Experiencing Divinity

That we have to search for God is a common idea. However I think this is a misconception, or a misunderstanding perhaps from the beginning of time. Perhaps this is why religion has become externalized. Looking for a God somewhere in heaven, we don't know where that heaven is; so we have to search for it and the idea of pilgrimages, for instance. It is not surprising that the bulk of humanity believes in this sort of search for God, outside oneself, going here and there, looking for Him on mountain tops. And later on, of course, this gained momentum when we had the institutionalized religions of the world with their churches, temples, mosques and synagogues. Not only did human beings look for God outside but also they sought Him in certain specific places.

Unfortunately, some misunderstanding was also brought in by the great people and saints who meditated in forests and on mountains. Because tradition says they also went out somewhere, sat for a long time meditating, people forget that they meditated, and only remember the mountains. And therefore, even today we look for God outside. And the anthropomorphic idea suggests that He has to be looked for, searched for, and unfortunately, God's infinity and omnipresence are forgotten.

Now the mystic way, like yoga, seeks to reverse this whole thing. They teach that because God is everywhere, He is omnipresent, He must be inside ourselves too. And if He is inside me, I don't have to search for Him. We have only to try and feel His presence. God has not to be searched for as if it is some lost thing. But we have to find a technique of experiencing His presence, even within us. Therefore, Yoga is essentially a technique to experience Him who is inside us. And therefore, it is an experiential technique. We start off with the implicit understanding that He is there. And turn our attention inward, not with the idea of searching and finding, but of experiencing the presence.

Now here comes the second great difference between yoga and religions, and the clue lies in the word "experiencing" God's presence. Religion speaks of seeing God, speaking with God, hearing God's voice. Yoga says that God has no form, God has no name, God has no attributes, as such, and He cannot be seen. He cannot be known or felt or perceived in any way by which the five senses operate in us. Yoga therefore denies the possibility of seeing God, touching God, hearing God, things like that. Normally we understand experience as experience through these senses. "If this is so, how do we experience God's presence?" The answer is, "It's very simple." "How do we experience happiness?" Now, happiness is not touched or smelled, or licked with the tongue, seen with the eyes. That is the way of experiencing divinity also. Not through the five senses, but by transcending the five senses. We sit in a particular way, which we call an "asana". We close our eyes, and turn the entire attention inwards.

Initially, of course, we are a bit confused because the whole tendency of human existence is to look outwards to see things, to perceive things, to experience things. We are always told, "Keep your eyes and ears open. Be attentive." So, this tendency is to project oneself outwards. And the more outward projected we are, the more aware we are supposed to be. So unfortunately, we exteriorize our awareness and concentration while focusing on the outer world, and forget the inner. So when the average human being is asked to meditate by turning his attention inward, it is a total reversal of our normal tendencies of life, and we have the additional problem that we have to look at something which doesn't exist physically. When we are told to meditate on God and we are told that God has no form, name, attributes, we are confused, naturally. That is why people find religion and religious practices, religious search for God, far easier to do, though by and large nothing more is achieved than a certain peace of mind.

Achievement on this path of experiencing God has always been limited to those who have looked inward. You will find such persons among the Christian mystics. They were called Christian mystics because they were born as Christians and became mystics. You find them from all religions. Once they leave the religion behind and go into the mystic path, turn their attention inward, meditate upon the divine presence inside, they cease to be religious persons in the normally understood sense of "religious person". Very often we find that such persons were persecuted by the religious people of their own countries for thinking outside of the box and suggestion ways and means that are revolutionary to their times.

It is important to remember that Christ was one such person. He was born a Jew who was fed up with the practice of Jewish religion that existed at that time. And therefore, he found a new way. It is said that he went to the East to learn something from there, meditated on the Mount Sinai, or whatever it is, found an inner method of reaching one person whom he called his own Father. He offered this path to his people. So that was the inner way by which Jesus, later called Christ, found the presence of God, experienced the presence of God whom he chose not to call God, but as Father, to emphasize the very close, personal relationship between "me" and "my Creator".

So we find in the spiritual effort of Jesus this new relationship with our Creator, that of a father and a son. God is no longer the forbidding God of Moses with His Ten Commandments. He is no longer a giver of punishments or rewards, but He is a father who loves us, from whom we have strayed away and we have lost our way. Thus, with the advent of the teachings of Jesus the Christ, the whole trend has been changed. The whole idea of God has undergone a drastic change. We find religion is left behind and the dawn of spirituality has come. "Where religion ends, spirituality begins." Therefore, Spirituality is only a way of finding our way back to God in our original home.

Taken and modified from a speech by Shri. P. Rajagopalachari, President of Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Published in "Heart to Heart Vol. 2, pg308-312". For more information of the mission and Sahaj Marg system of Raja Yoga meditation, please visit http://www.srcm.org/