The Concept of God

How could people of different religions and different thinking co-exist in India? Yes, because of ‘religious tolerance’. Tolerance is firmly rooted in the Indian psyche. But how was this tolerance prevalent long ago in the Upanishadic and the Vedic period? Even before any constitution was adopted! It was because of the concept of GOD.

The concept of God in Upanishadic (and even earlier Vedic) thinking was quite different from the more common definition of god as creator and dispenser of reward and punishment. The Upanishadic concept of god was more abstract and philosophical.

This concept was presented as an exploratory theory and not a strict definition or an inviolable truth.

Different texts postulated the doctrine of a universal soul that embraced all physical beings. All life emanated from this universal soul and death simply caused individual manifestations of the soul to merge or mingle back with the universal soul. The concept of a universal soul was illustrated through analogies from natural phenomenon.

The Vedic Indians believed the idea of ‘Ekam Sat’ or the ‘Only True’ i.e. God is one and one alone. The universe had emanated from the ‘Ekam Sat’. Worship in any form would ultimately reach the ‘Ekam Sat’.

"The bees make honey by collecting the juices of distant trees, and reduce the juice into one form. These juices have no discrimination, so that they might say, I am the juice of this tree or that tree. In the same manner all living creatures, when they have become merged in the True, know not that they are merged in the True... "

All living creatures merge in the universal soul and are thus leveled by death.”

Control that anger!

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Control That Anger!

Many a times when something or someone angers us, we tend to behave rashly. This rash act later makes us sad and the whole day is wasted in its reminiscence. If anger makes us unhappy, why should we be angry? The following steps will help us to control our anger.

Know the reason for anger. One becomes angry when insulted, disobeyed, irritated or under stress.

Know why to control anger. Anger makes us sad and spoils our day. If anger has such ill effects, then isn’t it necessary to control anger?

Know that you can control your anger. Man has the power to control his moods. You say that he/she spoiled my mood. But it’s your mood, your brain. How can somebody else spoil your mood?

How to control anger? By saying that you should control your anger, I do not mean to tell you to stop feeling anger; but to change the way you vent it out from a rash and rude response to a positive and constructive response without letting yourself down.

For example, if someone calls you a dog (or similar words) in public, you don’t need to get angry. Just calmly reply, “Friend, why do you take pains to form opinions about me. The people around us are wise enough and they know who is who and who is what.” In time of tough arguments when the opposite person uses swear words, you can always say, “I’m too polite to answer that.”

Always take justified criticism positively and thank the person for the eye opener instead of being angry. But when criticism is unjustified like-“Your nose is too long,” you should discourage it by casually replying-“I know that. Even my mom tells so!”

You don’t need to follow anger suppressing methods like closing your fist tightly and slowly releasing your fingers because that results into pent up emotions, which are detrimental to health. What you need to do is just change your thinking to a positive constructive force, and vent your anger in a very assertive way-a way, which is a wonderful blend of polite eloquence, tolerance and dignified subtle humour.