God can only be known in and through man.
Vibrations of light are everywhere, even in the darkest corners; but it is only in the lamp that it becomes visible to man. Similarly God, though everywhere, we can only conceive Him as a big man.
All ideas of God such as merciful preserver, helper, protector -- all these are human ideas, anthropomorphic; and again these must cling to a man, call him a Guru or a Prophet or an Incarnation.
Man cannot go beyond his nature, no more than you can jump out of your body.
- Swami Vivekananda,
in a Letter to Haridas V Desai
from Chicago (January 1894)
Vibrations of light are everywhere, even in the darkest corners; but it is only in the lamp that it becomes visible to man. Similarly God, though everywhere, we can only conceive Him as a big man.
All ideas of God such as merciful preserver, helper, protector -- all these are human ideas, anthropomorphic; and again these must cling to a man, call him a Guru or a Prophet or an Incarnation.
Man cannot go beyond his nature, no more than you can jump out of your body.
- Swami Vivekananda,
in a Letter to Haridas V Desai
from Chicago (January 1894)
No comments:
Post a Comment