Avadhoot Dandekar

There has been some controversy on the recent Hindi film, OMG (Oh My God !!), saying that it has depicted the ancient Hindu values in a very bad taste. However, there is a good entertainment value in the film. There is no need to simply generalize and rationalize everything. But we need to know and understand the whole science behind the idols, temples, and prayers. It is true that in some cases these processes are being misused. The idol itself is not wrong. It is only a symbol. It is a metaphor for something higher. The temple itself is not wrong. It is a symbol. It is a metaphor for something higher. The process of prayer is not wrong. The prayer is a process of creating a quality of prayerfulness in us. There is no need to simply say that all the temples are wrong. There is no need to simply say that an idol and an idol worship are wrong without understanding the whole science behind them. The right process of a prayer may lead us to a quality of prayerfulness. And this prayerful attitude may lead us to the existential experience of divinity within our own being. 

But yes, there are good coins and bad coins in an economy. And this does not mean that the whole economy and all the laws of the economy are wrong. There are good people and bad people in a society but that does not mean that there is nothing called divinity. We need to understand what is good and what is bad. We need to understand what is right and what is wrong. All these things are relative and subjective. 

Trust is totally a different thing than a blind belief. And knowing and experiencing is totally a different thing than a blind faith. There is a science behind everything. Veda means knowing. It is not a blind belief. It is not a blind faith. It is a science. And we can know the secrets of this science. 

All Upanishads say that everything has come out of nothingness. And the existential experience of this nothingness is divine. If nothingness is divine then everything that has come out of this nothingness also has to be divine. The Upanishads give a very beautiful definition of this nothingness. According to the Upanishads when we add something to nothingness, what remains behind is nothingness. And when we remove something from nothingness, what remains behind is the same nothingness. Nothingness is formless. Nothingness is wordless. And all forms have appeared out of this formless. And the same formless and nothingness is also hidden in all the forms. The formless is also there in all forms. The nothingness is also there in everything. 

A flower has a form but the fragrance of the flower is formless. A fruit has a form but the taste of the fruit is formless. Our body has a form but our soul is formless. A hardware like a computer has a form but the software is formless. In every form the formless is hidden. And in everything the nothingness is hidden. 

A flower is not possible without being a seed. A garden is not possible without a gardener. A teacher is not possible without being a student. A Master is not possible without being a genuine Seeker. And a Guru is not possible without being a genuine Disciple. And true knowledge is not possible without a real learning. 

An idol is a form but the formless is also hidden in the idol. The idol is only a symbol. The idol is only a metaphor. The idol is only a way to the divine. This is the reason why in the ancient Hindu culture every form is like a God. Every form is a form of God. The divine is hidden in every form. Therefore, every form in the universe is a form of the formless divine. 

There are two ways to experience the divine. One is to experience the divine directly without anything in between. This is the real way but the most difficult way. One has to prepare for this way. We have the habit of looking in the mirror to see ourselves, but can we look directly in the mirror of our consciousness? This could be difficult as a beginning. The other way is through a via-media. In the ultimate analysis nobody should stand between me and God. My body is a door to the body of God. And my soul is not only the center of my body but also the center of God's body. Therefore, everybody’s body is connected to God’s body and everybody’s soul is also connected to God’s soul. The whole visible universe is God’s body. And our body is connected to God’s body. The invisible universe is God’s soul. And our soul is connected to God’s soul. This is how we all are interdependent. We all are like the concurrent circles on the big circle called the God. Our bodies are born and die in the body of God. 

Let us do a small experiment. The experiment is that of a dart game. What do we do in the dart game? We make the center of the circle as our bull’s eye. And we learn to hit the center as a target. The game is very objective. It seems it is very difficult to learn anything in life without the objects and targets. Just look at the children? They are so much attached with their toys. This is okay. Because they are very young. This is how they learn and grow. Let us just reverse the above game. And let us try to hit at the very center of our being. Can we do this? This sounds very bizarre to us. This sounds very crazy to us. But this is what we need to do in the ultimate game of life. But this game is not objective. This is subjective. This game is not experimental but this game is experiential. This is subjective and individual. This simply means that it is subject to one’s own individual existential experience. 

We never feed a hard food to a new born baby. We have to feed a very light and liquid food. And we can not keep the child on the liquid food for the whole of life. And the mother prepares the child slowly for a harder food. This is how the child learns and grows. In the beginning, from the mother’s womb to till the child comes in the world, the child is interdependent. It is not only that the child is dependent on the mother, but the mother is also equally dependent on the child for her total experience of motherhood. 

This is how the Upanishads are very unique in their ways and approaches. In the beginning when the child is young and small they say, “Annam Brahmam”. This means that the food is Brahma. And when the child has grown they say, “Jnanam Brahmam”. This means that the knowledge is Brahma. Then they ultimately say, “Anandam Brahmam”. This means that the bliss is Brahma. The ultimate nature of God is blissfulness. The by-product of the existential experience of the nothingness is blissful. The by-product of the existential experience of nothingness is love, bliss, and compassion. God means a wordless existential experience. When I am not, the God is. And when I am, the God is just not possible. God is not to believe but to know. Oh my God !!