The Living God

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He who is in you and outside you, 

Who works through all hands,

Who walks on all feet,

Whose body are all ye,

Him worship, and break all other idols!

He who is at once the high and low,

The sinner and the saint,

Both God and worm,

Him worship — visible, knowable, real, omnipresent,

Break all other idols!

In whom is neither past life

Nor future birth nor death,

In whom we always have been

And always shall be one,

Him worship. Break all other idols!

Ye fools! who neglect the living God,

And His infinite reflections with which the world is full.

While ye run after imaginary shadows,

That lead alone to fights and quarrels,

Him worship, the only visible!

Break all other idols!

~ Swami Vivekananda

(Written to an American friend from Almora, 9th July 1897.)

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There is one absolute God. But each human being, according to my philosophy, is a portion of God. The Supreme God is like the ocean. Each drop has a little of the consciousness of the ocean; therefore, we can say each drop is a tiny god, a portion of God. When you are portion of the infinite, you can say that you also embody the essence of the Infinite.

According to our Indian philosophy, there are as many gods as there are human beings. What do we mean by that? We feel that each human being has God inside him. We believe in the soul; we believe that we have God inside us. Most of the time our God is fast asleep. But when we pray and meditate, our God comes forward. There are many who are still fast asleep. Their God is still sleeping. But we are praying, we are meditating; so we are bringing our God to the fore. The soul, which is God's representative within us, has a complete and inseparable connection with the Absolute God.

~ Sri Chinmoy

(Excerpt from God And The Cosmic Game)