UNDERSTANDING GOD

How can we understand the ways of God with our limited intelligence? God is Omnipotent and He is the One who has no limits, no beginning or end.

How can such a One be understood by those with limited intelligence? We not only have limited intelligence, but we use only a small fraction of our intellectual capacity.

That being the case, how can we fathom God, the limitless? But there is a quality of God that makes it possible for us to approach Him. Whatever we imagine Him to be, He appears so.

His simplicity makes Him look upon us with kindness, for He knows that we will never be able to understand Him entirely, said D. Gnanasundaram.

An example would serve to illustrate. Suppose there is a group of people who had not seen an elephant in their lives; not even a picture of it.

If they are blindfolded, made to feel an elephant and describe it, the person who touches the animal's legs will say it is a huge pillar. One who touches the tail will say it is a broom. Each one will describe the elephant according to whichever part he touches.

However, none of the descriptions is a complete description of the elephant's appearance. They are correct, in so far as the experience of that particular person is concerned, but do not tell the whole story.

Thus it is in God's case. It is said those who saw Rama's shoulders only saw His shoulders. So beautiful were the shoulders that those who saw them never got beyond them. So it was with His eyes and so on.

He is within us

One does not have to search the world for God. We can find Him residing inside every one of us. If we meditate on Him, we can realise that He is within us and He does not have to be sought elsewhere.

God has to be experienced. He cannot be discovered through research. He who is without attachments can realise Him easily.

Worldly attachments pull us down. Detachment will uplift us and take us closer to God.