GOD AND GOD-MEN IN VEDANTA (11)

August 3, 2004

Swami Ashokananda

Now, if you consider all the saints of this class, all the mahapurusas,

you will find that some enjoy the greatest authority. Not only are they

saints, not only are they men of God - they have also become God-men. And

some God-men - for example, Sri Krishna or Buddha or Sri Ramakrishna - are

so great that you find the so-called man aspect, human aspect, is almost

gone: there remains in them God and nothing but God. Such God-men have been

called Divine Incarnations.

Of course, as you can well understand, there has been a great deal of

controversy amongst the Hindus about whether the idea of Divine Incarnation

is legitimate or not. At the very outset, who are those who can call a God-

man or a saint an Incarnation of God ? If we call someone a Divine Incarnation,

that might be awfully nice of us, indicating that we feel a great deal of

devotion towards him, but that does not prove anything. After all, we are

ignorant people. Once a disciple of Buddha began to praise him in his presence.

He said, 'There has never been so glorious a person as you.' Well, Buddha, who

never liked this kind of flattery, just said, 'I imagine you have known all

the Buddhas at the present time ?' 'No, sir.' 'Maybe you knew all the Buddhas

of the past?' 'No.' 'Of the future?' 'No.' 'Then how can you say this?' Well,

a similar question arises: How do you know that a saint, or a mahapurusa, is

an Incarnation of God ? It's a very difficult question to answer, and I may

frankly tell you that probably never will this question be answered to the

satisfaction of all or of even a large number of people. It will always

remain problematical.

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