Do not confine Sri Rama to a name and form - Swami

[Guest guest]

God shines effulgently in the universe and so does the universe in God. The relationship between God and the universe is intimate and inseparable.

 

The universe is full of living beings. Each being is the embodiment of Rama. Do not confine Rama to a particular name and form. All the beings are His forms. Rama means the One who delights. He is present in all. Easwara Sarva Bhutanam (God is the indweller of all beings). Isavasyam Idam Jagat (the entire world is permeated by God). The world is the very form of God. Sahasra Seersha Purusha Sahasraksha Sahasra Pad (God has thousands of heads, eyes and feet).

 

In those days, the population of the world was only in thousands. Considering each of them the form of God, it was declared, Sahasra Seersha Purusha … With the passage of time, the population swelled from thousands to lakhs and from lakhs to crores. Then it was said, God is Mukkoti Devata Swarupa, meaning He is in the form of three crores of beings.

 

Today the world population has increased to nearly 600 crores. All are the forms of God. Usually people confine Rama to a particular form with a bow and a quiver of arrows. In fact, every man is Rama Swarupa (embodiment of Rama). That is why people are named after Rama, Lakshmana, Krishna, Govinda, etc.

 

- From Swami's 2003 Ramanavami Discourse