What is God

October 18, 2008

What is god ?The omnipotent omnipresent power controlling / guiding an atom and also the universe and also the power which is existing in each and every living being is the god.

Does the god has shape and size ?Absolutely not. It is for the sake of common man we make the pictures. Like we make a globe for teaching the earth.

Does the god have the names ?No. the god does not have the name. For quick memory and recollection we call different names to different natural phenomenon. After the natue is the direct manifestation of god.

Why do we give so mny names to god?Each name has a meaning. The names convey a great meaning so we give the names. Lekshmi means glory and prosperity. Saraswati means the one whichis flowing. Parvathy means the torrential force or energy. Ganesa means the one which is controlling everything in group. Krishna means whichis black and attracting. Rama means which gives you happiness. And so on

Can we see with our naked eyes ?Unless you reach that level it is impossible to see even seeing through inner eyes. Many things which we cannot see are existing like atoms, electrons, air, billions and billions of galaxies.

Why to worship god ?It is not necessary if you feel it is not worth. To know that human beings have limitations and what all taking place in the world are almost beyond the control of human brain, we have to know that divine power. For knowing that divine power we should remember frequently. For this purpose we are using the method worship.

Will the god get angry if we are not worshipping ?The god is not bothered about anything like you worship or criticize. God is not bothered about your flower, nivedyam, lamp, manthra, pooja or temple. They are all for ourselves. So the worship of the god, prayer, manthra, pooja, etc., are all for ourselves.

What is the relation between the god and human beings ?Since we got birth in this earth from our parents, our relation with our parents is divine. Like that we are here because of the god. So our relation with god is divine. It is just like human relation we have relation with god or divine power.

Why should we worship at all ?We have three debt according to Indian thoughts. The debt towards god is known as deva riuna, that towards parents is known as pitru runa and the last one is Rushi runa towards our Rushies who are responsible for our sanathana dharma.

How to get rid of these runas ?These three are permanent and we cannot get mukti from this runa. Hence we always remember god by continuously by way of worship. We remember our parents even after their death by performing the pitru srardha and before chanting any manthra we remember the name of the Rushi who composed them. Thus we repeatedly offer our homage to all these three. Thus arose the worship of god, according to Indian customs.

Does it mean that we worship god for offering our thanks ?Yes definitely it is for the same.

Is the concept of god in all religion same?No in semitic religion it differs significantly from that of the Indian religion or sanathana dharma. Even though people say that it is the same, it varies significantly. And in no way it can be compared too.

Can we point out one major difference?One of the most crucial difference is that in semitic religion people are god fearing people. In our case we are god loving. This fundamental difference is very serious. One who fears god means, fundamentally some thing abnormal in the mind and psychology. The feeling of fear is negative where as the feeling of love and bhakti is positive.

How do Indians vary in their approach to god?We are never god fearing people, we are god loving (bhaktas) people . We never consider human beings as sinners. Our approach to god is devotion and not the fear psychosis. We always accommodated any new branch of worship and religion. We gave permission to accept and reject any method or every method of worship. Even we gave the permission to reject god. Surprisingly you might have read in our earlier lines that the best bhakti bhava is known as satru bhava bhakti or dwesha bhava bhakti, that is I am against/ enemy to god .

How do Indians evaluated atheism and an atheist ?We (sanathana dharma followers), in our thought have clearly mentioned that no objection on somebody becoming an atheist. We considered atheists also Rushies. Science and spirituality went hand in hand here. Atheists in India were known as Rishies, Charvaka school of thoughts is full of atheism only. In all the branch of our literature automatically atheism has been included. This can be seen in Mahabharta, Ramayana, Darsana commentaries, puranas and even in dharma sastra

How does our prayer vary ?We never go for group prayer and all sorts of worship are considered as personal. At the same time chanting mantra, bhajans, story telling, listening to purana, harikatha etc group prsence or involvement are permitted. We gave the freedom even to refuse and reject any branch of existing practice /methods /concept / thoughts and create your own method. We prayed for the well being of one and all including those who are following other pathways We always requested others to follow any method after critical analyses in the light of saastram.

Can we say we have only one level of god realization ?We have different levels of understanding the nature and divine power because the concept of god is different at different levels. We consider the divine power is within all human beings and living beings. Till you realize that concept you have to have lower level of worship, once you realized that you are the embodiment of divinity, then even lower can be rejected.

How do we estimate our temples of worship ?The Indian temples are not merely prayer halls but quantum healing centers We elevated the status of even a stone to divinity and we could see divinity in it. The plants and animals were given the divine status. Earth, Sun, air, water and all those are considered with divine respect . One should elevate himself for understanding that these are all the manifestation and manipulation of the divine power. We can say the devolution of the divinity. The manifestation of divinity is clearly mentioned in Sanskrit as the brahma vaivartham.

Can we say the prayer is a dialogue between devotee and god ?In India the prayer is a dialogue between the god and devotee. We never kept agents /brokers for making more followers for our gods . We prayed directly to god and never through brokers or saints. One person cannot declare another person as saint. These saintship etc are all recognition for converting people to their religion. Not for god realization.

How our customs and rituals connect with god ?Our customs and rituals are not for pleasing gods but for fetching psychological, physiological, family based , social and national benefits. The spirituality is added to the customs to make it smooth and whole hearted . to get more faith factor in it.("God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple." CHanakya )

iish Communication team

October 23, 2008

Namaste

Correcting others- Who and How?

Q. We should not critise others or in other words we should not show them their faults but rather we should be introspective, first we should find that where we are going wrong. Doing introspection is accepted, but if we don not tell others that they are going wrong how will they improve or realize their mistakes?

A. If we are busy finding and pointing out the faults in others, then we fail to see the faults in ourself. Therefore introspection is necessary. We may point out faults only under the following circumstances :-

1) Criticism should always be constructive, i.e. If by our speaking, the concerned person is going to accept our opinion and correct himself or herself, then we should speak.

2) If we are in the position of an authority or guardian, then we can speak. If this is not the case, we may end up spoiling the situation rather than improving it. We have to genuinely analyse our motivations. Are we genuinely concerned with helping that person? or is it out of pride and envy that we are reacting. Sometimes, communicating through a person who has a rapport or good relationship with the person concerned may be more effective than directcommunication.

If we correct somebody in the mood of a humble servant rather than a dictator, it will be more effective in changing the heart!

Dealing with athiests

Q. How do we deal with atheists? What is the best thing to do?

A. Typically, we should avoid debating with hardcore atheists. Most of them, have religious affiliations and they are systematically trained to believe in atheism. Their belief is more on sentimental platform then sheer philosophy and they are often stubborn. To those who are open tell them that if there is no God who created the universe and life. If they say it came by chance or nature ask them what is the practical experiment that has proved that theory.There is none. No scientist ever got a nobel prize for creating life in lab and none created universe in lab either. If they are open then its worthwhile to debate, other wise let the school of hard, knocks teach them.

with regards

dilip --- On Wed, 10/22/08, Charulata Balachandran <cabs7010 wrote:

Charulata Balachandran <cabs7010Re: [www.keralites.net] Re: What is God"Keralites" <Keralites (AT) Groups (DOT) com>Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 12:16 PM

Hi

I read your mail . I personally feel that, people who doesnt know the basic of english will have difficulties . But you are 100% correct that many people who studied in malayalam medium do well in english.

Anyways its an opportunity for those who din't bother to improve their language. It is a chance for those to take it as a challenge and want to improve.regardscharulatha--- On Wed, 10/22/08, divya diya <divya311 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

divya diya <divya311 (AT) gmail (DOT) com>Re: [www.keralites. net] Re: What is God"Keralites" <Keralites@Grou ps.com>Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 9:24 AM

Agree, there are nuance to English depending on the Country.There is American English, British English, Indian English , German English etc.Differences are minor, but one can make out differences.If one is using Indian English, we have to try to use it the way it is intended to.One can improve the mastery of the language by constant reading.When someone writes,' I sawed "instead of saying" I saw', thought I should point out the matter.I am writing this without any malice. I felt many are not taking care in correct usage of the language.. When we write Malayalam also, we try to use it the way it is intended to.I just wanted to bring out that constant reading improves mastery of that language. It is a matter of attitudeCharulata, do you think I am arguing for argument's sake.I know many who have studied in Malayalam medium school who are equally proficient in English.Regards to

all, DivyaOn Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 6:57 PM, Charulata Balachandran <cabs7010 > wrote:

Hi divya Whatever you wrote is true.Your intention is good but you see some are not educated and even if they are , there are people who did their studies in malayalam medium or wherever they belong to, so atleast we should try to appreciate their effort they are taking to write in english. That itself shows that they are in the learning process. Please i am not here to argue with you just wrote whatever i felt.

Take care .--- On Tue, 10/21/08, divya diya <divya311 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

divya diya <divya311 (AT) gmail (DOT) com>Re: [www.keralites. net] Re: What is God"Keralites" <Keralites@Grou ps.com>Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 8:32 AM

One thing that saddens me is that at least 60% of members who express their opinion in this group do it in very bad English.This is an aspect often commented about malayalees by recruiters for jobs.Some effort has to be taken to improve your English.The easiest way to do it is to read articles, books in English daily for some hours.You will find good usage of words come to you without much effort.Also read what you have written before hitting that send button.Of course, some members convey things very beautifully.Hope I am not being rude.I have only good intentions.DivyaOn Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:44 AM, gr8vidyaprasad <gr8vidyaprasad@

.in> wrote:

A man who cannot saw the sadness and happiness of the persons around him can how saw an invisible myth ?

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