Beware of the Golden Deer!

Whether with devotion or with doubt, whether out of faith or out of fear, whether impelled by our own temperament or compelled by prevailing tradition, we are inclined towards some power called God. Dense jungles and lofty mountains, enticing flora and fauna, gurgling water of the boisterous brooks, the flaming sun-set and the captivating charm of the moonlit night inspired the sages of yester years to contemplate on the origin and purpose of the blissful creation. The dazzling orbs and dots adorning the blue canopy of heaven prompted them to ponder over the Cosmic Consciousness who, they believed, designed and directed, coordinated and controlled each and every thing. They deeply studied nature in all its aspects and came to a conclusion that even though nature appears to be doing everything, there exists some Supreme Power who is absolute and changeless. He activates nature to unfold its varieties in a non-stop manner even when the whole of mankind is asleep. Nature being insentient cannot create anything. The presence of the sentient in the insentient nature makes nature work for creating, preserving, destroying and recreating in a systematic and well-coordinated process leading from relative imperfection to absolute perfection which is the ultimate goal.

In a cooking pan, the vegetable appear to dance, but the moment fuel is withdrawn from beneath the pan, the dancing vegetable settle down to the bottom as dead chips. Similarly on the stage, the puppets appear to move, act and dance independently even though some master at work behind the scene controls the thread by his rhythmic finger-work. A bulb itself never emits light. It is the incessant current of electricity passing through the bulb that makes it radiate.

We do not see with our eyes. We do not hear with our ears. We do not speak with our mouth since the blind also possess eyes; the deaf also possess ears; the dumb too possess mouths. We explain such inadequacies by pointing to the absence of sight power, hearing power and speaking power. The presence of some unseen power therefore makes our limbs perform. That unseen power appears differently before us because of the difference of the mediums through which it expresses itself. The same power when activates our eyes is known as sight power, when activates our ears is known as hearing power and when activates our mouths, is known as speaking power. When the current passes through the bulb, it emits light. The current of electricity energizes the heater, iron, grinder and machines for various purposes. In other words, through different forms, the same power appears differently with varied qualities and characteristics. The power that activates the plants is also present in the animals but plants behave not in the same fashion as the animals do. That is because the designs of the plants are different from those of the animals. According to Dibya Darshan propounded by Sadguru Sri Sri Arjun, an Orissan saint (1933-1989), " Different forms possess different characteristics. In other words, different characteristics assume different forms."

That Unity brings about a harmony amidst all diversities. That Unity is the causal factor. He Himself is uncaused and unconditioned. Once that causal factor is realized all diversities disappear. Once the separative wall of ignorance is demolished, all dialectics and dualities will give way to supreme bliss and knowledge. It is said- "The world, as God has made it, is not a rigid exercise in logic but like a strain of music, an infinite harmony of many diversities, and his own existence, being free and absolute, cannot be logically defined."

Man who has evolved through millions of birth as a most developed being must utilise this vast world as a research laboratory to understand and appreciate the dexterity, skill and architectural profundity of the Great Artist. But instead of taking a positive approach to learn what the sages and scriptures exhort, we resort to unnecessary parades of flamboyant argumentations and challenge the existence of any such Supreme Power. Let us remember that however well-founded our argumentations may be, those are also bounded by the boundaries of our limited and fragmented knowledge about the limited physical world. There is much more than a mere physical world. "Seeing and then believing" appears to be a very rational idea. But it is not really so.

Will not any powerful microscope fail to trace out the cameraman in the photograph? If that were the case, how is it possible to find ‘Him’ in His creation? His architectural skill has to be deeply observed and He has to be only realized. By a mere cursory glance at water, hydrogen and oxygen cannot be detected. Water has to be put to process, analysed and decomposed to cognize the latent hydrogen and oxygen in it.

‘His elementary things’ have only been subsequently developed and diversified by His consciousness bestowed upon human beings. Whatever things we use, whatever words we utter in course of argumentation (on the plea of intelligent reasoning or rational thinking) to prove his existence, are picked out from the diversities only. Diversities are the effects and Unity is the cause. Diversities rest on the Unity but Unity does not rest on the diversities. Diversities are caused and conditioned. Unity is uncaused and unconditioned. Understanding the diversities (caused) may be necessary but is not sufficient to understand the Unity (the uncaused). Unity is said to be at a high stratum. Diversities are at lower strata. To quote the Chinese philosopher, "The high scales the low but the low cannot scale the high". It follows therefore that diversities can never scale the Unity.

If Archemedes could have given the earth a push or a jerk, standing within the earth, with a most suitable first class lever, he would not have asked for a platform external to the Earth. To out-flank diversities (and be with Unity) how can things within the diversities help us? Is this effort not as ineffective as that of the boatman standing on the boat and pushing the boat (without the help of a row)?

There are diversities without. There are diversities within us too. The diversities in us have to be peeled off layer after layer to get rid of the separative wall of ignorance and to gain true knowledge. The more man will cast off his feelings of diversities, the more he would rise to higher levels and attain greater subtleties. The subtler he becomes, the more he will spread out. In other words he can gradually move from finite to infinite. Our ego, selfishness and sense of rugged individuality have made our vision limited and circumscribed. We are no better than the pot bound plant or the cocoon-bound insect. Out of sheer ignorance we crave for sensual pleasure and forget the ultimate reality. Momentary pleasure-seekers as we are, we try to nibble at more and more mundane objects which are many and varied, forgetting that those are subject to wear and tear and are changeable. We suffer from cataract of materialism. We cannot see things in the right perspective. In spite of all our material prosperity at our command, we have not been happy because still a good number of wants remain unfulfilled (in the limited life span).

We are lost in the jungle of varieties. In our anxiety to survive comfortably (whether others survive or not) and to get sensual pleasure, we cease to be thinking men and waste our time in acquiring new makes, new designs and in maintaining, repairing, replacing and reselling etc. We have in fact no time to stand and stare. We wish to look outwardly handsome and take lot of care of our bodies and find out clothing of new designs, We forget that "The tailor does not make a gentle man". There remains a wide gap between our face value and intrinsic value. A slight dirt on the body or dress is instantly washed away, but rarely man thinks of cleaning his mind, purifying his soul. It should be remembered that mind controls the body and when mind is allowed to stink, it leads to degeneration in every sphere of activity. Sensual pleasure is short-lived and makes us debased. According to Gautam Buddha "Sorrows follow sensual pleasure just as the cart-wheels follow the hooves of the bullocks." It is important therefore that the senses should be made inverted. It is imperative that strong brakes should be applied to the vehicle running down-hill towards the unfathomed diversities.

People starve there. Here we embark upon exasperating experiments with explosives to the consternation of the entire humanity. Our behaviour is not different from that of 'Nero' who was fiddling when the city of Troy was burning. Definition of civilization has probably changed. Terror and treachery have become the order of the day rather than love and loyalty. Hardly we pause and ponder over the baneful repercussions of such wrong and misdirected pursuits. In fact, the ignorance cloaked as knowledge is our greatest enemy.

To quote Sadguru Arjun, ‘Man feels assured and protected by the things he makes. He forgets that the maker is more powerful than the made. Only He, who has made us can protect us'.

Among us, quite a good number of persons who believe in the existence of a Supreme Force, called 'God' remember 'Him' only while carrying a dead body to the crematorium. Just as a drowning man catches at a straw, the man in peril remembers God. Once the peril is over, God becomes a forgotten concept. When the same man is crowned with glory and prosperity, God becomes an unwelcome visitor, an unwanted intruder.

There are others too, who offer tips to God to insure prompt service. They expect God to obediently arrange and supply things they require, skilfully repair their broken down machinery and regularly remit to them handsome profits. They expect God to safely carry the contraband goods to the destination crossing all check-gates and out-witting all the checking squads. They expect God, as and when they need, to appear before them without delay or demur. When wishes are not fulfilled, it is only the God who is censured for delinquencies of duty and thrown out from the dungeon provided to 'Him' inside the spacious bungalow. For He is the one who lives on the 'Prasad' offered by the people to Him with an implied condition that He must return the same manifold. That is indeed the status given to God by many of us.

But the sages, who realised Him, knew His greatness, His supremacy, His uniqueness, and His all-pervasiveness. They knew Him to be the Unity and the seeming diversities, they said, were but His manifestation. Only His Will and Words constitute the Law of Eternity. "He is the infuser of life into all our lives", asserts Dibya Darshan.

Just as a child opts for even a broken toy rather than a golden ring, we out of ignorance prefer sensual pleasure only. It is beyond our contemplation that any other thing superior to momentary pleasure is in existence. We behave like frogs dwelling in the well. Vastness of the ocean is beyond our imagination.

Since we are lured away by varieties of matters we come across, those mundane objects get reflected upon our mind. A well-founded relationship is established between our senses and the objects. We frantically pursue after them overlooking all other pursuits and an unquenchable thirst develops to acquire more and more of matters. Projects one after another are taken up. We thus plunge overselves into the sorrowful cauldrons as the fish do while nibbling at the baits. We are stuck at points far away from our destination.

The sailor sails towards a particular destination. It is necessary for him to catch some fish for his food. But if he is obsessed with catching fish after fish, compares one variety with the other, his destination will remain far off. He will be sailing hither and thither chasing after the swarm of fish amidst the deep sea as if he is caught in a whirlpool. Right or left, front or back, to whichever side we go, we come across diversities. Diversities are within us also. Like the "Golden Deer" of the Panchabati, diversities come masked before us to goad our unbridled senses away. Beware of the Golden Deer, which is not to be coveted and remember, 'Variety is not the sauce of life'.

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