Dear All,
Let us continue with chapter 2 of Dharma Vahini.
Swami Says,
"Making God
into stone - that is the effort being made today! How can such effort lead to
Truth, when the real task is to see the stone as God?
First, the Form of the
Godhead has to be meditated upon and imprinted on the consciousness; then, that
Form has to be conceived within the stone and the stone forgotten in the
process, until the stone is transformed into God."
Basically, what
Swami is saying is that one must see God in stone and NOT make God into stone.
This is something we must reflect carefully on.
There are two
things here – the symbol and the larger concept that the symbol represents.
The stone
sculpture is the symbol while God is the Fundamental Principle. If people are
made to think that God is just the stone idol and nothing else, then it can be
quite dangerous.
A state of
narrow-mindedness can develop wherein the Principle is totally forgotten and
one is trapped in not only trivialities but also in dangerous myths, leading in
turn to bigotry, hatred etc.
Let us dig a bit deeper and
consider the statement, ‘Jewels are many but gold is one.’
Suppose, for the
sake of argument, the jewels have all been made of copper and simply plated
with gold. Clearly the gold-plated jewels would be worth far less than those
made with pure gold.
In the same way, actions that appear Dharmic but
are only superficially so, would be worthless compared to those based on Atmadharma.
With the above example, we must have utmost clarity on Atma dharma and Para dharma.
Like any jewel has value only because it is made of gold ( with copper, it is of much lesser value as explained above), all our so called actions in our day to day life while pursuing our worldly duties would carry any worth ONLY if they are illumined by/ they are taken up in the back drop of/ within the domain of Atma dharma ( God realization)!!.
Forgetting the Atma Dharma of being aligned to God and evolving steadily to merge with HIM, what ever actions we undertake, will be just a dust in its worth and will carry/ fetch us more and more karma and more and more births to clear those karmas!!
Back to Swami, and let us hear His
next quote.
"What happens when a stone is
worshipped as God? The Unlimited, the Ever-present, the All-pervading-immanent
Entity, the Absolute, is visualized in the Particular, in the Concrete.
Similarly, Dharma, which is Universal, Equal and Free, can be
spotted and tested in a single concrete act.
Do not be misled by the idea that
this is not possible. Are not many things difficult accomplished by you, things
that only increase your anxiety and fear?
If man is wise, can he not take up
instead things that are more worthwhile, which give him peace of mind?"
The basic point Swami is making is
simple. He says in effect: “Listen, the devotee may worship an idol, but the
idol is simply a device for the devotee to commune with God who is really
Infinite. Infinity is a concept difficult for simple folk to grasp but through
loving worship of even a symbol, their Love can blossom enormously.” That is
the point Swami is really making. Let us try to understand that further.
Swami helps us out in the
following way. He says [effectively] “Consider a stone idol that is supposed to
represent God. Is God just the idol, or is the idol a mere symbol of God? If
God is only the idol, then, God is finite; but we know God is not finite.
Again, the stone can weather and crumble with age due to thermal cycle and what
not. Can God be wiped out by weather? Obviously not.
Let us carry over this idea to
ourselves. You see, there are really two aspects to our personality, the body
and what the body actually represents. The body is the symbol and it is the
temporary aspect; therefore, it is not very important.
On the other hand, what the body
represents is the Eternal Atma,
and that is what is important. However, because we cannot see the Atma, we tend to dismiss it totally, and instead regard
the body to be our true Self.
Vedanta says that is not correct; yes, the body is important, and has been given to us with a purpose; however, it is not
everything; at best the Lower Self. The Atma, on
the other hand, is everything and it is the True of the Higher Self.
Thus, to believe that we are
merely the Lower Self is as bad as saying that God is only the stone idol.
On
the other hand we should say, the body is there no doubt but that is only a
transient aspect of our Real Self; the latter is the Atma, which, if one prefers can also be called the
Higher Self.
The latter point of view is like saying, “Yes God is in the stone
idol, and in that sense the idol is a symbol that represents God. However, the
idol does not exhaust God! That is because God is everywhere and always is
unlike the piece of stone which would cease to exist when the earth ceases to
exist.”
