Into blinding darkness enter those who worship ignorance; into greater darkness enter those who delight in knowledge!’

Another interpretation:

Now, there is another psychological explanation to this, which is, when the mind becomes filled with the pride of having acquired knowledge and thinks that it will now see the Supreme Being, then it is very far away from understanding the Supreme, because now the ego has come in. Here, our effort should be to reverse the process and break down the barrier of ego.

Truth is not Scholastic or Intellectual

Sometimes, knowledge also becomes an obstacle to the understanding of the Truth, because Truth should be absolutely clear and simple. It need not be scholastic; it need not be intellectual. And, filled with this knowledge, sometimes one does not have space in the mind to receive a glimpse of the Supreme Being, even if it comes. 


Two Stories:

There is a story about a professor who went to a great yogi and asked, ‘When will I attain Self-realization?’ And the yogi told him, ‘Sir, you will take at least six to seven years.’ Then the postman, who had come there to deliver letters to the yogi said, ‘Sir, I think I must stop all this work now and keep quiet. I have this feeling of wonderful stillness coming in my heart when I come near you. I don’t know what it is. Whenever I come, I listen when you talk to others – though I have not read any books.... When will I attain that absolute stillness which you talk about?’ The yogi said, ‘Soon, very soon; may be in a few days!’ The professor got very upset. ‘What is this yogi saying? Here I am who has studied everything, and this postman knows nothing. Then how can he attain self– realization in a few days while I need six years!’ When he had cooled down, the yogi said, ‘Sir, it will take me six years to clear the rubbish which you have collected in your memory! When it is gone, the rest is easy!’

Then there is this famous story about the learned professor who went to the Zen master and said, ‘I have come to understand Zen. Please give me Satori – Zen!’ (The great experience of Zen is Sa-tori). The master said, ‘Sir, first let’s have some tea.’ So he made tea and then poured the tea into a cup. As he poured, the cup became full and started to overflow. The professor exclaimed, ‘The cup is over-flowing!’ The master turned to him and said, ‘So also is your cup Sir. It is overflowing! How can I give you Zen? It is already full, so it is unable to receive anything. First, it has to become empty!’

Next Shloka on Knowledge and Ignorance

The tenth shloka supports what has already been expressed. 

anyad evahur vidyaya anyad ahur avidyaya iti shushruma dhiranam ye nas tad vichachakshire.

 ‘They say that the result of knowledge is different from the result of ignorance. This, we have heard from the wise, who have explained it to us.’ Now, the rishi is talking in humble terms. He does not say, ‘I am saying this.’ He says, ‘This has been explained to me by the wise, from whom we have heard that there are two results – from knowledge comes one result and from ignorance comes another.’ 

More confounding, the Eleventh Shloka

vidyaam chaavidyaam cha yas tad vedobhayam saha avidyaya mrityum tirtva vidyayaamritam ashnute. 

This means, ‘But one who knows these two together, knowledge and ignorance, crosses death through ignorance and attains life eternal through knowledge.’ 

Now, how can one cross death through ignorance and attain life eternal? ‘Life eternal through knowledge,’ we can understand; but how does one ‘cross death through ignorance?’ This is another of those difficult parts of the Upanishad. If we have followed what has been discussed till now, a slight glimmer of light will appear.

The shloka before this said that the results of knowledge and ignorance are distinct and different. This shloka says, ‘But if you understand both, knowledge and ignorance together, then you cross death through ignorance, and life eternal through knowledge.’ Now, actually, both are the same. ‘Life eternal’ is the same as ‘crossing death.’ There is no difference!

 In the vedic prayer, mrityor ma amritam gamaya – ‘lead me from mrityu to amrityu,’ – it is the same thing. Amrityu means amrita – ‘immortality.’ 

That means, when one understands this concept of knowledge and ignorance which is, ‘the one who worships ignorance enters into darkness and the one who worships knowledge enters into greater darkness,’ then one has understood knowledge and ignorance together for what they really stand. If you have understood that, then you have ‘crossed death and attained life eternal.’ ‘Crossed death through ignorance’ – there must be some reason why they have used ‘ignorance’ with ‘death’ and put them together. ‘Understanding ignorance’ means ‘to be free of that ignorance.’ You cannot be free of something until you have understood it. If you want to be free of violence, you have to first understand what violence is, in all its intricate patterns, and this cannot be done by sitting for years in a cave. It has to be done only in society.

There is nobody to be violent with in the cave. Only when you come out of the cave, interact with others and get hurt in the process, will you really know whether or not you are really free of anger and violence. So, to understand ignorance means to understand the implications of the meaning of ignorance. And when you have understood that, you are free of death. When you have understood that the Supreme Being which pervades everything, which pervades the entire universe, is no different from your Self, then there is no death for you.

Seemingly Contradictory 12th Shloka yet again

andham tamah pravishanti ye asambhutim upasate
tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u sambhutyam rataah.

‘Into blinding darkness enter those who worship the unmanifest and into still greater darkness, as it were, enter those who delight in the manifest!’ The same style of teaching occurs again and again in the Upanishad.

Now, the ‘manifest’ means ‘the world’ that is ‘manifested’ – the world that we see in everyday life. Let us start from the last part of this shloka – ‘they enter greater darkness who delight in the manifest.’ That means, those who delight only in the physical world and whose relationship with the world is only physical, going nothing beyond food, drink, sleep and sex – ‘they enter into greater darkness’. This is very simple. Unless we have chosen not to look, we see the darkness. That means, at every step there is a problem and at every step there is the spectre of sorrow and death haunting us.

There are those who worship the unmanifest. They also enter into darkness, but not as great a darkness as those who worship only the manifest. ‘Worshipping the unmanifest’ means worshipping that which is the cause of the manifest world. The Upanishadic teaching is that one has to transcend both, the manifest and the unmanifest. When they speak of the unmanifest they are speaking about the Supreme Reality as a creator, destroyer and so on. It is unmanifest because it is behind the manifestations that we see before us. It is the operator of all that operates. The Upanishad says that you can remain at that level, but the Truth, which is Light, is beyond both, the manifest as well as the unmanifest. That means we have to transcend even the very differentiation between the individual self and the Supreme Being. The manifest is the individual and the unmanifest is the Supreme. One has to understand that the individual self and the Supreme Being are one and the same. Otherwise, according to the Upanishad, we are still operating, comparatively, from a level of darkness.

Swami Vivekananda once summed up the essence of the whole of the Hindu religion and culture by saying, ‘Man is essentially divine. To manifest this divinity through work, worship, meditation or knowledge is the sum and substance of the Hindu religion, the Hindu teaching.’ All other things are just incidental.

So, the style of Vedas has been so written to try to point to un-pointable, to insinuate and hint towards the mystery which can only be experienced but not intellectualized or understood by mind. 


In an another scripture I now forget the reference to, Vedas say, "You cannot know the supreme through mind or intellect", yet the Shloka adds later "This Supreme reality you must know".

Conclusion is simple, ignorance of law is no excuse, whether you are a baby about to touch hot stove or a spiritual infant uninformed of the truth. Laws are immutable and the wise shall be well aware of their existence lest they be trampled. Your suffering could be huge due to ignorance of spiritual laws.


Reference: Wisdom of the Rishis by Sri Mumtaz Ali Khan

Science of God Contact

A short book on Science of God contact based on teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda can be downloaded from here


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Foreword

This note came about through the grace of God and is dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda, guru of life and death.

This book is written in the hope that it strikes a note with all my human brothers and sisters so they may pass through the illusory world that we inhabit – samsara. Through the intuitive and spiritual power present in all of us, we are well endowed to take on the challenges and the climb ahead of us. We can transmute all mundane perceptions to divine joy. Samsara is this material world of names, forms, attributes, physical identification, appearances and manifested creation - vast ocean of creation and destruction of galaxies, stars, civilizations, birth and death of life forms and atomic particles.
I invite you to sing the song of eternity with me from your heart center and I pray that you be never satisfied until you find out who you really are – Sat-Chit-Ananda – ever new, ever existing, ever conscious, bliss, an eternal, immortal, prodigal, son of God, a spark of the divine; son or daughter of the Omni potent and Almighty. I intend to remind myself and you of our infinity possibilities while being alive, here and now.
May your life be transformed from the cutting edge wisdom from hoary scriptures. Let us take a moment to thank all the great beings and saints for delivering us the scriptures of the world - revealed for man’s progress, an evolutionary imperative, an advancement that so many have no idea of. Although I may quote from Bhagwat Gita, Bible, all great scriptures of the world contain same message, all are equally good.
Many great civilizations have inhabited earth and beyond before, even here on earth, inter stellar, space faring civilizations using gravity - of which mainstream science knows nothing about as of 2015. Nay, mainstream science knows very little even about magnetism and electricity either, even though used by all. Only the force is observed and used. Pride and arrogance of western science is not justified with it puny grasp over cosmic realities. West’s own ancestors in Atlantis or Greece few thousand years back accomplished what relegates present day external scientific achievements to an insignificant kindergarten. In these pages I re-iterate the message of eternal love, boundless wisdom and portable paradise from my Indian ancestors – Vedic seers, I also come to renew the pledge with my western brothers - the commandments of Jesus Christ.
Viewing mankind as one’s larger Self is not a sacrifice but a need, for such realization is felt by a saint in his expanded consciousness. Such is a requirement before the Prana or Intelligent-Life-force can architect the limited consciousness to a broadened one, not figuratively but experientially.
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My search for meaning of life
I groped about for answers as any common man to pressing questions of life after death, unhappy with the prospect that we may be separated from our brothers, sisters, parents, spouse, children and all whom we love, even our material accomplishments. This prodded me to scout for a way out of hopelessness, for an alternative, must every life end in the throes of death, is there a purpose of life, do we live after death, are scriptures and prophets to be trusted?
Unlike the lucky few, I do not recall a Eureka moment, nary an Epiphany that opened me to higher portals and dimensions of Being. Like most of us, I figured stuff gradually over decades, one tiny step at a time, a cannon after cannot of attack through prayers on the ship of Omnipresence. As I questioned, I was been able to overcome several false beliefs and misconceptions. I have an intense longing to spread the message of our soul nature, our ineffable eternal being, the divine essentiality, the Truth, Allah, God, Bhagvan, Jehovah, Christ Consciousness and many more appellations. He created us from His One being and Him we must find, finding which nothing else remains to be known and experienced. Great Satisfaction visits the heart by knowing which all is known.
Perhaps you may find it amusing that in infancy physical limitation of speed of light (300,000 Km/second) caused me to question God’s omnipotence – how would almighty be able to provide for to such a vast universe.
Another false believe that I overcame was the dispensation of answers to questions at the time of death - a belief in existence of an eternal heaven or hell after this human life, as also a pleasant tete-a-tete with Creator. I learnt that what can’t be controlled and experienced while living, one will not have a dominion on after death either, be it experience or wisdom. One is bound to continue post death in same life and mindset as before, just in a different garb. One must persevere while living to know the divine essentiality, the truth.
To establish a contact with God, it is paramount that we come to peace with our Creator. Having created all life-forms and universe from his One Being, bestowing the gift of free-will, to accept or reject his Love, with a majestic humbleness he is concealing his omnipotence, always silent, never speaking about himself, with a glimmer of hope, perchance one day we may offer our love to him out of our free choice. Nothing is ever created in an explosion or anger as proclaimed by toddling trial and error science of two hundred years, Love is the ingredient, with his perpetual Love, Master Director sustains the Living Universe.
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Try enacting a play, a thought experiment and try to emulate role of God, create universe with diverse living beings, gifted with Free Will, carrying out their wishes, including injuring themselves or others and pleasuring their limited self or other beings, bound by sure and certain laws of cause and effect – you would realize why the predicament of humans is their own doing. We will not be able to pierce the veil of cosmic delusion completely but may be able to comprehend a miniscule part of the great sacrifice, distant lengths He has gone through trying to conceal and hide himself from us. It is us who are hiding from him, not vice versa due to gross desires. This thought experiment for deep divers will end in humility and a realization of correction necessary in us for a truthful perception of Universe, to come clean before the Creator.
It is out absence of knowing how much the heavenly Father and divine Mother love us, more than our human parents ever can, and it is our mind in his heavy cloak and its subconscious workings hiding from us the simple truth of our inner being, our higher Self. Once we make a mental leap to experiment with our mind and thoughts we can see that we are the witness behind this mortal frame, ever unchanging – just as we know the witness in us is unchanged from childhood to youth through to old age.
What kind of temperament should one have towards scriptures?
The goal of the religious scripture is the allaying of ignorance or illusion and the revelation of knowledge. Scriptures are written by personal experiences and can be said to be millions of times more subtle and evolved than a common man’s developmental stature at present day, scientists included. Science of spirit is examined in threadbare detail the scriptures. Hence, scientific thinking is of absolute necessity for the study of the scripture. In the contemporary context the useful models from scriptures need to be picked up and applied in our daily life. Although it is necessary to obtain knowledge of the scripture, studying the scriptures with blind belief causes the growth of restlessness, pride, vanity, unnecessary arguments and anger, which eventually leads to the loss of knowledge and the stupor of ignorance. But churning those scriptures with the stick of scientific thinking, if one can leave the useless part and take up the part of wisdom, then contentment and peace arise and the radiance of knowledge is manifested, destroying ignorance. Therefore, it is not appropriate to study the scriptures by only trusting the reputation of their creators and without using logic, because sages can make mistakes as well. Addressing this, philosophical authorities have said that if the words of a child are logically sound, then it is our duty to receive it and deem it worthy; but if words of a great authority are unscientific, then it should be considered worthless chaff and abandoned. One should not make discernments about anything without using scientific thinking and just relying on the scripturesYG.
One needs to approach the divine possibility as one approaches searing sun not as a power to be tamed but with respect and humility, as an intelligent trillion volt electric current; allowing its divine possibilities to manifest in us. Mere mental repetition of prayer without devotion makes us hypocrites.
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Do I need to read more about particle physics, mind and other sciences to find out who I am?
No, it is not important at all. You may become wiser in the domain of material sciences but not really more equipped to know thy Self. People have been able to find God thousands of years without know any physics, yet at the same time people have not been able to find God, even in civilizations with hundreds of time more material advanced than present day. People gifted in material sciences with great mathematical gifts and scientific endowment are not necessarily likely to stumble upon the science of all sciences, mystery of mysteries but are certainly more equipped to understand if energies and effort are skillfully applied.
A different intuitive inquiry is required to know your higher Self. It requires a shift of awareness into the essence of our being. Search is inward, life current is receded back from senses to inner cerebro spinal axis, and the nature of inquiry is metaphysical. The inquiry required is to fathom the real Self, who am I, questioning the existence, being at peace with Cosmos, having an open mind. The best scientific attitude that ‘preschooler’ authorities endowed with Nobel prize on natural sciences could have towards God or Cosmic Mind is “I don’t know”, yet they illogically go about writing against existence of God – that matter is a vast monstrous creation out of nothing, no cause and no meaning whatsoever. This two hundred plus year slight improvement in working of matter has given man a large intellect with infirm hands and legs, ready to fall on his face. A monkey is in possession of atomic weapons, a monkey with only desire of wealth and sense pleasures.
I wish to limit my energy in appealing to fertile soil of believers rather than spending all effort on correcting “so called” leading physicists living in the delusory lab of their minds, blessed with ignorance and not open to infinite possibilities. Hence the text may appear sentimental, illogical but not at all, this vast Cosmos is living at every level, from the tiniest non-particle non-existence in creation to the greatest manifestation – life breathes perpetually. It may not be an organic life, awareness of its existence nevertheless. This creation is living, seemingly inert matter is aware of its existence, we live in a soup of life, hence there is no point limiting to abstractions of atoms, molecules, quantum field, string theory, astral or field of energy, mind field etc. We are in the whole which exists at all levels simultaneously, our being covers the entire spectrum. We are physical, astral, causal, chemical, physical and spiritual beings and much more at the same time in a Universe of Spirit, trying to constantly evolve us. Momentarily, we are identified with a finite speck of matter, our limited body. The sages sees the whole ocean behind him a common man does not, that is the simple difference.
Should we not focus on earning money, having a great career in young age and reading scripture after retirement?
With old age and infirmity, your understanding of scriptures is unlikely to be rewarding. Desiring to know deeper realities but procrastinating is tantamount to taking a bath for first twenty years of life, eating for the next twenty, sleeping for the next ten and so on. All chores much be undertaken daily for there is little hope of becoming a spiritual giant, if pursued in old age. Exercise, good habits of eating,
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learning must be undertaken daily along with any other hats one may be wearing in life. Ditto for spiritual exercises and inner progress.
How many years will it take to find God?
It could take months to years. The progress is felt in any field of activity as one hones the art. The standard required for spiritual awakening is intense longing to know the truth, conquer death, and cultivate unconditional love and sincerity in practice. It takes generally 25 years of study to acquire PhD from kindergarten. As we are spiritual infants, it can take time. Anyone seeking victory in being an ace pianist thinks nothing of time and practices ten hours a day, a wish to get to the top of the field you need to attune yourself several hours a day. Progress will be felt tangibly if sincere efforts are made without merchant-like bargaining with God, and ceaseless prayers are made within a few months.
We already are connected with God, we can only get further or closer but never sever the link. You only have to improve your knowing. If a million pounds of dust gathers over the gold, it is still gold, if the mountain of dirt is cleared, the gold can be seized again.
Can’t science find immortality and is there contradiction between science and religion?
Science and Religion are two parallel tracks of exploration of the world through instruments and intuition. They are indistinguishable for the wise, inquiry is at a different level, one requiring more intellectual effort and other intuitive perception. The recent improvement in understanding physical laws of matter is termed science. In Indian Vedic tradition there was no difference between material science, spiritual science or other art forms. True spirituality is the science of experience of Spirit. Science seems apart from spirit due to our limited understanding, divisive intellect, one requiring physical apparatus, while the other requiring reflection. As Scott Fitzgerald said, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
An example of opposing idea is protoplasm evolving to Einstein or Vivekananda and at the same time Spirit being involved in matter allowing it the potential to express itself and constantly involved in matter and evolving new life-forms. Organism is evolving and spirit is involved to allow for this evolution to occur. The potential to evolve was pre-existing while life form was simplistic as a protoplasm.
Modern Science will continue to make life easier and solve more physical problems, prolong life but driven with intellect it is unable to solve the final mysteries of nature.
What is the goal of life?
Goal of life is to entertain and be entertained, being an actor and a witness in the infinitely rich and engrossing variety show of life. There is no greater goal in life than to find your own source, your origin.
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All of us are allured and enthralled to one aspect or another of this world. If attraction to everything and everyone ceases life force would withdraw and not manifest on the physical plane of existence, it may only be attracted to only astral and causal sensibilities and therefore physical presence would be un-necessary.
After few thousand human births, daily drama of humdrum human existence and chasing money, fame, carnal pleasure, material possessions, human mind yearns for something subtler, more lasting than ephemeral appearances. Seeking God or your own higher Self is the shortcut to trillions of further births and deaths on earth and other places of existence. The goal of life is to know the truth, to overcome ignorance, to see things are they truly are.
We do not see truth however, we live in constant ignorance, looking up in amazement at the night sky we perceive the stars as they were thousands or millions of years back, when we see our hands, we do not realize they are 99.99999% empty space. And what is not empty space is also just a vibration, meaning empty space yet again. Nothing exists except a momentary intelligent vibration. We are living in illusion or Maya. Goal of life is to break the circle or birth and death, be One with God, our sole benefactress of gifts in life after life. God is the only friend you will have mothering you after you are long separated from your current human friends and relatives.
Patanjali writes that that those who, through the power of discrimination, see the world as an illusion and keep themselves in only Soul-Consciousness, and those who, experiencing the Universe as the Brahman itself, experience themselves as pervading the Universe - attain Liberation by themselves, without the aid of anyone or anything. But for the ordinary rest, in order to attain that state it is necessary to have the help of reverence, vigor, memory, absorption, inner knowledge and such methods, and by using speedy force to manifest these. Patanjali has broadly outlined eight limbs of yoga or disciplines for an aspiring devotee of God consciousness.
What are those eight limbs?
You can google them for a much richer description, they are broadly the discipline and formation of habits. Habits are addictive, both good and bad. The goal is to train the mind to get addicted to soul revealing patterns. Yama and Niyama are prescribed by Patanjali to the neophyte Yogi. Yama are the ethical standards of integrity, nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-covetousness and continence. Niyama are self-disciplining observances such as cleanliness, spiritual austerity, and surrender to God. Other stages are Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
It may seem daunting and long process but trust me it only requires sincere willingness and not even 1/10th the effort required to complete high school. Other schools of spiritual progress are equally good but as I myself am inclined to follow path of meditation, I recommend the same. Intense devotion to deity, constant prayer also yield permanent peace, following path of loyalty to your country and right intense activity will also eventually bestow same divine gift, to which Jesus referred as “Kingdom of heaven is within”.
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What is thought or consciousness, is it created by our more evolved human brain?
No. Consciousness is present within and without and an aspect of that consciousness – AUM or AMEN - sustains all dimensions. Sound can create ripples in water or other intricate designs. Intelligent oscillation of Aum vibration and its interaction with Prakriti (nature) on the surface of consciousness materializes life forms. Material sciences have only recently discovered that Matter is congealed light. It is yet to be known to kindergarten science of twenty first century that Light is congealed thought. Thought is condensed consciousness. There are still score of theories on velocity of electricity. Let alone the hypothesis on the number of dimensions in String theory, whether eleven or more. It may take centuries to figure out simple material phenomenon. Yogis perceive a field of dimensionless link that pervades and projects space-time as well as other dimensions.
Modern scholars and present day widespread science has no answer to the questions of: - origin of life - universe before big bang - whether life after death is a possibility
Man at large thinks that he evolved from protoplasm, and that intelligence is created from brain and is slightly ahead of evolutionary ape. It is pretty much assumed by mainstream scientists that consciousness is a product of brain, and that brain is a machine and universe is unconscious, and that brain produces conscious and existence. Yet, consciousness needs no organic medium to exist. Truth is quite opposite, Consciousness is the canvass on which Universe is constructed, and myriad energies of Consciousness interact to evolve ever changing life-forms in the manifested creation. Organic medium depends on consciousness to sustain it instead. Consciousness exists without the brain, brain is step down voltage transformer that allows human experiences to be churned and experienced. Human brain allows a little greater consciousness than an animal’s brain to allow more bandwidth of consciousness to flow down from what Christ said “mouth of God” (Medulla Oblongata).
Truth is that all life emanated from Cosmic Mind, we are merely tapping into infinite intelligence available at every dot point, so to speak, even though there are no dots in space time fabric. This potential for protoplasm to become human pre-exists.
Our human brain is a slightly bigger window than the window of a mouse’s brain for instance, which lets more intelligence manifest. Just like a window in the room allows sunlight enter the room, thereby illumining it. Our cerebro-spinal axis is the window that allows the cosmic consciousness to enter our body. Millions of vortices of desires distort the flow and lend it an identity of Jiva – life form, thereby we identify ourselves as man, woman, American, young or old.
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There is super charged intelligence and consciousness at every dot point in space-time, all creation reflects this intelligence and love according to its reflective capacity.
As my goal is to cater to already devoted hearts and not transform athiests. I can quote hundreds of athiests who have had no experience of cosmic consciousness nor Samadhi-bliss; whose life was transformed by a merely small and singular incident of losing consciousness or under surgery experiencing an out-of-body or Near-Death-Experience experienced in Coma, drowning or on the operating table, transforming their own world view so much that, some of these people’s mission in life became solely to let others know of the truth they perceived, a hemline, a mere peek in the edge of the vast horizon. “Proof of Heaven”, personal story by Dr Erin Alexander, a brain surgeon himself, a non-believer in supernal Father, before his experience, appeals to those who wanted to believe in reality not yet proven by physical instruments but could not. Even this incrementally higher experience is millions of time more vivid than what we experience in normal waking state. Waking state is more vivid than dream state. In Vedas this state is called Turiya, or simply the fourth state. As it cannot be grasped by mind and intelligence but only experienced.
The only logical, sensible, rational and scientific answer any authority on physics or any specialized field of material sciences maintain towards religion and spirituality is of ignorance and bewilderment of its unknown possibility. Disregarding divine potential in human does not behoove a rational mind without proving all possible dimensions, particles and their inter-relationships inside an Atom, a little reflection would suffice that ignorance is manifold degrees vaster than known territories of nature.
A withering attack on Physics towards Standard Model of Atom and how incomplete the theory is, that only 0.000000-followed-by-a-million-zeros1% has been discovered yet and more than 99.9-followed-by-a-million-nines% work to discover in nature is yet remains is equally foolish , for in truth Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Spirit are not separate for the wise.
Ignorant folks presume that 90% plus is already known and a little more needs to be known, the confounding paradox, if a little intuition is applied, is we cannot state percentage at 90% unless all the available knowledge-to-be-known is already quantifiable.
Knowledge only provides a temporary news flash, no food for the famished soul of man, experiential wisdom can only quench the thirst after human faculties have been matured by the ripe wisdom of self-control. Science can do nothing more than probe one or more aspect of an already working universe. Future scientists can only change energy and form of already existing matter and a fully functioning universe.
What is so unique about human being that makes him so special to know about divine as opposed to say a Dog or a Monkey?
Not much, both have evolved from protoplasm. And both have same potential. DNA is also close to 99% same.
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Human body has a slightly riper astral body that has reached a level of maturity that some people now can master to differentiate between material and subtle body through spiritual practices. This possibility to separate mind from matter and conquering death is infinitely appealing to a Yogi’s heart.
Encyclopedias have been written about the Astral body of a man with 72,000 nerves and six spinal centers in Indian Upanishads and Vedic texts.
Isn’t the present day scientific world most technologically advanced and getting more so, will that not be sufficient for my happiness?
Fact of the matter is that numerous civilizations on earth have been space faring, knowing workings of gravity. Perhaps thousands of times more advanced that our present time and clime.
Hoary Vedas of India account of numerous Shastras (Work of Scripture such as Viman Shastra or science of flying machines, and Vaisesika Sutras or science of Quantum Physics and worlds inside an atom) of sciences that we know nothing about today.
Sri Yuktesway Giri has revealed through his spiritual perceptions that we have ascended from Kali Yuga to Dwapara Yuga since 1900. (Greeks called them Golden, Silver, Bronze and iron ages, known in Vedas as Kali, Dwapara, Treta and Satya Yugas). It ties up with all historic records for any serious student of history. Dark ages were most pronounced before and after Jesus Christ. The recent advent of science has been due to graces of Mans enlargement of intellect through the shining light of Dwapara Yuga, which is the age of Atomic energies.
During these cycles of Yugas man's intellectual and spiritual perceptions rise and ebb and so is his ability to manifest scientific and human pursuits. Dark Ages ended in 1700 and 1900 AD proper. Most of 99% of scientific advancement of past 2000 years has been accomplished in recent 200 years. Universe is teeming with life significantly materially advanced civilizations than ours.
Happiness is of the senses and material world. We are living much more comfortably, may not necessarily be happy but we are living hundreds of times more physical comfort than even the Kings of the yore. They did not have air conditioners, their horse dung would raise smell in whole cities, methane from cow dung is more toxic proposition that fossil fuel, we have every reason to be optimistic. Few hundred years back people could not travel as fast as us, they died of polio, smallpox and numerous diseases, 99% humans lived their entire life within 50 Kilometers radius of their birth place. We are blessed with all physical luxuries yet very pessimistic about future prospects. It’s a great time to be alive and future is very promising.
However, lasting joy does not spring from happiness. Our bodies will be moth and dust in another few decades at best. We will be able to take with us only the sum total of our desires into the after-life. The wise only partake in soul joy and non-transient attachments which is our true nature. Can’t scientists find God particle in ground breaking research into quantum physics?
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Science and religion is one and the same thing. It is erroneous to split them. Both have to be experimented and experienced. Hard material sciences are making our life convenient, without which many of us would not be alive today.
Yet the mind and intellect have not delivered ever-elusive eternal happiness - that is what you are after. Places like CERN which discover subtle particles like Higgs boson in Large Hadron Collider or even more subtle particles in the times to come will continue to advance knowledge. It is truly astounding that 40 years of finest brains and all world resources had to be put to use to find Higgs boson particle. In not so distant future these discovery will pale in comparison to millions time more finer fields of energy found as proposed by String Theory. With Moore’s law still functional, the most powerful computers of 1960s are in everyone’s pocket today as mobile phones. We can continue to make material advancement to infinity but the mechanism will have to change, to subject mind and intellect to Self-inquiry, the real You, the higher Self is the final discovery man is after.
Both internal and external knowledge complement each other to live a fulfilling live. Balance is the Key. We need to direct the intellect to work to solve material problems; psychologists to solve mental issues and prophets to overcome spiritual ignorance. They are not mutually exclusive; we can play all the roles and wear all hats.
Seemingly impossible, we may even soon engage in interstellar travel or prolong human life to thousands of years. Yet, material science can do no more than are merely probing into one aspect after another of infinitude of a fully functioning cosmos.
A few quotes from Max Planck, father of quantum physics, are not out of place here.
"All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter." "There can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other. Every serious and reflective person realizes, I think, that the religious element in his nature must be recognized and cultivated if all the powers of the human soul are to act together in perfect balance and harmony. And indeed it was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls" "Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve."
Search for Grand Unified Theory and Theory of Everything will be forever at a distance, a mirage, material science will never be able to solve the ultimate mystery by uniting Strong, Weak nuclear forces and Electro Magnetism. Until consciousness, life force (Prana or Chi) is also part of the equation. Final knowledge can only be experienced in your own consciousness, not merely observed by someone and their findings scribbled on a notepad.
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How to know God then?
There are as many paths to know God as many as people. I engage in stock market investment, I also consult organization in IT. There are myriad of ways to make money in capitalism, there are numerous software architectures and programming languages, probably you could also invent one.
Choose a path that suits your temperament. Broadly the path of work, devotion, practice through austerity, prayer, meditation, service to God categorized as Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Kriya Yoga amongst others have been prescribed by saintly super men who achieved final emancipation in East and West alike.
My Guru conveyed why not simultaneously tread all paths, work for God, love God, be devoted to God, and be wise with God.
Everyone can know God within this lifetime. Be thoroughly committed in your resolve to the practice of knowing God through regular meditation, prayer, devotion, unceasing chanting, blessing others.
Kriya Yoga or internal fire rite is the path that can accelerate human evolution. If we follow that in concentrated doses it helps awaken us to a reality, truth and all that is joy and beauty. Evolution is already working round the clock with effortless ease to create a super race of humans.
Sri Aurobindo has expounded elaborately on the levels of mind, fact that man is a transitional species. Higher order minds, supra mental and super mind are a natural progression in the evolutionary ladder and next rung in the chain. Modern mystics such as Gopi Krishan, have written on the painful yet blissful memoir of his personal spiritual enfoldment is dear to a Yogi’s heart. Both these men were one of the many spiritual giants of recent times. The ever new bliss is achieved by Prana churning out new life forms. It isn’t simply a mechanical process, Spirit is involved in the matter. Yogi feels the entire web of interconnection in living Cosmos, the ordinary mortal does not. That is why Christ said of his Omnipresence state aka Nirbikalpa Samadhi in Vedas, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
God cannot be known through mind or intellect. You have to experience God and become One with his Cosmic Being. Path of Yoga or Kriya Yoga works for some, you can follow similar technique taught in your sect to interiorize your consciousness, whether you belong to Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism or Hinduism, all sects have interiorizing techniques which work like mathematics if heart is devoted and intention is sincere for God is within you and will not be deceived with mechanical prayer. Sufis are an esoteric and spiritual streak in Islam, my guru translated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Omar Khayyam was equally awake in God as Christ or Krishna. Once you find God, you are same as anyone who has found God, whether you live in a hut in unknown village or you are King of Milky Way Galaxy, you are same in achievement, even though outwardly different in roles in life.
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Christ said from his very own lips, “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God” John 1:12
Watching one’s mind and intellect as a Witness is helpful, daily meditation is equally rewarding. Finding happiness in others’ happiness also helps in enlarging consciousness, its sets the scene for Prana to works its magic to plan and create a new life in man.
What is the proof of existence of God?
Proof of our existence and sentience is proof of God. Existence if Godding itself.
Perhaps you need a definition of God first, which is likely vary from a person to another. Generally a higher intelligence directing the cosmic drama of universes and beings in them may be accepted as someone in position of God. All is God. Just as there is nothing like darkness, its only absence of light; existence is all over the canvass of God, somewhere less present with its beneficent manifestation somewhere more.
Perception of Gods complete existence is partitioned in life forms inhabiting in isolated domains of understanding and requirement. Just as a dog sees a different spectrum of light in rainbow than humans; birds hear a different sound frequency spectrum than humans, in similar fashion no living being sees complete spectrum of creation until sufficiently evolved.
The initial proof is increasing joy felt in meditation and finally personal experience of cosmic consciousness and beyond. There could be experience of forced moving inside the spine, feeling vibration in the inner ear and such other sounds or visions, but they are usually distractions.
The liberating proof is constant experience in you. Einstein voiced, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”. Man’s existence is a miracle, live in curiosity and fascination. Cultivate awesome habits of meditation, prayer and devotion.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India with a view to attain a state of permanent peace. The term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj (to concentrate). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali defines yoga as “Chit-Vritt-Nirodhi”, "the stilling of the changing states of the mind or fluctuations in mind stuff". Yoga also is "union with the divine". Merging of tiny self with Cosmic Being is Yoga Union.
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Yoga is thus the art of super living with extra sensory experience with God intoxication and with deep joy welling from within and without. Yoga is a personal and intimate experience of being connected with the living Universe at all times. It is more than an intellectual grasp or knowing. It is waking up to million times more widened awakening, beyond all superlatives, achieving which nothing else remains to be known. It is being, becoming and transmuting to divinity while living alive fully functional amidst physical duties in this world. It is the fusion of knowing, knower and known as one!
St. Paul also described it as withdrawal of life force at will every day from the sensory organs. First Corinthians 15:31, "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."
The man of Self-realization gains control over the phenomenal universe including his own body such as breathing and heartbeat, body may appear dead physically but mind of thousands of times more awake in ceaseless bliss.
What if I cannot unite with God?
You already are united with God or your higher Self. You always are and will always be. You are an immortal soul in your essence of being, ever unchanging and in perpetual bliss. You only have to realize your one-ness and improve your knowing. That is why waking up to Spiritual Enlightenment is also termed Smritti – regaining the lost divine memory. The real You is the witness behind the façade of mind, intellect and ego personality.
You already have a partial experience of changeless ness, you have been changing your form since childhood, in fact there are trillions of changes in your body at every second, yet the changeless soul passes through all experiences identified with body. That changeless core in you is the witness of your life’s drama.
How do I approach God?
You are an eternal, immortal, Son and Daughter of God already. John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”
Receiving implies the capacity to contain cosmic consciousness, only when the scope of mind is enlarged enough can the higher spheres of consciousness manifest within us. This can be done with a regular routine of watchfulness or a technique.
We must give up petitioning God as beggars. Secondly, we should demand as Son of God, for the beggar gets spare change but Son gets everything. Better still is asking Father for guidance, to grow your Fathers enterprise together and lend him a helping hand in the affairs of running a small point of infinite Multiverse; this is not the only Universe. Christ said, “There are many mansions in my Father’s house”.
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By a daily practice of meditation, interiorize your life force, rotate mental energy upwards and downwards the spine in the astral spinal centers, in similar fashion as more energy is provided to the hand while lifting a heavy bucket. Watch the constant stream of thoughts flowing through your mind in daily life. It’s a lifestyle and 24 * 7 practice, not a 20 minute meditation session a day. Watch as the witness to your thoughts and emotions of your mind, you are neither mind, nor the discriminating intellect but the unchanging consciousness that has passed unmodified through your childhood.
Daily dive deep into the infinite reservoir that sustains all life, if you do not find the Great Satisfaction, blame your not-yet-mastered diving skills in the Ocean of Spirit. Know that you are a free being at your essence, pray unceasing with fervent devotion until you dissolve in the meaning of prayer. Do not be satisfied with shallow prayer, march forth with calm steadfastness in your resolve. Know for certain that God has heard your prayer, he knows all your thoughts and he is listening to you. You have been traipsing in material desires for billions of years, he has promised you free-will and needs to be sure before breaking the sacred promise. Do not be satisfied until you have made the contact. Listen and watch your thoughts, be a witness and do not react to thoughts. Prayer is talking to God and Meditation is listening to God. Pray from the point between your eyebrows or third eye, listen from your heart center. There are astral equivalent energy centers behind physical third eye and heart center. If He does not respond, persevere with sincerity next day. He will come easily if one is persistent, sincere, faithful and pure.
A disciple, after several months of meditation, inquired wistfully from his Guru, why his practice of God communion is inadequate. Guru tried to change the topic and brushed him aside, post numerous persistent inquisition by the disciple, Guru relented, took him to a pond to discuss while bathing. While the disciple was taking a customary ritual of dipping in the pond, his Guru held him by the neck forcefully under the water and tried to drown him. The life force was almost gone and disciple was just about to pass out of body, when the Guru released him. Flustered and confused, gasping for breath of air, instead of disciple, the Guru inquired, “How did you feel?”. Disciple responded, “Only a breath of air was all I wanted with my whole being”. Guru rejoined, “You have the answer to your question now. Day when you desire for God alone manifold times intensely in your daily meditation, yet maintain calm while you wait, will you commune with Him”.
Yogananda once said, “You have to want God as if you cannot live another day. But if HE does not same day, you have to patiently wait”.
Jesus Christ's first commandment hence states, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"
What if I have some beliefs that that there will be an eternal heaven or hell after this one, or that this is the only life, or belief that re-incarnation is not possible?
We have touched an important topic here. This is to do with Beliefs. Let us work together on it. Please lend me your full attention.
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Consciousness is the nature of Universe both manifested and un-manifested. Every atom is dowered with Individuality as per Vedic seers. All life forms reflect a tiny spectrum of Prana. The more we open up and expand our receptiveness to the vast ocean of consciousness the more it manifests in us. All knowledge, all languages, arts, life-forms of past, present and future are recorded in the ether; we are only tapping into the infinite reservoir of intelligence.
For over 400 years people believed earth is round, Church did not condone Galileo for the heresy even though the superstitious Church was erroneous in its belief. Thousands of scientists were banished by the church or slain.
As recently as 70 years back all scientists believed in possibility of two or three galaxies, we know now that there are more than 100 billion galaxies just in the observed Universe. But we have no idea of the unknown Universe, whether we still know only 0.00...followed-by-100-zeros…001% of the Universe or slightly more. We do not even know if there are as many Universes as particles of sand on the beach.
Belief in possibilities of human potential is first step up on the staircase, while belief that life has no meaning drag us down. Belief that we will get all answers after death is equally untrue and lazy. What cannot be gained while living shall not be ours post transition to death. We simply do not change after death, we are neither more deserving nor more capable of our capacity to understand truth. Beliefs are important and a starting point, but we must not rest on beliefs, experience not only vindicates or proves but gives us million times more awareness than our waking senses and engulfs us in the rapture of ever new bliss, this is what every man seeks unbeknownst.
There is not one person who has turned back from Spirituality after the experience, “What a scam it has been”. This cannot be said of any other field.
There is no eternal heaven or hell as is imagined by most people – finite causes do not have infinite effect. Desires manifest themselves as living beings to fulfill themselves, this is the reason for our appearance. Until we fulfill our desires, we are unable to break out of the rounds of birth and death.
Jesus Christ quoted on re-incarnation several times in his life, which present day Christians do not believe. There is the episode where Jesus identifies John the Baptist as Elijah.
"For all the prophets and the law have prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who was to come." (Matthew 11:13-14)
"And the disciples asked him, saying, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' But he answered them and said, 'Elijah indeed is to come and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also shall the Son of Man suffer at their hand.' Then the disciples understood that he had spoken of John the Baptist." (Matthew 17:10-13)
Many contemporary Christians now acknowledge reincarnation as one of the elements of Judeo-Christian theology. The world would be a fairly chaotic place if it were to wait for sanction of human beliefs.
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Revelation 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore;”. This statement implies he who achieves state of Samadhi, spiritual awakening re-incarnates no more.
Eastern religions already have a strong grounding in re-incarnation and law of Karma, cause and effect. The intent is to liberate one from re-incarnational cycles and thereby achieve Moksha – liberation.
Is it possible in modern times to realize one’s higher Self, was past period not more conducive to spiritual Realization?
It may feel nostalgic that distant time was more suitable, yet the fact stands, it was much harder to realize divinity in flesh. We have surplus free time now to pursue our hobbies, interests and life goals.
Erstwhile prophets like Krishna, Jesus, Mohammad, Moses, Buddha appeared to have accomplished the feat in a suitable time and clime. A distant time may seem more spiritual and the modern prophets from recent times may appear less realized. Devotees and followers of different paths have vain intellectual or philosophical arguments but all Masters get along themselves very well, and are equally realized.
Once you know God, you become One with God, that’s it. There is no realized Son of God, big nor small than the other. True, your role in the world and number of followers, your height, weight, external personality may vary. Modern prophets like Yogananda, Ramakrishna Paramahansa etc. were as realized as the past prophets, in fact there is no reason why each one of us cannot become like them. They only come to show us our own divine possibility.
Present day is as divine as it ever was or will be. Therefore make a resolute commitment to liberate yourself completely in your current incarnation.
Democracy and capitalism is wonderful with its flaws, so is communism. Democracy sacrifices equality and communism eschews freedom. We are living hundreds of times more comfortably today than our ancestors in previous centuries. It is easier to find liberation today in an apartment in Manhattan than remote hills of Himalayas with all access to generously shared wisdom. Every house connected to internet is now as mighty as a port town 100 hundred years back in terms of access to ideas and knowledge.
We are all saints in the garb of sinners. Nay, it is the biggest sin to call ourselves sinners. You are as connected to God as you will ever be. Only you have to improve your knowing.
Messengers do come to uplift their close disciples, they also come to raise world awareness, to accomplish a quality as well as quantity work, reaching masses and uplifting ones with close personal bond. Above all Masters manifest in this world, not to show off their powers, but with only one main purpose to demonstrate to mankind its true potential.
Why does Jesus Christ guide with these commandments such as loving our neighbour as our very own self?
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To an enlightened Son of God, the whole manifested cosmic fabric appears as is own enlarged being. Individualized life forms living in them in their restricted dimensioned and contained existence as our own space-time- psychological-physical-mind-stuff existence perceive themselves as separate from the web of relationships that bind us all together. We discern ourselves as an island. Self-realized soul considers all creation as part of his own larger self, thus the appropriate concern for all brothers as his very own expanded self.
Another very personal reason is the Prana intending to evolve us into higher life form makes morality and non-injury in thought, word and deed a pre-requisite for experience of next step in the evolutionary ladder.
I have read the word ignorance or delusion/Maya, what does it mean?
Maya is the cosmic delusion, the scenery concocted by God’s will. There are three type of cosmic consciousness, hiranyagarbha, ishvar and birat, (in Causal, Astral and Physical Universe) and three types of individual consciousness, praajna, taijas and jiva (Causal, Astral and Physical beings). Human’s mortal consciousness inhabits as jiva. If all inputs were provided to jiva from smallest particles of matter, atom, molecules, all internal workings of organs, cells, tissues and all external inputs the brain of jiva would simply not be able to cope with this information. The brain thus is able to process only a limited amount of information. Our field of vision (all five senses) is limited by our processing ability, thus we constantly live in ignorance at all times, throughout our life.
Realization of our ignorance is unequivocally established by mainstream science as well.
Can you explain what is mind, intelligence, ego?
Manas or Mind is the feeling aspect that connects our memories and allows us to function with the aid of subconscious storehouse of experiences.
Buddhi or Intelligence is the discriminating faculty which knows right from wrong.
Ahankar or Ego is soul considering itself to be a limited body.
Chit is awareness of being, of existing. Chit can be thought of as bliss compressed to human proportions. Chit awareness unfolds as we attempt being a witness to the life around us. By being Sakshi or Witness we are able to experience moments of pure existence.
We perceive all levels of existence split and apart from each other.
Self  Intellect  Mind Eyes  Physical Scenery
But when the knowing, knower and known become One, Seer and Seen the same, we meld into once Sea of existence.
You mentioned various dimensions, what are various type of living beings and levels of existence?
Christian scriptures mention Son, Holy Ghost and Heavenly father. This is elaborated in crystal clear detail in the Upanishads, Hindu scriptures. The words in Sanskrit used are Om-Tat-Sat. The Upanishads
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make it perspicacious that before creation only Brahman existed. This Brahman imagines and the creation comes into existence, entire scaffolding of creation is supported by divine intelligence, intelligence is the support and pillar of all creation. God decided to become many (in Sanskrit, eko aham bahusyaam). In Bhagwat Gita where Sri Krishna says that “I create things with the help of my Maya”.
It is important to not confuse Human Being Krishna and not confuse him with the Cosmic State that he is in. Jesus after becoming one with Christ Consciousness said, “Nobody comes to the Father except through me”. He means that nobody goes to Father (unmanifest God) without first going up the ladder of Son / Christ Consciousness, not him the body of Jesus. In Vedas this Christ Consciousness is called Kutastha Chaitanya.
At the risk of repetition for the sake of ingesting the message deeper. There are six types of Beings or levels of Mayic Ego who are identified with one or another type of bodily existence. One in totality and one in dot point in three realms of existence. Realms of existence are physical, astral and causal. Existence is manifested as global physical consciousness and an individual physical consciousness for example, man, elephant, or insect is an example of latter. Former is called Birat and latter Jiva or Vishva. Similarly there are four more beings in other astral and causal realms of existence.
Scriptures use the words Samasti and Vyasti. Samasti connotes totality and Vyasti refers to the individual parts within the totality. Garden is a totality or Samasti and a flower in the garden relates to concept of Vyasti. Samasti consciousness pervades in the large and Vyasti in small. In deluded/mayic form in the causal body of the Universe, it is denoted as Ishvar and the Vyasti condition is the consciousness dewlling in the causal body of every created thing is called Praajna. Similarly in astral or subtle body equivalents of large and small are Hiranyagarbha and Taijas. Thus we have consciousness manifesting as samasti in maya or delusory state as Ishvar, hiranyagarbha and birat, and residing unawares as vyasti, it is praajna, taijas and vishva.
“To reveal this one must still go beyond. There are two revelatory consciousness that can be experienced by us. One is Abhaschaitanya or Chidabhas (Experiencer) and the other is Kutasthachaitanya or Sakshichaitanya (Witness). An apropos example is Witness consciousness is light from the projector of a cinema screen, which is not involved but the cause of projected movie. Kutasthachaitanya remains untouched by the sensory apparatus of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touch etc. and all of their objects and is uninvolved in ego and intellect. He simply reveals the truth of them with His own Light, and remains the same Self-Effulgent One whether lower order beings are present or not. Whatever is thought of by the Jiva’s, Prajna’s or Taijas’s mental-intelligence, this Kutasthachaitanya is the witness to that, therefore its name is "Witness Consciousness". And It Itself is uninvolved with any work, thing or authority, not part of any of these states, and is completely incorruptible and totally in the present. Because of this, its name is Kutasthachaitanya. Kuta originates from goldsmith's anvil which transforms gold into beautiful ornaments, yet Kuta itself remains unchanged. This Light of Consciousness lives with all souls and reveals all about their minds, but mind is not able to know Him. The smallest thing is appearing because of Kutashthachaitnya, but the individual soul is not able to know that. Jiva also has a natural internal light, when, because of the jiva's mind, that light falls upon some thing, then that thing is revealed double its existence, and the knowledge of its function in the jiva happens. This internal light of the jiva is also seen under the Light of Kutasthachaitanya. This internal light of the jiva is only a reflection of that Light of Kutasthachaitanya. Its existence is in the Existence of
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Kutasthachaitanya. This light in Jiva is the reflection of light of Kutasthachaitanya. Without the Light of Kutasthachaitanya, it is darkness. Just as without external light no knowledge of anything is possible with one's own light, in the same way, unless all things are revealed unknowingly by the Light of Kutasthachaitanya, nothing could be revealed by the mind of the jiva. That internal light is called Abhaschaitanya or Chidabhas or “Experiencer”. In the mayic body of the universe in ignorance and non-awareness and non-present condition, consciousness inhabits and is classified by these eight names. In that, seven of those, being indistinguishable in the Infinite-Consciousness-Nature, are not experienced in separate forms. Only the Abhaschaitanya or Chidabhas is experienced because it happens to work with the constructs of the mind. This Abhaschaitanya is not enmeshed in the workings of worldly life nor its enjoyment.” YG
What attitude should we have towards seeking God?
God is prime simplicity, we have to love God without conditions, forever dedicated, always trusting, unshakeably steadfast, zealously true until we experience God behind the veil. I can do no more justice that re-quote my heavenly and earthly guru.
To seek God consciousness we need to have the attitude of Ananda Mayi Ma as elucidated by Paramahansa Yogananda "Casting aside every inferior attachment, Ananda Moyi Ma offers her sole allegiance to the Lord. Not by the hairsplitting distinctions of scholars but by the sure logic of faith, the childlike saint has solved the only problem in human life-establishment of unity with God. Man has forgotten this stark simplicity, now befogged by a million issues. Refusing a monotheistic love to God, the nations disguise their infidelity by punctilious respect before the outward shrines of charity. These humanitarian gestures are virtuous, because for a moment they divert man's attention from himself, but they do not free him from his single responsibility in life, referred to by Jesus as the first commandment. The uplifting obligation to love God is assumed within man's first breath of an air freely bestowed by his only Benefactor."
Devotion does not manifest in our heart until we cognize the extent of sacrifice, purity of intentions, constant blessings showered upon each one of us. His majestic humbleness is treated for deafness, his silence for a stony heart, our spiritual blindness as a certain validation to discount dimensions that are not yet perceived as non-existent. God is on a one sided lover affair for eons with us, only perceiving that are we be humbled enough to express freely the fledging love back to the Creator termed as Devotion. Scriptures of India aver to several thousand human births before heart is ripe enough to exhibit quality of devotion. Devotion is the culmination of aspiration, it is not obverse to intellect and not an emotional rollercoaster. It is steady unconditional realization of our dependence on God, for he does not want it back as an immortal promise to us, we only choose to freely give a miniscule portion of cosmos back to the divine only to realize that we gain infinite times back in glory and exaltation. Until the awakening materializes in us, seek the pleasure in constant yearning, feel blessed in conscious pining from your heart. He must answer back to an unceasing life devoted to knowing its purpose.
Do I need to change my profession or follow spirituality full-time to find God?
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Escaping from daily duties does not deliver enlightenment. It is true that realizing God is a full-time lifestyle but it does not come at a cost of sacrificing anything. I have read numerous neo-age Gurus, none of them are imbued in an experience of constant bliss, worse yet that an absence of complete knowledge by the authors misguides followers into a territory where one is left without succor.
One such example I would like to quote from Deepak Chopra’s book “How to Know God” where he quotes a “wise” spiritual teacher – “The material world is infinite, but it is a boring infinity. The really interesting infinity lies beyond”.
That train of thinking was responsible for decline of India’s civilization after thousands of years of opulence, material and spiritual riches during Buddhism. Life is not an escape from physical duties but about divinizing and accelerating speed of evolution towards divine while performing humdrum duties. Life is about divinizing our daily existence, that is why God is worshipped in India as many female goddess forms in Hindu tradition, Maha Lakshmi, Maha Kali, Maha Saraswati and Gyaneshwari – Goddesses of material wealth, wisdom, all powerful force, beauty in minute detail. If spirituality is correctly followed, you should become a better husband, father, programmer, doctor, researcher, teacher with creativity springing from deep space inside your core over and above any spiritual guidance. All the activities of life have to be spiritualized.
When you are ready the mother gives you birth. When you are spiritually ripe, you are automatically pushed out of the veils of maya and physical existence while being alive and awake in physical body towards the world of astral and causal lights. These places are termed as Heaven or Deva Loka. But all are places of birth and death from highest causal dimensions to lowest physical planets.
Stay where you are as a God appointed cosmic Lion or Kitten. Men barely know that Kingdom of Heaven includes the fulfillment of mundane human wishes too! Every Guru and spiritual guide you visit will redirect back you inside your being, to seek kingdom of Heaven inside your bosom.
Long before you have achieved God, life here on earth would be an absolutely ravishing paradise. Until we feel so, until we are receptive of the thrill and blissful in our existence, we can blame our lack of surrender to God and fault with our ability to understand, and / or our ability to meditate. Be firm in your desire to know your higher Self and circumstances will be created by the Only Benefactor to ensure you perceive the awesome truth and constant bliss.
Why is there evil, suffering in this world from a just God?
If God only allowed the manifested beings to love others, to only exercise certain limited functions, that would limit the wondrous drama to sordid boredom. We have the free will to help ourselves or injure ourselves. If we were prevented to prick a needle in our own skin or cut our hand by mistake, that really wouldn’t much of a free will or is it? The suffering is due to accumulation of harmful karma and violation of laws. Each one of us has either harmed ourselves or others in the past.
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God being logical in abiding with created laws, cannot make changes to the rules. The accretion of negative karma appears as world war, pestilence, famine or diseases in our body.
The key to reconciliation is also in our selves. Every saint in the eyes of almighty will send you back to your core for the antidote to suffering. Nobody can help you except yourself, not even God. The magic remedy lies within ourselves, no external aid or potion can remedy the spiritual ignorance other than reflection and correction.
Love and hate, also manifested as likes and dislikes, are the eternal swinging play in human and an atom keeping the entire creation in suspended sway and counter balance. If an electron were to love the proton entire creation would collapse in an instant.
This draws us to a useful model to reach God, if were to love everyone unconditionally, avert feelings of dislike, bless everyone, all passersby on the road, in train or office constantly, then God will not be able to hide, the veil from creation will slowly fade and Maya will gradually but surely lose its grip. Practice this!
How long does it take to be Self-realized?
Very few people are prepared to become suddenly Self-realized like Ramana Maharishi etc. Most of us have spent thousands of incarnations in the past as humans, the golden glory of soul bliss and the treasure box of Sat-Chit-Ananda is concealed by the mountain of material desires and sod heaped through the millennia.
It is startling as well as shocking to see otherwise learned, well-educated and balanced brothers and sisters expecting instant divine favours when it comes to being Self-realized. Most people want to have fun while being Self-realized, see visions, and fly to distant galaxies and so on. The key to Self-realization is first to arrive at the understanding the creation is planned, and the panacea is to love God, the Creator unconditionally. That is unlikely to happen unless all one’s desires are nearly fulfilled and satiated or one has been able to resolve through knowledge the real cause of creation is that God became many, each one of is part of Him, therefore it is absurd not to love every fellow man. One does not have to go about advertising it, nor hugging every stranger but firmly resolve to love God without conditions. The penitentiary that we find ourselves in is our own doing, and can only be undone by ourselves.
A little reflection on the case - when it takes a minor qualification such as PhD in any material stream of knowledge 25 years of Study from the start of schooling education, isn’t it silly of us to expect something far more remarkable, celestial, grand and refined be achieved in couple of weeks. Usually the longing of many past lifetimes culminates into an ardent desire to know God, to know what is beyond the limited scope of senses. Once we firmly situate our intelligence through knowledge and wisdom in unequivocal friendship for God, the practice of Kriya Yoga or any other technique becomes rewarding than merely mechanistic perfection and repetition.
Do you have any other guidance to prove that we are blind to God?
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This is a great question and perhaps the most important in this book. Mind knows nothing about higher dimensions as it is an instrument of operational mechanism. The place of mind is for accomplishing daily chores. Mind and intellect are unable to grasp subtler and metaphysical realities and truth. Our soul (astral + causal complex) has recursive ability to question existence.
One must admit that we are blind. Humanity has been blind to one or another numerous aspects of physical creation, hence the term Maya or Avidya is given to material world by Rishis translating to ignorance or illusion in English. All of human race was blind to possibilities of light through electricity other than a single person. All of mankind was blind to the fact that earth is spherical other than Galileo, for centuries, not just a day or week. Only one person proved that earth is not the center of universe, rest went to grave in disbelief. This pattern has been observed Ad infinitum. Similarly only one person at a time through diligent effort awakens to their higher Self and oneness with God, rest dawdle away precious human life in doubt and disbelief whereas the actual effort should have been to experiment, try and attempt the divine possibilities.
Highest blessings will not be conferred on us without an impartial love towards all life, from stones to angels. This is avouched by Christ in his first commandment. Loving God is the first liberating step towards liberation, techniques like Yoga and meditation are mere crutches not to be mistaken for the end goal for spiritual forces to be tamed.
Isn’t realizing divinity for Jesus or Buddha like personalities and nor ordinary humans for eg: a bank clerk?
Unfortunately that is what most folks do believe. I have asked a few people who believed that it is impossible for us to achieve stature of Rumi, a great Sufi mystic or Buddha. At least people believe that it may be possible in very distant future, not this life time. This is not correct. Greatness is proportional to the effort invested.
All creation is equally kind to all life. Through self-effort we attract beneficial circumstances the grace of Only Support of humanity. It cannot be further emphasized that earnestness in Self investigation is the only true path to Godhood. Every man can do what another has done, give or take a few gymnastic or mathematical acts. Divinity is our birthright and as simple as breathing and heartbeat.
Do I lose my individuality after I merge in God?
The question is meaningless. The individuality that we claim to be latching on to is morphing millions of times every second. We identify ourselves to be Indian, Male, 5 year old, 70 years old, tall, short etc. It is a fluid definition of individuality.
What we call individuality is a radiant whirlpool of thought-desire-energy-matter continuum, which is in perpetual sway. As we are identified with the outermost sheath i.e. matter, we choose to call ourselves of a certain nation, race, gender, age.
Our real awakening occurs in God, in Him we are complete and fully awakened with all past memories. In that awakening human consciousness feels but only a dim dream.
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As God created all of us from that One Being, we are already connected to One but in the dance of creative manifestation all life forms are egoistically identified with their bodies. When the mind can be stilled the Spirit shines forth and whole creation lays before the feet of man, the Son of God. "Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
The incessant chatter of the mind causes ripples on the surface of the lake of mind, preventing us from untying the knots of mystery that can be revealed by being able to see until the bed of lake. As all of us are suffering from the disease of spiritual ignorance, we do not realize that we are unwell. It takes a healthy person to provide the contrast in a completely spiritually diseased society. With various spiritual techniques when mind ripples can be stilled the intuitive perception of our connectedness with all life, bliss of Being and existing, of being indestructible and everlasting is manifested.
Who is this God and what does he want from me?
This question is too big to be comprehended by us. Just as a squirrel is incapable of understanding what a black hole is, same goes for us. God is several notches above, mind, intellect, super mind, supra-mental levels. We are incapable of transcending this question without rigorous change into our very Being. Those who have found him also cannot explain due to our inability to comprehend.
However, God is the cause of all causes, in this infinite variety show of life, he lives in the innermost essence of all of us, and this is how we are all connected to God. He wants us to be infinitely entertained and to entertain. He would like us to expand our mental horizons and know that world will be a better place with cooperation rather than competition. He would like one man to help another man, each gifted with unique talents. He wants us to realize that He is the doer, we are the matrix mind-energy-desire-matter ever connected with God interacting on the fabric of Maya. Just the One has become Many.
References:

 YG - Sri Yukteswar Gita
 AY – Autobiography of a Yogi