God & Godliness

God & Godliness

I am very happy to be here today in this august gathering of Rotary Club members. I have been
asked to speak on a very interesting topic God & Godliness.
You will notice that there are two words in my topic God and Godliness. I will spend the next
15-20 minutes trying to explain these two important words in the light of Vedanta, using the ideas of
Swami Vivekananda.
The word God has many meanings. What do I mean? This is a word used by children playing on
the street, as well as the great philosophers explaining hair-splitting schools of thought! A thief once
entered a house when no one was inside. While he was collecting all the valuables in a big bag, he heard a
voice saying, Jesus is watching you. He ignored it. After sometime, again that same voice, Jesus is
watching you. He went in the direction of that voice and found out a talking pet parrot in a cage. He said,
Did you say something? The parrot said, Yes. I said Jesus is watching you. The thief said, You are a
bright little bird. What is your name? The bird said, My name is Napoleon Bonaparte. The thief
exclaimed, What! What idiot could have named a parrot as Napoleon Bonaparte? The parrot coolly
replied, The same idiot who named that Doberman as Jesus.
So, we will need to specify what we mean by the word God when we use it. Different world
religions have their own conception of God. This word means different things to different people. Some
religions and cultures consider the power behind Nature and natural phenomenon as God. Most religions
however consider God to be just like a person. But that person is very different from us. That person
doesnt get sick or get old or doesnt die. Of course, since that person is so full of wisdom, he is
considered to be old. Somehow, God is almost always considered as an old guy! There is a lot of
controversy & discussion in the western countries, especially in America, about Gods skin color!
Somehow the common conception among Christians is that God is an old, white male! You will even find
an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to this topic of Gender of God! Christians & Muslims have this
person-like God, which is also called an Anthropomorphic God. Hinduism has both these conceptions.
Some Hindu sects believe in God as the motive power behind Nature. Many Hindu sects believe God to
be a person. But, among Hindus, God could be male, female & even androgynous! Hinduism has great
variety in religion. There is one branch of Hinduism called Advaita Vedanta, to which I and Ramakrishna
Mission belong. We consider God to be Pure Consciousness. What does that mean?
Suppose we consider God to be anthropomorphic. Certain questions arise. Where is God? What is
his address? If he is a person, if he has a form, then he must have coordinates, at which he can be located
in space and time. In the 1950s and 60s, there was a race for conquering outer space by both USA & the
erstwhile USSR. That was the period of the Cold War. The Russians went to space first, followed by the
Americans. The Pope met the American Astronauts and asked them, When you went up in the sky, did
you by any chance come across an old guy, with serene face and long, flowing beard, sitting up there,
watching over us? The astronauts said they hadnt seen anyone like that. The Pope said, I was afraid
you wouldnt see anyone like that! That is the problem with an anthropomorphic God. It is difficult for
such a God to exist. You see, even the Pope has doubts! And they all ask you to believe!
We Vedantists conceive of God as Pure Consciousness, as I told you. We have a conception of
man which varies from the general conception of man. Man has three distinct aspects in him. There is the
body. Then there is the mind. Further within is the Consciousness in man. This consciousness is different
from what is generally called Soul by the Christians. Soul is just another name for mind. When
westerners use the word mind, they mean that faculty in us which thinks. When they use the word soul,
they mean that faculty in us which feels and remembers and provides the motive force for all our actions.
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We club all these faculties of thinking, feeling, remembering and willing into one concept called the
Mind. It is this over-arching entity that gives us our individuality as separate beings. Completely
separate from this mind, and the body, is yet another aspect of our personality called Consciousness.
Each of us has a separate body. Each of us also has a separate mind. But there is only one consciousness
in all of us. Consciousness cannot be separate. When we use the word God, we mean this one
consciousness running through all people, all beings, all things that exist, throughout this entire universe.
Most problems regarding religion arise primarily because we use this term God without
specifying what we actually mean by that term. Those of you who have read the life of Swami
Vivekananda will recall a very interesting incident in his early life. He used to approach many great men
of his time in Calcutta asking them if they had seen God. None of them could answer him in the positive.
Then one fine day, he met Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in the Dakshineshwar Temple, near the suburbs
of Calcutta. Sri Ramakrishna replied that he had indeed seen God and that he could even show God to the
young man, if he wished. This was amazing for the young Swami Vivekananda. He wanted to see. Sri
Ramakrishna touched him, in order to show him God. When he touched him, the young man started
shouting, No, stop, stop! What are you doing to me? I am dying! Do you see what happened here?
Swami Vivekananda had his own peculiar conception of God, and when he heard that he would be shown
God, he had his bias, his own prejudiced notion of what he would see. On the other hand, Sri
Ramakrishnas conception of God was something totally different. He meant God as the Pure
Consciousness in us, and it was that experience he was interested in showing him!
What is the advantage of this Vedantic conception? Doesnt it have some demerits compared to
other conceptions of God? We will look into that a little later. Now that we have clarified what we mean
by the word God, we shall clarify what the other word Godliness means.
Godliness is the quality of being God. If there is a God, then his or her quality will be godly. That
is godliness. So, it follows that our conception of Godliness depends on our conception of God. If we
believe in an anthropomorphic God, then the qualities of that Anthropomorphic God will be called
Godliness. What are those qualities that we generally attribute to a person-like God? He is infinitely
merciful. He is supremely just. He is full of love. He can see everything. He can do anything. He loves his
devotees. The list goes on like this. This conception has one small problem. That problem is these
qualities are all self-contradictory! Suppose God is infinitely merciful. Then why do people suffer? You
may even ask, if God is all-merciful, then who causes suffering? Surely an all-merciful God cannot cause
pain, can he? Suppose God loves his devotees. Then what happens to those who are not his devotees? If
you follow this argument further, we end up with an untenable situation. The anthropomorphic God very
easily fulfils all the positives of life, but the negatives are left out. God explains the good in life, but evil
remains unexplained. The common argument that we hear is if God exists, then why do so many people
die in an earthquake? Where is his kindness then? So, the conclusion is that an Anthropomorphic God is a
limited being. He is a self-contradiction.
Once Akbar was being praised by his ministers in his Durbar; one of his sycophantic ministers
said, O Jahanpanah, you are indeed greater than God! Akbar got angry hearing this. He said, You liar!
I will execute you for uttering such a blatant lie! For, indeed, who can be greater than God? Isnt our
very conception of an anthropomorphic God that he is all-powerful? So Akbar got ready to get that
minister killed. Birbal came to know of this. He pleaded to Akbar on that poor ministers behalf. He said,
O Jahanpanah, what wrong did this minister do? What he said was the truth. You are indeed more
powerful than God. Akbar got furious. He thundered, Birbal, enough! If you cant justify your claim,
you too will be put to death! Birbal then explained, O Jahanpanah, listen. Suppose you get angry on one
of your subjects, you can banish him from your kingdom. Suppose God gets angry on one of his
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creatures, what can he do? Where can he banish him? Any place where he would send him would also
belong to him! Dont you see that you are therefore more powerful than God?
The anthropomorphic God creates all such confusions. The very definition of such a God is
riddled with self-contradictions.
When God is conceived as Pure Consciousness, we dont face these self-contradictions. Further,
under this conception, the only quality of God is consciousness. Being the witness is the only quality.
You merely perceive. You dont even judge. Do we then become inactive, inert? That is again not how it
is. The body continues to perform all its actions. The mind too doesnt stop any of its actions. I however
perceive all these actions and also perceive myself as completely separate from all these entities and
activities. Although it may seem ironical, it is true that when we start living like this, as the witness, not
identifying ourselves with anything else other than pure consciousness, our body becomes healthier, our
thinking becomes clearer, our feelings become more intense, and our actions become more productive.
God as Chit (the Sanskrit name for Pure Consciousness) clarifies many confusions regarding the
world. Certain issues concerning the cause, origin & purpose of this world, of our life, etc become very
complicated when we go for any conception of God other than this Vedantic conception of God as Pure
Spirit. These issues are called Teleological issues.
Take for instance the issue of creation of this world. If God is a person, then how did he create
this world? Bible, in its Old Testament gives a whole chapter on creation of the world called Genesis.
God is said to have created this world out of nothing in a matter of 6 days. Then he rested on the 7th day.
This explanation creates a complication known as Infinite Regression, and it can be finally resolved only
by resorting to the argument, This is how it is, and dont ask further! This argument is the same as
telling This is all the will of God. What will of God? Can God have a will? Will exists because
something has to be achieved. God is all-fulfilled. If he is all-fulfilled, what would God want further that
he has to will about it! So, in effect, both these answers actually mean I dont know!
A child came back from Sunday school. In the West, all Christians send their kids to Sunday
school in church. A Bishop or a Father teaches them the basic ideas of the Bible. So this child came back
from Sunday school. The kids dad asked him, So, what did you learn today at Sunday school? How was
the world created? The kid gingerly answered, Well, in the beginning, there was a huge mass of
something. It was perhaps matter, or maybe it was energy. Then it burst with a big bang. All this matter
that we see actually came out of that explosion. The dad was incredulous. He asked, What crap did they
teach you at church? The kid laughed and said, O boy! You should hear what the Father taught us in
Sunday school. It was complete hooey!
But, instead of saying I dont know, if we propose spurious answers such as most religions do,
we create dogmas. Dogmas are the bugbear of human society. Dogma or irrational beliefs create
disharmony. Supposing you believe in a dogma & I dont. We have a fight. Vedanta avoids such a
situation by means of its conception of God as Pure Spirit. Vedanta asserts that what exists is just Pure
Spirit. Matter doesnt exist. But we see matter. How do you explain that? Vedanta says, Just because you
can frame your question logically doesnt necessarily mean that you can answer it logically. This world
cannot be explained. This is because this world, as we see it, doesnt exist. Pure Spirit exists. You and I
imagine various things on and about this Pure Spirit.
This seems to be a more complicated explanation than the ones proposed by the anthropomorphic
guys, but it is actually very simple. Let me explain this by means of a small story. A man was once
walking along a road. He saw that two policemen were walking behind him. When he looked at them, he
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suddenly felt that they were eyeing him suspiciously. He became afraid and started running. He saw a
graveyard nearby and jumped over the compound wall. Inside was a fresh, empty grave. He hid inside.
The policemen also ran behind him, climbed over the wall and discovered him inside the fresh grave.
They asked him Why were you running after seeing us? The man now understood that they were
actually not pursuing him and that his running had actually created all this confusion. So he replied, Sir,
look here. Just because you ask a simple question doesnt mean it can be answered. Let me tell you just
this much: I am here because of you, and you are here because of me!
So Vedanta doesnt claim to explain how this world got created, or who created it, or even for
what purpose. It starts with the real fact that this world is here, that I am here. It assumes that I am the
Pure Spirit and what exists is only Pure Spirit. I may see my body, other bodies, other things, etc, but that
is because of some aberration in my seeing process. What actually exists is nothing but Pure Spirit. So, let
me deal with it as Pure Spirit.
Please note the vital difference between the outcomes based on the anthropomorphic conception
of God and spiritual conception of God. I no longer deal with Gods creation. I deal with God himself.
This world is not Gods creation any longer. Man is no longer Gods creation. Man is God himself. I have
some trouble seeing this yet. But that is the truth about it. So let me deal with man as God himself.
Vedanta holds that if you do not see something as what it actually is, it is because you have hypnotized
yourself into seeing something else. The way out then is to dehypnotize yourself. We do that by altering
our behavior.
How do we deal with God? We worship God. So, all our interactions, all our activities become
worship. This attitude is called Godliness in Vedanta. So, service (or Puja, or Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva, as
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa put it beautifully) is what it means to be like God. If God is Pure Spirit,
then Service is Godliness. This is where Ramakrishna Mission and Rotary Club meet and shake hands.
With this note, I invoke the blessings of the indwelling Pure Spirit on all assembled here and
bring my lecture to an end.
Thank you all.
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