What is God

 

While theocratic religions of the world may tell you that God created I man in his image, I personally think man created God in his image. God was objectified onto familiar forms, so that man could interact with the divine in ways that he interacts with people around him. Democratic Hinduism, consequently, is willing to accept any form as God into its pantheon, including the formless version. Interestingly, the Vedas and Upanishads are not focussed upon Who is God?' They are rather absorbed in understanding 'What is God?'

 What is God?

 Let us first see what the Vedas have to say about God. Here are a few sample statements. God is

 • a singular being who is diversely spoken of (Ekam Sat-Viprah Bahudha Vadanti; Rig Veda, Book 1).

 • a personal and impersonal being who can be manifest and unmanifest; who exists or can be non-existent and who is interminable. (Rig Veda, Book 10).

 • a being who manifests as the universe and all the eyes and ears of all beings and whose cosmic body transcends into infinity (Purusha Sukta).

 • all visible and invisible matter (Narayana Sukta).

 • the Creator, the created, and the collective totality (Hiranyagarbha Sukta).

 • all that is animate or inanimate (Satarudriya or Rudra Adhyaya of the Yajur Veda).

 Note that none of these statements say anything about 'who' God is! They are intent on telling you 'what God is and is not. The Upanishads elaborate upon this concept of God and declare that all that is, is nothing but a manifestation of God-Brahman. Since Brahman manifests as everything and is the underlying principle of everything, it is impossible to objectify Brahman for worship. So, Brahman is not the God that is worshipped. The different facets of this Brahman or his characteristics may be objectified for worship, maybe, as Indra, Rudra, Aditya, Agni, Shiva, Vishnu, and so on. But Brahman, as a whole, cannot be objectified and encapsulated into a form that can be worshipped.

 The Kena Upanishad elaborates on this argument about Brahman. Brahman cannot be described in words because it is the energy that creates the words. Brahman cannot be imagined or thought of because it is the energy that makes you imagine or think. Brahman cannot be seen with the eyes because it is the energy that makes the eyes see. Brahman cannot be heard because it is the energy that makes you hear. Brahman is not breath because it is the energy that makes you breathe. Therefore, that which cannot be described by the tongue, thought of by the mind, seen with the eye, or heard with the ear cannot be worshipped. In other words, you cannot make Brahman an object of worship. So how does one experience Brahman? Brahman is a subjective experience.

 The Origin or Primary source of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is Vedas - Strutis - What is "heard" - what is "revealed" to the Rishis, so Vedas are "apurusheya" - not from men.

 The Vedas have mainly Four portions

- Samhitas - They are Hymns or Mantras in praise of Gods towards getting material properties and happiness. These are metrical poems comprising prayers, incantations addressed to various Vedic Dieties - These are aimed at the "begginers - Brahmacharis" - the Samhitas are also called as Upansana Kandas

 - Brahmana - The main prose composition guides people to perform rituals, sacrificial rites - yagnyas. These explains the method of using the Samhitas-Hymns-Mantras to perform rituals - Brahmana - is for the Householders to perform rituals - This is also called as Karma Kanda

 - Aranyakas - Forest books - this gives the philosophical interretations of the rituals - This is meant for Vanaprasthas or Sanyasis - This also belongs to Karma Kanda but with a tilt towards the Gnana Kanda

 - Upanishads - The essence and knowledge portion of the Vedas - Where thare are no Prayers or Worship of any Vedic Gods are given - this is meant for Advanced stages of Sanyasins to attain Realisation. - This is also called Gnana Kanda

 Anukarmaani of Vedas give the historical and geographical context of the Slokas, lineage of the composer, the period of composition giving reference to the Kings of the time and the geographical location with reference to rivers, flora and fauna and astronomical reference of the event -- This is the main source within Vedas to determine the timeline and lineage of the particular slokas of the Vedas

 The Inner Science dealt with so far is from the Upanishads, the Gnana Kanda portion of the Vedas which is purely philosophical in nature giving the step by step philosophical journey towards the Ultimate Reality - The Brahman.

 - Is the underlying substratum or underlying principle of everything

 - At the individual level named as Atman and at the universal level is named as Brahman

- As per the Vedic – Upanishidic declaration following the Neti – Neti principle, which negates any attribute

- That Attribute-less or Undefinable principle is called as Nirguna Brahman – Brahman without any quality or attribute

- Rishis DID NOT call this underlying principle Nirguna Brahman as “God”

- Since it can not be “Conceptualised” because of no attributes

- Brahman is the Reality. He is the Absolute Truth. All else is unreal and mere illusion, like a mere shadow that disappears when the Sun shines.

 So Rishis have not called the Absolute Reality - the Foundational Aspect of Sanatana Dharma - Brahman, as God

 Nasadiya sukta, of Rig Veda (10th mandala)states that Brahman is both the Unmanifest and the Manifest, Existence as well as Non-existence, the Supreme Indeterminable.

 So the "unmanifest" Brahman manifests as everything else, The Supreme Indeterminable, enables itself to be determinable....

 Thus all the "Manifested" aspects of Brahman is termed as God, in the Samhitas and Brahmanas of the Vedas

 The underlying principle manifests into different forms, like a human being, all animals, all matter and all natural forces or phenomena

Rishis called this manifestation of Nirguna Brahman into Form as Saguna Brahaman – Brahman with quality or attribute

And they gave a figurative human form to the manifestation of Brahman – that is Rishis “personified” the manifestations of Saguna Brahman

The Saguna Brahmans are called Gods (Devah)

 Vedic Gods are all personification of “natural phenomena”

- Agni – The natural phenomena or force of Fire – given an imaginary human form

- Indra – The natural phenomena of thunder and lightning

- Rudra – The natural phenomena of heavy Storm and lightning

- Varuna – The upholder of all natural laws and also nourisher of earth through rain

- Mitra – The guardian of the world along with Varuna. Mitra and Varuna are together as great friends

- Vayu – The provider of beauty and intelligence and represents the wind

 - Surya – Represents Light and Power representing Sun

 - Vishnu – The protector of people in their life

- Rudra-Siva – Represents the primordial Man, a true representation of all the characters of Brahman itself, and represents Creation and Destruction of matter

 Apart from the above prominent Gods – the personification of Saguna Brahman, there are few other Gods – Brhihaspati, Rta, 12 Adityas, Savitr, Soma, Ashwins each representing natural phenomena

 Worshipping Gods in Temples were never a practice during the Vedic times

Propitiating the Gods was only through offerings through Agni, Agni being the carrier of the offerings

Propitiating the Gods were recommended only for the ordinary people - the Brhamacharis and Householder and it was not a necessary conditions for the Rishis

People who aspire to have the “experience” like Rishis – Self Realisation – the only method was through Self Enquiry, as discussed in Inner Sciences, and not through the Rituals and propiating the "Gods"

 So, During the Vedic period, the Natural Phenomena were considered to be Gods

 No Temple Structure ever found in the Indus /Saraswati civilisation and there were no Pujas as Bhakti movement had not started

Vedic Period coincided with the Indus/Saraswati civilisation or overlapped

 Vedic Period was From or Pre 6500 BCE till 2500 BCE, while IVC/SVC was from 5000 BCE to 2000 BCE (I will give proofs later when Aryan Invasion Theory is taken up)

Vedic worshipping was only through Agni Sacrifices (or) Offerings through Agni

There are clear archaeological evidence for the Fire Altars in the IVC/SVC sites

 Puranas were the main source of “Stories” where the “Gods” were eulogised and worshipped.

Puranas are just stories of "old times" and they are not to be taken literally as "history or facts"

Puranic period extended from Vedic Period and beyond the Vedic period

The propitiation of Gods in Vedas were derived from the Puranas, while Vedas were primarily was focused on the search of Truth and ultimate finding of the  Absolute Truth – Brahman

Puranas got intertwined in the Vedas including the Upanishads with the culmination of the Realisation of Brahman

Though the Vedic period ended by or before 2000 BCE, the Puranic period extended, with which the Bhakti movement started.

With the Bhakti movement, the Murti (idol) worshipping started as a means to associate the Saguna Brahman with an image.

 Puranas are the sources of God and God worshipping, not the Vedas, both are distinctly different

The Puranas developed in to full-fledged Bhakti movement particularly in the South

The Temple and Murti worship emanated in the south and spread throughout Bharat, while Vedas along with the Agni sacrifice started from the homeland of Vedas which is North and spread throughout Bharat

Even the word Pooja in Sanskrit is a ‘borrowed’ word from Tamil - பூ+செய் = பூசை

Both intermingled - Vedic Philosophy and Puranic Bhakti evolved in to a veritable corpus of religio-spiritual culture, now known as Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma

As part of Sama Veda – in Talavakra Bhramana, the Kenopanishad starts with the first part clearly saying about the nature of Bhraman-Atman “That, which speech can not reveal, but what reveals speech, know that alone as Brahman –AND NOT THIS THAT PEOPLE HERE WORSHIP” – Clearly distinguishing the “murti worship” is not Brahman, which can not be worshipped, only to be “realised”

 So God worship – in the form of Murti worship in a temple or at home, were prevalent during the later vedic period

Clear understanding was there that God worship does not lead to “Realisation of Brahman” but it only aids in personal and societal upliftment of individual and the society in order to prepare for the process of Realisation of Brahman

Puranas were the tool to bring in a sense of admiration, affection and woshipfulness of the “Gods” along with all other aspects of Dharma

Over a period of time – the God worship evolved in to various forms and in to various methods and thus emerged the present day Gods

Concept of Karma comes in to conflict with Worship of Gods for personal favours and the Great Rishis have pointed that Karma will take its course

Worship of Gods is essential to an aspirant to qualify himself for Realisation