MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD

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MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF GOD-3

 

Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Wed Jan 2, 2008 2:43 am (PST)

(Delivered in London, 20th October 1896)

 

A little love awoke in the hearts of mankind. It was very small

indeed, and even now it is not much greater. It was at first confined

to a tribe embracing perhaps members of the same tribe; these gods

loved their tribes and each god was a tribal god, the protector of

that tribe. And sometimes the members of a tribe would think of

themselves as the descendants of their god, just as the clans in

different nations think that they are the common descendants of the

man who was the founder of the clan. There were in ancient times, and

are even now, some people who claim to be descendants not only of

these tribal gods, but also of the Sun and the Moon. You read in the

ancient Sanskrit books of the great heroic emperors of the solar and

the lunar dynasties. They were first worshippers of the Sun and the

Moon, and gradually came to think of themselves as descendants of the

god of the Sun of the Moon, and so forth. So when these tribal ideas

began to grow there came a little love, some slight idea of duty

towards each other, a little social organisation. Then, naturally,

the idea came: How can we live together without bearing and

forbearing? How can one man live with another without having some

time or other to check his impulses, to restrain himself, to forbear

from doing things which his mind would prompt him to do? It is

impossible. Thus comes the idea of restraint. The whole social fabric

is based upon that idea of restraint, and we all know that the man or

woman who has not learnt the great lesson of bearing and forbearing

leads a most miserable life.

 

Now, when these ideas of religion came, a glimpse of something

higher, more ethical, dawned upon the intellect of mankind. The old

gods were found to be incongruous - these boisterous, fighting,

drinking, beef-eating gods of the ancients - whose delight was in the

smell of burning flesh and libations of strong liquor. Sometimes

Indra drank so much that he fell upon the ground and talked

unintelligibly. These gods could no longer be tolerated. The notion

had arisen of inquiring into motives, and the gods had to come in for

their share of inquiry. Reason for such-and-such actions was demanded

and the reason was wanting. Therefore man gave up these gods, or

rather they developed higher ideas concerning them. They took a

survey, as it were, of all the actions and qualities of the gods and

discarded those which they could not harmonise, and kept those which

they could understand, and combined them, labelling them with one

name, Deva-deva, the God of gods. The god to be worshipped was no

more a simple symbol of power; something more was required than that.

He was an ethical god; he loved mankind, and did good to mankind. But

the idea of god still remained. They increased his ethical

significance, and increased also his power. He became the most

ethical being in the universe, as well as almost almighty.

 

But all this patchwork would not do. As the explanation assumed

greater proportions, the difficulty which it sought to solve did the

same. If the qualities of the god increased in arithmetical

progression, the difficulty and doubt increased in geometrical

progression. The difficulty of Jehovah was very little beside the

difficulty of the God of the universe, and this question remains to

the present day. Why under the reign of an almighty and all-loving

God of the universe should diabolical things be allowed to remain?

Why so much more misery than happiness, and so much more wickedness

than good? We may shut our eyes to all these things, but the fact

still remains that this world is a hideous world. At best, it is the

hell of Tantalus. Here we are with strong impulses and stronger

cravings for sense-enjoyments, but cannot satisfy them. There rises a

wave which impels us forward in spite of our own will, and as soon as

we move one step, comes a blow. We are all doomed to live here like

Tantalus. Ideals come into our head far beyond the limit of our sense-

ideals, but when we seek to express them, we cannot do so. On the

other hand, we are crushed by the surging mass around us. Yet if I

give up all ideality and merely struggle through this world, my

existence is that of a brute, and I degenerate and degrade myself.

Neither way is happiness. Unhappiness is the fate of those who are

content to live in this world, born as they are. A thousand times

greater misery is the fate of those who dare to stand forth for truth

and for higher things and who dare to ask for something higher than

mere brute existence here. These are facts; but there is no

explanation - there cannot be any explanation. But the Vedanta shows

the way out. You must bear in mind that I have to tell you facts that

will frighten you sometimes, but if you remember what I say, think of

it, and digest it, it will be yours, it will raise you higher, and

make you capable of understanding and living in truth.

 

To be continued...

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

I am no metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor

and I love the poor. I see what they call the poor of this country

and how many there are who feel for them!

- Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works, 5: 58