7.4.2 - HOW CAN POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM BE RECONCILED?

But apart from verbal differences, taking essence into consideration, if God is bliss and man is only a spark from God, the spark, after much sadhana, gets reabsorbed in the original flame from which it came. Then, the process of approach, absorption and getting back may be called worship. But merging permanently with the original flame or bliss or love, is called worship.
Worship is usually described as a Sadhana or means. The end of it is reaching God. Persons of all grades of spiritual development were flocking to Baba’s feet, and a very large number of them were incapable of any rhytham or Laya or merger in God. But a few occasionally touched that Laya. In the morning, when the dew was falling, Once Balwant Khaparde and Bhisma went out and the Sun was just rising. The Sun’s rays hit them and threw their shadows behind them. Their shadows began with their feet and continued right on to the distant horizon, and at the horizon there did the piercing of the dew by the Sun’s rays cause a rainbow. Thus the long shadow of each of them was crowned with a halo of the seven-coloured rainbow. This made them marvelous. From each one, who is finite, goes out an infinite shadow, which at the other end is crowned with divine glory! This was by the rays of the Sun who sends his rays upon all. The Sun is typical of god. The halo of glory cast round the head of the shadows was also typical of Godhead, and so each one had a feeling that he himself was identical with that elongated shadow which had a crown on its head. Therefore each one dimly sensed his divinity. The finite body and its infinite and glorious shadow were really one. The Sun showed the oneness. That was the mystic meaning to be attached to their morning experience of the Sun, the dew, and their shadows. They communicated their experience to G.S.Khaparde who said that Baba had kindly given them a mystic experience of Atmananda. Keeping this in their minds, they went to see Baba. Baba gave them a smile of approval and said nothing. One would take it that Baba set his seal of approval on their interpretation of this natural phenomenon of having long shadows of themselves crowned with divine glory, and considering the same as typical or significant of their being in essence divinity, something infinite, blissful, and beautiful, and that their Jivas must be recognized by each one of them as being the Paramatma, that is, Divine, as was demonstrated by their blissful laya absorption for a moment.