My Wanderings - 14

                       Voltaire, a seventeenth century french Philosopher  once said, " God has been invented by man."
  It was necessary to create one when there was no God.  While the evolution of Man was going on, man felt insecure and  he wanted someone to shoulder his responsibility and someone to take blame upon himself. Whatever happened to man, he blamed  it to God and reconciled with the theory that it was God's wish. But soon he learned the art to blame God for his misfortunes only and started giving credit to himself for his accomplishments. Whenever man felt dejected or depressed , he implored God for his well being. Therefore, creation of God was necessity  for man. It was up to nineteenth century mostly people discussed about the existence of God. But people don't discuss it  any more now. Either they have become believers or atheists.
But we can not so easily  ignore the fact  that  there is  definitely some eternal power  that  controls this whole universe,  which may be with or without form. It is also believed  by almost all the  religions.  But it is  ridiculous to beleive that different religions will have different  Gods. God is one and omnipresent ,  religions may be of any number. Shri Ramakrishna while in his quest for God tried to convert himself to Christianity and even to Islam. But he latter on understood  that  no religion is  barrier to realise God. God can be realised by a devout person believing in  any faith. Moreover, a Hindu will realise God in the form of Mata, Shiva or any other deity to whom he is paying  his obeisance. Similarly a Christian and Muslim can  realise God in the form of Christ  and  Mohamad respectively. Actually God does not require our obeisances or oblations. He is beyond these things. We prey to God only  for our own satisfaction and self realisation.
        Religions have been created  to inculcate morals and values in a man, so that he can live under some ethical codes and recognised institutions like marriage and family etc. Different religions may have different rituals but ultimate aim is  the same. If a person can realise these facts there will not be any religious intolerance between the two religions.  Religious intolerance in this world is due narrow minded ness of the persons believing in different religions. There is no fault in religions but fault lies in the biased and narrow interpretations derived by the people from them.
              Science  and technology has made tremendous progress these days.  But  it is only discovering the basic elements of nature which is only a tip of iceberg of the huge treasure already existing in nature.
Newton after contributing much to science became very religious in the later part of his life. He lastly  said, "I was but a small child playing on a sea shore finding prettier  sea shells or pebbles than my  other companions  but vast sea of knowledge remained undiscovered before me."
Voltaire wrote a book on Newtons principles, which made Newton more famous. He also in latter part of his life  admitted that there is some force controlling the whole universe.  Throughout his life he denounced catholic church for which he suffered very much. He was even exiled from France. His views  were not  also favourable on Islam.  But he adored Hinduism very much, particularly its Vedas. He forecasted  that West will always remain grateful to East for Vedas. In the last days of his life Voltaire also became very religious and said, "I am leaving this world adoring God, loving friends, not hating enemies but  detesting all superstitions"
Age   is also one of vital factors in making a person a believer or an atheist. In youth most of the persons are rebellious in nature and question the existence of God. But with the passage of time most of them become believers.
Ramesh Kaul
rkkaul.blogspot.com