Wait... what???
Yes... you read that correct!
Wait a minute... isn't that supercilious?
Well yeah I guess it might be...
Before you begin reading, I want to declare that as of this date, my understanding about any religion is extremely limited. Below are some thoughts from my vantage point.
My concept about god has been changing (some times I use the word 'evolving' instead of 'changing') as far back as my memory takes me. You, the reader of this post, may have your own concept/understanding of god or possibly you may not believe in it at all - and all that is completely fine with me.
As a child, the concept of god (as represented in Hindu Mythology) made it a appear to me as someone with super powers - some one who took care of good people and was a fierce warrior against the bad guys. Each representation of God had its own unique arsenal of weapons. I was fascinated by 'sudarshan chakra' of Lord Vishnu and always thought 'Man... it will be so cool to have one of my own'. I was fascinated by snakes and trishul of Lord Shiva. Gold Coins coming out of Goddess Laxmi hands made me very curious 'hmm... thats really cool too'. I was in awe of the Gada that Lord Hanuman carried and my favorite was the Bow and Arrow that Lord Ram had with him.
My understanding about god changed as I grew up - it varied from 'c'mon....there is no such thing' to 'hmm if they say that there is only one god then which of the 33 million representations do I worship?'. At times it also went 'may be its an energy that we do not understand yet' to 'religion and god is a conceptual framework to keep morality compass pointing in right direction - instilling sense of fear for right and wrong'. Honestly, even to this day, at times I jump from one viewpoint to the other - after all I am limited in my understanding just like anyone else.
Another thing which baffles me from time to time - we are taught that god resides in everything be it living or non-living. Hence by that understanding, there is some element of god in you as well as me. Since it sounds better, let me extrapolate and say:
If I were to ask you to assume this statement to be true - ok let's do this - I want you to close your eyes and speak to yourself with full confidence, 'I am GOD' - what changes do you see happening in your mind at this very minute? Go ahead.. do it!
Does it bring in a feeling of superiority? Does it make you feel more in control of the environment around you? Does it make you feel you have a bigger responsibility? Does it make your stomach churn? Does it make you nervous? Does it occur to you that if you consider this to be true then it holds true for every other person that you know and even the ones you don't know? Personally, I experience some of these items, if not all.
Lets add another spice to this mix - we know there are multiple forms in which energy exists in this universe. For every good, there is also bad. For darkness, there is light. For jealousy, there is love. Hence by this correlation, if there is GOD, then there is also Devil.
Devil - the horned guy, the one that propagates all of EVIL. What if each one of us is indeed partly GOD and partly Devil? Each of us having infinite power to do good or bad. You will often hear the wise telling that each of us is born with limitless potential. How we choose to extract the potential is dependent on the choices we make.
For any situation in your life, whether you choose to listen to the Devil or God that lives inside of you , is entirely up to you. However one should at least make an attempt to distinguish these two voices that speak with you almost constantly. A distinction of these two voices will make your decision making rather interesting - in fact what better than having a dialog with these two and then arriving at a conclusion.
I want that you, the reader, to experience the title of this post and share your comments with me either here or on FB :)
Yes... you read that correct!
Wait a minute... isn't that supercilious?
Well yeah I guess it might be...
Image courtesy: http://springtide.in/i-see-god/
Before you begin reading, I want to declare that as of this date, my understanding about any religion is extremely limited. Below are some thoughts from my vantage point.
My concept about god has been changing (some times I use the word 'evolving' instead of 'changing') as far back as my memory takes me. You, the reader of this post, may have your own concept/understanding of god or possibly you may not believe in it at all - and all that is completely fine with me.
As a child, the concept of god (as represented in Hindu Mythology) made it a appear to me as someone with super powers - some one who took care of good people and was a fierce warrior against the bad guys. Each representation of God had its own unique arsenal of weapons. I was fascinated by 'sudarshan chakra' of Lord Vishnu and always thought 'Man... it will be so cool to have one of my own'. I was fascinated by snakes and trishul of Lord Shiva. Gold Coins coming out of Goddess Laxmi hands made me very curious 'hmm... thats really cool too'. I was in awe of the Gada that Lord Hanuman carried and my favorite was the Bow and Arrow that Lord Ram had with him.
My understanding about god changed as I grew up - it varied from 'c'mon....there is no such thing' to 'hmm if they say that there is only one god then which of the 33 million representations do I worship?'. At times it also went 'may be its an energy that we do not understand yet' to 'religion and god is a conceptual framework to keep morality compass pointing in right direction - instilling sense of fear for right and wrong'. Honestly, even to this day, at times I jump from one viewpoint to the other - after all I am limited in my understanding just like anyone else.
Another thing which baffles me from time to time - we are taught that god resides in everything be it living or non-living. Hence by that understanding, there is some element of god in you as well as me. Since it sounds better, let me extrapolate and say:
I am GOD ... And so are YOU!
If I were to ask you to assume this statement to be true - ok let's do this - I want you to close your eyes and speak to yourself with full confidence, 'I am GOD' - what changes do you see happening in your mind at this very minute? Go ahead.. do it!
Does it bring in a feeling of superiority? Does it make you feel more in control of the environment around you? Does it make you feel you have a bigger responsibility? Does it make your stomach churn? Does it make you nervous? Does it occur to you that if you consider this to be true then it holds true for every other person that you know and even the ones you don't know? Personally, I experience some of these items, if not all.
Lets add another spice to this mix - we know there are multiple forms in which energy exists in this universe. For every good, there is also bad. For darkness, there is light. For jealousy, there is love. Hence by this correlation, if there is GOD, then there is also Devil.
Devil - the horned guy, the one that propagates all of EVIL. What if each one of us is indeed partly GOD and partly Devil? Each of us having infinite power to do good or bad. You will often hear the wise telling that each of us is born with limitless potential. How we choose to extract the potential is dependent on the choices we make.
For any situation in your life, whether you choose to listen to the Devil or God that lives inside of you , is entirely up to you. However one should at least make an attempt to distinguish these two voices that speak with you almost constantly. A distinction of these two voices will make your decision making rather interesting - in fact what better than having a dialog with these two and then arriving at a conclusion.
I want that you, the reader, to experience the title of this post and share your comments with me either here or on FB :)
3 comments:
Your articulation of God and Devil, reminds me of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde :)
I don't know about the actual existence of these two parts within us, but I think we do have good energy and bad energy which can be other way of saying the same thing. Good energy which can radiate and soothe others around you, related to you. Bad energy which can keep pulling you away from remaining calm, stability, and reaching God consciousness. And who don't know or care about these spend their life juggling between these two energies inadvertently, like an hour glass being turned anytime and everytime. But those who know, spend efforts to transform bad energy into good energy - through meditation, healthy lifestyle and change in thinking (Some may know but can still procrastinate)
Now our state of internal affairs can also be the result of our past lives, all good and bad karmas, all baggage from the past. And the learning of current life is always to burn bad karmas, and slowly progress towards God consciousness, within us, outside of us.
When I close my eyes and say - 'I am God', I feel the power coming back to me in areas of life where I am feeling disempowered. I also want to let some things be in the hands of a higher power, the power of this universe in order to not let myself fall into the trap of ego. I used to pray in front of idols for hours, but then I stopped doing it. I don't pray in temple now but, I do believe in a power that guides/ controls/ takes care of us. We do not have control over it and its better not to try to control it. Its a long topic. But to say in brief, all 33 million Gods and Goddesses of Hindu culture are not idols as such. Hinduism can be practised even by never worshipping an idol ever or by never going to a temple also. Hinduism is about self realization first and then getting conscious about your surroundings. Each element in our consciousness, sub-consciousness and unconsciousness corresponds to what we call a God. If it sounds confusing, lets talk about it :) Great article btw!
Honestly I closed my eyes and tried but couldn't feel any difference. I was the same "I". God me :) and Devil me ;)
No doubt that that we are surrounded with energies but god and devil in us......hummm.... I think its all perpective and situations. In my perspectiv me the god could be devil for the other Person or vice versa :)
How come you writing such articles? Is it too much influence of LANDMARK?
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