WHY IS GOD?
WHY IS GOD? Of all the questions, doubts and possibilities explored into the realm of religion and spirituality, the one that has been conspicuously missing from all and almost certainly the most sacrilegious is the rationale explaining existence of GOD. Innumerable texts from all times of human civilization can be found elucidating who GOD is, what GOD wants from us, how GOD runs the world, what pleases GOD, how to get close to GOD etc. etc. Every now and then a new book comes into the market with a newer revelation about GOD and spirituality. The foundation of all religions and the underlying hypothesis is but one ' GOD EXISTS!! So we all begin from there. Assuming (okay, believing!) that there is an existence of an entity somewhere called GOD. Questioning this existence would account to profanity. Anyhow, I am not getting into that. My question is different and somewhat far simpler ' WHY is GOD? Into a discussion on what exactly spirituality stood for, the conversation inadvertently led me to 'Why do we need GOD?' Years ago, when I was in school, I read a book by OSHO which tried to examine the same in one of its chapters. Though, at that age I strongly disagreed with how OSHO looked at it, discussed at length with friends and opposed the concept, and even laughed it away as silly (blame it to my immaturity); yet, it always remained at the back of my mind. [[ For me at that point, GOD existed because I wanted my wishes to be fulfilled! : )) ]]. I read more on philosophy, religion and spirituality, however, learnt more from the people who followed it, and with time came to realize that OSHO was indeed right ' 'We are afraid of GOD'. The question ' 'Why is GOD' does not try to look into how the concept of GOD originated. That is an easy guess. It tries to delve deeper into human psyche, rationalizing human behavior and beliefs. And curiously, this one belief has stood the test of time ' even centuries after some religions were founded; irrespective of the forceful and, at times, unnerving arguments of atheists; conversion of masses from one religion to another; bloodshed for/in the name of faith ' the idea of GOD has not lost its sheen. Why we are still stuck to GOD? What propagates theism? What keeps people tied up in this belief? Believing in someone's existence is one thing, but isn't worshipping it another? I have come across many people with an unshakeable faith extending for a good part of their lives ' observing the rule book word by word, fussy about visiting temples everyday, and meticulously performing all rituals. Their idea of 'right' and 'wrong' is determined by what the book says, irrespective of what they think of it; sometimes even accepting that it could be a tad different. But would DARE not do anything out of the way as it might amount to inviting the wrath of Almighty. For every misfortune or a tragedy or even a trifle of bad luck that comes their way reasons are sought in deviations, if ever, from their religious conduct. And for those who do not subscribe to their views, a misfortune is attributed to their deviant behaviour!! I have genuinely failed to comprehend why people aren't satisfied by being good enough and why worshipping GOD gets so important. Sometimes I wonder if GOD would let 'who worships GOD more' supercede one's inherent goodness? Why for so many, 'to be afraid of GOD' is synonymous to being religious and a quality much desired? If you are a believer, has your faith never been shaken in GOD? Have you always been as religious as you see yourself now? Wasn't there a moment anytime when you felt you did not care? Has there ever been an instant when you did not think GOD existed? If any of your answers is yes, what made you COME BACK TO GOD? What is GOD doing in your life again? Why do you find yourself worshipping GOD for once again? Are you not afraid of GOD?
I am sorry If you got irritated by the repeated use of the word ‘GOD’ and feel I should have susbtituted it with ‘IT / HE/ SHE’ …… Well, to be honest, I am not very comfortable using ‘it’ for GOD and not sure of HE/SHE !!
@think tank, I am not a follower of Osho, although I have read many of his books too. As i comprehend it, the saying ‘do not swim, rather float’ is telling me to stop struggling with life (the water). It is telling me to relax and float, the water (life) will carry me and will not let me drown. However, this is not to mean that we make NO effort in life……. even floating needs some effort. One has to hold a certain position and stay there. That is all life asks of us. Decide on your position, then hold it and simply float through life, enjoying the beauty of the sceneries as you pass them. If you are swimming, you are struggling to keep afloat and you are missing the beautiful sceneries too.
Buddha, I have a question for you. If God is nothing but a set of physical laws then what or who created them? Who sees to it that they are executed?
i don”t believe in God.
a very interesting point raised by you herome…without going into the varied religious interpretations , i would say that god for eny average person represents a comforting feeling that there is some1 out there somewhere who will take care of us when everythin else fails and not let us down in our hour of need….this knowledge helps in boosting our own self-confidence and gives us the courage to fight against all negetivity with renewed vigor and faith….
actually we are not afraid…but we are just showing our gratitude t him..may it is taught to us in our childhood. u can say sometime when we donot find any door open in our problem we go to god…it is just a plain faith….
Rather than to comment on GOD, i want to quote Einstein:
” To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection. This is religiousness. In this sense i am religious”,
Einstenian religion is different from the coneventional religion.In this sense , an ateist is religious too. However , to call oneself religious is misleading because to a majority , “religion” implies “supernatural”.
I believe in GOD but i do not believe in a supernatural GOD( as in the majority of religions). And doing so I do not fear GOD. God for me means a set of physical laws which governs the universe , there is such a god…In that way , we might as well pray to the law of gravity,.But why fear GOD.
Most religions have their foundations rooted in fear and ignorance. God is a convenient, if not a convincing, answer to our inner fears and ignorance. I hope i am not confusing
a nice question????? interestng post….
God…. the word itself reminds me of peace…of a mentor, a friend on whom i can fall upon when things arent going my way….Worship…now this is religion and I maintain God must be laughing WHEN HE SEES STUPID HUMANS FIGHTNING EACH OTHER in name of religion…if He or she or it wanted one religion …wont he have give birth to all human beings in one religion …converting ….what does one get… except may be new friends and new people….who say WAh wah…welcome to our faith with all its madness..this applies to all religions.
@Moe M: Don”t try to “twist it” to forcibly make appear that all religions are saying the same thing. When I talked about we being God, I was not talking about “end result”, I was also talking about the origin. Hinduism tells that each soul/atma is part of that God/param-atma, and our life is just a journey of this soul to reach its original place - becoming one with param atma again. If “every religion” as you put it in a self-satisfying manner believed in the same, they won”t go converting people from other faiths into their own faiths, like the way Christians and Muslims do. So I don”t appreciate this false-assertion that “all are same”, “all are saying same thing”, if I put it bluntly. Regards, (Rahul)
An interesting post, Jerome. One that can be debated upon for long. I see it like this: Would we like to anger or displease the ones we love? like our parents or a beloved? It is the same with God. When we love God we would not want to do anything that will displease God. It is out of love that people who beleive abstain themselves from harming others or violating others” being. And not out of fear. Though even that may also be the case with some.
And it is only a beleiver who will also have doubts. Its all part of that irrational thing called faith which is both tricky and unquestionable. Keep going! Great peice.
it is not that we fear God - fear is not what drives one to worship god
- it is like with our parents - we do not fear our parents - we respect - and love them - and God to me is a larger extension of parents and loved ones and TT has a point regarding Aham Brahmasmi - and in every religion the ultimate aim for us to be one with God and each religion interprets it in a different flavor - but the end result is the same - we become part of God thereby we too become God. A very very very niiiiice and interesting post - take care Jerome and have a wonderful evening
@PG: don”t take my comments on your comments otherwise. You say, “For him, he himself is the God.” But Hinduism has this concept of “Aham Brahmasmi” - each of us, when we reach enlightenment - would come to this conclusion - “I am God.” Each one of us has the right to say we are God - because indeed that is our real nature and state. Why special for OSO? And secondly, can you please explain this concept of “do not try to swim rather float””. I find it related to where you begin with “am a strong follower of Osho”. When you a “follower”, you stop “swimming” - making efforsts, and you just “float” - believe blindly. I find it curious - because except God, we don”t have to trust anyone. Don”t take this comment personally… (Rahul)
I am a strong follower of Osho and after reading his books, listening/viewing his audios/videos, I came to conclusion that Osho also believes in God, although not in worshipping idols/or in any object/subject form. For him, he himself is the God. The only need is to understand this, to inhance ones” power by mediating. The one most important part of his suggested yoga is ”do not try to swim rather float” if one is able to get this point, his whole life is a successful journey.
Also read this post, which brilliantly answers many questions and solves many puzzles: (http://savisavi.rediffiland.com/blogs/2009/07/12/Dontask-me-questions-please.html)
Why do we worship? I had commented that worshiping is not necessary as such, so you would have guessed much of what I think about it. Reaching to God - means becoming one with God has many “means” or many “paths”. We can reach there by Karm marg, Bhakti marg, or Yog marg. The one you mention here - and ask why we worship - is related to Bhakti marg. It is not that Bhakti is a “stupid” thing to do. At the same time, it is not that Bhakti is the “only” thing to do. Out of these 3 margs, you can also understand that Bhakti is the easiest marg. If we are pure at heart, it will take us to Him, easily. Now there can be some religions which are “entirely based on Bhakti - i.e. worshiping only”. This is why we love Hinduism which is all inclusive and all encompassing. So we should put things in perspective to understand.. (Rahul)
Hi.. it is nice to see one talks about God… I do strongly believe God exists.. You may worship Him in any form. I do not believe in the superiority of One God than the other… It is a Supreme Power.. u may give any Name.. God is beyond caste, religion, time and the boundaries man makes…. I do not believe in rituals..You may sometime do not see Him in Temples, Churches, Mosques,etc.. It is in your heart..within and without.. you may say all pervading, Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient.
I was also not a staunch believer of God in my Youth… but my experiences taught me many things..indicating the presence of God.. And specially when you are lonely .. helpless..you will notice his presence and helping hand..
The War, quarrels and hatreds in the Name of God can originate from an Immature mind.. who really do not know What God is?? It is because they Interpret God in their own way..for their selfish interest.. We may only pray to God to give them wisdom
I liked your last portion where you asked when your faith was shaken, why did you come back. To doubt is human. Why do we come back? Because we realise that our doubts were momentary and childish. To “worship” God is different than loving or trusting Him - it is part of and depends on culture and is not required as such. And our Hinduism tells us that God has no gender. Even our soul has no gender. But I think we use Him for God just out of common practice. (Rahul)
Initially I felt this post was also one of those articles which actually guide us to question God in a certain ways
But I liked the originality of thoughts in the end. I think the statement “We are afraid of GOD and hence GOD exists.” is a negative thinking - it is like saying “you are honest to your wife because no other damshel every asked you sex”. Sorry to say this, but such negative thinking, no matter who believes in it, needs blunt replies. Main part of your question is answered here in Swami Vivekandanda’’s words: (http://rahulwrites.rediffiland.com/blogs/2009/05/11/We-shall-see-Him.html) In this aspect, Hinduism is too different from all other religions and we can”t put it in the same list of “all religions say this or that”. He said we know God is there not because of any “faith or belief” but because so many of our men have done direct interaction with God - pratyaksh anubhuti.
God, for most of us, is a glorified bully. For us to be happy, we need to be in his good books; so we sing praises to him, offer him bribes, defend him blindly, and rationalize his every act. The intellectuals around here have great techniques of self-deception where the real reason is hidden under layers of rationalizations. The bottomline is found from more simpler people. My Mom when I asked her recently answered, “But what if god is really there and he gets angry? Wouldn”t that be dangerous for us if we don”t pray to him?”; she did not finish her high school. God, as defined in most of our religious books, exists simply because most of us would be better safe than sorry; i.e. when there is a doubt, let us err on the safer side. The truth be damned.
Hi,
Indeed I liked this Post. God to us is just another notion. We don”t doubt the existence of the sky (which hardly ”exists”!). So we can go on discussing ad-infinitum about the existence of God. Because everyone has his/her own ”idea” of ”God”. And an ”idea” is just a belief /notion, it is never a ”perception”. First of all, it should be observed, what do we mean by the term ”God”. In other words, : ” What is God ?”. There is yet another approach. I define “God”” as the ”’’subjective” +”objective” reality. But what is ‘’subjectivity” ? It is “Consciousness”. When we search into the nature of this “Consciousness”, we ultimately REALIZE that everything EXISTS in “Consciousness” only. It is really the IMpersonal substratum of the whole Existence. Can we say That Principle “God”? Regards.