Maybe There Is a God

[This is from a past blog entry, from another time, another place, back in December 2003.]

The infinite joy of touching Brahman is easily attained by those who are free from the burden of evil and established within themselves. They see the Self in every creature and all creation in the Self. With consciousness unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye.
[Bhagavad Gita 6:28-29]

---

Good stuff. I got yesterday’s exam postponed till next week. Maybe there is a god.

Of course, that’s a bad reason to start believing.

I’ve always considered myself to be an agnostic Hindu. Is that an oxymoron? I dunno. I like my religion - I like the fact that it’s so open that, in a sense, almost every person has their own beliefs while still being encompassed under one umbrella called Hinduism (or, more accurately, Sanathana Dharma).

I like that it’s more of a way of life than a religion. It kind of defines what a person should do daily to achieve a greater understanding, to achieve the higher goal.

That sounds like it contradicts the first thing I said - that every person can hold their own beliefs - but it really doesn’t. I guess it would be more accurate to say that there are different paths one can take to reach the goal. These are laid out in the Bhagavad Gita.

It’s a common misconception that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. So many people are misinformed - they think there are thousands of gods and that we pray to all of them. But in fact, it is a monotheistic religion. Let me clarify. Yesh, when you go to a mandir (temple) you will see images of many different gods (gods = gods and goddesses). If you go to a different mandir, you will come across perhaps different gods than you might see in another one. But all of these stem from the one eternal.

Here is my belief. It is said that the divine is in everything and in everyone. But people do not realize it. This is because of maya, which literally means illusion. I interpret maya to be the veil that has been cast over everyone’s eye. To reach the goal means to lift that veil and finally be able to see the divine in everything. So basically, I believe that the path that one must follow is that of self-realization. It doesn’t necessarily involve praying and completing those other rituals that most people do. That’s where my agnosticism comes into play.

Yesh, I go to the mandir and I pray. Yesh, I do these daily rituals in which offerings (such as lighting a diya or food to be blessed) are placed in front of (the images of) god. Yet, at the same time, there exists a doubt in my mind whether or not this is all in vain. Especially if reaching the goal means seeing the divine in yourself and everyone around you.

This doesn’t mean that I’m advocating a more egotistic approach - please light a diya and place it in front of me or, allow me to bless your food. No, that’s not what I’m saying.

Of course, as is my contradictory nature, I would like to point out that perhaps these things do help. Maybe people need to believe in that higher power in order to realize that they had it in themselves all along. I probably do, too. Cuz it’s one thing to know, but it’s totally different to understand and actually realize.

Disclaimer: This is my first attempt ever to put my thoughts on my religion into words so please excuse any.. oh, I dunno. Incoherentness. I also realize that a lot of this goes along with Buddhism. I need to learn more about that. Oh, and if you’re interested, I highly recommend reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Amazing book. It touches on a lot of this as well.