Thursday, November 13, 2008

God - Father or Friend

God - Bhagwan - Allah - Jesus , we know him by so many names. I am a strong believer of god and completely believe that he exists , but there are certain questions that keep puzzling me, god truly is mysterious. I have till now found two kinds of believer's of God, one who seeks a friend in the almighty and the other who finds the solace of a parent in him. I somehow don't agree with both completely.
I feel though God is as caring as a mother, as supportive as father, as loving as a friend, yet there are certain questions in my mind that forbid me to accept this completely. God does take care of us like we are his children , but doesn't it make us far from him, We don't tell everything to our parents do we, now those of you who disagree please think again , I am sure your parents do not know EVERYTHING about you, but God knows everything right. Our Parents do punish us for our wrong doings ,but they never do anything that leaves us disturbed for the entire lifetime.
I often question , innocent men being killed, women being raped and children being abused and the only justification I get is that people have to pay for their deeds ,if not in this birth then in the next but one has to pay. This seems logical and fair enough but it doesn't make god a Parent does it? If God was a parent then perhaps he would teach the villains of the society a lesson , but he would not have allowed his daughter get raped , his kids being abused.
This is also the reason why I do not think God is a friend , because friends are not judgmental , they accept us the way we are. the best of friends are those who not only accept each others positives but also their negatives. How can a friend allow his friend to be in pain , I personally will never be able to see my best friends in pain , if they are wrong I would perhaps help them realize their mistakes but would not punish them for sure.
From time immemorial , priests, Pundits, maulvis have shown us a fixed path to nirvana. There are fixed procedures in all the religions which is to be followed in order to please the almighty even at the cost of human pain and misery. Priceless lives are lost in the name of sacrifice. If God is either a parent or a Friend how can he be happy at such a sight. The plight of widows in India is pitiful, they are still expected to live a life without colors, and happiness. If God is a parent or Friend , why would he not bring happiness to their life?
Yes the reason which I would get is that they all are paying a price for their "Karma" - their deeds. Right but IF my children or best friend does something wrong I would rather forgive him then give him/her such a harsh punishment. No please do not think I don't believe in god, as I have already mentioned I have every reason to believe in his existence, but I am just digging out the various mysteries of God.
So if God is not a friend nor a parent then who actually is he?
I think god is just a divine power and we need not personify him and seek a friend or a parent in him.We should just believe in his existence and in Karma. I completely agree that it is our karma which decide our fate and God keeps a track of all our deeds the good ones and the bad ones. We live a life of choices which we have made .
The almighty simply gives us the courage to live the life we have been given, he is there to show us the right path, to help us get up when we fall down. He is there not as a friend nor as a Father but simply as a divine power, watching us all the time.

These is but my way of perceiving god. I believe that in whatever way way you look at god , he is there , always. Whichever path we take to reach out to the divine power is correct but only if it is not at the cost of someones happiness.
Our deeds are correct if it makes us happy at the end , but of course only if they do not hurt anyone.
So Stay happy and bring a smile to everyones face around you and life will be just fine.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

GOD is mysterious and he cnt be expressed as a friend, father, mother, etc but at various levels of life GOD comes in one of above mentioned face to help us to lead our life and to tackle our problems.................BUT we have to pay our deeds in this life only bcz tht above power is watching us all the time and we have to repay our bad deeds in various ways which we call PAIN, FAILURE, MISERY and yes HAPPINESS, SUCCESS, LOVE etc........are the redemption of our GOOD DEEDS

"EVERYTHING HAS TO BE PAID IN THIS LIFE ONLY"

Parthiban said...

Well baby...its true...I believe there is superior to me. It controls me but all the good and bad depends on the DEEDS for sure. If you think positive...you take a bad thing as a positive one on the otherhand whiner whines at all his happenings. Its all wat are and wat we do...On our misery we need some relief and lame on GOD and easing our misery...its just a human nature...its all common in the game of life...

Unknown said...

really liked the topic u chose to write on..i m a strong believer in the superior power..but its not just that i think of him in only one form..to me he is a parent at on moment and could be a friend in the other..its just the way a person thinks and connects with god..and it is an extremely personal affair n cannot b generalized for an entire time period or for all the people..but this does not take away the fact that d article is really well written and thought over..but the best thing about it being the transition of u,the writer,in the sense u've become a more positive person and it totally reflects in ur writting..n m glad for dat...

Kartz said...

Ok... Now this topic is in my comfort zone as you well know... ;) Moving on...

Who is God..??? Or What is God..? You haven't quite given your perception of Him apart from divine power. See. There are many ways of looking at it. I'll give you one such instance. Looking at how you say God is seen as parent/friend et al... Here is my take...

God - is an embodiment of attributes which we have assumed Him to have been gifted with. Love, power, the list goes on... In a way... You may say that He is man's manifestation. This is just one way of looking at it.

If you ask me; I ll say everything happens for a reason - which we may NOT be entitled to know. And life is never fair. Two people riding a bike, meet with an accident, one survives but the other dies. Imagine the situation at their households. The survivors parents ll thank God for saving their kid. Does that mean God 'let' the other die by not saving him...?

This is where I ll say - fate. Something beyond your control.

In a way, you have pretty much summed it up. Karma. Your actions will come back to haunt you. In some way.

We can chat over this sometime. In the meanwhile, I suggest you read this;

http://kartzonline.blogspot.com/2008/09/heinous-misinterpretation.html (the discussion continues in the comment section; do peek there too)

A thoughtful Arnav again... Good 'un bro'.

Peace. Be well.

Unknown said...

God is not partial to anyone….u may forgive ur “friends” or give them time to realize his faults….but god will act impartially…not as a friend, nor as a foe….he will return back equally….this is if u believe in “karma theory”

Actually there is no book of rights and wrongs…once upon a time slavery was a normal way of working….today it’s the most inhuman thing to do….talking about the field of HR…earlier labour was a mean of production….dint have feelings….today employees are the most valuable assests and need to be taken care of….the definition of rights and wrongs and good or bad keeps changing…

To make the society live in harmony….we have created the fear of god and devil….we have the story of pandora’s box….dats where all the evil came out from…do u actually think all evil was packed in a box and released due to somebody’s curiosity….no….its just a fable….do u think Ramayana existed….its narrated by someone and noted by someone….what is the proof that the ‘ram-bhoomi’ etc. actually existed….maybe someone just said it….someone believed him and it followed….
All the concepts of “goods” and “bads” and “god” and “evil” were injected into society to make it a better place to live…..or else we would have still been living in barbaric conditions….if u believe in karma theory…u get back what u give….if not in this janma…then in the next but u always get it back….n whatever u get back is in equal proportion to what u give to others….n karma theory says god is keeping track of it….just becoz no human can be entrusted with the duty of measuring who gives and gets what….so every religion places such issues in the hands of abstract “god”…so does karma theory

The priests, maulvis etc. are basically making fools out of all of us….they say they know god…but even they don’t know….we all know most of them are fake…..the muslim religion…what kuran says and means is very different from what ppl perceive of it….very different from even what mualvis say it is….there is no “revolutionist” in muslim religion….anyone who tries to put the correct meaning of kuran to ppl is suppressed…n condemnded by society, mainly by maulvis themselves coz theyr afraid they will not be able to use the correct concepts to their benefit…..if god is sitting there and watching…will he not correct it…..islam is existent for years together…but god or allah hasn’t done a thing to protect them…why coz god probably dosnt exist…probably….but to keep me satisfied I say there is something…who gives me back what I give to others….forces of nature strike a balance…the state of haemostasis

All movies have happy ending….ppl accept it but when director shows reality…ppl don’t accept it well…like the movie “water” or “fire”

In the end god is not a parent, not a friend or foe…but only a force to keep on the right track.

Kartz said...

Something awaits u here...

http://kartzonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/award_09.html

Kitcha said...

dude, as far as i know, god is just like a torch that you can have in the journey through the dark tunnel of life...you can always cross the tunnel without it, but you'll be scared, not-so-confident and stumble your way through and near the end you'd have learnt the hard way about god!!!!

Unknown said...

Your interpretation is perfectly right :) But so is interpretation of millions of others ;)
God is so great (and mysterious) that all these interpretations and anything else that anyone can ever think would match a dimension of God.
That's the reason that Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Jews or any single person is absolutely right when he says he understands God, well, of course he does !!! But, so do all the rest of the people in this world.
And since God is everything in this world (which is also the faith of all other religions) He is also the devil, he is the Good and the Bad at the same time!
(But again this is 'my' interpretation ;) )

harsh said...

interesting.....
i am an atheist....i believe god is a creation of man himself...with the purpose of conservation...conservation of values n environment.
like we worship trees....can be seen as a conservation method... Religion has been twisted... its simply a way of life...which people dont understand.
well written though

harsh said...

interesting
i am an atheist....well i think god is just a creation of man...and not the other way around...
the concept of god was created for conservation......conservation of values n the environment.
for eg. we worship trees...conservation technique...to protect them frm being cut..
religion has been twisted......
its just a way of life and not a compulsion...and existence of god is just a matter of choice... n i respect people for tht....
well written...

sri said...

I have nothing to say on this, except all these questions discussed here are very well answered in "Friendship with God" Neale Donald Walsch - please try to read this great book!