Jay: Grandma, I can eat and sleep and think and talk and walk and run and work and study. How does my body know how to do all this?
Grandma: The whole world, including our body, is made of five basic elements or matter. These elements are: earth, water, fire, air, and ether or an invisible element. We have eleven senses: five sense organs (nose, tongue, eye, skin, and ear); five organs of action (mouth, hand, leg, anus, and urethra); and a mind. We smell through our nose, taste through our tongue, see through the eyes, feel touch through skin, and hear through our ears. We also have a sense of feeling by which we feel pain and pleasure. All these give our body what it needs to work (Gita 13.05-06). The Spirit or Atmā inside our bodies is also called Prāna. It supplies power to the body to do all work. When Prāna leaves the body, we are dead.
Jay: You said God is the creator of the universe. How do we know there is a creator or God?
Grandma: There has to be a creator behind any creation, Jay. Somebody or some power made the car we drive and the house we live in. Somebody or some power created the sun, the earth, the moon and the stars. We call that person or power God or the creator of this universe.
Jay: If everything has a creator, then who created God?
Grandma: This is a very good question, Jay, but there is no answer. God has always existed and will always exist. God is the origin of everything, but God has no origin. Good Lord is the source of everything, but He or She has no source!
Jay: Then, what is God like, Grandma? Can you describe Him?
Grandma: It is impossible to describe God directly. The Supreme Being can only be described by parables, and in no other way. His hands, feet, eyes, head, mouth, and ears are everywhere. He can see, feel, and enjoy without any physical sense organs. He does not have a body like us. His body and senses are out of this world. He walks without legs, hears without ears, does all works without hands, smells without a nose, sees without eyes, speaks without a mouth, and enjoys all tastes without a tongue. His actions are wonderful. His greatness is beyond description. God is present everywhere at all times. He is very near (living in every cell of our body) as well as far away in His Supreme Abode. He is the creator (Brahmā), the sustainer (Vishnu) and the destroyer (Mahesha), all in one (Gita 13.13-16).
Jay: Then how can we know and understand God?
Grandma: You can’t know God by mind and intellect. He can be known only by faith and belief. He can also be known by Selfknowledge. One and the same God lives in the body of all beings as spirit and supports us. That is why we must not hurt anybody and must treat everybody equally (Gita 13.28). Hurting anybody is like hurting your own Atmā. The spirit in the body is the witness, the guide, the supporter, the enjoyer, and the controller of all events (Gita 13.22).
Jay: What is the difference between the creator and His creation?
Grandma: From a non-dualistic point of view, there is no difference between the two. The difference between the creator and creation is like the difference between the sun and the sun’s rays. Those who have Selfknowledge truly understand the difference between the creator and the creation and become God-realized (Gita 13.34). The entire universe is His expansion, and everything is nothing but Him. God is both creator and the creation, the protector and the protected, the destroyer and the destroyed. He is within us, outside us, near, far, and everywhere. If God’s blessing comes to you, He will let you know who you really are and what your real nature is like.