Is any form of God as good as any other?

In the previous post we saw how all forms of God are expressions of the same single God. Naturally, one may ask – in that case, can I worship any form of God and attain the same results?

Unfortunately, the answer is No. Why?

There are couple of things here.

The form of God represents a set of attributes and qualities. Even if someone says “my God is formless” - as most people following either Judaism, or Christianity, or Islam say – their God is not truly formless.

What they mean by ‘formless’ is that their God does not have a visible form. But their God speaks, has emotions like anger, mercy, hatred and so on. So, in a subtle way their God is not formless.

What if a God is not formless?

A form has an influence on the person who worships that form. If your God is cruel, merciless then you imbibe the same qualities. If your God is an epitome of sensuality, you tend to take more interest in such baser emotions.

So it is always advisable to choose a form that has more uplifting qualities, so that you can inculcate those qualities in you.

The truth is that devotion is nothing but a form of meditation where you focus your attention on a certain set of qualities represented by the God you are devoted to. This deep focus modulates your mind without your knowledge since they are often based on emotions.

The other problem with the way you worship is that it may take you more and more into worldly mire rather than uplift you spiritually. Supposing your God is believed to be bestower of riches, you tend to get more and more interested in amassing wealth. And this puts a block in your spiritual progress.

Bhagavad geetha puts these ideas very succinctly as follows.

“People worship various forms of God depending on their inherent nature and their greed to fulfill selfish interests and to acquire worldly riches.

These foolish people may succeed in getting their wishes fulfilled by such worship but those results are short lived. They will never attain the ultimate eternal peace.

People who are devoted to higher forms of God attain those higher states. Those who worship intermediate forms of Gods that have worldly qualities, inculcate the very same qualities. And those others who worship cruel and inferior forms of Gods become like them.

Only those who are devoted to the real formless God, attain the ultimate realization.

The way your emotions are, so you will be”

Even if you chose a God with some non ideal qualities, you don’t need to switch the Gods, but only need to de-emphasize those qualities.

Well, we chose the right form of God with right qualities,.What next? How do we go about on the path of devotion? We will see that in the next post.

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Based on verses 7.20, 7.21., 7.22. 7.23, 9.25, of Bhagavad Geetha, one of the most quoted and widely translated of the ancient Indian scriptures, believed to have been composed by Vyasa as part of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata, 5000 years ago. The interpretation of the verses and audio recital are by Dr.King (Copyright © 2018 Dr. King)