03. Nature of God |
To me God is
Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality; God is
fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life and yet
He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is
even the atheism of the atheist. For in His
boundless love God permits the atheist to live. He is
the searcher of hearts. He transcends speech and
reason. He knows us and our hearts better than we
do ourselves. He does not take us at our word for He knows
that we often do not mean it, some knowingly
and others unknowingly. He is a personal God to
those who need His personal presence. He is embodied to
those who need His touch. He is the purest essence. He
simply is to those who have faith. He is all things to all
men. He is in us and yet above and beyond us. One may
banish the word 'God' from the Congress but one has no
power to banish the Thing itself. What is a solemn
affirmation, if it is not the same thing as in the name of
God? And surely conscience is but a poor and laborious
paraphrase of the simple combination of three letters
called God. He cannot cease to be because hideous
immoralities or inhuman brutalities are committed in His
name. He is long suffering. He is patient but He is also
terrible. He is the most exacting personage in the world
and the world to come. He metes out the same
measure to neighbours men us as we
mete out to our and brutes. With Him ignorance is no
excuse. And withal He is ever forgiving for He always gives us
the chance to repent. He is the greatest democrat the world
knows, for He leaves us ‘unfettered’ to make our own choice
between evil and good. He is the greatest tyrant ever
known, for He often dashes the cup from our lips and under
cover of free will leaves us a margin so wholly inadequate as to
provide only mirth for Himself at our expense. Therefore it is that
Hinduism calls it all His sport – Lila, or
calls it all an illusion – Maya. We are not. He alone is. And
if we will be, we must eternally sing His praise and do His
will. Let us dance to the tune of His bansi – flute, and
all would be well.
Young India, 5-3-1925, p. 81
I talk of God
exactly as I believe Him to be. I believe Him to be creative as well
as non-creative. This too is the result of my acceptance of
the doctrine of the manyness of reality. From the platform of the
Jains I prove the non-creative aspect of God, and from that of
Ramanuja the creative aspect. As a matter of fact we are all
thinking of the Unthinkable, describing the Indescribable, seeking
to know the Unknown, and that is why our speech falters, is
inadequate and even often contradictory. That is why the Vedas
describe Brahman as 'not this', 'not this'. But if He or It is
not this, He or It is. If we exist, if our parents and
their parents have existed, then it is proper to believe in the
Parent of the whole creation. If He
is not, we are nowhere. And that is why all of us
with one voice call one God differently as Paramatma,
Ishwara, Shiva, Vishnu, Rama, Allah, Khuda, Dada Hormuzda,
Jehova, God, and an infinite variety of names. He is one and
yet many; He is smaller than an atom, and bigger than
the Himalayas. He is contained even in a drop of the
ocean, and yet not even the seven seas can compass Him.
Reason is powerless to know Him. He is beyond the reach
or grasp of reason. But I need not labour the point. Faith
is essential in this matter. My logic can make and unmake
innumerable hypotheses. An atheist might floor me in a
debate. But my faith runs so very much faster than my
reason that I can challenge the whole world and say,
'God is, was and ever shall be.'
But those who want to deny His existence are at liberty to do so. He is merciful and compassionate. He is not an earthly king needing an army to make us accept His sway. He allows us freedom, and yet His compassion commands obedience to His will. But if any of us disdain to bow to His will, He says: So be it, my sun will shine no less for thee, my clouds will rain no less for thee. I need not force thee to accept my sway.' Of such a God let the ignorant dispute the existence. I am one of the millions of wise men who believe in Him and am never tired of bowing to Him and singing His glory. Young India, 21-1-1926, pp. 30-31
Perfection is the
attribute of the Almighty, and yet what a great democrat He
is ! What an amount of wrong and humbug He suffers on our part. He
even suffers us insignificant creatures of His to question His very
existence, though He is in every atom about us, around us and within
us. But He has reserved to Himself the right of becoming
manifest to whomsoever He chooses. He is a Being without hands and
feet and other organs, yet he can see Him to whom He chooses to reveal
Himself.
Harijan, 14-11-1936, p. 314
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