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the concept of God, as is being assumed in various faiths, before we can zero on him further..
What I feel is that failing to understand what lies beyond death, brought us the concept of God as is found inAbrahamic faiths.
In Hinduism, the concept of God is flexible and we find them in the form of a beautful girl known as"Saraswati" to rueful "Mata Chandi"......
In Hinduism the gods are flesh and blood--so there is no question of not having god in Hinduism. Like if youconsider your mother to be an embodiment of goodness---you can worship her and she is your God. But thenin Abrahamic school we do not have this concept of human god and hence this question could be disturbingto them.
Now if God was there at the time of singularity then the question is where was he before that? Nowconversely if after great crunch, the masses assume singularity, then in between the transition period wheredoes god stay?
Another question is: if God made the universe, then where was he while making them......?
Dr.Albert Einstein said, "During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution human fantasy createdgods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate toinfluence, the phenomenal world".
However, what has given more ammunition to the believers is the concept which Dr.Einstein said tosuccinctly: "God does not play dice".
Bible depicts gods as a childish object who does everything to get the follower bow down before him.
In Islam the concept of god is almost the same---pandering to him 5 times a day, so that he blesses all. Thegod is more narcissit in Islam than in any other faith--he loves his slaves to butter him at any cost.
Therefore, god as a monolithic figure is always been an object of curiosity to the mankind. He is thought tobe an embodiment of strength but in the Bible he is shown as a weak figure sometimes.
Therefore we can conclude that the god of Abrahamic cults, might be just a figment of imagination. However,in Hinduism, when we have gods who marries and bears children, it is related to the everyday life of humanbeings.
However, here again the problem of philology could appear, if we try to combine these with Hindu religioustexts. Therefore, the concept of god remains as esoteric and arcane as ever.
subjective reality.
In this context, I would like to highlight a very interesting debate between Tagore and
Einstein, when they met at the latters Potsdam residence in 1930. Of the many things
that they discussed, they had a very interesting exchange on the question of reality and
universalism (excerpts from David L. Goslings Science and the Indian Tradition. (cites
Tagore), London: Routledge, p. 138):Einstein:Do you believe in the divine as isolated from the world?
Tagore:Not isolated. The infinite personality of man comprehends the universe. There
cannot be anything that cannot be subsumed by the human personality, and this provesthat the truth of the universe is human truth.
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Einstein:There are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe - the
world as a unity dependent on humanity, and the world as reality independent of the human
factor.
Tagore:The world is a human world the scientific view of it is also that of the scientific
man. Therefore, the world apart from us does not exist; it is a relative world, dependingfor its reality upon our consciousness. There is some standard of reason and enjoyment
which gives it truth, the standard of the eternal man whose experiences are made possible
through our experiences.
Einstein:Truth, then, or beauty, is not independent of man?
Tagore:What we call truth lies in the rational harmony between the subjective and
objective aspects of reality, both of which belong to the superpersonal man.
Einstein:We do things with our mind, even in our everyday life, for which we are not
responsible. The mind acknowledges realities outside of it, independent of it. For instance,
nobody may be in this house, yet that table remains where it is.Tagore:Yes, it remains outside the individual mind, but not the universal mind. The table
is that which is perceptible by some kind of consciousness we possess.
Einstein:If nobody were in the house the table would exist all the same, but this isalready illegitimate from your point of view, because we cannot explain what it means, that
the table is there, independently of us. Our natural point of view in regard to the
existence of truth apart from humanity cannot be explained or proved, but it is a belief
which nobody can lack not even primitive beings. We attribute to truth a superhuman
objectivity. It is indispensable for us this reality which is independent of our existence
and our experience and our mind - though we cannot say what it means.
Tagore:In any case, if there be any truth absolutely unrelated to humanity, then for usit is absolutely non-existing.
Much-much later, Ilya Prigogine (another Nobel Laureate) commented (quoted in Dutta,
Krishna & Robinson, Andrew (eds). Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man. New
York, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2009, p. 14):
The question of meaning of reality was the central subject of a fascinating dialog
between Einstein and Tagore. Einstein emphasized that the sciences had to be independent
of the existence of any observer. This led him to deny the reality of time as
irreversibility, as evolution. On the contrary Tagore maintained that even if absolutetruth could exist, it would be inaccessible to the human mind. Curiously enough, the
present evolution of science is running in the direction stated by great poet. (my
highlights)
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LIFE AND EXPERIENCE OF REALITY :
Thanks for sharing this interesting conversation. Kindly note that the conversation isabout human perspective and experience of Reality. We all know that planet Earth has
been in existence for billions of years and that man has arrived on planet Earth as a new
species in the most recent times of our long geological past. Earth has existed just likethat table in the house where there is no human person in whose consciousness the table
could exist. Both Tagore and Einstein speak about consciousness as a mental function and
tend to describe consciousness as a characteristic of higher intellectual function. I would
say that the table exists in the consciousness of all other living entities that exist on the
surface of that table and its body. Every single living entity, living cell is conscious of its
own state or condition of existence in its given environment. If a termite lives on the
table, it knows to convert the substance of the table to build its own body substance andits products. Each living entity lives by using and by interacting with other living entities
present in its environment. The table would also interact with physical and chemical
factors found in its environment. You will not be surprised if you find a coat of dust on thesurface of that table and trace that particle of dust to a remote place like the Desert of
Sahara. Earth has existed in the consciousness of all living entities to which planet Earth
is the natural habitat. But, it is likely that planet Earth has existed even before the arrival
of conscious, living entities. It is reasonable to suggest that planet Earth always exists in
the consciousness of its Creator. The reasoning is supported by the fact that Earth servesa purpose, the purpose of providing a habitat to conscious matter which is distinct from all
other physical matter found in the vast universe.
A living entity always exists by separating itself from its environment. A living thing always
experiences the external environment while maintaining its subjective conditioned
existence. We experience our environment not as free subatomic particles, atoms and
inorganic molecules. Those entities are not biological entities and do not display the
characteristic features of biological life forms. The conditioned nature of our physicalexistence( that includes all other living entities ) is such that we are specifically protected
from the experience of Reality. We exist because we have no ability to detect Reality. We
have no consciousness of Reality. We live on the surface of a very fast moving celestial
object and we have no sensory experience of the Reality of Earth's Motion, its Linear
Velocity. The Reality of the Speed of Earth's Motion is not compatible with existence of
Life. To speak about knowing Reality in our Consciousness is a joke. If you mentally
experience the speed of planet Earth, you would die before you recognize the fact of that
speed. We are living on this planet Earth as Science is not a Power/Force/Energy that cangive you the experience of Reality. Science provides valid and verified information but we
are existing as that information does not and will not give you the experience of Reality.