Godman - A boon or bane?

Hinduism has no prophets, no messengers and no sons of God. Why? Because there is no God in Hinduism. Everything and anything is the Brahman. When anything and everything is God there can't be a God separate, a godman separate and a group of followers separate. There is no creator separate from the created. It is Paramatman, meaning ever pervading existence. Then why do Hinduism have a horde of Godman? and million Gods?

To understand that one needs to first realize that everything is God. When one says everything it includes the ignorant and the enlightened, it includes the bad and the good, it includes the oceans and the mountains, it includes the animals and the birds, it includes the inanimate and the animate, it includes the atom and the nothing. In simple words it includes the un-manifested consciousness and the manifested consciousness. In a single word as consciousness. 

The one aspect that truly makes human stand out from the rest of the existence is his intellect - a faculty that is capable of knowing. It is this same intellect that differentiates one human from another. The awakening of this intellect - meaning the person has realized and is capable of seeing beyond the veils of illusion and he is in complete tune and harmony with existence, as One - is known as enlightenment. These are the enlightened beings that we call as God - Shiva, Krishna and many million other enlightened beings who were born just like you and I. Absolutely no difference.

The seekers of the divinity look upon the enlightened ones with reverence in the hope that they get to taste the nectar of bliss. In our constant search for contentment, some humans tend to start seeking for it internally, within oneself. This group may chance upon an enlightened master to unravel the mysteries of existence. Though, the seeker knows he is God himself and that his Guru is no separate from him, it only remains a mere knowledge, just a theory. In order to realize this knowing he would look up on his realized Guru as a separate entity and express reverence and treat him as God. The truly realized master takes no pride in this treatment nor is he going to be disappointed if he has no followers. The ever content master has no agenda or desire to fulfill. With reverence in place the seeker is more willing to set aside his limited knowledge and arrogance paving the path to acquire greater wisdom. This enlightened person could end up being called as Godman by the world. This existence had thousands before, few now and would have many to come.

Certain crooks who has half the knowledge but no realization misuse the system, claim as messengers of God or closer to God. They cause gullible men and women to follow them, abuse them and exploit them. We have seen many impostors and would see many more, but that doesn't affect the genuine seeker of truth from meeting a genuine master. The gullible usually seek material pleasure and would end up meeting an impostor while the true seeker of the truth doesn't seek a guru. To a genuine seeker of the truth the realized Guru happens and that guru can be a flamboyant guru like Krishna or a guru in recluse like Shiva, external appearance including his behavior doesn't matter but how settled and still he is inside matters. Since it could be very misleading one doesn't ever shop, The teacher arrives when the student is ready.

PS - The twisted movie makers and the ignorant ranters and admirers of movies like PK would do a lot good to themselves and in turn to the society if they understand the system they live in. Instead of painting the system ugly, by participating in the mockery, it would do good to clean up the system of impostors than lose the only chance to raise above towards Being-ness.

Hey PK, what's wrong with Idol worship?

The so called intellectuals call idol worship is wrong and say it is based on ignorance. Why? Because in their head they think that the man who bows to the idol is bowing to a stone - an inanimate object that can't listen and act. No doubt it is a stone, but if the academic elitist has risen above his limited thinking, he would understand it is an abstract way of connecting to the invisible divinity that is not within the ambit of human sensory perceptions. 

For the ever turbulent human mind to focus on something, it has to be within the ambit of sensory perceptions. Something to see, touch and feel helps him in gathering his aliveness to the moment. When one looks at the stone or the photo, the connectivity happens to one's own inner self. The more the senses that gets involved in the act of worship, the more aware you become of the moment you are in. That's why in temples you find idols to see, bells to hear, fire to feel, fragrances to smell and offerings to eat and corridors to contemplate. Idol worship focuses on bringing you to the moment, not promising goodies later in some imagined heaven.

In what way is a sculpted stone different from a photo, a cross, a tomb, a sacred place of worship, a holy book? Are they not inanimate objects too? Why is that cherry picked as good and the rest as bad? If God is omnipresent, how can one not show reverence to everything and anything? Either the so called intellects should say there is no God and therefore nothing to worship or realize that everything is omnipresent consciousness that can be worshiped. They just want to impose their mediocre understanding of life and consciousness on the masses?

When a lover looks at the photo of his beloved, it doesn't mean he is in love with the photo but it is his way of longing for the person who is not in his presence. When a mother looks at the photos of her child, it is to recollect memories. It is human nature to be emotional and it needs an expression. Movies abuse the freedom of expression to propagate their narrow minded motives under the pretext of awakening the society. Well if that's the case, in what way could the dumb movie be better than a stone? Why do they put posters with picture of the hero in it? Or why can't they make it an audio recording of the movie? When they want to bring about maximum expression, why can't the worshiper choose his way of expressing that devotion?

To the believer the stone kindles deep emotions. To the mother photos bring back fond memories. To the academicians certificates boost their ego. To the enlightened everything is an object of great reverence.

Of course the stone, the cross or the book can't listen, talk or consume the offerings, but to the person whose intellect has truly attained clarity, he would exhibit compassion to the evolving intellects and their modes of worships. So long the masses remain a spectator without deeper understanding as to why certain things are done, the ignorant misleading elitist league would thrive.