Who is God— a person or a principle?
By Vivek Sharma
This is a very interesting question and you will find myriad answers to this from great sages, philosophers, yogis and modern day rationalists. That is all right.
But, what does God say about Himself? The moment you mull over His words on Himself, you will come to know that He is talking about the principle and not a personality. That is something praiseworthy about Indian God, at least. You go through any of the religious books, specially, the Bhagwad Gita, Devi Gita, Durga Samhita and Devi Mahatimya, you will find God talking about Himself. In the Mahabharata and the Puranas too, you will find such episodes where God is talking about Himself, His nature and His job.
Resonating Principle
However, you find the resonance of the same principle in every religion and religious thought, though indirectly. But, it doesn’t matter as long as the expression is essentially pointer to one fact.
The Bible says, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.” John 1:5.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”Genesis.
“God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world.”
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrew 4:12
The Quran also says that Allah (that is God) is all powerful, all merciful and the creator and sustainer of the worlds.
The language and expressions may be different but the content is the same that is God is all powerful, all present, the creator, the maintainer and the destroyer. They all are pointing towards the Basic Ruling Principle, maybe imperfectly, but the message is the same. They have heard from God what He is like and the essence is that He is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. There is no particular form and there is no denial of a form either by Him, especially in the Indian texts where God is reported as talking to His devotee. All that God says is that He is everything—the forms that you recognise and the ones you don’t. The rest are observations of the interpreters, which may be flawed, imperfect or partial to some extent.
Let’s be objective
What all these observations indicate is that God is a principle which is dynamic —creating, maintaining and destroying. The destructive nature of God has been boldly declared in the Indian texts with God Himself saying,
अहं नारायणो नाम प्रभवः शाश्वतो अव्ययः।
विधाता सर्वभूतानां संहर्ता च द्विजोत्तम ।। “I am known as the principle Narayan, which is the cause of all creation, designer of all and destroyer too.” This is from the Mahabharata, where God Himself is revealing Himself to Markandeya rishi. In the Rigvediya Sukta, The Divine Mother (God principle) reveals Himself as, अहंरुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्
The essence is that God is a principle active everywhere and an idea within an individual till that idea is manifested as the principle everywhere from inside out.
What is Principle in form?
During the discussion with Markandye rishi, God reveals His Principle form, dashing all the belief systems who don’t believe in a form. He says, अग्निराख्यं क्षितिः पादौचन्द्रादित्यौ च लोचने ।
द्यौर्मूर्धा खं दिशः श्रोत्रे तथापः स्वेदसम्भवाः ।।
सदिशं च नभः कायो वायुर्नसि मे स्थितः ।
मया क्रतुशतैरिष्टं बहुभिः स्वाप्तदक्षिणैः ।।. Essentially, He says the fire is His mouth, the earth is His feet, moon and sun His eyes. Brilliance His head. The space and directions His ears. The water is perspiration of His body. His body is the space with all the directions included. The air rests in His heart.
Now you can take it as a form. But, essentially this form is principle driven. The mouth, the head, the hands and feet, the body, the ears, all represent the principle in its executive mode. I can detail it. But, it will be a digression from the main subject. It is suffice to know that God’s body as defined by Him is nothing but an arrangement of Cosmic principles operating in their dynamic form. The details of it are found in discourses 10 and 11 of the Bhagwad Gita.
What God is telling?
He is simply telling us that He is the universal, eternal operative principle, which applies to the entire creation, particle and body therein. Whether it is you or me or them, the principle is equally operative in all. The question arises why so many forms are found in His name. All such forms are the same principle in action. A principle can be given a form and meditated upon. When you know there is a force called gravitation. You can know this principle, make its form and meditate upon it. The forms are for ease of understanding, they in no way diminish the principle behind them. So chill!
Man as God?
Krishna makes it all clear. If you begin to manifest the principle inside out, you become the principle even if you appear to be in a human form. They confuse such persons as humans, though they are not, they are manifestation of the principle. He says in the Bhagwad Gita Shloka 24, Discourse 7—अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिमापन्नं मन्यन्ते मामबुद्धयः। परंभावमजानन्तो…Those whose mind is oppositely oriented, can’t see beyond the senses, take Me, the Supreme Energy (Supreme Principle) as a human being only…” Here He is saying that when He is manifesting the Supreme Principle, He is not an ordinary human being. He is अव्यक्तं , the One who cannot be ever defined by a व्यक्ति। But, of course, he can manifest the principle from relative to absolute degrees. By using the term Supreme Energy for Himself, He is simply telling us that He is a dynamic continuity, which is beyond the body dimensions people see Him in. Here again He is saying that all forms are principle led.
Therefore, God is trying to tell us all that He is the Supreme Principle, Supreme Energy, Intelligent Energy. Manifesting Him is the only purpose of human life. Krishna is not important, principle is important. Krishna Himself proves it in the Bhagwad Gita. Though He is talking to Arjuna in His Krishna form, but it is nowhere Krishna Uvach (Krishna said). It is Bhagwan Uvach, the Supreme Principle said. Think!