Appearance of God in the Life of Saints
Hindu Scriptures and biographies of its saints and sages are replete with experiences of God in many ways. Devotees have testified to relating to God on Earth, having God appear in dreams or in visions, experiencing miraculous events that are attributed to God's Grace and so forth.
One of the best ways to learn about how God appears to devotees is to read the biographies of saints and sages. It is better than the study of myths because the story of saints and sages are derived from recorded history that are evidenced from records written by them or eye-witnesses or from monuments such as temples that are dedicated to the history of the saint or sage. These evidences lend credibility to the stories of the saints and raise them from the status of myths to occurences that are historical. Thus these stories are not make-believe but recorded true events.
In the 'Stories' section that can be found in the 'Hindu Lessons Homepage,' you will find find biographies of saints from the various Hindu traditions. In this insight we will look at some of these stories for evidences of how God can appear to devotees.
We start with Pusalar's story. Pusalar's story is testimony to one of the most common experience of devotees have of God. This is through meditation and dreams. In the story God first appears to the King Raja Simha Pallava in his dream. Such dreams can appear to anyone as God chooses. These dreams are very special and should not be considered imagination. They are blessings from God. If God gives any instructions through these dreams they should be heeded.
The other appearance of God in Pusalar's story is the sight of the Holy Face that was a psychic or meditative experience, experienced by all the attendees at Pusalar's temple of the heart, kumbha abhishegam. Such experiences occur when one is in deep meditation or in deep state of prayer. These are visions of God that a devotee sees in his or her mind as a psychic vision. It is a vision that God grants the devotee. Many a times devotees question whether the visions they have of God is real or just their imagination. The telling factor is the powerful or overwhelming emotions that the vision stimulates. One may feel profoundly peaceful, or heartily happy or intensely inspired. Intense or overwhelming emotions are usually not stimulated when one is imagining God.
In Kanappan's Story, God appears in the dream of the sage Sivakochariya and later as an apparition above the Shivalingam. Needless to say if one experiences God as an apparition it is an awesome experience as God chooses to reveal his form that can be seen by one's physical eyes. Testimonies of such sightings of God though rare are reported now and then.
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