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Sometimes we say that God has said this to me. Sometimes we see brilliant escapes from the situations of adversity (some people call it inner-voice). How can we identify it?

For example, one day I felt like not going to college but I felt like someone said me to go which is actually against my opinion. I went according to my opinion only and later I found that, not because of going to college that day I am charged some fine for not paying the exam fee in time.

I felt like the Lord said it to me. How can we differentiate what Lord has said and what we think? Is what Lord says is spontaneous? If so, we can also get spontaneous thoughts that lead to bad. Also what Lord says cannot always be opposed to our opinions.

So in what we can we differentiate between God's opinion and ours?

Then how can we know that a particular voice is the voice of the Lord?

user12458
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  • There are many ways to differentiate. God's voice is the one that preaches Absolute Truth, it is Absolute Love. It never discriminates and never fails. It is free of desires and always focus on Greatest Good for all. The mental voice (our Mind) always thinks about selfish enjoyment, about fears, about worry and about how we are better than others! The mental voice tries to justify our actions always, it is always "me, mine, me, mine", whereas the inner voice is "We, ours, we, ours". also the inner voice of God is always believes in the present, what am I doing NOW. Ego Always Past and future. – Sai Nov 25 '14 at 16:56
  • But this techniques are not fool-proof and it is impossible to follow these like a 'guide'. So how then to achieve perfect tuning to the divine voice. Through Sadhana, or practice. When we are with our friend for long time, we can recognize their voice even in thick crowded areas, right? why? because of our association with them. Similarly as one does sadhana (dhyana, japa, anything), one gets Himself attuned to the vibrations of God and thus soon one will get the ability of inward-vision + dharana. This will attune him to the spiritual frequency of Bhagavan or God:) Practice is key to God!! – Sai Nov 25 '14 at 17:01
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    And when perfection is attained and one is perfectly attuned to the voice of God, then one realizes that there is no thought, that does not Originate from Him, everything is His voice. Infact, everything is in Him, He is in All (Vishistadvaita), everything is under His control (Dvaita) and everything is One, He is One, Aham Brahmasmi (Advaita) all these realizations dawn upon the one who has attained the Absolute Perfections – Sai Nov 25 '14 at 17:08
  • For more information about what this Inner voice is conscience and how to tune one can be benefited greatly by absorbing the work of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda "Autobiography of a Yogi", there is article about this specific topic inspired by Sri Yoganandaji http://www.yogananda-srf.org/HowtoLive/Intuition__Insight_of_the_Soul.aspx#.VHTLyovF9KI – Sai Nov 25 '14 at 18:37
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    @Sai Aham Brahmasmi isn't something particular to Advaitam. It's believed by others including Vishistadvaitins, it's just a matter of how it's interpreted. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 25 '14 at 19:29
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Yeah you are right, I meant the Advaitic interpretation there :) thanks for pointing that out. So that comment can be re-read as: "Infact, everything is in Him, He is in All (Vishistadvaita), everything is under His control (Dvaita) and everything is One, He is One, the individual Self is identical to Brahman (Advaita) all these realizations dawn upon the one who has attained the Absolute Perfections and the true meaning of Aham Brahmasmi are realized." – Sai Nov 25 '14 at 19:35
  • @jabahar If it is truly God, you will not need to ask any trick question to see if it is God, you will know. The upanishad says He will appear more real than a fruit in the palm of your hand. The Mundaka Upanishad (II. ii. 8) says "The fetters of the heart are broken, all doubts resolved....when the sight of the transcendent One is attained." – Swami Vishwananda Nov 28 '14 at 12:21
  • @SwamiVishwananda Yes, that is a state of God realization and when it happens the mind becomes too calm and stable to ask any question. At that stage when one realizes everything as nothing but God alone, how can there be any doubts or questions! When there is nothing but only the Self, what to ask about! In that state neither there exists any question nor there exists any answer. But it's different than the conscience telling us something which the question is about. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 06:39
  • @jabahar Yes, I agree. That is why in my answer there are so many cautions. We are talking about a 'thought' which may or may not be divinely inspired. The attainment of God through spiritual disciplines is different. Even before the attainment of the Undifferentiated, when the heart chakra is opened up and the vision of the Ishta is seen in the heart, the mind goes "What is this!! What is this!!" and joy bathes the soul and there are no doubts. The soul needs no trick questions even then. – Swami Vishwananda Dec 01 '14 at 07:52

2 Answers2

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God never tells anyone anything. I repeat it from time to time to whoever says God speaks through our inner voice. If it is God indeed who is talking as your inner voice, then whenever he does kindly ask him "Oh dear God, you are nothing but omniscient. Kindly tell me where and in what constellation the planet of the aliens is present?" The point is, ask a question the answer of which you do not know. If it is God indeed who is speaking, then He being omniscient should certainly be able to answer any questions you ask to Him. If he cannot, then how is he God? How can God be not omniscient?

The thing is, everyone of us has this inner conscience and knowledge of right and wrong that guides us from time to time. Sometimes those intuitions are right and sometimes they are not. It is only our delusion to take those up as the voice of God. The clearer and purer the mind is, the nobler will become the thoughts. And only then when the consciousness will attain Brahman that the true voice of God can be heard. At that time a person will become omniscient like God. Just like you know, without divine eyes, God cannot be seen, so also without divine ears God cannot be heard. I know this because I have come across omniscient personalities.

So unless one has attained Brahmanhood, it is only the voice of the inner conscience that he hears. Taking it to be the voice of the omniscient God would only be our delusion. However, it wont be completely wrong to say it is the voice of God in the sense that these voices lead one to act differently which balance out actions and reactions. And secondly, when one practices true devotion this inner voice gives knowledge that as per the Gita comes from the Lord:

teṣām evānukampārtham aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā [BG - 10.11]

Meaning
To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

But nevertheless, this is only the knowledge of right and wrong and knowledge of proper actions to be done. It is never the knowledge of the omniscient Lord. So to answer your question know that it is only your conscience that is always speaking. You may take it up as the voice of God, but never remain under the delusion that it is the voice of the omniscient God.

On a side note, even though I don't do it, I would suggest you to read the book The Absolute Truth. It will clear up many of your queries. I am suggesting this because I notice you are interested in these things and asking questions through many posts and comments. I will try to post answers when I get time, but in the mean time that book can help you. Also from your age on your profile it seems you are a student, so let me know your address if you like so that I can send you a copy of the book instead of you buying it. And another thing is that, don't worry about God things much, just do your study or job properly and if possible follow a good guru or writings of saints and scriptures when you get time.

Be Happy
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    I disagree with the statement that the gods can only talk to you if you've "attained Brahmanhood". Look at the Rishis of the Rig Veda in my answer here: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/2430/36 Some of them are omniscient beings, like Vashishta, Vishwamitra, Atri, etc. But a lot of them are not. Shantanu's brother Devapi is not. Vishwamitra's father Gathi was not. Tvashta's son Trisiras was not. But what they had in common is that they all engaged in deep Tapasya, so they were able to receive Vedic verses from the gods. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 28 '14 at 16:43
  • Thanks for your answer. Then why did Lord Krishna say that he likes people who asks questions if he doesn't give answers? – user12458 Nov 29 '14 at 13:52
  • @KeshavSrinivasan I am not talking about gods, I am talking about "the God". I know you know the difference between those two. And regarding people talking with gods, I don't need any proof from the scripture, I occasionally meet such personalities in real life. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 06:24
  • @JavaTechnical Yes, He likes people who asks question and He gives answer just like He did to Arjuna. But because He is not physically available it is not He who actually gives answers when we ask to our mind. And because God and Guru are same, Krishna gives answer through the Guru or through oneself if that person is also God realized. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 06:32
  • @jabahar First of all I don't make a such a sharp distinction between gods and God, but that's neither here nor there. In any case, my point still stands: the Vedas are Shruti, and thus they are the breath of God (Mahavishnu or whatever you want to call him). But there are plenty of people who have received Shruti through Tapasya (like the people I named), and yet they fell short of omniscience. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '14 at 06:51
  • @KeshavSrinivasan May be the school of thought you follow don't differentiate it, but God is the one from which the other gods or the sound form of God etc. arise. Shruti's are a form of God, not the God. God is the origin of all gods and the sages who received the Shrutis. Please refer BG 10.2 (ahama adirhi devanam...) and 10.6(maharsaya sapta purve...). And receiving Shruti is not same as receiving answers to your questions from the omniscient God. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 07:00
  • @jabahar I think it has to do less with the schools of philosophy and more with how you choose to translate Sanskrit words; I simply don't think there's much of a point in making a distinction between capitalizing the English word god vs. putting it in lowercase. If you're referring to that god from whom all others originate, the one referred to in those Bhagavad Gita quotes, I know him simply by the name Vishnu. In any case, you don't believe that Shruti involves the direct communication of God with Man, without any intermediary? – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '14 at 07:43
  • @KeshavSrinivasan It's ok if you refer Him as Vishnu or Brahman. While referring to that supreme entity I say God, while referring to Agni, Varuna, etc. and demigods of heaven and other realms, I generally use lowercase god. And what I meant is that, Shruti may involve direct communication of God with a sage, but seeing or hearing mantras is not same as the God talking to you as your inner voice and answering your doubts or questions. And as you know there are specific deities associated with some mantras, not the supreme God Himself (unless you take Vishnu, the deity as Vishnu, the Lord) – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 08:23
  • @jabahar The Devata of the mantra is the god who the mantra is addressed to, it doesn't mean that the rishi received the mantra from that particular god. And in any case, I certainly take Vishnu the deity to be Vishnu the lord. I think Vishnu the deity is the supreme lord of all the words. And I don't think it makes sense to use the word "demigod" in Hinduism, unless you're referring to people like the Pandavas who are the offspring of gods and humans. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '14 at 09:00
  • @KeshavSrinivasan It's ok if you think Vishnu to be the Lord, I also do. But for some reason I don't explicitly use Vishnu when referring to the supreme entity, I used God instead so that anyone can take God as per his liking. And regarding Veda mantras, you are right, but my point is that receiving them is different than receiving answers as inner voice which the question is about. Regarding demigods, I just said to make it clear. I am not into that much technicality of terms and I no way mean Hercules or the Pandavs. I meant the gods of heaven or any other realms. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 10:14
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Realized souls have no doubt when God is talking to them, he appears more real than the world when he does. The Upanishad says 'it is more real than the fruit resting in the palm of your hand.'

Those who are not realized can find out in other ways if God has directed them them in some way. First, and best, is to ask your guru, he will know if it was God or not.

Second, if you think it was God, know God will never direct you to do something that will bring harm to another being. If what God tells you to do affects you and no one else, and is not immoral, then follow it - but never tell anyone. Follow it a thousand times. If you think He tells you to do something that affects another being, do not follow it. Know God will never direct you to do anything immoral or evil.

Sarada Devi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's wife, told her women disciples to never give up their chastity, even if God Himself came to them and directed them otherwise.

Swami Vishwananda
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    "Second, if you think it was God, know God will never direct you to do something that will bring harm to another being." That's not true at all. Krishna told Arjuna to fight, after all. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 28 '14 at 16:23
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    The question is about having a voice of God in one's mind, not an Incarnation. Entirely different. – Swami Vishwananda Nov 29 '14 at 06:40
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    Why would Krishna tell Arjuna to fight, but a god would never tell you within your mind to fight? On the contrary, I think Rig Veda Book 7 contains pretty clear exhortations to fight in the context of the Dasarajna War. And the Rig Veda is Shruti. – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 29 '14 at 06:53
  • Please forgive me, but I would just like to say that, in the view of Advaita if God is talking to a realized soul, then that soul is not actually realized. For a realized soul there can be no other God talking to Him, it is only He who is talking with Himself. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 06:48
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    @jabahar When a fully realized soul is in nirvikalpa samadhi, yes. Nirvikalpa samadhi is the realization of the undifferentiated Brahman, and there no one talks to no one. The Upanishad says speech cannot go there. But when not in that state of consciousness, at a lower level, a realized soul can talk to Isvara. And before nirvikalpa samadhi is realized, a soul sees and talk to Isvara. From a pure advaitaic standpoint it is God talking to Himself. – Swami Vishwananda Dec 01 '14 at 07:43
  • Yes, absolutely, in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. yato vacho nivartate aprapya manasa saha - speech cannot reach There. And that undifferentiated state happens in Sahaja Samadhi too. – Be Happy Dec 01 '14 at 10:31
  • @Swami Vishwananda Hi... can I get source for this "'it is more real than the fruit resting in the palm of your hand.'" – Tezz Oct 22 '16 at 16:46
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    @Tezz Many saints have quoted this line from the Upanishads, and I have read it there. It will take some digging as I don't remember exactly where. It may take a few weeks, but I will look. You might ask it as a question for its source to see if you can get a quicker answer. – Swami Vishwananda Oct 25 '16 at 05:45