FOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD--an article

FOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD



Given below are certain questions and answers I wrote for a friend who had doubts about god. The answers given below are based upon Hindu thought gathered from creditable sources plus my own thoughts garnered from various readings.


Q1. WHO IS GOD?


God is the name given by man to a supernatural force or energy that has consciousness as one of its attributes. This energy is not mere energy; as per the concept of energy-matter transchangeability, it also also creates, out of itself, matter, animate as well as inanimate.

The universe, as scientists know it, started with the big bang, about 14 billion years ago. Speaking about time, even Stephen Hawking does not venture to go beyond that. He merely states that for practical purposes, it is to be assumed that time began with the big bang. Before the big bang, what existed was highly condensed matter / energy. Thus, while god may be viewed as creator of the universe, we cannot, in the manner of Hawking, go into the question as to who created the creator. Let us assume that god was there from the very beginning; he is timeless. However, though god may have no creator and he may be timeless, the same can not be said about the universe.

The universe does have a creator- god. The universe is not timeless. It had a beginning with the big bang; it will have an end too. The universe is expanding at unimaginable speed ever since the big bang. The galaxies and stars are all flying away centrifugally. This will not continue indefinitely. There will be an end at some point of time. Already, some stars have burnt out. The sun, too will burn out one day, and so will the earth, which derives energy from sun.


Q2. WHAT IS GOD'S PURPOSE BEHIND CREATING THIS UNIVERSE?


A. As per Hindu wisdom, god creates the universe out of his Lila or godly play. He creates the universe, it gets destroyed [or, he destroys it], then again he creates it. It is much like the child on the sea shore making a sand castle, dismantling it, and making it again.


Q3. IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT MOST RELIGIONS SAY NOTHING CAN HAPPEN WITHOUT GOD'S WISH, ARE WE PUPPETS IN THE HANDS OF GOD?


A. Are we puppets of his? The answer is yes and no. Let me explain. Suppose there is a microbiologist who in his laboratory grows a culture of bacteria in a petri dish. Are those bacteria his puppets? The bacteria have full freedom to behave and grow as they like; yet, the scientist has power over them to modify their growth by changing the ambience [Temperature, nutrients, culture medium etc.]. The bacteria in this case will, in general, be free, yet, subject to the scientist's overall control. Let us take another example, that of a zoological park. Animals are kept there in natural sorroundings. They are free to roam around, eat, sleep, love, quarrel etc. Yet, probably unknown to them, they are subject to the watchful eye of the manager. If two elephants fight each other too ferociously, endangering their lives, the keeper may have to step in to disengage them. If an animal goes berserk and starts killing other animals or visitors or dismantling the boundaries of the park itself, he may have to be put to sleep. Are the animals in this game reserve free or are they puppets in the hands of man? They are free in general, subject to the watchful eyes of the keeper. The same may be true of god v. man. God has given us intellect and discretion and freedom to use or not to use that intellect. So we are free and are not puppets in the usual sense of the word. But, if we transgress the limits of freedom or misuse our freedom, the rod of godly retribution comes into play. In that sense, we are like puppets, not entirely free. There may be another reason why we may be subject to his rod, without having done anything against the given rules. His experiment might have gone wrong, and he might like to make necessary correction [as in the example of the scientist in his lab]. An example would be the extinction of dianasaurus 65 million years ago. These reptiles grew so big and unwieldy that god might have had reason to think the experiment had gone awry, so he cleaned the slate to write a new chapter. In the modern times, the story may be repeated. Man's unsustainable development is so outpacing the available nonrenewable resources of the world [fossil fuel, water, ozone], and adding nondestroyable toxic waste [nuclear radioactive waste, plastics, toxic chemicals], as also producing means of a global holocaust in the form of nuclear stockpile, that a day may come when god may flare up the world on his own. The means may be diverse: a massive earthquake; another AIDS like virus against which there is no respite; great water scarcity [50 years from now, a third of the world's population will have no safe drinking water, all sources having been depleted or polluted]; global warming associated with polar ice melting and a rise in sea level, with massive flooding [these are all happening already at a slow but definite pace] etc. etc. God may feel that his version of man, Homo sapiens, has failed him, so he must alter the course of events by some radical catastrophe, continental or global. Thus, while man is free, he is a puppet too, to some extent. [Even in law, there is nothing like absolute freedom. Freedom always comes with reasonable restrictions. What is true of law of man is, probably, true of the law of god, too].


Q4. IS THERE A RIVAL TO GOD WHO WANTS TO HARM GOD'S CHILDREN [OURSELVES] OUT OF RIVALRY?


A. We are hard put to conceptualize one god. Let us not multiply our confusion by imagining multiple gods. However, for sake of academic discussion, let us ponder over the question: Who is the rival?

Let us suppose a theoretical possibility that there may be one or more other universes , with their own big bangs, so distant that we do not yet know anything about them. But, even if it is so, we humans would be too, too small fries in the game for the rival god to make we children suffer in the hope of making the Father suffer out of rivalry. Rivals hit at each other, not at their minions.



• Originally written as item 734528, which was deleted 25 January 2005 and this article was included as entry 341127 in 959448, FAITH, NATURE & INSPIRATIONAL Re-posted as staic item on 21 June 2007.



M C Gupta
13 Nov 2003