WHERE IS GOD?

 
On the morning of the 28th of August, during the usual talks with the men mandali, Baba abruptly started asking each one in the room, "Where is God?...Where is God?"

All replied spontaneously. Jehangir Wankadia, a scholar of Eastern philosophy, and who had come with Adi Sr. from Meherabad on the 23rd, said, "Everywhere."

Nilu pointed to his chest and said, "In the heart!"

Vishnu said, "In the soul!"

One expressed his inability to give the proper answer, saying, "It is the eternal question."

Finally, Baba asked Donkin, who replied, "In Baba! Baba is God."

For a moment all were taken aback. Donkin's answer was so simple, so natural. Baba then spelled out, explaining:

If you take me as your Master and believe me perfect and one with the Infinite, if you believe this in all faith, then Don's is the only correct and logical answer.

God is where you are not! By you is meant your false "I," your illusory life as Kaka, Adi, Eruch, Baidul. Where you are, God is not! To think yourself separate from God is all imagination. Your false ego makes you think you are such and such and leads you to believe that God can never reside within you! When your false ego disappears and your "I" goes, God comes!

Referring to the group's various answers, Baba further explained:

To say God is everywhere is a generality and nothing new. Pundits and priests the world over say that, and Vedanta is full of this explanation. To merely say it is of no use. You must seek God everywhere, find God everywhere, feel God everywhere and experience God everywhere.

To say that God is in the heart, is again only part of the truth. If God is everywhere, as you all know and say, then why should you confine Him within the limits of your cardiovascular system? Why can't He be in your head, your finger, your toe? Why should you try to see Him in one particular part and not in another?

It is a common mistake and characteristic human weakness to raise the eyes to the skies and try to view the Highest and most Beloved and revered up above, somewhere in the heavens. Or, when sought in the body, to find Him only in the parts men like best: that is, in the heart or the eye, as if He did not exist equally elsewhere in other parts — in the back or bones, in the nails or flesh. Is God in the rose and not in the thorn? Or in flowers and not in dirt?

This weakness of seeing God in things you like and shuddering at the idea of His existence in things you don't like or abhor must be overcome. It is only when you rise above all these ideas of good and bad and recognize, see and feel flowers and dirt alike, and find God equally in all, that you could be said to have known and learned something real. Otherwise, it is all parrot-like, a false conception, an illusion.

Besides, taking it for granted that the best and most ideal abode for God to dwell in the human body is the heart, it must be remembered clearly that even in this best abode dedicated by human beings for God to dwell, He who is the Purest of the Pure would not come in unless that abode of the heart, however spontaneously and lovingly offered, is absolutely clean, empty and devoid of any foreign element. The slightest defilement and obstruction in the form of impurities of mind or body prevents Him from entering! Therefore, those who truly want God to dwell in their hearts must have them utterly clean and empty, devoid of selfish desires, lust, anger, greed, hatred empty of all desires either good or bad.

To say that God is in the soul is again incomplete, vague and high sounding, unless and until it is actually experienced. Vishnu tells others that Baba is God. He says it wholeheartedly and with depth of feeling; but when I myself ask him, "Where is God?" he points to the soul!

This is all philosophy, dry and of little use. Vedanta is full of it. The pundits everywhere babble it to the orthodox sections of each community, who tenaciously cling to their pet beliefs and do not want to go beyond the four walls of rites and rituals. The pundits die babbling, without the slightest clue about the real meaning of their words. And the masses are so misled by their blind faith in the clergy that they refuse even to talk or listen to the facts from ones who have actual experience, and consider it blasphemy even to think of it. They are only interested in philosophical talks and learned discourses and are quite satisfied with them. That is why I say it is all pure humbug without experience. It is all dry philosophy and of no use. One must try not only to learn and know, but to feel and experience.

Wankadia again states, "It is an eternal struggle to realize God!" This is true. But this does not mean one should sit idle and not try! One should not grow despondent thinking the problem is impossible to achieve and make no efforts to attain it. The struggle and search for God should be continued with added energy, determination and vigor at every step. And the longing should become so intense that there should be no other thought of anything else in the world, except of seeking Him. The aspirant should go forward to achieve this aim, leaving no stone unturned in investigating all sources of Enlightenment.

But the best, easiest and quickest way is to find a Master who has realized God. This, however, is not easy for all since some, before coming across a Perfect Master, come under the influence of false gurus and saints. Yet, if the longing for that eternal search is kept up in all faith and with all enthusiasm, the aspirant assuredly finds the Perfect One who leads him straight to the Goal.

Those living in the company of a Master should not feel content and merely say that they have found everything because they are staying with a living Master. For, even though it is true, they lack the actual experience of Realization. And without effort, the experience of Realization is never gained. So try, all of you, to see your Master as he really is and not as he appears to you. Even in your Master try to find that Infinite Existence that pervades everywhere.

Baba then asked each, "Where is God not ?...Where does God not exist?"

This set them thinking again, and none could give a satisfactory reply. At last Chanji said, "Nowhere!"

Baba explained, "God is not there where you are! God does not exist where there is duality!"

This discussion about God had arisen because Wankadia wished to question Baba about philosophical and theological topics. But before he could ask him, Baba replied to all his questions.