Robin Sharma, renowned author and a leadership guru has given an interesting story in his book “Who will cry when you die?” Thousands of years ago, it was believed that every one who walked upon the earth was god. But humankind abused its limitless powers. So the Supreme God decided to hide the Godhead, the source of all of this potential, so that no one could find it. An imperative question arose, where could such thing be hidden? The first suggestion of placing it deep into the ground was rejected as some one would find it, digging deep. The other options of placing it in the deepest ocean or the highest mountain were also turned down as some one would dive deep in the ocean or scale the highest peaks and find it some day. The Supreme God then found a solution to this. He decided to put this source of all power inside the hearts of every man, woman and child as they will never think of looking there.
The story appears so very true in today’s context considering the manner in which everyone is going about looking for God. The irony is that, all our actions including the devotion seem more because of the fear of God rather than the love of God. As put beautifully in the story, how many are able to look for God in a human being or for that matter, in every being, the ones that are marvelous creations of God? The need is to distinguish between the “Man made Murats” and “God made Murats”.
Atman, the soul, the Brahmn is the same in each and every being. One that is beyond body, mind and intellect. Those who have never tried to understand anything beyond the sensually perceivable world may raise the question, “If there is God, why can’t we see him? Such a question may be a matter of laughter for many. Our identification with body, mind and intellect in all our exchanges without even having a thought of the spirit (the Atman), is an example of how ignorant we are. Whenever we interact with anyone, we identify only with the mind, body complex and not the spirit. Atman or Brahmn, in all beings is the same. Brahmn pervades all activity.
In Kenopanisad, the guru explains God, Brahmn as:
That which indeed is the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind, the Speech of the speech, the Vital-air of the prana and the Eye of the eye. The wise having completely freed and risen above this world become immortal. [Kenopanisad – Mantra 2]
This may sound somewhat confusing at first instance as to what could be the Ear of the ear or the Eye of the eye. The answer is simple. It is known that we see through the eyes, but there is force within that enables the eyes to see, that force is Brahmn, God. So is with the ears. If eyes could see, then the body without life could also see. This enlivening force, the Brahmn, one which is non-dual resides in the heart of every human being is the substratum of the universe.
If there is one God in all then why don’t we see it? We do not see it because we operate only through the body, mind and intellect. This can be best understood with a small experiment. When a light passes through a prism, the output of one coloured light is reflected in various different colours. Single coloured light appears in many colours on the other side of the prism. Similarly, when the Brahmn operates through the prism of the body, mind and intellect, we see different individuals distinct from the one Brahmn rooted in all.
To love God is to love all. Lord Krishna in the 12th chapter of Bhagwad Gita has enumerated 35 qualities of a devotee. The first and foremost quality stated in verse 13 is on the same thought and in fact would disqualify many devotees. “One who hates no being”. Thus to love God, one needs to identify God everywhere, love all beings because the same God lives in all beings. Loving all fellow beings has been beautifully presented in a poem Abou Ben Adhem, by James Henry Leigh Hunt. The poet has illustrated the true devotion to God. Abou dreamt of an angel who was writing the names of those who loved God. He enquired whether his name was there in the list or not. When the angel replied that his name was not in the list, he then requested the angel to write his name in the list of those who loved his fellow-men. Angel wrote the name and left. The next night the angel came with the list of those whom God loved. This list had Abou Ben Adhem’s name on the top.
