GOD

This is the word which is uttered by an average human in all sorts of situation from his birth to death.

(Well I am just using the generic name in English. You are free to use the sound which describes him/her in your language. The content of this blog will still remain the same.)

The very first method which we learn to understand God is religion. Every religion might have different processes of understanding, processes that have been passed on for generations (with modifications by humans as and when required). Few religions have a pantheon while few believe in “the only one”. Whatever be the case, it is agreed upon, across all religions, that God is the supreme power who controls the working of the universe. While the theists believe this power to be a superhuman, atheists question the very veracity of this argument. But nevertheless everyone believes in the existence of a superpower.

I as a young kid always faced the dilemma of choosing between the Gods. For example, I being a Bengali learnt a few things about Goddess Durga. But I was surprised to know that while “our Bengali Durga” rode on a tiger, the ones in Tumsar rode on a Lion! I was confused about this “Vahan duality”. How did Durga manage this change of “Vahans”? Well the plausible answer provided was that she was a Goddess. And, even now, most of the questions related to Gods normally end with this fantastic argument.

During that time, I read in one of the “Anand Marg” moral science books that GOD was an abbreviation for,

Generator

Operator

Destroyer

It seemed a very nice answer. I again asked for the meaning of these words in the context. I was told that God created whatever is present in this universe, controlled how all these creations were to function and then the creations were eventually destroyed. (My uncle had actually three names assigned for each task, Generator – Lord Brahma, Operator – Lord Vishnu and Destroyer – Lord Shiva.)

My understanding of Gods continued to remain in a haze. The more I read, saw, discussed and thought, the more confused I became. At one point of time, I actually became agnostic. I found it a fruitless exercise. But then “Pune” happened in life. The university not only provided me with the best education in Physics but also provided me with people who were ready to discuss on various topics. These discussions might have seemed as arguments and fights to others but we cherished them. Sumeru Gondane (at Yashada, Pune) told me later that the first answers to every question were provided by religion, then philosophy and eventually science.

You are free to choose a method of your own but eventually you are just trying to find answer to the very basic question, “What is the reason that this thing happens like this”. I also went through these discussions to know the answer. Well, it is impossible to have a finite answer to a question having infinite ramifications. But these discussions compounded with the study of Physics and especially Cosmology leads me to believe in a Supreme Power.

We can call it by any name; can give it any form we like but the function of the power is eventually what I read in the Anand Marg book. The researches in all sciences have shown these processes to work in the very same way, Generation → Operation → Destruction → Generation → … The circle continues and points towards a supreme power whose effects we see in our respective microcosms. If you look at these things in the micro to macro regime, you will find an unending symmetry. I think this symmetry prompted Einstein to say that God doesn’t play dice.

We can call this superpower as God, अल्लाह, भगवान, Nature, Singularity, पूर्ण ब्रह्म, Ad Infinitum or whatever you like. Eventually this supreme power is the ultimate truth and whatever is being studied anywhere in this universe is the understanding of the manifestation of this power.

So, even though we cannot tell precisely the exact form or appearance of God but its existence is undisputable.