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God and Man

Let me introduce myself, I have come to you as a man to man. I am just as any of you are. Of course, each man has got the same privileges from God. I developed in a way that concerns my own Self. What I learned at the feet of my Master about my own Self, the Real Self, I will put before you so that those who are seeking after Truth may find some guidance.

As a child, I had that awareness in me:

What is the mystery of life?

I sought to find the solution in books. I may tell you that I had the opportunity of going through almost two libraries and also going through the Holy Scriptures of almost all the religions, or the majority of them, I would say. There were very good descriptions given there, but I could not find the practical solution of my problem.

What I came to know at the feet of my Master, I will be putting before you in the course of four talks. The subject of each talk will be a little bit different.

Today we will deal with ‘God and Man.’ The next three talks will deal with ‘Higher Values of Life,’ ‘Kingdom of God,’ and lastly ‘The most natural Way to enter the Kingdom of God.’

From a careful and unbiased study of the Sacred Books of the world we find that there is one Reality, which is our goal. That Reality is termed God and by various other names. 

God made man and man made worldly religions. Such religions were made for the uplift of man. We have to make the best use of them so that ultimately we may know ourselves and then know God.

Religion has two aspects: One is the social side, or the outward side. The other aspect is the Inner Religion, the Spiritual Side. We have to start with outer forms of religions. Man is social; he must remain in some society.

Each society has its own various ceremonies and rituals, its own scriptures, its own mode of saying prayers. This is the non-essential side. We have to remain in some social religion because man is a social being – and to remain in some social religion is a blessing. But that is an elementary step – our going to churches or other holy places of worship, saying prayers, reading the scriptures, observing certain ceremonies, and rituals. All these go to create Love in us for God.

But if our performance of rituals, reading of the scriptures or attending the churches or other holy places of worship does not even create in us Love of God and constitutes mere mental gymnastics, these lead us nowhere. That does not mean that you are not to live in any social religion. You are to do so. If you revolt against it, you will have to form another society.

Suppose there are ten thousand people of your views. Then you will have to form a separate society and make certain rules to go by. After some time you find that a certain rule has proved defective and must be amended. So you go on amending the rules. 

All the same this has to do with your outer selves.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Similarly, social religions were made for man, but man was not made for social religions. The purpose of remaining in any social religion is just to know oneself and then to know God. That is one aspect of religion. The other aspect is the observance of certain rituals and ceremonies. These vary in different religions, but you will find their purpose is nearly the same.

For example, in some churches to sit bareheaded is a mark of respect. In India, to sit with one’s head covered is a sign of respect. That is a custom there. Apparently, there is a difference between the two observances, but the purpose is the same. Both signify that whenever you sit in the presence of God, just remembering Him, you should sit in a respectful posture.

These are, however, non-essentials. The purpose is the same, no doubt. Apparently, some differences exist, but those differences do not affect in any way the purpose of the church. 

Those who follow the letter of the rule, simply forget the spirit and fight only for the apparent differences. In Arabia, where there is a dearth of water, there is a custom that whenever you say prayers, you should just wash your hands, feet, face, and then sit for prayers. In other countries where there is an abundance of water, they say that until you take a bath, it will not be right to sit for prayers. That is only an apparent difference on account of the climatic or geographical conditions of the place.

We have to live in some social religion. So it is better to remain where you are. Do not change, if it can be helped. While there, what should you do? Just read the Holy Scriptures – the sayings of the Masters – you have, and try to understand what they say, and live up to them.

This is what you find: All Masters Who came in the past were the children of Light, and came to give Light to the world. They did not come for any special religion or special country. They came for all humanity.

It is now time to cast aside the trivial differences that exist – the non-essentials. We should just look to the purpose for which they were made, and open our eyes to the Reality that we are all worshipping the same God. These were meant to represent that Reality which exists.

Now you will find, from the standpoint of all religions, that God the absolute is beyond what is known and manifested. That is something even beyond what is supporting and creating all creation. That Reality is at the back of everything. Can we search Him or find Him? No. He cannot be searched. He is unsearchable.

Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty?

The Almighty is inexpressible and cannot be expressed in words.

Names are simply given by the Masters to express that Reality, which is really inexpressible. He is the Changeless One.

You find:

Forevermore, oh Lord, Thy Word existed in Heaven.

Forevermore – that is the lasting Reality and that is the Changeless One. Ultimately, it is unconditioned and undivided. He is the Nameless One.

All names are holy. We have respect for all names, although God is the Nameless One. By whatever name you call Him with devotion and faith, He will make appearance and you will come in contact with Him. But names refer to a Reality that cannot be expressed in words.

All Masters have tried to express that Reality, each defining in His own way. Almost all definitions of God are parallel. They all say that God is the first and the last, from which nothing can be excluded, and to which nothing can be added. God is omniscient, omnipresent, and the primal cause – the causeless cause – the seat of all things; existence in itself. That cannot be created. That is already in existence.

In the Koran, the Prophet Mohammed says:

There is no variability in God, since He is eternal, immortal, infinite.

That is Unchangeable Permanence and Everlasting Reality. These words only seek to express, however imperfectly, the Great Reality that is at the back of all. 

Ever since the Masters first came, They have been trying to express that Reality and chanting praises of the Lord – these have formed the subject of our Holy Scriptures. But still They say He is as unsaid as ever. For thousands of years, the Masters have been explaining in Their own words whatever is possible.

How can the inexpressible be expressed in words? That is the subject of experience you may have, through contact with that Reality. But if even our outer emotions cannot be described in words, how can that Reality be expressed in words? That is why it has always been said that God is inexpressible.

There is the same Reality working throughout all creation. Until we have had some experience of that Reality, we will not know what it is like. What we now know is only what is given in books: we have had no first-hand experience of it. 

All Masters say:

It is the beginning and the end.

In Isaiah it is stated:

I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.

Again, we find:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending […] which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

These are definitions given to show that Reality is unchangeable permanence, which has no beginning and no end.

God has no beginning and no end.

But until we have an experience of Reality, we cannot be convinced. Ever since the world began, Masters have been coming and giving explanations to the best of Their ability to the people. But with all that They always said that He is as unsaid as ever.

Guru Nanak has put it very aptly:

He is One, He is the first. He is all that is. His name is Truth. He is the Creator of all, fearing naught striking fear in naught. His form on lands and waters is Eternity; the One Self-existent. Through the Grace of His True Servant, continually repeat His Name. He was in the beginning; He is through all ages, and He shall be the One Who lives forever more.

You see that He says the same thing. All Masters, as They have said, had experience of that Reality. Of course, when They gave Their descriptions, They expressed It in Their own language and in Their own way. But you will find that the salient features of whatever They expressed are the same.

Then further Guru Nanak says:

He is beyond thought. No thinking can conceive Him.

Now the question is: Can we search for Him within the finite pale of our intellect? No, He is beyond thought, no thinking can conceive Him. Not even if the minds of men should think for ages and ages. Then how can we know God? Our bodies, emotions and intellects should first be stilled. Only then the revelation will dawn, you will then know who you are. When you know who you are, you will be able to know and see what God is.

That is why Guru Nanak said if you want to grasp Him within the pale of your finite intellect, He cannot be seen.

It is something like the story of the tortoise of the river, who went into a pond. There was another tortoise there. The river tortoise said, Look here, the sea is very great and has no end. The tortoise in the pool just stepped back and said: Is it so much? –  No, said the other, It is still greater. Then again he stepped back a little more, and questioned: Is it so much? And the other answered, No, it is still greater. Then, he went around the whole pool of water and said, Is it so much? The other said, No, it is still greater.

The tortoise of the pool was all wrong, you see, because his experience only extended to that pool of water, nothing more. Similarly, the Masters have always been saying that Divine Knowledge was limitless and They cannot expect to do justice to the subject.

The Lord is God. If you call Him anything, you simply want to bring Him within the finite ambit of your intellect. When that Reality is infinite, how can we express It in finite terms?

This is what all Masters have been saying.

Further, Guru Nanak says:

He cannot be conceived.

The Upanishads say:

To grasp that Reality within the pale of your intellect is as impossible as trying to quench your thirst by drinking wine.

At another place, it is said:

[…] or just as if you can squeeze out oil from sand.

Both are impossible. Similarly, to bring Him within your intellect, and understand Him fully is not possible.

The Masters did give us something to understand that which could not be expressed in words. By Their Grace we can just form some idea about Him. They bring us in contact with that Reality when we enter into the Kingdom of God. Then we have some experience of Him. After that we can say there is something.

Guru Nanak says:

I am just like a fish in the ocean. I do not know which is one end or the other.

Similarly, we cannot grasp Him within our finite intellects. 

Nor can He be known by gaining the worlds, for man’s desire is never satiated, even though all the worlds laden with gold fall to his share. No human thoughts can carry man far. The movements of his mind, the thousand acts of wisdom of the world leave him dark, nothing avails. Vain are the ways of man. How then to find Him? Man feels helpless.

Ever since the world began, all Masters have been saying the same thing. We have so many scriptures at our command, so many pages of the books of God that have been written. There will be many more as each Master comes and describes His contact with God or Reality. From Their God-Intoxication, They pour out whatever comes, of high inspiration, just to give us the knowledge of Reality They have seen. Man has been trying to follow that but has failed.

Then, how can we see Him? Ever since the world began, this has been the fate of man. Unless we see God, the question remains, what is God?

Kabir says there is one Reality in all, supporting all creation, immanent in every form. 

With that immanent in every form, why do we differ? Why are there so many wars, so many religions everywhere?

The reason is that when a Master came He had some experience of that Reality. To the people who met Him, He simply gave them a first-hand experience of that Reality. When He left the scene – to err is human, you see – some persons gathered together and they had their own way of thinking. So changes occurred.

Again, another Master came, He found dross was added to Reality, to the teachings of the earlier Master. He thrashed out that dross and again let the people know the Truth about Reality, to some extent. Again, another religion started.

The Masters never started any creed. They only gave out to the people:

There is one God and you should love Him.

How can you love anybody until you see him, get some good out of him? Mere feelings or emotions are simply inferences arrived at by intellectual wrestlings. They will not give you any definite satisfaction. They will be wavering. Sometimes you may accept these inferences, but they are all subject to error. Unless you see Reality, come in contact with It first-hand and derive the bliss of It, ineffable and direct, enjoy happiness within – only then will you have Love for Him, after having tasted the elixir of that Reality.

When the Masters come what do They tell us?

St John says:

God cannot be seen with thine eyes.

But then you find that some Masters said They saw God.

The question was put to Guru Nanak:

Do you see God?

He replied: 

I see God. He is everywhere.

Christ also said:

Behold the Lord.

He pointed to the Lord, saying: 

There, behold Him.

No reasoning.

The same question was also put by Swami Vivekananda. He was initially an atheist and challenged everybody: Is there a God? Is there any man who has seen God?

In those days, there was a man of realisation, Paramhansa Ramakrishna, and he was asked to go to him. Vivekananda went to him and asked: Master, have you seen God? The sage replied: Yes, my child, I see Him as I see you, even more clearly than that. And he came in time to be a great theist. In the latter days of his life, Vivekananda confessed: Because of that Godman I was saved.

You will find that those who profess to be theists are, truly speaking, not so. We have simply learnt in our scriptures that there is God. We have heard this many times, but we have not seen Him. Unless we see something, we cannot be convinced.

When difficulties arise, the vicissitudes of life come up and we have to pass through them, we are bewildered and ask Is there a God? We become sceptics. But once you have seen, you have had some experience of Reality, you cannot have any doubt.

The Masters say:

We see Him.

But what are those eyes with which He can be seen?

Shamas-i-Tabrez, a Muslim Saint, tells us that we should be able to see God with our own eyes and hear His voice with our own ears.

You find in the Bible:

We have eyes and see not.

What are those eyes? Guru Nanak was asked:

You say You see God everywhere.

He replied:

Those eyes with which you see God are different.

What are those eyes with which you can see God? Those are not outer eyes, but that eye which is within each one of us. That eye is called by Christ the Single Eye. The eye is the Light of the body.

If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of Light.

The Hindu scriptures and sayings of other Masters tell us of the Third Eye, or the Latent Eye. That eye is within each one of us. That one eye is not of the flesh and bone, as those we have outside on our faces.

Guru Nanak defines a blind man as not the one who does not have eyes on his face, but one whose Inner Eye is not open to see the Light of God.

God cannot be expressed. That absolute state can be had only when you rise into that Reality. But when this Supreme Power is the cause of all creation, immanent in all forms, supporting and maintaining them, It expresses itself in two ways – Light and Sound – and that expression of the God-Power is an actual experience of Godmen within. It is said, God is Light. The Mohammedans also say that God is Noor, i.e., Light. They say that one who goes above and beyond the physical body and sees the Light of God within is a True Muslim. The Christian can also be defined in the same way; one who sees the Light within is a True Christian.

The tenth Guru of the Sikhs says the same thing:

Those who see the effulgent Light of God within are True Sikhs, or True Fakirs.

They are pure ones. You will find the same definitions given in all religions, in all the Holy Scriptures:

Have you seen the Light within you?

Again, They have said:

If you shut the doors of the temple of the body, you will see the Light of Heaven. 

It is a possibility.

All the scriptures tell us of the Light of God within. The Voice of God also reverberates in each one of us. There is a way in which we may have an experience of that Reality and its expression. That is the Way back to God. Has our closed Inner Eye been opened or not? That is the question. Unless that Inner Eye be opened, we cannot see the Light of God within us. It is a question of introversion and inversion.

The Ultimate Goal of all religions is God, and that we should be able to see God. Leaving the non-essentials, what do they tell us? They say, Love thy God. This is said by all the religions. When you see and come in contact with God, only then, truly speaking, can you love God. At present, your loving God is practically impossible. Simply on the emotional side, you sometimes say certain things, but you have no contact with that Reality, and True Love does not arise, and does not last.

When the Pharisees and the Sadducees went to Christ they returned in silence, because an intellectual man speaking to a man of realisation cannot stand before Him. While the latter sees certain things and then speaks, the intellectual man simply quotes verses from the Holy Scriptures which he has read, and afterwards he cannot reconcile things. 

Naturally, when they came to Christ, they became quiet. Then they gathered together and came up to Him.

Now, Master, what is the greatest commandment in the law?

What did He say? Jesus said unto them:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy might. This is the first and greatest of all commandments. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The ultimate teaching of all social religions is just to love God. As God resides in every heart, love all humanity, all creation. For the Love of God, you are to love all humanity. If we have Love for all humanity, all other commandments follow. He whom you love, are you going to kill him? Are you going to rob him of his property? Are you going to bear false witness against him? No, not in the least.

So on these two commandments hang all other commandments. The Sermon on the Mount, the Eightfold Path of the Buddha, the Niyama Yama and Sadachar of the Hindus all speak of the same thing, in their own languages and, of course, in their own ways. 

If we live up to what the scriptures say, there will be peace on earth, and the Kingdom of God will surely come on earth. Then there will be no danger of any war. What a pity: these things are given in our Holy Scriptures, but we follow, if at all, the letter of the law at the cost of the spirit. That is the cause of discord.

All Masters came to unite men, not to separate man from man. They were the lovers of God, and They taught men how to love all humanity. You will see, this is one side of the thing that we have before us. We are to love all humanity because God resides in every heart.

The Holy Scriptures, with all the rest of the sayings about the various aspects of God, have not been able exactly to say what God is. Some phase of it, some part of it they did express, out of loving devotion. But from there we can only deduce some idea of God.

Man’s highest thought of God never has and never can measure the Eternal, but it constitutes self-revelation. Your highest thought of God is not the measure of God, but the measure of our own hitherto unknown propensities.

Each Master has been saying the same thing:

When I attempt to speak of the highest, I cannot. I become as one dumb.

How then can we express it? Even out of the Love and intoxication They have of Reality, They give out something, but it still remains as unsaid as ever.

This is what the scriptures lay down. I told you this is the outer aspect of religion –  social religions. When you think that God resides in every heart, you will not kill anyone. You will respect each man, when you know for certain that God resides in every heart.

When we live up to what the scriptures say, we should all love God. Naturally, we will have respect for all others, for all living things.