MEDITATION - What is the role of God if any?

Nowadays it has become fashionable to declare ourselves as a non believer. Many people think that that is the same as saying that they are rational. I have commented on this misconception in some of my posts.

Being rational does not imply that we can be bereft of all beliefs. That is neither possible nor desirable. Beliefs are an inalienable part of life however unscientific they may be. In fact, acceptability of a belief does not rest on its scientific validity. They are unacceptable only if they are harmful.

Now coming to the question of God, the God is definitely part of our belief system which probably can never be scientifically verified. It is not necessary also. Is it useful to believe in God?

Buddha rarely talked about ‘the God’ – as other religions mean by the word God. He did talk about several Gods that are just superior beings that may help or trouble us. But Buddha’s meditation techniques did not rely on these Gods.

Patanjali’s Yoga is a companion school of the ultra rational Sänkhya system of philosophy. The Sänkhya almost rejected the concept of God. So, Patanjali also is mostly silent about God except in few places. But the God does not have a major role to play in Patanjali’s form of meditation.

I personally believe that belief in God helps in meditation for various reasons.

Reason 1: The entire process of meditation is an attempt to free oneself from the identity imposed by the body and the mind. But such freedom is very difficult to achieve in one step.

Better way is to focus on something external to the body - that external object being a perfect thing, which would never pull you back to the body. And once you have freed yourselves from the limited identity, just forget about the external object as well.

It is like drawing the attention of someone to the pole star by pointing your finger to it and when the person has recognized the bright star, shift your fingers and point to the tiny star just adjacent to the pole star which is actually what you want the person to see. (I am giving an often quoted simile in many ancient Indian scriptures).

There is also one more reason to believe in God as a most superior being.

Reason 2: However accomplished a person is in his meditative practices, the ultimate experience he has gained, can instill arrogance in that person since he has ‘seen’ what no one has. So, belief in something ‘beyond’ – God – will have a humbling effect so that the person does not slip back to limited identity.

But in the end – as Ramana Maharishi put it – the difference between ‘Me’ and ‘You’ and even ‘God’ just vanishes.

Does it mean that the meditator who has ‘become’ a God can wield the supernatural powers of a God? For many, this is an important question. I will talk about it next.

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