Does God Need Material Possessions?
Does God Need Material Possessions?
[Mr Antony said that some of his friends asked “Why does God need a website? Why does God need money? Can He not do without these things?”]
When the work is possible through a process that follows the laws of nature, the supernatural power of God is not used. Only demons exhibit supernatural powers, even if there is no necessity. They want to draw the attention of people and attract them in order to get name and fame. Their aim is not uplifting humanity. Display of supernatural powers creates attention in the people. But it simultaneously creates tension. The realization of knowledge and natural love (devotion) cannot be created in the excited state of tension. Devotion should be spontaneous and should be developed only in the ground (normal) state; only then is it sweet. This entire universe is created by the Lord only for tasting such real natural sweet devotion of devotees. The exhibition of miracles always creates fear and tension and a natural flexible state is not possible, in which alone the sweet devotion can be tasted.
Fear and tension will block your mind and you will not dare to clear your doubts. It is not congenial for the free growth and expansion of divine knowledge. Unless there is a severe necessity, the Lord will not perform miracles. When the work is not possible through the natural way, then only does the Lord use the supernatural power. Even if a miracle is performed the Lord will try to hide it so that the natural state is balanced. When Lord Krishna covered the sun with His divine wheel, He made it appear as if a cloud had covered it. The intention of the Lord is not self-exhibition like a demon. The same supernatural miracle performed by a demon is used for his self-projection. The Lord likes to be loved by the devotees without exhibiting His supernatural wealth.
A prince, who is good and humble, likes to win the heart of a girl without revealing his identity as the prince of that land. He does not like to exhibit his wealth in order to win her heart. Similarly God likes to attract the hearts of devotees by His divine knowledge which is His eternal divine beauty. If the prince has no merit, he tries to attract her by cheap exhibition of his identity and wealth. Thus a demon like Satan, tries to attract human beings by cheap exhibition of supernatural powers and tries to convert them into his followers. Satan tried to attract Jesus by showing his kingdom. Jesus attracted people by His divine knowledge. When it becomes inevitable to do a miracle and when the performed miracle cannot be hidden, the Lord tries to neutralize the tension by exhibiting strongly negative qualities.
Lord Krishna lifted the mountain and protected the villagers from the heavy rain. Such miracles cannot remain hidden or cannot be made to appear as a natural phenomenon. [People are bound to get fear and excitement on seeing them]. In order to bring them to normal state, the Lord exhibited very strong Rajas and Tamas like stealing butter and dancing with girls. In the case of Lord Rama there was no necessity of exhibition of miracles. Hence there was no need for Him to show the negative qualities. Thus the Lord is associated with all the three qualities to be used wherever and whenever necessary.
All the discoveries of science are only due to the grace of God. Computer technology is the gift from God to humanity. Some people are earning their livelihood through this technology. Livelihood is essential and is the basis of sustaining the body, which is the instrument of all spiritual efforts. Now this same computer technology is being used for spiritual service. Are you objecting to the Creator of this technology using it for His own work? You must be grateful to the Lord. You can use it for your worldly purpose but you should at least express your gratefulness by using it for His service also. Every scientific benefit is granted by God to humanity with the primary purpose of using it in the spiritual line only. Majority of top scientists believe in God and accept their discoveries as the results of grace of God only. A discovery is always experienced as an accidental incident like a flash. It is not the result of the continuous hard work. During the hard work, a flash strikes the brain of the scientist. The scientist gets disgusted during his hard work and suddenly a flash in the brain results in a new discovery. If the discovery were the fruit of hard work, it would come naturally at the end of the hard work without any flash. Such a flash is due to the grace of the Lord. Almost all top scientists agree to this truth. Only a few egoistic scientists do not agree to this.
Science is very helpful in the analysis of this creation, which helps one realize that no item of this creation is the Creator. However, science does not help us understand anything about the Creator. In fact even philosophers and sages have not understood anything about the Creator. The philosopher also analyses the entire creation. In this aspect there is no difference between the philosopher and the scientist. The only difference between them is that the scientist does not accept the existence of the unknown Creator who is beyond creation, whereas the philosopher accepts Him.
For a philosopher, miracles are not necessary. He is very sensitive and recognizes the existence of God through deep analysis of various incidents in his life. The scientist is not so sensitive. He needs physical proof through miracles. Most scientists turn into devotees through such miracles, which are visible to the naked eye. Such scientists have an open mind and courage to accept the truth due to their wise flexibility. But a few scientists have a very rigid mind and do not accept even the physical miracles attributing them to magic and illusion. Such people should not be called as scientists. Science means rational flexibility; leaving old disproved concepts and accepting the new proved concepts. People who are rigid in their old fixed concepts are called as conservatives. Such people mock the devotees as conservatives and the joke is that they are the original raw conservatives!
The bonds with wife, children, and money are the strongest bonds and are called as the three ‘Eshanas’, which are like steel chains. The Lord competes with these three to test your love for Him. It is not the question of requirement. It is the question of identifying your love. Your son may be well settled and may not require money. But you still give your wealth to him alone. It shows your love for him which is not related with his requirement. You are covering your absence of love for God with this pretext of non-requirement (saying that God does not need our money). By such a cover, you want favor from God even though you do not love him truly. You can deceive a human being by such an intelligent cover, but can you deceive the Lord who is omniscient? Instead of such tricks, God will be pleased with you, if you say frankly that you do not want to give Him money since you do not have love for Him. Truth is always better than trickery.
A lady was applying perfume to the feet of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus told her that it was waste, since Jesus did not require it. But Jesus objected to the disciple and accepted the perfume which signifies her immense love for Lord Jesus. It indicates the divine love of the lady and there is no question of requirement here.
[Mr Antony said that some of his friends asked “Why does God need a website? Why does God need money? Can He not do without these things?”]
When the work is possible through a process that follows the laws of nature, the supernatural power of God is not used. Only demons exhibit supernatural powers, even if there is no necessity. They want to draw the attention of people and attract them in order to get name and fame. Their aim is not uplifting humanity. Display of supernatural powers creates attention in the people. But it simultaneously creates tension. The realization of knowledge and natural love (devotion) cannot be created in the excited state of tension. Devotion should be spontaneous and should be developed only in the ground (normal) state; only then is it sweet. This entire universe is created by the Lord only for tasting such real natural sweet devotion of devotees. The exhibition of miracles always creates fear and tension and a natural flexible state is not possible, in which alone the sweet devotion can be tasted.
Fear and tension will block your mind and you will not dare to clear your doubts. It is not congenial for the free growth and expansion of divine knowledge. Unless there is a severe necessity, the Lord will not perform miracles. When the work is not possible through the natural way, then only does the Lord use the supernatural power. Even if a miracle is performed the Lord will try to hide it so that the natural state is balanced. When Lord Krishna covered the sun with His divine wheel, He made it appear as if a cloud had covered it. The intention of the Lord is not self-exhibition like a demon. The same supernatural miracle performed by a demon is used for his self-projection. The Lord likes to be loved by the devotees without exhibiting His supernatural wealth.
A prince, who is good and humble, likes to win the heart of a girl without revealing his identity as the prince of that land. He does not like to exhibit his wealth in order to win her heart. Similarly God likes to attract the hearts of devotees by His divine knowledge which is His eternal divine beauty. If the prince has no merit, he tries to attract her by cheap exhibition of his identity and wealth. Thus a demon like Satan, tries to attract human beings by cheap exhibition of supernatural powers and tries to convert them into his followers. Satan tried to attract Jesus by showing his kingdom. Jesus attracted people by His divine knowledge. When it becomes inevitable to do a miracle and when the performed miracle cannot be hidden, the Lord tries to neutralize the tension by exhibiting strongly negative qualities.
Lord Krishna lifted the mountain and protected the villagers from the heavy rain. Such miracles cannot remain hidden or cannot be made to appear as a natural phenomenon. [People are bound to get fear and excitement on seeing them]. In order to bring them to normal state, the Lord exhibited very strong Rajas and Tamas like stealing butter and dancing with girls. In the case of Lord Rama there was no necessity of exhibition of miracles. Hence there was no need for Him to show the negative qualities. Thus the Lord is associated with all the three qualities to be used wherever and whenever necessary.
All the discoveries of science are only due to the grace of God. Computer technology is the gift from God to humanity. Some people are earning their livelihood through this technology. Livelihood is essential and is the basis of sustaining the body, which is the instrument of all spiritual efforts. Now this same computer technology is being used for spiritual service. Are you objecting to the Creator of this technology using it for His own work? You must be grateful to the Lord. You can use it for your worldly purpose but you should at least express your gratefulness by using it for His service also. Every scientific benefit is granted by God to humanity with the primary purpose of using it in the spiritual line only. Majority of top scientists believe in God and accept their discoveries as the results of grace of God only. A discovery is always experienced as an accidental incident like a flash. It is not the result of the continuous hard work. During the hard work, a flash strikes the brain of the scientist. The scientist gets disgusted during his hard work and suddenly a flash in the brain results in a new discovery. If the discovery were the fruit of hard work, it would come naturally at the end of the hard work without any flash. Such a flash is due to the grace of the Lord. Almost all top scientists agree to this truth. Only a few egoistic scientists do not agree to this.
Science is very helpful in the analysis of this creation, which helps one realize that no item of this creation is the Creator. However, science does not help us understand anything about the Creator. In fact even philosophers and sages have not understood anything about the Creator. The philosopher also analyses the entire creation. In this aspect there is no difference between the philosopher and the scientist. The only difference between them is that the scientist does not accept the existence of the unknown Creator who is beyond creation, whereas the philosopher accepts Him.
For a philosopher, miracles are not necessary. He is very sensitive and recognizes the existence of God through deep analysis of various incidents in his life. The scientist is not so sensitive. He needs physical proof through miracles. Most scientists turn into devotees through such miracles, which are visible to the naked eye. Such scientists have an open mind and courage to accept the truth due to their wise flexibility. But a few scientists have a very rigid mind and do not accept even the physical miracles attributing them to magic and illusion. Such people should not be called as scientists. Science means rational flexibility; leaving old disproved concepts and accepting the new proved concepts. People who are rigid in their old fixed concepts are called as conservatives. Such people mock the devotees as conservatives and the joke is that they are the original raw conservatives!
The bonds with wife, children, and money are the strongest bonds and are called as the three ‘Eshanas’, which are like steel chains. The Lord competes with these three to test your love for Him. It is not the question of requirement. It is the question of identifying your love. Your son may be well settled and may not require money. But you still give your wealth to him alone. It shows your love for him which is not related with his requirement. You are covering your absence of love for God with this pretext of non-requirement (saying that God does not need our money). By such a cover, you want favor from God even though you do not love him truly. You can deceive a human being by such an intelligent cover, but can you deceive the Lord who is omniscient? Instead of such tricks, God will be pleased with you, if you say frankly that you do not want to give Him money since you do not have love for Him. Truth is always better than trickery.
A lady was applying perfume to the feet of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus told her that it was waste, since Jesus did not require it. But Jesus objected to the disciple and accepted the perfume which signifies her immense love for Lord Jesus. It indicates the divine love of the lady and there is no question of requirement here.
51-55, M
