If you ask somebody, what is your age? "25 years". All right. what is your age? "50 years"
All right. no no no my age is 25 years and also 50
years and also 75 years. You will say how is that possible? Such kind of attributes
exist in God.
To get the answer to this question we will go back to the Vedas. They shall
be our reference point. So what do the Vedas say? The Mundakopanishad of
the Atharva Veda states, ...sanskrit verse...
It says - through lectures and discourses
like this you cannot know God. You may say, "Swamiji, I came to attend your
lecture thinking through this I will come to know God." Now through the lecture
understand, this is not the way to know God, because God cannot be described in
words. How will you explain what God is? BrahmaVaivartak Purana States,
...sanskrit verse...
That Supreme Lord possesses innumerable
contradictory attributes at the same time. What do you mean by contradictory
attributes? You ask somebody, where are you?
"Swami ji I am sitting in the prayer hall of the Radha Krishna temple." All right.
Where are you? "I am sitting in my home." Where are you? "I'm in my office." Now if
somebody says, I'm in the temple and also at home and also in the office, there
will be a contradiction here. Such contradictions are not possible in
the material realm. However, God is the repository of innumerable contradictory
attributes. If you ask somebody what is your age? "25 years"
All right. What is your age? "50 years." All right.
No no no my age is 25 years and also 50 years and also 75 years. You'll say how
is that possible? Such kind of attributes exist in God!
like what? Let us go to the Kathopanishad.
It states, ...sanskrit verse...
The Kathopanishad is explaining the size of God. How big is
God? So the mantras says, "God is bigger than the biggest." The
biggest thing that you can think of, think of something big. Mountain, the
Rockies. Bigger? the earth itself. Even bigger? Solar system. Even bigger? Milky
Way. Even bigger? The universe. God is bigger than that universe. Because the
whole universe is residing within Him. If He were not bigger than the biggest
thing how would He uphold the biggest thing? That is why the Vedas say,
in fact another word for God in sanskrit is Brahma. And
what does brahma mean? That which is exceptionally big. So is it
clear, the nature of God? "Yes, Swami ji". God is very big. However the same Veda mantra
also says, ...sanskrit verse... God is small. But just now you were saying He's big.
No, He is also small. How small is God? He is so small that He is smaller than the
smallest thing you can ever think of. Now think of something small. Molecule.
Smaller? Atoms. Even smaller? Electrons, protons, positrons, Xenons,
Higgs bosons, the God particle. So the smallest thing you can think of the God
particle, God is smaller than the God particle, because He is pervading
everything. He is the source of the energy in the God particle. If He were
not smaller than the Higgs boson, how would He sit inside it? That is why the
second part is also right. He is smaller than the smallest. Now you have a
contradiction out here.
sanskrit verse
All these Upanishadic mantras are saying that God is both big and small.
But the matter doesn't end here, rather it thickens
the plot thickens. How is that? Again the Vedas say, ...sanskrit verse...
God is big? not that! God is small? not that! He is
neither. How come? He descends in His six-foot form as Shri Ram and Shri Krishna,
which is neither big nor small. You will say, Swami ji I can't understand all this.
That's exactly what the Vedas are saying that you cannot understand God
you cannot describe Him with your words. There's the story of Jagadguru Shankaracharya
When he was going around Bharatvarsh, debating with scholars of Buddhism
and reestablishing the Vedic philosophy
So one great Buddhist scholar came to him, and he said "according to you there
is a God. please give me the definition of God." So they were both sitting for
shastrath (scriptural debate). Shankaracharya and the scholar.
Shankaracharya looked at him and kept quiet.
So the scholar kept sitting for a while and then he said thank you very much. And
he went off. Shankaracharya's disciple said, "Gurudev that great scholar
you should have defeated him in debate, and all his disciples would have come
over. You kept quiet." Shankaracharya said, quietude was the proper answer because
if I had said that God is small, he would have said he's also big. if I had said
he's big he would have said he is also small. Look what happens!
The next day that scholar came and surrendered. The answer you gave was perfect!