Hindu Gods and Goddesses

  Why do the Hindus worship so many Gods and Goddesses and still say, 'God is One'? The answer is simple. Bhagavan Sri Krishna says that "He manifests in many forms". He also says that He is Mahavishnu". Vishnu pervades the entire universe as Consciousness and chit shakti.. So, it is but natural that the Hindus worship all the manifest forms of the Lord such as cow, bull (nadi vehicle of Shiva), dogs who accompany Dattatreya and Yamadharmaraya), crow (Lord Shani's vehicle), peacock (vahana of Devi Saraswati), serpent (on which the Lord Vishnu rests), Lion (the vehicle of Devi Durgamata), etc. The Hindus worship plants, herbs, and tress, Since everything is pervaded by the Lord and Bhagavan reiterates that He only manifests in what all is created by Him. No wonder, everything is divine, but display the attributes of prakruti due to ignorance of its true nature. Even the elements like air, fire and water re divine manifestations and are worshiped by the Hindus as Gods. One can count 33,333 Gods and Goddesses and narrate their divine attributes. All the Gods and Goddesses are nothing but the creative energy and Force of One supreme Lord Sri Hari Narayana. The power vested in the Gods are symbolically shown as number of hands and armaments painted and sculptor. The principle that 'God created man and man, in turn, created God. Man painted and cut stones, wood and metal to display and worship Gods! It is the faith and belief system that encourage building temples and install devi devata to  play and worship.

   Those ignorant of the symbolism and imageries behind the number of Gods make fool of themselves criticizing Hindus and their faith belief system. There is no other religion in the world that treat fellow human beings, birds, and animals as divine manifestations. The only race in the world that proclaim and  preach, practice peace and treat universal brotherhood. The Hindus treat the world as one family that include birds and animals, too.       

Escape Route (Muktipath)

  "Come to Me, I shall take care of you" says the Lord. Are we ready to go to Him? 

  Having arrived on  this earth where everything is subject to change, destruction and dissolution as mrutyu loka, is there an escape route, mukti marga? Yes. Where there is will there is a way. If one desires to get out of this eternal bondage, one should try to read the Bhagavad-Gita and adhere to the principle, as also, follow the advice of the Lord. The supreme Lord is seated within as the Self of all.

  Now, the question of even thing about the nature of our existence is a very important thing for all the jivas that look for redemption. One should know where he is before looking for or moving towards the goal or destination. Realization come too late for some and never ever for most of us. Thus, the question of looking forward does not arise at all.

   One should know the fact that earth is a living planet. It is the ideal planet for all sorts of growth and evolution, One has to evolve from stage to stage here. It all starts from an insect or a blade of grass to Gods, divine beings, souls realizing their true divine nature. So, one has to strive for purification of mind, buddhi and svabhava and attain to the divine state of saints. 

  Every human being should realize the true nature of existence of the jiva and strive for emancipation by an incessant effort of yajnya, dana, tapas after gaining jnyan, viveka and vairagya. 

Who Am I?

 This is a very important question that one should inquire in order to attain to the 'Self', Atmasakshatkara. One should turn inward before it is too late in life. It is the nature of the jiva to wander everywhere in search of peace, joy and happiness, It is endowed with all the intelligence to know, understand and attain what it intimately desires. But, alas, it looks elsewhere when it is easily attainable within. It is only an attained jnyani, a 'guru' who can guide in this matter. An attained jnyani is powerful enough to transform a devoted disciple by mere touch or look! One day, the jiva contemplated on the Self and realized that... 

 "I am not the body, i am not the senses, the buddhi or the ego that rules my life from birth to death, binding me to the worldly existence and bind me eternally. I never realize the fact that I have descended to this death-knell and take repeated births after deaths with no end in sight. There is no other way but to seek a learned, attained person, to take me by hand and help cross this mrutyu lok. I did not realize the fact that what i am doing here is not helpful in any way to redeem myself from this repeated births and deaths."

 Thus, the jiva prayed the supreme Lord to help, guide, and redeem him. The supreme Lord took pity on the tormented jiva and sent a guide, a teacher. This is how a sincere seeker will get help and guidance when ardently prays for help. The Bhagavad-Gita comes handy and the Lord Himself speaks here. There is no better guide than this. The scriptures, too, need some wise teacher to properly interpret and impart the instructions. Nothing is easy in this inward journey.

  Finally, one has to withdraw from all sorts of indulgences in the external world. the senses are wayward and the mind is not interested in redemption, mukti, moksha. It is not seeking wise counsel from the Conscience. The perverted intelligence is mischievous and makes the foolish jiva suffer. It is attributed to prarabhda karma. The jiva never realizes the fact that 'Desire' is the root cause of all sufferings. When the jiva realises this, it turns away from all worldly attraction and seeks solace in the 'Self'. The jiva that rests in peace with its Self is a self-established one and needs no external help to be happy. The Gita reiterates that a jiva that is established in its Self is the fulfilled one and attains Him.

 

   

 

 

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Are We Aliens?

 Going by the horoscopes that indicate the birth star and the planetary positions in the twelve houses, the jiva is destined to be what it should be! Every step of life is predetermined as per this. It is prarabhda, karma, or whatever one calls it. Thus, it is open to question whether the jiva is independent having its own free lance? The jiva-rashi are the product  or by-product of soil and water as far as its terrestrial existence is concerned. But the chaitanya, prana, manas, buddhi and ahankar are all non-terrestrial! 

  The source of life is traced to the electromagnetic waves- the Light and energy emitted by Stars-near and far off! The stars are not permanent entities. They too are born and die out. Some are dwarf, and some giants. Some stars are far far away from the earth, but their emission can still influence us! The fundamental particles, the neutrons, fermions, the bosons and all that indicate the mysterious ways the nature works. Each and every star is different in structure and composition. Some are found to be made of gold, silver, and other precious minerals. All these stars are initially in gaseous state and turn into other forms as they undergo cooling and condensation. The fundamental particles are the same in the beginning, but undergo transformation later. Hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are the first to form. Water vapor, ice and water are different forms of the same combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Carbon, calcium, chlorine, etc.are all formed in a gradual process. The earth is made up of Nickel, iron, titanium, magnesium and all other minerals are formed in a gradual transformation of the basic elements. The aluminum and silicon are the lightest on the surface as compared to nickel and iron at the core of the earth. More than 78 percent of the earth's surface is covered by water and the heavier magmatic material supports the vast and deep oceans . It is still a wonder how life forms appeared on the earth!

 In fact, the emissions of rays of light of stars are the source of life. In this sense of the term the life on earth is the end product of these emissions! The elements that constitute the stars decide the things to come! Thus we, the humans, are all 'Light' only. Light means just not only the light, but also include Intelligence (I), Gravitation (G), heat (H), Time (T). The energy derived from the stars sustain the life to the extent the body can utilize and survive; however, the body is gross and depends on extraneous matter for its support like soil (food), water, air and the like

  Thus, everything is interdependent and the jiva is a link in the chain. The soul is the core, focus of the circle of vast universe! jivatman and paramatman are one!

     

Transmigration of Souls

When a person dies, it is stated that only the physical body is consigned to fire or buried. But what happens to the souls very interesting. If the desire of the dead person is to fulfill his unfinished tasks, he/she will definitely take birth in a family that desires a child and that too which can support this jiva seeking help and support. So, the question of rebirth is certain, and that too, in a family that can support and help fulfill its desire. it is also stated that the soul remains in the place where its body was discarded and is driven out by the Vedic chants on the specific days when the family priest performs the rites. Some times it waits outside the house where it died and enters the food of the couple desirous of having child, normally on the thirteenth day function! It is also stated that there is a seven-life rebirth cycle in the same family donning different roles!

 What is soul? Does it migrate? Whether the Soul is capable of taking any form it likes? Whether a person can take birth wherever he/she likes? These are some of the questions that make us think seriously about human life on earth and its travails. To answer these questions, it must be made clear whether the soul is a real entity like the energy, force, light, magnetism, or it is something else? In fact we do not know all the answers. It may be termed as 'energy', may be pranic that supports life forms unlike coal or oil. Also, it maybe a special type of power that that can function in any number of ways! The scriptures speak of prakruti (Nature) that shapes life. It also speaks of the purusha, the seed of life. Together, these prakruti and purusha. The science speaks of the same in a different tone and different languages. There is not much difference.

 It may be fairly said that life is nothing but energy, prana in animals and plants., It is energy, or even fire (indhana) in matter as in coal, oi and natural gas. Now, it is curious to know how matter and energy are two distinct entities that can change mutually by mere vibration at different wave lengths, frequency and intensity! Energy becomes Matter and Matter can be reversed into Energy. Einstein gave us the formula that Energy is equal to mass into velocity square. Now this applies to life-energy, too. In fact all that exist here on the earth, including the Planets and their satellites, owe their existence to Sun, the Star, the chief source of all energy forms. As an energy particle, the prana can move without any restriction. the Atman is also energy, and as such, can move and take any form of matter- physical, chemical, or biological as per the nature's dictat! 

  When a person dies, it is the physical, gross, body of flesh and bones that become diseased, disintegrated and disappears into soil from which it came into existence. It is the soil that supports the jiva, life forms, with food. Water and air are the mainstay of life. All these are energy in one form or the other! In fact, everything is energy and its manifestations. Now these bodies that appear and disappear are short-lived due to their inherent physical nature. But the Atman, soul, remains as the pure form energy, unborn and eternal. It can freely move and take any form it desires. The epic Garuda purana narrates the travails of the soul. A person whose body withers and soul leaves will have to cross the realms of vyahruti (bhu, bhuvah, etc.) in order to escape the shackles of rebirth. Since desire binds it to the bhu, bhuvah and  higher realms, the escape velocity is not sufficient and returns to the realms of bhu or bhuvah. Thus we find the myriads of life forms in the entire space, in one form or the other. Heavier the specific gravity of the soul, nearest the earth and gross its form will be. Thus there is nothing higher or lower in these life forms. All are biological matter subject to brith death and decay. There is no special significance to life unless the jiva strives to attain its pure state of Energy losing all its traits and heavy luggage or burden of karma. Once born  human, choice is there to escape the clutches of this prakruti in the form of time space and causality!

Did All Life-forms Appear Simultaneously?

 Today, we find almost eighty crores of life forms on earth! The question arises whether all these different forms appear simultaneously or at different geological times. The earliest forms are traced to 250 million years. The Archean era marks the beginning of life. Paleozoic era is said to be the starting point of well developed life forms. There are five distinct periods of time when different life-forms appeared- say, from amoeba to fish, frog, reptiles and birds. There are slow gradual transformations adapting to environment like aquatic to amphibian, arboreal to mammals, and leading to the primates- monkey and man. There may be further development, too, who knows?

  The spiritual texts state that life appeared simultaneously. It is stated that "The Lord said, I Am Alone, I shall be many". Eko'ham bahusyami! Lo, there appeared myriads of life forms. "He created and entered into it", is another scriptural statement. tad srushtva tadevaanupravishat ! When He, the Lord, created, it was not functioning. So entered into it through the hole in the head (brahma randhra), and settled in the heart! Thus, it is very clear that what all that exist is the creation of the Lord.

 Now, the question arises, "What is the purpose of Life? Actually, "Life is just to Live" Beyond this there is nothing!" However, it may be added, "Life is to realize who we are and why we are here?" Yes. The human life form is endowed with power of thinking. So it is apt to say, one should realize the purpose of all this existence. One take recourse to scriptural studies and find out the goal of life. Human life is a waste if one does not realize the secret of creation and the purpose of all this struggle for existence. In fact, to visualize the Creator is the first purpose of life according tp Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, He says, "Parameshwara darshanam eve purushartha sadhanan". 

 The ultimate joy and happiness rests within oneself and this can be experience in absolute silence!

Of Births and Deaths

 Perhaps it is only the Planet Earth that hosts a variety of living creatures from the tiniest germs to the gigantic whales and elephants! But, this does not preclude  existence of life elsewhere! The first simplest form of protozoa are the mollusks and algae. A little moisture, sunlight and soil will do to create life. Water is the supporter of life. In a way, the Sun is the chief source of energy for all that exists. The distance from the sun decides the light, heat and the life supporting ingredients for life on the earth. But, the wonders of all wonders is how the cell division and multiplication creates the multifarious life forms! The first impregnated cell contains all the knowledge, technology and memory for building up what it desires. So, the wise said, "Desire is Brahmn". But for the desire, there is no chance for multiplication. This is evident from the life of all that exist. No desire, no life.

 The scientists have made much progress in discovering the secrets of 'Cell'. A simple biological entity is created out of a physical entity like a mineral! A virus is a good example. The five basic elements that create and sustain life are the Oxygen and hydrogen gaseous elements. Together the form water in which the life begins. A cell has a protein cover which holds amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and all that is required for a lifeform. The proteins are numerous, may be around two lacs, and vitamins are many and varied. The Intelligence stored in these is beyond human ingenuity to even guess! One single impregnated cell becomes a tissue, organ, and body! Each function of different cells that is borne out of the mother cell is beyond our imagination. There perfect symmetry in design and execution of the divine plan. However, everything decays, disintegrated and disappears in matter of time. Thus, the question remains. What for is all these creation and dissolution? 

  May it be said, it's the lila of the Lord. Bhagavan Shree Krishna Says, "I Am the Self of All". I only exist and nothing besides Me.  If it is so, then, what is it we know?