That could be a bit controversial question to raise 😉
We come across more and more people who firmly deny the need for any God in today’s circumstances.
As always, I would like to analyze this issue rather than outright take any position.
I will restrict my analysis to the topic I have chosen for discussion in subsequent episodes namely, the stories of God Vishnu and his Avatars as described in Bhagavata.
I see at least three counts on which such a discussion is meaningful.
Every human being is brought up in specific environment with a set of beliefs, faiths and expectations. Not everything is intellect driven – and rightly so. Otherwise, we will be no more than biological robots.
If you are a Jew, you probably are brought up within the framework of the ancient Judaic religion, its set of beliefs, its moral values, its interpretation of the ultimate goal of life, its strong faith in a single God, and so on. No matter how intellectual we are, most of us cannot shrug off this baggage that comes right from our birth. And I feel that unless there is reason to see harm in accepting this mental framework, we can as well continue to get along with it. In fact, most of us indeed do.
Most believe that God exists and protects us whenever we are in trouble. He punishes evil doers. Rewards people who are on the rightful path. This not only instills confidence in us but also motivates us to follow a rightful path. I am aware that there are people who question the very necessity of faith as a motivator and confidence builder. I am not talking about such narrow section of people who may not have such a need. But in general, most people would get benefited by the framework setup by religions no matter what religion it is. As long as we are cautious of extremities, and keep applying self-corrective actions, a religious framework need not be altogether discarded.
The stories from Bhagavata that I am planning to discuss are from ancient India. The stories revolve around God. They ultimately convey the triumph of good over evil. They reinforce the hope that ‘the unseen hands of God’ would always be there to protect us. They remind us that ‘we are not all alone, there is God overseeing us with love and care and if necessary, reprimand’. Such a support is needed for most people in real world situations of ever-increasing uncertainty.
There is also another purpose for these religious stories. Remember the parables in Gospel? They are simple stories meant to convey some intricate message. Humans have a fascination for stories. People tend to absorb even intricate ideas if conveyed through stories. That is because stories often stimulate interest. They target our emotions and feelings. They are like sugar coating a bitter pill. They make dry philosophy or ethical commandments more palatable. Mysteries, unnatural events, thrillers all catch our attention more than a mere bland discourse. So, story telling could be a great means to convey ideas.
My favorite is the third reason that I am going to talk about now. This reason applies more to God centric stories.
I often argue that ‘belief in God can help even if God does not exist’😉 I am not trying to say that God does not exist. I am only saying that the factual correctness of existence of God is immaterial when it comes to the effect of faith in God.
Let us look at various problems we face, day in and day out. Why are there problems?
Sometimes we put ourselves in problems in our overenthusiasm to acquire wealth, power, name, fame and so on. At other times, we get into problems because of someone else’s need to achieve the same. Either way, if you analyze deeply, most of our problems are due to ‘self centeredness’ either of our own or someone else’s. The more self-centered the people are, more they suffer or create suffering. That is the reason why all religions talk about limiting self-centeredness. It is not just a religious dogma. But it does really help in the long run since our lives are so closely intertwined.
How do we come out of self-centeredness? One way is to enforce it through religious injunctions. Another way is to mentally evolve to a stage in which we realize the shortcomings of self-centeredness and restrain ourselves. Though there are many self-claimed rationalists who are confident that the latter option is doable, it is seldom the case. It is often a nice theory, but difficult to practice.
Not that the former option of religion is fail safe. There are umpteen number of cases where religious injunctions have been misused by greedy people to exploit the gullible. But if used prudently, it is a good option to uplift base level people.
So, why have the concept of God? Why not just have a set of ethical injunctions strictly enforced by ‘perfect overseers’?
The fact is that there are rarely any perfect overseer 😉
So, religion introduces the concept of God, who is not only perfect by definition, but also an inescapable overseer. He watches every action of yours. There is no way you can hide from his eyes.
The purpose of God is not just limited to instill morality and eliminate self-centeredness. A deep faith in God goes far beyond that. As you focus more and more on God, you tend to focus less and less on yourselves. Basically, your attention gets diverted. You tend to think less about yourself and more about God.
What if this God is defined as someone who is all pervading? By all pervading, I don’t mean worshiping everything. But it is a way of seeing God in everything. In that case, God ceases to be a person or an entity but the totality of existence. That is when your attention moves further wider – from yourself, to a God as a person, and finally to God as the totality of existence. That is when you are totally free from self-centeredness. That is when you live in harmony with everything around you.
This in my view, is exactly what many ancient Indian schools of thought are trying to do. This is more true about what the Upanishads do. It is not really about God. In fact, most Indian schools of thought are inherently atheistic – if you take the meaning of theism as implied by many non-Indian religions.
The God of the Upanishads is more of a concept rather than a personified being who oversees you. Unification with the entire world rather than limiting yourself to your individual existence is what the Upanishads aim. That is when one frees oneself from all problems. This approach is quite evident in the Upanishads.
But Upanishads take an intellectual approach. Such an approach may not be natural for most people who are instinct driven and intellectually less endowed. Unfortunately, most people fall in this category.
The Puranas take an alternate approach to achieve the same purpose. They use God as a personified being indulging in many fantastic activities. This God kills wrong doers, protects people who move on righteous path, shows people the right approach to life, and so on. He is a person who sets an example. At the same time, Puranas manage to sustain interest by employing thrilling narratives, glorious pastimes of this God in human form, and so on. The narration can even go far beyond what is realistic. But that should not matter, if we understand the goal.
The form of God as Krishna is ideally suited for this purpose since he is depicted as loving, understanding and all benevolent, at the same time unsparing to wrong doers. And this Krishna is at the center of the Bhagavata that I am going to discuss. I am not totally denying the historicity of the stories narrated in the Bhagavata, nor I am trying to depict Krishna as a mere tool to achieve a purpose. My intention is to highlight the real purpose of such narrative scriptures.
So, don’t be bogged down by the debates on historicity or veracity of the events described in these stories. Keep in mind the ultimate purpose as I discussed above.
So, let us start with these interesting stories in the next episode.
Several thought provoking perspectives and information! This series holds a lot of promise to make philosophical views easy to connect .congratulations!
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