It is said in ancient Indian scriptures that each individual is a representation of the universe. This wisdom is stated as "Aham Brahmiasmi" (I am the Universe) which means that in each person lies something of everything. There is no emotion which we can not feel. There is no situation which we can envisage purely from our imagination. All knowledge of this world has been created in the mind of some individual which he revealed to the world.
It is, therefore, often said that the world is nothing but a reflection of our own self. World is like a mirror where we see our images. However, like a child, we presume that we are seeing another person in the mirror while in reality the image is nothing but us. The image moves as we moves and waves when we waves. However, as we grow in life, we learn that the image is nothing but our own self. The importance of image continues as a mirror continues to be the only method to know the truth about our physical self in the most accurate and unbiased manner. A spiritually awakened person knows that world is nothing but the mirror of self. Hence the only way to change the world is to change oneself.
However, most of us believe that world is different than us which lies outside us. This is true scientifically and physically but farthest from the truth philosophically. The proof of the cake lies in the pudding. You have to only open your eyes of reason to know the truth yourself. If you are bad, you would see the world as bad and if you are good you find the world good. We find the world extremely lovely when we are in love or in a good mood. However, when we are gripped in pessimism and hatred, we find the world similar to our state of being.
It is for this reason that when we ask the opinion of several people on the same situation or the same person we get as many opinions. It is because each person is different and everyone see his image in the person or situation. An interesting experiment was done to establish this same point.
An Experiment with a Difference
In one experiment, a group of people were asked to respond to the concept of beauty. They were asked to sit around a conference table. Each person was given the photograph of a girl named "Rita". They were asked to have a look of her for few seconds and then return the photograph to the organizers. Then they were asked if the girl in the photograph was beautiful. They were also asked to justify the reasons for their judgment. There were two judges, who have to award the person giving best reasons for explaining beauty.However, when the discussion started it was found that each person sitting on one side of the table said that the Rita was extremely beautiful girl while all people on the other side sated that Rita was not beautiful. Each person had their own argument to prove his point and each person stick to their point. The judges were surprised as they never expected such strong difference of opinion about the beauty of a girl.
The mistake was soon discovered when it was found that by mistake the organizers have given two different photographs of two different girls both names "Rita". One Rita was beautiful while the other was not. The difference of opinion was not due to any subjectivity on the understanding of beauty but due to the fact that the participants were talking about two different persons.
This experiment explains that before arguing a case, one must ensure that the facts are right. If two people are talking about two different people who incidentally have the same name, there is no possibility that they can ever come to a conclusion.
This seems to be the main reason why people are fighting in the name of God all over the world as there is no one God. They are merely given same name in English language.
Many Gods- One Name
There is no doubt that there can be one and only one God in the universe. There can not be many Creators in this world. The concept of creator and sustainer of the universe has been developed by human minds over a period of thousands of years in different part of this world. Each society imagined God in their unique way and gave Him a unique name. If God is called Yahweh by Jews, He is knows as Christ to Christians and Allah to Muslims. These three religions of Abraham have the same prophets and their scriptures describe the same God, yet are they same?
Hinduism, the oldest religion of the world, too evolved over period of time. It has discovered many Gods over a period of time. Vedic scriptures describe many God like Indra, Varun, Fire, Brahaspati, Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. All Gods have different names and description. Gradually the concept of Absolute God or Brahma was established in the time of Upanishads and it was believed that Brahma is beyond for and imagination of human mind and all Gods are actually the manifestation of Brahma. Gradually some Gods were given lower status and some higher one. The three Gods which are given the top status in Hinduism in the modern times are called Trinity of God viz. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Mahesh). Brahma is the God of creation, Vishnu the God of Sustenance and Shiva the God of destruction.
Yet in the modern times, when the whole world has come very close to each other and the people of different cultures and religions are working together in the same society and also getting married to people of different religions, the world God is used to represent the Gods of all religions.
Yet when the name of God is uttered, each person is likely to view a different image of God in his imagination. The world may be same but the God as known to different people is really totally different. They were just given same name in English.
Indian in their typical culture of synergy and assimilation tries to believe that all Gods are One and that they are merely known by different names. The favourite bhajan (religious song) sung by Gandhi was,
Ishwar All Tero Nam
Sabko Sanmati De Bhagawan.Iswar (Hindu name of God) and Allah (Muslim Name of God) are Thy Name,
Give this wisdom to every one.
The secular scholars try to resolve the issue by giving another analogy. They say that just like a person is known by different names (designations) to different persons (like father, son, uncle, etc) same is true with God. All religions actually speak of the same God who is merely referred by different names in different religion.
Nothing can be farther from the Truth. Even the God as described in Torah (Old Testament), Bible and Quoran are not same. If Old Testament God says, "Eye for Eye", Jesus asked people to "turn the other cheek". The God of Quoran is quite critical of both Jews and Christian. The God of Hinduism are totally different than the God described in Books. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva are themselves quite different and they have little in common with Allah, Christ or Yahweh.
Thus it is extremely difficult for people to accept that there is only one God unless attempts are made to find the common meeting grounds between all religions and to prove in simple language the common truth between all religions.
The Common Truth of All Religions
Though there are numerous religions which all describes God in different way, yet the soul or essence of all religions are the same. The main difference lies in the procedures (rituals) and the implementation. While Abraham religions have carrot and stick policy i.e. to reward the good and punish the evil, the Eastern religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism motivates the people to be spiritual as it is good for them. Thus an eastern religion does not prescribe any punishment, if a person does not believe or follow some rituals.
However the fundamental knowledge of all religions are same which can be broadly summarized as following:
Man is an spiritual animal. He can not live for bread alone.
Believe in God as without Faith in God or Supreme, man can not get lasting peace or happiness
God is present in every being. So love all beings and do service to His creation is service to God
Every person has to reap what he sows. Hence good means are necessary for good ends.
God is loving and compassionate. Thus man can always reform himself from evil path and become good.
Actions like prayer and rituals are necessary for transformation of man to become spiritual.
God is all merciful and kind. So forgive others and be kind to others.
God is Universal
It is remarkable that though the concept of God has been developed in different part of the world at different time, yet all concepts of God have many common truths. There are also many differences in religions yet these are merely in body and not on soul. However, to understand real God one has to transact from the words of the scriptures to the spirit of the scriptures which is same for all religions.
Dr. Awdhesh K Singh is an Engineer by education and philosopher by passion. He holds his PhD degree in the area of E-Governance.
He has published several papers in International Journals and Conferences on the subject of E-governance and the application of Artificial Intelligence tools like Fuzzy Logic (FL) and Expert Systems (ES) for E-governance.
He has keen interest in the study and application of Religion, Spirtuality and Philosophies for solving the real-life problems of the modern world.
Many of his articles are published on the website of Aatmic Science Forum and Science of Soul.
His can be contacted on the email aksinghirs [a] yahoo.com
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