Page 29 - GangaDisplay
P. 29
 This is the example of atmavat manyate jagat. A man thinks
others are like him. He sees the world through the prism of
his own limitations and projects them on every one he sees.
By assuming everyone has the same limitations as he has, he
misrepresents whatever he sees.
Similarly, people who lack knowledge of God and rely only on
their own limited abilities and assets as the standard of meas-
ure remain baffled in their attempts to understand Lord Krish-
na. They cannot imagine how great Krishna is, how His poten-
cy is unlimited, how He manufactures huge amounts of chem-
icals such as an ocean of salt and H2O water. Who has pro-
duced so much hydrogen, oxygen and sodium chloride (salt)
to make the vast ocean. Mundane persons think, "If I have to
manufacture something, I require some tools, I require some
energy, I require money to purchase some ingredients. I have
to collect them. Then I can manufacture something." There-
fore one is surprised, "How Krishna can make, or how God
can create this universe? Who supplied the ingredients?" They
think, "I require so many things to make something. Krishna
must also require so many tools and raw materials to manu-
facture this cosmic manifestation." Someone who thinks in
terms of his limited experience and capabilities will project his
limitations onto God. He will doubt that the cause of this cos-
mic manifestation is a person because of its sheer magnitude.
Usually such doubters become convinced that God cannot be
a person. They conclude that the origin of creation must be
something impersonal like the force of gravity or a source of
infinite energy that organizes itself by a random process. The
truth is that in the background of this world is a supremely
intelligent and all-powerful person who is intelligently direct-
ing the universal affairs. No one is equal to or greater than
Him.
Most commentators of the Vedas are mundane persons who
use their imperfect logic and reason to translate Sanskrit
verses and interpret them based on their own limited percep-
tion of reality. Instead of saying that the anger of the sons of
Sagara directed at the transcendental Lord burned their bod-
ies to ashes, they reason that the Lord, who was in deep
meditation, was disturbed like an ordinary person by the an-
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