In the beginning, before creation, God was invisible; but He wanted to become visible, and to enjoy His infinite nature through many forms. Electricity is in the air around us, but you don’t see it. Unmanifest, it is impersonal. But when it is brought into a bulb, it becomes visible, even though it is the same electricity. So it is with God. You are all gods- the Divine Electricity made visible in body bulbs- though you don’t know it. Thus my God not only remains unseen behind the stars, hidden in the sky, but He is visible right before me- a God who has taken the forms of more than a billion beings on earth. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But though He has made a personal representation of Himself in each human being, some reflect His light more than others. These are His great saints and avatars.
To cite again the example of Jesus, his body that was crucified and that he re-created, or resurrected, was manifested from the invisible God. And that resurrected form didn’t die a second death, but was dissolved in Spirit after Jesus had appeared to his disciples. This demonstration proves that God can make Himself visible and appear in any form at any time.
Since God is not limited to any one manifestation, it is all right to visualise Him in whatever form is dearest to your heart. He will appear to you in a form representative of one of His divine attributes, such as those personified in the deities of the Hindu scriptures, or as any avatar, saint, or great soul that you love. This first step in drawing that divine response is to visualise, with eyes closed in meditation, the image of the deity or saint. If your meditation is deep and your effort is persistent, you will draw God to you.
Throughout twenty centuries, God incarnate in Jesus has appeared to many devotees, including St. Francis of Assisi. And because St. Francis so completely identified himself with Jesus, he lived the crucifixion of Jesus in his own consciousness, and the stigmata appeared on his body. I saw the same miracle in Therese Neumann; her hands and feet showed clearly the wounds of the nails. Such are the testimonials of God.
Extract from the book “Divine Romance” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
