One of my friends said, one thing that is good about Christianity is that they don't make fun of 'their' God as Hindus do. I was alarmed. My friend further support her statement by giving example of how people drink and dance during Ganapati procession or Navaratri Dandiya, or how in Hindus there are 'Wealthy' Trusts who 'run' the temple and boast about their wealthy God.
Keeping aside the allegations, I was just stuck to her word 'their God'. Why is it so that we human beings divide our God? Oh... that fellow is Hindu, Ganapati is his God.... The other person over there is Christian, Jesus is his God..... that fellow is praying namaaz, Allah is his God... why?
To me God can never have form or name or any particular way to follow him. God is a power which has no form. You either can feel that power or can't. Those are only things you can differentiate about God.
But then the immediate question follow : Who are these forms then? (Ganapati, Durga, Shiva, Jesus, Mohammed Paigambar etc.) According to me, the forms which we pray today were none other than human beings. After humans gained the sense of environment around them and started looking at each and every thing around them with curiosity, they started studying the characteristics. But when those humans, with collective energy or common inteligence level came together, they formed a power or authority to which different group of people gave different names. For example : people with extreme warrior instincts and physical capabilities but with the logical mind to differentiate between good and bad must have come together and thus had created the form 'Destroyer of evil'. Or people with some extreme intelligence and constructive ideas or nature must have come together, thus created the form of 'propagator of universe'. Such groups of people studied the science (maths, physics, astronomy, biology etc.) and arts (dance, music, painting, languages etc.) and wrote it down for the future gnerations. Today we call it Scriptures. Those people also studied the life of human beings and realised that humans are social animal. Hence, they wrote down different ways of living life, how a healthy and meaningful life should be followed by humans, what should be the duties and rights of humans etc. Today we call it Vedas.
Such forms or powers (destroyer of evil and propagator of universe) then must have been given the names of Shiva or Vishnu. So my point is nomenclature may be anything, what matters is the collective power of like minded people.
Now, follows the question of worship and faith. According to me, Shiva and Vishnu were not Gods and only a groups of people who had attained the highest level in their chosen fields. Hence, there was a chance that other people, who might disagree with the ideas of life what Destroyer of evil and / or propagator of universe people had. This might have created need of some kind of fear or guiding authority in the minds of people, which will bound them to follow or agree with the ideas written in scriptures or vedas. Hence, Shiva and Vishnu were considered to be Gods in hindus, which gave them a kind of authority because of which other people started following the knowledge of those 'Gods'.
According to me in other religions (which are followed by people across the world today) more or less same story must have been followed. People at different parts of the world must have studied the environment around them and people who had attained the highest level of knowledge must have wrote down their ideas about life. And again those people group of people, forming authority or power with their collective knowledge, must have been given different names, like Jesus or Mohd. Paigambar etc.
Then who is GOD after all? Like I said above, God is above all these humans, powers, sciences, arts, knowledge etc. Many people say God is invisible power. Yes, it is an invisible power. But where that power lies? Each power has its own source so this invisible power must also has to have its source. The answer lies within each oneself. Yes, that invisible power is 'us', we human beings. In each of us we have that power which protects us when we are helpless, talks to us when we are alone, and even destroy us when we violate the rules of nature.
Hence, there can't be discrimination about my God or your God or anyone's God. God is within us and we are in God.
May each one of us find the peace which we seek from thee.
Amrita
22/10/2012
Durgashtami
Keeping aside the allegations, I was just stuck to her word 'their God'. Why is it so that we human beings divide our God? Oh... that fellow is Hindu, Ganapati is his God.... The other person over there is Christian, Jesus is his God..... that fellow is praying namaaz, Allah is his God... why?
To me God can never have form or name or any particular way to follow him. God is a power which has no form. You either can feel that power or can't. Those are only things you can differentiate about God.
But then the immediate question follow : Who are these forms then? (Ganapati, Durga, Shiva, Jesus, Mohammed Paigambar etc.) According to me, the forms which we pray today were none other than human beings. After humans gained the sense of environment around them and started looking at each and every thing around them with curiosity, they started studying the characteristics. But when those humans, with collective energy or common inteligence level came together, they formed a power or authority to which different group of people gave different names. For example : people with extreme warrior instincts and physical capabilities but with the logical mind to differentiate between good and bad must have come together and thus had created the form 'Destroyer of evil'. Or people with some extreme intelligence and constructive ideas or nature must have come together, thus created the form of 'propagator of universe'. Such groups of people studied the science (maths, physics, astronomy, biology etc.) and arts (dance, music, painting, languages etc.) and wrote it down for the future gnerations. Today we call it Scriptures. Those people also studied the life of human beings and realised that humans are social animal. Hence, they wrote down different ways of living life, how a healthy and meaningful life should be followed by humans, what should be the duties and rights of humans etc. Today we call it Vedas.
Such forms or powers (destroyer of evil and propagator of universe) then must have been given the names of Shiva or Vishnu. So my point is nomenclature may be anything, what matters is the collective power of like minded people.
Now, follows the question of worship and faith. According to me, Shiva and Vishnu were not Gods and only a groups of people who had attained the highest level in their chosen fields. Hence, there was a chance that other people, who might disagree with the ideas of life what Destroyer of evil and / or propagator of universe people had. This might have created need of some kind of fear or guiding authority in the minds of people, which will bound them to follow or agree with the ideas written in scriptures or vedas. Hence, Shiva and Vishnu were considered to be Gods in hindus, which gave them a kind of authority because of which other people started following the knowledge of those 'Gods'.
According to me in other religions (which are followed by people across the world today) more or less same story must have been followed. People at different parts of the world must have studied the environment around them and people who had attained the highest level of knowledge must have wrote down their ideas about life. And again those people group of people, forming authority or power with their collective knowledge, must have been given different names, like Jesus or Mohd. Paigambar etc.
Then who is GOD after all? Like I said above, God is above all these humans, powers, sciences, arts, knowledge etc. Many people say God is invisible power. Yes, it is an invisible power. But where that power lies? Each power has its own source so this invisible power must also has to have its source. The answer lies within each oneself. Yes, that invisible power is 'us', we human beings. In each of us we have that power which protects us when we are helpless, talks to us when we are alone, and even destroy us when we violate the rules of nature.
Hence, there can't be discrimination about my God or your God or anyone's God. God is within us and we are in God.
May each one of us find the peace which we seek from thee.
Amrita
22/10/2012
Durgashtami
