Nature of God based on Hinduism

In Hinduism, people believe in various gods Eg: Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Devi, Hanuman, Saraswathi, Ganesh, Skandam, Ayyappa etc., So, the question that comes to any sane person is,

How come there are so many gods ?
Do all of them have same powers ?
Do I have to ask them for something specific that each God has control over ?
Why is it so complicated ?

After studying/observing/listening some scriptures like Ramayana, Gita, Bhagavatham etc., I realized that there is a guiding principle for devotion towards any of the deities.

"There is no place in this Universe where God doesn't exist". 

One may ask these questions immediately, "Is god in bad people/things/happenings as well". Strangely, the answer is Yes. Because it depends on how we define the God. For many of us,  God is Infinite & Time-independent. So, if God is not there in any particular thing, God becomes Finite. So, God has to be Infinite, so God exists in everything. Period. It means that God has no specific name/sound and no specific shape/picture as God is omnipresent (many religions agree to it).

Now, the next logical question is, if God exists in bad persons (as an example), why does he indulge in bad activities.

This led me to discover something called Consciousness that exists in everything. Some realize (Eg: Some Humans like Ramana maharshi) & some don't to it's full extent (Eg: Remaining Humans, Animals, Rocks etc.,). So, this Consciousness is masked by various layers that're not permanent by the nature of the object we're talking about.

Eg: Human Consciousness - masked by attachment to relationships, money, food etc.,

So, based on some reading, I understood that as & when these layers are removed (renunciation), one realizes the god within & hence the saying "Aham Brahmasmi" (similar to Self-Actualization --> tip of Maslow's hierarchy of needs). In that state, one realizes god in oneself & also everything and experiences a state of bliss (not trance) that one is part of this eternal cosmic equation; nobody can separate the one from it (Advaita Philosophy - meaning there is no dvaitha (meaning two); Everything is in one god).

Worships of different deities are baby steps to achieve this "Aham Brahmasmi". It means that, irrespective of one's belief (multiple gods, one god or no god), if some one can actually feel the oneness with the Universe, then they actually attained Moksham (Salvation - part of God).

So, bad persons have God in them but got masked by these layers. In order to deal with this perplexity, Hinduism suggests action (karma) based on Dharma (righteous thing). Some elements of Dharma change over time & one has to perform karma based on Dharma prevailing at that time (similar to law/being legal in modern world).

Special note on interaction between Advaitha & Karma.
Hinduism supports Bhava-Advaitha meaning seeing godliness in everything (Living and Non-living). More like, connecting to oneness everywhere. This should not be mingled with Karma-Advaitha, meaning treating everything & everybody as same. Karma-Advaitha is not advocated by Hinduism as it is violates philosophy of Dharma. One should perform Karma based on what is right thing to do (Eg: Seeing Godliness in Bad person is Bhava-Advaitha, but treating Bad person as God is Karma-Advaitha, is in direct violation to Dharma. So, bad person should be punished for his bad karma based on Advaitha philosophy)

Blessed (Sthitha Pragna) is the one who does the right thing in material word based on duty and in spiritual world based on experiencing god in everything.

So, here comes our second guiding principle,

"If one does good karma, one gets good karma; If one does bad karma, one gets bad karma; it's like an infinite cycle - what goes around comes around. One should perform Karma based on prevailing Dharma at that time"

We have to note that Karma gets real confusing at times (Eg: Tiger is hungry, it ate a deer. Deer's point of view, it's bad karma for Tiger eating it; Tiger's point of view it's good karma as it's satiated it's hunger); so one has to apply Dharma (law + moral sense) to attach good/bad from one's point of view.  Irrespective of their belief towards god (multiple, one, for some one who believe the very nature is God), the above guiding principle comes into effect all the time in Hinduism.

So, next logical question is, if Karma is deciding everything, why do I require understanding of God/Self-Realization. Well, not many people want to be part of this karma cycle as it's pretty ruthless & also mundane at times and there is no stoppage from being involved in this cycle unless one realizes God within where there is no manah: only budhdhi: exists.

Essentially, based on my understanding, Hindusim is not a religion of god, it's a way of life to realize god with below guiding principles

"There is no place in this Universe where God doesn't exist" 

"If one does good karma, one gets good karma; If one does bad karma, one gets bad karma; it's like an infinite cycle - what goes around comes around. One should perform Karma based on prevailing Dharma to ultimately come out of this cycle and realize God forever"

In other terms, one can be called Hindu irrespective of the god they believe in if

"Every slightest particle (like electron) is manifestation of God - God is omnipresent (Bhava-Advaitha only & definitely not Karma-Advaitha)"

"Do Karma based on Dharma (Law + Moral sense - Righteous thing), realize God forever"



Sources:
Knowledge from Family & Friends
Ramayana: https://www.readramayana.org/
Vedanta: Lectures by Sri Garikapati Narasimha Rao garu (YouTube)
Bhagavatham: http://www.brahmasri.com/Bhagavatam
Bhagavdgita: https://www.asitis.com/

Just an important point, I tried to listen/read from these sources, applied some thought process to filter what is relevant in this context & assimilated some ideas that I thought made sense for this topic.

Bheema's Smile :)

Bheema's smile (as heard from Sri Garikapati garu) - 

One day a Brahman asks Dharma Raja for daanam, but Dharma raja just finishing a big daanam campaign and feels very tired. He asks the Brahman to come next day and assures him that he gets Daanam appropriately. 

Bheema observing the whole episode gives a smile and Dharma Raja noticing Bheema's smile, asks for the reason behind the smile. Bheema says, "Brother, I'm not sure if I would ask Brahman to come tomorrow if I were in your place". Dharma Raja, asks Bheema for the reason behind and Bheema says, I'm not sure if I'll be alive tomorrow and definitely don't want to lose this opportunity to do my job of giving the Brahman who asked for Daanam. If I'm dead by tomorrow, I might have to take rebirth just to fulfill this promise I made to Brahman. 

Dharma Raja thanks Bheema, calls for Brahman immediately who's already on his way back home and offers him Daanam. 

Moral: Never lose opportunity to give Daanam to some one who is in need. We may not get that opportunity again

Please note: Bheema did not cry as much as Arjuna when his son (Ghatothkacha) died in battle meaning he knows how to be detached while being attached.

Art of Reward

In our life, for every effort we do, we expect a reward. Reward is not just money, it can be love, appreciation, reputation etc., At times we may find ourselves on the other side of the table, the giving side, where as a leader/manager/friend/family member etc., we'll be entrusted with responsibility to give rewards.

 Here is a good story that came as a forward message which made me thinking on the basis of reward & how situations can be so tricky & they may fool not just the person who has the responsibility to reward but even the person anticipating rewards.

So, here goes the story, Mr. A & Mr. B come from different backgrounds & meet on the way from Location 1 to Location 2. They meet accidentally, talk & do their journey together. Here comes Ms.C from nowhere but going towards that direction & meets Mr.A/Mr.B & they all do their journey together. Now, comes the lunch time & everybody starts feeling hungry. Mr.A has 7 Rotis with him, Mr.B has 2 Rotis with him, but unfortunately, Ms.C doesn't have anything to eat. All of them, now became friends decide to have the lunch together and so each of them eat 3 Rotis. Ms.C in return, wants to distribute 9 precious stones (precious stones in return for Roti...well, it's a story and let's not be too particular here :)). Now, comes the twist, how to distribute these precious stones among Mr.A/Mr.B.

Mr.B says that he should 4 stones & Mr.A should get 5 stones as Mr.A contributed majority of the shared Rotis.
Mr.A says that he should 7 stones & Mr.B should get 2 stones based on their roti contribution.

Let's just pause here & think about this problem. Let's note 2 important factors that decide the Reward in our daily tasks,

a) Contribution towards the effort --> Hard-work/Time/Efforts/Sacrifices etc.,
b) Achievement towards the effort --> Learning/Experience/Contacts/Reputation etc.,

Contribution side --> Mr.A-7 Rotis; Mr.B-2 Rotis
Achievement side --> Mr.A-3 Rotis; Mr.B-3 Rotis

 So, Mr.B is already achieved & even got 1 Roti more compared to what he contributed. So, yes, the answer is, all of them go to Mr.A

I hope this helps us to do a better job in situations like A-we ask for less/B-we ask for more/C-responsible for rewarding. 

Life after Death

Well...may be seeing the title, the top of mind's recall for many of the movie buffs like me would be just one thing.. "not another story" that has become a phenomena in many movies now a days. I can assure you guys not to be afraid as what i want to say is no where connected to it.

So, Life after death,,seems a very interesting topic, as it is something that humans till date could not understand but would love to know. The question is there a life after death? The spiritual answer to it is yes as many of our vedas say that there is existence of heaven and hell where one has to redeem the benefits of karma or may be fulfill the requirements of karma on a case to case basis. This is in fact widely believed and acclaimed in western part of the world too. So, is that the end of story.. I do not think so..

I think whole of the vedas and all our rich cultural framework by many religions that has been passed to us is something that is more logical and fundamental to the existence of human nature than what we think about them.

Lets take an example, just imagine if there is no doctrine of karma in existence, the way people behave would be very different and may be we would be more like wild animals preying on each other and think only about survival. but that is not the case, as we think, use our rational brains to draw conclusions on what we think is right and correct. Such is the power of karma, which is actually explained in the from of heaven and hell so that even a common man can understand that.

So, coming back to the main discussion after a bit of digression, is life there after death? I do not know whether there is rebirth/hell/heaven, but i believe that there is life after death. Just think of few persons who we like/ take inspiration from, who motivate us, who we look upon. I bet that not many of them are living physically, not many of them we see in our daily lives, but even in their physical absence, they live with us, they live in our minds, thoughts and our hearts. This is life which is irrelevant to death according to me.

This the power to influence not with the physical presence but just with the sheer action of deeds/ words. These things cannot die as there is no death to them. They exist everywhere and it is up to to us to find them and pour life into them and make them what they actually are : ETERNAL

Questions from mind..& heart..

Well, here comes the question I have in my mind from a very long time and recently formed a structure that helped me to understand the content and depth in a better way.

The eternal question is why we humans want to be free of everything that we assumed would bring peace and harmony to the society. The question is why we want to break the rules that we set for proper functioning of the system as a whole. The question is why we do not like ourselves for what we are and yearns to be someone else and in the process lose ourselves. The question is why we consider the most joyous moments are the ones in which we forget who we are. The question is why we like chaos.

Just for example, consider Mumbai local trains. The process to aboard a train is full of chaos, where people take pride in shouting, running ruthlessly, abusing others and thus making hell of a situation.

Is that we are so obsessed with the rules that we make for more controlled situations control us in a manner that we no longer remember the purpose of existence of the same rules. Is that what we want is a place to vent our frustrations and do not care about the guy in the other end for even a second, and carry on with the life as if it didn’t happen or it doesn’t matter.

Well who knows, gods must be really crazy and intelligent to develop us to what we are now...

Excellence

Yes, Excellence. I think it is not just a term, it is a process. If u ask me to give the best example for it, my answer would be Nature. Every process that nature adopts is an example of Excellence in doing things. Achieving it is quite a difficult task that involves lot of things that every HR personnel emphasises(donno how far they follow their own principles). So, here I'm mentioning this after watching a movie called 3 Idiots. As usual like previous Rajkumar Hirani and Vidu vinod chopra combination the movie is filled with humour that tries to convey something, be it heartful nature or Gandhian values. I think this time they have decided to show Excellence as their value and for this they chose Aamir khan as he's appropriate for Excellence in his own way. So, roughly the takeaway from the film is Excellence is followed by Success, though one has to be patient.
Now, we in our daily lives see lot of individuals, but somehow we perceive some of them to be quite satisfactory than others. This may be because of two reasons, one they don't care where their lives are going and the other who care, plan and execute what they think, plan to achieve. In this movie we see all the idiots excelling in whatever field they select. So, we care or maybe envy people like them and today I have heard a lecture from a person like him for the second time. The most engrossing part in the whole lecture was the way he was able to connect and cover the various issues that are arising out of discussion.I wish him all the luck and from bottom of my heart thank him for letting us know the things in a very interesting manner.
So, may be to become like them, we have to ask some of the toughest questions like what do we expect from life. Hope we get answers soon.

Chilukuru Venkateswara Swamy

On Sunday,27th Dec 2009, I visited the most famous and widely renown temple of Lord Venkateshwara in Chilukur, Hyderabad.

To know about the history of temple, Please visit: http://chilkurbalajitemple.blogspot.com/

This temple has a special significance in many ways, some of them are
1) There is no Hundi in the temple

2) It is believed that Lord is miraculous in fulfilling the wishes and aspirations of devotees.All the devotee has to do is believe in God and do 11 pradakshinas and pray for her wish.Once it gets fulfilled they have to do 108 pradakshinas.

We can observe a lot of youngsters doing this for the widely acclaimed "VISA" stamping.

There is also a Lord Shiva's temple adjacent to the Lord Balaji's temple.

Timings of the Temple : 5AM - 8PM

The good thing is we visited the temple at around 5:30PM and by the time the pradakshinas got over it was around 7:30PM.At that point of time they have allowed us inside the Sanctum Sanctorum of the temple and we were lucky enough to be very near to the deity and stay for some time.

They was also a call for volunteers to sell books(Rs5-Rs20/- each) and distribute Prasadam.

Overall it was a very good and happy experience, even though i had blisters on my feet that made me not to walk the following day(:-)). So I request all devotees to start early and do the Pradakshinas in a slow and study manner.Be careful with hot Sun as it may be the case if you go in the morning.

The temple is normally crowded and very crowded on Weekends and Holidays, but may be good if u go at 5-6AM.

These are some details about the route etc..,
Bus:6,5K,39-from Secunderabad to Mehdipatnam
Bus : 288D-from Mehdipatnam to Balaji Temple
Auto:20Rs(Sharing)
Distance:30KM(Approx.)
Road Condition:Good

Hope you too have a memorable trip.