Because of this misconception, many people are confused as to how an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God can permit many of the obviously wrong things that are going on in the world and which result in so much suffering. How can a just God allow crooks and criminals to succeed and allow children to suffer and die etc?
Most people do not know the answer to this question and therefore some logical thinkers conclude that there is no God and that God did not create man in His own image but rather man created God in his image.
It is not easy to understand the workings of the Divine and appreciate His self imposed limitations. In the physical universe, God is subject to His own laws of creation. So he cannot violate the laws of the physical universe without being untrue to Himself. In other words when He descends into creation, God is not above His own laws. The fact that one is limited by one’s form is reflected throughout creation. For instance, when water vapor condenses into water, it is limited by the laws that govern the properties of water. Unlike water vapor, water cannot rise and float in the atmosphere. But unlike water vapor, water can and does flow. When water condenses to ice, the applicable laws change. So when the Spirit Divine descends into any form, it is no longer free. Rather the Divine Spirit is bound by the laws that govern the specific creation into which it descends. This is also reflected in the behavior of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells can morph into any specific cells of the body i.e. they can become nerve cells, cells of the liver, stomach lining, cornea of the eye etc. Once a stem cell morphs into any specific type of body cell, it is no longer free to morph again into another type of body cell. Its behavior is governed by biological laws specific to the cell type. So once the Divine descends into its creations, it is limited by the laws that govern creation.

Then there is the matter of the free will.

In order to appreciate how the Limitless Source of Creation can be limited within by His creations many of whom then thwart His Will, it will be helpful to understand the Creative Spirit and the process of Creation.
The Creative Spirit always operates and creates from within. From within Itself the Source creates Beings that are replicas of itself. The replicas are not duplicates of the Source i.e. the creations have all the qualities and potentials of the Source but are not identical to it. This fact is reflected throughout Creation.
For instance from within itself, a plant produces seeds from which plants similar to it can grow and continue the process. From within themselves fish and fowls produce eggs which if fertilized and incubated can grow into adult fish and birds that are images of the parents and which can carry on the process.* From within itself a Source creates and what it creates is a manifestation of itself. What the Source creates is always in its own image. So an Eagle’s offspring will be another Eagle. Not a dove.

____________________________________________________________________________________ * Footnote: It has been observed though that 30% of unfertilized bird eggs also hatch when incubated. The biological process that enables this is called parthenogenesis. This process has also been observed in a species of lizards which has only females.
In each case, although the offspring are similar they will not be identical to the parent plants, fish or birds which is why creations are described as images of the Source. From within themselves all species of living organisms produce their offspring that are self images and which can then continue the process

The Creative Spirit draws from within to replicate but not duplicate itself. It is in the nature of all Beings to reproduce themselves. All species procreate as do human beings. It is a Universal Principle which is reflected in pro-creative processes throughout the Universe.

This tendency of a Source to create an image of itself from within is reflected in the Biblical statement: “God created man in His own image.”

The Source of all of Creation first created Its Own Image. It could not do otherwise because there was no other. The Source of Creation was itself the prototype and so it replicated itself. The implications of this are enormous. If man was made by God in His image then it follows that Man as created and envisioned by God, has been endowed with all Divine characteristics. This being the case, the possibility exists that man has the potential to be God. Why? Being created by the Divine in its own image, spiritual man has been endowed with all the Divine properties of the Creator. This means that a man who has fully developed his spiritual potential can have all the Divine abilities including creating souls and universes in his image. Ordinary mortals lack this ability. Why? Children who have not gone through puberty cannot reproduce and among those who have only those adults with properly functioning reproductive organs can reproduce. Similarly only a spiritually perfect Being can create/reproduce other Spiritual Beings and/or Universes. When Souls fell away from the Divine, they were deprived of this ability to create spiritual beings. In essence their spiritual abilities to reproduce became deformed. This, as has been explained, happened because man gave more importance to matter than to the Spirit as is reflected in the symbolic story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Free Will: The main Principle that limits the Divine in matter and how God becomes a prisoner of man
From the above discussion we have seen that since God made man in His image, He had no choice but to endow man with a free will. Indeed the principle of free will is present throughout creation and is present at all levels of creation including the lower life forms such as bacteria. In lower life forms the free will is limited to a very great degree. The degree to which free will is limited depends upon the life form. Thus in the case of birds and animals, the freedom to express themselves is controlled by two major instincts i.e. the instinct of self preservation and the instinct of procreation. The instinct of procreation is really an extension of the instinct of self preservation. Yet here too, freedom of expression is permitted. For instance, free will in birds and animals, coupled with the instinct of procreation, allow cross breeding between similar species. This is evident from the cross breeding that occurs between zebras and horses; horses and asses; tigers and lions; and similar species of birds. In fact, the process of evolution is a natural result of the principle of free will. There are other principles also which determine the course of evolution.

Because God has endowed humankind with a “free will”, He has no choice but to respect man’s will and sustain man...even if the choices that individual man and society in general make are against His Will.
This is reflected in the following Script revealed through Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta.

LOVE’S CALL Dust is nought but the least on earth
But that which is least is the most for My Work

For within the dust life takes birth
And locked in each grain My Power doth lurk.

I THAT AM in each atom of the dust
Is bound by the Law that Universe made;
Man is freer that I AM in the dust
Till he is dead and in dust he is laid.

So I THAT AM the Lord of all
Is also the least and the dust of the dust.
I AM in the lowest as in just of the just
Both Master and slave to answer Love’s call.

From the Scripts. Received by Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta, October 5, 1956

Thus because His gift of free will to man and other creations, God allows Himself to be bound as a prisoner by them. That is His dilemma and the root cause of His suffering and the suffering of creation. When dealing with the transgressions of His creations, the gift of free will has rendered God helpless at a certain level. God has no choice but to work His Will through the opposition of His own creations. This condition is reflected in the following Script revealed through Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta.

CAUSE OF CHAOS
SOURCE That I AM is the Force of forces
Let It must have or it harm all sources
So let the let be as Willed by Me
And not as men will it should be

TREND in the present is not as I Will
So confusion clash and chaos must be
Ere aught ye say do listen unto Me
Then say and do Will Mine to fulfill

TO HEAR what I Will grow unto Me
Thro’ guidance and grace of My chosen ones
Else anti-Me shall misguide ye
E’en in My Name till th’ lesson ye learn

From the Scripts. Revealed through Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta; January 5, 1968 For an explanation of Script and the Source of the messages revealed in the Scripts please go to the appropriate page after Chapter VII of this book.

Why the omnipotent and omnipresent God is not omniscient:

Even though God is omnipresent, the Principle of free will prevents Him from being omniscient and use his omnipotency to force His creations to obey Him. Some people glibly state, “Not a leaf shakes in the universe without the Will of God”. Those who believe that God is consciously monitoring the shaking of every leaf do not know God and His limitations in creation. A human example may shed some light on this issue.

As mentioned earlier, everything that is in the physical universe is a reflection of that which is in the Spiritual Universe. The reverse is not true.

People who literally interpret the Biblical statement “God created man in His own image” mistakenly think that according to the Bible, God looks like man. Dr. Mehta explained that the statement, “God made man in His image” does not mean that “God looks like man but that all the principles that function within the Universe function within man”. With this distinction in mind, let us examine our own body.
In your own body, you are omnipresent. You are present in every cell of your body. Indeed not only are you present in every cell but you are also present in every atom and part of every atom in your body. So you are definitely omnipresent in your body. ou are also omnipotent in your body i.e. you can cut off your arm and/or hurt any part of your body and even kill the body. But you are not omniscient in your body. You do not know everything that is going on in your body. Further you are incapable of knowing everything that is happening in your body. For instance: You know blood is flowing through your body. You also know that your blood contains billions of blood cells as it flows through the blood vessels in your body. At any given time, do you know where any particular group of these blood cells are in your body? Obviously not. So although you are omnipresent and omnipotent in your body, even if you wanted to know where a particular blood cell is within your body, you are incapable of finding that out. Nor is the omnipresent and omnipotent you aware of the condition of every cell in your body or even how every organ is functioning. You do have a general idea about the health of your body but lack the specific details. The fact remains that in order to use your body, it is unnecessary for you to know where every individual blood cell is within your body. Why? Because, if you had to personally track every cell in your body and take care of its needs, you would not be able to use your body to do anything. Fortunately there are systems within your body that take care of all this. There is the musculo-skeletal system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the circulatory system, the nervous system etc. These systems regulate the functioning of the body and are controlled by what we term the “mind of the body”.

This inability of yours to consciously know what is going on in your body is a reflection of God’s inability of knowing everything that is going on within His creations. Just as you do not need to consciously know what is happening within your body at all times, similarly it is unnecessary for God to know everything that is going on within all His creations all the time. There are systems within the Universe that take care of the moment to moment functioning of the Universe.

The above example also highlights another important point. You are not really omnipotent in your body in the immediate sense but only in the remote sense. Why is that? You cannot control the cells that form a tumour within your body. A group of cells form a tumour outside the conscious control of the “mind of the body”. It makes no difference whether the tumour is benign or malignant. The fact is that neither you nor your body have any control over it. A tumour is abnormal and is not a natural part of a normal healthy body. The growth of a tumour is a reflection of the principle of “free will” at the cellular level. Cells that form a tumour seem to have a mind and free will of their own and grow in the direction they choose outside the control of body’s impulses and against the “will” of the “mind of the body”. Now notice something else. Even though the tumour is growing against the mind/will of the body, yet the body continues to sustain it. Why is that? Because it is in the very nature of a source to sustain its creations even when they go against it.

The above example of the tumour is reflected in the following Script received by Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta:
SINNER AND SAINT
THE sinner and the saint both live in Me,
Though both are from Me, the saint is not free.
The sinner has freedom to do as he wills
The saint, as I guide, his self he kills.

SINNER through his freedom grows into gross.
The saint through his bondage sheds the dross.
The sinner feeding self grows bigger in Me.
Saint grows lesser till nothing becomes he.

SMALLER he becomes, bigger I grow in him,
Till he becomes Me and I become him.

From THE SCRIPTS. Revealed through Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta November 28, 1956

Now you can cut off the tumour but unless it is absolutely necessary, you will most likely not do so. Why is that? It is in the interest of the body to repair itself and preserve as much of itself as it can so as to not lose strength and vitality.

The above is a reflection of how the principle of free will prevents God from being omniscient and limits the omnipresent and omnipotent God from using His omnipotency to destroy those creations that go against His Will. It also gives some indication about how God becomes a prisoner of man. In the immediate present, God does not know everything nor does He need to in order to work out His Will throughout His creation. Systems have been set up that slowly but surely enable His creations to grow towards Him. Thus although God is omnipresent and omnipotent He is not omniscient.

That God is not omniscient can be explained by the following spiritual law which states:

“Will Divine Wills to be all, in all, through all but not All in All until ultimately.”

Now why is that?
This is because of Divine humility, Divine compassion and the principle of free will. Having endowed creations with a free will, the compassionate and omnipotent Divine exercises humility and chooses to surrender His Will to that of His creations. The Divine Will sustains the will of His creations even when they perform actions that are detrimental to themselves and the Divine. As a result the Divine and creation suffer.

The humility and compassion of the Divine which respects our free will and sustains it is reflected in human behavior when parents continue to support disobedient and disruptive children. The children suffer as a result of their foolishness but the parents who continue to support them suffer more.

The Divine dilemma is that It has endowed creation with a free will. The degree of freedom given is different at different levels of creation. Nevertheless a consequence of this free will is that all of creation including the Divine suffers. The fact that everyone is suffering was first revealed by the Buddha as part of the four noble truths which, for the benefit of the reader, are being reproduced below.

Suffering is. Suffering can be ended.
Desire is the only cause of suffering.
To end suffering, end desire.
To end desires follow the Noble Eight Fold Path.

So what is the solution to this Divine dilemma which is affecting all of creation?

We will explore the solutions in subsequent chapters.

Bahram R. Shahmardaan
Author: The Journey of Life Eternal
Love and Hate: Manifesting Love and Transforming Hate.

Home Return to Daily Wisdom