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God Exists......
Thinking Aloud.
Long ago, a friend asked " Are you sure that a God exists ?". I answered, "honestly I do not know. But when I see his Creations I do accept that there must have been some great activating force or power behind every thing what we see around us". Then to start with we have to go into the meaning of the word "God" first. If the word means simply by its attributes like God is " all pervasive, Omnipotent, Omnipresent and omniscient", then it becomes a Concept. an abstract idea or a mental expression. It looks too simple. No, certainly I do not want to restrict that Great Power within a mental expression. To go further we may have to browse the writings of great seekers and sages who had also done honest search to find the answer for this question, from time immemorial. We may or may not get a convincing answer . But it will certainly activate our thinking. To begin with why not we find what our own treasure trove of knowledge "Vedas" say about Creation. As you may know that the word Veda in Samskrit is coined from the root "Vid - to know". Thus "Veda" means" Knowledge". Let me quote the literal translation in English of Hymn relating to "Creation" from "The Rig Veda" as under:
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The Rig Veda: Book 10:HYMN CXXIX:
Creation.
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1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it . What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?
2. Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.
3. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.
4. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.
5. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.
6. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?
7. He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps, he knows not. ============(translation by Ralph T.H. Griffith)
As this is a literal translation of original text in Vedic Samskrit, it may or may not convey the real thoughts of the Sages, who expounded it. But if we study this Hymn a number of times we may slowly understand the meaning better. It is my belief a seeker of truth should develop patience and real interest in the subject.
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
Long ago, a friend asked " Are you sure that a God exists ?". I answered, "honestly I do not know. But when I see his Creations I do accept that there must have been some great activating force or power behind every thing what we see around us". Then to start with we have to go into the meaning of the word "God" first. If the word means simply by its attributes like God is " all pervasive, Omnipotent, Omnipresent and omniscient", then it becomes a Concept. an abstract idea or a mental expression. It looks too simple. No, certainly I do not want to restrict that Great Power within a mental expression. To go further we may have to browse the writings of great seekers and sages who had also done honest search to find the answer for this question, from time immemorial. We may or may not get a convincing answer . But it will certainly activate our thinking. To begin with why not we find what our own treasure trove of knowledge "Vedas" say about Creation. As you may know that the word Veda in Samskrit is coined from the root "Vid - to know". Thus "Veda" means" Knowledge". Let me quote the literal translation in English of Hymn relating to "Creation" from "The Rig Veda" as under:
==========
The Rig Veda: Book 10:HYMN CXXIX:
Creation.
------------------
1. THEN was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it . What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?
2. Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.
3. Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.
4. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.
5. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.
6. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?
7. He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps, he knows not. ============(translation by Ralph T.H. Griffith)
As this is a literal translation of original text in Vedic Samskrit, it may or may not convey the real thoughts of the Sages, who expounded it. But if we study this Hymn a number of times we may slowly understand the meaning better. It is my belief a seeker of truth should develop patience and real interest in the subject.
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
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