Do we know who God is?

This paper attempts to present a way of getting to know God and how to worship and love Him from a Yoga and Christian perspective.

The transcendent God is not a deity or energy or creator, not the wind, the sun nor the moon; not I or you; or the mind (intellect).

The transcendent God is without form and undivided; not made and without beginning or end. God is pure consciousness, ever Existing, ever conscious Bliss

It is He who is to be worshiped as the one who upholds the entire creation, who is beyond thoughts and description.

He is referred to as the transcendent God who is undivided and indivisible by space and time, whose light illumines all the objects, who is pure and absolute consciousness. He is that intelligence which is beyond all its parts, which is hidden in all that is, which is the Being in all that is and which veils the truth of the Self. This God is in the middle of being and non-being (as awareness). It is God, and the Truth that is indicated in yoga by 'Om'. It (awareness) exists everywhere.

It is pure consciousness that exists even after cosmic dissolution. All the mountains, the whole world, the firmament, the Self, the jiva (individual soul) and all the elements of which the world, have their origin in pure consciousness.

The bible states: ‘God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth).

                                                                                  (John 4:24)

Here also, Spirit signifies the unmanifested absolute, where space, time and dimensions are nonexistent.

God implies the transcendent creator, beyond creation. Unless a devotee of God perceives the Father of creation as the unmanifest Absolute Spirit – pure, ever existing conscious bliss, he does not know the Truth.

Absolute Spirit is reflected as God’s guiding intelligence or Christ of God in macrocosmic creation.

In the microcosm of the body spirit is reflected as the soul, the individualized spirit in man. The worshipper who communes with God, who experiences His presence, knows the truth that his soul and the Christ of God, the Creator are reflections of Spirit.

This implies that God the Father of manifestation can be known by the soul either by perceptions of, or through oneness with any of His manifest attributes, however Spirit the unmanifested Absolute, can be known only by oneness with Spirit. (The Father and I are one, John 10:24:30).

God in relation to the soul presumes duality or the Object to be perceived.  

If one is unable to worship this consciousness, then he is encouraged to worship the form. The latter yields finite results, but the former (consciousness) bestows infinite bliss.

The external worship of form of a deity or a holy personage is for those whose understanding has not yet been fully awakened.

But he, who ignores the infinite and is devoted to the finite only, is wandering in delusion.

With regard to our personal awakening, wisdom, self-control and the perception of the Self in all beings are to be honoured at all times. The Self is consciousness.

The worship of God as (consciousness) is true worship, and by that worship one attains everything. Consciousness is undivided and indivisible, non-dual and neither fashioned nor created by activity; it is not attained by external efforts. It is the fountain or source of joy.

The consciousness which is in us is God. God is not distant from anyone, nor is he difficult to attain: since he is forever seated in the hearts of all and at the same time everywhere, like space.

His consciousness functions as space, as jiva the individual soul, somewhere as action, somewhere as substance; but without intending to do so. Even as all the different oceans are but one indivisible mass of water, His consciousness, though described in different ways, is but one cosmic mass of consciousness.

This consciousness is like a mirror which holds a reflection within itself, without undergoing any modification thereby. It appears as all these countless beings in this universe.

In one’s body, thoughts and notions generate action in the light of this very consciousness. Were it not for this consciousness even an object which is immediately in front of oneself could not be experienced? The body cannot function or exist without it. This consciousness creates and maintains all the movable and immovable beings in the universe. The infinite consciousness alone exists, nothing else exists. Consciousness alone has arisen in consciousness.

Consciousness does not undergo any modification nor does it become impure. The infinite consciousness which is unmodified and non-dual, can be realized by one in the self-luminous inner light (of awareness). It is pure and eternal.

Consciousness alone is the reality in all forms of existence and all experiences. Action springs from thought, thought is the function of the mind, mind is conditioned consciousness, but consciousness is unconditioned!

Since the omnipresent infinite consciousness alone is present at all times, diversity is absurd and impossible. Belief is what creates existence in diversity. When the non-dual existence is known, duality vanishes instantly.

That infinite consciousness alone is suitable to be adored and worshipped. However, there is no use in inviting it for worship since it is the omnipresent Self of all.

The realization of this infinite consciousness (which is totally effortless) is the best form of worship.

The Supreme Being is formless, and yet the following five are its aspects: will, space, time, order (or destiny) and the cosmic unmanifest nature. It has countless powers or energies. Chief among them are knowledge, dynamics, action and non-action. All these are but pure consciousness; because they are called the potencies of consciousness, they are apparently regarded as distinct from consciousness, though in fact they are not.

This entire creation is like a stage on which all these potencies of consciousness dance to the tune of time.

The foremost among these is known as 'order' (the natural order of things and sequences). It is also known as action, desire or will-to-do. It is this potency that ordains that each thing should have a certain characteristic from the blade of grass to the Creator. This natural order is free from excitement but not purified of its limitation: that (natural order) is what dances a dance-drama known as the world-appearance.

It portrays various moods (compassion, anger and so on), it produces and removes various seasons and epochs, it is accompanied by the celestial music and the roaring of the oceans, its stage is illumined by the sun and the moon and the stars, its actors and actresses are the living beings in all the worlds - such is the dance of the natural order.

The Lord who is infinite consciousness is the silent but alert witness of this cosmic dance. Yet He is not different from the dancer (the cosmic natural order) and the dance (the happenings).

Realizing this brings renewed wonder into our daily lives.