| |
become the cosmos.
He is not a separate thing. He is not like a carpenter who makes something and remains separate. That is not possible. He is like a seed: the tree grows out of it, but then it disappears into the tree. You can find God again only when this tree disappears.
Hindus have been saying that you can find God either in the beginning of creation or you can find him at the end of creation. In the beginning, when the world is not, the seed is there, but you are not there to find him -- because you are part of the tree, you are leaves of the tree. Or, he will be there in pralaya, when the whole world dissolves, when the tree becomes old and dies. And this happens with every tree: when the tree becomes old, new seeds come again -- millions of seeds.
In pralaya you will find millions of gods again -- but then you will not be there, that's the problem. There is only one way to find God: you can find him only if you can find him here and now, on every leaf. If you are looking for a particular image, a Krishna, a Rama, then you will not find him. They are also leaves -- more beautiful, of course, more alive and more green, because they have realized God, realized that he is everywhere.
When Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed," he is saying millions of things. That's the beauty of a parable: you say almost nothing, you say nothing much, and yet you say many things. When the seed dies the universe is there; when the seed dies the tree is there. This is the kingdom of God; here is the kingdom of heaven. And if you are looking for it somewhere else, you are looking in vain. If you want to look into the kingdom of God, you also have to become like a seed and die: and suddenly the tree is there -- you are no more and God is there. You will never encounter God. If you are there, God is not there because the seed is there. When you disappear, God is there; so there is no encounter really.
When you are not, God is there; emptiness in your hand, then God is there. When you are no more, then God is there. Again a paradox: the seed contains the tree, but the seed can also kill the tree. If the seed becomes too egoistic,
|
|
|