A Conversation

X: Do you believe in God ?
Y: Before I answer your question , let me ask you something.
How do you define God ?
X:( thinks for sometime).It's interesting point. Let me define God in terms of Hindu trinity.Brahma the creator ,Vishnu the sustainer and Mahesh the destroyer of the universe. God is someone who does all this stuff. So you see he does pretty complicated things.
Y: Let's for the moment leave aside the second and third point and discuss the first .You see God as the creator.How do you define creation?
X: Well ,creation in general means making or constructing something from some raw materials.For example if you are making a boat you need wood and the tools .If you are writing a book your raw materials are your thoughts ,perceptions and your real life experiences.
But here creation specifically means the creation of universe as we experience it with our senses.
But here lies the difference.In our day to day life experience to create something we need to have some raw materials But how do we define the raw materials for the source of universe ?
Y: Yes, exacty that is my point.We are trying to define God and his activities in terms of our worldly definitions and ideas. Here lies the problem .Our ideas of creation ,time ,space and matter are influenced by our perception of the world through our senses .This perception shapes our idea of the reality.
X:So you are trying to say that what our senses see is an illusion or maya as the Hindu scriptures put it and not the reality.
Y: What I am trying to say is what we experience is only one aspect of reality.You can call it maya because it does not represent the ultimate reality.
X:And what is ultimate reality ?
Y:Here you get the answer to my first question. The ultimate reality or truth is what we call God.
X: So that's your definition of God.
Y: You can call it a definition if you want.
To understand it let's look at physics.Physics and spiritual philosphy have one thing in common. Both of them aim to know the truth .
But apparently their approaches are quite opposite ,poles apart as you may say so.
X: Yes ,the age old conflict of religion and science.
Y: The interesting thing is the realm of physics.This realm of physics extends from the microscopic to the whole universe ,in other words every thing that exists. But we humans can perceive only a part of this world with our naked eyes. As physicists have found the same laws which accurately define the macroscopic world (the human world) fail to describe the world of atoms or black holes. So in a way concept of reality changes in these extreme dimensions.We perceive everything in this world in terms of matter space and time. Their definition and properties change in these extreme realities.In relativity cause and effect do no exist.They loose their conventional meaning.The words like existence and non-existence do not exist in conventional sense.
What science believed to be fundamental principle that the future can be accurately described if we can completely know the present no more holds true.
X: So what is your point ?
Y: Same is the case with God. You are trying to define God in terms of conventional logic ,ie our conventional definition of space ,time and matter.
X: And that can't be done ?
Y: Yes ,in the same way as in physics.
Spiritually you can chose your way to see the God in whatever way you want. You can find God in love , prayers ,stone idol or fire.
If you know it then basically it's your choice. You can choose to call God Krishna or Allah .There is a saying in Vedas that God is one but men choose different ways to reach him. God is nothing but the ultimate truth ,the unity of all things and the reason behind every reason.
The beauty of science is that it is based on logic and observation. So it is ready to accept anything based on these two principles even if it goes against established laws.Science is part of the creation .Science does say that there is no proof that God exists. But it also admits that there is nothing to deny its existence.
The problem with religion is that at times it is very rigid whereas science is always flexible..Religion is not just about God .It also includes the cultural aspect.In our day to day existence the cultural part of the religion dominates.
It's priciples are based on the world that existed when the religion was founded.
That's why in Hinduism cow is sacred and in Christianity Church believed that earth is centre of universe .
As a human you have complete freedom to make your own choices.You however ,can't deny the truth. It's your choice how you want to experience the truth.