Sri RamaKrishna says God is both with and without form and yet transcends both

[Guest guest]

Has God any form? Or is He formless? God is both with and without form and

yet transcends both. He alone can say what else He is. God with form and God

without form are like ice and water.

 

When water freezes into ice it has form. When the same ice is melted into

water, all form is lost. God with form and without form arc not two

different beings. He who is with form is also without form.

 

To a devotee, the worshipper of a Personal God,He manifests Himself in

various forms. Just think of a shoreless ocean— an infinite expanse of

water—no land visible in any direction! Only here and there are visible

blocks of ice formed by the intense cold, similarly under the intensifying

influence of the deep devotion of His worshipper,the Infinite reduces

Himself, as it were, into the Finite and appears before him as a Being with

form.

 

Again, as on the appearance of the sun the ice melts away, so with the

awakening of knowledge, God with form melts away into the Formless, The

water of the ocean, when viewed from a distance, appears to have a dark-blue

colour, but becomes colourless when taken in the hand; in the same way God

is also associated with a definite colour and complexion from a distance,but

He is the attribute-less Truth when the devotee merges in Him.

 

Source: Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

 

--

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prasanth Jalasutram

 

Love And Love Alone