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God without Form

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 21:02:36 -0400

As a child the young mind is exposed to a multitude of thoughts, ideas, sounds, images and so on. Here are some sayings that I wish to bring to attention: God hears the thoughts of everyone in the world. God knows your true feelings and is concerned with these feelings and not just your actions. Lastly, I have always heard that God is within everyone and everyone is verily God. God is omnipresent and without Him not even a blade of grass can move. I used to believe these blindly, and there is absolutely no problem in that. As I grew up I felt that I wanted to have a justification for my beliefs. How can it be that God can know the thoughts of all the beings in the entire universe? A single conscious entity that is attached to the infinite became unquestionably implausible to me. Another quite troubling concept to me was that God was allowing innumerable injustices to go on every single day. There is clearly a debate on the existence of God and we can cite numerous miracles or coincidences in the complexity of life itself to suggest that an intelligent designer must exist but we can never truly say do exist. One day perhaps we can, but whether we need to or should is an entirely different discussion itself.

I am one who certainly tries to appreciate the gift of life and simply being alive everyday but I will say that I have not myself witnessed any unexplainable miracles myself. I hope that I am not being ignorant in saying that sometimes, often nowadays, I believe that there does not exist a God whom lies in the heavens and watches and listens to our every actions. I do believe that there is perhaps some mysterious cosmic energy that we have not yet fully comprehended and that is what we are calling God.

Let me explain as such, let us say that God is simply matter, that which makes up everything. God itself does not have the power to manipulate the physical world or have power of thoughts but since God makes up the entire universe, everything is a manifestation of God. If we assume that God is simply an energy that pervades the universe then a lot of inconceivable notions begin to make explicit sense. God thus becomes the energy that moves blades of grass and is the prime energy for all living and non-living things in this world. If God is the energy of the universe then God is within us all. Another manifestation of God can then be thought of as our consciousness. Since we are all capable of knowing our own thoughts and feelings the statement that God hears all of our thoughts and knows all of our feelings becomes fathomable. God knows when you do good deeds and God knows when you do evil because you yourself are aware of your actions and the true nature of your actions. Further, it is God that gives us all of our talents. However, I want to state that I think it to be more complex than that.

I myself have been very lazy in life and often waste time watching television and sleeping and so on; I am not ignorant to the fact that there are very talented people who are also very focused and dedicate hours of practice to their passions. Since I believe that God is energy within us all, we must use that energy and focus it towards the desired direction. When you truly believe that you have the power to control yourself then I feel you can achieve anything. Be it any dream or idea that you have and want to realize, it happens only when you put the effort to do so. It will not simply happen if you pray. I can pray to get bigger muscles, a silly example I know, but it can never be achieved unless I myself put forth the effort and use determination to follow through on my thoughts. I must use my mental energy to allow myself to push beyond that which I thought was my limitation.

Thus, it is through the power of God that humans have been able to make dreams come true from their wildest imaginations such as walking on the moon. Of course, we know it took years of hard work and research to do so. It does not simply happen. I invite you to use this definition of God and see how it fits with your own view of the capabilities of God. Further, I challenge you to realize that you are capable of making your dreams become reality by having a strong mental attitude and using that to overcome all obstacles, especially the one that is the voice in your head telling you that you can’t do it, or telling you to be lazy instead. It is quite a challenge but I know you are up for it!

God and Geometry

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:36:00 -0400

Faith has recently become a perplexing notion to me. Subscribing to a belief without reason or evidence is seemingly illogical. Once while I was meditating I satiated the appetite of my restless mind in its search for a truth of God’s existence. While the idea may be unsatisfactory at best I premise that we will never find such an adequate explanation of God’s existence.

To begin with we must visualize one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) systems. For the 1D system to remain a 1D system it is imperative to have a set of lines that are parallel to one another. The lines, we may assume, are either segments or infinite. If the lines were not parallel then it forces an intersection between two lines; three points, one of which is not on a line is the basis for a plane, a two-dimensional construct. Similarly, a 2D system is a set of parallel planes. I must confess that I am unable to state with certainty if the 3D system is a set of parallel objects. However, the conclusion of this idea should provide an explanation of why I am incapable of doing so.

With the initial systems in mind I further went to create “beings” within each system. A 1D being is essentially a being that is capable of sight in only one direction. Take for example a line segment, the world of a 1D being, a 1D being on one end of the segment can only see to the other end of the segment. The being cannot see up, down, left, right, or behind. A 2D being is able to see in a 360⁰ view on its plane but cannot see up or below from its plane. A 3D being is able to see a full range of motion, such as being in the exact center of a sphere and being able to see any point on the surface of the sphere. I hope that it is clear why I have placed restrictions for each being within their own systems.

Take the scenario of a plane that intersects with a line perpendicularly in nature. In this manner, a single point of the 2D plane intersects with a single point on the 1D line. To the 1D being the 2D being is seen simply as a 1D being. Even if the 2D plane completely consumed the 1D line it would be no different than a 1D line that is fully intersected by another 1D line such that all points overlap. Thus, the 1D being would never be able to believe that the 2D being is in fact a 2D being since the 1D being is confined to the limitations of its own system. Similarly, a 3D tetrahedron would appear to a 2D place as simply a triangle since the intersection of a tetrahedron and a plane is a triangle. Thus, a 3D being would be unable to prove to a 2D being that it is in fact a 3D being. (I leave to the reader the exercise of investigating the various ways in which a higher dimensional being may communicate with a lower being to prove its superiority) The beings, through their consciousness might be able to conceive the idea of a dimensional system that is one level up from them, but they cannot prove conclusively of its existence.

I now come back to my premise that we will always fail to explain the existence of God. Analogous to the geometrical system that have described just now, we can see that if God is a supreme being, more powerful that we, that we may be able to conceive the idea of God but we cannot prove without a doubt God’s existence. Even if God came to us in our world and said that “I am God, believe me,” we can at best have faith and chose to believe without reason or at worst we will remain skeptical in doubt.

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature..."

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 11:36:00 -0400

““The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.””

- The Catcher in the Rye

If this isn’t motivation enough for me to finally get in...

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:14:40 -0400

If this isn’t motivation enough for me to finally get in shape…

We should strive not just for the me but for justice for...

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:34:00 -0400

We should strive not just for the me but for justice for humanity

Is middle ground the best stance?

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:09:33 -0400

I used to be obsessed with the idea of a duality in nature. Like the yin and the yang. Black and white. Good and bad. Faith or doubt. But it’s clear to me that their is a neutral as well.

A scientist will always try to describe the macroscopic behavior of something from its microscopic structure. As below, so above. The idea that fundamental primitive building blocks manifest into the larger visible world.

This is something I thought about before. Proton, neutron, electron respectively as soul, body, and mind. The positive, neutral, and negative in our lives. I was saying that the soul is always trying to do good and the mind is always wandering and being the so called devil in our angel-devil scenario. And I thought the body would be neutral in this case.

Upon some reading from the Internet I was corrected to change the model to being proton-mind, electron-body, and neutron-soul. To me this actually made more sense, although anyone can make arguments for any perspective. Perhaps it is our mind that is willing to change and wanting to do good. But it is our body that is holding us back by being lazy or making up captive to our senses and being selfish to satisfy these sensual desires. We must overcome these obstacles from the body such as eating healthier less tasty food, exercising no matter how lazy we are or the “pain” we feel. And the soul, why is neutral good? A neutron, being slightly heavier than a proton actually can be converted to a proton and an electron. Thus, the soul has the potential to be good or be bad but is neither at the same time. Good and bad in my opinion is exactly that, an opinion, based on a perspective. Sure there are universal bads such as raping a person which is bad in every context. But even something like killing which is bad in most cases is acceptable in some cases. I believe that one should be able to be “good” or “bad” based on the situation but I believe that most situations only require a neutral stance at worst; you don’t have to always go out of your way and be nice but you can atleast be quiet unless it is truly something worth getting worked up about. Perhaps, this neutral stance is our true nature..

"3 methods to learn wisdom: 1 reflection, which is noblest; 2 imitation, which is easiest; 3..."

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:58:56 -0400

“3 methods to learn wisdom: 1 reflection, which is noblest; 2 imitation, which is easiest; 3 experience, which is the bitterest.”

- Confucius

Sometimes I don't get it

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:41:32 -0400

There is a saying that every person comes into this world with nothing and leaves with it the same way. From a physical standpoint I think we can all agree without a doubt that this stands true in all cases. From a metaphysical (not sure if this is the correct word) standpoint I can argue that a soul exists and the soul can take with it at death all that is has learned and experienced.

I will get straight to the point but the idea I proposed above is an interesting and long discussion. I’ll explain what causes me confusion, especially at this stage in life of people my age. The topic is essentially marriage. But more specifically marriage between different cultures.

These are only opinions that I have and I am writing to see if maybe I can hear from and understand another point of view. It makes sense to me that people within the same culture will have a lot of similarities with rituals, customs, behaviors and general way of life. It makes sense that people in the same culture will likely follow the same religion and traditions and festivals. If both people come from the same culture then there should not be any compromising necessary in these regards. Where as if people come from two different cultures then there are the possibilities that culture A is only followed, culture B is only followed, or some variation and compromise of both cultures A and B. This is certainly create either strife between the couple or perhaps unhappiness if one party does not get to follow their culture to their content.

(Maybe this is something that takes time to learn in life and that I learn with age and experience, but this is my viewpoint now) With all this in mind, I don’t seem to understand why parents strongly desire their children to marry someone in the same culture. I do agree that one should be proud of where they have come from and what we learn from our culture is truly invaluable. But I also subscribe to the notion of unity in diversity and that we all are human in nature; that all of humanity is one. If I truly enter and leave this world with nothing then what good is it to hold on to culture? Something that “stays” within this world only. Is it because these cultures are thousands of years old and we want to keep them going? I am not sure. I don’t see why we can’t just take the best parts of everything and allow cultures to evolve. Yes it will certainly be the case that some cultures will die out. Does not the theory of evolution apply to all aspects of life? That the survival of the fittest prevails. I guess I believe that everything should be fair game and that choice should be introduced. When that happens I believe that people become more passionate and understand better why they follow a certain set of guidelines instead of following it for no apparent reason.

I think this extends to a broader discussion of humans in general and how we tend not to believe anything until we experience it. We don’t believe that which is told for our own good. I’d like to end with short example that I read. It is not in relevance to the original post idea but to this last paragraph. A father came from home work and it was his six year old daughter’s birthday party and all the children were there and she had received some presents from them but refused to share them. The father had tried multiple things: asking nicely, explaining how if she shared her toys now when she went to their houses they too would share, bribing her with cookies, then threatening her with timeout. The father was certainly embarrassed in front of the other parents as he could not get his daughter to share her newly obtained toys. But later he thought, perhaps it is not a fault of his parenting or a fault of his daughter’s possible selfishness. Perhaps it was that the daughter needed first to have a sense of ownership of the toys. Then perhaps the concept of sharing might have a more meaningful understanding to her. I believe this story only makes sense as a child when we are first learning. At older age we realized quickly what sharing means in simple situations as in school. For example in gym class, none of the students own the tennis racket, the school does, but they are able to take turns and share the racket so everyone gets a chance to play. Similarly, perhaps humans need to have some experiences for themselves to understand it.

Don’t worry, and if you do it, don’t worry.

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:06:00 -0400

Don’t worry, and if you do it, don’t worry.

I said Give me some more Time in a dream But somebody said It could be here This could be now...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:13:41 -0400

I said
Give me some more
Time in a dream
But somebody said
It could be here
This could be now

-from Community theme song

I love it because it’s true. We can live out our dreams in each and every moment.
(however hard to always remember to keep this outlook on life lol)

A post to my brothers; miss you guys. Some of my best talks...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:06:00 -0400

A post to my brothers; miss you guys. Some of my best talks about life with you fellas and we always bring new perspectives to the discussion. We’ve learned to be happy and appreciate life and at the same time unhappy so that we can subject ourselves to improvement always, bettering our lives and those around us. I must say I’m proud of all of us at this moment and glad we are all doing well in life.

Bharath, once again mad props for locking up a job with the pt. I’m super excited seeing you working so hard and it’s very much deserved. From what you’ve told me this is a most excellent opportunity for you to learn and I know your continued hard work will take you very far! Gaurav, once again as always you are one who can’t stay put lol. But I think it is that trait about you that makes you successful in all aspects of life ;) You are very ambitious for relocating to a job in a totally different culture and I’m excited to see what new facet this adds to your character.

We never get a chance to have out skype chat but it’ll happen someday soon. I’m going to get back into blogging again so you guys get a chance to see what things I think about daily or what neat things I come across. Hopefully our reunion comes sooner than we expect!

"Only in love are unity and duality not in variance. Love must be one and two at the same time. Hence..."

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:35:00 -0400

“Only in love are unity and duality not in variance. Love must be one and two at the same time. Hence love is at once, appreciation of difference between man and nature, and a recognition, nevertheless, of a deep unity.”

- Rabindranath Tagore

Always reblog.

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:27:53 -0400

My top three favorite quotes: 3. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of...

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:02:03 -0400

My top three favorite quotes:

3. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.”

2. “Hands that help are holier than lips that pray.”

1. “Love seeks no reward, Love is its own reward.”

This is my first post, so I’m just going to get right into it. This is just something that I...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:11:53 -0400

This is my first post, so I’m just going to get right into it. This is just something that I spent some time thinking about last night. Most people know these terms but I’ll just spell it out anyways. An abcd refers to Indians that are born in American and have the confused notion that they are actually Indian, thus the term American-born confused Desi. In contrast, there is the fob, which means fresh off the boat and refers to Indians that were born in India and later came to America. I’m speaking generally when I say that these two groups don’t get along. In my opinion the relationship is somewhat of a recognition of the other group but ignoring. I suck at writing by the way, so I’m bad at trying to put into words what I’m thinking haha. Just ask if you need any clarification. Basically, the abcds believe that they are indeed Indian and that they have culture. But they also like the fact that they have adapted into the American culture as well. It is kind of a balancing act for them where they try to figure out where they belong and thus the whole confused part. Fobs on the other hand know the language and customs very well as they have been in India for most of their lives. They are sometimes ridiculed for their accent and other such things. This is one aspect of what I was thinking about. Just the fact that there exist two different groups that seem to inherently not get along with each other. The other thing that I have been thinking about related to this is the fact that there are so many different “types” of Indians. This issue never really came up until I came to college. Until then, anyone I met I would just tell them I am from India. I thought that was all I needed to say. In college people would ask where from? India. Where in India? Hyderabad. Oh where is that? Its in South India. Ohh, I’m from West India. Just like that, it seemed everyone I was meeting created this distinction. I always used to think that India was One. Then it got split into so many different types, and each one was more proud of their own area. I mean I definitely liked the fact that everyone had such pride for their culture. I guess I just had a different idea of what being an Indian was. I never really thought, North, East, West, South like that. I thought anywhere I go, its the same. Maybe its my naivety. I’m not saying that I think there is something wrong with the way it is or the way people think about it. I just want to offer my perspective on this, shed a new light on it. I know I didn’t go into a lot of detail in explaining this but I think I got the jist of it. Now, to me, what being an Indian has meant one thing all along. I never thought of it as knowing the language or the festivals and movies and music and such. I mean growing up in India you learn so much about the way of life there and its obviously different than growing up in America. The cartoons are different. The movies. The food. Quite a lot that seem different. I’ve always thought about the Unity in Diversity, but that’s a whole topic in itself. Growing up, the one thing that I always believed made me Indian was the truth that in India we treat the Guest as God. This is what I’ve always felt of India. Every Indian knows that whenever a guest comes to our house we go out of our way to make them feel at home. We treat them with the highest respect. I have never gone into the home of an Indian and left without at least being offered water. Its a kind of tradition we have. I love it. Since then, throughout my life I have expanded on that and learned more about it. I am grateful to have learned this from my country. But I no longer think that it is the trait of an Indian; it is the trait of every human. And now I don’t just think about a guest in the home. My home has become the whole world and guests are all those I meet. I found a quote once that went along these lines. “I expect to pass through this life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do to my fellow being, let me do it now, as I shall not pass this way again.” -William Penn. I hope to inspire people to not be afraid to be selfless and to treat all those you meet in life with lots of love. We are all the same, no matter how many differences we have. I’ll end with one more quote from my spiritual teacher. “There is only one religion, the religion of Love; There is only one language, the language of the Heart; There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity.”