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SEE A GOD IN EVERYTHING</font></font>
There is nothing higher than Truth, Truth alone triumphs. All scriptures are based on It. Truth is the fundamental principle of Dharma â righteousness â for when we look at it scientifically we find that there is no principle in this world that does not have its basis in Truth.
Many people still do not understand their position in the world. We still think and believe that as human beings we occupy a superior position to other beings, and as a result of that supposed superior position we feel we have the right to exploit, to slaughter, to kill. The Rishis â Wise Ones â and Munis â Silent Ones â also developed power but along with this power They developed knowledge and wisdom. So power was balanced and did not drive them mad; it did not make them brutish. On the contrary, the Rishis and Munis used power to help with scientific development for the use of man.
We find their influence from the ancient to the present time in the minds of people all over the world. For example, today a large section of the world community is following the path of yoga and meditation and has become vegetarian. It shows that the thinking people of this time are looking for something that can help them in this world of chaos.
A professor at a London University used to advise his atheist students to study the Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures. After studying these, they became convinced of the existence of God, because the Rishis and Munis have discussed the subject in detail. They did not just accept things but developed philosophies and looked deeply into the mysteries of man and this world and â very logically â came to certain conclusions. The thinking people of the world cannot ignore their discovery of the Truth.
Perfection
That Which is God is perfect, and from that perfect God came this world which is also perfect. If we minus perfection, it still leaves perfection. So, through a scientific or arithmetic approach we find out that God exists and is perfect, and that the world we live in is perfect as well. But our problem is that because of our ignorance we cannot realize the inherent perfection of this world; through ignorance we see only imperfection all the time. In ancient times, the Rishis and Munis delved deep into the mysteries of life and â after they realized the Truth â passed the attained knowledge on to us: that we are the Sons of Immortality, that within everything is God and within God is everything. He who is endowed with that spirit of yoga, that vision of Oneness, sees the same everywhere.
The Rishis and Munis were so advanced that They were able to see within this world, within everything, God transcendent dwelling immanently in the whole of creation, in everything. Therefore, we worship the tulsi plant, the cow, Hanuman who has a monkey-head, Ganesh who has an elephant-head, the holy river Ganges, the earth, the hills, and so on. We have to learn to see goodness in everything, we have got to learn to see divinity in everything because if there was nothing perfect within us, logically we could not improve ourselves. We would have remained just as we were born, but because the Perfect is within us we can improve ourselves. And there is no height to which we cannot improve. Consciously we are aware of this. We are aware that there is still so much potential within us, that we can achieve so many things. Because within us we know that there is perfection, and so we can also rise to the realization of perfection.
The Rishis and Munis â Who were very advanced human beings, Divine Souls â thought that if we look at the world and try to see the good, the perfection, in everyone, our attitude will be different: we will have respect for everything and everyone; we will look at life as sacred. If we can see God within all, we would not slaughter, we would not have wars, we would not have destruction. But we are ignorant of the existence of Divinity in everything; we think that everything is evil. As a result of that, the ignorance gets deeper and deeper into our minds and where there is ignorance there is suffering, because ignorance is the cause of our suffering. Knowledge is that which gets rid of our suffering â where there is knowledge there is happiness, harmony and peace. Where there is ignorance there is conflict, distrust, suspicion, fear, and so on.
Worship
The objective of worship is to get rid of this ignorance so that the light of knowledge will be kindled in our hearts. When that happens, we shall experience peace and happiness, but until then we cannot have that vision of Divinity. Worship is trying to see God within all and everything. If we see that God is in trees, in rivers and in the earth, we will show reverence to them and we will not destroy the trees, nor will we pollute the rivers and the earth. With the growth of science, the scientists realize that such an attitude towards life is, today, very much needed when man wants to save himself from self-destruction. As a result of technological development with its vast methods of destruction, with manâs aggressive, greedy nature, the alternative to self-destruction is to see Divinity, to see sacredness, in everything.
Our world is polluted, the wastes are dumped in the sea. There is talk about the damaged ozone-layer, about so many problems. They are the result of manâs greed, manâs negligence and his exploiting, brutal nature. Man has not been able to see God in anything. With the development of material science, there was not a corresponding religious or moral development. As a result of that imbalance, our life is now threatened. So, we have got to learn to see God in all. The Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures taught us that if we cannot see God near to us, how can we see God far away from us? God is everywhere, within and without everything, not far away in the sky. He is all-pervasive, all-existent. God is within us. And if we can see that we will bow to our mother and father, to our teachers, to our saints. We will revere and worship them like God. In other beliefs one cannot bow before anything; it is considered a sacrilege. As a result one slaughters animals and even kills human beings.
Our world will be heaven if...
During interfaith conferences the question always arises: "Are men supposed to eat meat?" Meat was not meant to be consumed by man because human beings do not have fangs to tear meat as do animals like lions and tigers. Meat is not our natural food. Meat is not healthy. What we eat is not really food but poison. As a result, our world is becoming increasingly polluted. This is quite different from what the Rishis and Munis prescribed: the ingredients that are offered in a yajna â a fire sacrifice â have some anti-pollution properties; when we burn them they purify the air and the smoke goes up and forms into clouds, the clouds form into rain and the rain nourishes the earth; plants grow from that, and animals as well as human beings eat them. So every living creature benefits from the fire ritual. It brings peace to the whole world and the whole world gains from it.
We can see that the Rishis and Munis from that ancient time were wise. They developed a way of life and if we follow its pattern, the world we live in â our world â will be heaven. They gave us Dharma and if we follow the path of Dharma, our mind will become purified. When our mind becomes clear and our nature balanced, we shall be able to have peace of mind. Until then we cannot find peace no matter how many treaties we sign.
Worship helps to clear the mind when it is done in a concentrated, meditative state of mind, not when our mind is somewhere else. If the mind is restless and flickering all the time, we cannot even sleep properly. The biggest problem of todayâs world is stress: the mind is working too fast. That is why people are turning to meditation because they know the value of it. Only through meditation does the mind become peaceful.
