GOD: Generate, Organize, Destroy

 Bramha Vishnu Maheshwar: The symbols of Creation, Sustenance And Destruction :

What it means to our lives?

Dr John Palka one of the gifted speakers in our Sunday group presented his thoughts today. His topics: We and the Earth Are One!

He as a scientist and a man drawn to Nature always has a very unique perspective that connects science with spirituality. He gave many references today from various researchers as well as from Pope Francis and from the Upanishads to drive home the idea that we are connected to all living beings as well as the non living things that comprise our planet, that there is a relationship of mutual benefit between our fellow earthly beings and why it is important to be grateful for the rare opportunity to inhabit the planet that sustains life in a vast universe and make every effort to protect its resources wisely. 

During his talk one of the points he discussed was the Gaia Theory by James Lovelock that stands upon the understanding that life and atmosphere of earth are interconnected by a feedback loop. Earth is able to support life because of a chemical imbalance in its atmosphere. In contrast lack of such imbalance rules out the possibility of life on planets like Venus or Mars. 

The question this brought up in my mind was whether life had created the imbalance or the chemical imbalance invited life to the planet? Would introducing life to a planet like Mars create the essential chemical imbalance and then allow life to evolve there? 

Another topic that he broached was a detailed message from Pope Francis that has been since incorporated into a small book. The message essentially prays for humankind to hold gratitude and express love towards the planet and nurture it as a divine gift. 

This part of John’s talk brought to mind the Hindu concept of God whose three basic roles are that of a creator, sustainer and destroyer. All three functions occur simultaneously at any given time. Stars and galaxies are born, humans and other living things are born, they survive for a finite time, then undergo death. Our individual minds are microcosms within the macrocosm. The Pope’s message essentially is calling for humankind minds to align with the sustenance function. It is a call awakening humans out of their ignorance to stop destroying the planet for selfish gains and become wise caretakers.

If I look at this closely , each of our minds has a choice from three options and we could interpret all three in a very personal manner. The way I saw it during the discussion was that any creative mind, like the painters, sculptors, musicians, other artists, poets, writers, actors, scientists, engineers, medical researchers, gardeners , farmers, designers, architects, weavers etc are already part of the creation arm of the universe. The minds involved in conflicts, wars, hatred are being instrumental in the destructive processes. The sustaining machinery comprises of those that may or may not have creative but know how to keep whatever exists, in good order and shape. By education and raising awareness, the wise ones are slowly and surely moving our internal alignments from destruction to creation. If you look at even that process, old thinking is being destroyed and replaced by new thinking and way of life. Thus essentially, whether we participate in the awakening or not, the universe by its inherent tendency to change is constantly in a mode of destruction of what exists, creation of something new and sustenance is simply the interval between a creation and its death. We are mere instruments in the process. Whether conscious or not. We could become instrumental to grow a tree or chop one down. We could raise a child in this world or take the life of someone, whether in self defense, by accident or by deliberation. We could make our own lives creative by tapping into our individual potential or we could take the path to self destruction by allowing addictions like alcohol or drugs to take over our lives. There is no dearth of choices. No matter what we do or don’t, there will be a new thing happening within us or through us and something old dying. At every single moment. We may or may not know about it. Even in our physical death, we will help the planet by returning its loan of matter that comprised what we kept referring to as our body. 

GOD stands for the Power that Generates, Organizes, and Destroys( what was generated). This includes the generation, sustenance and destruction of Time and Space. When we become capable of observing this process we transcend time and space, we transcend life and death. We have access to eternity, infinity and everything that lies beyond words.