INFINITE – GOD IN FINITE – MAN.
Swami Saravanaananda
Published on Thai Poosam Day
(Tamil) Parithabi Aandu
19.1.1973.
Boundless is the universe. This universe is full with some Omnipotent and Omnipresent Supreme power which is called God. From time immemorial this universe with its countless heavenly bodies existing and going on eternally. This eternal existence of this great universe is the proof of the Infinite-Being or God. Because we have been endowed with the Divine knowledge of Omnigracious God we are able to understand the real purpose of this active universe. In order to reveal the DivineTruth, that Infinite God Himself has involved, and evolved into this great universe.
In the limitless ethereal space, the Almighty power was in the unseen form of ether. From these ethereal particles, His Omnipresence has come to evolve into all the basic elements to be created into all the universe. Now, in this creation, our planet – this earth, is fully equipped with facilities to bring out the Divine Truth from the Innermost. The electronic force in the lifeless material particles, has made out all the atoms, molecules and material forms upto stars in the sky. In every living being we see the life force and sensuous knowledge. Especially in the human life alone, the mental, intellectual power, has come to play. By this force of mind, man is able to find out many many outer and inner secrets. We are now able to see the wonderful work of the mind, in this vast world filled up with four billions of people. But the ordinary mind is unable to comprehend the Inner secret of Man, which is the Divine Soul itself. This Soul or Self Knowledge comes out and is revealed in one’ self Knowledge comes out and is revealed in one’s self, only when he completely turns inward eschewing all the outward flowing of the sensuous mental forces. In such an inner search our ancient Yogis discovered the Divine Soul in the Innermost
What is the Soul?
The true soul knowledge is not easily understood by the people. Because its subtilty and Divine attribute are beyond the conception of even the learned. Any reference from books do not exhibit the real and full details of the Soul. The most ancient Tamizhian by the Divine Grace had discovered the soul Truth, and on that basic Truth, the whole Tamizh language itself was founded. So with the help of this language one can realize the Inner Soul. Since the mere Soul knowledge alone was not enough for the highest salvation of man; it was not, revealed by His Grace for even thousands of years. And that Grace, only recently has come down and opened the Spiritual eye of a Soul of a developed Divine Love. That Soul is shining through Arutprakasa Vallalar, (known to the world as Ramalinga Swamigal of Vadalur).
The Swamigal of Divine Grace has been fully revealed of the Divine Truth. He declares, the Supreme God is Arutperum Jothi (Great Light of Infinite Grace) That Infinite God of Arutperum Jothi, by His Divine Omnipresent attribute is expressing out from an atom held atop of the central brain-the medulla oblongata. A deep study of this particular atom will reveal us the truth of our Soul.
The first atom of the creation of this human body begins in the womb of the mother. When the male’s spermatozoon and female’s ovum mix to produce a cell to develop into an embryo form, this mysterious atom appears and starts to supply all forces to the foetus and its further worldly life. This mysterious atom is giving out life energy to the physical body, sensuous feelings or sense organs, intellectual and mental thoughts to mind. Spiritual knowledge too comes out from this particle, and finally this is discovered to be the Divine atom of Soul from which the Infinite God expresses out completely and immortalizes the surrounding body by His Gracious transformation. This is what happened in our Swami Ramalingam.
From the above incident we come to know that Omnipresent God presents Himself in the form of a Divine Atom in the mid-head. Though He is said to be existing in each and every particle of the whole universe, only when a particular Atom becomes fit to be surrounded, by a Divinely matured human form, then and there, He comes out to the practical experience of man. Until this Spiritual maturity is not attained the Soul – atom is continuously surrounded by different bodily lives.
The Divine Soul atom is called Atman in Sanskrit. But the word Soul is, in fact a derivation of our Tamizh word “சொல்”. Because there is no differentiation of short and long vowels in the English language, our Tamizh “சொல்” is pronounced as Soul. Though “சொல்” is meant merely a word, it is taken to represent the One word “Om” “ஓம்” or the “pranavam” “பிரணவம்”. Truly this Om and “சொல்” are pointing the Divine Soul – atom. This divinity of this word, “சொல்” to a certain degree touched the mind of St. John so he had commenced the Gospel thus : “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God”:. This word is nothing but our Soul or “சொல்”. From all the above explanations it is clear the Soul is a Divine Atom which is now developed into our whole Being.
The Real Man
We have now come to an understanding that we are men of God, expressing out from the Eternal Divine Soul. We get this meaning for theTamizh word “மனிதன்” (Manithan) மன் means eternally existing and நிதன் means everlasting one. With this true meaning of man if we take the English word, this can also be pronounced as மன் (Man). Hence man is not a mere bodily being. The body is only an outer temporary development, which by His Great Grace is to be immortalized in the end.
Almost the whole humanity is living a sensuous physical life on this material world. The bodily appearance and life, and disappearance are taken into consideration and therefore the life passes on without a real benefit. After the passing away of physical life it is closed once for all. But the worldly people hold them (demised ones) to be living in the heaven or elsewhere in spiritual forms.
Here we have to know something about the spirits. When a physical body develops over a Soul – Atom, a Spirit form of subtile nature too is made out of the Soul for some divine purpose. This spirit body has got certain unnatural power by which it gives some worldly experience to man through one’s life, dream and the spirit life after the physical death. The Spirit body becomes a medium and works through some others’ bodies, minds and materials. The spirit body reveals in the minds of people and hence it will be living so far as the memory of the posterity keeps it in mind. Because the man is to live a soul life from the higher plane, he should never give much weight to all the spiritual forms.
A few words on Incarnation.
The power of spirit body is wonderful. This spirit can enter into some child’s body and it will be living there for some time. During that period, that spirit will be revealing its experiences gathered in the past life. So it will appear as if the spirit has become incarnated into this new form. After some time, when the spirit departs from that body, the old memories of the child, will fade away and vanish. Often, one may come across such a story of incarnation with such proof. This is believed by some, and others, unaware of the truth, disbelieve it. Either one believes it or not he need not cling to all these, but he has to lead a Divine life.
People hold much respect and reverence towards the past Great men, Divine personages and many deities. When the Soul truth is realized one can perceive the one Supreme Almighty Himself is expressing out from each of the forms .It is better to adore Him in the present circle than to think of Him in the past bodily forms we can love and serve the people around us. But what can we do to the spirits of the past? We are to see the One in all and serve Him through them.
The end of Yogas and Religions.
Our Yogis viewed the Divine Soul in themselves. And they wanted to merge in, eschewing the outer body and life. It was thought and believed by merging into the soul one can attain the goal of God-head. But the inner life is nothing and there will be no practical experience without the outer body and life. By the external renunciation there can be no prosperity in the worldly life. Therefore the path of devotion or the “bakthi marga” (பக்தி மார்க்கம்) was choosen. All the religions are based upon the idea that man has to return to God head from whom he has been separated somehow. This thought of separation from God is only taken root of the misconception, that man is a bodily being which is out of the soul stage. The real truth of man is otherwise.
The Infinite God Himself has come to Soul stage in the human body and from this stage He is due to make transformation of the physical into a form of His gracious light. Hence in reality the Soul of man is but an atom possessing the full Almighty Power. This Soul atom is infinitesimal. The Infinite God filled in the whole of boundless space has come to realize in this very small soul particle. This is the most supreme power of His Infinite Grace.
The One Supreme God of Infinite Grace has taken the Soul of man as His Divine throne from where He is controlling and ruling all the universe. Owing to His Omnipresent attribute He is known to be ruling from everywhere. But His presence and power of experience come to full realization in this full blooming Soul of Man. Through this Infinite Soul-man, the Infinite God has come out to rule henceforth. Here, let us refer to a poem (Arutpa of Arutprakasa Vallalar).
“சத்தியவான் வார்த்தையிது தானுரைத்தேன் கண்டாய்
சந்தேகம் இலையிதனிற் சந்தோட முறுவாய்
இத்தினமே அருட்ஜோதி எய்துகின்ற தினமாம்
இனிவருமத் தினங்களெலாம் இன்பமுறு தினங்கள்
சுத்தசிவ சன்மார்க்கம் துலங்குமெலா வுலகுந்
தூய்மையுறும் நீயுரைத்த சொல்லனைத்தும் பலிக்கும்
செத்தவர்கள் எழுந்துலகில் திரிந்துமகிழ்ந் திருப்பார்
திருவருட் செங்கோலென்றுஞ் செல்லுகின்ற தாமே”
This is a piece to show how the man of Divine Soul speaks to all souls. There is no doubt, from this day, every soul is to get up from its long slumber of ignorance and it is to live a life of Eternal Bliss. This Blessed Life of Bliss is guaranteed to every Soul-man.
Till this day generally the man was considered as a physical being, and accordingly the whole life was planned and led upon this earth. The sensuous life became a sensual life and it has become uncontrollable. A new life is to come out to make man divine. The Grace of God must dawn on the Soul-plan whence the life of man is to be renewed.
Now it is very clear the man is neither a bodily person nor a spiritual being, nor even a mere soul without a body. The Eastern Vedanta philosophy declared that the Eternal Soul only was the true form of man and the outer illusive body had to serve him till he attained the soul stage. As per this advice, the man tried to leave the external and live internally, the result was a complete failure of life and experience. Without this human form the Divine life cannot be lived. So, this Soul life is to blossom from the Soul atom itself. Indeed it must be a life of pure Love Divine. To implement this pure life from the innermost, one is to eschew both the desire and hatred of the sensuous life. He must help others to live a real happy life. By doing this he himself benefits from the inner aid of Grace Infinite.
There is only one God of Infinite Grace for the whole universe. Though He is One, He is existing and expressing out from everywhere. But this Divine existence and expression come to light only in the Soul of man at the right time of perfection. When this Soul gets the Self experience, it feels and acknowledges that it is the cynosure of the whole universe; from this central point the innumerable rays of Divine Grace are seen extending perpetually. All this is realized by Soul-man. Besides he knows that he alone is existing and working from the Innermost of every particle filling the whole space. This Divine Omnipresence is practically experienced by this Soul-man. In this finite man, the Infinite God has set up the never ending life of Grace. Thus the Infinite God and finite man assume one and the same gracious life of Eternal Bliss.
In essence God only is existing for ever and everywhere. It is He manifesting out in the forms of Soul-men. Residing in oneness of Him we must make a Divine love life in this world. We or each one of us as a Divine Soul are eternally existing. Our Soul existence is beyond the creation of the world. To this Soul-atom of us the Divine Light of Omnigrace is ever filled in and out. His Grace is commanding from inside and according to that command the outer forms and lives are surrounding to enlighten us. A Soul atom receives or is surrounded by different forms created out of the Divine Light elements abounding that Soul, When the life light begins to shine in the soul, the surrounding form grows into a living body of sense life. As the inner sensuous knowledge increases, the outer body of higher senses are created one after another. When the soul atom gets the light mind, the body that is formed is a human one. Eventually in this human life the Soul gets the full Grace by which the surrounding body is transformed and Immortalised.
The final salvation to the Soul is to come through the Innermost Divine Light of Grace,. Before this final salvation the Soul is to go through many a human life for over coming all the pleasures and pains of the sensual life. His reasoning mind too is to rise above the physical and the spiritual planes. By each life the Soul is getting some light and experience. The Soul’s enlightenment is continuous and it is not stopped by the separation of the physical body. When the death occurs in a human life, the physical body falls down and destroys. In the mean time, the spirit body gets out and lives for a long time. But in no time the Soul begins to assume a life at somewhere prescribed by the Divine Grace. Some people think, after death the Soul of man goes to heaven for a long rest. Others are of opinion that soul man is sent to some other life according to the virtuous and sinful deeds of the preceding life. Some people say after the passing away a Soul is to spend sometime at some other places before getting a new life upon this earth.
Let us follow the Soul-life from the Innermost abode. Let us not look the people from outside and judge them by the illusive mind. The Divine Grace commands from Soul and it is fulfilled in the outer life. The Gracious God takes charge of the Soul-man and makes him Himself. This forms the head line, INFINITE GOD IN FINITE MAN. May this God of Infinite Grace disclose all the secrets and give a blessed Blissful life to all Souls.
SWAMI SARAVANAANANDA
Content Ref: Infinite-God in Finite-man
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