The Many Angles of God - Subramanian A

8/8/2019 The Many Angles of God - Subramanian A

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Who is God? Is he sitting in the deep sky or in the inner recesses of every living

being? Has God no hand over the laws of Nature? Does Nature function by itself by

its own set of rules as discovered by various disciplines of Science? Where should

we start to arrive at a convincing answer?

According to our level of perception, God has many angles, many definitions. Let us

try to understand the concept of God.

God is the nearest approximation of the immutable Brahman and falls within the

percept of man. Brahman at any rate is a very abstract idea and our intellect fails to

comprehend the idea because of the abstract sense. This abstract sense is removed

through the approximation by the personification of Brahman in the form of God. We

can comprehend an idea only if it is brought within our field of senses. Then only the



abstraction is removed. Why do most of us find Mathematics to be a difficult subject?

It is because of its abstract

nature as concluded by it. But when it is brought to our visual field through

quantification, when it is brought to within our perceptive fields, the abstractedness is

gone and it becomes an easy palatable subject. This is the case with every idea,

concept and subject. Man should be able to visualize the idea. We should be able to

perceive an idea through an approximation which is definable within the limit of our

percept. In other words, we should be able to communicate with a given idea. Then

only, it becomes understandable to us. This communication is an important thing. We

properly understand an idea only by communicating with it at our maximum level of

percept. If at all an idea is able to impart the essence of it, we should be able to feel it,

visualize it and be able to communicate with it. Visualization of an idea helps us a lot

to be in direct touch with it.

Thus, Nirguna Brahman is visualized in the form of Saguna Brahman, i.e. in the form

of God because we can easily communicate with the abstract idea of Brahman

through this nearest approximation. The next question is- why God is perceived in the

form of man? Why is He being approximated to human being and not otherwise? If

Brahman is now and here, if Brahman is here and everywhere, if Brahman functions in

a cat and a rat, why the idea can’t be approximated to a rat or a cat is one basic

question. We know what a cat and a rat are like and so we won’t find it difficult to

communicate with the idea. So, why god cannot be seen in the form of a snake or a

scorpion?

This is an argument. Great philosophers and seers have no difficulty in visualizing so

because their level of perception is very deep, far from the level of forms and names.

But we have this limitation of names and forms. We are different from such seers at

the level of such perception. This is our basic problem at the thought level of body.

We link poison to the concept of a snake, a sense of in-animation to a stone and so on

and so forth. In other words, we identify various qualities with various forms and

names as perceived by us. We have already qualified and quantified this entire worldaccording to our level of perception and such a prejudgment hampers the

approximation of Brahman to a snake or a scorpion or to any other forms than the

form of man.

We dislike the very idea of such approximation because we dislike a snake and a

scorpion. If we had really loved a snake and a scorpion, we would have easily

accepted the approximation. Unconditional love/acceptance towards a form is a basic



requirement for it to be approximated to god. This condition is necessary for a healthy

communication.

Are we able to properly communicate with plants, animals, birds and

inanimate objects at the human level? Normally, a man cannot do so. There is the

limitation. As such, man cannot normally accept the idea of seeing Brahman in a

lesser form other than his own image, i.e. man at the level of approximating Brahman

to the image of God. This is our stand point of view. It is an accepted fact. If we had

accepted the idea of Brahman/God in all animate and inanimate objects, we would not

have killed any animal or disturbed the equilibrium of the world. We would not have

destroyed any property. So, even if we said high sounding Vedanta in a bombastic

manner, we ourselves mentally reject the same ideas.

Man at best can easily communicate with his own image. This is a natural law. A crow

can easily communicate with another crow. In another man, he sees his own

reflection in many ways. That is how we are able to show brotherhood and

communicate each other in an easy manner. The levels are equal because of our

common footing. Thus, God is perceived in the form of a man within our level of

consciousness.

What is Brahman? Can we define it in so many words? It is a concept beyond the

seen and the unseen world. It is the sub-stratum of all. At the deepest levels, it is our

own spirit, our own subtle consciousness, the subtle Nature. We owe our existence to

this subtle Prakrithi, to our level of deepest consciousness. We cannot actually

measure the depth of our awareness, our perception, and our level of consciousness.

What is indestructible in this universe is Space. The concept goes beyond our

definitions. Another eternal concept is awareness/consciousness/an energy field.

Even if the whole world

goes into dissolution, this field will remain undestroyed, intact, and out of it will

emerge another universe. Awareness is the very essence of Brahman.

Consciousness is the very essence of it. Our awareness is only a part of this

universal awareness. One cannot say that our awareness goes after our death. Levelscan be different because one is life and another is death. But the spiritual field

remains. It is one level of awareness/consciousness/a field without a projection in the

material plane. It is like electricity at the tip of a switch. It is latent. When the switch is

turned on, the latent becomes potent and we see a bulb glow, we see a T V

functioning.



Likewise, the spirit is ever pervading. Under certain conditions, it manifests within our

level of perception. This manifestation within our level of perception is what is called

this universe, life etc. When the spirit becomes subtle, it is ever pervading, limitless

and timeless and when it becomes gross, it becomes a body/mind/intellect

embodiment with all the limitations. Our very essence is one of spiritualistic in

nature. The gross is only an extension. The whole world is born out of our awareness

which means that our body is also born out of it. The deeper is our awareness, the

deeper will be our perception about this universe/life. Our great saints had this depth

in their level of perception. They had a basic view about life and its expansive levels.

They were subjective in their outlook. They did not objectify life. They

found out that our shallow level of awareness was the cause of misery in this world

and that at deep levels of awareness, life meant more subjective than objective to

have better and better conclusions.

Being subjective, we reach unto our own spirit. It is neither understanding nor

identification but a realization, a deep awareness. This realization is difficult to

achieve through abstract ideas like Brahman or all pervading spirit because we

cannot directly communicate/link ourselves to abstract ideas. It requires a closest

approximation within our level of perception and this is achieved through the image

of God in a figure like us but in capabilities beyond the hold of our imagination.

Brahman is immutable, ever changeless

and timeless. So, God is considered as omnipresent and omnipotent; neither attached

nor detached. It means that he is unaffected by his Karma as Brahman is unaffected

by the creation and dissolution of the visible or the invisible universe. The space

remains intact. The sense of awareness remains intact. The sense of consciousness

is finally conserved, preserved. Since Karma doesn’t affect Him, His Karmas are

range-less which also means that all the Karmas of this limited world are also

included in it. Thus, He is a Preservator and a Destroyer. He is a Benefactor and

Destroyer. All better ideas/values are preserved by Him, saved by Him. All inferior

life/ideas are destroyed by Him. This is the essence of it but He remains unaffected by

it. Destruction means dissolution, a kind of transformation from one state to another state. Creation means betterment, one level of our perception, from the invisible to the

visible etc. If the whole universe is the creation of Him, it means a visible spectrum,

betterment, refinement in one direction. When there is the concept of betterment,

there is the idea of relativistic ideas also graded values as perceived by each person.

Thus, the whole universe and its activities are founded on a relativistic plane. One

value is defined in terms of



another. One idea is evaluated in terms of another. The whole world is defined from

individualistic standpoint as decided by his

Nature/experience/perception/level of awareness. The quantified world is nothing but

an individual definition. Within the entire Nature, Truth is always relativistic and never

absolute. When we say that something is wrong/bad, in actuality, we are only saying

that it is an inferior truth. Perhaps, we are not at all aware of this angle.

Thus, when we say that God is a creator, we mean that He is a reformer from our point

of view. To us, this visible world is a refined concept that the invisible world behind it

because of our incomprehensibility of the idea, abstractedness involved in the

concept of invisibility. Thus, God is a Creator in our eyes. We are experiencing the

invisible world in a tangible form. This is what is meant by creation. A seed is an

intangible form of a tree from our

levels. A tree falls within our tangibility and hence, it is a creation. Likewise, a sperm

is an intangible form of a child but a real child is within our level of perception. Hence,

it is a creation. God is a destroyer in our eyes because we see that whatever has been

created undergoes a metamorphosis and finally disappear from our world of

experience. Actually speaking, nothing has been created nor destroyed. Everything is

a question of our perception. Our range of experience is very limited. Out of a seed, a

seed is finally born. The

beginning and the end are same. The mid cycle, the tree, is only a passage of time

within our world of experience. A tree in a seed remains intangible for our perception.

The experience of creation and dissolution is a relativistic one and not an absolute

one. The truth is only a relativistic truth and not an absolute truth. When the seed is

there, where is the tree and when the tree is there, where is the seed? Or, when the

egg is there, where is the chick and when the chick is there, where is the egg? This is

a relativistic plane. Within our world of experience we never can arrive at the Absolute

truth.

If we are unable to arrive at the Absolute truth, then, why should we waste our efforts

in this direction? This is a common question, a basic question. Absolute truth is thattruth which doesn’t lead us to duality because of its non-dual nature. The whole

misery of the world is caused on account of duality, because of relativistic nature of

things/truth/definitions. If we are to get out of this miserable and mysterious world, we

should walk in the direction of Absolute Truth. It is done through replacing good

ideas with better ones and better ideas with the best ones. This is improvisation,

mental progress, out of which material progress will sustain and life will expand.



We have seen the concept of god as an approximation to Brahman/Absolute truth.

Now, the concept of God has other planes of evolution also. It is individualistic and

psychological.

Man, if you observe him from close quarters, has always a communicative mind.

Either at the verbal or at the non-verbal levels, he always tries to communicate with

the seen and the unseen. The seen includes this tangible world. World includes

Nature also. In one way, the soul is in eternal communion with itself through this seen

and unseen world because our self is very much a part of this Universal soul. The

only problem we create is that we limit our communion with the seen world and don’t

realize that it is our own

gross nature which is communion with itself. Our gross nature is not yet tuned to go

further back to be in communion with the real spirit. We can’t sit quietly and be in

communion with Nature. We always want somebody around us to share our thoughts

and feelings. It can be our family members or friends. This way we are mentally

dependent on somebody throughout our life. We want to share our views with others.

We want a mental preoccupation that way. We want recognition of our feelings,

emotions, thoughts and views. We want to share our grief with others. This way we

require pacification of our mind. We do not wish to be left alone in this sense. A sense

of mental belongingness is always inherent with man. During our childhood

days we want our parents around us. During later stages this area shifts to our friends

and lovers, to our wife and children, to our kith and kin. But the concept remains. If

the world shows indifference to the feelings of us, we are naturally frustrated and

agitated. Today we are facing this problem more than the economic problem and this

happens to be a major problem. Man tries to share his mind with the world but the

world has practically no patience and time to listen to him. The world practically has

no solutions for man’s problems. At one point, the world also thinks that it can’t solve

the problem other than the sufferer. The net result is that we are not properly

recognized at the level of our ego, emotions, passions, feelings, pain and grief.

Not even that, we are often abused and insulted as well. Our silent, inner cry is not

properly heard by this world. We know only the way of protest to teach a man a

lesson. Looking thus, we see that individual feelings are often hurt than being

pacified and shared. This is a grave situation. If I am unable to recognize your

thoughts/feelings/views despite your emotional levels, I am only hurting you, I am



only forcing you to be silent, I am only compelling you not to share your feelings with

the world.

Man can’t normally bear this situation. His nature forbids. He is forced to act against

his very nature of mind. He is left alone in this crowded world as if his

sorrows/sufferings/feelings are left unattended. An individual is more concerned and

anxious about his uncertain future than the concrete present or the certain past. He

doesn’t properly analyze the situation and is often tense on account of it. His feelings

are intense but the world has its own trade and commerce.

Where shall we turn for peace and consolation? This is the basic issue. We can’t

depend eternally on people around us for obvious reasons. Physically they may not

be always available to us. Again, their reactions may often turn out to be

unpredictable and can be more injurious than our present sufferings/aesthetic levels.

Thus, we fail to identify a proper listener who can share our mind. We are yet in

search of a sympathetic viewer of our inner recesses. We can share our heart with the

glories of Nature but we do not do it because silence is a kind of frustration for most

of us. To sit in solitude in

moonlight and be musing with the silent stars is an unthinkable thought for most of

us. We miss the spirit behind the scenes of Nature. Most of us require a personified

form- an ideal person- around us to share our heart. Otherwise the whole concept

becomes quite abstract, quite incomprehensive. The voice behind this universe is an

abstract idea for the intellect head. Our thoughts are yet to become subtle but the idea

remains elusive. We require an image in support of this voice. We require a mental

person with whom we can share our mind in all respects. This is a mental defense, so

to say. We require such a defense throughout our life because this external world has

limitation to fulfill such needs of man.

If we look at the evolution of the image regarding our mental defense, we can see that

it all had begun with our relationship with our parents during our childhood days. As

babies and children, we totally depended on them. They were our ideal persons inevery respect. We believed them, trusted them and expected a total atmosphere of

peace and security and consolation under their care. When we were in distress, we

ran at their feet for a pat and comforting word. We knew that even though the pain

caused out of physical injury was still there, we had enough mental relief in their

gentle presence and comforting glances. That was a great relief. Otherwise, we would

have felt to be orphans. This can really agitate our mind. Our emotions and feelings



all would be left unprotected and this would have left us to be brutes in future. It is the

tender care of our mothers that has really made us soft persons. Our emotions were

identified and pacified by her. Our feelings and thoughts were properly recognized.

This hath given us a feeling of warm mental protection against all odds. This hath led

us to face life when we grew. This confidence in ourselves hath led us to be confident

about the future of humanity. We became better social beings. We communicated with

a better wavelength with the society.

People become so emotional because their emotions were not properly recognized

during their childhood. There are two situations- In the first instance; parents might

not have actually recognized this aspect. In the second instance, parents might have

actually recognized this aspect but the child might have failed to understand it. This

childhood experience has a long lasting impact in our life. When a child’s mental

environment is left unidentified and unprotected, the situation leads to a mental

conflict in future. All faith, belief and love and trust begin with our relationship with

our

parents and when we lose confidence in them, it affects all our future

relationships with others. This is a subtle fact. Actually speaking, the image of a

personified God stands for our mental communication throughout our life in whom we

see the totality of our parents. Whenever our parents are not around us, we require

somebody else to take care of us, comfort us, to listen to our problems to show us a

way in life but the world has got its own velocity. You never can depend on the world

for this. Thus, we begin to communicate with our mental image that is God. From the

individual angle, this mental image has that degree of trustworthiness and faith

vested upon, which is equivalent to our faith in our parents. If we have enough trust

and confidence in our parents, we will have that much trust and confidence in God as

well. The visible spectrum is shifted to invisible spectrum in all congruence.

What is the implication? The psychological bearing is that if we have an element of

mistrust in our parents, if we are mentally in conflict with them, then, we will be that

far away from our mental image as well. If we can’t trust a living person, a seenperson, then, we also can’t accept a virtual person in the same degree. I have

observed this in people around me. A person having a strained relationship with his

parents will have a strained relationship with the society, a strained interaction with

people around him and his development of the concept of God will be an incomplete

one. His ideas about the various aspects of religion can also be different from the

normal stream. He can even be an atheist. Charity begins at home- this is the central



which the ordinary world speaks much.

If a man is purely Satwik in his nature, he will consider Jnana as the supreme nature

of self. He will thrive for the mental purification of the world. He will go beyond the

level of Karma. He will sense the fact that the whole idea of Karma is to express our

‘Bhava’, create ‘Sad Vasana’ in our mind (Purification of heart) and thus be able to

generate good and better Karmas to sustain life. Man cannot stand apart from doing

Karma. So, it is better to do good Karmas for the personal benefit as well as for the

benefit of the whole mankind. Good Karmas create ‘Sad Vasanas’ which in turn

produce good Karmas. Our ‘Bhava’ will become more and more pure.

Apart from this, Karma has no meaning in our life. The whole idea of Karma is that

when our ‘Bhava’ becomes more and more noble, we will be able to feel and see our

own spirit. We can experience that nobler ‘Bhavas’ lead us to the state of oneness.

This is equality where duality doesn’t exist. The real spirit is seen behind every work.

The whole universe is seen as part of a bigger force, a nobler idea, an eternal truth. It

is important that oneness in Karma cannot be brought but oneness in ‘Bhava’ can

certainly be brought. The implication is that we need not ask about the welfare of a

snake by pocking our nose into its hole but just feel about its welfare at heart. The

nature of our work has to be different under various circumstances since the demand

of the world is different due to its quality but the oneness in ‘Bhava’ need not be

different for that matter. This is important.

Satwik people go in search of this eternal truth, this Jnana. They do not stop with

Karma. They see Karma as one component of Jnana. In other words, Karma is a

manifestation of Jnana. Knowledge is something which is very much within us. It is

indestructible. It lies in the form of Spirit, consciousness.

Those who believe in the self, those who are pure and Satwik at heart, those who are

selfless in their attitude, those who are self-confident, really discover the essence of

Jnana. Real Jnana shapes our lives in a better way. As everyone knows, knowledge isstrength. The ultimate knowledge is the realization of one’s own self.

Looking thus, we can see that the evolution of the concept of god has multiple

factors. Summarizing,

1. Approximation of the Brahman is made through such a personification of God.



2. God is conceived as our mental defense against our sufferings. The concept is

evolved out of our primary relationship with our parents from our childhood days. In

Christianity, Christ is often visualized as the savior, protector and benefactor of life. A

father-son relationship is often defined within the concept.

3. Those who are self-confident are the real spiritual seekers. They can acknowledge

God as a living entity, as a living concept and these spiritual seekers achieve this end

and beyond.

4. Man saw that there was a powerful force governing his entire life, that this force

was beyond his control and nature of comprehension. In the course of evolution he

personified it and began to worship in the form of God. By worshipping them, man

submitted himself and sought their blessings. This represents an age old psychology.

When a powerful man is so powerful that he cannot be either physically or mentally

conquered, you begin to submit yourself and seek his blessings. But here, you can

find a difference. He submitted to these natural forces faithfully and whole heartedly

and man found for himself that when his attitude became purer and nobler towards

this concept, he was protected by his own Nature. What is one’s own nature? These

five elements are man’s own basic elements. When these five elements are

disciplined within our system, our mind and body are tuned and are further tuned to

the cosmos. The entire cosmic force will be at our feet, conducting in and out. The

primitive man in the course of his evolution personified Natural forces and this idea

gave birth to the concept of God.

5. The whole philosophy of life has been evolved out of life as seen against the

concept of death, or rather death as seen against life. Man sees death around him

every moment but hasn’t so far properly understood it. Nevertheless he has some

realization about it. Here too, he has in a way personified Death as the eternal

passage of Time, is personified as a person/ demi God who steals away our life. He is

called Yama and His Dharma is the only eternal Dharma. All other Dharmas are

relativistic from our point of view. Whatever that happens in the course of time is thenatural Dharma. Time creates everything. Time destroys everything.

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The Many Angles of God - Subramanian A

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