By: Devakinanda Pasupuleti
If I ask you, being a parent who is your favorite child? Can you pick one child over the other? As a parent, if you cannot show favoritism for one child over the other, how do you expect God to love one of His creations more than the others?
Yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances) are part of the eight steps prescribed in the Yogasutrās. Ahimsa- (non-injury) is one of the niyamas. The yamas contribute to social harmony and the niyamas to personal purity. In the BhagavaḋGīta-Lord Shri Krishṇa gives his esoteric wisdom in which the jīva or the individual soul of every living being is an important aspect of creation. It is with his direction that prakriṫi (nature) gives birth to all beings and things. He is the sole origin and place of dissolution of this universe. The whole universe is supported by him even as the beads of a necklace are supported by the string on which they are strung. As Avyakṫa or the Unmanifest, he has pervaded the whole universe. That is why he is the essence of all, in this creation.
Hindus are taught about the all pervasiveness of the Parabrahman's- Anṫaryāmin, not as a belief or faith but as a siḋḋhānṫa (proven tenet). If you read micro and macrophysics about atoms and bosons, you understand that what these scientists are telling us in the 21st century about oneness in all was already expounded by our ancient sages and seers thousands of years ago without using microscopes or Hubble telescopes. If you cut a section from a tree, in a sculpture's hands, it can become a beautiful doll. If you consecrate it and put it in a temple, it becomes a god or goddess. That statue has always been there in the tree until you discovered it. This is a deep spiritual philosophy that every ordinary Indian Hindu is aware of. A Hindu sees Paramāṫman in every being including an animal, a tree, or a stone, and worships him in that. This much deeper meaning is also in our daily prayers, worship and actions. A person who can see God in everything is a jnāni (spiritually awakened person).
The land which sees and treats everything as Paramāṫman is our land and it is 'Sarvabhutabhagavaṫsamāna Bhūmi'.