GOD’S FORM
Talks With Babaji
http://www.hanumanfellowship.org/talks/twb9511.html
“Anything that binds the mind to God is right. It is called devotional path.”
Are there any forms of God that are better for meditation than others?
God is without name and form. But human mind can’t work without using the form. So we create a form for God and we choose a human form because it is the highest form in creation. Then we use symbols to make that form more divine.
In the scriptures, different forms of God are extolled. What is the best form?
A finite form is easy to grasp. The formless mind (a mind with supreme dispassion) can relate to the formless. But finite mind cannot relate to a formless infinite God. In Jnana Yoga, formless infinite God is defined in negative terms, ‘not this, not this.’ The form liked by a devotee is the best. A devotee who likes God in a female form will create God in a female form, or one who likes a male form will create a male form.
So it’s not necessarily wrong to worship a form of God? It’s something that we use as a vehicle?
Yes, worshipping God in a form is a method which is easier than worshipping formless God. God is infinite. No one can imagine God in full. Every person, according to one’s nature, creates an idea of God and worships that God. The form given to God is symbolic of infinite nature of God. For example, Krishna is given blue color. Blue color represents infinite space.
Everything not finite must be infinite.
Yes. Also, infinite becomes finite. Without infinite consciousness, finite can’t exist. Formless takes the form. When consciousness unites with prakriti, it is with a form.
It seems that we all have strengths and weaknesses that show more and less of God’s energy. How can God’s energy be shining in some aspects and not in others?
Both negative and positive energies come from God or cosmic conscious principle. There is no total good or total bad. In any object, the energy which is felt more clearly indicates God’s energy. No object can exist without God’s energy in it, but some objects are more receptive of God’s energy and that energy is seen more shining.
The negative energies such as anger, fear and pain are very intense at times. You can see and feel them. Can the divine energy in them be meditated on directly in order to resolve or deal with them?
They are divine energies when the ego does not possess them. When the ego expresses itself in a negative way, they are ego energies. If the ego is removed from negative thoughts, then they can’t harm the individual. Meditating on them means removing ego involvement.
The Gita talks about the higher nature of God forgetting its God nature and identifying with its lower nature and thus becoming the embodied soul. How can part of God forget?
“God forgets:” it means when the infinite consciousness appears as finite, as embodied God, then there is no awareness of its real nature. The pure conscious principle reflects in the buddhi (or intellect) principle. That reflected consciousness is the jiva or God within. That embodied God forgets its real nature (omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent).
Is meditating on the Self the same as worship of the Gods?
Yes. The Self is embodied God who is continuously working with the mind, intellect and senses to function in the world. In meditation, when the mind, intellect and senses are withdrawn from the world, then the embodied God is no other than the infinite, eternal God.
We have been taught that God is beyond conception and cannot be known by the mind, but in the Gita tangible attributes are attributed to God.
Infinite takes form as finite. Only the finite form is known and explained with attributes. The infinite remains unexplainable.
In the finite forms that show God’s presence, it’s easier to understand the victory, the determination, etc., than the cunning, being involved in deceit, etc.
Finite includes both pairs of opposites. If God is all in all, then both positive and negative qualities in the mind would come from God. The ego or I-amness owns both. The ego in its pure state (that is not working through the mind) is pure conscious principle or God. When the ego is working in alliance with the mind, it only creates worldly desires. If it’s not in alliance with the mind, then it is established in its own pure state, the Self. God is neither cunning nor deceitful. In stories, such nature is given to God only to show that for the good of humanity that too is needed.
GOD UNION 