Tattva

Creator and Creation
“My nature is the womb of all creation. The birth and dissolution of the cosmos itself take place in me. There is nothing that exists separate from me, Arjuna. The entire universe is suspended from me as my necklace of jewels.” (VII: 6-7)

Who created this world? The sun, the stars, the clouds, the cycles of the tides and the seasons, the laws by which these function? Who provided for the needs of every creature? The world is a furnished house meant to be enjoyed by all. All beings are equipped for survival. How can one account for this objective creation? Who authorized this intelligent, meaningful creation?

For any creation there must be a creator who has in mind the purpose and means of creating. A potter knows what a pot is and how to make it.  A bird has the knowledge and skill to make a nest, a bee to make a honeycomb. For this world, there must be a creator who has both the knowledge of the entire creation and the power to create it.

When asked, “Do you believe that there is a maker of this watch?” your reply has to be “Yes.” You did not see anyone make the watch, but you still say the watch-maker exists. Similarly, it is unnecessary to verify the existence of your great-great-grandfather though you may not have even seen his picture.

Belief is not based on knowledge so it can always be shaken. Is there any possibility that the watch can be without a creator? No. Therefore, what you have is knowledge of the existence of a watch-maker, not belief.

For anything that is created, there is not only a creator, the intelligent cause, who has the intelligence to make it, but also material with which it is created. Without clay a potter cannot make pots. But God finds the material in Himself, and from it creates the world, “just as spider spreads out and draws in the thread that it spins.”

Similarly when you dream, you are the author of the dream, you are the author of the dream creation, and you are also the material for it.  The ocean, mountain, sun, moon, and streets that are so vivid in your dreams are created by you out of yourself.

When you pick up a pot, you also pick up the material of the pot, clay; when you hold a gold chain, you hold gold. The object is sustained by the material of which it is made; an effect is never separate from its material cause. If the Lord is the material and efficient cause of creation, what is the distance between the Lord and Creation? There can be no distance. The Lord is the creation.

Personality of Godhead
“I am the goal of life, the lord and support of all, the inner witness, the abode of all. I am the only refuge, the one true friend; I am the beginning, the staying and the end of creation; I am the womb and the eternal seed.”  (IX: 18)

How we can know that God exists?  The question is, “How could God not exist?”
Are you the complete whole, the total existence?  Or are you a part of it? Because you are not the complete whole and are only a part of it, you are only conscious of the pains and pleasures in your body.  The complete whole, the total existence, on the other hand, is conscious of the pains and pleasures within all living beings.

How can we deny the reality of the complete whole, the total existence, when we are living within it at every moment?  That would be a most preposterous proposition.  So we must first, on the basis of common sense observation, accept the reality of the complete whole, the total existence.

We have to cover everything with the Lord Himself by really seeing God in everything. Thus we have to give up the world, and when the world is given up, what remains? God. You can see God in your wife, children, in every thing. The whole world is full of the Lord. Open your eyes and see Him. This is what the Gita teaches. The world was a dream, Maya. What existed was the Lord Himself. It is He who is in the good and in the bad; He is in the sin and the sinner; He is in life and in death.

“I pervade the entire universe in my unmanifested form. All creatures find their existence in me, but I am not limited by them.”  (IX: 4)

All reality has its source in Brahman. All reality has its grounding sustenance in Brahman. It is in Brahman that all reality has its ultimate repose. Hinduism, specifically, is consciously and exclusively aiming toward this reality termed Brahman.

Not that you should not have property, not that you should not have things which are necessary and things which are even luxuries. Have all that you want, and more, only know the truth and realize it. Wealth does not belong to anybody. Have no idea of proprietorship, possessorship. All belongs to the Lord because the Gita tells us to put the Lord in everything. God is in the wealth that you enjoy. He is in the desire that rises in your mind. He is in the things you buy to satisfy your desire. He is in your beautiful attire, in your beautiful ornaments. If you put God in your every movement, in your conversation, in your form, in everything, the whole scene changes, and the world, instead of appearing as one of woe and misery, will become a heaven.

A conception of God has been beautifully described thus: “He is the great poet, the ancient poet; the whole universe is his poem, coming in verses and rhymes and rhymes, written in infinite bliss.” If we perform right actions we will be able to read and enjoy this universe of God. Then everything will become deified. Nooks and corners, by-ways and shady places, which we thought dark and unholy, will all be deified. They will all reveal their true nature, we shall smile at ourselves and think that all this weeping and crying has been but child’s play, and we were all standing.

Communion with the Divine 
Work, says the Gita, putting God in everything, and knowing Him to be in everything. Many people do not know what an infinite mine of bliss is in them, around them, everywhere; they have not yet discovered it. It is the thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill the mind with the highest thoughts, think them day after day, and hear them week after week. Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. The ideal of man is to see God in everything. At least see Him in one thing which you like the best, and then see Him in another and so on. Take your time and you will achieve your goal.

New York born Dr. Frank Morales says, “When we speak of Brahman, we are referring neither to the “old man in the sky” concept, nor to the idea of the Absolute as even capable of being vengeful, fearful or engaging in choosing a favorite people from among His creatures. For that matter, Brahman is not a “He” at all, but rather transcends all empirically discernable categories, limitations and dualities.”

World-renowned scientist and innovator of the nuclear bomb Robert J. Oppenhiemer, on having his first successful test of the bomb, quoted nothing but this verse of the Bhagavad-Gita: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Conclusion
“If I were to choose one aspect, it would be the teaching that God is the only reality, which can be invoked through any name or form. All worship offered with a pure heart is valid. There can be million forms of worship, offered to any name or form that you choose. This is the universal outlook of Hinduism. Hinduism is a very profound religion, not based in simple beliefs. God is to be understood, not just believed in.”  So said Swami Dayanand Saraswati of Arsha Vidya in 2007. He went on to say, ‘I consider everyone a Hindu till he denies to be one.”

“God is the creator, and the best way of offering prayer to him is to be creative. God is all loving, and the best way to serve him is to serve humanity,” Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1825-1883), Hindu reformer, had said more than a century earlier.
To know God we must cultivate love and devotion (bhakti), for this is all that God asks of us.  Read the Bhagavad Gita daily.  Thus you will know more joy, more peace, more fulfillment, and more bliss than any human can ever give you.  You will directly experience the love of Bhagavan. 

Colonel Mahendra Mathur prematurely retired from the  Corps of Engineers of Indian Army in 1975 to build a highway in Tobago. Subsequently he was appointed Director of National Emergency Management Agency of Trinidad and Tobago before retiring in 1998. He has been a student of the Gita all his life and has talked about its message at some temples in Trinidad. You can contact him at mmathur@tstt.net.tt

 Email This Post

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 4:08 am and is filed under Bhagavad Gita. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.