God in quality not in quantity

I see a lot of people these days in the conscious community claiming to be God. Yes, we are qualitatively like God, but certainly not in quantity. In other words, our divinity is limited or “marginal”. According to the Vedas, the fact that we are prone to illusion proves that we are limited. If we were “God” unlimitedly, then how is that we have found ourselves stuck in a gross material body and are forced to suffer, birth, old age, disease and death?

A certain breed of spiritualist in India, known as Mayavadi’s, would say, “Oh that is just our pastime. We chose to be covered by this material energy, so that we can enjoy the liberation.” To which the logician could respond, “Then let me kick you in the stomach right now, and when I stop kicking, you can enjoy the cessation of the pain!” It’s the same logic. The point here is that although we are eternal pure spiritual beings by nature, because of decisions and actions we have taken in the past, we have been forced to accept a temporary material body. As we wake up to this reality, the thought of death and being somehow limited just feels weird. But this uneasiness should motivate us to find out the source of our true nature as parts and parcels of the body of God, while simultaneously unique individual beings of light.

Loving relationships are what motivate us in this world, and it is the same in the spiritual dimension, only they are purely unmotivated. The last snare of maya (illusion) is to think that we are the Supreme Being, for it is this very notion that got us here in the first place. The whole material creation is here simply to facilitate the childish passions of the soul to be independent and powerful. We are given an opportunity to be God-like, however, we must do so through layers of gross material energy. After many millions of births characterized by utter frustration and pain, the soul eventually awakens to the reality he/she does not belong here, cannot enjoy here, and that this material world is not our true home.

Religion is really just following the laws outlined by God and His messengers and one can do that quite easily outside the confines and control of some institution. As we awaken and become more pure in consciousness, doing the right thing becomes natural. Spirituality is being in tune with your true nature as the soul. You don’t have a soul, rather, you ARE the soul. And you, the soul, have a pure and unique personality that is unfortunately now covered by layers and layers of material energy, which includes the most subtle layer, false ego. False ego is the mistaken idea that we are these bodies. But it can also be when we see ourselves as independently Supreme.

The fact is, our true nature is to serve God. Service is the innate quality of the soul, inasmuch as sweetness is the innate quality of sugar. To serve is the essence of our existence. Indeed, even while covered by these gross material bodies, we still like to serve. We serve our family, our friends, our boss, our pets, our company, our country, and of course our bodies. It cannot be avoided. The highest level of service is to serve God. Not in a slave-like manner, but in a beautiful loving exchange just like the loving exchange between a mother and child. Such love is as pure as you will ever find in this material world. So in the same way, our pure loving relationship with God takes on the form of some kind of service relationship, where both you, the soul (atma), and God, the Supreme soul (Paramatma) are serving each other. That relationship is absolutely unique to each soul and according to the Vedas, the goal of human life is reviving that pure loving relationship.