Concept of God: Gita and God 0001

Concept of God

God is defined and interpreted variously. All may be acceptable as there is no scientific criterion available to test which concept of God is correct or incorrect. It is meaningless to debate over the various concepts of God. Each concept of God is relevant only to the application of the concept to various uses. Here we first try to find out the definition of God from select veses contained in Shrimad Baghwat Gita and then explore its applications and uses.
Gita does not define God as one would find any definition given in a standard textbook. The concept is to be extracted from a few relevant verses dispersed in various chapters of Gita. The simplest way to pick up the concept of God in Gita is to read the verses (slokas) where God is described in some way or the other. Let us select the following (translated in to English by me from translations into Bengali from Sanskrit by others: take care my translations are word for word and are influence by my own understanding):

1. God (Atman) “ encompasses the entire universe (creation), pervades all phenomena, matter and elements – everything in the universe: God is all pervasive, indestructible and ceaseless.” (II.17)
2. God is “ ever present, ceaseless and unlimited infinite: God never destroys anything or gets destroyed.” (II.18 -19)
3. God “was never born and never ceased to exist: God is ever present, permanent, agelessly old and never disappears even if the forms in which God is manifested may be transient and transform continuously.” (II.20)
4. God “cannot be cut into pieces by any weapon, cannot be burnt by fire or become wet by pouring water on it, nor can God become dry because of air or breeze. God is not exhaustible, not inflammable, not penetrable, not containable, God is static, is everywhere, in everything, incomprehensible, unexplainable, inexpressible, unimaginable, unalterable and original. (II.21-24)
5. God also “exits in all forms, independent of the form, shape and body.” (II.30)
6. God has “never been born, is inexhaustible and is ever present in every being, every thing. God appears in varying forms as a result of God’s own nature. At one level, God takes form as land, water, fire, wind, air, sky mind, intellect and ego. At another level, God is not apparent and formless and yet holds and sustains the entire universe or the entire creation.” (IV. 6)
7. “God’s illusive power is reflected in all things: Land, Water, wind, fire, Sky, mind, intellect and ego. But all these and all life forms and materials arise from God as the source. God is the cause of all creation, destruction and transformation. There is no other ultimate source than God: everywhere everything is ultimately related to me as the source. God is the essence of everything, of water, of light provided by the Sun and the moon, all words and sounds and of all the power of human beings. God is the fragrance in everything, the heat produced by fire, life of all living beings and the power of sacrifice, meditation and renunciation. God is the seed of everything, the wisdom of the wise and the strength of the strong; God is the source of power gained from renunciation as well as the strength of all desires of human beings. God is the desire, attachment, and anger in all beings. All different kinds of characteristics, tendencies and properties of different beings and things arise from God: God does not depend on these properties or characteristics but completely controls these instincts and natural tendencies and properties exhibited by living beings and all other things.” (VII. 4-12)
8. “ God is formless but is in all forms. Formless God is not discernible to the human faculties and senses. God fills the entire universe/ creation. That senses do not perceive or discern my presence is also the result of God’s power to keep them in illusion. God in everything All life and matter exists in God, yet God’s existence in not limited to all forms of life and matter nor limited to the known and the knowable.” (IX. 4-7)

It is clear from the above that the concept of God in Gita is very simple, even if abstract. God is not conceived as a known, identifiable physical or extra-physical form nor is God perceived as a known or unknown power or force. God is conceived as something enveloping, encompassing, all pervasive, incomprehensible, and unimaginable and the ultimate source of the entire creation – known or unknown, and perceived as always there even when time might not have existed. Yet God’s presence is perceived in all elements of matter and life everywhere, every moment of time and beyond time ans space. God seems to be the creator and the creation as well.

It is a clear admission that God is indescribable, if not unknowable, source of all that we know or do not know and is defined as such. Why has God been conceived and defined in this way some 2,500 or 5,000 years ago? Why is this God not named? How is such an abstract concept or definition useful and applied in human life?

We shall explore this soon by looking at other verses of Gita itself.