THE CONCEPT OF GOD AND THE SPIRITUALITY

Who is the cause of existence of all the living beings and who is the ultimate vester of the emotions of every living being? He obviously is the Supreme Being, the creator of the universe, the God. What is the form in which the creator exists?

Rigveda mentions –

Hiranyagarbha Samvartagre, Bhootsya Jaatasya Patirek Aaseet.
Sadadhar Prithvi Nyamutema, Kasmedevaaya Havisha Vidhem.

(At the origin of the universe, who appeared before everything and who became the master of all the living beings. He the Supreme Being is the God and he is the only receiver of all our oblations.)

        Na Jaayate Mriyate Wa Kadachinnaya, Bhootva, Bhavita Wanabhooye.
       Ajonitya, Shashvtoya, Puraano, Na Hanyate Hanyamane Shareere.

(The soul is never borne, nor it dies; nor does it come to exist only after one is born. For it is unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient, even though the body is slain, the soul is not.)

But in our ancient scriptures the God has been told to have incarnations. If incarnations of God happen then how can he be unborn, eternal, everlasting ancient. Bhagvad Geeta has given an answer to it.

Ajoapi Sannvyayatma Bhootanaam Ishwaro Apisana.
Prakruti Swamidhishtaya Sambhavamayatma Mayaya.

(Though the God is unborn, eternal and is all pervading and is the lord of all the living beings, yet he subjugates the nature to appear in some form or the other by his Maya from time to time.)

Avatara is a Sanskrit word for devine incarnation. It roots down to ‘ava’, meaning coming down and ‘taran’ means to pass or swim.Return of holy spirits to Earth to help mankind is called Avtar or Incarnation. 

To understand the concept of God no example or logic can be given. God is having no qualities (gunas) specified and is also not having any shape (aakar). So in our mythology God is called Nirguna and Nirankar. But some other scholars of our mythology believe that God is having qualities and is also having shape. God is all pervading, equally present among both living and non living beings, but still he is inaccessible and not legible. He is the ultimate and, the only truth and is incomparable. (Ekam ev Advitiyam). Vedas tell these elements of God i.e. ‘Hari Om Tatsat’. The God is the Creator, Saviour, and the Destroyer of the entire creation. Vedas talk of three worlds (Lokas); the Earth (Bhoo), Ether (Bhuvah) and Heaven (Swah).  Ether is actuallly the Sky (Vyoma). The God is omni present in all the three Worlds (Lokas). God is the soul of this creation. Is the God born? or he is created?  Or he menifest himself in some living being ? Bhagvad Geeta says that-

Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya, Glanirbhavati Bhaarat.
Abhyuthanam Adharmasya, Tadamtnam Srujamyaham.

(Whenever Dharma is on the decline and the Adharma on the rise, I menifest myself in some form)

Paritranaya Sadhunaam, Vinashyasch Dushkrutaam.
Dharmasansthapanarthaya, Sambhavami Yuge Yuge.

(For the betterment and well being of sages and destruction of the evil doers and to reinstate the dharma the to god appears in some form from time to time.)

In these shlokas of Bhagvad Gita no word like ‘Born’ has been used regarding appearance of God. Therefore the God cannot be born as he is unborn and unending as well. But God can of course appear or can manifest himself in some living being. Even about this appearance or menifestation the Bhagvad Geeta says that.

Na Me Viduh Surganaha Prabhavam Na Maharshaya.

(How I manifest or appear is not known to either devas or ascetics.)

In Shrimad Bhagvad Geeta this appearance or menifestation has been tried to be explained. Thus appearance of the God happens in the hearts of the human beings or living beings.

Ishwarh Hrudayesh Tishthate.
(The God resides in the hearts of the human beings)

The heart is the place from where the blood flows. Scientifically speaking heart doesn’t have any intelligence of its own. The control and functioning of the heart depends on brain only. Actually heart has been used by the poets and authors as a seat of all the positive emotions of the mind. Sometimes this word is used to describe your conscience; this conscience is the motivator, savior and nourisher of all the positive emotions of our conscious. So God is the motivator, saviouur and nourisher of all the positivities of our mind and Shaitan or Devil is the motivator, saviour and nourisher of all the negativities. In the human anatomy all the negativities also are seated in the conscience (Mana) which is only a reflection of any persons mindset, his ethics, values, perceptions and logic. God desires that all the living beings live in a pefect hormony, with love and affection for each other. It is said in Vedas that;


Sahna, Vavatu, Sahna Bhunaktu, Sah Veeryama Karvavahe !

(Every body lives with hormony and peaceful coexistence, everyone talks nice and express his/her thought with a pure mind and cordiality. All should keep unanimity of thought and the emotions and should not keep any animosity against anybody. ( Then only the life of everybody will become purposeful and the life will be successful.)

Vedas tell-

                    Sah Gachchdhvamsam, Vadadhvamsam, Vo Mansaijanatam.
                   Deva Bhagam Yatha Purve, Sanjananam Upastate.

(Live in mutual harmony, harmony of thought, harmony of hearts and harmony of the works).

 Symbols of a good quality of life have been prescribed by Vedas as Fortitude (Ghriti) Forgiveness (Kshma) Self Control (Dama), Non Coveting (Aasteya), Purity (Sauch) Control of Senses (Indriya Nigrah) Prudence (Dheervidha), Truthfulness (Satyam) and Control of Anger (Acrodh). They are also called as ten elements of Dharma.

 Ghriti, Kshama, Dama, Aasteya, Sauch, Indriyanigraha,
 Dheervidha, Satyam, Akrodham, Dasham Dharmasya Laskshnam.

In Bible the devil shaitan which literally in Hebrewmeans ‘the adversary’ or Malaun. was born when the Angel by the name Appolloyn rebelled against the God and refused to bey his dictate to salute Adam the first human being created by God. Shaitan or Devil thereafter became the alter ego of the God. In the hindu mythology, we called the Devil as Daitya or Rakshasa. Diti and Aditi were the two wives of the Creator. The offsprings of Aditi became famous as Devas and the offsprings of Diti became famous as Daityas.They were always fighting amongst each other for the dominance and control of three worlds (lokas).

In this battle between ‘Devas’ and ‘Daityas’ as per our scriptures whenever ‘Devas’ became weak and Asuras or Daityas became strong the God or the Creator appeared to stop the downfall of Devas and to stop the rising of the Asuras.These appearances of the  Creator are called as Avtaras. There are ten such avataras described in our scriptures in different forms. Fish (Matsya Avtara), Tortoise (Kurma Avtara), Pig (Varah Avtara), Dwarf (Vaaman Avtara) Man-Lion (Narshimha Avtara), Parshurama Avtara, Dashrathi Rama Avtar, Krishna Avatara and the last but yet not menifest is Kalki Avtara. In all these Avataras, the creator has appeared to save the world from the harm and disaster caused by Asuras or Daityas. This battle between Devas and Asuras is nothing but the internecine battle between the negative emotions and the positive emotions in the minds of the human beings. The Devas represent positivities and the Asuras represent the negativities. Actually these two attitudes are complementary to each other and exist simultaneously in the conscience of living beings.


Whenever we say that this body is mine, this life is mine, this mind is mine, then what is this mine which is telling it.  It means that there is some body somewhere who is the owner of these things.  The psychologists call it as ‘I sense’. This ‘I sense’ has been associated with the Atman and Atman has been associated with Parmatman or the Brahm.  Vedic philosophy is divided into ‘Dvaita’ and ‘Advaita’ in this regard.  Advaita Philosophy says that both are one i.e. ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ or ‘Tattwamasi’.  But Dvaita believe the Atman to be different than Paramatan.  These dualism or non dualisms are both based on unity of  Individual Soul and the Universal Soul.  The Universal Soul is the Parmatman or the God.  The Soul is one kind of a Super or Higher Consciousness which differ from the Conscious of our mind. Soul’s the individualized part of the universal soul or spirit. Soul or the Atmanis is the true and immortal nature of all the living beings including mankind. It is clocked temporarily in the garments of casual, astral and physical bodies. The character of soul is like the universal soul or spirit, ever existing, even new and ever conscious. Concious has got degrees such as Super conscious, Sub Conscious, Semi Conscious and Un Conscious.  The Super Consciousness is attached to the Ultimate or Cosmic Consciousness and it is a part of it.  It is this Cosmic or Universal Consciousness which is the Paramatman or the God. We have yet not realized this Supreme Consciousness and are striving to know both the Aham (Ego) and the Brahm (Super Ego).  The scientists are also trying very hard to know the Creator and his Creation as to, what is the form of the Creator and what are the qualities of the Creator and his Creation.  Till then we should believe in the philosophical theories of the God.  For the development of self and to develop others also Spirituality is a big need.  As without the Spirit we can not simply exist. we will later in this chapter deal with this spirituality. Vis a vis an individual the all knowing power of the mind that perceives the spirit, the truth and the paramatman directly is called superconcious state of mind. Various states of Samodhi experienced in meditation, wherein one crosses the ahankar or ego and realizes his true self or the atman/ Soul as an image of the supreme soul or universal spirit. In the higher state of Samadhi it is called the supreme conscious and is the attainment of the manciparion & realization of supreme soul or the universal spirit.

We have seen that God is a Supreme Conciousness which is never born and which never dies. It only gets menifested. We also saw that the Devil is the alter ego of the god’s Supreme Ego so Devil also can not be born or die. Devil also gets manifested in the minds of persons. Therefore we can say that Devil gets menifested in the minds of persons in the shape of all the negativities. When the negativities  are lying low the Devil menifests to nourish the negative thoughts and destroy the positive thoughts so that the Dharma gets defeated and the Adharma wins. That is the Devils incarnation. Thereby the two shlokas of Geeta regarding incarnation of God can be reconstructed regarding incarnation of the Devil also.

                        Yada Yada Hi Adharmasya , Glanirbhavati Bharata,
                    Abhyuthanam Dharmasya, Tadatmana Srajamyaham.

(Whenever Adharma gets defeated by Dharma and when the Dharma rise to conquer Adharma the Devil gets incarnated to fight with Dharma)

Paritranaya Dushtanam, Vinashayasch Shubhkrutam
Adharm Sansthapanarthaya, Sambhavami Yuge Yuge

(To save the evil doers and to destroy the good doers. to reinstate the Adharma Devil gets incarnated)

This means God and Evil are counter concept, as God created Evil to counter the Good.  But evil or bad is there only till God’s design wants them to survive.  Hence both of them are entirely on the mercy of God.  According to Bible the God has given Shaitan (Devil) the time up to doomsday.  For us what is important is that both the Good and the Evil is continuously working in the minds of a person where the Internecine Struggle of Good and Bad takes place.  Krishna also said in Geeta that it’s the mind of the human being where the struggle between the positivities and negativities takes place.

In this Internecine Battle of Good and Evil when ever the negative attitudes start dominating then to stop the dominance of negativities and to strengthen the positive attitudes in the minds of those persons who follow his dictate the God menifests  This manifestation of God can not be called as incarnation of God.  It is only an origin of Godly vision in the mind of that person which helps him to get emancipation.  On achieving this state a person becomes dettached form all negativities and also from the fruits of the works he/she is doing.  Thus the works done by him will no more tie him to the bondages of this mortal creation.  Krishna said in Geeta that:-

Na Mam Karmani Limpanti, Na Me Karm Fale Spruha
Iti Mam Yogabhijanati, Karmbhinas Badhyate

(Neither I am involved in the works nor I have attachment in their fruits. Those who know my this  aspect through practice of yoga they also get rid of the worldly ties.)

Similarly Devil gets menifested in the minds of his followers when the negativities are on a decline and strengthens the negativities and stops any dominance of postivities so that such person never get emancipated.

There are many very powerful negativities like Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment, Pride/Ego, Jealousy, Hatred  (Wickedness) etc.  They all are even individually capable for the ruin of a person.  If they combine together they can bring catestrophy.

We will describe the genesis, rise and control of all these negativities in the minds of the human beings. We will also discuss their utility if any and the extent to which they can be utilized. There are positive attitudes also like Devotion, Belief, Strength, Stillness, Control, Kindness, Sympathy, Empathy, Shame, Repentance, Shyness, Wisdom, Detachment, Truth, Industriousness, Courage etc. We will also describe the genesis, rise and control as well as utility of these positivities in the minds of human being in the next chapters of this book. By understanding these positive and negative attitudes a person can behave in a manner that all of them are perfectly balanced and he remains cool, calm, and satisfied. The Urdu poet Trilok Chand Mehroom has said that-

Kyun Sunayen Sabko Hale-Abtar Apna.
Jab Isme Kusoor Ho, Sarasar Apna
Ham Koste Hain Mukaddar Ko Nadeem.
Amaal Se Banta Hai, Mukaddar Apna.

Now we will wee the scientific aspect of the God or the supreme concious.The religious belief and the concept are generated by electromagnetic impulses originating from an special part of the brain.  Andrew Newberg who is a professor at Penisylvanaia University has seen through Brain Imaging Technique that the beliefs and concept regarding Religion and God are generated from a  Nerve  Network which was named by him as ‘Belief Network’.  Before this it was believed that Gods’ Spot in the human brain is activated by praying and meditation.  Now it is known that the temporal lobes and some other places in the human brain interact with each other to create all the religious, godly and spiritual experience.  Michael Persinger who is a scientist at Laurentian University, Ontario has generated these experiences by inducing powerful electromagnetic waves on the minds of some volunteers.  Some scientists believe that in the human beings there is a natural tendency for super natural experiences.  Therefore those persons who were away totally from religious beliefs since childhood they get them in the later stages. 

The only way to know ‘Aatman’ (soul) and the ‘ Paramatnam’ (God) is Spirituality, Spirituality is defined by the social science as the
                        “Search for the sacred”.


“A transcendent dimension within human experience, discovered in moments in which the individual questions the personal existence and attempts to place the self within a broader ontological context”.

 In the modern times Spirituality has come to mean the internal experience of the individual. Spirituality is now also associated with mental health. In fact Spirituality leads one to find the purpose and the meaning of life and of living. It is the only way to reach the ultimate states of devine consciousness. Meditation is the technique to attain it. In deeper meditation, the devotees consciousness penetrates into the three realms, epitomized therein i.e. super consciousness, realization of the atman/soul and one ness with the supreme soul or the Paramatman, or cosmic consciousness, also known in our shaskas as Kutastha chaitanya and in Bibelic traditions as Christ consciousness. The man who has attained this state is called Siddha, this state is also called stated of Nirwana or Kevalya Gyan, and emancipateion/nirvikalp Samadhi.

The literal meaning of the term ‘spiritual’ is ‘concerning with the spirit’.

The term ‘Spirit’ means animating or vital principle in man and animals. It also means from ‘Soul’. In the bibilical context Spirituality means from ‘ Being Animated by God’, to be driven by the Holy Spirit (Param Atman) In the medieval period the meaning changed. Spirituality began to denote mental aspect of life, as opposed to the material and sensual aspects of life. Initially Spirituality was deeply connected with religion but later on spirituality became disconnected from religion. Spirituality became, reaching to the true  self by self disclosure, free expression and meditation. Modern Spirituality is centred on the “deepest values and meanings by which the people live”.

            In the Modern Spirituality the word ‘Spiritual Experience’ plays a central role as in the modern theology the term ‘religious experience’ plays an important role. Spiritual Experiences can include being connected to a larger reality, yielding a more comprehensive self, goining, with other individuals or humans. Spiritualism can be practiced. The various spiritual practices may include, meditation, mindfulness, prayer, contemplation, ethical development, positivity etc. Love and /or Compassion are often described as mainstay of the spiritual development. There are four forms of Spiritual Practices:-

1.     Somatic Practices, especially Deprivation and Diminishment. The Deprivation purifies the body. Diminishment concerns the repulsement of ego-orinted impulses.
2.     Psychological Practices, for example Meditation.
3.     Social Practices e.g. practice of obedience and communal ownership. Change of Ego Orientedness into Other Orientedness.
4.     Spirit related practices.

         
All these practices aim at purifying the Ego- Centerdness and direct the abilities at the Devine Reality, and attaining divine reality, is the mythical attainment of the God.



There are five themes of Spirituality i.e. compassion, selflessness,  right livelihood, meditation, religious pluralism. We will in short describe them one by one.

Compassion: - Is the feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for others who are stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate their suffering. It’s a superior form of empathy and sympathy.

Selflessness: - Is the opposite of the selfishness. Working without any self interest in the fruits of the work is called selflessness. It is the path of ‘karma yoga’ depicted by Bhagvat Geeta, which leads to the union with God. It is certainly not co-dependency or workaholism. There are many workaholics who think that they are giving selfless service because their sense of the self is confused with their job and they work with the objectives of attaining the maximum.

Meditation: - Is any practice by which one gets cool and calm mind and an emancipated or dettached soul. There are several such practices in vogue now. We will dwell on this theme in the end of the book as it’s the way by which you can manage the emotions the best.

Right livelihood: - It’s the theme of engaging one only in the works that do not cause other people or even animals to suffer. It espouses care of people, generosity, compassion, justice, respect for others and sensitivity for the common good. It is opposed to the single mindedly focused efficiency or productivity maximization.

Religious pluralism: - It’s the theme of peaceful co-existence of all the faiths and beliefs and toleration as opposed to fanaticism.

With Spirituality its very easy to come over with all the negativities. If there are too many negativities coming from all the other sectors of life then the Spirituality sector can be the only sector of life which can save you from them. So developing Spirituality and the pure and simple belief in the Super Conscious one can lead a very contended and satisfied life and a blissful existence which is the ultimate goal of the Management of Emotions. Now we come to the scientific but metaphysical constitution of the living beings and the entire universe in which they live. The human body has been learnt to have four sheaths. The first and the foremost is the subtle Body of energy made up of lifetrons and it is called as the ‘Prana’ or the ‘soul’ three more sheaths encase this soul/Atman. The first is the casual Body. Essentially, man as a soul is a casual bodied being. His casual body is an idea matrix for the Astral Body and the Physical Body. The casual Body is composed of 35 idea elements corresponding to 19 elements of the Astral Body and the 16 basic elements of the Physical Body. Casual Body is attached to ideational world of thought. This state residing in casual universe of ideas and thoughts only one has to evolve sufficiently through meditation and spirituality to transcend the physical and Astrae universe surrounding the physical and the Astral sheaths.
         
          What ever a physical body can do in imagination, a casual body can do it actually, the only limitation being the thought itself. When the sadhak penetrates this casual sheath his soul/atman is realized and his sprit merges with the universal soul/sprit.
Mans Astral Body is made up of nineteen elements, intelligence, ego, feeling, sense organs & five senses i.e. sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, the work organs and five basic works related to them i.e. procreation, excretion, speech locomotion and skills. These five instruments of life force perform the involuntary actions of circulation, metabolization, assimilation, crystallization and elimination. The subtle light emanating from the prana /atman /sole is the structrural essence of the astral world. This astral light may be perceived by deeper meditation. The astral world is subtle sphere/universe of light and colour composed of fines than atomic forces i.e. vibration of life energy or lifetrons (Prana). Every being, every object, every vibration on the material plane has an astral counter part, for in the astral universe is the blue print of out material universe. At the death of the physical body, the soul of the man, clothed in this astral body of light, ascends or descends to one of the higher or lower astral planes, according to the merits of the deeds to continue the spiritual elevation/evolution in the greater freedom of that subtle realm. These it remains for a karmically predetermined time until physical rebirth.

          The outer most sheath of the sould is the physical body which we see and look at ourslf. It is made up of sixteen basic material elements the cosmic vibrations (Acm) structure all the physical creation, including mans physical body, through the manifestation of five basic elements known as Panch Maha Bhoota Tattva i.e. Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. All the other elements discovered by the science of modern era are part of the one or the other five basic elements and can be found from there. Earth constitutes the solid matter of our body. Water constitutes all the liquid ingredients of our body including the blood and all the other so called ‘Rasas’. The Air constitutes all the gaseous ingratiates in our body  including the ‘Panch Vayus’ (Prana, Apana, Udan, Vyana & Saumana). The fire elements are keeping warmth of all our body parts by giving the energy and is also responsible for all our metabolic activities. And the ether/Aakash/vyoma is the back grounder and unifier of the other four principal elements as the entire cosmos rests only in Ether. Besides this in our mythology and spiritualism we have three basic gunas or character which manifest strictly according to their inherent qualities. They are satva (Buddhi) rajas (Mana) and Tamas (Ahankar). Every living being has there basic eight ingredients in his/its physical body as the entire nature is made up of these eight principal ingradients and in our shashtras its called as Ashtdha Mool prakriti. Eight Principal Elements and their eight manifestations constitute  the sixteen elements of our physical body.


                                                                                       Pavan Kumar Sharma
                                                                               Chief Commissioner of Income-tax,
                                                                                              Hubli ( Karnataka )