Radhanath Swami

One person that amazed me on reading ‘Journey Home’ is Balshiva Yogi. This Yogi was frivolous and talkative, yet he was intense in his spiritual practice. He impressed Richard (now Radhanath Swami) with magical feats by creating deity of Lord Shiva from his hand; he also produced ashes from his palm. However what really impressed Richard was is honesty and acceptance that magical feats through yogic manipulation of matter aren’t necessarily spiritual. Balshiva Yogi said, “I can produce ashes but God can create universes.”  Balashiva Yogi declared that this is prapti siddhi, a yogic art, through which one can manipulate gross elements of nature by controlling the subtle elements within the mind. He warned that neither he is God nor anyone else performing such supernatural feats, for these skills are attained through meditation and austerities. On the other hand, the yogi added that God is creating many miracles daily. Radhanath Swami writes his wonderful realization that the creation of God is nothing but one amazing miracle after another, and God had empowered every species with amazing talents.

As a practicing spiritualist it is an uplifting experience to see God’s creation and marvel at the preciseness and beauty of it all. There are many simple and graphic examples of the artistry of the Lord’s creation. We see that among the lower forms of living entities, social organization is very smoothly maintained. For example, in a bee colony the drones nicely take care of the queen bee, while the workers collect a great amount of honey from flowers all day long. Similarly, the loving relationship between a mother and her baby is quite clearly visible even in very small forms of living entities. During monsoon season in tropical countries, when there are torrents of rain, the small ants run to find shelter, carrying their eggs on their heads. The spider makes its wonderful webs with great architectural skill to serve as a shelter and to catch its prey for survival. Silkworms spin hundreds of yards of fine threads to form cocoons for their shelter during the pupa stage. Inside a tiny seed, smaller than the size of a mustard seed, the whole potency of a big banyan tree is present. Seventy separate chemical reactions are involved in the process of photosynthesis in a plant. These are just a few examples of the wonderful organization in nature which reveals a wonderful intelligence behind it all. These arrangements are made by God, who is creating, maintaining and guiding all living entities, small or big.

Radhanath Swami has often given the example of the giant Sequoia tree. One of the smallest seeds has packaged within it the biggest living thing on earth – the giant sequoia tree. It grows over 300 feet high. Four feet above the ground its diameter may be 36 feet. One tree may contain enough wood to build 50 six-room houses. The twofoot- thick bark is flavored with tannin that repels insects, and it’s spongy, fibrous texture makes it almost as fireproof as asbestos. It’s roots cover three or four acres. It lives over 3000 years. Yet the seeds that a sequoia tree rains down by the millions are not much bigger than a pinhead surrounded by tiny wings. A puny man standing at a sequoia’s base can only gaze upward in silent awe at its massive grandeur. Does it make sense to believe that the shaping of the majestic giant and of the tiny seed that packages it was not by design?

Radhanath Swami speaks in many of his classes that we can see and appreciate God’s wonderful creation at the atomic and molecular level also. Networks of atoms are so fantastically arranged that even a slight change in the positions of a few atoms or a little variation in the geometry of a molecule, can cause the colour of a substance to change from orange to red, a mild pleasing odour to become repellent and pungent, and a flavour to change from sweet to bitter. On one extreme, we find from the infinitely large to the infinitesimally small, from galactic clusters to atoms, the universe is characterized by superb organization. Indeed, the universe is so precisely organized that man can use the heavenly bodies as the basis for his timekeeping. A well designed time piece is obviously the work of a intelligent scientist. Then what about the far more complex design and dependability that exists throughout the universe?

With such simple and daily observable examples, Radhanath Swami appeals to all to accept the benevolence of God.

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