How Seekers First Found God

Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters, Los Angeles,

California, November 11, 1934

We can readily understand how man first conceived of a science of

medicine. He suffered physically and therefore sought a method to heal

himself. But how did man happen to try to find out about God? The

question gives scope for profound reflection.

In the Vedas 1 of India we find the earliest true concept of God. In her

happiness. How then can one make himself really happy? That is the

problem the wise men of India undertook to solve.

Three Aspects of Nature

Worship of God in prehistoric times began through man’s fear of the

various forces of nature. When it rained excessively, floods killed many

people. Awed, man thought of the rain and wind and other natural forces as

Later on, human beings realized that nature operates in three ways: creative,

preservative, and dissolutive. A wave rising out of the ocean exemplifies

the creative state; staying for a moment on the sea-breast, it is in the

primal powers were created as projections of the unmanifested Spirit to

unfold His infinite drama of creation, while He, as God beyond creation,

remains ever hidden behind their consciousness. In times of cosmic

dissolution, all creation and its vast activating forces dissolve back into

Spirit. There they rest until called upon again by the Great Director to

reenact their roles. 3

A Story About Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva

In India there is a popular story about Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. They

were boasting among themselves about their tremendous might. Suddenly a

little boy came up and said to Brahma, “What do you create?”

him to save the straw, which was slowly starting to dissolve under the boy’s

steady gaze. Vishnu’s efforts to hold it together were fruitless. Finally, the

little stranger produced the piece of straw again and asked Shiva to destroy

it. But try as Shiva would to annihilate it, the tiny straw remained intact.

The little boy turned again to Brahma: “Did you create me?” he asked.

Brahma thought and thought; he could not remember ever having created

this amazing child. Suddenly the boy vanished. The three gods awoke from

their delusion and remembered that behind their power is a Greater Power.

God, the Supreme Cause

have been created out of ideas. This led to the concept that everything must

have existed first as an idea. Someone had to create that first idea or cosmic

plan. Thus through the analogy of the law of cause and effect, intelligent

men reasoned that there must be a Supreme Cause.

Science has learned that all matter is made of invisible building blocks—

Evidence of Order and Harmony Is Everywhere

Perceiving that every human being is a compound of matter and mind, the

earliest Western thinkers believed that two independent forces existed:

nature and mind. Later they began asking themselves, “Why is everything

in nature arranged in a particular way? Why isn’t one of man’s arms longer

than the other? Why don’t stars and planets collide? Everywhere we see

evidence of order and harmony in the universe.” They concluded that mind

and matter could not be both separate and sovereign; a single Intelligence

must govern all. This conclusion naturally led to the idea that there is just

one God, who is both the Cause and matter and the Intelligence within and

behind it. One who attains the ultimate wisdom realizes that everything is

behold God’s presence in nature through the ordinary perceptions of the

five senses. So they began to try to feel Him within themselves by deeper

and deeper concentration. They eventually discovered how to shut off all

five senses, thus temporarily doing away entirely with the consciousness of

matter. The inner world of the Spirit began to open up. 4 To those great ones

of ancient India who undeviatingly persisted in these inner investigations,

God finally revealed Himself.

Devotion and Right Activity Attract God’s

Attention

know Him. If you persist, the Lord will come. The Searcher of Hearts wants

only your sincere love. He is like a little child: someone may offer Him his

whole wealth and He doesn’t want it; and another cries to Him, “O Lord, I

love you!” and into that devotee’s heart He comes running.

Don’t seek God with any ulterior motive, but pray to Him with devotion—

unconditional, one-pointed, steady devotion. When your love for Him is as

great as your attachment to your mortal body, He will come to you.

In seeking the Lord, activity comes after devotion in importance. Some say,

“God is Power; therefore let us act with power.” When you are active in

doing good, with the Lord ever uppermost in your mind, you will perceive

you think of Him before you act, while you are performing the action, and

after you have finished it, He will reveal Himself to you. You must work,

but let God work through you; this is the best part of devotion. If you are

constantly thinking that He is walking through your feet, working through

your hands, accomplishing through your will, you will know Him. You

constructive, God-conscious activity to work performed without any

thought of Him.

Meditation Is the Highest Form of Activity

But greater than activity, devotion, or reason, is meditation. To meditate

truly is to concentrate solely on Spirit. This is esoteric meditation. It is the

highest form of activity that man can perform, and it is the most balanced

way to find God. If you work all the time you may become mechanical and

lose Him in preoccupation with your duties; and if you seek Him only

through discriminative thought you may lose Him in the labyrinths of

endless reasoning; and if you cultivate only devotion for God, your

Work, eat, walk, laugh, cry, meditate—only for Him. That is the best way to

live. In so doing you will be truly happy serving Him, loving Him, and

communing with Him. So long as you let the desires and weaknesses of the

physical body control your thoughts and actions, you will not find Him.

wisdom is the Infinite Lord. Unite the heart’s feeling and the mind’s reason

in a perfect balance. In the castle of calmness, again and again cast off

identification with earthly titles, and plunge into deep meditation to realize

your divine kingship.

Look within yourself. Remember, the Infinite is everywhere. Diving deep