Thousands of debates have taken place & many more will take place to discuss the concept of GOD. However, no conclusion can be reached over this topic as there is no empirical proof to an entity called GOD. There are many streams like monotheism, polytheism, nontheism, atheism etc. which in there way have either accepted, rejected or redefined the concept of God.
Let us do some juggling of these theologies and dervie a logic.
Monotheism: Only one God- Like Islam, Christianity
Polytheism: Many Gods- Like early Greek religions
Nontheism- No personal God- But a State of Godliness- Like Jainism & Buddhism
Atheism- No God/ Godliness at all- Like Communism
Hinduism is the only religion of the world which has a mix of monotheistic, atheistic as well as polytheistic schools of thought. By large, Hinduism is polytheistic. The polytheism of Hinduism is a manifestation of inherent monotheism. Vedas pronounce that there is One God who has manifested himself in many forms of deities. Thus, it's a very unique concept.
There are further two streams of philosophies among montheists & polytheists. Some believe that everything taking place in the cosmos is by the will of the Supreme. Every living being is acting, feeling, gaining or loosing according to His will. Others believe that although, everything taking place in cosmos is by the will of supreme, there are certain sets of principles which govern it. Like belief in the doctrine of Karma- Living beings act, feel, gain or loose according to their karma, He is only a facilitator. Thus, comes into picture the concept of rebirths.
If we carefully examine the first belief of His-will-only, several flaws surface. It's really rubbish that the One, the Merciful God would let murders, rapes, thefts, tensions, diseases, disasters. etc. happen in the world which He allegedly created with such a pain. If He is doing that then he must not be merciful. Some are rich and some are poor, some are healthy and some are pale, some are beautiful and some are ugly. If we say, it's His wish, then he must be partial which again goes against the very nature of the Creator.
Next belief may be given a serious thought. He may be a facilitator. But why do we need a facilitator after all? Aren't laws of nature sufficient enough to facilitate this? And if we say that there is a Creator, then this question arises that who created the Creator. And if no one is required to need the Creator, why somebody is required to create the Cosmos. No creator and therefore no facilitator. Thus, second belief also goes for a toss.
Now let us ponder upon nontheistic traditions. Nontheistic traditions believe in the concept of Godliness & not God. Both Jainism & Buddhism are nontheistic traditions. They don't believe in any personal God. These religions say that Godliness is a state of soul/mind which any eligible person can achieve. When he achieves that state he becomes God. Thus, there can be many Gods. Vardhaman Mahavira was a God, a Jina, a Tirthankar but he was not the only One. There were innumerable others. Siddharth Gautama was a Buddha, but he was not the only One. There were innumerable others. But as earlier said- only the eligible ones. Eligibilty criteria laid down was very much universal: Right beliefs, right knowledge & right conduct. Nowhere it was written or preached that you have to follow only Buddha or Mahavira for attainment of godliness but you have to follow the path of three-rights.
After attainment of Kaivalya, in his second sermon at Rajgrih, Mahavira established his Dharma Sangha. He preached the concept of "Tripadi" to his disciples. Tripadi means three states of matter: It comes into existence, stays for sometime & then vanishes. If we closely examine, this concept, it has a starking resemblance to the concept of Trinity in Hinduism.
Brahma- one who creates
Vishnu- one who preserves
Shiva- one who destroys
Now, this also holds starking resemblance to the three letter world called GOD. Let us decipher it:
G- Generation
O- Operation
D- Destruction
One may conclude that the poetic explanation of three states have been personified through GOD or Trinity. No such entity actually exists. Symbolism has lead to personification.
After God comes godliness. Nontheism define it as that state of soul where it becomes permanently free from the bondages of this cosmos, attachments, desires, vices, etc. The soul enters into a state of perfection- perfect knowledge, perfect vision & perfect conduct. The soul recognizes its nature- eternal bliss, eternal power, eternal peace & eternal happiness.
Jainism & Buddhism, thus, define GOD as the supreme soul, the Jina, the Buddha, the Sidhha, the Veetraga, the Arhat, who has attained the state of Godliness through three-rights: right belief, knowledge & conduct i.e. Samyak Darshana, Samyak Gyana & Samyak Charitra.
Now, its upto the readers to decide which concept of GOD seems logical.
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