Re: Believing in Gods? Questions from a Beginner
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté SA,
Originally Posted by
seekinganswers
I have been interested in spirituality for a long, long time. I found various faiths such as Christianity and Judaism unsatisfying. I found Buddhism to be too "empty". One religious path that is appealing to me in some ways is Hinduism.
I see karma and reincarnation to be self evident when thinking of the big scheme of things, the whole process of life.
That being said I do have some serious questions which I hope none take offense but instead care to elaborate for me-
The Bhagavad-Gita makes references to the Sun God as well as Gods such as Indra and also makes a reference to a sacrificial ritual in order to make crops grow (or so i read).
Coming from the 21st century, psychology in general says that early civilization created the concept of gods to explain natural phenomenon such as the sun, moon, weather. It is generally known in science today that these processes of nature are controlled by natural forces. That being said, how can one come to believe in these gods like the sun god when the sun is viewed as an object with hydrogen explosions under the control of gravity with no living beings inside the sun nor the moon?
Also, it seems incredibly hard to believe that a blue man who plays a flute and gets involved with gopis can be god?
Lastly, and this is challenging, if you believe that we are truly individuals that each of us is a separte atman that will exist for eternity, does that mean that when personality changes occur due to brain damage or drug abuse, that its simply the atman has a distorted communication with the brain?
And if you subscribe to advaita philosophy, why would we want to lose our concept of individuality(even it being false) and be left with simply the feeling of "I" when that is essentially being non-existent. And if you are simply brahman, which is simply the observer, not the thinker, then brahman is relying on maya to tell him its true nature, is it not?
These are a multitude of questions and i would appreciate answers and guidance. Thank you
Your questions are reasonable and can be addressed. Yet all the ideas/questions co-mingled into one post is like trying to take a drink from a fire hose.
There are many here willing to help and respond accordingly - yet it will serve all the readers and authors to throddle back the questions to just a few. We then can do a excellent job in the proper answering of them.
So, let's start at the beginning... what is top of mind and brings you doubts or really captures your interest ?
praṇām
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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