Knowledge by Way of the Mahatmas 45

His, and therefore if we study these qualities in our-
selves, we come to learn something of God. This does
not mean that we understand the quantity of God.
This self-realization process is one way of under-
standing God, but in no case can we preach, “I am
God.” We cannot claim to be God without being able
to display the powers of God. As far as Krgna is con-
cerned, He proved that He was God by displaying so
much power and by revealing His universal form to
Arjuna. Krgna showed this awesome form in order to
discourage people who would claim to be God. We
should not be fooled by one who claims to be God;
following in the footsteps of Arjuna, we should re-
quest to see the universal form before accepting any-
one as God. Only a fool would accept another fool as
God.

No one can be equal to God, and no one can be
above Him. Even Lord Brahma and Siva, the most
exalted demigods, are subservient to Him and pay
their respectful obeisances. Instead of trying to be-
come God by some meditational process or other,
we had better hear about God submissively and try
to understand Him and our relationship to Him. The
representative of God or the incarnation of God never
claims to be God but the servant of God. This is the
sign of the bona fide representative.

Whatever we learn of God from authoritative
sources can be described, and that will help us make
spiritual progress. This description is called kirtana.
If we try to repeat what we hear, we become estab-
lished in knowledge. By the process of sravanam
kirtanam, hearing and chanting, we can become free
