Gita Satsangh: Chapter 7 - God and the Universe (Part II) by Swami Krishnananda

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Gita Satsangh: Chapter 7 - God and the Universe (Part II) by Swami

Krishnananda of Divine Life Society.

 

There are people, mostly, who turn to God in times of distress, when

they are in agony or sorrow, and when there seems to be no help coming

from anyone, from anywhere in the world, they cry out, "God, help me."

The asking for God's Presence is because of the pain through which

they are passing, and the lacuna that they feel in their selves

(Arta). The anguish that is tearing our hearts and the inadequacy that

we feel everywhere within as well as without summons God for help.

This is one -sort of love for God, a devotion, a religion, of course.

Everything is religious if it is charged by the touch of

God-consciousness in some way. But what is the quality, the intensity,

of this aspiration, is a matter to think. Bhagavan Sri Krishna, as a

Teacher of Yoga, tells us that these are types of devotees, great

indeed in their own way, because they turn to God, whatever be their

motive. There are others who seek knowledge, wisdom, enlightenment and

not any material favour. Not redress from sorrow or grief, not long

life, not anything that human beings will regard as ordinarily

acceptable or valuable is their aim. They require illumination,

understanding, and blessing which will take them to an entry into

Truth (Jijnasu). There is a third category, in whose connection the

term used in the Bhagavadgita is Artharthi, those who seek `artha', or

an objective. Usually the word Artha is translated as. `object' of

`material need'. Most commentators tell us that the third category

mentioned is that of the devotee who turns to God for material

prosperity of some kind. But there are others who think that it is not

proper to imagine the third category as in any way inferior to the

second. There is some sort of a logic, it appears in the arrangement

of these devotees as Arta, Jijnasu, Artharthi and Jnani, inasmuch as

the last one is proclaimed to be the most superior as contrasted with

the earlier ones. And the second one is certainly superior to the

first one. It is accepted, therefore, by implication, that the third

is superior to the first and the second. So, there are those

interpreters of the Gita who say that here `Artha' should not be taken

to mean material or physical property, but the fulfillment of the aims

of life which are known as the Purusharthas. This is a novel

interpretation given by some teachers. The aims of existence are the

objects aspired for by these devotees who are considered here as

Artharthis, seeking those things which are the supreme objects, not

the lower ones which are physical. But the greatest devotee of God is

he who asks for nothing from God; not even knowledge, not even en

lightenment, not even freedom from suffering, and such devotees are

rare to find. The mind is made in such a way that it has always a need

of some kind or other. And to imagine a condition of the mind where it

has no need whatsoever is difficult. The highest devotion asks for God

alone, and not anything through God, or from God. The superiority of

this sort of devotion should become obvious to any thinking mind,

because to ask for anything from God, or to utilize God as an

instrument in the acquisition of anything exterior to God, would be to

reduce God to a category inferior to that which one is asking for

through the devotion. If God is an instrument in the fulfillment of

desires, he ceases to be the Supreme Being, or the. Ultimate Reality.

That would suggest that the thing we are asking for is better than God

himself! And one who knows that God is superior, the cause is superior

to all its effects, and the one who gives is more than what is given,

that God. is the Absolute All-in-All, is the Jnani. And if our heart

can accept this truth, that the Being of God is greater than anything

that can emanate from God, then we shall absorb ourselves in a type of

devotion which is identical with being itself. Knowledge becomes

being. When knowledge is inseparable from being, we are sup posed to

be in a state of realization which is the highest type of spiritual

experience. "All these are wonderful devotees," the Teacher says, "but

I consider the Jnani, the wisdom-devotee, as the supreme, for he has

become My very Self" One who is immensely delighted at the very

thought of the Omnipresence of God, who is in ecstasies even at the

idea of the Supreme Absoluteness of God's Being, has attained

everything in one moment, nay, instantaneously. He is flooded with the

very being of God, and not with the objects that one considers as

one's accessories in life.

The cosmological approaches to the existence of God as the Creator of

the universe, these explanations which are offered in the Seventh

Chapter, somehow keep God at an awful distance from us, in spite of

the proclamation that the supreme concept of God is that of the

identity of all beings with the being of God. Curiously, we begin to

feel that God is some tremendous, fearsome; cosmic force, and our love

for God is simultaneously attended with the fear of God. We are

wonder-struck. We feel it is impossible for us even to face the

presence of such a Mighty Being. In love there is no fear, and the

school of Bhakti, or devotion, has classified it into two categories;

-the one. considering God as the Supreme Master, or Father, who

demands an awe-striking superiority over everything, and the other

regarding him, as the most Beloved. God has created and maintains a

sort of distance from all the objects which are controlled by Him as

His creations. The fear of God is due to the power of God. We have a

fear of the ocean, and we would not like to go near it. The reason is

the magnitude and the expanse that is there in front of which we look

like puny nothings. We are frightened when we look at the skies above.

The expanse seems to be so impossible of even thinking that for a long

time we cannot gaze at the distance and be at peace with ourselves. We

are also frightened at the distance of the Sun from ourselves and the

largeness of the astronomical universe that is gigantically staring at

us as an awesome something. So is the concept of God` in one type of

devotion, which goes by the name of Aisvarya pradhana-bhakti, devotion

where the predominant feature is the feeling of the glory, the might

and the magnificence of God,-his greatness. But there is another kind

of love which regards God as the reality within one's own heart,

incapable of separation from one's own self, as the dearest of all

dear ones, and the most loveable of all the loved objects, and the

sweetest conceivable thing ever: Such a devotion is categorized in the

Bhakti schools under the name, Madhurya pradhana-bhakti, where the

soul surges forth to God in a melting love and affection which is

ordinarily difficult to entertain in respect of an almighty power

before which we are just nothing, as it were. Yet, when God is under

stood in his proper form and relationship with us, we can not but love

him as our own soul. Often we feel that He is not our own soul, as we

are small individuals. And, therefore, we are afraid of God; but we

are also convinced that it is impossible for us to be without Him, and

our existence itself is His existence and our soul is He, our love for

Him would be identical with our own self which excels every other kind

of love. The sweetness of devotion, automatically follows from our

acceptance of the in separability of God from our own Self, or

soul,-from everything. These are the implied suggestive aspects of the

teachings the few verses of the Gita concerning the four types of

devotees. The distance between man and God becomes less as one rises

higher in love and devotion, finally the distance getting abolished

altogether, so that the Supreme Object which is God becomes the

Supreme Subject which is the Soul of the cosmos. The fearsome distance

of God from us gets gradually diminished as we proceed further through

the Chapters of the Gita, onwards, right from the Seventh. A time will

come when we will see nothing but God, and we would be nowhere there,

and that time has to come. Are we fit to realize God in this life? Can

anyone touch one's own heart and say, "Yes, in this very birth, I am

going to be absorbed in. God's Being," or do we have a suspicion,

"Well, this is not for me"? This difficulty is taken up in a very

beautiful manner at the commencement of the Eighth Chapter. Most of us

would feel diffident even about the entertaining of the idea of this

all-consuming Absolute. We are terrorized even by the very thought

itself. It would mean that we may pass away from this world without

having any contact with this mighty Reality. What will happen to us

when we die? What are the chances available to us in this great path

of the soul towards God? Is it possible for us to have at least a hope

of the' possibility of such a realization, or contact with God? Or,

are we to die like flies or moths with no hope whatsoever? Before

answering this question, the Teacher introduces us into another set of

cosmological ideals. The direct answer does not come forth

immediately. The introduction to the theme comes from the mouth of

Arjuna. himself, who puts the question as to what. all these mean,

taking the hint from the suggestive words of the Teacher towards the

end of the Seventh Chapter. What is Brahman? What is the Absolute?

What is the universe? What is the individual? What is the relation

ship between these, and what is the way that we are to adopt in order

that we may contact Realty at least after the leaving of the body in

this life, if it is not possible in this life? The points touched in

the query sweep over al most every philosophical principle. We have no

hopes of seeing God in this life; it is. an absolutely hopeless

affair. Well, then, even afterwards; is it such a hopeless matter? Is

there a chance of our beholding God's glory or contacting Him at least

after death? Or, are we to be a miserable specimen even after quitting

this physical body here? All these are the suggestions behind Arjuna's

questions at the beginning of the Eighth Chapter; and we have to take

a little time to understand the answer that Krishna gives to these

basic issues: