Understanding God of Veda

Recent times, many people asked me a single question many a times regarding worshiping God. I have always said, Vedas don't teach to worship God, but nothing is prohibited in Vedas regarding the belief system is concerned.


I am reproducing here recent discussions on this question,

With Mr. Kenneth Young

Q. I am an atheist, I don't believe in existence of a force or spirit sitting somewhere in the space with  a type of control panel in hand, and controls me. I never been to any Church, never prayed, still I am success, I am happy. That is why, when some one says me the path of God for all success, I refute. I believe on myself, I have designed my Destiny. Yes my destiny is in my hand, but I don't believe it is engraved on my palms. Say me one single reason to believe there is a super control panel.

Ans. Sir, I too don't believe in a super control panel, but I believe on existence of God. There are many proofs, but one that can not be refuted is the life. We can't say it is a coincidence. Starting from the smallest living being to the largest, all are related to each other, all reproduce in distinct manner, all live in a special style, all have some distinct character, these all can not be just coincidence. 

But I don't believe God is sitting some where in this Universe, with a remote control in hand and controls us, I do agree with you that, our destiny is designed by us, and these are not engraved on our palms. I am neither in support of palmistry nor of astrology regarding forecast of future. But as a scientist you know, we can easily forecast on some issues. Those are based on some rules. And these rules are not created by human. These laws are accounted by human. All scientist agree that these are laws of nature, so do I.


Q. You are mixing up. If God exists, then he must be some where in the Universe, If you believe in God, you must believe that worshiping God is the reason for success. Regarding life and law of nature, science so far did not find any answer, but we will do that one day. This may not be a coincidence, but this is not a perfect plan. I will like to know first your belief on nature and characteristics of God. Which is based on intuition will not be acceptable, there must be some evidence, evidence from nature and from books.

Ans. Sir, I am not mixing up. Being belief on God does not mean to believe that God is restricted by time and space, and sitting some where. These are said in Bible and Koran. I don't refute any of these claims, because I believe God is of unlimited quality, may be these characters be true. My belief is stronger on other characters of God, because these are easily visible on earth and in the space. Vedas and Upanishads are completely opposite to what Bible says about God. God does not talk to human, God is not limited by any end, nor even by gender, he never flew in the sky, and the Universe is not created by God. 

Vedic view is The entire Universe is the physical appearance of God. For that I rely on the Nashadiya Sukta and Purusha Skta of Mandal-10 of Rig Veda.


Nashadiya Sukta says, in the begining, there was neither non-being, nor being. A desire came to manifest. then a sound was made Om... from that first came the space, then the sky, air, water, fire and last came the earth. In this sukta, there are some questions too, which are yet to be answered by human. Purushua sukta goes in detail of this. It assumes the Universe being a human, and how different components of the Universe came out of his body.


In short, Veda sees God being the entire Universe. But this physical body is not the Brahman or the God. As there is a life content in our body, there is a life content of this Universe too. That life content is God.


Q. What do you mean by life content ? Do you mean to say, Universe has life ?


Ans. Yes, Universe has life, so as with air, fire, water etc. Each and every component, that you can show has life. Entire human body has life, each body part has life, each cell has life. But they are different to each other. You know, in the Universe, nothing is static, each one is moving around some thing, the source of that moment is life. You know water has some character, source of that character is life. We know other planets are not good enough for life, but in this case, we mean life as existing on earth, can you say, there cant be any other form of life ?

Life on earth lives on Oxygen to live, life under water live by extracting Oxygen from water. Why oxygen is required? Because it will burn the food that we take, why burning is required ? to distribute food that we eat. So ultimate action to live is to distribute energy to each and every cell of our body. Can we safely say, these action is not possible without water or presence of oxygen in air ? There may be some life system that can extract oxygen from Carbon dioxide. We can’t deny.

Q. Yes, I have read an article before on this, and many scientists do agree that there can be other simple form of life even of a rock. Are you pointing on this?

Ans. May be yes, I have not read about such article.

Q. So why Hindus worship so many idols ?

Ans. The way Hindus bow before an idol, is the same way Hindus bow before their Parents, elders, teachers. Is it worship ? Hindus no way worship Idols.

Q. Then why are so many temples ? So many rituals ? Before the English rule in India, it was a dark land, with full of rituals. I have heard about many rituals like, burning of widows etc, what are your view ?

Ans. You said about before English Rule, yes I agree, before English rule India was a dark land, but not always. Before the Muslims invasion to India, it was the glorious land on earth. You will accept, India is the mother of science, starting from Number system to space, navigation, metal, health and aviation science were taught to students in the first University on earth. And Vedas are the foundation. 

The then human of other part were busy in killing others in the name of God, many scientists were killed because they found some thing against the Holy Books, but in India, they used to be praised. Because Vedas say growth is possible, new discoveries are possible, the last verse of Veda is not said to be the end of all knowledge, it is in fact beginning of another thread of knowledge.

Q. I don't have much knowledge about Hinduism, nor I am an expert of Indian History, so I wont discuss on these topics. I would like to know, the importance of rituals and Idol worship. Can you justify these in accordance with science?

Ans. I can’t justify these in accordance of science, for two reasons. First I am not a scientist, second, science is a product of human and it has some limits too. But I will say you some thing other regarding rituals, idols and worship.


Isha Upanishad,  Mantra – 9

andham tamah pravisanti ye'vidyamupasate

tato bhuya iva te tamo ya u vidyayaD ratah

“Into a blind darkness they enter who are devoted to ignorance (rituals); but into a greater darkness they enter who engage in knowledge of a deity alone.”
 
In this mantra of Isa Upanishad, it is said that, those are ignorant who only believe in rituals (although rituals are important, only rituals not going to help), but those are blind who expect mokhsya from Devatas (Devatas are there for betterment of our life on earth, but mokshya can not be given by them. Infact like we humans, devatas are performing to get mokshya.

Most important lines of Ishaupanishad is Mantra 11

vidyam chavidyam cha yastadvedobhayaD saha

avidyaya mrtyum tirtva vidyaya'mrtamasnute

“He who is aware that both knowledge and ignorance should be pursued together, overcomes death through ignorance and obtains immortality through knowledge.” 

Here knowledge does not mean knowledge of any religious scriptures like Veda, it means the ultimate knowledge (Brahmgyan). What is Brahmgyan is mentioned in Katha Upanishad, the story of Nachiketa and his visit to yam. Brahmgyan is self realization, realization of the reason why and how we are different from God, and to practice to remove all differences.This can be achieved through performance,Krishna in Srimad Bhagavat Gita, said two ways of performance, 1. Sankhya Yoga (To gain knowledge)2. karma Yoga. (to perform duties). Though Krishna viewed that Karma Yoga is the best way of getting salvation, I view both are important.

So Vedas are not suggesting to go through rituals always, they suggest two ways, 1. knowledge and 2. performance of duties. But these are to be in accordance with Dharma (ethics).

Q. Who are Devatas ?

Ans. Devatas are the life content of different components of universe that we see, like the air, water, fire etc. To understand these better, I will show an extract of Brihadaranyak Upanishad. This says about the life content or soul, that I have said so far - 

Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad/3/7/3 – 22.

3. “He who dwells in the earth, yet is other than the earth, whom the earth does not know, whose body is the earth, who controls the earth from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

4. “He who dwells in the waters, yet is other than the waters, whom the waters do not know, whose body is the waters, who controls the waters from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

5. “He who dwells in the fire, yet is other than the fire, whom the fire does not know, whose body is the fire, who controls the fire from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

6. “He who dwells in space, yet is other than space, whom space does not know, whose body is space, who controls space from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

7. “He who dwells in the wind, yet is other than the wind, whom the wind does not know, whose body is the wind, who controls the wind from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

8. “He who dwells in the sky, yet is other than the sky, whom the sky does not know, whose body is the sky, who controls the sky from within– he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

9. “He who dwells in the sun, yet is other than the sun, whom the sun does not know, whose body is the sun, who controls the sun from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

10. “He who dwells in the regions of space, yet is other than the regions of space, whom the regions of space do not know, whose body is the regions of space, who controls the regions of space from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

11. “He who dwells in the moon and the stars, yet is other than the moon and the stars, whom the moon and the stars do not know, whose body is the moon and stars, who controls the moon and the stars from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

12. “He who dwells in the atmosphere, yet is other than the atmosphere, whom the atmosphere does not know, whose body is the atmosphere, who controls the atmosphere from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

13. “He who dwells in the darkness, yet is other than the darkness, whom the darkness does not know, whose body is the darkness, who controls the darkness from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

14. “He who dwells in the light, yet is other than the light, whom the light does not know, whose body is the light, who controls the light from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

“So far with reference to the divinities. Now with reference to beings.

15. “He who dwells in all beings, yet is other than all beings, whom all beings do not know, whose body is all beings, who controls all beings from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

“So far with reference to beings. Now with reference to the body.

16. “He who dwells in the life breath, yet is other than the life breath, whom the life breath does not know, whose body is the life breath, who controls the life breath from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

18. “He who dwells in the eye, yet is other than the eye, whom the eye does not know, whose body is the eye, who controls the eye from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

19. “He who dwells in the ear, yet is other than the ear, whom the ear does not know, whose body is the ear, who controls the ear from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

20. “He who dwells in the mind, yet is other than the mind, whom the mind does not know, whose body is the mind, who controls the mind from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

21. “He who dwells in the skin, yet is other than the skin, whom the skin does not know, whose body is the skin, who controls the skin from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

22. “He who dwells in the understanding, yet is other than the understanding, whom the understanding does not know, whose body is the understanding, who controls the understanding from within–he is the atman within you, the Inner Controller, the immortal.

Q. Can you explain in simple language ?

Ans. Actually, I feel problem in saying the concept of Devatas to those who believe God is sitting some where with a great control panel. 

Lets take an example. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue,  skin are the sense organs, but Veda say, Dristi (ability to see), Shruti (ability to hear), ghran (ability to smell), swad (ability to taste) and sparsh (ability to know by touch) are the senses. 

Take the organs as hardware, and senses as softwares. These can not be separated, with out one, the other one is not possible.

Similarly, fire, air, water are hardwares, Agnidev (Devata that dwells in fire, though in fire is not fire and not separate from fire) is the software.