Only one God

There is only one god and his name is Krishna.

This might border on conceit or narcissism, given that people from other religions, or even other Hindus may find this very offending. But this is my opinion and this is my blog. And this is not an attempt to offend others, their gods or other gods. My point is simple, all religions speak the same message, that, ‘there is only one god’.

Some of them even name him or her in their scriptures. While there are a lot of references to this in the Hindu scriptures too, they don’t always point to the same name or icon. Krishna, has always declared himself as god, also acknowledges the presence of others in the Hindu pantheon. In this blog, i am not going to into details about why Krishna, but i hope to blog about that too. The character itself is of special meaning to me, and hence the choice becomes easier to make.

We call him or her by many names. Even Hinduism and related offshoots, allows the acceptance of pretty much anything and everything as god or an icon for god, specifies that these are mere substitutes for the bigger and all containing ‘Brahman’. Newer religions have attempted to reduce this level of confusion by mandating that there be only one god. But even they have failed to enforce these strictures.

People find it difficult to associate the philosophy of religion and the meaning of scriptures to their daily lives. To many, if not all, scriptures and philosophy are of profound meaning, to be contemplated about, but when it comes to practice, any and all straws that will help keep them afloat, can and will be treated as god.

While i am not very different, i have been able to exercise some prudence. I try to clutch at straws, but i call them all the same, Krishna. I look up on at all the same, but then what i see is only one image, and that of Krishna. This is not something romantic or idealistic, but more an issue of practicality. It is easier to call out to one person, than to reach out to the rain, sun, earth, wind, money and love gods.

Who is God ? Who are you ?

It appears easy to answer on the face of it. Who is God? We can conjure up images, names, deeds, boons and punishments too, to describe a God we know. Each one of us, have different images or idea of who this person or being is. Or do we ?

Let me try a different take here. Who are you ? I would attempt to answer this by "i am CK".

Are you the name ? Because when you introduce yourself, you say "my name is CK", implying your name is CK, you are not ? While sometime i do pronounce "I am CK". But even as you say this you realize the power of 'ego' that is conveyed through that pronouncement. Again indicating that there is more to it, than just pure truth. Or simply put, that might be false.

Are you the face ? Are you the hands, the body or the legs ? Are you the heart or the mind ? Each of these part of the body is considered yours. That means, these are things you possess but they dont make you. It is my face, my legs, my hand, my heart and my mind, but not me.

Could you, then be the thoughts? The dreams, the emotions, the pain, the love that you have. Because to many people it is the thoughts and words stated that defines them. Here again, these are your thoughts. And the same conclusions can be drawn, as they are yours, but not you. They are mine, but do not define me.

Who is this 'you' or 'i' ? If you try to determine that i am all of these things indicated earlier, all of them put together. Then what happens after you or i die. Well when you die, or i die. We still tend to remain. But then its mostly an imagination in someone's mind. Whereas the i that was used associate myself with, is a dead body that needs to be cremated or buried. Like old clothes, we leave the body we used behind.

So, finally then. Who am i ? Who are you ? Who is God?