GOD and Purpose of Life

 Ever since man set his foot on earth he has been probing nature and Self to know mysteries of Universe and life. Two sets of research were contemplated, one at Materialistic plane and other at Spiritual plane. The one at materialistic plane probed outer World now called Science and other which probed  at spiritual plane  is called Religion.

     Science came up with a theory of Big Bang for formation of this Universe. This Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago, thus this Universe had a beginning. Time and Space also had a beginning. With advent of Quantum physics science has come out with new ideas, like Matter has no locality, what exists is Energy which is in vibration. There are multiple Universes with different laws of physics. It also says from nothing came Consciousness, Energy, Time, Space, Mind and later Matter. It also mentions that Universe is creation of Intelligence. It looks strange on one hand it says Universe is result of intelligence, yet this is not compatible with its mathematical expression of this Universe. It calls religious beliefs bereft of proof, yet at same time acknowledges that its assertions are probabilistic. What a dilemma?  Big Bang has its own problems like , why is Matter unequally distributed in Universe, who made physical laws, why some Stars move in retrograde motion [against laws of conservation of angular motion].  For science Creation is a matter of accident.

      Now let us turn to religions and what they have to say on this subject. Religions created GOD to explain formation of this Universe and Life. Different religions have different versions of Creation and Life on it but GOD as creator is common in all. Religions acknowledge Universe we live in is imperfect, only perfect thing is----God. While Christians/ Muslims talk of two worlds after death of a being. Person goes to Heaven world after death if he has been good, Hell world if he has been bad one .In Christianity prophets hear from external God but in Hinduism there is no external voice but inner voice [I am Brahman]. In other religions be it Christianity/ Judaism/ Islam practitioners rely on Prophets and books. There is sharp debate on minor historical events leading to conflicts. These religions believe in divine profoundly separate from world.

In Hinduism books/prophets are guides, but reliance is on self-realization. Hinduism does not demand blind faith but pursuit of Truth through dharmic traditions. It accommodates diversity of faiths and its solutions to pleurism are superior to Abrahamic ideals.

 Hindu’s go further. In Vedas we are told that there are 14 planetary levels of Universe, top most being Satya Loka [Truthfulness] and at bottom is Patala Loka. There is a Pitra Loka where departed souls of earth go. Narka Loka [Hell] is next to it where bad souls go. In this loka Consciousness of souls is squeezed to extreme low levels.

According to Hinduism one is borne in this world according to his Karma [inherited from past life]. It is your actions [Karma] which will decide in which world your departed soul will go after death .Needless, to say that good ones go to Swarga [Heaven], bad ones to Narka loka [Hell]. Once one finishes Karma in these worlds he/she is borne again on this earth to finish the unfinished task. This life and death cycle continues till Atman [soul] reaches perfection .Hinduism tells us that we are all divine but imperfect who live in two worlds, material and Spiritual. It is our destiny to shuttle between theses worlds till we reach perfection. One day this long journey will finish for all of us and reach an ultimate state of enlightenment.

 Hindus believe reality has two faces, one which is Manifest and can be perceived by senses. Other is Unmanifest which is beyond senses hence needs to be explored by Yoga and meditation. Heisenberg and Schrodinger acknowledged Upanishad wisdom and its closeness to Quantum mechanics. Upanishads say Universe we see is Mithya [existence---nonexistence] , a projection of Absolute reality.  Science also says this world we live in could be 3D hologram. This shows closeness of science with Hindu religious perceptions.

     Creator represents absolute good and therefore absolute beauty [Sat, Chit, Ananda]. It is nature of Creator to desire manifestation. If Creator did not create souls to nurture and grow, its sublime energy would shrink from lack of expression. God creates imperfect life and watches what happens in order to extend itself. One has to be child to know value of a parent, Experience of imperfects will lead to perfection-----to source – God .Man says God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent yet ignores His presence in self. People who have proclaimed Him, such and such are their own guesses and reflections. Each religion defines God within the limits it demarcates and then claims to have grasped Him! So religions speak of a part and assert that their vision is full and total. Each religion forgets that God is all forms and all names, all attributes and all assertions. Modern man is slave to his desires and does not know how to arouse divine which is latent in him. Man has to give up reliance on vagaries of mind in order to know divine. We should strive for high level of living and not high standard of living. High level of living means morality, humility, detachment and compassion. One has to self-realize Atman. An Atamanic vision destroys desire for objective joys. To avoid life and death cycle spiritual enlightenment is must which can be achieved by Bhakti yoga/Karma yoga/ Janana yoga/ Raja yoga. For spiritual success faith is mandatory. Death is nothing but passage from this life to next.

                               This in nut shell is mystery of Life and GOD.

Albert Einstein:" Religion without science is blind, science without religion is lame".

                                  “Einstein did not believe in personal God ".