Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals : 20-3. Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, May 31, 2020.

Chapter-20."Philosopher and Administrator " : 3.

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1.

We have an erroneous notion of the very meaning of life, the concept of life, as something different from the divine element hidden in man. It is very essential, as His Excellency beautifully put it, that we have a total vision which is requisite if it is essential that we have to work on the command of God, as God would expect us to work. How does God work? He works with infinite hands, with total impartiality, and without any consciousness of the difference between Himself and His creation. We are likely, wrongly perhaps, to make a distinction between God and the world. We say the world is of matter and God is Spirit.
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2.

God is neither matter nor Spirit. He is transcendent, which is an inconceivable something which cannot be designated either as Spirit or matter. And whatever definitions are applied to God by human beings, even in the utmost heights of philosophy, they are only the counterparts of the deficiencies of human thought. It is impossible to define God, and, therefore, it is impossible to lead a perfect life. We are all imperfect beings merely because we are not in a position to be in consonance with the law of God. But that is imperative. And if this law is not fulfilled, if this principle is not to be the guiding light of our daily activity, even in the minutest of our actions, success is certainly far to seek.
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3.

And the message of India, the message of our culture, the message of Bharatavarsha, the message of all saints and sages is the message of Perfection. And Perfection is not merely God minus the world, or world minus God, or any such thing, but a totality of vision which it is very difficult for ordinary people to envisage and enshrine in their hearts. But it is essential that people have to be trained in this art and science of integral vision, so that there may be integral action which is called Karma Yoga, not only for the benefit of an individual or a society, but for the fulfilment of the unselfish purpose of mankind, which is the realisation of the values dear to the universe as a whole.
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4.

There is no private interest for anybody in this world. Private life is a misnomer. And, therefore, it is necessary that we gradually outgrow notions of private life, individual life, selfishness, parochialism of various sorts and rise into the concept of Universality by degrees until we reach this Totality or Universality of God, which is that which we see within the purview of our own senses in the presence of our own eyes. That which the physical eye sees is also God. And to recognise the divine presence in things, what is needed is merely a re-interpretation of values, by a shift in our consciousness, like a dreaming man waking into consciousness, without moving from place to place.
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5.

He has only brought about a revolution in the total attitude of his personality and life, so that he is in a higher degree of reality. The highest degree of Reality, which is God, is not transcendent, i.e., rising above the world of action and duty, but, other than being merely transcendent and immanent, it is a combination of the two principles, two values. Nay, Reality is not merely a combination of the transcendent and the immanent even; words are inadequate to express this possibility and necessity. It is a blend like honey, wherein we cannot find different types of pollen independently existing. It is like cow's milk which is a blend in which we cannot find the different ingredients which the cow has taken as its diet. Such a blend is Godly vision and such a blend is the call of the hour.

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Chapter-20. Ends.

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