Radhanath Swami

July 22, 2010 | From Being God to Godly

Richard met a fascinating person, Balashiva Yogi who was frivolous and talkative, but became intense during his yoga practice. After a few days, as Richard bid him goodbye, Balashiva Yogi insisted that Richard attend his lecture that evening. In the talk he performed miracles by creating a deity of Lord Shiva in his hand and inducing ashes to materialize from his bare palm. As all gazed at him as if he was God, Balashiva Yogi declared that this is prapti siddhi, a yogic art, through which one can manipulate gross elements of nature by controlling the subtle elements within the mind. He warned that neither he is God nor anyone else performing such supernatural feats, for these skills are attained through meditation and austerities. He declared, “I can create ashes, God can create universes.”

Richard was impressed by his honesty and reflected how true spirituality is to realize God and be godly, not to show off one’s powers. He realized how the world over, athletes, entertainers, scientists, politicians, scholars, and business men and women are all worshipped, but this is due to the ignorance of the people who do not appreciate God’s power, but are fascinated by human feats. God has put a gigantic banyan tree in a seed, gallons of water in a floating cloud, and million other miracles. Richard wondered could all this simply be a random chance. He concluded creation is nothing but one amazing miracle after another, and God had empowered every species with amazing talents.

When we think calmly and carefully about this wonderful universe, we can see order and design at every level – in the atoms, the molecules, the solar system and the universe. Scientists continue to find new and astonishing aspects of this order. The very word ‘cosmos’ means ‘an orderly, harmonious systematic universe’. Nobel-prize-winning physicist Robert A. Millikan, said at a meeting of the American Physical Society: “There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends…A purely materialistic philosophy is to me the height of unintelligence. Wise men in all the ages have always seen enough to at least make them reverent.”

Scientific study has consistently shown in the past, and still continues to show that the behaviour of even insensible matter is not at all haphazard, but on the contrary obeys definite natural laws. The arrangement of chemical elements by the great Russian chemist, Mendeleef, is called ‘The Periodic Law’ and not ‘The Periodic Chance’. Also, the entire universe, from atoms to galaxies, is governed by definite physical laws. There are laws for governing heat, light, sound and gravity, for example. As physicist Stephen W. Hawking said: “The more we examine the universe, we find it is not arbitrary at all but obeys certain well-defined laws that operate in different areas. It seems very reasonable to suppose that there may be some unifying principle.”

When we think of laws, we acknowledge that they come from a lawmaker. A traffic sign that says “Stop” certainly has behind it some person or group of persons who originated the law. What, then, about the comprehensive laws that govern the material universe? God is not an assumption, but a tangible reality. Dr Albert Einstein said, “I believe in God – who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of the Universe. I believe that intelligence is manifested throughout all Nature. The basics of scientific work is the conviction that the world is an ordered and comprehensible entity and not a thing of Chance. When I sit here and watch the mighty ocean, I can imagine the treasures hidden below the bed of the sea, when I see the clear blue sky above, I feel sky is the limit. When I cast my eyes around I see the wonders and beauties of Nature. Science must learn to live in Harmony with all these magnificent gifts of God to Humanity.”

Richard had earlier witnessed a striking exhibition of power of yoga. A yogi suddenly appeared from the jungles and challenged the doctors to check his pulse. He then fell silent, withdrawing his life force. The doctors present declared him to be clinically dead. Half an hour later, to the astonishment of all assembled, he rose from the dead. He didn’t ask for any money. He simply wanted to prove to the sceptics the power of yoga, and having done so, disappeared back to the wilds. Richard now realized this too is a power, not in any way an evidence of our becoming God.