In Search of God: The God of Spirituality

By Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon

Religions and prophets have been preaching about God for centuries, and millions of people have developed faith in their concept. The revolution of science and technology in this century has forced many of us to reevaluate the doctrines and tenets received through our religious traditions. Should we believe in creation or should we believe in evolution? Should we believe in heaven and His court of justice when we look up in the sky or should we believe in the space, the planets, the stars, and the galaxies up there? I hope this write-up will provide a fresh insight into the mysteries about God -- and leave us wiser, peaceful, and enlightened

God and spirit is no more another worldly belief in fate, luck, chance, or coincidence. For the new generation of 21st century, we should be able to make sense of the real world, find peace in the midst of turmoil, and discover hope and joy. The God is not in church or mosque or temple only that appears every Sunday. God is also not sitting somewhere in the sky watching our actions. The God is in us 24-hours a day. “If we can’t see God in all, we can’t see God at all.” We need scriptures that can teach us all humans are capable of achieving union with God while still alive by realizing the Divine within. We want to become one with God and experience it.

This book will lead us towards spiritual meditation and permanent peace; representing the best that East and West have to offer since the author is educated at Yale University in the West and Punjab University in the East. The reader will understand the concept of God, which constitutes the spiritual basis of living. This understanding will lead us to love and happiness irrespective of our faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon
• Release date: Feb 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458082862

Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon

Note: INFORMATION on BOOKS "HEALTH & SPIRITUAL SERIES" is provided below. Professor, Dr. S. S. Dhillon has an advanced degree in life sciences and molecular biology from the west and a fascination with yoga, breathing, religion and spirituality from the east crafted out of studies at Yale University, U.S.A. and Punjab University, India. Therefore, he is uniquely qualified to present a synthesis of eastern and western approaches towards Health, Weight, Vegetarianism, Meditation, Yoga, Power of Now, Spirituality, Soul, God, science, and religion. He has published over 12 books and 40 research papers, and has expressed his views in the news media and workshops. He has been the President, Chairman of the board, and life-trustee of a non-profit religious organization and has expressed his views in the congregation and at international seminars. Most of his titles are now available at Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble: http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&ATH=Dr+Sukhraj+S+Dhillon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sukhraj+dhillon&x=18&y=18

Book preview

Faith and Reason

IN SEARCH OF GOD

The God of Spirituality

By

Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon, Ph.D.

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Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon

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CONTENTS

Introduction

A History of the Mythology of God

The Evolution of the Concept of God

The Concept of God Today

God and Spirit

Spiritual Need to Search for God

God and Spiritual Enlightenment

Spirituality and Religion

Do all Religions Lead to God?

Man to God

Why God is a Mystery!

Logic and God

Science, God and Spirituality

The Concept of God and Spirit

Meditating to spirituality

If God and Spirit is Part of Each Person:

Why so few realize it!

Some Spiritual Virtues

Conclusions

About the Author

Introduction

God and spirit is not an other worldly belief

in fate, luck, chance, or coincidence.

It is practical, reliable way to make sense of the real world,

find peace in the midst of turmoil, and discover hope and joy.

Dr. S. S. Dhillon, Science, Religion & Spirituality

The questions about God have occupied our minds for centuries in one form or another. What is God? Does He really exist? Why do we search for God? Do religions really believe in the same God? Why are there religious wars? Such questions have been asked over and over again by humanity as such and by individual beings at different stages of their lives. The mythology of God has created its own history.

Religions and prophets have been preaching about God for centuries, and millions of people have developed faith in their concept. The revolution of science and technology in this century has forced many of us to reevaluate the doctrines and tenets received through our religious traditions. Should we believe in creation or should we believe in evolution? Should we believe in heaven and His court of justice when we look up in the sky or should we believe in the space, the planets, and the galaxies up there? I hope this write-up will provide a fresh insight into the mysteries about God -- and leave us wiser, peaceful, and enlightened. Rather than underscore the conflict between religion and science and point to their mutual exclusivity, we need to unravel the strands in both and see the extent to which one augments the other.

The concept of God has practical value, for the new generation of science and technology and people of 21st century, only if we are prepared to interiorize that concept in a unique manner. A scientist may find it difficult to believe that some wise old man or woman sitting up in heaven is keeping track of everything. But the same scientist can't deny the incredible awareness and intelligence that exists in life, in nature, and in us. It's being a scientist that makes us spiritual and believer.

God is no more a theoretical concept that had been preached by most religions. For the new generation of 21st century, we should be able to experience. This is the essential part of being a religious today. Meeting God, having vision, living with God 24 hours a day; that is what being a religious is all about. The God is not in church or mosque or temple only that appears every Sunday. God is also not sitting somewhere in the sky watching our actions. The God is in us, the God is in congregation. "If we can’t see God in all, we can’t see God at all." We need scriptures that can teach us all humans are capable of achieving union with God while still alive by realizing the Divine within. We want to become one with God and experience it.

We humans are the only species in the animal kingdom who are blessed with an analytical capacity and logic. We possess the only nervous system that is aware of the phenomenon of God, reincarnation, hell, and heaven. Many of us question the existence of God we have known through religion and history! Is God a creation of our own mind that is influenced by the environment? For example, most of those who grow up in a communist world, do not believe in God. Could God be an idea depending on the climate, the environment, and the tradition in which we have been brought up? Does God exist for us humans only-- the only species known to have a mind which fosters ideas?

Because the concept of God helps many of us deal with ups and downs in life and keep the mind tranquil, could we be using the concept of God mainly to deal with life-crises. I hope this write-up can provide a meaningful understanding of the questions we have raised here and many more that occupy our mind as well as a personalized answer to the questions which will conform to our nature as both rational and religious human beings.

Our purpose is not to create a new religion, sect or movement, but to understand the concept of God, which constitutes the spiritual basis of living. The understanding that will put us on a road to love and happiness irrespective of our faith.

A History of the Mythology of God

The question of God is a difficult one. There is no clear definition and many threads get woven into the search of God. However, it is important to go over brief history of mythology of God, the religious influence, and now scientific influence in 21st century.

Here’s a brief review about the history of mythology of God that may influence our understanding about the new concepts in search of god.

Before Judaic Christian era, with the invention of agriculture in Turkey, human society changed from hunter gathers to farmers. During this era, the God was perceived as female Goddess. Archeologist Maria Gimbutas studied how this culture of the Goddess spread. The farmers spread out from Turkey moving east into Asia and west towards the Atlantic. As the farmers spread out from Turkey, they displaced the hunter gathers that lived on the land first.

What is most interesting about the civilization of the Goddess is the level of violence. Maria Gimbutas found little evidence of violence in the first towns the early farmers built. The towns did not have fortified walls. People were buried in egalitarian cemeteries. Their gravesites did not contain weapons of war. Their bones did not show wounds from weapons of war. This is very important. It means that war is something humans learned.

After the farmers filled up the available farmland, things began to change. With all the good farmland brought under cultivation, people in their towns begin competing for limited resources. Humans are a biological species controlled by evolution. Species evolve by producing more off spring than the environment can support. In the competition for limited resources only the fittest survive. Humans are no exception. The peaceful interlude was over. Starting in the east and moving west the towns started to become more fortified. The egalitarian cemeteries were replaced by Kurgans. A Kurgan is mound of earth containing a burial site of a ruling male and his family. These burial sites contain weapons of war. The bones of people from this period also show injuries from these weapons. Kurgan is also the name given to a tribe of horsemen who brought this transformation to the civilization of the Goddess. The Kurgans did not displace the farmers. A study of the bones shows that the same farmers lived in Kurgan towns. They were now ruled by the Kurgans. The Kurgans transformed the first farmers into a more violent society. When the environment in which humans lived changed, the mythology now changed. Myths about male gods were now added to the story of the female goddess.

As we stated above, the driving force of evolution is the survival of the fittest. For a couple of thousands years this rule was suspended. The first farmers could expand out from Turkey to bring new land under cultivation. They did not have to compete for limited resources. During this time, the worship of the goddess created a peaceful society. When the best farmland was brought under cultivation, towns started competing for limited resources. Those towns that started worshipping male gods created more violent males. The more violent towns survived. This type of mythology active in a society creates a more or less violent culture.

All this happened before the Judaic – Christian period. Karen Armstrong in her book A History of God picks up the story with Abraham and the stories and myths we are familiar with. If you remember, Abraham has a son late in life and then is told by God that he must sacrifice his son on an alter to God. He does not question God but takes his son up the mountain to be sacrificed. At the last moment, God tells Abraham that he can sacrifice a ram instead of Isaac and his son is spared. Other episodes where God sacrifices the sons are history of Moses and Egypt.

With the rise of God sacrificing sons, there was also a decline of the Goddess. In the face of an external threat, the Jews abandon the Goddess. Monotheism is a further refinement of the mythology of God. God is becoming only a Male God. In order to survive, the Goddess is suppressed.

This also happens later in Islam. At the time of Mohammed, the Arabs worshipped three Goddesses: Allat, al-Uzza, and Manat. Mohammed urged his followers to abandon these Goddesses and only worship Allah. Islam then goes on to conquer the Middle East, Northern Africa and Spain. Suppressing the Goddess makes a society more violent and the more violent societies survive.

Christianity adds further refinements to this myth. Paul on the road to Damascus has a revelation. He comes to see Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus is the Son of God who comes to earth and lives as a human. He is sacrificed for are sins. He is crucified, dead and buried. He descends into hell, on the third day he is raised from the dead and ascends into heaven.

There were two forms of early Christianity competing for people’s attention in the Rome Empire: the Gnostic Christians and the Trinitarian Christians. The Gnostic Christians still had a place for the Goddess in their tradition. The Trinitarian Christians believed only in a male God of three parts - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Under Constantine, the Trinitarians gained the support of the Roman Empire. The Trinitarian with their all male God mythology destroyed the kinder, gentler Gnostic Christians. What Christians have inherited today is the monotheism of the all male God of the Trinitarians.

This is a mythology that is needed for an era where people compete for limited resources. This mythology suppresses sexuality and creates more violence. The suppression of sexuality and the increase of violence bestow a survival advantage to people who must compete for limited resources.

The history of Hindu avatars Krishna and Rama is also based in violence of Mahabharata and Ramayana. So is the creation of Khalsa, the fighting force in Sikhism by the last of ten gurus.

Mahabharata (Mahabharat) is a great story of sibling rivalry, violence and war, of complex interwoven sub-stories, of philosophy, divinity, adventure, bravery, and betrayal. The characters are very well developed and are glorified in great works of Indian art and literature that is supposed to have happened in 5,000 BC. Hindu Holy Scripture, "Bhagavad-Gita" is the war time counsel of Krishna to his disciple-relative Arjuna during the Mahabharata war.

The story of Ramayana is about Rama, the prince of Ayodhya that happened before Mahabharata. Rama was the eldest son of king Dasharatha who had three wives. The youngest of the wives Kaikeyi tricked the king into making her son as the descendent to the throne and made Rama go to the forest in relinquishment.

Rama, the good son that he is, follows the word of the father and goes to the forest for fourteen years. His wife Sita and loyal brother Lakshman follow him. Rawana king of Sri Lanka kidnaps Sita and keeps her arrested in his garden. What follows is the great search for Sita and violence and war, when the goodness wins with the help of the friends (Hanuman- the flying monkey) and the brother Lakshman. The destruction of Sri Lanka and bringing Sita back to Ayodhya is glorified in the great works of Indian arts and literature.

In the late 17th century Mogul emperor Aurungzeb's religious policy was totally against non-muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, they had to pay more taxes than Muslims. On the site of temple he built a mosque at a great cost. All these accesses were happening around 1690. The army of Khalsa was created by tenth Guru of Sikhs in 1699 to fight against the accesses. These are latest of wars and violence of which the youngest among religions, the Sikhism is also not spared.

The Greeks gave us more than the myth of Hercules that had similarities to the Christian myth. They also gave us philosophy. Aristotle talked about the first cause, the sufficient cause and the final cause. Plato taught that there was a oneness behind the universe. The Greek philosophers also had an influence on religion. The oneness that Plato talked about got incorporated into monotheism. Monotheism for us today is the oneness behind the universe instead of choosing a male god over a female god.

It is the physicists that will understand the oneness behind the universe and the