ON DIVINITY

 What is Divinity and how to understand it? “ If you want to understand Divinity, you should have the firm faith that Divinity is everywhere. There is no place or object without Divinity.” declares Bhagawan Sri Sri Satya Sai baba. In fact entire creation is the act of God and hence it is Divine. Man has Divinity in himself but rarely recognizes it! He is a combination of Divine and asuric impulses. As William Wordsworth says “ Like trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home.” The spark of Divinity in man is encircled by various other sheaths or layers that make it impossible for him to realize! The formidable inner adversaries viz the “ Arishadvargas” like Kama, Krodha and others suppress  the inherent Divinity in man! Hence, to a very large extent, man becomes the slave of these passions and strays away from the path of divinity. He walks the path of materialism, the path of samsara, family life full of incessant troubles! There is not even an attempt to understand his own divinity or the divinity in the entire universe and objects. It is because of this lack of understanding that humanity is caught in the inextricable web difficulties and dangers! Thus man hates another man, hates another religion, language attacks another language ending up chaos and confusion!

The life principle in man, animal, beast, bird, and every other creature is one and the same! This  is otherwise called as the Soul or Atma. Every being in the universe is blessed with this life giving principle!  In spite of his knowledge and other qualifications, man refuses to recognize this essential principle in other beings and hence all differences and difficulties. When once we recognize this life principle or divinity in every  being and creature , we become one with all! Forms, appearances, qualities, feelings, emotions and many more things may differ but we belong to the same group of divinity! When we pay respects to elders we are respecting the divinity in them not because they are aged!  That is the spirit of respect. Our ancients offered their respects to hills and dales, streams and rivers, trees and shrubs, even birds and beasts recognizing specifically the principle of divinity in them! Modern civilized man is far from doing so! Rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Cauveri, Brahmaputra are considered as divine and worshipped! Snakes too are considered divine and worshipped! Nature with all its glory and variety is the manifestation of God and hence divine!

A single object can take many forms and names. Names and forms differ but the essential thing remains the same. Lost in these forms and names we forget the essential thing. “ Mruthpinda eko bahu bhanda rupaha suvarna mekam bahu bhushanani gokshiramekam bahudhenu jatam ekah Parathma bahudeha varthi” The clay is one and the  same but pots are many and of different forms! Gold is the same but ornaments are many and of different names and shapes! Cow's milk is one and the same but it is from many different cow’s! Similarly the Atma or the life giving principle or Soul is one and the same but it is manifest in every single creature in the universe!

Man is under the illusion that he is the body! He doesn’t recognize the eternal, indestructible Atma embedded in the innermost recess of his body! He attaches more importance to his body and its acts, neglects totally the significance of the Soul! That is because he is in the grip of Maya which makes things appear real which are actually unreal! Maya lures man into thinking that unreal things are real! It is the chief reason for man's non recognition of divinity in the other person or animal or other things! The very purpose of human birth is to realize himself! What does that mean? In short, he has to realize that that he is not the frail, transitory, destructible body but the eternal, indestructible, Atma! As such  divinity is present in every creature and being that has been created by gracious God!

Man has crossed all bounds of decency and behavior in hating others and creating difficulties for himself and others! He mercilessly kills others and murders without compassion! He butchers animals without any compunction and feeds himself with their flesh! He doesn’t leave birds and snakes but makes them his food regularly! He cuts off trees without understanding that they weep even as he cuts them! Man has become so selfish and materialistic that he tramples everything under his foot and destroys for the sake of his benefit! The world has become poorer because of man's non recognition of divinity in other creatures and things! It is of paramount importance that man should realize his own Self and also the spark of divinity in every other being, creature and things! Peace and happiness shall prevail in the world if only Man recognizes his own divinity and that of every other creatures and things!