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What is God?

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A little more of this topic is extended into the specifics of my beliefs influenced by scriptures as described here in 'What is God - Part II

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In my experience and journey as a Spiritual seeker, I have had a multitude of queries about subjects and terms that are frequently touched upon in the various texts. And in order to understand and fully appreciate the beauty of Spiritual topics, especially in a scripture as beautiful and profound like The Bhagavad Gita, I found it helps immensely to know the spiritual vocabulary and how they are inter-related. I hope my discussion below helps the reader understand and grasp the concepts well. If there are further clarifications required and/or there are other concepts that I missed here or you'd want me to shed some thoughts on, feel free to write me a note. Afterall, its a learning experience, we all can use some little hand holding at times..

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Lets start with the very beginning...

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Some foundational questions:

• What is God?

• Does God exist?

• Where does God exist? 

• How many Gods are there?

• Does God need to be same for everyone?

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Perhaps you have had the same questions yourself. I did. And through my experiences and practices I learnt that

• God is a very Personal idea.

• God is a very Personal belief.

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Note the two words I used here, 'Personal' and 'belief'.

Lets talk about belief part first. Then we will come back to the 'Personal' part.

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Now, what is a belief? Belief (or Faith) is the difference between Impossible and Possible. If you 'believe' something is possible, then you are Right. If you believe something is impossible (or not Possible) then you are Right again.

Extending this to the possibility or impossibility of existence of God, if you believe God exists then you are right. If you believe God doesn't exist, then also you are right. You are not wrong.

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Rationalists will argue, how can you believe something without a proof?

Well, True. You should not. You should test it yourself. Thats why the 'personal' aspect of my statement above..

Now if we can agree on this point then lets go forward and discuss the Personal part..

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Why did I say, God is a very 'Personal' belief?

Well, this means, every individual can verify and decide for themselves if the idea and belief in God matters to them or not. 

Nobody has any business trying to convince others that God exists, or does not exist. 

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If someone wants to 'believe' that God exists, then let them.

If someone does not want to 'believe' God exists, then let them.

Its their individual Freedom to believe or not believe in God. That is why its a very Personal idea; a Personal belief.

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The problem occurs when individuals try to impose their beliefs on others.

A so called believer of God, tries to convince a so called scientist or rationalist that God exists and an argument takes place.

Perhaps even a fight or blood bath.

A so called scientist or rationalist tries to convince a believer that God does not exist and again the same problem.

Infact, a so called believer of a 'certain type of God' tries to convince (or rather compel) a so called believer of 'another type of God' and an argument takes place. Perhaps even a fight or bloodbath. Haven't we seen this History? People have killed more people in the name of God than all non-religious wars put together. The proof is out there..

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So lets keep the notion that 'I have to convince and compel you to believe in my idea' aside.

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Now let me talk about my personal opinion on this subject.

To me, my little share of life experiences tells me this:

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God is the Consciousness behind everything that exists in the Universe.

 

God is Infinite. God exists. As a matter of fact, God never did not exist. 

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My belief may have varied over time but that does not make any difference to God.

20 years ago as a young man I did not believe in God. And God could care less.

And now after a little more of life experience, I believe in God. And God does not mind. 

I have experienced this through my experiences in Life, the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows and the feeling of controls and feelings of utter lack of control. Your experiences may be similar (or not).

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Anyhow, the conclusion I draw from the myriad of my experiences is that, God is the root-cause behind the origin, existence and dissolution of everything that ever existed in the past, exists in the present and will ever exists in future.

Now I believe in God. Its my personal belief. Noone can change it. Noone has the business to change it.

But this is my Personal Proof to myself that God exists and is Real.

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But I will tell you this, ever since I accepted the existence of God, I have been more at Peace. And I am glad about it.

I Learnt that its not we who do or control things in Truth. God controls everything. God is the Supreme controller. God decides and things happen. God doesnt want something and it doesnt happen. So its vain to think that we - you, me, humans, creatures, living beings, do things. No. God does, and God uses us as instruments.

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Think about this for a moment, God wants to have a Big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and it happens. God wants Galaxies to form, and it happens. God wants a Galaxy called Milky way with billions of stars, and it comes into being. God wants Stars to merge, explode and die, and it happens. God wants to have a solar system with a star called Sun and nine orbiting planets and it happens. Of those nine planets on one of them, God wants chemicals to combine at the precise time and conditions to form living cells and it happens. Gods wants those cells to combine and make compound cells and eventually to organisms, so it happens. God wants these organisms to develop as male and female gender and it happens. God wants male and female to combine and reproduce then it happens. God wants variety of organisms to develop as different species say dinosaurs, then it happens. God wants to kill all the dinosaurs and let mammals take over then God destroys them with a giant meteor. God wants millions of years to pass and a certain species of creatures that develop intelligence to talk, write, develop societies and civilization and call themselves as Humans, so it happens..and so on and so on..

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Point is what God wants happens. What God doesnt want doesnt happen.

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This is not a random experiment. There is a divine will behind all that existed, all that exists and all that will exist.

This is all pre-destined. Whether anyone likes it or not.

God exists everywhere. And in everything. And in everyone. They may accept it or not. It doesnt really matter to God.

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Now the question about how many Gods are there?

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God is One to me.

The variety we see around, all the matter, all the elements, compounds, species, races and what not, are just different parts and manifestations of the same One God. The difference is in the size, magnitude and amount not of property. A cup of water from the ocean has the same properties as the entire ocean. Know the properties that one cup of water and you have understood the ocean. Literally, you dont need to boil the entire ocean to know the ocean. Just knowing a cup of water is sufficient.

Now if you want to know God, then just close your eyes and look inside your mind.

You are the cup of water and God is the vast ocean..

That said the 'experience' of God may be different to different minds.

It can be different for different people. 

And thats where the 'personal' aspect comes in, that we discussed at length above in the section about God being a 'Personal belief'.

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So why is all this existence? Why this variety in matter? Why all this variety in thought? Why are we even sitting here and discussing if God exists or not?

To me the answer is simple. Just like each individual one of us was one day born, is currently living and one day will die, similarly all this existence started one day when God willed, is living as long as God wills, and will be destroyed when God wants. Its God's will. God wants it this way. God wants to experience life so God creates life. God wants to experience death and dissolution and that happens. Its a Divine play.

All this will go on as long as God wants.

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Note: A little more of this topic is extended into the specifics of my beliefs influenced by scriptures as described here in 'What is God - Part II

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