The Purpose of God

Is God a needless hypothesis? This question has been bothering human kind since times immemorial. The Theism versus Atheism is an ongoing debate that has proved inconclusive over centuries. Many who proclaim to be non-believes and are wont to deny the very existence of God have been emboldened by a recent statement of the Pope Francis who in one of his speeches said that it is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. One can be spiritual without being religious. True, some of the best people in history were supposed to be non-believes while some of the worst deeds are being committed in the name of God. But the inferences that some people draw from these words do not imply that God does not exist. Of course, the conventional wisdom that seeing is believing is the reason for scepticism around the idea of God and proving that God exists would not be possible. But that notwithstanding proving that God does not exist is also not possible. Absence of proof is no proof of absence. Over the years the traditional notion of God seems to have changed. In these days of instant connectivity people want instant results. Further many undesirable things have been happening and are happening in the name of God. The modern religions would not be able to help in arriving at any conclusion. Whether God created man or man created God is a matter of academic debate. The Vedic texts and Upanishads may, perhaps, help in resolving the issue. The problem is largely because religions seem to be accentuating the divide between mankind rather than uniting it. Religion, undoubtedly, was created by man, but it was more a means of attaining and understanding God rather than substituting God. The Indian Vedantic literature clearly draws a line between the ultimate reality or Brahman and the religious entity called God. Spirituality that advocates an ultimate power suggests the existence of a supreme being rather than negating it and this needs to be understood. In fact, even the staunchest of the atheist will have some elements of doubt regarding non-existence of God. The enlightened souls like Buddha or Mahavira or anybody else did not question the existence of the ultimate reality, though they tried to enlighten the people about the manifest God which differed from religion to religion. If an in depth analysis is made it would be realized that spiritual masters from Buddha to Jesus all preached the oneness of spirit. In this context, then, complete atheism is an impossibility, rather a feeble attempt to negate a reality. Religion and spirituality are definitely different and it cannot be denied that they operate at two different levels. But religion is the route through which the common folks can attain higher level of spirituality. Religion is more about rituals but it is through these rituals that the spiritual can be reached. Thus to say that religion as a means of understanding God is a losing cause is an understatement. Religion leads to faith and faith leads to spirituality. It cannot be regarded as a private fantasy. It was a means to exercise social control and beeline that people make outside the different places of worship proves that the overwhelming large majority still crave for a character certificate from God. God is not just a hypothesis to be tested but an axiomatic truth that needs no validation.