Gods and Weaknesses.

The idea of God is very difficult to understand. Men always understood God from the position of weakness and not from the position of strength. Men always prayed to God when they were weak. The primitive men were weak because they could not defend themselves against the forces of nature. They were always at a fear of being decimated by nature, and, therefore, they formed Gods which represented the forces of nature. When men desired dominions, they formed the idea of warrior Gods and offered sacrifices to them. Fear is one of the factors which drove these men to God. Fear is nothing but the idea of the body. The idea of the body is nothing but ignorance. The man is 'One Absolute'. When a man understands his real nature, fear vanishes, together with the idea of duality. Here, we will examine the cases when we prayed to our Gods, and we will examine the idea of God from the position of strength.

Primitive man.

The introduction of Gods in our lives began in a chaotic way. The day of introduction of Gods began with tonsuring of the head and puncturing of the ears. The day was marked with cuts, wounds, and bleeding. The only consolable thing we got back was a candy and a toy. We visited temples located in far-off places and came back exhausted. We took a forcible plunge in the water bodies around the temples, gasping for breath. We rolled down the corridors of the temples. We tied threads of all colours in our bodies.

OMG!

It was an introduction of our Gods in our lives without our consent. The above-mentioned rituals were performed to seek protection from God and ward-off evil spirits. It is the idea of fear which again prompted the man to seek God. The idea of fear comes from the idea of injury, and the idea of injury comes from the idea of the body. The idea of body is nothing but ignorance. The man is the infinite spirit. The man is the infinite Atman. Since, the man holds the idea of the body, which is a form of weakness, man seeks protection from an outside agent in the form of a God.

The Gods suddenly sprang up in the form of saviours during our examinations. The devotion took to a feverish pitch when we were writing our board exams. What an idea of weakness! The man is fear of losing his exams, and, therefore, takes an external agent for help. The fear of failure in life prompted the man to seek God. The story continued when we were wanting a job and success in the job interviews. All prayer for saving oneself shows how ignorant a man is. It shows his ignorance about his real nature, which is infinite.

Prayer before board exams.

The next popular idea of God is to pray for wealth. This is the idea which prompts millions of people to visit temples in high hills. Man behaves like a beggar not knowing his kingly nature. This is the root of all evils reducing man to the level of the material. The man is ignorant of his infinite nature and, seeks deliverance through wealth. Jesus said, ‘It is very easy for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a wealthy man to follow the path of spirituality’. All prayer for wealth is nothing but the idea of weakness.

The next popular idea among the aspirants of spirituality is to pray for liberation. What an idea of weakness! What an idea of duality! The man is 'One Absolute'. How can there be liberation in one absolute? The prayer for liberation is for protecting oneself in another world. It is for protecting the identity of name and form in another world. Man after liberation goes to Brahmalokha, and where he resides with God for an indefinite time. This is just another idea of preserving oneself in another world. A man prays for wealth for protection in this world, and man prays for liberation for protection in another world.

Once, Swami Vivekananda had this idea of liberation and approached his Guru Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna was completely displeased with the idea. He said, ‘I thought you are a like a big ship who can ferry millions of souls to the path of liberation, but now you are behaving like a commoner praying for petty liberation’. He said, ‘liberation is a petty idea, and that there are much higher states than that’. Swami Vivekananda had one of his great lessons in his life and understood that even prayer for liberation constitutes selfishness. The higher idea is to work for the liberation of all.

Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

Remember, whenever we pray to God for something, it is due to the outcome of ignorance of our real nature. Even the idea of liberation constitutes ignorance. The man is One Absolute. The idea of liberation is the outcome of duality. How can there be a duality (liberation) in ‘One’? It cannot be.

Therefore, understand God from the position of strength, and not from the position of weakness. All ideas of seeking God for wealth, health, and liberation constitute weaknesses. Grow more than that.

Thank You.

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