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Thread: What is your concept of God?

  1. #1
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    What is your concept of God?

    I do not believe God as something different from us, and hold the belief that there is no strand of difference between God and man. I do not believe that God is just a creator and we are his creations. There is no him and us. No duality of curse. No inner and outer barriers between God and man.
    Where is God? In heaven? Inside us? I do not believe there is anything external or internal to God. God is everything. In the Gita it is written that God is everywhere and in everything and everything is God. How can anything other than God here. There is no otherness, innerness, externality, and duality.
    I do not think God is different to sinners and saints, and all are equally treated by God. No matter you pray or do not, God does not get angry with you, and of course God never can be angry with you. People keep on praying God thinking that praise of God will please God but it does not affect God at all, for these worldly attributes do not make any difference to God at all.
    I do not look at God from the points of view of Christians, Hindus, Muslims or mythologies or any accounts given in sacred texts. These are hazed or screened points of view. God is not and beyond all these attributes. We all are in this vast cosmos is the manifestation of God and nothing else, and ever saints and sinners included

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

  2. #2
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    God is one of those words that has been used to describe too many things. If I met someone who claimed to be God I wouldn't be able to prove him wrong.

    So is God separate? Yes. Is he in all of us? Yes. Is he...? Yes, according to someone.

    What I think doesn't matter, only what `is` matters.

    That is my concept of God

  3. #3
    Registered User NikolaiI's Avatar
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    God is with form and without form. God is the divine consciousness. All forms are but forms of consciousness, and understood more deeply, all forms are but forms of God. The tree, the computer, the leaf, and again a blanket, all are God, because the divine consciousness is within every form, because every form comes from the same source - God.

    One may come to God through any religious path. If one is sincere, then one will attain God, for it is work and worship in devotion to God which remove the veil of ignorance. We must strive to reach God. If we remain idle we will never achieve any vision of the divine.

    We must always serve something. It is our eternal nature to render service. If we are not serving God, then we are serving something else. It is true that God is not different from the creation, as the cause is not different from the effect, because the effect contains the cause within it; and yet the creation is covered over. God is within the creation implicitly, or involved.

    God is within all of nature, all of the material energy. Within humans, animals, and plants, and stars, and metal and rocks. But within metal and rocks, God is covered very much. Matter is the most gross form of God. Plants are a slightly more subtle form of consciousness. Plants are also forms of God, but they are only slightly more evolved than matter, they are still in deep ignorance. Then you have animals which are conscious of much more than plants. And humans are another level above animals in what we are conscious of. But humans are still conditioned. So all are forms of light, consciousness, truth, or God. But we do not see God, and we doubt God. Atheism is popular. Vision of God is only attained by great effort. God is the divine, the unlimited Over-Soul, and the Truth-consciousness. As God is unlimited, God has unlimited names. One can realize God through meditation, through japa, etc. and then begin to see God as the background behind the creation.

    Anyway, the divine is within everything, and never separate from anything. As we come from the Infinite, our nature is also divine. We cannot have a different nature than what our source is. Our source is the infinite, or sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, and we also have a sac-cid-ananda body. We seek for the divine, or for truth, which is not different from the divine. But our searches are not subtle enough. God, truth, is nowhere external to us, but is within. No seeking is necessary once we realize we are one with God.

    So I agree with you. In one sense, God is separate from us. And in another, God is not. God must be approached by devotion and faith. Meditation on God and work and worship give us strength, spiritual intelligence and vision - because God is the Supreme Pure, we are purified by contact therewith. But when one sees and knows God truly and fully, then all distinctions fall, all boundaries are realized. Where God ends, there we begin, and where we end, there God begins. In other words - everything beyond "us," is God, in that God is everything, because God controls everything which happens to us. But then it is realized, God is everything without, and also God is us, and we are God. The thing is, how can you be separate from your source? Exactly, how can man be separate from God? The thing is, realize this - God is your source. Then put the emphasize on your.

    But as you say as well, God is beyond all of our words, thoughts, concepts, ideas, images, and imagined attributes. God is beyond all distinction and duality. God is beyond all art, and all knowledge. And yet, it is only through conscious effort that superconscious illumination is achieved. Though God is beyond our thoughts, yet we must think - and so we should think of God. God is beyond our actions, and yet we must act - so we act for God. By thinking of God, the husband of the Goddess of Fortune... we will eventually be perfect, and we will know infinite peace and bliss.

    This seems like a high claim. It is true, though, yet one must experience it oneself. I don't have any attachment in this regard. But yet, the only truth is God. As it is said, God alone is real, while all else is unreal. God is for anyone and everyone, and attainable by everyone. Everyone comes from the same Over-Soul, which is the absolute ground of reality. So the best course possible is to render service toward God.

  4. #4
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    God must be realized effortlessly, thoughtlessly. As all of us Gods or God’s manifestations, we are not different from God and there is no interior or exteriors and what we see as internal or external is sheer illusion and nothing else. God is not a thing to respond to conditionality, situations. God is over and above else. God realization must be through a natural course or something that can be known, and describing the Way to God is not possible as it is beyond words, thoughts and efforts. Our cerebrum cannot map God’s domain nor can our senses realize it. It is subtler than thoughts and deeper than the sky. All entities, universes, galaxies are sheer illusions and limited by time and space, yet God dwells in the domain, not a physical nor a metaphysical but something beyond that. I normally cannot believe God, speaking with a great amount of earnestness and solemnity in point of fact. Once you know this truth you will have humility and fluidity in nature. You will merge into eternity. Maybe Nirvana is oftentimes said as a state of nothingness and the Buddha has realized it and he never admitted to a physical entity of God or describable state of God. God in the Vedas, the supposedly oldest texts is described by a Sanskrit word Gunatit or beyond attributes.

    Once you realize God’ nature sinners and saints, angels and demons, inns and outs, distances or all dimensions will disappear.

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

  5. #5
    ésprit de l’escalier DanielBenoit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by blazeofglory View Post
    God must be realized effortlessly, thoughtlessly. As all of us Gods or God’s manifestations, we are not different from God and there is no interior or exteriors and what we see as internal or external is sheer illusion and nothing else. God is not a thing to respond to conditionality, situations. God is over and above else. God realization must be through a natural course or something that can be known, and describing the Way to God is not possible as it is beyond words, thoughts and efforts. Our cerebrum cannot map God’s domain nor can our senses realize it. It is subtler than thoughts and deeper than the sky. All entities, universes, galaxies are sheer illusions and limited by time and space, yet God dwells in the domain, not a physical nor a metaphysical but something beyond that. I normally cannot believe God, speaking with a great amount of earnestness and solemnity in point of fact. Once you know this truth you will have humility and fluidity in nature. You will merge into eternity. Maybe Nirvana is oftentimes said as a state of nothingness and the Buddha has realized it and he never admitted to a physical entity of God or describable state of God. God in the Vedas, the supposedly oldest texts is described by a Sanskrit word Gunatit or beyond attributes.

    Once you realize God’ nature sinners and saints, angels and demons, inns and outs, distances or all dimensions will disappear.
    Completely agree, I have no idea what God is or isn't, but I do know that I've felt Him/Her/It in the thoughtlessness of meditation.

    Dostoyevsky certainly has something brilliant to say on this matter:

    "The essence of the religious feeling does not come under any sort of reason or atheism, and has nothing to do with any crimes or misdemeanors."

    From "The Idiot"
    The Moments of Dominion
    That happen on the Soul
    And leave it with a Discontent
    Too exquisite — to tell —
    -Emily Dickinson
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW8GCnr9-I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGIvr6WVw4

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    Quote Originally Posted by DanielBenoit View Post
    Completely agree, I have no idea what God is or isn't, but I do know that I've felt Him/Her/It in the thoughtlessness of meditation.
    How, then, do you know that God is a Him/Her/It? These are distinctions which require thought. Even the doubting conclusion "it might be a him or an it" is a thoughtful conclusion.

  7. #7
    Something's Gone hoope's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    How, then, do you know that God is a Him/Her/It? These are distinctions which require thought. Even the doubting conclusion "it might be a him or an it" is a thoughtful conclusion.
    God described himself as Him in the Holy Quran and this Holy book as been saved from any changes .
    Below are verses from the Holy Quran .

    and you can read it the translation from this site

    http://www.jannah.org/qurantrans/

    255 God! There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) Before or After or Behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).
    I do not think God is different to sinners and saints, and all are equally treated by God. No matter you pray or do not, God does not get angry with you, and of course God never can be angry with you. People keep on praying God thinking that praise of God will please God but it does not affect God at all, for these worldly attributes do not make any difference to God at all
    Blaze God is beyond all this assumptions ..

    And in the holy quran it says that God merciful .., He gives chances for people and at the same time He gets angry & punishes them for those who deserve.
    "He is asleep. Though his mettle was sorely tried,
    He lived, and when he lost his angel, died.
    It happened calmly, on its own,
    The way the night comes when day is done."



  8. #8
    escape reality rimbaud's Avatar
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    Well, I'm with Dostoevsky on this one

    I do not exclude that God may exists but I refuse to belive in him becouse if by any chance there is God, he is evil
    why do people suffer- by the bible to pay for their sins so that they can be saved on the other side, so that one day harmony will take over, what I do not understand is: why do children suffer? they don't have sins, so? They suffer to pay the collective sin, they suffer for their fathers.
    well if the harmony of the world is based on the suffering of innocent victims I don't want to be a part of it. I refuse that kind of God. He is evil and hypocritical. It would be better of I knew that God does not exists but since I can not be sure I just refuse to believe in him.

    And I'm with Fight Club on this one:
    We are God's unwanted children, so be it! We don't need him.
    Touched by Genius. Cursed by Madness. Blinded by Love.

  9. #9
    sound of music soundofmusic's Avatar
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    To All,
    Does evil exist to balance good; does there always have to be a metaphorical snake and a tree of knowledge in Eden?

  10. #10
    ésprit de l’escalier DanielBenoit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mal4mac View Post
    How, then, do you know that God is a Him/Her/It? These are distinctions which require thought. Even the doubting conclusion "it might be a him or an it" is a thoughtful conclusion.
    It's not a thought out conclusion and is entirely based on faith, as Kierkigaard said, "Faith begins were thought ends." This knowingness of something is not derived from any sort of logic, it's merely a fuzzy, vauge reflection upon an experience, after its occurence.

    Quote Originally Posted by soundofmusic View Post
    To All,
    Does evil exist to balance good; does there always have to be a metaphorical snake and a tree of knowledge in Eden?
    Yeah, Nietzsche said something of the like. Without evil, we would never be able to recognize good. It's like with superheros: Who would think Spider-Man was a hero without there being crime for him to ward off?
    Last edited by DanielBenoit; 09-25-2009 at 10:21 AM.
    The Moments of Dominion
    That happen on the Soul
    And leave it with a Discontent
    Too exquisite — to tell —
    -Emily Dickinson
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW8GCnr9-I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGIvr6WVw4

  11. #11
    Registered User Judas130's Avatar
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    A concept of God is still but a concept.

  12. #12
    Registered User NikolaiI's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rimbaud View Post
    Well, I'm with Dostoevsky on this one

    I do not exclude that God may exists but I refuse to belive in him becouse if by any chance there is God, he is evil
    why do people suffer- by the bible to pay for their sins so that they can be saved on the other side, so that one day harmony will take over, what I do not understand is: why do children suffer? they don't have sins, so? They suffer to pay the collective sin, they suffer for their fathers.
    well if the harmony of the world is based on the suffering of innocent victims I don't want to be a part of it. I refuse that kind of God. He is evil and hypocritical. It would be better of I knew that God does not exists but since I can not be sure I just refuse to believe in him.

    And I'm with Fight Club on this one:
    We are God's unwanted children, so be it! We don't need him.
    Alan Watts gave a very good example to help gain some perspective on this. What is discord at one level of being is harmony at another. For example, as Watts said, there are creatures in the blood stream (of our body, as well as aniamls', etc.) which are killing each other. This goes on always, it is happening as we speak. It is discord at one level, but on another level, our level of being, it is complete harmony. The killing of those creatures in the blood stream which goes on happens in perfectly healthy, harmoniously healthy living beings, such as humans and other animals.

    So what is discord on one level, the microscopic level, is harmony on another level of being, the one we are familiar with. The same thing is true with us. If, God forbid, a person, let us say an innocent, is killed while in some situation, through no sin or fault of their own; this is seen as discord, and also as evil. And your argument is that it is an absolute evil, if I do not mistake you. But again, while it is discord at this level, it may be within a greater harmony.

  13. #13
    escape reality rimbaud's Avatar
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    I just don't like the whole idea of god and religion, it seems hypocritical to me, so I refuse to believe it
    I do think that there are some people that find the answer in religion. It's their source of happiness, way of being happy , for me it's not.
    Some people believe in God, I believe in art
    Touched by Genius. Cursed by Madness. Blinded by Love.

  14. #14
    ésprit de l’escalier DanielBenoit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rimbaud View Post
    I just don't like the whole idea of god and religion, it seems hypocritical to me, so I refuse to believe it
    I do think that there are some people that find the answer in religion. It's their source of happiness, way of being happy , for me it's not.
    Some people believe in God, I believe in art
    To me God is art.

    I don't subscribe to any religion, but I am very religious (though not ascetic). . . . if that makes any sense.
    The Moments of Dominion
    That happen on the Soul
    And leave it with a Discontent
    Too exquisite — to tell —
    -Emily Dickinson
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVW8GCnr9-I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGIvr6WVw4

  15. #15
    Haribol Acharya blazeofglory's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DanielBenoit View Post
    To me God is art.

    I don't subscribe to any religion, but I am very religious (though not ascetic). . . . if that makes any sense.
    I like this I don't subscribe to any religion, but I am very religious.

    Of course man can still be religious without religions, and live with religious values without sticking to religions.

    And religions have spurred wars, violence and disintegration in human society. Religions have distanced one man from another. We know how fundamentalist ideas are on the increase today. People clinging to a particular religious sect are engaged in indoctrinating small children to follow some particular beliefs.

    Today it is beliefs or faiths that fight with one another. The world could be better without religions

    “Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””

    “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

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