The Bhagavad Gita says that nobody knows God
The Bhagavad Gita says that nobody knows God (Maamtu veda na kashchana). The Veda says that words, mind, intelligence, logic and even imagination cannot touch God (Yato vachah…Manasa saha; Na medhaya; Naisha tarkena). The Veda also says that if one knows that God is unknown, he knows at least something about God (Yasyaamatam tasya matam). These three statements declare that God is unknowable and unreachable. Yet the same Veda says that God is present on this earth itself (Yat saakshat aparokshat). Similarly, the Gita also says that God reveals Himself on earth in every human generation as per the necessity (Tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham). These two statements say that God can be seen by humans. How can one reconcile these two contradicting sets of statements?
The first set of statements implies that you cannot catch God by your effort. The second statement indicates that whenever the kindest God wants to reveal Himself, He comes down to earth. You can see God on earth but He cannot be understood. Therefore, the first statement is not contradicted. Fine, you have seen Lord Krishna. However, as a boy He lifted a mountain on His little finger. Did you understand this? Definitely not! The Gita says that God comes down in a human body to preach to human beings (Manusheem tanum ashritam). Then you can see and touch Him. You can talk and live with Him. But He is not understood. He is seen only to prove that He cannot be understood.
The Veda has four great sentences called as the Maha Vakyas about the human incarnation:
Aham Brahmaasmi
Tatvamasi
Ayam Atmaa
Prajnanam Brahma.
The first three sentences say that externally, He is like me, you, and him respectively. The fourth great sentence says that He preaches a special divine knowledge, which is not possible for anyone else to preach. This knowledge is His internal form by which He is differentiated from others.
There are many electrons flowing in the atmosphere. The flow of electrons is called as electricity. But you cannot experience electricity in the atmosphere. By this electricity in the atmosphere, you cannot rotate the fan or light the lamp. This electricity cannot be experienced and you cannot get any benefit from it. But the same electrons, when made to flow in a metallic wire, you are able to get the experience of electricity by touching the wire. By this electricity, you can make the fan rotate and light the lamp. Similarly, you cannot directly experience God, who is pervading all over the world and you cannot get any fruit from Him. But when the same God enters the human body, you can experience Him through vision, touch, conversation and by living in His company. But even by this experience you cannot get any fruit. When you meet somebody, touch him, talk with him and even live with him, you can experience him, but you cannot necessarily get any help from him. Even if you serve God in His human form personally, He may preach to you several times but only when you participate in His mission as a servant, will He be completely pleased and give you the fruit. Therefore, you can experience and please God, only through the human form. God creates this method of approaching Him, for the sake of human beings. This method is called the human incarnation. If you try to reach the Absolute God directly, He is like a roaring mighty ocean. You are just a water drop. Your prayer is an iota in that ocean of sound. You may even merge into the sea and disappear completely losing your name and form.
Worship through form
The Gita says that if one tries to worship the formless all pervading God, he will end up in misery (Avyaktahi gatih). When God has arranged a very convenient way for approaching Him, why should you deny that way and try for a direct method? Are you mad? The reason for your madness is your repulsion from another human form (other than yourself). This repulsion is produced by your ego and jealousy. Likes repel each other. Ego and jealousy cover the two eyes of any human being. These two layers are responsible for the human being not using the method provided by God Himself. When you cannot even imagine God, how can you serve Him? This is like a drought, which is one extreme end. The other extreme end is like a flood in which every human being thinks that he himself is God and this is the result of a misunderstanding of the Veda. If every human being is already God, then the spiritual effort would be meant only for stones![1] Therefore, to solve this problem an intermediate technique is adopted. The human form is introduced in the form of an inert statue or a picture. Since the statue or the picture is not the actual human being, the repulsion is reduced. Since the human form in a statue or a picture belongs to some deity from the upper world or a past human incarnation, the problem of repulsion is removed. If the repulsion is of a higher order, the face of that human form in the statue or picture is replaced by the face of a monkey (Hanuman), the face of an elephant (Ganapati) etc., because the jealousy towards the human form is mainly concentrated on the face. If the repulsion is of the highest order, instead of the human form the form of a fish, tortoise (Matsya, Kurma) etc., is introduced in the form of an idol or picture. Therefore, the statues and pictures are worshipped as a training to remove the repulsion caused by ego and jealousy towards the human form. But these statues are only meant for meditation and not for worship or service. The Veda says that the Lord is not in statues or photos (Natasya pratima). The Veda also says that no inert object is God (Nedam tat).
The Gita also says that God is not the world and God is not in the world (Nachaham teshu; Maamebhya param). When it is said that God is in the world in the Gita, it means that God exists as the base of the world (Matsthani…). This interpretation is derived from Sanskrit grammar (Aupasleshika Saptami Vibhakthih). Here the base is not touched by the world and so God is untouched; He remains without any change in spite of the changes in the world. When a daydreamer dreams of a city and when the city catches fire, the fire does not touch the dreamer. This entire world is only the will of God (Icchamaatram Prabhoh srishtih). The imagined city is based on the dreamer. Even when a person in that dream-city is burnt, the dreamer is not burnt. Similarly even if a soul in the world is pained, God is not pained. The dreamer can enter his own dream through a form of his own imagination and can express himself through that form anywhere in that dream-world. Similarly, God expressed Himself in the form of Lord Narasimha (form of a fierce lion-headed man). He can enter the dream world through a human form, which is also made of His will and such a human form is called the human incarnation. The dream-world and the dream-men are also made of His will.
The Veda mentions the entrance of God into this world through a human incarnation (Tadevaanu praavisat). When He enters the human body, He pervades that body from top to bottom, internally and externally, just like the electricity that has entered a metallic wire. Wherever you touch the wire, the electricity is experienced (Antarbhahishcha). This is Advaita (non-duality), which means that you cannot separate God and that human body as long as He is present in the body. God is that human body just as the electricity is that wire. Therefore, you should worship such a human form as the actual God with the Advaita angle. Why are you worshipping past human incarnations? The electricity has gone from those wires and even those wires are not seen now[2]. Only imaginary pictures or photographs of those wires are present before you. What is the use of worshipping them? God left those human bodies and you cannot experience that God directly. Those human bodies are also gone now. Then what is it that you are worshipping? When the Lord left the body of Krishna, Arjuna cremated that body with the help of a few dry sticks, because the body was only an inert material. The same body, when Lord was present in it, had swallowed a wild fire, which was burning the whole forest. Therefore, the inert statue is only for vision and meditation.
If you worship and serve such inert objects you will be born as an inert object as said by the Lord in the Gita (Bhutejya yaanti). The Lord said that He should be worshipped and by that He means that the living human incarnation should be worshipped. In the Veda it is said that the sun should be worshipped as God (Adityam Brahmeti). Immediately the Veda also says that the sun is not God (Nedam tat). The Lord, as said in the Veda, controls the sun (Bhishodeti suryah). If the sun is God or even if God is present in the sun, then it would not be said that the sun is controlled by God. The Lord said in the Gita that He is not in the world (Natvaham teshu). The Veda says that no item of the world—including the soul—is God (Neti neti). Thus, God is the base of the sun since He is the base of the entire world. So here you must meditate upon the sun as the representative of God and such a representative is called as a ‘prateeka’. The national flag of India represents India. The flag is not India and India is not in the flag. However, the base of that flag is the earth of India. When a representative of the king comes, the representative is not the king nor is the king present in the representative. The representative is an employee, controlled by the king. You can respect the representative and even worship him because he is also a living being like the king. Therefore, you can worship the devotees of the Lord by the sixteen modes of worship (shodasa upacharas). But you should not do these sixteen modes of worship to a statue of the king, even though it is the direct form of the king. A statue is only for vision (seeing and meditating upon the form). When the sixteen modes of worship are to be performed on a statue in a temple, we perform the ritual of life initiation (prana pratishta) in that statue. By this initiation, the statue does not come alive. If you can make a statue alive by such rituals, why don’t you make a dead body alive by the same? Therefore, the inert statue with life initiation means the living human form. This means that you should worship the living human body of God, which is called the human incarnation. Even a devotee of God is a human form with life and therefore he can also be worshipped by the same sixteen modes.
The Gita says that the soul is a part of Nature and is called as ‘para prakriti’ (Jiva bhutaam). The inert part of creation is called ‘apara prakriti’ (Apareyam). Since the world is a creation and not the Creator, the soul is not the Lord. The soul is a part of creation and the Lord is the Creator. Krishna created duplicate cows and cowboys, when the original souls of the cows and cowboys were taken away by the divine officer called ‘Prajapati’. This proves that the soul is creation. In the Gita it is said that God throws some souls into the everlasting fire called hell (Samsaareshu naraadhaman). If every soul is God, how could any soul be thrown into hell? It would mean that God has thrown God into hell! This proves that the soul is not the Lord.
The Lord says in the Gita that He comes in human form in every human generation (Sambhavami yuge yuge). The word yuga means human generation. If God comes only in one particular human generation, then He becomes partial. Any human being can see the human incarnation present in his generation provided the two layers covering the eyes (ego and jealousy) are removed. The human body is made of five elements and you can see, touch, talk and live with the Lord through that human body. The Lord comes to you without any trace of your effort since you have prayed to Him through surrender and devotion. Even if you do a lot of penance, the Lord only appears before you through a body made of light for a few minutes as Lord Vishnu. He will talk a few words with you and will disappear. You cannot touch Him and live with Him for a long time. How foolish you are to lose this golden opportunity of the human incarnation called as Krishna! Both Vishnu and Krishna are incarnations. The same Lord entered both the bodies (energetic body of Vishnu and the human body of Krishna). The same Lord pervaded both the bodies from top to bottom, internally and externally. The reason for your bad luck is only the layers (of ego and jealousy) covering your two eyes.
One God many incarnations
The Lord also comes in different human forms at the same time for the convenience of people living in different places. Convenience[3] (saulabhya) is one of His divine qualities. Everything is possible by His super power called Maya. Parushurama and Rama were present in the same time. Vyasa and Krishna were present in the same time. Akkalkota Maharaj and Shirdi Sai Baba were present in the same time. In the same time He comes in different forms to preach at different levels, since the devotees in the same time are at different levels. Even His servants and disciples come down in various human bodies. He comes down fully along with His whole department. Many school teachers, lecturers, and readers are present in His department. He comes down as one Professor because there will be very few devotees, who have reached the topmost level. In some human bodies, only a ray of His energy enters and this is called a ‘Kala Avatara’ (e.g sage Vyasa). In other cases, a part of His energy enters a human body and this is called as an ‘Amsha Avatara’ (e.g. Kapila). When He enters a human body only for some time, it is called an ‘Avesha Avatara’ (e.g Parashurama). When He enters a human body and lives from birth to death in that body but only reveals Himself partially, then He is called as a ‘Purna Avatara’ (e.g. Lord Rama). When the Purna Avatara reveals Himself completely, He is called a ‘Pari Purna Avatara’ (e.g. Lord Krishna). Krishna is the Professor and His preaching is of the topmost level. It is called the Bhagavad Gita, which is the essence of all the Vedas.
We must remember that the human body of the Lord is not a modification of the Lord (the Lord does not get transformed into the body) and therefore the Lord can leave the body at the end (Avyaktam Vyakti Maapannam). Due to this reason, the body retains its natural properties like birth, death, hunger etc., and these properties do not touch the internal Lord. The internal Lord is the True Infinite Knowledge as said in the Veda (Satyam jnanam anantham). The Vedas are only His preaching (Asya mahato bhutasya, Vedaanta krut). The Vedas and the Gita are called as Shastras. Shastra means that which is spoken by the Lord (Tasmat shastram). Therefore, any human incarnation of the Lord at the professor-level, will definitely quote these Shastras as said in the Gita.
Scholars also may quote these Shastras but their preaching only results in a headache. The preaching of the Lord gives bliss in your heart since the Veda says that God is bliss (Aanando Brahma). Lord Shankara and Mandana Mishra argued for twenty one days. Both quoted the Shastras. But the knowledge of Shankara gave bliss not only to the audience but also to Mandana Mishra. Therefore, Shankara was considered to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva. Shankara entered the house of Mandana Mishra even though the doors were bolted from inside. He used His miraculous power since nobody opened the door in spite of His several calls. The incarnation has all the super powers but He uses them only when it is absolutely necessary. He does not exhibit His powers for fame or to attract people. If He were to do so, people would catch Him and press Him for granting them boons that they do not deserve. God gave His super powers even to the demons since the powers are like His jewels (which can be donated to anyone). However, the demons could not get His characteristic property, which is divine knowledge. Therefore, great sages did not accept the demons as God even though the demons exhibited several miracles.
Son of Atri and Anasuya
Datta means the Lord who has donated Himself to the devotees through the human body (Sattvam prakriti jaihi muktam). The devotee must be ‘Atri’ and ‘Anasuya’ (Lord Datta, in His first incarnation was born as the son of sage Atri and his wife Anasuya). You will become Atri when you get rid of the three types of ego:
Ego of knowledge
Ego of physical power
Ego of body, wealth etc.
You will become ‘Anasuya’ when you get rid of jealousy (asuya). Datta is not the name of any body. It is a general word, which indicates every human incarnation. The form of Datta is represented pictorially as having three heads, which indicate the three qualities: sattvam (goodness), rajas (activity) and tamas (ignorance), which indicate the ruling, creation and destruction of creation respectively. The six hands of the form indicate the six modifications of the body, which are existence, birth, growth, modification, reduction and destruction. All the three qualities always co-exist and any quality may become the main quality of a certain incarnation in a particular time. Even Rama, who is considered as the embodiment of sattvam, showed rajas when He was angry with sage Jabali, and showed tamas when He was running after the golden deer to satisfy His wife’s fancy. The Lord inside the body is beyond all these three qualities, which represent Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva respectively (Gunaateetah sa). The same cement used to build any other house is also used to build the palace of the king. Similarly, the body contains the same qualities, whether the Lord lives in it or an ordinary soul lives in it. The Lord is beyond these three qualities but the soul is only a composite of these three qualities as said in the Gita (Nanyam gunebhyah). The properties of the wire do not disappear when electricity enters it and therefore the electrified wire also looks like other wires. But the electrified wire gives the experience of the electricity through touch. Similarly, the human incarnation gives divine experiences. He does not like to be recognized by all human beings since He came only for His devotees who prayed for Him.
Another important reason for the natural state of His human body is that He donates Himself to His real devotees and undergoes the suffering of their sins. The body in which He suffers, should not be made divine by His super power. If it were divine, the suffering would not touch Him and then it amounts to deceiving the law of justice (dharma). Therefore, if you can remove your ego and jealousy towards the human form and purify your mind completely, you will become eligible to receive the divine knowledge (Jnana Yoga) which is revealed by the four great sentences of the Vedas and you will be able to recognize the human incarnation present in your generation.
Who are You?
The Gita says that the soul is a bundle of good and bad qualities (Sanghatah chetanaa dhritih). The soul is made of awareness, which is nothing but a special form of work (energy). This special work is produced by the interaction of inert matter and inert energy. Therefore, awareness or any quality must be inert because it is a product of two inert items. ‘Inert’ means that which is not independent. Therefore, the soul is not independent and is controlled by the Lord. The brain and the nervous system are inert matter. The energy produced by the digestion of food is again inert. When these inert matter and inert energy combine, a special work called awareness is produced. Work is a form of energy. Matter is also a form of energy. Therefore, the whole creation is energy. Since the Lord created this world it is called creation. The Veda and the Gita say that a very minute particle of the Lord is modified into the world (Paadosya vishva, Ekaamshena). Just one ray of the multi-mi
The first set of statements implies that you cannot catch God by your effort. The second statement indicates that whenever the kindest God wants to reveal Himself, He comes down to earth. You can see God on earth but He cannot be understood. Therefore, the first statement is not contradicted. Fine, you have seen Lord Krishna. However, as a boy He lifted a mountain on His little finger. Did you understand this? Definitely not! The Gita says that God comes down in a human body to preach to human beings (Manusheem tanum ashritam). Then you can see and touch Him. You can talk and live with Him. But He is not understood. He is seen only to prove that He cannot be understood.
The Veda has four great sentences called as the Maha Vakyas about the human incarnation:
Aham Brahmaasmi
Tatvamasi
Ayam Atmaa
Prajnanam Brahma.
The first three sentences say that externally, He is like me, you, and him respectively. The fourth great sentence says that He preaches a special divine knowledge, which is not possible for anyone else to preach. This knowledge is His internal form by which He is differentiated from others.
There are many electrons flowing in the atmosphere. The flow of electrons is called as electricity. But you cannot experience electricity in the atmosphere. By this electricity in the atmosphere, you cannot rotate the fan or light the lamp. This electricity cannot be experienced and you cannot get any benefit from it. But the same electrons, when made to flow in a metallic wire, you are able to get the experience of electricity by touching the wire. By this electricity, you can make the fan rotate and light the lamp. Similarly, you cannot directly experience God, who is pervading all over the world and you cannot get any fruit from Him. But when the same God enters the human body, you can experience Him through vision, touch, conversation and by living in His company. But even by this experience you cannot get any fruit. When you meet somebody, touch him, talk with him and even live with him, you can experience him, but you cannot necessarily get any help from him. Even if you serve God in His human form personally, He may preach to you several times but only when you participate in His mission as a servant, will He be completely pleased and give you the fruit. Therefore, you can experience and please God, only through the human form. God creates this method of approaching Him, for the sake of human beings. This method is called the human incarnation. If you try to reach the Absolute God directly, He is like a roaring mighty ocean. You are just a water drop. Your prayer is an iota in that ocean of sound. You may even merge into the sea and disappear completely losing your name and form.
Worship through form
The Gita says that if one tries to worship the formless all pervading God, he will end up in misery (Avyaktahi gatih). When God has arranged a very convenient way for approaching Him, why should you deny that way and try for a direct method? Are you mad? The reason for your madness is your repulsion from another human form (other than yourself). This repulsion is produced by your ego and jealousy. Likes repel each other. Ego and jealousy cover the two eyes of any human being. These two layers are responsible for the human being not using the method provided by God Himself. When you cannot even imagine God, how can you serve Him? This is like a drought, which is one extreme end. The other extreme end is like a flood in which every human being thinks that he himself is God and this is the result of a misunderstanding of the Veda. If every human being is already God, then the spiritual effort would be meant only for stones![1] Therefore, to solve this problem an intermediate technique is adopted. The human form is introduced in the form of an inert statue or a picture. Since the statue or the picture is not the actual human being, the repulsion is reduced. Since the human form in a statue or a picture belongs to some deity from the upper world or a past human incarnation, the problem of repulsion is removed. If the repulsion is of a higher order, the face of that human form in the statue or picture is replaced by the face of a monkey (Hanuman), the face of an elephant (Ganapati) etc., because the jealousy towards the human form is mainly concentrated on the face. If the repulsion is of the highest order, instead of the human form the form of a fish, tortoise (Matsya, Kurma) etc., is introduced in the form of an idol or picture. Therefore, the statues and pictures are worshipped as a training to remove the repulsion caused by ego and jealousy towards the human form. But these statues are only meant for meditation and not for worship or service. The Veda says that the Lord is not in statues or photos (Natasya pratima). The Veda also says that no inert object is God (Nedam tat).
The Gita also says that God is not the world and God is not in the world (Nachaham teshu; Maamebhya param). When it is said that God is in the world in the Gita, it means that God exists as the base of the world (Matsthani…). This interpretation is derived from Sanskrit grammar (Aupasleshika Saptami Vibhakthih). Here the base is not touched by the world and so God is untouched; He remains without any change in spite of the changes in the world. When a daydreamer dreams of a city and when the city catches fire, the fire does not touch the dreamer. This entire world is only the will of God (Icchamaatram Prabhoh srishtih). The imagined city is based on the dreamer. Even when a person in that dream-city is burnt, the dreamer is not burnt. Similarly even if a soul in the world is pained, God is not pained. The dreamer can enter his own dream through a form of his own imagination and can express himself through that form anywhere in that dream-world. Similarly, God expressed Himself in the form of Lord Narasimha (form of a fierce lion-headed man). He can enter the dream world through a human form, which is also made of His will and such a human form is called the human incarnation. The dream-world and the dream-men are also made of His will.
The Veda mentions the entrance of God into this world through a human incarnation (Tadevaanu praavisat). When He enters the human body, He pervades that body from top to bottom, internally and externally, just like the electricity that has entered a metallic wire. Wherever you touch the wire, the electricity is experienced (Antarbhahishcha). This is Advaita (non-duality), which means that you cannot separate God and that human body as long as He is present in the body. God is that human body just as the electricity is that wire. Therefore, you should worship such a human form as the actual God with the Advaita angle. Why are you worshipping past human incarnations? The electricity has gone from those wires and even those wires are not seen now[2]. Only imaginary pictures or photographs of those wires are present before you. What is the use of worshipping them? God left those human bodies and you cannot experience that God directly. Those human bodies are also gone now. Then what is it that you are worshipping? When the Lord left the body of Krishna, Arjuna cremated that body with the help of a few dry sticks, because the body was only an inert material. The same body, when Lord was present in it, had swallowed a wild fire, which was burning the whole forest. Therefore, the inert statue is only for vision and meditation.
If you worship and serve such inert objects you will be born as an inert object as said by the Lord in the Gita (Bhutejya yaanti). The Lord said that He should be worshipped and by that He means that the living human incarnation should be worshipped. In the Veda it is said that the sun should be worshipped as God (Adityam Brahmeti). Immediately the Veda also says that the sun is not God (Nedam tat). The Lord, as said in the Veda, controls the sun (Bhishodeti suryah). If the sun is God or even if God is present in the sun, then it would not be said that the sun is controlled by God. The Lord said in the Gita that He is not in the world (Natvaham teshu). The Veda says that no item of the world—including the soul—is God (Neti neti). Thus, God is the base of the sun since He is the base of the entire world. So here you must meditate upon the sun as the representative of God and such a representative is called as a ‘prateeka’. The national flag of India represents India. The flag is not India and India is not in the flag. However, the base of that flag is the earth of India. When a representative of the king comes, the representative is not the king nor is the king present in the representative. The representative is an employee, controlled by the king. You can respect the representative and even worship him because he is also a living being like the king. Therefore, you can worship the devotees of the Lord by the sixteen modes of worship (shodasa upacharas). But you should not do these sixteen modes of worship to a statue of the king, even though it is the direct form of the king. A statue is only for vision (seeing and meditating upon the form). When the sixteen modes of worship are to be performed on a statue in a temple, we perform the ritual of life initiation (prana pratishta) in that statue. By this initiation, the statue does not come alive. If you can make a statue alive by such rituals, why don’t you make a dead body alive by the same? Therefore, the inert statue with life initiation means the living human form. This means that you should worship the living human body of God, which is called the human incarnation. Even a devotee of God is a human form with life and therefore he can also be worshipped by the same sixteen modes.
The Gita says that the soul is a part of Nature and is called as ‘para prakriti’ (Jiva bhutaam). The inert part of creation is called ‘apara prakriti’ (Apareyam). Since the world is a creation and not the Creator, the soul is not the Lord. The soul is a part of creation and the Lord is the Creator. Krishna created duplicate cows and cowboys, when the original souls of the cows and cowboys were taken away by the divine officer called ‘Prajapati’. This proves that the soul is creation. In the Gita it is said that God throws some souls into the everlasting fire called hell (Samsaareshu naraadhaman). If every soul is God, how could any soul be thrown into hell? It would mean that God has thrown God into hell! This proves that the soul is not the Lord.
The Lord says in the Gita that He comes in human form in every human generation (Sambhavami yuge yuge). The word yuga means human generation. If God comes only in one particular human generation, then He becomes partial. Any human being can see the human incarnation present in his generation provided the two layers covering the eyes (ego and jealousy) are removed. The human body is made of five elements and you can see, touch, talk and live with the Lord through that human body. The Lord comes to you without any trace of your effort since you have prayed to Him through surrender and devotion. Even if you do a lot of penance, the Lord only appears before you through a body made of light for a few minutes as Lord Vishnu. He will talk a few words with you and will disappear. You cannot touch Him and live with Him for a long time. How foolish you are to lose this golden opportunity of the human incarnation called as Krishna! Both Vishnu and Krishna are incarnations. The same Lord entered both the bodies (energetic body of Vishnu and the human body of Krishna). The same Lord pervaded both the bodies from top to bottom, internally and externally. The reason for your bad luck is only the layers (of ego and jealousy) covering your two eyes.
One God many incarnations
The Lord also comes in different human forms at the same time for the convenience of people living in different places. Convenience[3] (saulabhya) is one of His divine qualities. Everything is possible by His super power called Maya. Parushurama and Rama were present in the same time. Vyasa and Krishna were present in the same time. Akkalkota Maharaj and Shirdi Sai Baba were present in the same time. In the same time He comes in different forms to preach at different levels, since the devotees in the same time are at different levels. Even His servants and disciples come down in various human bodies. He comes down fully along with His whole department. Many school teachers, lecturers, and readers are present in His department. He comes down as one Professor because there will be very few devotees, who have reached the topmost level. In some human bodies, only a ray of His energy enters and this is called a ‘Kala Avatara’ (e.g sage Vyasa). In other cases, a part of His energy enters a human body and this is called as an ‘Amsha Avatara’ (e.g. Kapila). When He enters a human body only for some time, it is called an ‘Avesha Avatara’ (e.g Parashurama). When He enters a human body and lives from birth to death in that body but only reveals Himself partially, then He is called as a ‘Purna Avatara’ (e.g. Lord Rama). When the Purna Avatara reveals Himself completely, He is called a ‘Pari Purna Avatara’ (e.g. Lord Krishna). Krishna is the Professor and His preaching is of the topmost level. It is called the Bhagavad Gita, which is the essence of all the Vedas.
We must remember that the human body of the Lord is not a modification of the Lord (the Lord does not get transformed into the body) and therefore the Lord can leave the body at the end (Avyaktam Vyakti Maapannam). Due to this reason, the body retains its natural properties like birth, death, hunger etc., and these properties do not touch the internal Lord. The internal Lord is the True Infinite Knowledge as said in the Veda (Satyam jnanam anantham). The Vedas are only His preaching (Asya mahato bhutasya, Vedaanta krut). The Vedas and the Gita are called as Shastras. Shastra means that which is spoken by the Lord (Tasmat shastram). Therefore, any human incarnation of the Lord at the professor-level, will definitely quote these Shastras as said in the Gita.
Scholars also may quote these Shastras but their preaching only results in a headache. The preaching of the Lord gives bliss in your heart since the Veda says that God is bliss (Aanando Brahma). Lord Shankara and Mandana Mishra argued for twenty one days. Both quoted the Shastras. But the knowledge of Shankara gave bliss not only to the audience but also to Mandana Mishra. Therefore, Shankara was considered to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva. Shankara entered the house of Mandana Mishra even though the doors were bolted from inside. He used His miraculous power since nobody opened the door in spite of His several calls. The incarnation has all the super powers but He uses them only when it is absolutely necessary. He does not exhibit His powers for fame or to attract people. If He were to do so, people would catch Him and press Him for granting them boons that they do not deserve. God gave His super powers even to the demons since the powers are like His jewels (which can be donated to anyone). However, the demons could not get His characteristic property, which is divine knowledge. Therefore, great sages did not accept the demons as God even though the demons exhibited several miracles.
Son of Atri and Anasuya
Datta means the Lord who has donated Himself to the devotees through the human body (Sattvam prakriti jaihi muktam). The devotee must be ‘Atri’ and ‘Anasuya’ (Lord Datta, in His first incarnation was born as the son of sage Atri and his wife Anasuya). You will become Atri when you get rid of the three types of ego:
Ego of knowledge
Ego of physical power
Ego of body, wealth etc.
You will become ‘Anasuya’ when you get rid of jealousy (asuya). Datta is not the name of any body. It is a general word, which indicates every human incarnation. The form of Datta is represented pictorially as having three heads, which indicate the three qualities: sattvam (goodness), rajas (activity) and tamas (ignorance), which indicate the ruling, creation and destruction of creation respectively. The six hands of the form indicate the six modifications of the body, which are existence, birth, growth, modification, reduction and destruction. All the three qualities always co-exist and any quality may become the main quality of a certain incarnation in a particular time. Even Rama, who is considered as the embodiment of sattvam, showed rajas when He was angry with sage Jabali, and showed tamas when He was running after the golden deer to satisfy His wife’s fancy. The Lord inside the body is beyond all these three qualities, which represent Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva respectively (Gunaateetah sa). The same cement used to build any other house is also used to build the palace of the king. Similarly, the body contains the same qualities, whether the Lord lives in it or an ordinary soul lives in it. The Lord is beyond these three qualities but the soul is only a composite of these three qualities as said in the Gita (Nanyam gunebhyah). The properties of the wire do not disappear when electricity enters it and therefore the electrified wire also looks like other wires. But the electrified wire gives the experience of the electricity through touch. Similarly, the human incarnation gives divine experiences. He does not like to be recognized by all human beings since He came only for His devotees who prayed for Him.
Another important reason for the natural state of His human body is that He donates Himself to His real devotees and undergoes the suffering of their sins. The body in which He suffers, should not be made divine by His super power. If it were divine, the suffering would not touch Him and then it amounts to deceiving the law of justice (dharma). Therefore, if you can remove your ego and jealousy towards the human form and purify your mind completely, you will become eligible to receive the divine knowledge (Jnana Yoga) which is revealed by the four great sentences of the Vedas and you will be able to recognize the human incarnation present in your generation.
Who are You?
The Gita says that the soul is a bundle of good and bad qualities (Sanghatah chetanaa dhritih). The soul is made of awareness, which is nothing but a special form of work (energy). This special work is produced by the interaction of inert matter and inert energy. Therefore, awareness or any quality must be inert because it is a product of two inert items. ‘Inert’ means that which is not independent. Therefore, the soul is not independent and is controlled by the Lord. The brain and the nervous system are inert matter. The energy produced by the digestion of food is again inert. When these inert matter and inert energy combine, a special work called awareness is produced. Work is a form of energy. Matter is also a form of energy. Therefore, the whole creation is energy. Since the Lord created this world it is called creation. The Veda and the Gita say that a very minute particle of the Lord is modified into the world (Paadosya vishva, Ekaamshena). Just one ray of the multi-mi
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