These days we hear a lot about God: God, the beneficent; God, the all-great; God, the omnipotent; God, the almighty; God, the omnipresent; God, the giver of life; God, the creator of death; God, the most powerful; God, the judge who decides between heaven and hell. Thus, the descriptions of God are endless. It may not be out of place to mention that infinity may have an end but the descriptions of god are endless. We are hearing about God all the time. Do we know how to deal with god? Did we ever try to understand God? The moment we try to know anything about God, God becomes arbitrary. What is arbitrary? God becomes a concept that is based on random choice; Personal likes and dislikes. God will be based on personal whims and fancies. God will not be based on reason, or system or procedure.
Let me explain with examples. In Hindu religion, Lord Balaji is highly revered and influential God. He is also one of the richest gods in the world. One of the famous disciples of Lord Balaji or bhakt or devotee of Lord Balaji is Annamayya. He described Lord Balaji in his writings and sang of greatness of Lord Balaji and so on and so forth. Annamayya saw God in the form of Lord Balaji, a 7 feet black stone statue standing in the sanctum sanctorum of temple situated in the seven hills…somewhere down in south of India. What happens if I show statue of Lord Ram to Annamayya? Will he relate Lord Ram with his bow and arrows standing with his brother Laxman and his mother Sita? Will Annamayya recognise? I doubt because for Annamayya God is personal; he can only see God in Lord Balaji.
Ramdas – greatest devotee of Lord Ram. He used public funds for construction of Ram temple and he was jailed around 370 years ago by the then Muslim king Tanisha. If we were to show Lord Balaji’s picture to Ramdas, can he recognise God? Answer again is in negative. For Ramdas his personalised God in the form of Lord Ram. He refuses to recognise any other god.
What if we were to introduce Balaji, Lord Krishna and Lord Ram to a devout catholic? He stares at the statues, they do not create any emotion in him. He refuses to recognise these three as gods. For him, Jesus Christ is the superstar. If we were to introduce Lord Ram, Krishna and Balaji to a devout Muslim will he recognise the God in these forms? Answer is negative. God is personalised.
A weird whim, my fancy…Lord Krishna, Lord Ram and Lord Balaji, we believe to have existed in different parts of time separated by thousands of years. If we were to introduce these gods to each other (for they never met}, do they recognise each other? I don’t think so. Similarly, if I were to introduce Goddess Sita to Goddess Parvati, do they recognise each other? Thus, all gods are personal. They cannot be universal. For you, Balaji is the God, for me, not. We cannot have God where everybody falls on his feet and worship.
Modern day – Bill Gates saw god in computer, windows operating system & MS word. Computer became God to him. The way the black stone in shape of Lord Balaji became God to Annamayya and millions started following Annamayya, Lord Balaji. Similarly, when computer became a god to Bill Gates, we all started following Bill Gates & computer. Computer became our god today. You don’t believe me? Can we have a simple litmus test? Throw the computer on floor and stomp on it with both feet. You cannot do that as computer is your God. For the millions of millennials, God has taken another shape – the shape of computer.
On the other hand, I am thought by my parents to confront things that I cannot avoid. God is one of those things I cannot avoid. On the road I see gods, in the house god, on the church wall paintings there is god. I am brainwashed/corrupted by my parents and the society with god from birth onward. I was not given a choice. I cannot avoid God. Living in a society and trying to avoid god looks stupid and bullshit. Also, there is a positive outcome too. Since you believe in god, the very idea of god throws back you in the society with lot more vigour and energy.
Why do flowers look beautiful? The very fact that flowers don’t last forever makes them beautiful. Similarly, life doesn’t last forever, it becomes beautiful. And God in todays world is one of those instruments which makes life beautiful as we believe in him.
Having said so much about god, let me ask one simple question. We, the human beings, we cannot make a worm yet we are extremely happy and comfortable in making a dozen gods in a second. Let me end this article with one basic question: Where are you?
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
