God and Man

III

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.