INCARNATION AS A REVELATION OF GOD

God is indeed infinite. But He is omnipotent. He may so ordain that His divinity as love may be manifest in flesh, and be among us as God incarnate.

Love streams to us from God Incarnate. Divine Incarnation is a fact. Of course, one cannot make this perfectly clear by means of words. It is a fact to be seen and realised by spiritual eyes. One must see God to be convinced of this. By analogy we can at best faintly apprehend the matter. Suppose one touches the horn of a cow, or her feet, or the tail, or the udder. Would not this be the same as touching the cow herself ? For us, human beings, the chief thing about the cow is its milk, which comes from the udder. Well, the milk of Divine love streams for us from the Incarnations of God. 2716. Who can know God fully? It is not given to us, nor is it required of us, to know Him fully. It is enough if we can see Him—feel that He is the only reality. Suppose a person comes to the holy river Ganges and touches the water. He would say, ' I have been blessed with the vision and touch of the holy river from Gomukhi to Gangasagar—from its source to the estuary !"

Do you seek God? Then seek Him in man. His divinity is manifest more in man than in any other object. Look around for a man whose heart overflows with the love of God, a man who lives, moves and has his being in God—a man intoxicated with His love. In such a man God manifests Himself.

He is the absolute, and again His is the Lila (relative existence conceived as a sport of the Divine). This Lila is of four kinds—Isvara Lila, Deva Lila, Jagat Lila and Nara Lila.¹ In Nara Lila His incarnation becomes possible.

Do you comprehend the nature of the Nara Lila ? One may well say that it is like the gushing out -of the water of a vast terrace in a big torrent through a wide channel. It is the power of that Absolute, the Sachchidananda, which flows out—becomes manifest— through a channel, as it were. All cannot truly recognise the Avataras. Only seven Rishis—Bharadwaja and the rest—could recognise Sri Rama as an Avatara. God incarnates in the human form to teach man true Jnana and Bhaltti.

1 God has (our distinct aspects of manifestation. One aspect of His is Isvara, the supreme Lord of the Universe; the Devas, another aspect of His, form the superhuman agencies who maintain the world-functions under the control of the Lord; the third aspect of His manifestation is the universe; and the fourth is man.

A Siddha (an ordinary peVfect man) is like an archaeologist who, by removing the superincumbent earth and dust, lays open an old well that has been covered up by disuse. The Avatara is like a great engineer who sinks a new well even in a place where there was no water before. Whereas the former can give salvation only to those men who have the waters of salvation near at hand, an Avatara saves him too whose heart is devoid of all love and is dry as a desert.

When the tidal wave comes, it inundates alike rivers, streams and land, and all the adjacent area presents one watery surface; but rain water merely flows away through the usual channel. When a Saviour appears, all are saved through His grace. But Siddhas can only save themselves with much pain and penance.

When a mighty log of wood floats down a stream, it carries on it hundreds of birds and does not sink. A reed floating down may sink with the weight of even a single crow. So when a Saviour appears, innumerable men find salvation by taking refuge in Him. The Siddha can only save himself with much toil and trouble.

As a large and powerful steamer moves swiftly over the water, towing rafts and barges in its wake, so when a Saviour comes, he easily carries thousands to the haven of safety across the ocean of Maya.

The locomotive engine not only moves on and reaches its destination but also takes with it a long train of waggons behind. So are our Saviours. They carry multitudes of men burdened with sin, to the presence of the Almighty.

In ordinary seasons water from wells can be drawn-from great depths and with much difficulty ; but when the country is flooded with water in the rainy season, water is. obtained with ease everywhere. So, ordinarily God is attained with great difficulty through prayers and penances ; but when the flood of Incarnation descends on earth, God is seen everywhere.

There was a place enclosed by a high wall,, and men outside did not know what sort of a place it was. Once four persons determined to scale the wall with the ladder, and find out what was inside. As soon as the first man ascended the top of the wall, he laughed out, "Ha ha ! ha ! ", and jumped into the enclosure. The second person also, as soon as he ascended the wall, laughed aloud and jumped in like the first; and so did the third. When the fourth and last man got upon the wall, he found stretched before him a large and beautiful garden with pleasant groves full of delicious fruits. Though strongly tempted to jump in and enjoy the scene, he resisted the temptation, and coming down the ladder, spoke of the glory of the garden to those outside of it. Brahman is like that walled garden. Whoever sees Him forgets his own existence and rushes headlong to Him to be absorbed in His essence. Such are the holy men and liberated saints. But the Saviours of humanity are those who see God, and being at the same time anxious to share their happiness of Divine vision with others, refuse the opportunity of passing into Nirvana (state of extinction of individuality), and willingly undergo the troubles of rebirth in the world in order to teach and lead struggling humanity to its goal.

In fireworks there is a type of flower-pot which sends off one kind of flower for a while, then another kind, and again still another, thus seeming to possess an infinite variety of flowers, as it were. So are the Avataras. Then there is another kind of flower-pot which, when lighted, burns a little and then goes off all at once. Similarly, ordinary Jivas, after long practice and devotional exercises, go into Samadhi and do not return.

Q. Why should God incarnate Himself in the human form ?

A. To make manifest to man the perfection of Divinity. Through these manifestations man can talk with God and see His play. In the Incarnation, God fully enjoys, as it were. His own transcendent sweetness. In the saints, God manifests Himself only in part, like the honey in a flower. You suck the flower, and get a little honey. In the Incarnations, it is all ' honey',—all sweetness and all blessedness.

Nothing is problematical to the Incarnation. He solves the most difficult and intricate problems of life as the simplest of things in the world, and his expositions are such as even a child can follow. He is the sun of Divine knowledge, whose light dispels the accumulated ignorance of ages.

Sometimes there appears that unique composite light which may be called the lunar-solar light, and to this may be compared unique Incarnations like Chaitanya Deva, who are marked alike by Bhakti (Love) and Jnana (Knowledge). It is like the sun and the moon appearing in the firmament at one and the same time. The manifestation of Jnana and Bhakti in one and the same person is as unique an occurrence as the phenomenon referred to above.

The Lord takes the human body for the sake of those pure souls who love the Lord.

Those who come with the Avataras are either souls who are eternally free, or who are born for the last time.