God's Presence Everywhere: What Does It Really Mean?
Questioner: Namaste Acharya ji. My question is from today’s session. As you said that the infinite, the absolute, it cannot be any object of this world which is all Prakriti. So, like since childhood we have been taught and we hear in religious teachings that God is omnipresence, omnipotent, or in Hindi we say that 'kan kan mein Narayan hain.'
So how we can corelate this, what we have learnt today and if this teaching is correct that 'kan kan mein Narayan hain?'
Acharya Prashant: See, first of all, Gita and philosophy and Vedanta have nothing to do with God. They are in search of Truth, not God. These are different things — Truth and God. Secondly, all the objects that you look at, you look at them in search of something. In search of the Truth, you look at all these objects.
In that sense you could say, I am looking at everything in search of the absolute. To the ego, everything carries a promise, a possibility of the absolute. Hence, the ego keeps running from pillar to post in this world. That does not mean that all the objects that you look at contain the infinite or something. All that is just folk wisdom, nothing to do with philosophy.
When you say there is God in every spec and particle, to whom are these particles? To you. You are the perceiver of these particles. Your consciousness changes, those particles disappear, right? So, by honoring those particles as the absolute, you are in fact honoring your own deluded consciousness as the absolute. So, all that makes no sense.
Had Arjun used that argument, Arjun would have said, “There is the absolute in all these people in front of me, how will I fight them? I cannot fight them.” A great problem presented itself to a simpleton disciple. His teacher told him, 'kan kan mein Narayan.' It is something Ramakrishna Paramhansa used to narrate.
So, the teacher gave him this sutra — kan kan mein Narayan, there is God in everything that you see. So, the next day he is standing, and a mad elephant comes rushing at him. And there are people around who were telling him, ”Just, just, just get away! make way! leave the way!” And he is not listening to them.
He is saying my teacher has told me that God is omnipresent. God is there is everything. So, the elephant is nothing but God. So, the elephant does what elephants do. Barely spared his life. He was lucky he was only thrown away, not trampled. With broken bones when he was brought to his teacher, he complained, “You are the one who told me 'kan kan mein Narayan,' now see what has happened.” Now how does the teacher save his face? So, the teacher said, “But Narayan is also there in all the people who were telling you to get aside. Why didn’t you listen to those Narayans? Therefore, you were punished.” No, all this amounts to nothing. All this amounts to nothing. But yes, such a saying is not without utility.
The utility is that you develop a certain respect for the Prakriti, that is the universal set of all the 'kan kan'. If you say that there is Godliness in every little thing around me, then you cannot misbehave with Prakriti, can you? So that has been the practical advantage. Otherwise in terms of philosophy, in terms of truth, such a thing means nothing.
Questioner: So, would it be right to say that 'kan kan mein maya aur kan kan mein Prakriti?' Because from the philosophy of 'Neti Neti' which we have learned in Vedanta right? We should see, whatever we are seeing we can say that this is maya, this is not….
Acharya Prashant: Whatever you are seeing, just fold your hands and ask it, “Can you show me the way to go past you? Can you tell me how to transcend you, how to go beyond you?” Because there is no other medium or help. And in this sense, everything that you see has to be respected. It has to be respected, but still it cannot be considered as the Highest, or the absolute.
India has done a fabulous thing. It has respected Prakriti like no other people. But respecting Prakriti is one thing. And getting attached to particular objects in Prakriti and taking them as the end, the purpose of your life, the absolute itself is a totally different thing. Respect Prakriti because without her you cannot transcend her. It is only with her own help that you can go beyond her.
Questioner: Okay, Acharya ji, this much understood. So, one more follow-up question on this from your Vedanta teachings in other sessions. We have also learned recently that you said, “Whatever is the highest which you see, you know, the highest fight for truth or whatever the highest you can see and do, just go to that place, work there and then from there reach to the highest, for you, the highest available to you is Brahm." So then can you just correlate this as well?
Acharya Prashant: Yeah, but then every kan is not the highest, no?
Questioner: Yes, that is there.
Acharya Prashant: So call the highest kan as the Brahm, at least keep that much of sanctity. Or are you hell-bent on calling everything as highest? Acharya ji said that the highest, even in the earthly plane is Brahm. Therefore, 'kan kan' is Brahm. What kind of equation is this? At least take the trouble to find the highest, approach the highest and pay the price. The highest is a singularity. The highest is a rarity. The highest is not kan kan! 'Kan Kan' refers to all the things under your feet. Are they the highest?
Questioner: Thank you, thank you Acharya ji!
