बगुला भगत
Have you ever wondered who coined the word the word 'God', what is its root and how it is considered synonymous with the Supreme Reality?
The Roman god of heaven (cosmos) is Deus Otiosus, who has, after completing the creation, withdrawn into heaven. The concept of the "idle god" refers to a deity whose existence is not readily knowable by humans solely through contemplation or the examination of divine actions. It is perceived that has left the government of the world to other gods, human ancestors, and nature spirits that are dependent on him and act as mediators. He is also mentioned especially in areas of so-called primitive agriculture (e.g., large parts of Africa, Melanesia, and South America).
The 'highest' good for Plato is what he sometimes calls the Form of the Good and other times calls the One, from where the word 'God' has been driven. This is both the essence and source of all goodness. All other good things are merely reflections of this ultimate Goodness. It has been described as 'Summum Bonum' (the greatest good).
1. Pleasures are organised into the system.
2. Happiness is a life founded upon and participating in, the harmonious life of the universe.
3. Virtue, or the life of active citizenship in the ideal community, under the guidance of science and philosophy.
4. The coordination of all individual purposes into a single system patterned upon the idea of good.
5. The intellectual or rational life.
6. Contemplative wisdom, or the intuitive vision of the transcendental idea of good.
7. Beatitude, or complete subordination of self to God until one becomes like Good or unified with Good.
Plato's highest good is declared to be the ultimate and abstract reality, the absolute mind. conforming to logic, the self-identity of thought and the idea of good. For Plato, the highest good is to gain a vision of the Form of the Good (beatific vision), as described at the end of the allegory of the Cave. This can be understood either as a profound mystical vision of the Good or perhaps also, on a daily level, as maintaining a frame of mind that intuits God's ongoing commands and counsels. Plato's The Republic argued that "In the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen...to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right". It describes the process of unification with God homoiosis, or assimilation to God.
In Vedic culture, the supreme consciousness may also be termed as Param-Atma (ultimate Self). This Self (Parmatma) is the ruler of all beings, and the king of all beings, Just as all the spokes are fixed in the nave and the felloe of a chariot wheel, so are all beings, all gods, all worlds, all organs and all these (individual) selves, that are fixed in this Self. Therefore, he is more like the collective consciousness (democratic). The impersonal nature of God is described in the following couplet from Gita Chapter 5 verse no 14.
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः।
न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ॥ 5.14 ॥
The Supreme God is not the doer or he doesn't cause one to act. He never influences anyone to do this or to do that. He also does not ensure the result of those actions (done by individuals). It is the innate laws of nature, that ensure everything. The Supreme God is the same for all humanity (and space races, living, and non-living) whether anyone perceives him or not. Supreme God created the entire universe and the life in it. He knows everything because it is as per his design, it is he who has written the source code. Rig Ved 1.164.46 says
इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो स दिव्यो सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।
एकं सद्विप्राः बहुधा वदन्ति अग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः ॥
They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutman (Garuda who has beautiful wings).
He is the one deity in this universe who has embodied in many forms. He being unborn continues to be born in different ways, and different forms. Shavetashwar Upanishad says.
एको देवः सर्वभूतेषु गूढः। सर्वव्यापी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा।
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभूताधिवसः। साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्चः ॥ श्वेताश्वतर उपनिषद (6.11)
There is one deity, the fundamental energy that drives this universe, which is hidden in every element, which is omniscient, and which manifests itself as one of the best manifestations of all living manifestations. Vedic words say that the gods are इतरेतरजन्मानः (Itaretara Janmanah) meaning born from one another. There is no older or younger of the gods, and thus they are all spiritual beings.
Samkhya Sutras state that such consciousness is not one but fragmented. There is a united effort of all consciousness in running the Cosmos. Such effort is often referred to as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. The formless Shiva is Logos, Vishnu is Theos and Brahman is the universal mind. All of them are part of the highest good or God which is an abstract principle. Parmatma is like the essence of the thought cloud of the Ishwaras. The abstract form is formless (अमूर्त) or difficult to be realised because the thoughts in the human mind would not concentrate on such an idea. Therefore, the abstract is often represented in a human-like form known as मूर्ती (form) with various symbols depicting one's character and the correlation becomes much better. This is the science behind the idea of worshipping in various forms.
Since there are many spiritual beings, who should be chosen for prayers or worship? To this Gita Shaloka 9.25 says the following.
यान्ति देवव्रता देवान् पितृ़न्यान्ति पितृव्रताः।
भूतानि यान्ति भूतेज्या यान्ति मद्याजिनोऽपि माम् ॥Gita 9.25॥
The worshippers or votaries of the gods reach them, the ancestor-worshippers reach the manes(Pitras), the worshippers of angels or other deities that preside over the elements reach them, and my devotees reach me. This is also the reflection of the law of intent as well as an indication of what a person should aim for.
Before the process of creation began, Parmatma decided to create an ecosystem. The intent is a directed thought process and a mental activity that originates from the will and that is not spontaneous. The will is also a result of a reiterative cycle of thought process that gains force as it progresses. However, a source point of motivation is required as a thought seed from which springs a tree of the will along with its aims and objectives. The purpose of this system can be inferred as Leela (play) but since this play is non without a purpose it helps in the generation, refinement, engagement, entertainment or amusement of its consciousness. In Vedas, Parmatma is compared to a farmer who sows the seeds and then reaps the harvest, Parmatma too sows the seeds of consciousness in the form of Jeev Atma and allows them to grow. With this purpose, the superconsciousness willed the cosmos into action.
Once one establishes communication with the cosmic mind then the forms would no longer be necessary and similar is the case with rituals. The Consciousness of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva is Ishwara and among them, Shiva is called Mahadeva, he is the greater consciousness. There is Brahma for each galaxy and below him is the detailed spiritual organisation of intelligent beings.
The principles of Summum Bonum represent the indications of Dharma which we saw at the beginning of this book. The essence may be represented differently in different cultures and languages but it remains the same. Life can also be explained by the simple allegory of the school. As children go to school for learning, human beings come to earth for learning. In school, children become students progressing to higher classes with time. On earth, consciousness seeds are given one of the forms of animate and keep progressing from the lower to the higher species. The learning capability and performance of students in examinations enable them to undertake responsibilities in life. Similarly, the learning of values (Dharma) and actions (Karma) enables Jeeva to undertake responsibility in the thought worlds.
