What does it take to understand Saints and God?
Our mistake was we tried to understand Saints and descensions of God with our material intellect. When one cannot even understand the actions of yogis, and Saints are beyond yogis, then who could understand a Saint? If we did try to understand a Saint, we said, “Let’s see how this Saint is…” We paid attention to his face, nose, eyes, height, width, age, color, and form. What are you observing? “I’m trying to see how he is.” But a Saint is not a body. He is the soul residing in the body. Your intellect cannot reach there.
Once, Ashtavakra went to King Janak’s court. Ashtavakra’s body was deformed in eight places. You may have seen a person who is physically deformed in two or three places. If we were to 8 deformations in a six foot tall body, then his body would be twisted and bent every nine inches. You could make thousands of dollars if you put that kind of body on display. Everyone would like to see it.
Furthermore, Kripalu ji Maharaj says that when Ashtavakra went to King Janak’s court many top-notch philosophers and scholars of the Vedas were also present there. When they saw him, they naturally started to laugh. No one could control his laughter. King Janak was also sitting there. Seeing those scholars laughing, Ashtavakra also started to laugh. He looked at Janak and said, “Do you have only shoemakers in your court?” area caste in India. They work with animal skins and make shoes and other leather items. They can recognize the quality and the price of any kind of leather. They can also tell whether the leather is from a deer, buffalo, or cow. They are experts in this field.
Ashtavakra said, “I had heard good things about your court that lots of top scholars were here. All I see are shoemakers.” The whole court became silent and serious. The scholars felt bad. They thought, “What a strange man! He is calling us . We are all and from the highest caste. We are all scholars and have knowledge of the Vedas.”
Janak understood the situation. He was a totally detached Saint. King Janak said to Ashtavakra, “These people want to know why you are calling them shoemakers. They are feeling bad.” Ashtavakra said, “This has a simple answer. These people are looking only at my deformed body. Why are you looking at my body? There is nothing special in the body. Even if there were anything special, it can’t be seen with material eyes.”
You have heard that God’s body is Divine. Whenever you saw God, you could not see His Divine body with your material eyes made up of the five material elements. So what did you receive after seeing God? Whatever you saw was according to your perception and spiritual power. You would not receive Divine Bliss even if you physically saw God. Only Saints experience the Bliss.
So even if a Saint’s body were Divine you would not be able to see it. Our first mistake is that we apply our intellect. Our second mistake is that we try to understand a Saint’s words, actions, and behavior. We wonder, “Why did he say it like that?” You are not a Saint, but still you say, “Why does act like that? He is not a Saint.”