Did God create us in his image or did we create God in our image?
I have been having this building up for a while and just wanted to vent it out. Nowhere else is better than doing it here, I suppose.
Growing up in India in a family that follows Sanatan Dharm (I do not like the word Hindu/Hinduism) I saw multitude of sects, lineages, beliefs, paths and practices to achieve the ultimate, moksha. Some like to bend and twist their bodies in very undesirable fashion and some like to read books to know it. Some like to chant at the top of their voice and some end up slowing their breath in meditation and go into controlled coma for minutes to hours. Some consider Shiv to be the supreme, some Vishnu, some Ram, some Krishn, and some Durga. But if God is One supreme, One creator, then why are there so many of them? And why a God but not a Goddess, or even both? Well, this brings me to a question - Did God create us in his image, or did we create God in our image?
I believe the ultimate supreme power is formless. Its sound is AUM. It is in everything and everything is in it. It has no gender. There was nothing before it and there will be nothing after it. Everything emanated from it and everything will dissolve into it, whether material or spiritual. AUM is the only whole. Half of it is divinity and the other half is impiety.
All the Gods and Goddesses that we worship manifest from its devine half and all the devils and evils manifest from its impious half, irrespective of any religion, Sanatan Dharm or otherwise. This balances the multi-universe otherwise it will collapse. AUM expresses itself in the form of Shiv or Sada Shiv, Vishnu or Maha Vishnu, Durga or Maha Durga, Ram or Krishn or Jesus or Allah and so forth. It takes form as per the requirement of time. It manifests as an aquatic, as a mammal, as an animal, as a yogi, as a saint, as a super human, as a seer, as detached, as an enjoyer, as a parent, a child, a sibling, a teacher or a student, all as per the requirement of the time. We can only understand it as Shiv and Shakti, as Shambhu and Parvati, as Bhairav and Bharavi, as Uma and Maheshvar, Vishnu and Lakshmi, as Ram and Sita, as Radha and Krishn, and so forth. They are all equal, they are all same.
All Gods/Goddesses, Demi-Gods, Devils derive their powers from AUM.
The masculine is the consciousness (intelligence) and the feminine is the energy. Only when both are combined they illuminate the world, create the world and provide prosperity and enlightenment. The feminine is the electricity and the masculine is the light bulb. Only when we have both we can get light. One without the other is either useless or directionless.
Lately I have been in several associations of a particular lineage. I am sick of all the comparisons between Shiva and Vishnu (Krishn) by the devotees of one International Society…..just to suit their agenda of imposing superiority over everyone else’s belief and then even claiming exclusivity and authority of their lineage within their own sect. All in the name of ‘My daddy is strongest’.
So what/who are you going to see at the end of life?
Would love to hear the thoughts of others.
Re: Did God create us in his image or did we create God in our image?
Namaste BhaktiSevak
God is a Christian term that is far too shallow for the depth of Vedic thoughts, but Indians seem to love it.
You can talk about Brahman nirguna and Brahman saguna, Brahman saguna is Ishvara.
All the peoples of this world have created a (human) form of the formless.
Tukaram describes why – unfortunately also translated by a Christian, thus we do not know which term Tukaram used in his language … may be Bhagavan … Hari … ??? I bet, definitely not God.
Can water drink itself? Can a tree taste its own fruit?
The worshiper of God must remain distinct from Him.
Only thus will he come to know God's joyful love.
But if he were to say that God and he are one, that joy and love would vanish instantly.
In Egypt Re-Harachte was Vivasvat, depicted as a human with the head of a falcon, wearing on his head the solar disc. Echnaton forbade the human body, depicting Vivasvat as a solar disc only. He failed. The Abrahamic religions forbade depictions successfully. They are 'poor' religions.
Pranam
Re: Did God create us in his image or did we create God in our image?
Namaste,
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BhaktiSevak
I have been having this building up for a while and just wanted to vent it out. Nowhere else is better than doing it here, I suppose.
You got that right; we are all ears. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BhaktiSevak
I believe the ultimate supreme power is formless. Its sound is AUM. It is in everything and everything is in it. It has no gender. There was nothing before it and there will be nothing after it. Everything emanated from it and everything will dissolve into it, whether material or spiritual. AUM is the only whole. Half of it is divinity and the other half is impiety.
You got it mostly figured out; why are you torturing yourself then?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BhaktiSevak
All the Gods and Goddesses that we worship manifest from its devine half and all the devils and evils manifest from its impious half, irrespective of any religion, Sanatan Dharm or otherwise.
God has impious half?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BhaktiSevak
Lately I have been in several associations of a particular lineage. I am sick of all the comparisons between Shiva and Vishnu (Krishn) by the devotees of one International Society…..just to suit their agenda of imposing superiority over everyone else’s belief and then even claiming exclusivity and authority of their lineage within their own sect. All in the name of ‘My daddy is strongest’.
In India cows and bulls roam around and defecate all over. So when I go out I could bring back some beautiful flowers from a flower shop or shovel some BS into a pan and bring it home. The choice is all mine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BhaktiSevak
So what/who are you going to see at the end of life?
Why should I care? A fish does not worry about the source of water or its destination. It is busy swimming.
Pranam.
Re: Did God create us in his image or did we create God in our image?
BG7.21 yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah
sraddhayarcitum icchati
tasya tasyacalam sraddham
tam eva vidadhamy aham
BG4.11 ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāns tathaiva bhajāmyaham
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣhyāḥ pārtha sarvaśhaḥ
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But if God is One supreme, One creator, then why are there so many of them?
They are forms taken by ParaBrahman as Param Purush - Prakruti for various purposes , roles played.
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Well, this brings me to a question - Did God create us in his image, or did we create God in our image?
Depends on your understanding and definition of "us" and "we"
At the absolute level all is Brahman, Brahman became all of us.
We as in ordinary humans did not create God in our image. It is indeed the other way around.
Your post contradicts itself. On the one hand you speak of avatars as the nirguNa manifesting forms.
Further, chaturbhuj, ashTabhuj, half lion, horse face are not in our image. They are there. They are not figments of human imagination.
Actually we are a figment of His imagination.
Even so, ParaBrahman is very kind - see BG 4.11 above - As one surrenders to Me, I reciprocate accordingly. Krishna and Rukmini had to become Ram and Sita for HanumAn.
Re: Did God create us in his image or did we create God in our image?
We can take our logic and twist a phrase. But doing so does not change the reality that exists. It is almost like creating a science fiction story. Sri Aurobindo wrote...people came to me and by logic convinced me that God did not exist. Then, God appeared to me. Now, whom I to believe??? the reasonings of others or my own, direct experience?
The doctor says you have only 2 months to live. Then you live another 20 years. He has his reasons, but they don't determine reality.
Science And Faith - Not A Conflict
Some Links
Summary - Some of the greatest scientists in the history of the world believed in God. The percentage of belief among the professional scientific community is just about the same as the rest of the population. It is pure myth that most scientists do not believe in God. One link for a professional study that proved that prayer works. Another link to the Vatican council on science
which includes a huge list of Noble Prize winning scientists who believe in God.
Benjamin Franklin and Isaac Newton, two of the founders of all modern math and science, both believed in God.
Nikolai Tesla believed in God and was a fan of the Hindu saint Swami Vivekananda.
This book concludes that about 50% of scientists are religious, and, additionally, many more, while not religious, believe in God.
from this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Science-vs-Re.../dp/0199975000
Quoting from the article: "In the course of her research, Ecklund surveyed nearly 1,700 scientists and interviewed 275 of them. She finds that most of what we believe about the faith lives of elite scientists is wrong. Nearly 50 percent of them are religious. Many others are what she calls “spiritual entrepreneurs,” seeking creative ways to work with the tensions between science and faith outside the constraints of traditional religion…..only a small minority are actively hostile to religion."
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And here's a professional scientific study proving that prayer works:
http://www.1stholistic.com/Prayer/hol_prayer_proof.htm
"There is ample proof that prayer works. Many scientific studies have been conducted that validate this observation.
A 1993 Israeli survey following 10,000 civil servants for 26 years found that Orthodox Jews were less likely to die of cardiovascular problems than "nonbelievers." And a 1995 study from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., monitoring 250 people after open-heart surgery concluded that those who had religious connections and social support were 12 times less likely to die than those who had none."
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the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has a long list of Noble Prize winning scientists who believe in God...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifi...my_of_Sciences
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As far as this idea that Jesus never existed?
The question of the historicity of Jesus is part of the study of the historical Jesus as undertaken in the quest for the historical Jesus and the scholarly reconstructions of the life of Jesus. While the Christ myth theory proposes that Jesus never existed, nearly all historians reject the Christ myth theory and accept that a human Jesus existed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus
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