Page 9 - Dawn of Reality an Exposition of REALITY AT DAWN of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj

about the two conceptions, the Nirakar and Sakar, but really both the conceptions, as generally understood, are greatly misleading. Really God is neither Nirakar nor Sakar but beyond both. Those who treat him as Sakar limit the Limitless within bounds of form and shape. The result is that they cultivate narrow-mindedness and remain forever within bounds. If we take Him as Nirakar the very idea brings to our mind the limitation of attributes as creator, controller and destroyer. Even the idea of God as Power or Energy is still a limited conception. We go on ahead to the idea of non-entity or zero, still we are in a way somewhat away from Reality. What then? Expression now fails. Sufficient be it to say that if we are really away from both the conceptions, we may think ourselves to be in the right direction. So long as we remain confined within the bounds of religion the God of religion remains in our view and we remain entangled within one or the other view. The highest spiritual attainment is only possible when we go beyond. In fact spirituality begins where religion ends. Religion is only a preliminary stage for preparing a man for his march on the path of freedom. When he has set his foot on the path, he is then beyond the limits of religion. The end of religion is the beginning of spirituality; the end of spirituality is the beginning of Reality and the end of Reality is the real Bliss. When that too is gone, we have reached the destination. That is the highest mark which is almost inexpressible in words.
Worship of gods and deities in various forms is a crude development of the same Sakar theory. Worship of every power of nature and even of mountains, rivers and trees is a further degradation of the same view. What a pity! Instead of worshipping the Master, we are worshipping the servants ignoring the Master entirely and we are not prepared to hear even a word against our set prejudices. The result is that today we find so many sects and creeds, each worshipping its own god or goddess in its own particular way. Evidently the goal before their eye is not even liberation but in most cases deliverance from some particular form of misery or some material gain. People are driven to such forms of worship either by the force of circumstances or through the faulty guidance of those who are themselves quite in dark in the matters of Self -realization. Lord Krishna has made it clear in the Gita that worship of gods may lead you at the most to their sphere only, which is a limited one and far below the point of liberation. They themselves have no capacity to go beyond. The approach of their devotees beyond this point is, therefore, out of question. Thus it is evident that these gods and deities are of no avail to us if we really aim at Reality. I have illustrated the point more clearly in my book Efficacy of Raja Yoga.
Mechanical form of worship, commonly adopted by those hankering after gods and goddesses to serve their worldly ends is also another absurdity. It is