Name:dattaswami •
Title: Dualism •
Date posted: 06/02/07 12:39
Q: Dualism
The third view is ‘Dvaita’ or Dualism. This view is given when the egoism and jealousy of human beings is at the climax. They cannot accept any human being greater than themselves in any way. God is the Master and the human incarnation is accepted only as His dear servant. The servant is an outsider and has no blood relationship with the Father. God sends His messenger to pass on His message to the earth. Every human being is a servant of God and thus all human beings are spiritually equal. God chooses a particular servant as a messenger on the earth. This choosing of the messenger is only a chance. This philosophy was preached by Madhva. According to it, God never enters any human body and will not come down to earth. Only a little of His power and His grace enter the messenger. Whenever Jesus claimed Himself as the messenger from God, this dualistic philosophy is seen. Islam believes this concept. Mohammed is only a messenger from God. They do not accept the concept of the human incarnation. But they respect the messenger and worship Him as the representative of God. Thus this type of worship started the representative worship.
A representative of God can be any object in the world. Not only the human body but any non-living inert object can also stand as the representative of God. Based on this idea, Persians started worshipping fire as God. Some devotees feel that God is the all-pervading cosmic energy, which is also inert. Some meditate upon God as the all-pervading pure awareness, which is only another special form of energy. Life or awareness is a special form of nervous energy. Some have started worshipping every human being or even every living being as God. Some have expanded the concept to every living and non-living object and thus treated the entire cosmos as God. Scientists believe that the ultimate is only this world. Thus this concept of representative worship finally ended with atheism.
