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Science of Self Realization, Ch 8[…] The gross materialists who ignore their relationship with God are described in the Bhagavad-gita as mudhas. Mudha means “ass,” “donkey.” Those who are working very, very hard to earn money are compared to the donkey.
They will eat the same four capatis [whole-wheat bread-patties] daily, but they are unnecessarily working to earn thousands of dollars. And others are described as naradhama. Naradhama means “the lowest of mankind.”
The human form of life is meant for God realization. It is the right of man to try to realize God. One who understands Brahman, God, is a brahmana, not others. So that is the duty of this human form of life.
In every human society there is some system that is called “religion” and by which one may try to understand God. It doesn’t matter whether it is the Christian religion, the Muhammadan religion, or the Hindu religion. It doesn’t matter.
The system is to understand God and our relationship with Him. That’s all. This is the duty of the human beings, and if this duty is ignored in human society, then it is animal society. Animals have no power to understand what is God and their relationship with God.
Their only interests are eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. If we are only concerned with these things, then what are we? We are animals. Therefore the Bhagavad-gita says that those who ignore this opportunity are the “lowest of mankind.”
They got births and yet did not utilize it for God realization but simply for the animal propensities. Therefore they are naradhama, the lowest of mankind. And there are other persons who are very proud of their knowledge. But what is that knowledge? “There is no God. I am God.” Their actual knowledge has been taken away by maya.
If they are God, then how have they become dog? There are so many arguments against them, but they simply defy God. Atheism. Because they have taken to the process of atheism, their actual knowledge is stolen away. Actual knowledge means to know what is God and our relationship with God. If one does not know this, then it is to be understood that his knowledge has been taken away by maya.
So in this way, if we try to understand our relationship with God, there are ways and means. There are books, and there is knowledge, so why not take advantage of them? Everyone should take advantage of this knowledge.
Try to understand that in the Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literatures, everywhere, it is said that God is great and that although we are qualitatively one with God, we are minute. The ocean and the minute particle of water have the same quality, but the quantity of salt in the drop of water and the quantity of salt in the ocean are different.
They are qualitatively one but quantitatively different. Similarly, God is all-powerful, and we have some power. God creates everything, and we can create a small machine to fly, just like the small machines with which children play. But God can create millions of planets flying in the air.
That is the qualification of God. You cannot create any planets. Even if you can create a planet, what is the benefit of that? There are millions of planets created by God. But you also have the creative power. God has power, and you have power. But His is so great that yours cannot compare to it.
If you say, “I am God,” that is foolishness. You can claim that you are God, but what acts have you performed so extraordinary that you can claim that you are God? This is ignorance. The knowledge of one who thinks himself God has been taken away by the spell of maya. So our relationship is that God is great and we are minute.
In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna clearly says, “All living entities are My parts and parcels. Qualitatively they are one with Me, but quantitatively they are different.” So we are simultaneously one with and different from God.
That is our relationship. We are one because we have the same qualities as God. But if we study ourselves minutely, we will find that although we have some great qualities, God has them all in greater quantities. Full Chapter
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