Smt. Renuka,
As I have attempted to tell earlier also, I believe there is no God outside of yourself; and that God which is within yourself, is everywhere in this world, and probably in this whole jagat itself. Our scriptures contain 'flashes' about the knowledge of this one God, in ever so many places, but primitive human thinking posited external god or gods and it has not been intellectually possible for humanity to come out of this "god & man" dichotomy so far, except in the case of some very intelligent (and lucky) cases who could establish themselves as god-man or god-woman as the case may be. In respect of such cases, their devotees never questioned any of their actions or words, and, it is my opinion that such an unquestioning attitude is caused by the "bhakti" phenomenon which mandates such an attitude. The is also the reason why we don't have any upanishads of philosophical enquiry, after the bhakti phenomenon became the selling face of hinduism; we only have hagiographic upanishads, even an Allopanishad!
God, therefore, is neither the efficient cause, nor the material cause, god is neither manipulative, nor guilty. God is, to put it in simple words.
As I said some time ago, people who can think more in abstraction only will be able to analyze and understand this. For the rest, this world as well as their own selves are solidly real and so a similarly real god is also necessitated. They, naturally, find consolation in stories about a continuity of similar reality after death also.
Sometime back I attempted to write an article on God. Basically it was about understanding God from a layman's point of view. I produce below a portion of it.
The concise Oxford English dictionary defines ‘God’ as superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature, human features etc. In religions ‘God’ is considered to be the creator, ruler of Universe and the Supreme Being. Let us accept the term ‘God’ in its present usage sense i.e. Supreme Being with supernatural powers, for our discussion in this article.
The idea of ‘God’ probably stems out of basic human instinct and the perceived awareness of ‘Self’, complemented by the nature around us. Initially, awed by the nature, man must have reasoned that some supernatural external forces are controlling him and the nature around him. These supernatural external forces formed the basis of ‘God’ theory. For primitive man the idea of ‘God’ was also primitive one. He worshipped the powerful and mighty. He worshipped nature, animals and also the dead. As human beings got more refined and civilised, the idea of ‘God’ also got more refined. Man perceived ‘God’ to be a person like himself but with supernatural powers, for He was thought to be controlling the universe. ‘God’ was thus personified and bestowed with powers. With the forming of a social structure, man started thinking on the lines of right and wrong. In the process, he also started wondering at the mystery of life and death. He was mystified by the way he dreamt while sleeping and, consequently, he evolved on the theory of Mind. Man’s quest to know more about life and death, and the idea of Mind probably took him on a journey towards ‘knowing’ himself. The search was not external but internal, within him, and this resulted in man encountering a force within him.
Let us see if we can make some sense about ‘God’ out of the following passages.
Life Force:
‘God’ is a state, psychic in nature, to be achieved. This universe, along with its contents, is activated and governed by a natural force which also has the potential to provide for ‘Life force’. Now, one also wonders how this universe was created. Modern science gives the theory of Big Bang, which traces the origin of Universe to an explosion of dense matter. The metaphysics gives the explanation of cosmic cycle which consists of three principles namely manifestation, abeyance and re-emergence. [“
It is said that there is no absolute beginning, and nothing entirely new is produced. What existed once in a gross form, goes back to its fine causal condition, and again comes into the former gross condition. There is no creation out of nothing. There is an intervening period of inactivity between two gross manifestations. The universe in the process of time dissolves into the elements and finally into the subtle and unmanifested seminal condition”(from ‘Jnana Yoga’ by Swami Vivekananda)].
A layman would not understand both the above theories as a simple question will keep coming up as to ‘where’ all this (meaning big bang or cosmic cycle) takes place and how was this ‘where’ created. Thus, we are looking for answer to how the space where creation took place got created. However, these are only academic as the matter of fact is that ‘creation’ has indeed taken place and we are indeed part of it. I, therefore, feel that it is better to accept the universe and its manifestations as it is for the present and go further with our analysis.
The ‘Life Force’, as said above, is omni-present. All living beings carry this force within. There are many forms of living beings around us namely insects, reptiles, birds, animals (including aquatic vertebrates) and human beings. Of these, only human beings are considered to be of the highest intellectual order. It is now well known to us that while some living beings other than humans actually witness lives of other forms in the lower and higher order, human beings actually see lives only in the lower order. For e.g. a cow sees a dog in the lower order and also witnesses a lion which is of higher order. A cow can easily scare away a dog but, at the same time, is scared of a lion. It is quite possible that a cow must be wondering about the form of lion which is superior in power.
We human beings don’t see any form of life superior to us. Does this mean there is nothing superior to human beings? Absence of proof of existence of something does not necessarily mean it is nonexistent. If we can read the minds of animals, we may be able to know whether the animals are thinking of becoming like human beings. Human beings, with their intellectual ability and curiosity about life, must have sensed a superior life form in their quest and in the process must have perceived the ‘Life Force’ through intellect, intuitive and extrasensory faculties. Now the question hangs whether one may attain supernatural powers by realising this force within.
More thoughts will continue.
