HINDU CONCEPT OF GOD...!!!

10:14 AM |

Personal God

In general Hinduism considers God not just as the Supreme All-powerful
Gigantic One, Who commands the humanity to tread the way He/She/It says, but
also a personal God Whom the individual can worship out of love and not
necessarily out of fear ! The fear brings one only upto certain point and beyond
that it repels, but love takes through to the point. Devotion or bhakti
as often referred to is a very key concept in Hinduism, even for the
philosophically inclined ones. While the shashtras - be it vedas, Agamas,
purANas - describe the Glory of God, one finds abundance of stotras that praise
the God in love.

God is Formless or with Form ?

For Hindus God, as is, is beyond any attributes of form, color, shapes ...
That is, God does not have any specific form or name. In this state God is
referred to as nirguNa brahman (attributeless god). However God takes
forms as perceived by humans and this perceived form is called saguNa
brahman (god with (good) attributes). These forms could range from calm to
fierce to yogic (1). Each form has its significance. For example when one is
depressed and sees the form of God Strong and Powerful, the seeker feels the
moral boost that God would definitely be the support for the right thing.
Similarly when in an auspicious ceremony would like the God to be the calm
provider of boons. In a spiritually elevated state, the choice would be the
yogic form of God. The forms provide a basis for the
Hindu worshipper to easily pursue the otherwise incomprehensible
Supreme. So Hinduism supports both form as well as formless worship of
the God. Whether one worships in saguNa or nirguNa way, it is ultimately the
same God.

Let us hail the God, Who does not have a name or a
form or anything like that, by singing thousands of Its names!

Is there an evil force against God ?

God is the Almighty and Supreme. So how can there be anything good or bad
against It ? If the good things are the creation of God and bad things of some
other evil force, will the gravitational force of the earth be attributed to God
or the other force, as it is vital good element for us to live at the same time
kills somebody who falls down from a high-rise building! In the system made by
God, normally one gets to enjoy the good or bad things based on what have been
their inclinations and the actions they made because of that. (This is called
karma). There is no evil (satan type) against God. In fact atharva
veda puts it very clearly,

"na dvitIyo na tR^itIyashchaturtho nApyuchyate
na pa.nchamo na ShaShThaH saptamo nApyuchyate
nAShTamo na navamo dashamo
nApyuchyate
ya etaM devamekavR^itaM veda"
There is none second to It, neither third not even fourth.
There is none
fifth to It, neither sixth not even seventh.
There is none eighth to It,
neither ninth not even tenth.
It is the only Supreme. This is to be known.

The concept of good and bad things is at a lower level and that too in a
different way than strictly good and evil. The divines called devas are
the protectors and the essentials who support the worlds. For example, air, sun,
moon, water, fire etc. Those who disrupt the life supporting mechanism are the
daemons called asuras. The conflicts between the two often arise and
the Hindu epics talk in detail about them. However it should be kept in mind
that as specified in purANas all the devAs are not the perfect beings and the
asuras the worthless evils.

Is God in some heaven beyond ?

God is not just something that stays in a far off heaven, who would be met
with after death, if one gets to heaven etc. God is omnipresent. It is right in
front of us. Oh, It is right inside us too. Well, It is in each and every minute
of the minute particle present/void anywhere! Does It stay in a world beyond ?
Of course It does there too. (Very renowned gAyatri mantra hails the Supreme to
be the earth, the world around and the skies beyond). One need not wait for the
whole lifetime to get to meet God. The important concept in Hinduism is that God
can be realized right here in this world and the God is not just Magnificent
Almighty, but is also a sweet lovely One, with whom you can have a relationship
- devotee, spouse, sibling, child, parent... God is not just in some heavens, It
is right in us. It is both transcendental as well as intermixed in everything.
Those who realize Its presence reap the grand reward.

Those who say He resides up in the sky, say so;

Those who say the Lord of divines residing down in the world beneath, say
so.
I would say, the Lord of wisdom, Who got His throat brightly adorned
with the stain of poison, is residing in my heart ! (2)

Is God a He ?

Hinduism says, God is not just a He. It is beyond the created contours of
gender. For this reason the scriptures very often use the term "It" to refer to
God apart from using He and She. Especially when it comes to the Supreme in the
natural state (Formless, Attributeless), they prefer It to He or She. The form
of Lord ardhanArIshvara(3) clearly conveys that God is masculine,
feminine and neuter. When the God is called the Lord of all creatures, It is the
God irrespective of the gender, animal race, or whatever other differentiation
one could think of.

God is understood not only postulated

The beauty of Hinduism is that the concept of God is tried to be understood,
experienced. There are purANas that elaborately tell through the voice
of the divines the glory of God. These are one part. On the other hand the
scriptures like upaniShads analyze through questioning and reasoning
the concept of God. These two types go very much hand in hand. Neither the
divine glory limited to the reaches of the human mind with the purANa like
scriptures telling the things beyond the normal human reach. At the same time
they do not command a blind following of some super-human texts, but also very
much permit analysis. The presence of a range of philosophies in Hindu system is
the testimony of this. There are texts like yogasutras that cover the
scope from reasoning to divine glory too. So the total and complete spectrum of
human verification to super-human wisdom is richly available for the smooth
progress of the follower in Hinduism. No need to be blind-folded, explore your
way to the Supreme !!