All theistic religions in general accept an Omniscient God. Vedas go one step
further and declares "by knowing Brahman or the Supreme God everything can be known".
In other words those who know the supreme God Brahman, will also know everything.
Does it mean that liberated beings are also Omniscient and so equal to God?
Of course there are many interpretations based on dualistic and monistic views.
But lets examine the omniscience of God and his devotees in detail.
Here are some more questions:
1. If God and the rishis (liberated beings) know everything, why do they act like
ignorants and go through troubles? For example Lord Rama crying like an ordinary man
after losing Sita; Sage Durvasa cursing Ambarisha maharaja and then running around to
protect himself from the chasing Sudarshana chakra; and so on...
A: The sages and Gods are only acting "as if" they are ignorants within the framework of
dharma and to ultimately uphold the greatness of dharma and pure devotees. This is also
to delude the demons who are not dharmic, to protect dharma and to delight devotees with
their pass-time or leela. But they never loose the capability to overcome the temporary
ignorance. They will reveal their all knowing power occasionally as needed. So there is
no issue.
2. Sometimes they even engage in actions that are generally considered sinful. So are
all those bad actions justified based on the belief that they know everything. Does it
not mislead other sincere seekers?
A: It should be noted that the sages and gods do not engage in bad or sinful action all
the time. But occasionally they may and that could be predominantly to delude or eliminate
adhArmic demons and to sustain the world and to uphold truth and dharma. Sometimes you
need a thorn to remove a thorn. It is absurd to expect police to always take the right
direction while chasing criminals going in the wrong directions.
Demon vAtApi used to transform himself into a sacrificial goat. Ilvala, his brother, used
to sacrifice vAtapi and offer as food to innocent Rishis. vAtApi would then re-appear,
using his mysterious power, by cutting open the Rishi's stomach. The duo had killed so
many innocent rishis using this treacherous ploy. To stop this treachery Sage Agastya also
ate the meat of the demon vAtApi and using his power digested vAtApi within and thus
permanently eliminated him. Sage Vishwamitra also is known to have eaten dog's meat.
But later performed 500 years of rigorous penance to regain back the spiritual status.
It is therefore recommended for ordinary humans not to emulate such great Rishis when they
engage in such apparently "ignorant or adhArmic" actions.
If the opposing forces are always using adhArmic ways, then it is recommended to use the
same adhArmic ways to eliminate them. mAyAvi mAyayA wadhyaha says Shukra neeti. That means
when there is a need, evil means can be used to defeat evil, and is accepted as a valid path
as long as the final purpose is to sustain truth and uphold dharma or Vedic morality.
Most of the time the avatAras or incarnations of Vishnu, and other gods and rishis have
adopted this Shukra neeti to defeat the treacherous demons.
3. Why should God delude the demons?
This is very intriguing. It may be surprising to many but the real intention of deluding
demons is to save them. Simply put this is similar to parents deluding or tricking their
erring children, who do not listen to the direct instructions.
Devas are the divinities behind the elements in nature and also the various human faculties.
Obviously these devas in the form of all the elements in nature are always engaged in the
service of the humans and the world. So as a mark of gratitude Vedas urge humans to give back
to the devas (nature) by engaging in the practice of yagya / sacrifice or worship. So brAhmanas
are supposed to perform the yagya to worship the devas and the rest of the population to
support them. This process of mutual recognition or co-operation is varnashrama dharma and
also goes by the name of dharma chakra or the wheel of dharma.
Demons in general are those who oppose vedas, devas and the process of yagya. They may come
in many forms - atheists (who do not accept vedas); pseudo intellectuals who appear to be
accepting vedas but giving their own twisted interpretations to ultimately deny everything
including dharma; others who may use vedas/dharma to acquire spiritual powers that can be
used for material gains and conquer the devas and the world (like Ravana) for selfish desires
and so on.
Deluding such demons to dampen their belief in the Vedas, would make them give up the Vedic
way and thereby become less spiritually powerful. Devas would then be able to defeat them.
Another reason could be to stop them from accumulating more sins or even obtain boons or
spiritual powers (like Indrajit and Ravana) that they could use against devas and brahmanas
or devotees and their puja/yagya.
Sometimes this delusion may also lead demons to retort back with redoubled hatred against
devotees/gods and they cause huge damage to devas, brahmanas (devotees) and the yagya (puja).
At that time the Supreme Brahman in the form of Vishnu, Shiva or Devi would incarnate and
eliminate them which many times would result in the liberation of such demons!
4. How can Omniscience and free will go hand in hand? If God knows all that humans do then
whatever "free will" humans possess is not really a "free will" at all. So God is still
responsible for all the evils in the world purportedly caused by humans.
A: It may be true that omniscience and free will cannot go hand in hand in the absolute sense.
If God is omniscient then everything would become deterministic from His point of view. That
means there is no possibility for God to have any "free will" as everything is determined by
Him and there is no freedom to choose. So that means He cannot bestow free will to humans who
are His own creation. So does it mean that all religious dos and donts including Vedas lose
their meaning?. Well all other non-Vedic religions have problem explaining this but not the
Vedas! Why? for the the simple reason that Vedic God is established as the inner Self of all
and is everywhere too! He is the knower, known and the process of knowing.
According to Vedas, God alone was in the beginning. He wills to become many. He brings out
all objective and subjective entities from himself and then enters into all of them. He thus
becomes all real (endowed with consciousness) as well as unreal things in the world. As the
inner absolute Self of all He is the knower endowed with consciousness and free will. In the
form of all objective nature He is everything that needs to be known. As the absolute Self
established in all, He is the omniscient knower. As the embodied Self He is the doer endowed
with free will to choose from dos and donts that arises due to the bodily/wordly dualities.
No normal individual being can deny the existence of some degree of free will, according to
the level of its knowledge. Even animals know what is good or bad for them. The source of
this relative manifestation is God established as the inner absolute Self who is the source
of all existence, consciousness and bliss. The inanimate objective universe which is also
a manifestation of God is appears to be devoid of any consciousness / free will. But it
could also be the sign of Omniscience where there will be no free will / action.
Between the conscious Self and the inanimate matter lies the wide spectrum of beings with
varying degrees of knowledge/free will. So all of these are manifestation of God only.
God gives jivas/individual souls, freedom only to perform their karma or actions. (KarmaNye
vAdhikAraste mA phaleShu kadAchana - Bgita). He also provides the dos and donts through Vedic
shastras or scriptures. So humans / jivas alone are responsible for their good or bad actions
and so have to suffer their consequences. The effect of good or bad actions cannot be denied
by normalindividual. Obviosly jivas are thus responsible for their choice of actions. But yes,
ultimately God is also responsible just like parents are responsible for the actions of their
children and that's why he does avatara to set the world right by protecting the good and
destroying the evil. He thus corrects the world order by incarnating just like any other jiva
and himself setting an example by following the rule of Vedic varnashrama dharma.
More explanations:
1. Vedic God posesses a very unique mysterious power or energy called Maya which is made of
three gunas qualities - sattva, rajas and tamas. This mysterious energy mAyA which can also be
called as ignorance is the cause for all dualities like good and evil in the world. In fact the
entire world of nature is verily mAya. While all jivas / embodied souls are controlled by mAya,
Ishwara or God always remains as the controller of mAya/nature. Maya is actually a veil of
ignorance that covers all individual souls in the form of their body/mind/intellect according
to their karma. When the coverage is complete or opaque they appear as inanimate matter. But
when the coverage is partial it results in relative free will which will varies according to
the extent of karma one possesses. God and His devotees also, when they incarnate, can cover
themselves by mAya out of their own free will. On the other hand, ordinary mortals are
involuntarily covered by mAya according to their karma. This is the difference.
So wherever God himself in his incarnation as Rama and Krishna appears to be ignorant, it is not
really a weakness, as He WILLs to cover himself with mAya and get "limited" depending on the
purpose of his incarnation. As explained earlier, this is to delude non-devotees or half-devotees
and to delight true devotees with His pass-time or leela. If the ultimate purpose is to uphold truth
and dharma that sustains the world, then display of ignorance by God or His devotees, which springs
from their own free will, cannot be a weakness but display of their auspecious attribute or power.
God also has the capability to remove the covered maya or ignorance, at His will. The devotees also
have the same capability which is given by God. So the coverage of mAya for God and his devotees
is not a weakness and instead it will be a display of their auspicious attribute and passtime.
The entire world can be looked upon as the mAyA roopa or mysterious form of God only. One will
end up as an asura or demon if he looks upon the world of nature as just an object of enjoyment.
But based on the Vedic teaching the same person can end up as a deva by recognizing the world as
God and engaging in selfless service or dharma. So the same God will act as bandha kartru and
Moksha kartru for asuras and devas.
When everything is known, then there cannot be any action. All free will / action would ideally
get merged in the omniscient God or Brahman who is everywhere. This is the idealistic view of
Advaita. Creation/sustenance/destruction which is also an action could still be explained when it
is looked upon as the Will of God to manifest as many. The dualistic world is a must for free
will to manifest and this can arise from the all pervading and so non-dualistic God endowed with
the power of mAya.
So even if God and His devotees in their incarnations appear to be limited or covered by ignorance,
there is no problem as long as they have the "capability to know everything". The fact that we
know that "we dont know everything" proves the existence of the possibility or capability
to know everything. This limitation in our knowledge is due to the limitation of our own body,
mind and intellect which is a product of karma. If the universe is everything and we are in it,
then existentially there cannot be any disconnect between everything and ourselves. This universe
is God according to Vedas. So the extent of our knowledge depends on the extent of our realization
of oneness with universe which also means the extent to which we have transcended the limitation
of our own body, mind and intellect. Our own BMI can be a barrier as well as a bridge to the
infinite knowledge of God manifesting as the universe. The process of connection is the process of
yagya or sacrifice where our body, mind and intellect is constantly used in the service of the
God manifesting as the universe. The little human self confined to the body, thus can thus "grow"
infinitely to embrace the God in the form of the infinite universal Self. So ceaseless selfless
action performed out of free will is not really an individual action at all. There is thus
freew will / action in omniscience / inaction and vice versa.
Q: If God gives some free will to the jiva then He must lose His own free will to that extent.
In other words God would not know what the jiva does in the next moment. Thus He can only
react by giving the fruits of actions to the jiva. Is this not a limitation?
A: Well, this may appear to be true. But the problem gets resolved when it is realized that
Vedic God, who is the source of all existence, knowledge, bliss and freedom is everywhere
manifesting as this very universe. So the so called "lost portion" of His "free will" which goes by
the name of ignorance or mAya is not really "lost" but can be said to be hidden. This temporary
coverage of ignorance is like the sun getting covered by cloud which is not really a coverage but
a temporary state. In other words the same omniscient God appears in infinite forms as this very
universe, qualified by mAya. The entire universe is the personality of God and so there cannot be
any real loss for Him. So the temporary manifestation of ignorance in His incarnations is only a
depiction of His attribute or pass-time to achieve a specific purpose.
God's universal will is said to manifest through every particular individual will. If the individual
will is dhArmic or selfless it is said to be in alignment with God's will. If it is adhArmic or selfish
it is said to be going against and so a "reflection" of God's will, which produces reaction in the
form of karmic effects of punya or papa resulting in enjoyment or suffering of the individual in
samsara or the dualistic world.
The shield against bondage or samsara is VarnAshrama dharma or performance of selfless actions
according to one's nature as a yagya or puja or service to the universal God. Selfless actions
obviously helps the individual to expand his knowledge and so should enable one to grow out of the
shackles of selfishness which is the cause for bondage.
The entire universe is the reflected or projected form of God who is originally situated as the
absolute universal Self in all. Every little individual self or jiva is said to be sandwiched between
God as the indwelling absolute unchanging Self and the changing multifarious universe of matter
or mAya which is the abode of all dualities and multiplicities.
The varying degrees of knowledge or freedom or free will, enjoyed by every little individual self
thus depends on how "far or close" it is in its realization of God who is pervading and indwelling
in all as the inner Self.
When the whole universe is realized as that supreme being, then perhaps the division of knowledge
(Ishwara) and ignorance (jiva) engaged in action integrates into one complete whole which perhaps
would be the ultimate everlasting experience, beyond any words or imagination, that cannot be
expressed in any way and the knower alone knows.
Namaste
Suresh
further and declares "by knowing Brahman or the Supreme God everything can be known".
In other words those who know the supreme God Brahman, will also know everything.
Does it mean that liberated beings are also Omniscient and so equal to God?
Of course there are many interpretations based on dualistic and monistic views.
But lets examine the omniscience of God and his devotees in detail.
Here are some more questions:
1. If God and the rishis (liberated beings) know everything, why do they act like
ignorants and go through troubles? For example Lord Rama crying like an ordinary man
after losing Sita; Sage Durvasa cursing Ambarisha maharaja and then running around to
protect himself from the chasing Sudarshana chakra; and so on...
A: The sages and Gods are only acting "as if" they are ignorants within the framework of
dharma and to ultimately uphold the greatness of dharma and pure devotees. This is also
to delude the demons who are not dharmic, to protect dharma and to delight devotees with
their pass-time or leela. But they never loose the capability to overcome the temporary
ignorance. They will reveal their all knowing power occasionally as needed. So there is
no issue.
2. Sometimes they even engage in actions that are generally considered sinful. So are
all those bad actions justified based on the belief that they know everything. Does it
not mislead other sincere seekers?
A: It should be noted that the sages and gods do not engage in bad or sinful action all
the time. But occasionally they may and that could be predominantly to delude or eliminate
adhArmic demons and to sustain the world and to uphold truth and dharma. Sometimes you
need a thorn to remove a thorn. It is absurd to expect police to always take the right
direction while chasing criminals going in the wrong directions.
Demon vAtApi used to transform himself into a sacrificial goat. Ilvala, his brother, used
to sacrifice vAtapi and offer as food to innocent Rishis. vAtApi would then re-appear,
using his mysterious power, by cutting open the Rishi's stomach. The duo had killed so
many innocent rishis using this treacherous ploy. To stop this treachery Sage Agastya also
ate the meat of the demon vAtApi and using his power digested vAtApi within and thus
permanently eliminated him. Sage Vishwamitra also is known to have eaten dog's meat.
But later performed 500 years of rigorous penance to regain back the spiritual status.
It is therefore recommended for ordinary humans not to emulate such great Rishis when they
engage in such apparently "ignorant or adhArmic" actions.
If the opposing forces are always using adhArmic ways, then it is recommended to use the
same adhArmic ways to eliminate them. mAyAvi mAyayA wadhyaha says Shukra neeti. That means
when there is a need, evil means can be used to defeat evil, and is accepted as a valid path
as long as the final purpose is to sustain truth and uphold dharma or Vedic morality.
Most of the time the avatAras or incarnations of Vishnu, and other gods and rishis have
adopted this Shukra neeti to defeat the treacherous demons.
3. Why should God delude the demons?
This is very intriguing. It may be surprising to many but the real intention of deluding
demons is to save them. Simply put this is similar to parents deluding or tricking their
erring children, who do not listen to the direct instructions.
Devas are the divinities behind the elements in nature and also the various human faculties.
Obviously these devas in the form of all the elements in nature are always engaged in the
service of the humans and the world. So as a mark of gratitude Vedas urge humans to give back
to the devas (nature) by engaging in the practice of yagya / sacrifice or worship. So brAhmanas
are supposed to perform the yagya to worship the devas and the rest of the population to
support them. This process of mutual recognition or co-operation is varnashrama dharma and
also goes by the name of dharma chakra or the wheel of dharma.
Demons in general are those who oppose vedas, devas and the process of yagya. They may come
in many forms - atheists (who do not accept vedas); pseudo intellectuals who appear to be
accepting vedas but giving their own twisted interpretations to ultimately deny everything
including dharma; others who may use vedas/dharma to acquire spiritual powers that can be
used for material gains and conquer the devas and the world (like Ravana) for selfish desires
and so on.
Deluding such demons to dampen their belief in the Vedas, would make them give up the Vedic
way and thereby become less spiritually powerful. Devas would then be able to defeat them.
Another reason could be to stop them from accumulating more sins or even obtain boons or
spiritual powers (like Indrajit and Ravana) that they could use against devas and brahmanas
or devotees and their puja/yagya.
Sometimes this delusion may also lead demons to retort back with redoubled hatred against
devotees/gods and they cause huge damage to devas, brahmanas (devotees) and the yagya (puja).
At that time the Supreme Brahman in the form of Vishnu, Shiva or Devi would incarnate and
eliminate them which many times would result in the liberation of such demons!
4. How can Omniscience and free will go hand in hand? If God knows all that humans do then
whatever "free will" humans possess is not really a "free will" at all. So God is still
responsible for all the evils in the world purportedly caused by humans.
A: It may be true that omniscience and free will cannot go hand in hand in the absolute sense.
If God is omniscient then everything would become deterministic from His point of view. That
means there is no possibility for God to have any "free will" as everything is determined by
Him and there is no freedom to choose. So that means He cannot bestow free will to humans who
are His own creation. So does it mean that all religious dos and donts including Vedas lose
their meaning?. Well all other non-Vedic religions have problem explaining this but not the
Vedas! Why? for the the simple reason that Vedic God is established as the inner Self of all
and is everywhere too! He is the knower, known and the process of knowing.
According to Vedas, God alone was in the beginning. He wills to become many. He brings out
all objective and subjective entities from himself and then enters into all of them. He thus
becomes all real (endowed with consciousness) as well as unreal things in the world. As the
inner absolute Self of all He is the knower endowed with consciousness and free will. In the
form of all objective nature He is everything that needs to be known. As the absolute Self
established in all, He is the omniscient knower. As the embodied Self He is the doer endowed
with free will to choose from dos and donts that arises due to the bodily/wordly dualities.
No normal individual being can deny the existence of some degree of free will, according to
the level of its knowledge. Even animals know what is good or bad for them. The source of
this relative manifestation is God established as the inner absolute Self who is the source
of all existence, consciousness and bliss. The inanimate objective universe which is also
a manifestation of God is appears to be devoid of any consciousness / free will. But it
could also be the sign of Omniscience where there will be no free will / action.
Between the conscious Self and the inanimate matter lies the wide spectrum of beings with
varying degrees of knowledge/free will. So all of these are manifestation of God only.
God gives jivas/individual souls, freedom only to perform their karma or actions. (KarmaNye
vAdhikAraste mA phaleShu kadAchana - Bgita). He also provides the dos and donts through Vedic
shastras or scriptures. So humans / jivas alone are responsible for their good or bad actions
and so have to suffer their consequences. The effect of good or bad actions cannot be denied
by normalindividual. Obviosly jivas are thus responsible for their choice of actions. But yes,
ultimately God is also responsible just like parents are responsible for the actions of their
children and that's why he does avatara to set the world right by protecting the good and
destroying the evil. He thus corrects the world order by incarnating just like any other jiva
and himself setting an example by following the rule of Vedic varnashrama dharma.
More explanations:
1. Vedic God posesses a very unique mysterious power or energy called Maya which is made of
three gunas qualities - sattva, rajas and tamas. This mysterious energy mAyA which can also be
called as ignorance is the cause for all dualities like good and evil in the world. In fact the
entire world of nature is verily mAya. While all jivas / embodied souls are controlled by mAya,
Ishwara or God always remains as the controller of mAya/nature. Maya is actually a veil of
ignorance that covers all individual souls in the form of their body/mind/intellect according
to their karma. When the coverage is complete or opaque they appear as inanimate matter. But
when the coverage is partial it results in relative free will which will varies according to
the extent of karma one possesses. God and His devotees also, when they incarnate, can cover
themselves by mAya out of their own free will. On the other hand, ordinary mortals are
involuntarily covered by mAya according to their karma. This is the difference.
So wherever God himself in his incarnation as Rama and Krishna appears to be ignorant, it is not
really a weakness, as He WILLs to cover himself with mAya and get "limited" depending on the
purpose of his incarnation. As explained earlier, this is to delude non-devotees or half-devotees
and to delight true devotees with His pass-time or leela. If the ultimate purpose is to uphold truth
and dharma that sustains the world, then display of ignorance by God or His devotees, which springs
from their own free will, cannot be a weakness but display of their auspecious attribute or power.
God also has the capability to remove the covered maya or ignorance, at His will. The devotees also
have the same capability which is given by God. So the coverage of mAya for God and his devotees
is not a weakness and instead it will be a display of their auspicious attribute and passtime.
The entire world can be looked upon as the mAyA roopa or mysterious form of God only. One will
end up as an asura or demon if he looks upon the world of nature as just an object of enjoyment.
But based on the Vedic teaching the same person can end up as a deva by recognizing the world as
God and engaging in selfless service or dharma. So the same God will act as bandha kartru and
Moksha kartru for asuras and devas.
When everything is known, then there cannot be any action. All free will / action would ideally
get merged in the omniscient God or Brahman who is everywhere. This is the idealistic view of
Advaita. Creation/sustenance/destruction which is also an action could still be explained when it
is looked upon as the Will of God to manifest as many. The dualistic world is a must for free
will to manifest and this can arise from the all pervading and so non-dualistic God endowed with
the power of mAya.
So even if God and His devotees in their incarnations appear to be limited or covered by ignorance,
there is no problem as long as they have the "capability to know everything". The fact that we
know that "we dont know everything" proves the existence of the possibility or capability
to know everything. This limitation in our knowledge is due to the limitation of our own body,
mind and intellect which is a product of karma. If the universe is everything and we are in it,
then existentially there cannot be any disconnect between everything and ourselves. This universe
is God according to Vedas. So the extent of our knowledge depends on the extent of our realization
of oneness with universe which also means the extent to which we have transcended the limitation
of our own body, mind and intellect. Our own BMI can be a barrier as well as a bridge to the
infinite knowledge of God manifesting as the universe. The process of connection is the process of
yagya or sacrifice where our body, mind and intellect is constantly used in the service of the
God manifesting as the universe. The little human self confined to the body, thus can thus "grow"
infinitely to embrace the God in the form of the infinite universal Self. So ceaseless selfless
action performed out of free will is not really an individual action at all. There is thus
freew will / action in omniscience / inaction and vice versa.
Q: If God gives some free will to the jiva then He must lose His own free will to that extent.
In other words God would not know what the jiva does in the next moment. Thus He can only
react by giving the fruits of actions to the jiva. Is this not a limitation?
A: Well, this may appear to be true. But the problem gets resolved when it is realized that
Vedic God, who is the source of all existence, knowledge, bliss and freedom is everywhere
manifesting as this very universe. So the so called "lost portion" of His "free will" which goes by
the name of ignorance or mAya is not really "lost" but can be said to be hidden. This temporary
coverage of ignorance is like the sun getting covered by cloud which is not really a coverage but
a temporary state. In other words the same omniscient God appears in infinite forms as this very
universe, qualified by mAya. The entire universe is the personality of God and so there cannot be
any real loss for Him. So the temporary manifestation of ignorance in His incarnations is only a
depiction of His attribute or pass-time to achieve a specific purpose.
God's universal will is said to manifest through every particular individual will. If the individual
will is dhArmic or selfless it is said to be in alignment with God's will. If it is adhArmic or selfish
it is said to be going against and so a "reflection" of God's will, which produces reaction in the
form of karmic effects of punya or papa resulting in enjoyment or suffering of the individual in
samsara or the dualistic world.
The shield against bondage or samsara is VarnAshrama dharma or performance of selfless actions
according to one's nature as a yagya or puja or service to the universal God. Selfless actions
obviously helps the individual to expand his knowledge and so should enable one to grow out of the
shackles of selfishness which is the cause for bondage.
The entire universe is the reflected or projected form of God who is originally situated as the
absolute universal Self in all. Every little individual self or jiva is said to be sandwiched between
God as the indwelling absolute unchanging Self and the changing multifarious universe of matter
or mAya which is the abode of all dualities and multiplicities.
The varying degrees of knowledge or freedom or free will, enjoyed by every little individual self
thus depends on how "far or close" it is in its realization of God who is pervading and indwelling
in all as the inner Self.
When the whole universe is realized as that supreme being, then perhaps the division of knowledge
(Ishwara) and ignorance (jiva) engaged in action integrates into one complete whole which perhaps
would be the ultimate everlasting experience, beyond any words or imagination, that cannot be
expressed in any way and the knower alone knows.
Namaste
Suresh
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