1000 Hand Bodhisattva is symbolic of God being infinitely great. Can do anything, anywhere, any-time. Omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient.
Are we really made in the image of God, what makes us so great?
This is a statement from the Christian bible, something like “God created man in his own image”. Many a commentary has been written about what this actually means, some compare how God came down to earth as a human, so being human is the epitome of Godliness; the image of God is like a human.
What is the image of God
Spiritually, the image of God has a different meaning. God almighty is not physical in any-way; but a pure-spiritual and formless entity. God can manifest into form, any form including that of a human. And since all of creation is God, was created by God using the power of God, the image of God has as much to do with being human as it does with everything else. We humans are special in that we can discern and realize God, but are cursed at the same time with a mind than can deny God.
So when we talk about Gods image it refers to the essence of the almighty, call it Love, Divine Power, Infinite blessing, or anything you wish. Actually words are too limiting to define what God is or what Gods essence is, so the image of God is nothing we can define in concrete terms. What we can say is Gods essence resides in each soul, as a droplet from the Pure Divine Ocean known as God almighty. Each droplet has the same quality as the whole ocean but not the entire power. So as a soul embedded in our being, in all beings, we were created in the image of God.
This is one of the meanings of what the bible statement “man created in the image of God.” It refers to the soul not body. Most likely the statement referred to all beings, not just man, as all beings have souls of some level of consciousness.
What makes humans so great, as compared to animals or other sentient beings?
Animals are closer to God than humans; they are pure and unconditionally loving. They are connected and have great amounts of love to share. Most pet owners will account to this. Cat owners may notice the astral qualities of Cats with psychic abilities, being night dwellers and hunters. Dog owners may notice the Bodhi nature of their loved-ones, sharing unconditional love, true forgiveness and unlimited fidelity. Dairy farmers may notice the divine nobility of cows and how they love their calves, often crying for a whole week when the farmer removes them at birth to save milk for human consumption.
Humans are born with a discerning mind which can increase our awareness to a level higher than what other beings can. We can know God by elevating our consciousness. Humans have the ability to grow quickly and uplift themselves (and thus the world) by increasing their noble Godly qualities, such as compassion, love, forgiveness and generosity. We can distinguish good vs bad. Right vs wrong. Goodness vs evil. Love vs hate. And we can also know and experience God in many ways.
The potential for humans is unlimited, but in practice, humans restrict themselves to mundane lives just like animals; eating, breeding and struggling for survival. The real purpose of being created in the image of God is to glorify God in whatever capacity we have been given, to use our human body to its highest potential so as to experience God in the fullest and in the most noblest ideal we can imagine, and cannot imagine. But how many of us are capable of doing that? Theory touches our heart, practice makes Heaven rejoice.
