What is GOD ?

Aman Singh · #1 (**permalink**) 16-Jun-2004, 09:27 AM

My Questions And Answer By Jaskeerat Kaur
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 04:32 PM PST

Existence has many questions attached to it. For example, people wondering how we got here, if there is anybody else in the universe besides us. I have always believed in God. What ever was created was created by God. I have had many questions though, like who was the first person on earth? How did it all start?

Of course, science has proven that people cannot have started with Adam and Eve (Sandman and Rib woman). Some scientists believe that life evolved in water. Guru Nanak wrote the same thing many years before any scientist could figure it out. I have never really understood how we could evolve in water or from
apes or whatever. But then I realized that if the maggots of a fruit fly can form from the soil and food recycled compost, then why can't life have evolved in water?
Okay, so I figured out that the chain of humans formed from humans formed from humans. Water forms from ice. The planet forms from all the gases that turn into rock. And the universe formed from an explosion - The Big Bang. Then I start to question if God is really there. Our plane of existence clashes with science, where does God come in?
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/61-what-is-god.html

My dad explained energy. Well, that is what God is, energy. Energy is the thing that caused the explosion (Big- Bang Theory), that created the universe, that contained gases that formed the planets, which contained the ice, that melted and formed water, that created species, that evolved into humans! It was all energy.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

If we just say God creates everything, then we also have to ask who created God. There is no way to explain if this energy we call God has been here forever. There is no way to explain the universe or planets or space. There is
no way to explain if there was nothing at all at one time. There is a way to explain what God really is. God is not a person, it does not have a name nor does it have gender. God can't touch, God can't write. That is why all those movies where they make an actor play God are silly, because God is energy. The rest is our responsibility, otherwise we wouldn't be here. God is energy and we are lucky to have it.

"I am 12 years old and studying in 7th grade at a Math and Science Magnet* school in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. I am learning a lot about my religion. My dad and I discuss Sikhi often. I am fortunate to be born a Sikh."

*Magnet schools in the USA are for gifted children.

Amarpal · #2 (**permalink**) 16-Jun-2004, 17:48 PM

Dear Khalsa Jee (Ideal Singh)

I am aware that I am not complete. I have to learn and evolve a lot before I can answer ‘What is God’. I keep deliberating within myself over this question. Over time, I have just started forming my own opinion and an answer for it. I am not sure if it is right or wrong. Still I am daring to put it on this forum so that members can comment and I can learn from their responses.

We humans have evolved a lot in various fields. We have created spacecrafts, aircrafts and aircraft carriers, nuclear reactor, equipment and systems for medical diagnostics, computers, communication systems etc. Yet, we have not been able to create a single blade of grass on our own. Some ‘Intelligence’ is doing it all over, all the time.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

This ‘Cosmic Intelligence’ for me is God.

It is this ‘Intelligence’ that gave me life and birth. This ‘Intelligence’ is still working within me - it is sustaining my life. That is why I say that God is within me.

It is an unified ‘Intelligence’ – probably it is ‘Ek Onkaar’. It is the one spirit behind every thing that has happened, or is happening or will happen – probably it is ‘Karta Purakh’. It fears no body, it keep acting day in day out – probably it is ‘Nirbhau’. (I am of the opinion that the word Nirbhau in Sri Guru Granth Sahib is improperly translated to mean fearless. I am unable to think that God is without fear alone - God is without envy, without anger, without greed, without lust and all without all other emotions. How ‘Almighty’ can be limited to this emotion alone. Guru Sahib cannot miss this point; probably what we understand currently was not the intended means of the Guru Sahib. I think the correct Hindi equivalent should be ‘Nirbhav’, which is very close to Nirbhau, it means without emotions - this word is all comprehensive. The misunderstanding has probably happened because of the way it was pronounced in the days of Guru Sahib or the way it is written in Gurmukhi. The ‘Cosmic Intelligence’, which I am referring to, works without involvement of emotions so it is Nirbhav too). This ‘Intelligence’ has no enmity towards any body – probably it is ‘Nirvair’. This ‘Intelligence’ is an entity that has been working in the past, continues to work in the present and will be working in future also, independent of time – probably it is ‘Akaal Murat’. No one created or gave birth to this ‘Intelligence’ – probably it is ‘Ajuni’. It existed always and on its own – probably it is ‘Saibhang’.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

This ‘Cosmic Intelligence’ is an ultimate entity - probably the ‘Sat’. To ‘Sat’, we cannot give any name. Giving it a name will limit it to the meaning of that word; it will negate the infinite incomprehensive nature of the ultimate reality. That is why Guru Sahib has just left it to say ‘Satnaam’ indirectly saying what ever that ‘Sat’ is that is its name – ‘Naam’. Guru Sahib has not given any specific name to this ‘Sat’ and has left it to be known as ‘Naam’ itself for the simple reason that ‘Sat’ cannot be explained in any of the way we humans are conversant with, we cannot create a word to convey what God is. - probably this ‘Cosmic Intelligence’ is ‘Sat’

This ‘Cosmic Intelligence’ cannot be seen, cannot be felt, and cannot be perceived by any of the human faculties – probably it is ‘Nirakaar’.

I still have to look deeper before I conclude on what I have been pondering over and sharing with you here on this forum.

Please comment and enlighten me, so that I learn.

With love and respect for all

Amarpal

Aman Singh · #3 (**permalink**) 16-Jun-2004, 20:01 PM

Dear Amarpal Ji,

First of all, I would like to take this oppotunity to mention that its a previlede to read your writings over this forum. Your writings are not only enlightening and you are blessed with great skill of putting your thinking into a readiable expression...

Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61
Please always be in Chardi kalaa... we certainly need people like you around for the guidance of present as well as upcoming generaltion

About your opinion about misinterpretion of word Nirbhau, if we read the translations of Prof. Sahib Singh Ji in GuruGrathDarshan, we can clearly establish that Nirbhau is indeed clearly meant to mean Fearless...

In my humble opinion, fearless is He who has already conquered on emotions like greed, lust, attachment, envy etc. Such a person is not worried about emotions like greed, lust, anger or attachment...

I would like to quote from one of the lectures by Giani Sant Singh ji Maskin... He says that when Mia Meer heard the news of decree on Guru Arjan Dev Ji to sit on a burning kiln, Mia Meer reached to meet Guru Ji, and started crying... Guru Ji said "Do no look at my burning body, Look into my peaceful heart." ---> devoid of any fear... ---> Nirbhau... Now Guru Ji did not worried for an iota of a second about His worldy attachemnts with His family, friends i.e. emotional ties and then we would observe that there is not even a single reference in history books where GuruJi even contested the verdict forced upon Him by Jahagir and accepted the Hukum of the Almighty with peaceful heart... Nirvair... it is said that even Chandu who was pouring sand on Guru Ji was feeling a cold in front of the buringing kiln...
Please excuse me for my little intellect...

Chardi Kalaa

Amarpal · #4 (**permalink**) 17-Jun-2004, 16:36 PM

Dear Khalsa Jee (Ideal Singh),

I thank you for your response and for encouraging me.

In this posting, I verbalise the dialogue that took place within my mind after reading your response, so that you can comment on what I am saying and I learn from it.

If Guru Sahib wanted ‘Almighty’ to be perceived as fearless as is the popular belief among we Sikhs, then the word chosen should be close to Nirbhay, which is the Hindi word for fearless. Or, using the literature written prior to compilation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, it should be demonstrated that in the language of that time the word for fearless was Nirbhau. That is, we must follow the etymological route to substantiate that Nirbhau means fearless.

We know that fear and anger, both are basic emotions; these cannot be broken down any further into still elementary emotions. Fear is not a composite emotion like many others. The emotion fear cannot include other emotions in it, as it is a basic emotion. I give some examples of composite or derived emotions and the basic emotions from which these are derived: friendliness = joy + acceptance; alarm = fear + surprise; guilt = joy + fear; sullenness =sadness + anger; delight = joy + surprise; anxiety = anticipation + fear. On the left side of the equation are the names of derived or composite emotions; while on the right are the names of emotions, which are basic (Refer the book ‘Emotional Brain’ by Joseph Le Doux page 114). For the simple reason that fear is a basic emotion, it cannot, in any way, include or cover any of the other emotions. Our Guru Sahibs knew all and so they would not have meant to limit ‘Almighty’ to be free of just one negative emotion – fear. I hold the view that ‘Almighty’ is free form all emotions i.e. ‘Nirbhav’.

Fear is an emotion, which grips the person who perceives an approaching danger. When the perceived danger actually over-whelms the individual the emotions are not that of fear, the emotions felt at that time are those which represent different kinds of suffering.

When the Sultan of Delhi passed the decree on Guru Arjan Dev Jee, our Guru Sahib remained free from all emotions (not just fearless), before the decree was carried out, during the ordeal and also after it – Guru Sahib remained ‘Nirbhav’. How did this happened can be explained with the knowledge now available to we humans.

From the recorded events and laboratory experiments, it has been established that when the mind is very much focused on a given idea, the sensitivity to other senses reduces. There are built in mechanisms in the brain, which diminish the demand from unwanted systems or even totally shut them down when needed.

Guru Sahib who had reach the pinnacle of divinity, had full control over the functioning of their mind where emotions are felt and pain is perceived. Mind was not controlling our Guru Sahib; it was the other way round – Guru Sahib was controlling the mind.

No matter what Guru Sahib was doing - working or talking, our Guru Sahib was all the time in communion with ‘Almighty’. When one is in deep meditation, the individual does not feel the body or its needs or its pleasure or its sufferings. Guru Arjan Dev Jee while sitting on hot kiln, with hot sand being poured on him, naturally must have remained totally in peace as he was meditating all the time. Meditation is said to be the ultimate level of focused mind, the intensity of it is so great that you transcend limitations of body. Under these conditions of total peace our Guru Sahib must not have been distracted in any way by what was happening to his body; he was in blissful communion with the ‘Almighty’ free from all worldly attachments, feeling and pain. In my view all this tells that our Guru Sahib was totally free from any emotion -‘Nirbhav’; this mental state of our Guru Sahib cannot be described by the word fearless i.e. ‘Nirbhau’ alone.

I am not able to fully understand, how and why ‘Chandu who was poring sand on Guru Jee was feeling a cold in front of the burning kiln.

As narration says, Guru Sahibs body was burning. It means that the laws of nature had not suspended their action as far as our Guru’s body was concerned. Why will nature suspend its action (its Dharma) to make Chandu not feel hot but cold? Guru Sahib was divine not Chandu. I, being a man of science, know that the laws of nature cannot be suspended. I am unable to find rational behind this part of narration. We cannot consider this as miracle. Our Guru Sahibs had not lived on miracles. If they were to do so, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Jee would have won all the battles with the Mughals using miracles. The history tell us that Guru Sahib won many and lost many battles, no miracles were use to secure victory. I firmly hold the view that miracles have no place in Sikhism. We have to be great on our own merits; ‘Kirt’ is one of our basic tents. The portion of the narration about which I am expressing doubts, is probably the contribution of the writer to make it more interesting – a regalation. The Divine entity like Guru Arjan Dev Jee do not need such frills to demonstrate what he was, his elevated state of spirituality was self-evident.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

Khalsa Jee, I will keep in mind all what you have said in your response and use it in my analysis. I am still in search of a robust reason to accept that our Guru Sahibans wanted ‘Almighty’ to be perceived as free from one negative emotion only i.e. fear. My views, at present, remain unchanged as expressed in my earlier posting. I have not yet concluded, I am open to new suggestions and information.

I thank you very much for your response, which made me think and in the process I learnt a lot.

With love and respect for all

Amarpal

Aman Singh · #5 (**permalink**) 20-Jun-2004, 09:25 AM

Dear Amarpal Ji,
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

I do not see much arguement to your judgement... Even I liked it also... Thanks a lot for broadening my horizons on the definition of Almighty...

Tejwant Singh · #6 (**permalink**) 30-Jun-2004, 23:26 PM

If one is fearless -NIRBHAU-then there's someone who is fearful. If one does not hold any animosity against anyone-NIRVAIR then there's someone who does.

As IK ONG KAAR- The Creative Energy- is sans duality, then these words have totally different interpretations than what we see from thier literal face value.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

There's another word DETACHEMENT which is also overly misused in the translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

If one is detached from something then one can not preceive anything from what one is detached from.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

I would use the word EMPATHY which means truely caring in a positive manner. SYMPATHY saps one's own energy while trying to console others. DETACHMENT means more like INDIFFERANCE or APATHY. Whersas EMPATHY has all the qualities of NIRBHAU, NIRVAIR.

My 2 cent worth

Tejwant Singh

sukhi · #7 (**permalink**) 09-Jul-2004, 11:52 AM

ok... i've got a real stupid question... but i just HAVE to ask it...
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

how do you love God?

Tejwant Singh · #8 (**permalink**) 09-Jul-2004, 23:57 PM

<
how do you love God?>>

Sukhi ji,

Guru Fateh,

For a Seeker-sikh-, No question is stupid. If one asks the question, it means that s/he is looking for answers. That's what our beautiful Religion is based upon.

Now to your very important question which makes us all ponder!!

I wish Guru Sahibs had given us the exact instructions of how to use our TOOL BOX- Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji-so that. But then I don't.The reason I think there are no such instructions given is because the relationship with ONE GOD is very personal endeavor and it can only happen through our individual DASAM DUAR as mentioned in Anand Sahib which we recite everyday.

Guru Nanak Dev ji, the visionary of this UNIVERSAL LOVE mentioned 3 tenets through which we can start our journey of GURMAT LOVE.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

1. Naam Japnah

It does not mean merely a lip service. One does not become a CPA by just memorising the arithmatic tables nor does One become a doctor by just bowing to the medical books. One needs to study them with GOD'S LOVE in mind.

As mentioned above, I consider Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji as my TOOLBOX. One can either make it a stool and sit on it while munching a sandwich or 2 (ofcourse I do not mean it literally) or one can open the tool box and use it and learn from it.

2. Kirat Karnee

Whatever we do in our lives, since the time we become aware of our surroundings to our last breath, we should do it with GOD'S LOVE in our mind. By doing this we are sowing the seeds of goodness which in result will give more fruits than our little fruit basket can carry.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

3. Vand kei chaknah

From the above two we notice that through NAAM JAPNAH we have acquired the tools for our KIRAT. Now our basket is full and there is a lot more fruit than we can handle. Here comes the third concept into picture. The third arc to complete the GURMAT CIRCLE.

Guru Sahib did not mention the word 'TO GIVE' but TO SHARE. This is very important to remember that the ONLY GIVER is IK ONG KAAR. Also 'GIVING' by a mortal creates a kind of heirachy, one gives to the one who are at sub par as compare to the giver. As Sikhi is all about equality,hence a sikh shares. Sikhi does not believe in charity either as there is none who is downtrodden in IK ONG KAAR'S realm. SABH GOBIND HEIN, GOBIND BIN NAHIN KOI-Everyone is born with IK ONG KAAR's LOVE within, no one is without it. By sharing we create a cycle of goodness, hence the people we share with can also share their fruits with others.

Because of the above there are 25 million Sikhs in the world in such a short period of time.

I would like you to share your thoughts about the above with us as well. As only by sharing we can cultivate goodness in which GOD'S LOVE selfmanifests.

My 2 cent worth.

Peace and Love.

Tejwant

Tejwant Singh · #9 (**permalink**) 09-Jul-2004, 23:59 PM

<not to whom.>>

Sukhi Ji,

Your quote at the bottom of your post says all about ONE GOD'S LOVE.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=61

Peace & Love

Tejwant