Lead us from Darkness towards Light

An interesting Exchange

S.
I do not want to say OM because I really don’t believe in Indian gods. I don’t think they are real. They seem like silly fairytale characters. I believe that Jesus is real and not the Indian gods. Jesus is God. The only God. I feel like he can help me more in life.

U.  

I think you are a person who knows her mind and will do only what she is convinced about. You do not have to chant Om if you are not convinced. You do not have to worship Hindu gods if you do not have to. I respect your decision. I just wanted you to think about a couple of things if you can:

Do not reject and throw away what you have without examining its worth.

Do not believe something is worthless just because someone tells you it is worthless.

If you wish to question me about Om and Hindu gods, I will be happy to respond. Would you like that?

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S. Please tell me about Om and Hindu Gods.

U.
I appreciate your open mind and readiness to learning. Please correct me if I am wrong in what I write.

God existed before this universe was born. We call Him Ishwara or Brahman. God is Pure Spirit, independent of all created forms. God cannot be seen by the physical eye, so we represent God through the sound symbol ‘OM’. You can say ‘OM’ is another name for God.

OM is derived from 3 letters A, U, and M. A represents creation of the universe, U represents continuance, and M represents dissolution of the universe. God is the Creator, Sustainer, and Dissolver of the Universe.

Where did the universe come from? There was nothing before creation. Nothing but Ishwara. God created the universe from ‘nothing but Himself’. The scriptures say that God manifest himself as the universe. He created heavens and gods, the earth and its people, and the lower worlds where demons reside.

God created all these and is greater than His creation. He is said to be above A, U, and M. When you go beyond sounds, you get silence. This is the ‘silent OM’ – the Pure Spirit. Thus God is OM – the ‘sound’ as well as OM – the silence.

The many gods are nothing but angels created by Ishwara. These gods reside in heaven and have divine powers. But their power comes to them through Ishwara. It is said that even a blade of grass cannot move without the will of Ishwara.

We do not worship many gods. We bow down to One Ishwara alone. We worship him as Pure Spirit. Since He manifests Himself as the Infinite Universe, He has infinite forms. We can connect to Him through his created forms.

When we see the Sky, we remember Him. When we feel the Breeze, we remember Him. We see Him in Stones, Plants, Animals, Human Beings, and in the many gods in Heaven.

There are times when Ishwara descends to earth in his human form as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, etc. These human forms are called Incarnations, and we say Ishwara has assumed an ‘Avataar’ to bless good people and destroy evil. We believe Jesus and Buddha were incarnations of Ishwara. Every incarnation comes with a timely message to the people of that era to forsake bad company and follow good practices.

These human incarnations are part of history and are not fictional. Rama and Krishna were as real people as were Jesus and Buddha. As far as gods in heaven are concerned, these are angels assigned to specific tasks and they serve Ishwara through their activity. They are not human beings and hence do not belong to any period in history.

I have given you a very brief outline of OM and gods. I am sure you have many more questions about Hinduism. Why don’t you list them out, and I will try to respond to them one at a time. Is that OK with you?

S.
I see what you are saying.

All religions think they are right like if they believe in Jesus or Ala but really it is just that all religions have different names for one God.