Who Knows God?

Once, an elephant was bathing in a pond. A tiny mouse
appeared from somewhere and shouted at the elephant:

“ Mr. Elephant, come out of the pond immediately.”

The elephant ignored the call and continued bathing. The
mouse called out again: “I want to talk to you urgently, do
not delay, come out of the water.”

The elephant continued bathing. The irritated mouse
threatened the elephant:

“ Mr. Elephant, if you do not step out of the pond, you will
have to face serious consequences.”

Now, the elephant stopped bathing and came out of the pond.
The mouse inspected it from tail to trunk and said coolly:

“O.K. You may go now.” The elephant lost its temper and
asked the mouse angrily why it had disturbed him.

The mouse replied calmly, “I couldn’t find my swim suit; just
wanted to check if you had worn it.”

The mouse was so ignorant that it had not realized the hugeness
of the elephant and its own smallness. Yet, it was arrogant.
We are like the arrogant mouse unable to understand the glory
of God.

An elephant may get into the swim suit of a mouse but the
limited imagination of a man cannot capture the glory of
omnipresent God. Since creation, man has tried to measure
the greatness of God and failed. Many religions have been
dogmatic in their attempt to describe Him.

There are many who say work is God, while many others
reject the very existence of God. God who is the master of
all intellect cannot be captured by the human mind,
imagination or intelligence. Hence, even those maharishis who
had traversed a long way on the path of God realization stated
that words and mind cannot conceive or reach Him. Keno
Upanishad explains,

“One who has not seen God thinks that he knows Him. One
who has seen Him thinks he does not know Him”.
The person standing on the sea shore looks at the ocean, but
cannot grasp the depth or immensity of the entire ocean.
Similarly, with our small mind and limited vision it is not
possible for us to understand the infinite glory of God.