(Apr 30,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Is God a person or a personality? by Sri Swami Krishnananda

 Is God a person or a personality?

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 20 Concepts of God-Your Questions Answered by Sri Swami Krishnananda

Swedish Visitor A: Are not intelligence and goodness narrow human concepts? How do we know that God is a person or a personality – that He has personal qualities?

SWAMIJI: Whether God is a person or not – this is your question? You see, this is a fairly important question in the study of theologies everywhere, in all religions. All the Semitic religions (Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam) consider God as a Supreme Person, almost identifying Him with the concept of a Supreme Father. "Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name," – that is how the prayer goes. All these descriptions of God imply that He is a large inclusive universal personality. You are asking me whether He is really a personality.

Personality is a human concept. When we talk of personality, we always think of the pattern of human personality. We don't think of the personality of a lion, or an elephant, and all that. Our thoughts are conditioned by the human way of thinking. Now, is it true that the human way of thinking is the only way of thinking, and there is no other way? A frog also thinks, a reptile thinks, a cow thinks, an elephant thinks. Do you think that their thinking is wrong?

Visitor A: No, I think they are personalities, too.

SWAMIJI: They are personalities, but we don't think that God is a huge lion. We generally think that God is a huge human form, as big as this universe. The first point about this is that we are thinking like human beings, and it is not necessary that this is the only way of thinking. It may be subject to modification when we evolve further in the process of evolution. Man thinks in one way, a super-man thinks in another way, and it is believed that man has to become a super-man, until he becomes a God-man.

The other point is: what is personality, be it human or otherwise? A person exists in space and time. If space and time are not there, there cannot be personality. A person exists in space; there is space around him, and time also is there. Now, we believe that space and time were created by God, and they were not there prior to God's existence. We always say that God is first, not that space and time are first. "God created the heaven and the earth," says the scripture, which means to say He created space and time. If that is the case, God cannot be said to be conditioned by space and time. In other words, He is not in space and time. If He is not in space and time, how will you see Him as a person?

God, thus, is not really a person. He is not in heaven only. We say God is in heaven, but God created the heaven; so, before He created the heaven, where was He? Neither can we say that He is a person, nor can we say that He is in heaven. God is universal, all-comprehensive, infinite Existence. That seems to be the only conclusion we can draw by going deep into the question of the nature of God.

But, for the purpose of devotion, you see otherwise. Man cannot think of infinitude always. The mind is not made up of such potential. We want affection, love, and also response to our affection. An infinite all-pervading, non-spatial, non-temporal Existence cannot evoke our affection so much, just as logic and mathematics cannot evoke our affection. Logic and mathematics are perfect sciences; we accept that, but we cannot love them. Our heart does not go for them, our heart goes to a painting, music, architecture, sculpture, literature, etc. Where our heart is, there our love and our happiness also is. To manifest our love, we require an object. We cannot love the Infinite for obvious reasons. So, we have to consider God as a Supreme Father. Sometimes, in India, people consider Him also as a Supreme Mother.

From our point of view, from the requirement of human nature, there is nothing wrong in thinking that God is a Person, because the Infinite can also appear as a Person, in the same way as a block of stone can appear as a statue by carving. The block of stone does not contain the statue, but it contains a statue potentially. God can be a Person, and yet we need not limit Him to personality. He is rather a Super-Person. This is what I think God must be. 

Excerpts from:

Concepts of God - Chapter 20-Your Questions Answered by Sri Swami Krishnananda

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org

(Apr 29,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Testing Our Spiritual Life by Swami Atmaswarupananda

 Testing Our Spiritual Life

Divine Life Society Publication: - Early Morning Meditation Talk by Swami Atmaswarupananda

It is normal in human life that if we put a lot of time and effort into any endeavor, we want to be able to measure our progress. Whether it is studies, professional life, or business, we want to know in some way what our score is, how well we are doing. The same seems to apply to the spiritual life. After we have put in sufficient effort, sufficient time, there is a factor in us that wants to know whether we are getting proper results.

Normally that inclination is discouraged in the spiritual life, and it is discouraged for three reasons. The first reason is scriptural. "Yours is the effort. The result is up to God. Leave it to Him." The second reason is a very practical one. There is no practical way that we can judge whether we are being freed from egoism, lust, greed, hatred, anger and jealousy or whether divine virtues are developing in our heart. If we try to keep score, it will normally be a matter of self-deception. Rather, as Pujya Swami Chidanandaji once said, "From time to time you discover what changes have come about. Sometimes, this can be a pleasant discovery. Sometimes it can be rather a shocking one—some negative factor that you thought had long ago disappeared suddenly comes to life again. Therefore, any judging we do on our progress should be left to discovery rather than to analysis.

But there is a third reason that we’re discouraged from trying to keep score on our spiritual life. And that is that the ultimate spiritual life is at a level deeper than virtues and vices. One teacher has said that there are only two things, finally, in this universe: one is love; the other is fear. This love, of course, is not the normal type of love, but rather a divine love that has no object. It is just love or perhaps more correctly, it is described as universal goodwill. The other factor, fear, is also not fear with an object, but rather an underlying sense of fear that at any moment can light upon an object such as death, old age, ill health, loss of money, security etc. Therefore, in the final analysis the only way our spiritual life can be judged is to the degree that universal goodwill and trust has replaced that nagging feeling of uncertainty or fear in the depths of our being. 

How do we bring about this ultimate change? There is no other way than a total letting go and trusting in God. That is why Lord Krishna told us that the only way we can cross samsara is by taking refuge in Him alone. And even more specifically, in the last teaching verse of the Gita, He tells us to abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Him alone. 

Therefore, we cannot really judge our spiritual life by normal measurements. Ours is to make the effort; the results are in God’s hands. From time to time we discover whether we have made progress or not, and ultimately the only real test is the degree of total surrender in the depth of our heart, which means that universal love has replaced all fear.

Excerpts from:

Testing Our Spiritual Life - Early Morning Meditation Talk by Swami Atmaswarupananda

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org

(Apr 28,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit by Sri Swami Sivananda

 The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit

Divine Life Society Publication: - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda

This discourse is entitled “Purushottama Yoga” or the “Yoga of the Supreme Person”. Here Lord Krishna tells us about the ultimate source of this visible phenomenal universe from which all things have come into being, just like a great tree with all its roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers and fruits which spring forth from the earth, which itself supports the tree and in which it is rooted. Sri Krishna declares that the Supreme Being is the source of all existence, and refers allegorically to this universe as being like an inverted tree whose roots are in Para Brahman, and whose spreading branches and foliage constitute all the things and factors that go to make up this creation of variegated phenomena. This is a very mysterious “Tree” which is very difficult to understand, being a product of His inscrutable power of Maya; and hence a marvelous, apparent appearance without having actual reality. One who fully understands the nature of this Samsara-Tree goes beyond Maya. To be attached to it is to be caught in it. The surest way of transcending this Samsara or worldly life is by wielding the excellent weapon of dispassion and non-attachment.

In verses four and five of this discourse the Lord tells us how one goes beyond this visible Samsara and attains the supreme, imperishable status, attaining which one does not have to return to this mortal world of pain and death.

Lord Krishna also describes for us the wonderful mystery of His Presence in this universe and the supreme place He occupies in sustaining everything here. The Lord declares that it is a part of Himself that manifests here as the individual soul in each body. He Himself is the indwelling Oversoul beyond the self. He is the effulgence inherent in the sun, moon and fire. He is present as the nourishing element in the earth. He is the inner witness of all beings. He is the supreme Knower even beyond Vedic knowledge. He is the resplendent Person who is beyond both this perishable phenomenal creation as well as the imperishable individual soul which is a part of His eternal essence. Thus, because He is beyond perishable matter and superior to the imperishable soul (enveloped in Maya), He is known in this world as well as in the Vedas as the Supreme Person.

Excerpts from:

The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Fifteenth Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda

 

Additional Reading: The Inverted Tree of Samsara

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org

(Apr 27,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive by Swami Chidananda

 Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive

Divine Life Society Publication:  - Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive by Swami Chidananda

Beloved sadhakas (aspirants)! What spiritual life should mean to you, what spiritual sadhana (practices) should imply for you, what spiritual life and sadhana can do for you, what the Guru can do for you, how his wisdom teachings can enrich you, how spiritual books and scriptures can benefit and be of use to you depends entirely upon how and in what manner you relate yourself to all these factors. 

You have to probe deeply and know for yourself the answer: whether your relationship is merely sentimental, whether it is merely mental or intellectual, or whether your relationship to all these factors-spiritual life and sadhana, spiritual books, the Guru and his teachings-is a vital and living one.

You have to ask, you have to find out: "How am I related to my spiritual life? How am I related to my Guru and his spiritual teachings? How am I related to the lofty ideals that have been placed before us in our scriptures-the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas? How am I relating myself to my Guru mantra?" 

For all these factors to mean anything to us-if they are to enrich us, elevate us, transform us-our relationship with these factors must be a vital and living one. It should mean to us our life itself. They should dominate our life. They should be overwhelmingly present in a pervasive manner, in every movement, in every aspect, in every activity of our life. 

Our life should reflect these ideals. Our life should reflect the living teachings of the Guru. Our life should reflect the scriptures in a vital way. Ideals are not meant to be worshipped; they are meant to be emulated, followed and lived. 

Scriptures are meant not only to be read and known, they are meant to be deeply studied and applied. They are meant to be entered into and practised. They should become our life, the very fabric of our life. The Guru is not meant merely to be revered, but to be obeyed. 

All these factors should constitute the very warp and woof of your daily life and thought. Thus and thus alone can you make these factors an enriching, dynamic, life-transforming process in your life. Our relationship with all these factors is not meant to stop in the plane of our human personality- nature only; it is not to stop upon the psycho-physical level. You can practise all the asanas with the body, but if the body does not transform itself into a vehicle of sattva (purity), of selflessness, of servicefulness, of sadhana, of tapasya (austerities), of samyama (meditation, concentration and superconsciousness practised at the same time), it has not become the vehicle for these important spiritual factors that it was meant to be. 

Your relationship with these factors should, therefore, be upon the innermost vital plane of your true personality. It should be a dynamic spiritual connection. Then and then alone our spiritual life will become an ever- progressive, dynamic factor of our being. Ideals should be emulated; Guru should be obeyed; scriptures should be absorbed and transformed into life. Sadhana should become the very breath of our day-to-day living. 

You should perpetually be a sadhaka and a Yogi, not only when you are sitting upon your asana in your puja (worship) room or meditation cell. After getting up, you become something else. That will not do. Unfortunately, that is the way it is, and that is why we fail to achieve great heights of spiritual experience and awareness, why we fail to progress. 

Everything pertaining to God should become a vital, living factor, a vital, living force in your being and through your being in all the movements and activities of your daily life-mental, verbal and spiritual. Everything that constitutes spiritual life and sadhana, everything that is related to God-realisation, should, therefore, become a vital thing. You have to relate yourself. We must be it. Relationship should be one of life itself, a vital, living thing. 

This is the secret in spiritual sadhana, in spiritual life. Mantra springs into dynamism and manifests God by abhyasa (practise), by japa. It is so with everything. It is not by knowing that, one attains spiritual perfection and God, it is by being and it is by doing that everything in spiritual life becomes a reality and a living experience. May God bless you to see this clearly, and may you reap rich benefits from this clear perception. God bless you! 

 Excerpts from:

Spiritual Life should be Vital and Alive by Swami Chidananda

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?

If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org