Kitaab Chote, Darshan Badey: This is a small book – 80 odd pages, 25Rs. But the book has a message as big as God himself! The author is Mr. Aravindaksha Menon, a well bred, well learned man who turned communist & then turned atheist & then finally turned a believer. This book is a result of his remarkable spiritual journey. There was no miraculous conversion; he turned a believer after meticulous effort to find answers for his God-questions.
Book contents: The author presents references from various holy books of different religions to show that it’s the same supreme God, who is revealing himself to people around the world, across civilizations. ‘ekam sat, vipra bahuda vadanti’ – the truth is one, the wise convey it in different ways. The book contains references from different holy books & a lot of Sanskrit, with English translations. So only people who are interested in ‘academic’ type books on God, will find it worth reading. So in a way there is no ‘story’ in the book. The contents of the review per se are not from the book, but my own thoughts inspired by reading this book. Like my previous revu on a book on angels, this also is another abstract topic – God! I like trying to convey the abstract & the associated groping for ideas & words to do the same ;-)
Who is God? ;-) if there are 3 most sought things in the world God has to be one of them – besides love & peace. The question who is God, is as tough like a question who are you! Just as each one has his own idea of love, peace, sweet etc each has his own idea of God. It would be a good idea to go & ask people whats their idea of God. I am sure it will be so varied that it will be amazing as well as humorous. If I am to use a ad line that HP uses ‘God is personal again’ ;-) Since the human mind can comprehend only in terms of images, each one has associated a ‘picture’ that he has ascribed to God. What’s the picture that flashes across your ‘eyes of the mind’ when you hear the word God?
Another controversial issue is the number of Gods! There can only be on sovereign God, if we come across multiple Gods it only shows the division human beings have & the Gods they have created. My simple thinking is: if Gods were many, then mathematics wud have more than one correct answer! ;-) Also the best thing about God is he gives us an option to believe him or not. As GK Chesterton puts it “if there was no God, there wouldn’t be any atheists”! Good thing about atheists is that they are rational & stand no chance of being hypocrites, unlike those who belive in God, but live in a way that belittles their God. Men can never understand God only with their minds for God is beyond science where everything needs proof. St. Augustine once was walking along a beach pondering about God, he sees a kid who is trying to empty the ocean into a small hol he dug on the shore, using a sea shell. Augustine laughs at his folly. The child replied “just as you are trying to understand God with ur limited human mind, I am trying to do this” Even another saint who wrote much of what I know about ‘nature of God’ finally stopped writing saying ‘I cannot go on’, others asked why, he replied “all that I have written looks like straw compared to what God has revealed to me’.. The book still remains unfinished!
Aam Aadmi’s Cookie Theory: states that man invariably seeks God, knowingly or unknowingly because God has planted a cookie in him, just like websites plant cookies on your computer to make communication between your PC & server smooth. The cookie will always be there even though user doesn’t want to connect to server. Cookies are only planted in human beings, as they are the supreme creations of God & only they can seek God. Animals may ‘See’ God, but will never ‘Seek’ God because they lack the cookie ;-) one of my favorite stories is about the creation of world. God threw light, created everything & then created man & woman in his ‘own image & likeness’. He put ‘his own breath’ into mankind, which is the cookie. Our soul is like a piece of God, acting like a cookie, ever thirsting to be united with its larger piece. That’s why you see ppl do some signs while passing in front of a temple often unconsciously! ;-) So man is designed to seek God, though few have found him! Until man finds God he will be restless, as St. Augustine summarized “our hearts are made to rest in you, lord they will be restless until they rest in you”
You are the image of God: God has created us in his ‘image & likeness’ meaning we can be God-like to the extent we love bcos in the end ‘God is Love’. One quote says since God cant be everywhere he created mothers! I am of the opinion that if there anything that can be as close to God, it has to be us. I see God in creations around, in kids, in flowers, in nature.. the list goes on. Incidentally its only human beings that seek God or have other Godly attributes like creativity. One famous tamil poet said ‘God is born everytime a man loves a man & he dies everytime a man hates a man’ ..seems the west took this literally & began men marrying each other! ;-)
Gender, Color & address of God: Just as God created us in his ‘image & likeness’, men also have created God in their own image & likeness. We begin to think God is also fallible like us, with desires or that he has a gender. The truth if God is much beyond all these & its only bcos of our limited mind, that we conceive attribute humanly traits to God. While the supreme omnipresent God is able to humble himself to live in a place as small as a human heart, we think grandeur of the temple is what makes his ‘reside’ there. How can God ‘live’ in marble temples while his people are sleeping under flyovers? The organized religion hides this fact & extracts money out of people saying we will show you God, showing a statue, after standing for hours in que .. all this while God is free & plenty & within oneself! If God lived in temple, justice wud be found in courts! God is an experience not something to be seen. The only way we can see God is being God-like, by way of love.
Title Trivia: Its written in jewish holy book that ‘anyone who sees God will die’. They took it literally & tied a long rope to the priest who went to the innermost chamber of the temple, where God was supposed to be present. The rope was to pull out his body, should God appear to him & he dies. Actually the truth is anyone who ‘sees’ God will die – die to himself ;-)
Have you seen or encountered God, let me know in comments ;-)