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Seeing God in All – Hinduism Teachings

See God in all moveable and immoveable is an important aspect of Hinduism teachings.

The traditional Vedanta was confined to individual spiritual pursuits. There are wonderful sayings in the Upanishads and the Gita suggestive of the social dimension of Vedanta.

Isha Upanishad says that one should cover everything on this earth with isha, the consciousness of God. Chandogya Upanishad declares: ‘Sarvam khalu idam brahma; all this is Brahman.’ The Bhagavad Gita presents a concept of universal sacrifice, yajna, in which everyone sacrifices for the benefit of society. However, the utility of these sayings in the modern times was not realised by common people until the advent of Sri Ramakrishna.

Sri Ramakrishna is a supreme lover of God as well as a great lover of human beings. He saw God in all, but more so in a human being. He says: ‘Men are like pillow-cases. The colour of one may be red, that of another blue, and that of the third black; but all contain the same cotton within. So it is with man; one is beautiful, another is ugly, a third holy, and a fourth wicked; but the Divine Being dwells in them all.’

Sri Ramakrishna’s love for humans is intense and genuine because he saw in and through them the living God himself. He says: ‘God no doubt dwells in all, but He manifests more through man than through other beings. Is man an insignificant thing? ... God exists in other living beings — animals, plants, nay, in all beings — but He manifests Himself more through man than through these others.’

True empathy is loving God in a human being. Love in one’s mind takes external expression in the service of God. When we see God in all, we serve God in all. Sri Ramakrishna gives expression to this beautiful idea in his famous teaching, ‘shivajnaane jeeva sevaa’; serve all beings knowing well that they are divine’.

If a man disregards and persecutes fellow beings, but worships Me in images with many rituals and rich offerings, I am not at all pleased with him for offering such worship. A man should, however, worship Me in images, side by side with discharging his duties, which include the love of all beings, until he actually realises My presence in himself and in all beings. (Srimad Bhagavata Purana)