Bhagavagd Gita - Session 14- Track 1407

Adharma, which rises up at every subsequent stage is of a harder kind, much fiercer as you develop more and more manifestation, the resistance to it also becomes very great and therefore a greater power has to manifest to meet that power of opposition.

I have spoken to you in a very rapid manner the objections and the answer. But let us try to understand this answer gradually, step by step. The Avatar-hood cannot be understood unless we understand: why this world? What is this world itself? We are not taking up the position of a materialist, which does not recognise anything else than matter at all. Let us grant that there is God. Let us grant that He is omnipotent, He is infinite and He is formless. Because all these propositions are true: the Divine is formless; the Divine is infinite; the Divine is omnipotent. Secondly, that there is nothing but the Divine; let us grant that proposition also that there is only nothing but the Divine:

ekamevādvitīyam, (Chhānd. Upn. 6, 2, 1): “The Divine alone exists”

Then: what is the position of this world? What is the position of all of us who do not seem to be divine? If there is only one Divine, then why don’t we think, and why don’t we believe, and why don’t we experience that we are Divine? If there is only one Divine we must be experiencing it! Why this world does not seem to be Divine, why does it seem to be full of evil and wrong doing and pain and suffering if there is really one Divine only, and He is omnipotent? And again if He is Satchitananda, why Satchitananda is not experienced here?

Unless you answer these questions we will not be able to enter into the mystery of the Avatarhood. The answer to this question is that Divine is first of all so perfect, omnipotent, that He can decide not to manifest at all: there is no compulsion on the Divine that He must manifest; no compulsion either on Him that He should not manifest. If He is omnipotent, and if He wants to manifest, there must be no compulsion on Him not to manifest.

Since the whole manifestation is before us, we can conclude the Divine decided one day to manifest Himself. That is why this world exists. Why should He decide to manifest? Because He is capable of it, that is the answer, He is omnipotent. If He decides to manifest, He can manifest.

Second proposition will be that if He can manifest, He can manifest fully, or partially, or even less than partially: all the three possibilities are there: He is omnipotent, He can either manifest Himself fully, or He can manifest partially or even less than partially.

Supposing He decides not to manifest Himself fully, and if He does not manifest you cannot argue that He should necessarily manifest Himself fully, because that would be a contradiction of the omnipotence. That He cannot manifest Himself except fully would be a limitation on Him. If He decides His manifestation in a particular manner, it is up to Him to decide, which way He wants to manifest Himself.

The way, in which the world is, we must understand how He is manifesting. We find in this world, if we examine the world, that in this world there is first a manifestation only of matter; then there is a farther manifestation of life coming very gradually, then, there is a manifestation of the mind: all human beings are a manifestation, but partial manifestation. But the partiality of the manifestation of the Divine in matter is very limited partiality, very small manifestation you might say. In human beings there is a greater manifestation. In other words we can detect in this world that Divine has decided to manifest Himself gradually, in a graduated manner.

This graduated manner is what is called ‘evolution’. Evolution is nothing but a graduated development of forms, which manifest greater and greater capacities as later forms begin to be manifested: this is what we discover in the world. So, one thing is clear that Divine has decided to manifest Himself gradually, and this is how He is conducting the world.

When He is conducting the world and manifesting Himself gradually, it does not mean that He Himself ceases to be Divine and omnipotent. He Himself can remain omnipotent and full, perfect, even while His manifestation can be incomplete.

It is like a great poet who has his full poetic vision in his consciousness, even though he writes word by word, he cannot write all his poetic vision in one stroke: our method of writing itself is such that it limits your manifestation, you have got to write little by little, but even when you write little by little, it does not mean that your full poetic vision does not exist: your full poetic vision exists, it is there but in manifestation it is limited; it is gradually that your are manifesting your poetry. But while you are writing that gradual poetry, it is guided, supervised by your full poetic vision; similarly, this world, which is evolving is evolving under the supervision, adhiṣṭhāya. There is adhiṣṭhātā who has the full vision of what is to manifest gradually.