(A decade ago after a
trip to Tibet, Nepal and India, I wrote down my impressions. It was not meant
to be a book, however after it was read by some, it was suggested that if it
gets published, interested persons can use it. However I thought (and still
think) that the narration was more of a personal quest into Bhagavan Shiva and
that it may not interest a wider audience. Therefore instead of commercially
publishing it, I thought of placing it on a website of Publishing house Harper
Collins’s website known as Authonomy.com.
It remained on their website as "Kailash, Kathmandu and Kashi – A story of Shiva and me", for people to review my narration for many years.
However, last year, when Harper Collins shutdown Authonomy.com and I realized
that some people still wanted to read my account, I decided to place all 26
chapters of that travelogue on this blog. Reader views and comments are
welcome)
Chapter 4. Hindu Idea of God, Gods and More Gods.
Chapter 4. Hindu Idea of God, Gods and More Gods.
From the time man began to think,
he has wondered about God. With all the abilities at his disposal, when he
could not find out how or who made the world around him, helpless against life
and death and amazed at powers of nature and its limitless expanse, he realized
existence of something beyond him. He has since then never stopped his struggle
to find that ‘unknown’. To begin with, he invented word or words to signify
Him, different in different languages. In English, the ‘God’. As man delved on
this subject deeper and deeper, he realized it was impossible to understand God
using his limited knowledge. Our knowledge, however much would be still lesser
than the creator of the knowledge. How can one reach limitless with limited?
Hindus thought of God in terms of
ability and qualities. God was very powerful. Man too is powerful but not as
much as God. God has infinite amount of love. Man too has power to love, albeit
much limited than God. Man realized that in every sphere, be it knowledge,
power, wealth, love or goodness, the God was far-far ahead of him. So much
ahead, that God is unreachable for him.
Hindus would mean the same thing but would say ‘almost unreachable’,
because as per them, with enough effort (any)one can reach Godhood. Thus a man
is on the ladder somewhere near the bottom and the God is at the top.
A Hindu respects all those
persons who are ahead of him on this ladder because they are nearer to God then
him. He must revere those who have strived and reached lofty heights. Those are
‘Fortunate-ones’-translated: “Bhagavan”. Everyone who has achieved lofty
heights is closer to “God” than the person who is at a lower step on this
ladder. For us, ordinary mortals, who are still struggling with our beast
within, everyone who may be anywhere between ourselves and God on this ladder
is exemplary and worthy of respect. Conversely, any one who is below us on the
ladder too is worthy of consideration as he too possesses potential to go up
and who knows, his speed may be faster and may even go ahead of you. The hunter
in the story of Shiv-Raatri, almost went from bottom to top.
If a man who is not familiar with
Hinduism was to ask a question to a Hindu: “Do you have one God or many Gods”.
He would get a reply that “Essentially we have one God, but also we have many
Gods” Everyone on the ladder is either God or worthy of becoming God one day.
Hindus like to call all of them as Bhagavan. And remember this too: all
those on the ladder even if they may be so close to God, also know that still
God is a long way ahead.
Hindu idea of God is so
completely different than what is understood by followers of Abrahamic[1]
faiths, that unless it is absorbed before venturing into any books on India,
Hinduism or allied topics, it would not only prevent appreciation of the
big-picture-idea that Hinduism is but could lead to confusion and apathy
towards philosophical grandeur of ancient Indic thoughts.
Hinduism, world’s oldest
religion, gives full freedom to its followers to believe, partially believe,
not believe and even oppose all or any of its philosophy or ritual. It
encourages its follower to think and come to any conclusion that satisfies his
inquiry. Terms such as blasphemy or heresy are unknown to Hinduism. Its
followers follow various different paths of worship. Hindu Scriptures say that
there are 330 million Gods and in the same breath they say that there is only
one God.
In Abrahamic faiths, God is a
creator of universe, who owns us, gives laws, monitors everyone, rewards
persons of good conduct and punishes offenders. And no man can ever become God.
And He has a rival ‘Satan’, making for two centers of power governing world
affairs. And that God has created this universe whose mastership has been given
to man. On the contrary, in Hinduism, God does not own a man, although He is
the creator-sustainer-destroyer and yet He does not expect subservitude from
mankind. Hindu God does not give ‘ten commandments’, man is free to think, act
(or not act) and decides his fate by his own Karma, not needing God to play
administrator. Man can even reach Godhood by cultivating divine virtues. There
is nothing that is absolutely bad or absolutely good; both elements are
simultaneously present in every thing in varying proportions. Every situation
is meant for learning for man and becoming incrementally perfected from one
moment to the next and that life is a school from where any individual (Hindu
or otherwise) can and will graduate into eventually becoming God himself. God
expects man to develop, grow up, climb the ladder and become as perfect as Him.
That is what Moksha is, the ultimate goal of a Hindu. Grow up to be good
as God. And there is no rival power to God. Everything is his manifestation.
One power centre. Relationship a man share with God is the same relationship
every object, human, animal, plant or mineral shares with God. Human is no
master of universe, but if he does understand; only a caretaker who would
ensure no abuse, be it of humans, animals, plants or minerals.
For Hindus, God permeates through
whole universe and also it envelopes all, making everything divine, animate or
inanimate. the whole universe and its every part are divine for him. Therefore
he sees Gods everywhere. In humans, animals, trees, stones, water, lakes,
mountains, rivers, seas and in every other thing, visible or not, including
own-self. A guarantee to the world that Hindus would protect the environment so
long as they continued to respect ethos of their ancestors. Today Hindus are
torn between their ethos and pressures of modernity which encourages consumerism
leading to indiscriminate exploitation not only of natural resources but also
of human capital. As of now, despite rapid economic activity, India India USA ranks at 2
and United Arab Emirates Canada is highest at 16,995 kwh as compared to
704 kwh of India USA India
For all practical purposes, one
can use the word ‘Bhagavan’ in place of God, and in that sense it is the
closest match with Abrahamic God. However strictly speaking, in Hinduism, there
is something that is even beyond God or Bhagavan. Ancient Hindu
philosophers were not satisfied by just attributing the unexplained as ‘God’.
They delved deeper to discover what is known as ‘Brahman’, ‘the ultimate
truth’ or ‘the ultimate reality’ (Do not mistake the word Brahman for
similar sounding word ‘Brahmin’). Bhagavan is an entity of or
from impersonal Brahman, but possesses an identifiable ‘personality’.
The Supreme ‘God’, Brahman is one, the only one and nothing exists
beyond that one. But this ‘one’ is not a ‘person’, not ‘a man upstairs’. ‘Brahman’
by its very definition indefinable! Impossible to fully define as it is beyond
all senses thus impossible to see, hear, feel or know in any way by our senses.
It can also be said that everything put together in the universe and beyond is Brahman.
Thus Brahman can be said to be present in many ways, forms, fully or
partly, and every those entities are called Gods. Any thing or any non-things
‘thought’, ‘emotion’ ‘space’, ’time’, ‘sound’, ‘light’ too are Brahman
and are potentially ‘God’ upon realization of its divine content. Therefore
every being, thing or non-thing is qualified to be called a God, when that
divine content rises to fore. In other words, all manifestations are
potentially Gods and are addressed as such when that manifestation becomes
predominantly divine. Therefore, when a saintly person is addressed as Bhagavan,
it conjures disbelief in others but does not surprise a Hindu. Entry to the ‘Bhagavan-Club’
is not closed in the Hindu domain. In this book, we would consider Bhagavan
and God as interchangeable terms.
The word Bhagava(a)n,
literally translated means ‘Possessor (Vaan) of Fortune (Bhaga)’
(in the sense of luck, quality, virtue, richness etc) and the word is
independent of gender. Thus no bias when it comes to divinity; Bhagavan
is equally applicable to male or female forms. We are all fortunate in one way or
the other.
Let us consider a few examples of
Gods in Hinduism. One, the creator and controller of universe (in the sense,
generally understood in Abrahamic faiths) is God. If split into its trinity
components, all three, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, the creator-sustainer-destroyer
respectively are also Gods. (Shiva is known as Mahesh, the Great God). These
three reincarnate at different times and those incarnations too are Gods. Many
male and female associates, spouses and other relatives (only if they have
matured enough such that divinity radiates by itself from them. If not they are
not yet in the ‘Bhagavan-Club’) too are known as Gods. Even, mortal
saintly people too are known as Gods. Mother and father also qualify to be
called Gods by their children and so also a teacher by his or her pupils. A
verse in the holy Bhagavad Gita says that the spark of greatness in whatever
one sees in the universe is a form of God. Thus anything and everything that
impresses an individual is a God for him in more or less way; for a small
child, his mother is everything, therefore a God for him. To consider all these
as Gods is blasphemy in Abrahamic faiths but not a bit surprising to Hindus. It
is so hard to inculcate even a fraction of divinity by us mortals that anyone who
has attempted becomes divine for us. Anyone who has worked and gone nearer to
divinity is good enough for us ordinary mortals to respect him as God. A Hindu
appreciates how afar we ordinary mortals are from the lofty heights of love,
truth, bravery, selflessness etc virtues acquired by those exalted individuals
and certainly they deserve to be called as Bhagavans or ‘Gods’.
Over and above these Gods, Hindus
have a large pool of non-human or part-human-part-animal forms of Gods that are
venerated (one may even use the word ‘worshipped’). Behind each form and its
worship, one finds something to learn and grow further in divinity, up the
great ladder.
Essence of every thing, such as
fire, water, wind, rain, space, time etc are also known as Gods (some call them
Deva or Demi-Gods); Stars, planets and satellites too are Gods, such as
Sun-God, Saturn-God, Moon-God etc. Among animal and plant kingdom too exist
many Gods and other equally venerated entities. On specific occasions, cows,
bulls, turtles, eagles, peacocks, roosters, crows, swans, tigers, lions,
elephants, snakes, mice etc are venerated; Banyan tree, Piple tree, fruits of
Coconut tree, Rudraksh (Elaeocarpus) tree, Beetlenut tree, leaves and fruits of
Bilva-tree (Aegle Marmelos Tree), Tulasi (Basil) Plant, etc are
considered worthy of veneration owing to certain ‘divine’ contents in their
makeup which help in our quest of divinity.
All these apart, in Hinduism, man
has liberty to choose his relationship with God. Some may venerate by knowing
him as creator, as all-knower, as provider of everything, as father, as mother,
as brother, as friend, even as lord. Every relationship is acceptable. However
in relating God as lord the worshipper assumes him to be His slave and
therefore Hindus recognize this relationship as a contradiction. A slave, by
definition can not possess the free will (His owner’s will is his will) whereas
God has given us the full play of exercising our free will. Even if one wants
to forfeit God’s gift, and even if one wants follow God’s will, how is one to
know what is His will? When we hear so rampant an expression “God’s will” by
even those who have hardly anything Godly in their lives, it seems God has
freely distributed His power of attorney! For a Hindu, who knows, it is rarely “God
willing”. They can not cheapen God’s will.
Gods and divine things are
venerated by Hindus. Veneration done with rituals is known as ‘Pooja’.
Veneration is appreciation an acknowledgement and takes various form depending
upon the worshipper. It can be by meditation, hymns, chant, songs, dance, art,
spreading message of love etc. Once we know what the word ‘Bhagavan’
(God) and what the word ‘Pooja’ signifies to a Hindu, it helps us to
peek into Indic stories in a better way.
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