Do we come and go, with empty hands?

We have a choice of not going empty-handed from this world. If we believe in an all powerful Creator and His Name, then the Name of God will be our companion in the worlds hereafter. Following are some verses, followed by a commentary to illustrate this point.

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Reference verses:

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 ਅਬ ਕਲੂ ਆਇਓ ਰੇ ॥
ਇਕੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਬੋਵਹੁ ਬੋਵਹੁ ॥
ਅਨ ਰੂਤਿ ਨਾਹੀ ਨਾਹੀ ॥
ਮਤੁ ਭਰਮਿ ਭੂਲਹੁ ਭੂਲਹੁ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਮਿਲੇ ਹਰਿ ਪਾਏ ॥
ਜਿਸੁ ਮਸਤਕਿ ਹੈ ਲੇਖਾ ॥
ਮਨ ਰੁਤਿ ਨਾਮ ਰੇ ॥
ਗੁਨ ਕਹੇ ਨਾਨਕ ਹਰਿ ਹਰੇ ਹਰਿ ਹਰੇ ॥੨॥੧੮॥

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Translation:

Now Kaliyug has come,
Plant, plant one Name,
No, no other season,
Wander not, don't wander in doubt,
Meet Guru, find God,
On whose forehead is such destiny,
O mind, this is the season for Name,
Nanak speaks praise, O God, O God.||2||18||

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 1185:17-24]

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ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਮੇਰਾ ਅੰਤਿ ਸਖਾਈ ਗੁਰਿ ਸਤਿਗੁਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਦ੍ਰਿੜਾਇਆ ॥

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Translation:

God, Name of God is my companion in the end,
Guru, True Guru helped me believe in the Name.

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 573:30]

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ਬਿਨੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਕੋ ਸਾਥਿ ਨ ਚਾਲੈ ਪੁਤ੍ਰ ਕਲਤ੍ਰ ਮਾਇਆ ਧੋਹਿਆ ॥

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Translation:

Without Name, no one accompanies,
Sons, wife, nor maya tricks.

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 690:25]

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ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮੁ ਬੀਜਿ ਮਨ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਸਚੈ ਸਬਦਿ ਸੁਭਾਏ ॥੨॥

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Translation:

O Nanak, plant The Name in mind, True word is pleasing.||2||

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 568:29]

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ਨਾਮੋ ਬੀਜੇ ਨਾਮੋ ਜੰਮੈ ਨਾਮੋ ਮੰਨਿ ਵਸਾਏ ॥

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Translation:

Sow Name, Name germinates, establish Name in mind.

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 246:24]

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ਜਿਨੀ ਐਸਾ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਨ ਚੇਤਿਓ ਸੇ ਕਾਹੇ ਜਗਿ ਆਏ ਰਾਮ ਰਾਜੇ ॥
ਇਹੁ ਮਾਣਸ ਜਨਮੁ ਦੁਲੰਭੁ ਹੈ ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨਾ ਬਿਰਥਾ ਸਭੁ ਜਾਏ ॥
ਹੁਣਿ ਵਤੈ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਨ ਬੀਜਿਓ ਅਗੈ ਭੁਖਾ ਕਿਆ ਖਾਏ ॥
ਮਨਮੁਖਾ ਨੋ ਫਿਰਿ ਜਨਮੁ ਹੈ ਨਾਨਕ ਹਰਿ ਭਾਏ ॥੨॥

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Translation:

They who do not remember such Name, why did they come to this world,
This human life is hard to obtain, without Name it all goes waste,
One who does not plant Name in this season, hereafter what will the hungry eat,
The wilful will be born again, O Nanak, such is God's wish.||2||

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 450:15-18]

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ਜਹ ਮਾਤ ਪਿਤਾ ਸੁਤ ਮੀਤ ਨ ਭਾਈ ॥
ਮਨ ਊਹਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੈ ਸੰਗਿ ਸਹਾਈ ॥
ਜਹ ਮਹਾ ਭਇਆਨ ਦੂਤ ਜਮ ਦਲੈ ॥
ਤਹ ਕੇਵਲ ਨਾਮੁ ਸੰਗਿ ਤੇਰੈ ਚਲੈ ॥
ਜਹ ਮੁਸਕਲ ਹੋਵੈ ਅਤਿ ਭਾਰੀ ॥
ਹਰਿ ਕੋ ਨਾਮੁ ਖਿਨ ਮਾਹਿ ਉਧਾਰੀ ॥
ਅਨਿਕ ਪੁਨਹਚਰਨ ਕਰਤ ਨਹੀ ਤਰੈ ॥
ਹਰਿ ਕੋ ਨਾਮੁ ਕੋਟਿ ਪਾਪ ਪਰਹਰੈ ॥
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਹੁ ਮਨ ਮੇਰੇ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਪਾਵਹੁ ਸੂਖ ਘਨੇਰੇ ॥੧॥

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Translation:

Where there is no mother, father, son, friend, nor brother,
My mind, there The Name will be your help.
When the great terrible messenger of death will crush,
There only The Name will walk with you.
Where difficulties are very heavy,
Name of God will save in an instant.
Many devout actions may not liberate,
Name of God will annul countless sins.
My devout mind chant The Name of God,
O Nanak, you will get many joys.||1||

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 264:2-11]

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 ਤੇਰੈ ਕਾਜਿ ਨ ਗ੍ਰਿਹੁ ਰਾਜੁ ਮਾਲੁ ॥
ਤੇਰੈ ਕਾਜਿ ਨ ਬਿਖੈ ਜੰਜਾਲੁ ॥
ਇਸਟ ਮੀਤ ਜਾਣੁ ਸਭ ਛਲੈ ॥
ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਸੰਗਿ ਤੇਰੈ ਚਲੈ ॥੧॥

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Translation:

House, power and wealth will not cover you,
Sinful entanglements will not cover you,
Know all dear friends as an illusion,
God, Name of God will go with you.||1||

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 889:30-33]

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ਕਬੀਰ ਲੂਟਨਾ ਹੈ ਤ ਲੂਟਿ ਲੈ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਹੈ ਲੂਟਿ ॥
ਫਿਰਿ ਪਾਛੈ ਪਛੁਤਾਹੁਗੇ ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ਜਾਹਿੰਗੇ ਛੂਟਿ ॥੪੧॥

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Translation:

Kabir, if you have to steal, steal the Name of God,
Otherwise you will regret later, when the life is lost.

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 1366:24-25]

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Commentary:

In this verse stealing has another non-literal meaning, as per my understanding. In this life a person earns and accumulates many things, family, friends, wealth, knowledge, and all of it is lost when a person dies, lost to the dying person. Death in a way is the ultimate robber, which takes a life's earning, including material and non-material wealth, from a person. So a person cannot really take anything from this world, except the Name of God. Name of God embedded in our consciousness and memory. In this sense, when we become aware of the Name of God, its power and are devoted to the Name, we take it from this world, in a way robbing the ultimate robber, death.  

Another way to understand this verse would be to consider Death as a gatekeeper. The eternal gatekeeper, who ensures that a person leaves everything behind when a person dies. Except the Name of God, hidden deep in one's consciousness because a person cherishes and respects the Name of God. In this sense, the Name of God is the only thing that is can be robbed and is worth robbing in this life, and the eternal gatekeeper will not be able to take it away from us.

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ਜਿਹ ਮਾਰਗਿ ਇਹੁ ਜਾਤ ਇਕੇਲਾ ॥
ਤਹ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਸੰਗਿ ਹੋਤ ਸੁਹੇਲਾ ॥

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Translation:

That path where you will go alone,
There God's Name will be your friend.

[Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Page 264:18-19]

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Commentary:

This might probably be a controversial topic, but an important one. It is widely believed in popular culture, and it is also scientifically acceptable, that we come to this world without anything, and leave without anything. "Empty handed we come, and empty handed we go", is the popular saying in Hindi to convey this (i.e. "Kahli haath ayae hain, khali haath jana hai"). I believe this is correct in some aspects, but not completely accurate. 

As per my understanding, the corrected saying should be, "Whatever materialistic things we are born with, or earn during this lifetime, we leave it all behind". Basically, we are born with a body which is left behind on deathbed. We earn degrees, money, inheritance, knowledge, friends, family, big and small pleasures, and many other things during our life, and almost everything we lose after death. 

Philosophically speaking we could say, that death robs us of everything we have gained during this lifetime. Almost everything we lose, but whatever we take from this life is the topic of this article. More specifically, what is the minimum possible useful asset that we can take from this life, that will be useful and helpful to each of us. 

Not everybody starts life on equal footing. Some are born rich and healthy, others may not be born with such privileges. There is apparently some difference while being born, but this essay is not to ponder on what we brought into this world, that is already done. At the minimum we come with a life, a body, and remain here until our life is spent.

Spiritually speaking few of the intangible things that we earn during this life are knowledge and the load of unbalanced account of our actions (thoughts are actions too). Knowledge could itself be of the material world, or could be of spiritual matters. Not all action is equal, nor all knowledge is equal, and some may be useful or helpful.

While there is no limit to actions one can do, and no limit to all the knowledge one can gain. There is little knowing what action or what knowledge will have eternal value. I believe the only possible and helpful asset that one can take from this world and life is the "Name of God". 

Scriptures tell us that after death when a person moves on from this life all alone, with "nothing", no friends, helpers, family, then the Name of God would be an eternal friend, family and a helper. Afterlife would be easier if we have the Name of God as a friend, an asset. In fact, one of the purposes of human life is that we get a chance to understand this and act on this knowledge.

Following are a few questions that might come to mind:

>>How do we know that the Name of God would be helpful? I don't know. Scriptures claim this fact, and I share my understanding of scriptures, and I believe my understanding is correct. Each person has to decide for oneself.

>>Does any other scripture specify greatness of the Name of God? Yes. The Holy Bible has a verse, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." [Romans 10:13]. Do not forget that the verse states "everyone" without any other qualification.

>>How do we know what is the right Name of God? As per my understanding, any Name which refers to The Supreme being is precious, and an asset. Many monotheistic religions use many different Names to refer to The Supreme Being, and the Name that one is most comfortable is OK.

>>How do we know we will remember the Name of God when it is time? This is the hard part. The hardest, maybe. There are many prerequisites, and then too it is difficult to be sure. Please note that scriptures tell us that if a person is able to remember the Name of God, even without meeting the prerequisites the person is still saved.Why?

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The power resides in the Name of God,
Not in the human discipline or actions.

 --

The remembrance is easier if we fulfill the prerequisites. First prerequisite is that a person has to believe, without a doubt, in an All Powerful, Supreme Creator of the world who has no equal. A belief in a limited deity is not prescribed as per my understanding. A believer needs to believe that God is able and willing to save a person. This prerequisite alone could be a labor of a lifetime for a thinking and logical person, because there is no acceptable proof of God's existence.

Second prerequisite is that the person should believe in the power of the Name of God. The difficulty here is in the simplicity of the belief. How could something be so simple? How could a word, a Name be so powerful? How could a Name save? How could something as simple as a name be so powerful? I don't know. But that is how it is. And I have my reasons to believe. I hope you find your reasons to believe. Maybe pray, think, experiment, and pray some more!

There are many reasons, and many aspects to the power of the Name of God. One of my personal reasons is, that I personally believe, that power of God manifests wherever God is remembered, whenever we call out to God. I mean we cannot force it to happen, but generally this should be the case. And easiest way to remember someone is speak the name of a person earnestly, verbally or mentally. In fact, one of the things that happens when we remember someone is that we automatically think of the name of the person. And if we hear a name, we automatically remember the person being named. So the Name of God helps us remember God.

Third and final prerequisite is that during this lifetime one plants the Name of God in one's own consciousness (or mind, or whatever we like to call it). This is done by listening, speaking, thinking and/or remembering. Listening, speaking, thinking and/or remembering can include specific tasks like reading, discussing, chanting, and doing other activities related to God and Name of God. It is difficult to fake it, and if we do not believe or respect God we will have difficultly in giving space in our mind to God's remembrance. This is the reason why we say that monotheistic spirituality is more about working with the mind and beliefs rather than rituals, i.e. accepting the truth about God enough so that we open ourselves to take help from God.

>>Is there anything more to the Name of God, or this is all? Yes, a lot more. Hopefully other articles may cover some aspects of the Name of God.

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-x-

Next set of essays would cover my understanding of the teachings of "Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji"

Next set of essays in this blog would cover my understanding of the teachings of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, on different topics, along with the supporting verses. Hopefully my understanding would be correct, but as my understanding improves the content may also change and improve.

The essays would be tagged with tag "-Book:Message" - the message of Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji, as I understand the teachings.

Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the present Guru of the Sikhs, and as with any sacred scripture, understanding a scripture is not an easy task. I would present my understanding, which I hope would be correct, and will help me in understanding the topics better (I believe writing about a topic helps in increasing own understanding), and also could help the reader in their own spiritual journey.

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Acknowledgments: 

While it will be impossible to list all the sources which help me in increasing my understanding of the scriptures, following is a partial list of sources which I refer (or may refer in future).

I hope to keep updating this list in future...

Following are list of few of the web-sites, translations, and sources which I use (or will use in future), to increase my understanding of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji:

1. Online: www.srigranth.org
2. Online: www.searchgurbani.com
3. Online: beta.igurbani.com
4. Online: www.sikhitothemax.org
5. Android app: Amrit Kirtan 
6. Android app: Amrit Kirtan Pro
7. Android app: Dhur Ki Bani
8. Book: Guru Granth Sahib translation by Dr. Darshan Singh 
9. Katha and Kirtan programs in Gurudwaras, or broadcast on TV or online, like PTC channels, and others

Following are some sources of Judeo-Christian traditions which I refer:

1. Many guests, authors and books who are featured on the the shows of "Sid Roth's It's Supernatural" on https://sidroth.org/, like Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Dr. Keith Ellis, and others.
2. Programs on GodTV network.
3. Android Bible app.

Some of the transliteration of Gurmukhi script has been generated using Google translate, https://translate.google.com/.

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Note related to numbering of verses (work-in-progress):

Many important texts follow a numbering system, which enables any sentence of a book to be numbered accurately, and it becomes easy to share the verse or refer to it later without much searching. For example, verse Romans 10:13 in The Holy Bible refers to "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.", and anyone with some knowledge of structure of The Holy Bible will be able to search for this verse.

Similar numbering system is not being used for Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji as per my knowledge, and only Ang/Page number is being used today, but after opening the page number getting to an exact verse still takes some effort.

In this blog, I will try to use a simple numbering system, which could enable a person to reach the exact sentence within an Ang/Page of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The structure of the numbering system would be:

[ PageNumber : SentenceNumberWithInThePage ]
and,

[ PageNumber : FirstSentenceNumberWithInThePage - LastSentenceNumberWithInThePage ]

For example,
Verse [Page 4:5], would be "Page 4:Sentence 5" to refer to "ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਕਵਣ ਕਹਾ ਵੀਚਾਰੁ ॥ / How can your creative power be described",
and,
And Verse [Page 4:5-10] would be "Page 4:Sentence 5-to-Sentence 10".

 Maximum PageNumber could go up to 1430, while maximum sentence number would depend on number of lines on a page, but most likely be around 50.

The end of a sentence would be one or more simultaneous occurrence of 2 vertical bars, e.g. ||, ignoring the numbers that occur between the bars. A verse heading which also ends with 2 vertical bars, ||, will be counted as a separate line.

If I come across a better or simpler numbering system, I will use that. I will be using one of the above online sources, and will count the sentence number manually for now, so I hope I am accurate.

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-x-

To rally people in the Name of God

A favorite grouse of atheists and rationalists, when talking about religion or God, is that belief in religion and God has caused a lot of violence throughout history. The real answer may be more complex. In this post I would focus exclusively on monotheistic God and faiths. Non-monotheistic faith is not an area of my study or devotion.

During any war, short or extended, their is a great need for courage and also unquestionable obedience of the troops involved, be it a regimented army or a vigilante group or civilian mobs. And over the years people have found that rallying people in the Name of God is more effective than rallying for other causes or reasons. And it also costs less money, in fact people might act for free.

Mere mention of Will of God, or Name of God, has an affect on human mind. It triggers an urgent need to obey unquestionably and a lack of concern to the resulting consequence. It has for me at least, and maybe on other human minds also. Power lobbies everywhere have found this fact useful to rally people for their particular purpose. They have used words like 'For God' or 'In the Name of God' or some similar associated phrase as part of their campaigns, and added their particular concerns around these phrases, giving an impression that there is a Divine Sanction to their particular agenda, but which is seldom the case. In reality they may lack any concern for God's Will or His people, and only want to use God's Name as a catalyst. And who among us can claim to know the Will of God? Only a saint, or a delusional, or a liar, or whomever God chooses to reveal His words. This principle of influence would apply to any desired action, and not just war.

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For the truly faithful,
God alone is enough,
God's Will is reason enough.

For the truly devious,
Or for the genuinely lost,
God alone is never enough,
God's Will is just a means,
To achieve a secondary goal,
To rally support for their concerns,
And concerns of people are many,
Concerns of kings, or queens, or nations,
Of lands and its people, of pride, or tribe,
And support for so many other things.

Human concerns are their own,

And remembering God can help,

Help them carry on in their quest,

But be aware, that God's concern is for all.

Many people of faith,
Have been led to violent wars,
And met with violent ends,
In the Name of God,
When not many knew,
What they were really fighting for.

Faithful lose way for lack of knowledge,
Knowledge of the Will of God.
If a person feels the need to serve,
Serve something more than God's purpose,
Know that the person may be lacking in faith.

It is important to realize that God does not need help,
Humans are in need of God's help,
If God needs a human to do His works,
Then probably it is not God.

And surely God does not need any help to fight His wars,
Nor to manifest His Will on Earth,
He may use humans, or anyone else for that matter,
But be aware that He is not in need.

We are helpless without God,
And not the other way round,
God does not need anybody to fight His wars,
We need God to fight our wars.

Anyone who uses God's Name,
To rally people to war or strife,
For an unjust or a wicked cause,
Know that blood is on their hands,
A cause is just or unjust as per Will of God,
And not by human choice or sanction,
And like most things in life,
Conscience and reason are our true guide.

--

Coming back to the original statement of this post. Are God and religion really responsible for death and destruction in society? For me the correct answer is 'No'! The correct answer may be that human beings are restless, and can go to any length to meet their objectives. Human beings have an insatiable desire for power, riches, glory and a lot of other things, and humans are crafty, very crafty indeed. They can use any possible reason to convince themselves and others of the justness of their particular cause, which may or may not involve violence. Some of the primary catalysts to move human beings to action are pride, honor, family, nationalism, divine will, race, caste, religion, greed, love, fear of loss, lust for power, hate, service of society, empathy, and many others. Of all these catalysts, God or Divine Will is the most potent, and power lobbies have found ways to mix their personal agendas with God's Will cleverly, so that it has become difficult for the faithful to discern the real motives behind different calls to action. Divine Will is a catalyst and not a reason for violence, and in absence of it, the power lobbies would have used some other catalyst to goad people to violence.

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If all religions preach peace,
But still there is war and strife,
In the Name of God and religion,
Then truly something is amiss,
More is hidden, lesser is known.

To seek knowledge is good,
But also seek discernment,
To see things as they truly are,
And not as you think they should be.

 -x-

The one true religion!

What is the one true religion? Most will name their own. But most likely this question cannot be answered convincingly by most people. Once I have selected a religion to follow, then that becomes the only true religion for me to pursue. Others may choose other religions to pursue, which will become the only true religion for them. A person cannot travel on two boats, at least that is what I believe. Each person chooses on which boat to travel, and it will most likely be only one. Trying to travel on multiple boats may seem like a challenge, or socially polite, but I am not sure, for the waters can be deep.

I do not know the one true religion,

But I do know this,

Sun is not the only star,

Rose is not the only flower,

Lion is not the only animal,

Eagle not the only bird,

There are many cities,

There are many highways,

World is rich in choice,

But each choice has its own color,

Each choice has a consequence,

Free to choose, but own your choice,

For each choice will have a consequence,

Each choice leads to a destination,

Choose wherever you are willing to go,

There may be as many true paths, 

As many the Creator wishes to create,

To insist otherwise would be to doubt the might of the Creator,

How many I do not know for certain, for I am just a human,

I am not privy to the Creator's mind,

Nor know all the nature's secrets.

Each religion has a theology and a philosophy, which may or may not overlap with other religions. But what each religion promises is a definite or an indefinite outcome for a practitioner who wishes to follow its path. Following are some of the different things promised by different religions to their followers:

1. A peaceful or blissful present life
2. A peaceful or blissful afterlife
3. Liberation from transmigration
4. Liberation from sin
5. Eternal companionship with God
6. Everlasting bliss
7. Personal deification
8. Fame in present life or afterlife
9. Wealth in present life or afterlife
10. Other material pleasures in present life or afterlife
11. More esoteric things like higher consciousness which are difficult to understand
12. Continuation of tradition, customs, and culture
13. Appeasement of ancestors, society, spirits, authority, gods, or other real or imaginary things
14. And maybe many other things...

A religion would generally promise a follower some of the above goals. So a follower needs to realize that focusing on some goals alone, may make the other things out of reach. Read the promises well, what is claimed and what remains hidden.

Now whether these claims are true or false I don't know. The belief in these claims started originally with the teachings of respective founders and prophets, and it is for each person to decide what to believe in and what not to believe in, what goal to pursue and what goal to leave, what path to follow and what path to leave behind.

The important thing here is to realize that apparently there could be everlasting consequences of the personal choice made by an individual. People might claim that all religions are same, and any could be followed. But studying about the different religions will give a person a more comprehensive perspective, and a better understanding about the goals of each religion. Saying all paths are same, may generally mean the person making this claim does not have much knowledge of any of the paths involved. I do know that different religious paths may promise different destinations to their followers, and have different deities and rituals, and it is up to each person what he or she wants to pursue in life. Where does a person want to invest or spend his or her life, and what return does a person expect from this investment in a lifelong faith? Is faith for an eternal goal, or for service of others, or for being one with the crowd? Where does your faith promise to take you?

There is a secondary and equally important question, after a personal destination (religion) has been decided by the person. The secondary question is, whether the path chosen will actually lead the person to the promised destination. This is a question which can only be answered in the seeker's mind, either by simply believing the teaching of the founders of religions, or by actually traveling the path, but few are known to reach the destination.

As with most things in life, 

it is almost impossible to make a definite bet. 

This is the ultimate gamble of life. 

Where will you invest your life, on which belief? 

Believe, or some would say bet, on what,

In ephemeral pleasure, or in pleasing society, 

or maybe on mortal or eternal goals. 

Welcome to the earthy casino of life,

Wheel is spinning, and the clock is ticking,

Destiny, the croupier with a wry smile invites you,

Invites you to place your bets,

Your eternal destiny is at stake,

For the price of this one life,

For the price of a decision and a belief,

Place your bet, for time is running out,

Time will run out, bet on an eternal consequence,

A consequence which each will meet alone,

Without the company of a friend or foe,

A consequence of suffering or bliss,

Indecision will not slow down the clock,

For some this gamble can be overwhelming,

And they may look the other way,

As they try to find meaning and reason,

Believing there is no substance in eternal fate,

But time will not stop, neither for me nor for you,

The game of life is already afoot,

Try not to let your mind fool you,

But who can claim to never have been fooled.

So like everything in this world, there is endless diversity. Each religion offers a path to follow and a destination. Paths may meet at some places, and may lead to similar or different destinations. Choose the path based on where you want to go. Each path may take you where it promises to go, and hope your map is accurate.

Know where you want to go before starting a journey,

If you do not know where your faith will lead you,

You might reach a place where you do not want to be,

 If a mentor refuses to explain in simple terms,

In simple words that do not confuse nor sting,

Then perhaps you are being taken for a ride.

-x-

One of the reasons why I believe in God

There are many reasons why I believe in a monotheistic God. In this post I will just share one of the reasons. As per my understanding, if different religions or a set of people claim to worship a monotheistic God, who is the creator of the world and who has no equal, then I believe they must be referring to the same God, irrespective of the fact that such groups of people will have some differences. If it were not the same God, then having 'no equal' statement would not hold, as individual claims would give 'multiple all powerful Gods', which is an oxymoron (because if there are two all powerful Gods, they will not remain 'all powerful' in front of the other, but would be an equal).

It is like different groups of scientists set out to study properties of the largest known galaxy, IC 1101, and they might call the galaxy by different names, may find different properties of the galaxy, focus on different aspects, but still the galaxy IC 1101 does not become two or more galaxies. If some groups of people start worshiping the largest galaxy, in different ways, giving it different names, still it would remain a single galaxy. Many people do worship some planets and stars in their own respective ways, but the planets and stars remain a single entity irrespective of how many different ways different groups worship a star or a planet.

Of the religious groups which I have studied as a theology hobbyist, the mains one include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, monotheistic aspects in Hinduism and my own religion, Sikhism. I do not claim to have any authoritative knowledge on any of them, but I have tried to understand whatever I could.

During my studies I found an interesting aspect, although it is already well known in theological circles, but I found it fascinating, and feel not much emphasis has been laid on this aspect, especially in popular culture. Judaism believes in prophets of the Old Testament. Christianity believes in all the Jewish prophets from the Old Testament, and also believes in prophets of the New Testament, including Jesus Christ. Islam believes in all the prophets of Old and New Testament, while also believing in Prophet Mohammad, who is mentioned in The Koran (Koran mentions Jesus Christ often, as also prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others). These three religions, of middle eastern origin, worship the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. It is like three tributaries of the river of monotheism arising in the middle east.

The monotheistic theology originating from Indian sub-continent includes Sikhism and some aspects of Hinduism. Sikhs believe in Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji as their religious guide and mentor. Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji contains verses describing a monotheistic theology, and the verses were contributed by some Sikh Gurus themselves, and others were collected by the Sikh Gurus but were originally written by few Hindu and Muslim saints from the Indian sub-subcontinent. We could say there are three tributaries of the river of monotheism in Indian sub-continent, two new and third continuing from middle east.

Above is a very simplistic description of my understanding. It might be important to note that one of Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, Saint Thomas, actually arrived in South India around 50 AD (as per Wikipedia). I believe influence of Saint Thomas's arrival in India is a topic which has not been studied much, and it is possible that some aspects of his teachings merged with or influenced the monotheistic theology of the Indian subcontinent, of which very little details are known.

Another important aspect is that the verses in the scriptures of any of the above monotheistic religions are attributed to some saints and prophets, but many of the saints and prophets claimed that the origin of the words is from God alone, as the words and the wisdom they convey were revealed to them. I have no way of proving this statement but I just mentioned it for sake of completeness, and also to highlight the common aspect of the different scriptures.

Coming to the next part of this post I would like to mention the number of primary prophets and saints that are mentioned in each of the above monotheistic religions or their scriptures. All data is taken from Wikipedia, and in no way I claim that the data is complete. I will come to the reason later, of why I share the list here.

• Prophets in Judaism: 55 = 48 + 7 (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_in_Judaism)
• Prophets in Christianity: 70+ approximately (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_of_Christianity, many would be shared from the earlier list related to Judaism)
• Prophets in Islam: List overlaps with the above lists with addition of Prophet Mohammad (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_and_messengers_in_Islam)
• Prophets in Sikhism: 40 = 36 contributors to Shri Guru Granth Sahib  Ji (which includes Sikh Gurus, as well as some Hindu and Muslim saints of the Indian sub-continent) + 4 Sikh Gurus whose verses are not part of the Scripture (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers_of_Guru_Granth_Sahib)

It is important to note that above numbers include actual historical figures, and historical records are available for most of them. Each of above people believed in a monotheistic God. Most of them were not college professors who are paid for writing new fancy theories, books and articles, nor were they arm-chair philosophers whose interest in theology was limited to a spirited conversation during free time, and neither were they conquerors interested in gaining territory and taxes. For most part they had normal lives, not unlike a passionate entrepreneur or scientist today, and they insisted to have a belief because they thought it is true. Also, some of the people in the above list actually had very difficult lives, and faced immense resistance during life for their beliefs, sometimes brutal resistance, but they still held on to their belief. What was the reason for their beliefs? Why did they continue to believe in what they believed, in spite of all the resistance that they faced?

There are three possibilities regarding a person's belief, the person believes in truth, the person believes in a delusion, or the person is lying. Each individual, including you and me, have to make a decision in our life regarding the beliefs of the people in the above list, whether it is true or not. I have made mine. I believe that the people in the above list believed in a truth when they said that there is one God, all powerful and creator of all there is. I have no reason to believe that they were either lying or were delusional.

There may be many aspects of their life which cannot be explained logically, or maybe some of the stories are fabricated or have turned into exaggerated myths, but is it not true with all history. It's always hard to tell in history what is true or what is not true. As for me, I am only interested in one aspect of the stories and myth, and that is that they all believed in one God, who is all powerful. I don't have enough time and resources in this life to validate all the other myths and stories that I hear and read about the different people in the above list, but it does not matter. Because I take the only unquestionable piece of information at face value, that is common in the belief of all the legendary people of the above list, and that is 'There is one God'.

So one of reasons why I believe in a monotheistic God is that everyone listed in the above list believed in a monotheistic God. It might seem a very weak reason in a society obsessed with individuality, but facts are true or false, and individuality is a misplaced concept when discussing accuracy of a potential fact (i.e. something or someone exists or does not exist irrespective how you or anyone else thinks about it). I have no reason to suspect that the belief of people in the above list was mistaken, and actually many aspects of their individual life and the effect that they had on society during their lifetime is awe inspiring (even if we do not consider the miracles associated with them, that cannot be logically explained). Many cults and kingdoms have come and gone, but affect of people in the above list has sustained through the test of time. That alone could be a good enough reason for most people to consider their teachings seriously.

-x-

Burden of proof?

One of the main point of contention between atheists and believers is that atheists insist that there is no conclusive and verifiable proof of the existence of God**. And they are correct, regarding objective proofs. Atheists claim that the burden of proof is on the believers to prove the existence of God.

Look at it from another perspective, if there is a verifiable objective proof of God's existence, then there would be no need for faith. If there is a verifiable proof, then everybody would believe in God, and fear God, and live a compliant life. Then not believing in God would be stupid and there would be no choice, no need for faith, no need for belief, as God's existence would be confirmed. A lot of drama in life would come to an end, many would even say that all drama in life would come to an end. 

If the headmaster is present in a class and the children know it,

They will not speak nor play, and would be all nervous and frozen stiff.

But this is not how this world seems to have been setup. The elusive nature of God seems to be by design. Please take a moment to stop and think about this, because faith is not about choice but about eternal destiny. Atheists, or scientists, or rationalists, or others did not design the world in which we exist. Nor does the world in which we exist needs to conform to any logical model conceivable to the human mind.

With existence of an objective proof faith and belief cease to be a virtue. I am not saying that faith is a virtue, but to believe in concepts taught be the prophets unquestionably is an essential part of any religion. Certainly there is every chance that a person starts believing in a prophet whose teachings may or may not deliver on their promise, or the student may not understand the teaching properly, and that is a constant persistent doubt in most believers. This is as if it adds different colors to the religious and spiritual landscape of society. This complicates the choices further, but again this seems to be by design - Nature is characterized by presence of extreme variety, and presence of many different schools of thoughts also conforms to this.

Coming back to the question of proof. The system of belief in this world seems to be such that glimpses of the unknown have been conveyed to few people, who are generally identified as prophets. And stories tell us that after their respective revelation the prophets lives did change, as they lived in awareness of God's presence, while rest of the people around them went on with their normal life oblivious of God. The drama of the world continued for people who were unaware of God's presence. Some people did heed the words of prophets. For others the life's test is to sift through the available teaching and paths, and try to find a way.

Life presents an endless maze of words and ideas,

Walk carefully picking your treasures,

Treasures of words, and faith, and belief,

Leave the wrong turns and take the right ones.

-x-

 **In this blog, by word God, I always refer to the Monotheistic ever present and all powerful God, the Creator of the world. I do not refer to the many different deities present in the many cultures and religions unless specifically highlighted.

-x-

Conflicting maps to the road in the afterlife? Does it matter?

Most of the Eastern religions believe in transmigration, that generally a soul undergoes continuous unending cycle of birth and death, out of which there is a way. While the religions of Mid-Eastern origin believe that after current human birth, the soul undergoes a final judgement with eternal consequence of having to live in either heaven or hell.

Once while discussing this with a friend, my friend pointed out that one of these two paths have to be correct and other incorrect (transmigration or final judgement). I disagreed, following are my reasons for the same.

Human mind requires simple straightforward theories, and complex things are generally simplified until they can be understood. Nature is complex. Founders of religions gave simple views to the nature of life and death that was enough for the disciples to understand the importance of current life, and to explain the intricacies of afterlife was not their primary goal, although they might have described some parts of it but not completely.

It is like traveling on a mountain road, and a sharp blind turn lies ahead. Different religions have put up different signposts of warning before the turn, and not all the signboards tell the same thing, but do have enough common highlights for a human mind to take notice and realize that something is coming. Following are some of the main common things written on the signposts:

1. Death is imminent, and will follow life
2. Our actions and choices in this life can have eternal consequences for personal soul
3. Eternal consequences can be desirable and undesirable, based on pain or joy that will be experienced in each of the possible consequences
4. Mortal would be well-advised to prefer a path of desirable consequences
5. Choice rests with an individual to choose a path, and work own salvation or its contrary, whatever it might be

Now, whether the warning messages on the signposts are correct or not, I don't know. I doubt any normal human being can give evidence for the above claims except for the first, which is obvious.

But is it not important to at least realize that almost all religions we know of have a warning about what's coming after the sharp blind turn on the mountain road, of what's coming after death? The details may differ but we will come to that later, but it is important to realize that there is a common thread of warning. My point is, is it not reason enough to at least take notice and investigate further.

Coming to the differences about the message on the signposts. They primarily deal with following:

1. Some religions say that a soul transmigrates life after life until final salvation or liberation is achieved, and other religions say soul has a final judgement after this life and experiences eternal heaven or hell based on the result of the judgement. Furthermore religions have difference of opinion on the nature of transmigration, heaven and hell.
2. Some religions say that a person could work out his/her own salvation, while other religions say that liberation is based on grace from God, or a saint, or some other way.

Regarding the first difference, for a normal human like me and you there is no way to find out the truth until after death, and then it apparently is too late to act on the information. It is a "Catch 22" situation. But does the difference really matter that much at this point in life, it is clear that the the mountain road has a sharp turn, and then after that there may be speed-breakers or other sharp turns, or a wall, we will know when we reach there. But the warning and religious instruction is for us to slow down right now, and probably reflect our best course of action as we inevitably approach the sharp and fatal turn on the high mountain road. But if a person does think about saving for the rainy day, or investing for retirement, or buying an insurance, and other things of the future, then sparing a thought on this matter may be good and possibly useful.

But, if one really needs to know the correct answer, then I believe there is no single correct answer:

There are too many paths and too many destinations, 

When the confused mind is looking for just one.

Not all rain drops from a cloud reach the ocean, 

They might after an eternity, but eternity can be long.

Regarding the second difference, it really is a personal decision based on the teaching that a person chooses to follow, and the destination that the teaching promises, along with the risk of actual effectiveness of the teaching in fulfilling its promise. Whether the path of choosing would work, I don't know:

Each to his own choice, burden and ferry.

-x-