I cannot say about the abrahamic religions but, in so far as hinduism is concerned, the many 'dos and don'ts', like those which you have cited, have not come directly from the scriptures, imho. While some or many of those might be traceable to stories in puranas, the rest have been formulated by our elders in order to imbue good habits with a certain religious hue so that children will have the "fear of god" instilled into them for compliance.
The concept of god in its general position in hindu religion, can be attributed to the many natural forces and phenomena, like fire, strong winds, rain, lightning & thunder, etc. These forces were imagined to be separate devas under the control of their leader Indra. That was in the rigveda, the earlist scriptural text in the world possibly. From that our beliefs have changed a lot more complicated and now god has become............an addiction, not belief or even faith!
Sangomji,
Where i am curious is, how these stories came into the puranas. without smoke there is no fire, likewise without something that would have happened, these stories may not have been planted in the puranas. Again, is it "fear of god" or is it "fear of priests/kings" that forced us to look at god in everything.
maybe the priest/king would have said, if you dont do/fear/respect , lets say, rain then varuna bhagavan will get angry and so on... Did this "fear" concept arise out of any specific reason?
for example, if someone said people in chennai started respecting the sea after Tsunami then it makes sense. that is, to be fearful and be respectful of the sea as it almost destroyed them.
Do we have any such events/stories that possibly could have instilled a sense of fear and respect?
Yes. This IDEA of God was the brainchild of some powerful, very verbally and mentally bombastic MEN who "conspired" to control people, period.
I believe now in this early 21st Century when Science Engineering & Technology has given us so much to enrich our lives, we need NOT accept this IDEA of GOD anymore.
Therefore, I submit, let's reject
IDEA of God
Power of Prayers, Poojas and Bhajans and the Mother of All Hoax
The Concept of Janma Poorva Karma!
Cheers.
Yamakaji,
My views on god have been made public in a different thread. While i do share your views, i am curious to know more. I am sure our ancestors had a reason. Whether it is science or Alien to planet earth, the fact is God is all around us whether we like to believe so or not. What makes God such a powerful entity? Is it our projection of our innermost fear?
Maybe early man realised life supports life, hence 'forms of life' like air and water, support human life. Maybe he also realised that life destroys life, so 'forms of life' like air and water out of human control, fire, etc, destroys life. Maybe in the transition stage from elemental to anthropomorphic, he linked the 'spirits' of these powerful, sacred elements to human forms, as human representatives, and venerated them, to provide for a safe stay when alive and safe passage upon death.
I find it hard to imagine a 'god' in human form as a creator of the human race or of the universe.
I do beleive in an 'energy', and subscribe to the idea of an 'intelligent design'. However, this 'intelligent design' is not the judeo-christian concept of a creator god. Instead it is a systemic representation of 'time' and 'energy' that enables non-random evolutionary paths in certain ways.
I also believe in rebirth, karma, and an entity called 'soul'. But am sorry am not able to explain why. Perhaps the idea of God does instill in us self-discipline, and helps us appreciate what we have.
Maybe the biological explanation that 'god' is in our design, is true. The human mind makes us believe there is something called god. So instead of giving up the sense of god, maybe its a better idea to live with it...its all upto each individual how he/she wishes to explore...
Regards.
HHji,
A few years ago while i was in england, i had a friend who was based in Sweden and had access to almost everything in terms of books/research papers etc. He was doing a research, out of personal interest, on Extraterrestrial life, aliens etc... He concluded his paper by stating that based on data available to him, that Humans are refugees in this planet. More like prisoners who have dumped here from some other planet.
What he said made sense in the fact that it is quite impossible to accept that Humans evolved frm Monkeys and we are the last of the evolutionary creature (as per a program in discovery channel). our search for aliens is vastly limited to what we know and what we perceive is "truth". Programs like SETI search based on a set assumptions like a defined frequency/signal/pattern etc...
By limiting our thinking to defined patterns we are shielding ourselves from the others where life could probably exist.
What if the vanara's who helped King Rama were not actually monkeys and were someone else? What if King Rama was not human? if i am right, he did travel in a flying craft. What if the hanuman was an ET? How do we know for sure they are what the puranas say they are?
It probably started as a way to explain all the calamities and the natural world that the ancient man encountered. I would recommend either the book or the DVD series by one Professor Joseph Campbell titled 'Power of Myth'. You will more or less understand the concept of God from various cultures.
In Hinduism, we have developed a very intricate system of segmenting the roles of Paramatma based broadly on a Hindu's life pattern: Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. So, one will pray to Paramatma in the image of Lakshmi if one is in one's Artha period. The belief is that, one is in touch with Paramathma, by worshipping Goddess Lakshmi.
Also we all mature differently during our lifetimes on our spirituality, and some of us may not go beyond any of the four stages mentioned. Thus we have myriad Gods and Goddesses, to address our need to be connected to Paramatma, but based on our spiritual capacity.
One can say that if you are looking at the utility of Paramatma to YOU as a reason for discipline, then you can appreciate the role of Hinduism at this stage of your spiritual development. That is how I would explain it.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
KRS
KRSji,
I will take a look at the book and get it soon.
Also we all mature differently during our lifetimes on our spirituality,
Absolutely. I for one would not have been talking about this 5 yrs ago. As time passed, i found myself curious. Not because i found god or faith, but because it has been bothering me for so long that i decided to search for an answer that my scientific mind would accept.
Whether my search find an answer or not, i am not worried. Atleast i can be sure that i did try to find an answer.
It depends on your definition of the concept of GOd.
In Buddhism there is no reference to God as an Abrahamic God.
The non-adherence to the notion of an omnipotent creator deity or a prime mover is seen by many as a key distinction between Buddhism and other religions. In Buddhism the sole aim of spiritual practice is the complete alleviation of stress in samsara, called nirvana. The Buddha neither denies nor accepts a creator, denies endorsing any views on creation and states that questions on the origin of the world are worthless.
So even without God you could have a strong moral values system. So I contend that God was not created just for moral values alone. The concept of God is based on the fact that there is cause for every effect. We see the effect "sansara" there has to be a cause, and that cause is called God.
Prasadji,
Yes, God is not required to have a strong moral values system. Can the cause for "God" be defined as our inability to understand certain things? Things that science is yet to prove? What happens after science has proved it?
