HARI OM INTELLECTUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL CAPSULE GOD IS GREAT—IS HE REALLY SO? Vivekanand Jha Vishya naam anukulay sukhi dukhi cha viparjayhay, sukhang dukhang cha tat dharmang chidamanashya natmanah( whenever something happens as per our wish, we feel happy, whereas if something goes against our wish or expectation, we feel disappointed. Those who take the outcome of their actions stoically without being bound by it, understand the real meaning of dharma): Great Shankaracharya Most of us are hypocritical when we joyfully utter the common phrase ‘ god is great’ at some palatable event or development that suits our mind. Since our childhood we are accustomed to hearing the above phrase in the praise of god and hence get ourselves adapted to this hypocrisy which we have no qualm in passing on to our next generation. Have we ever reflected on the gravity of this sentence as we are tutored to parrot like repeating this phrase almost till the last breath of our lives without ever feeling the need for reflecting on it? Many a times in our childhood we must have listened to our neighbours commenting: ‘Oh, god is great’ that Rajesh’s wife had given birth to a son after three daughters, had she borne another daughter, his dynasty would have been extinct; Ritu’s aunty would comment : ‘Oh, god is great that Bomkesh had survived a massive road accident, had he died, his entire family would have been ruined; Seema’s mother would exultantly declare: ‘Oh, god is great, my daughter had secured a distinction marks in all her papers in Secondary examination; even during the world cup in 1983, we would constantly hear: ‘ God is great, India had defeated the formidable West Indians, or else where did we have the wherewithal to match their cricketing talent?’; if an old man or woman in our neighbourhood dies, we chuckle: ‘Oh, god is great, He had given relief to the old man/ lady after a long suffering’. On the contrary, if India loses the battle in the cricketing ground, we never dare to say that ‘god is great’ that we lost against Pakistan; if we fail in exams, we never say that ‘god is great that we have failed as he had encouraged us to work hard and come out with flying colours next time’; if any young man or woman dies in the neighbourhood, we never dare to say that ‘god is great that such and such person had died so young’; if we lose our investment in stocks, we never say that’ god is great that we lost our money’. The discriminatory and arbitrary part of assigning the credit to a mysterious phenomenon called ‘god’ whereas skipping to arrogate the fault to the same in the wake of negative events, appears hypocritical to any rational being if he ponders over the facts as stated above. Why the greatness is associated with Him whereas the smallness or meanness is not attributed? If the god is all for greatness then why humans are only for smallness and meanness, needs a thorough introspection? The explanation for this human syndrome is this: an inherent fear in a man to blame god for the negative outcomes. The man fears retribution from god if he attributes Him with the negative outcomes or the results of an action. But this is an unwarranted fear which has no base or logic. God can never be vindictive or vengeful so much so, that if someone blames him for some outcomes, He would immediately retaliate. And if it is so, could He then be the god—the creator of this universe? Sycophancy at best is an ingrained human characteristic which reacts on the basis of praise and criticism. A Creator, who is transcendental, beyond the human limitation of senses and for whom the universe is an infenitessimal part of His manifestation, can ever be subject to such human prejudices? But then, the moot point is: why we are still afraid to criticize Him when we are inclined to pour all our praise and eulogies, in the wake of unfavourable or adverse events, on Him? The explanation is again the same: fear of retribution. On deeper reflection, we can decipher that neither God is responsible for good happenings, nor is He to blame for the adverse ones. He is far aloof from the events that actually happen in our lives. It is only the result of our own actions that yield certain desired results—when the mind perceives it as positive, the god is praised and eulogized for it, however when the outcome is perceived as negative—we maintain silence, perhaps blaming our karma. But here is the twist: It is only the karma that results in certain yields which has nothing to do with god. In reality, the life is an experience—only experience which if perceived as successful by the individual and society—it is deemed as productive followed by the ‘god is great’ syndrome. Whereas if the experience is perceived as unproductive, or it is construed to be adverse, and thus followed by silence blaming ones Karma. But then, the phenomenon called Karma is too complex and too subtle that baffles the ordinary mind which is too preoccupied with the ‘happiness and ‘sorrow’ syndrome that it fails to perceive the modus operandi of ‘Karma’ which is institutionalized by the Creator to govern the cosmic phenomenon of universal existence. The mind has to grasp the SACHIDANAND—SAT, CHIT ANANDA—meaning existence, eternity and bliss to be his real nature and not to be influenced or swayed by the pedestrian events that often overwhelm him in the whirlpool of universal existence. Note: The author after much deeper reflection has drawn the above conclusions.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:55:30 +0000
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