I had posted the piece, ‘What is GOD?’ on MSN India’s forum, ‘Citizen Speak’. Before publishing it MSN, in their wisdom, added, ‘A Construct of Human Mind?’, to the title. I was indeed overwhelmed by the responses evoked by it. Probably owing to the slight change in the title it seemed to have evoked some negative responses. I have, therefore sent the following note of clarification to the forum for publication.
I am indeed overwhelmed by the response evoked by my post, ‘What is GOD?’, and wish to express my thanks to all those who have taken the trouble to do so. I also wish to express my Thanks to MSN for providing a forum where people could interact with one another irrespective of their geographical location.
Going through the various responses, I suspect some have misunderstood the purpose of my writing the piece and I also felt that some points need to be clarified a little more. Hence this not of clarification.
1. The idea behind the post was to suggest that ‘God’ is not something supernatural or divine but, something that is quite natural. ‘Nature’ is what constitutes ‘God’ and it is the forces of ‘Nature’ that is behind the creation of all that exists in the universe. It was not my purpose to dispute (or confirm) the existence of ‘God’. Nor was it for or against any particular religion.
2. We, humans, tend to attribute a human image to God and attribute to it a thinking process similar to ours. Natural processes, I believe, is beyond the realm of human intellectual capacities to comprehend(at least as of now). And these processes have been going on since time immemorial, for how long we don’t know. I find it rather incongruous to think of God as someone sitting around and planning its next creation.
3. Yes, all living beings, especially human beings with the perfectly symmetrical body and the perfect harmony between the bodily functions and their mental/emotional state, are indeed marvels of creation and no supercomputer can possibly design such a delicate machine.
4. Humans, as part of 'Nature’ are endowed with all the powers that are part of nature. It may be possible for us through meditation and with perfect control over our mind and body to gain mastery over these powers. Having reached that state, it may even be possible for us exert some influence over natural processes. Mythology, the world over, is replete with stories of such enlightened souls. But, I don’t think very many of us are in a position to attain that level.
5. All natural things interact with one another in some way or the other and exert influence over one another. Thus, it is quite possible that the Sun, Moon, Planets, Stars and Constellations have an influence over our lives. It is also possible that a learned human being, free of all subjective thoughts and emotions will be able to ascertain the positions of these bodies at a given moment of time and sense (rather than calculate) the effect that these could have on the life of any person. Again, I suspect not very many of us have that kind of knowledge or attain such a state of detachment to make any accurate astrological predictions.
6. Values and concepts such as Good & Bad, Right & Wrong etc. have evolved from the time human beings started forming social groups as guidelines for social interaction. They were meant to ensure harmony and cohesion among members of the group and minimize, if not eliminate, social tensions. Some of these values (what may be called universal values), probably based on instincts, were prevalent among animals as well and were inherited by human beings.
7. As religions evolved, some of these values were adopted by them and re-packed and presented as ‘Rules laid down by God’. This enabled the religious leaders to enforce these ‘rules’ among their followers by threatening heavenly retribution for failure to adhere to them.
I hope I have managed to clarify most of the points. I would definitely welcome any dissenting opinions and further discussion since, to my mind, that’s the only way new ideas can evolve and/or existing ones develop.
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