God’s incarnation, his gradual manifestation through profound remorse, and his works-eradication of hindrances which generate evil, provision of the essentials of Self-realization, and reinstatement of dharm- are not like the birth and deeds of mortals.

Perceived only as abstractions, God’s incarnation and operations cannot be seen with physical eyes. He cannot be measured by mind and wisdom. God, so inscrutable and mysterious, is perceptible only to him who has known the reality.

Lord Krishn sings in Chapter Four of Bhagavad Gita:

“He who has perceived
the essence of my radiant incarnations and works,
O Arjun, is never born again after discarding his body,
but dwells in me.”

Only he can view God’s incarnation and works, and once he has made this direct perception, he is not born again but dwells in Lord Krishn.

When seers alone can see God’s incarnation and works, why do we have these crowds of hundreds of thousands of men awaiting the birth of God so that they can see him? Are we all seers?

There are many who masquerade as sages, mainly by dressing as holy men, and who claim that they are incarnations, and whose agents resort to publicity to prove it. The credulous rush like sheep to have a view of these “God-men,” but Lord Krishn affirms that only men of perfection can see God.

Now, who is this man we call a seer?

Giving his verdict on the real and the false, Lord Krishn told Arjun that the unreal has no being and that the real has never been nonexistent in all time-past, present and future. This has been the experience of seers rather than of linguists or wealthy men. Now he reiterates that although God manifests himself, only perceivers of essence can see him. He has been united with ultimate reality and become a seer.

We do not become seers by learning to count the five (or twenty-five) elements. Lord Krishn further says that the Soul alone is the ultimate reality. When the Soul is united with this Universal Spirit, he too becomes God. So only a man who has realized the Self can see and comprehend God’s manifestation. It is evident therefore that God manifests himself in a worshipers’s heart.

At the outset the worshiper is not able to recognize the power which transmits signals to him. Who is showing him the way? But after he has perceived the truth of the Supreme Spirit, he begins to see and understand, and thereafter when he discards the body he is not reborn.

Lord Krishn has said that his manifestation is internal, obscure, and luminous, and that the one who sees his radiance becomes one with him. If men do the ordained task, they will find that they too are radiant. What others have the potential to be, Lord Krishn already is. He represents the possibilities of mankind-their future. The day we achieve perfection within ourselves, we will also be what Lord Krishn is; we will be identical with him. Incarnation is never external. If a heart is brimming with love and adoration, there is a possibility of its experiencing the divine incarnation. All the same Lord Krishn provides solace to the common people by telling them that many have realized him by treading on the ordained path.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Free from passion and anger,
wholly dedicated to me,
finding shelter in me,
and purified by knowledge and penance,
many have realized my being.”

Many who have taken refuge in Lord Krishn-with single-mindedness and complete detachment, freed equally from passion and passionlessness, fear and fearlessness, anger and absence of anger, and purified by knowledge and penance, have attained to his state. It is not that only now it is so. This canon has always been in operation. Many have attained to his state before.

But what is the way?

Lord Krishn shapes himself and appears in a heart that is filled with profound sorrow at the predominance of unrighteousness. It is people with such hearts who realize him. What Yogeshwar Krishn had previously called perception of reality he now calls knowledge (gyan). God is the ultimate reality. To perceive him is wisdom. Men with this knowledge therefore realize him. Here the problem is resolved and Sri Krishn now proceeds to distinguish worshipers according to their qualities.

Lord Krishn sings further:

“O Parth, as men worship me,
even so do I accept them,
and knowing this the wise follow me in every way.”

Lord Krishn rewards his worshipers according to the nature of their devotion; he assists them in the same degree. It is the worshiper’s dedication that is returned to him as grace. Knowing this secret, the righteous conduct themselves with single-mindedness according to the way laid down by him. They who are dear to him act according to his way. They do what he ordains them to do.

God shows his favour by standing with the worshiper as a charioteer; he begins to walk along with the worshiper and manifest his glory. This is the form of his loving care. He stands up for the destruction of forces that generate wickedness and to protect righteous impulses that provide access to reality.

Unless the worshiped God acts as the earnest charioteer who alerts at every step, despite his dedication and closing his eyes in meditation, and all other endeavours, the worshiper cannot cope with the adversities of the material world successfully.

How is he to know how much distance he has covered and how much more remains to be covered?

The adored God stands inseparably with the Self and guides him: that he is now at this point, that he should do this, and walk like that. Thus the gulf of nature is gradually bridged and, guiding the Soul ahead by gradual steps, God at last enables him to merge into him.

Worship and adoration have to be performed by the devotee, but the distance on the path which is covered by the devotee is only by God’s grace. Knowing this, men who are pervaded by divine sentiment through and through follow Lord Krishn’s precept. But they do not always do this in the right way.

Lord Krishn adds:

“Desiring fruits of their action,
men worship manifold gods,
for the rewards of action are then earned quickly.”

Desiring accomplishment of action within this human body, men take to the worship of many gods-that is, they cultivate the several righteous impulses. Lord Krishn has told Arjun to perform the ordained action, which is performance of yagya, a way of worship, in which the incoming and outgoing life-breaths are offered to God as oblation and the outward-looking senses are burnt out in the fire of self-restraint, and whose final outcome is the attainment of God.

The true meaning of action is worship. The outcome of this action is oneness with the eternal God, supreme goal: the state of total actionlessness. Lord Krishn says that men who follow his way, worship gods for the attainment of actionlessness, that is, they strengthen the divine impulses within.

Sri Krishn said that Arjun ought to practise yagya to foster gods-to strengthen his righteous impulses. He will progress more and more as these impulses are gradually strengthened and augmented.

Thus, advancing step by step, he will at last achieve ultimate bliss. This is the final stage of the process of spiritual advancement that has to be gone through from the beginning to the end.

Stressing the point, Lord Krishn says that they who follow him, even though aspiring for accomplishment of action in their human bodies, tend the righteous impulses which quicken the advent of the state of actionlessness. Never failing, the process invariably succeeds.

~ Revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Jee Paramhans ~
©

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Humble Wishes.
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