ANAGHA DEVI

By Sri Kuppa V.Krishna Murthy

Is God male or female? This question will pop up in one's mind at one time or the other. Such a question is natural because, all the differentiation and classification are man made except the differentiation of gender, for which alone nature is responsible. The differentiation based on gender is not unique to mankind, but is seen in all living beings. Because God is responsible for this, it is possible that even the Almighty falls inside the purview of this classification. Thus, the above question seems quite natural.

But, we will face a contradiction if we think the Almighty to be either male or female. If the Almighty was to be male or female just like us humans, then it follows that the Almighty too should have parents. If the Almighty was to have a father, then who created the father? This question will remain unanswered. Thus, it is not possible for the Almighty to be a male or a female.

Many religions use masculine gender while referring to God. The Vedas, the oldest literature known to humankind has used both the genders while referring to the Almighty. At some places, they have even used the neuter gender. By this, our question becomes even more complicated.

Therefore, it becomes inevitable for us to seek other means to find out the answer. If we can first understand who the Almighty is, then we can try to know if the Almighty is male or female. Let is try this path.

To understand completely about a substance, we need to know, in addition to its external form, its composition also. To find out the composition, we have to disintegrate the substance in to small particles and then analyse it. Because we believe that the whole creation came from the Almighty, it follows that if we analyse the creation in detail, we will come to know about its basis, namely the Almighty.

The creation is so vast that we can not analyse in detail each and every object. But there is a way out.

There may be innumerable objects in this creation. But every object is a combination of one or more elements. Till date, a hundred and odd elements are known to us. There may be many more. Be that as it may. If we analyse further, we will come to know that atoms of every element are made up of sub atomic particles such as electrons, protons, neutrons etc. . If we analyse even further, we will observe that what remains in the end is only energy, which, unlike a solid object, does not have form.

After Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of our era, gave us the equation E=mc2, it was established that the omnipresent energy, on account of some unknown reason, will transform itself in to different kinds of atoms.

What then is energy? Is it Light? Sound? Heat? Electrical energy? All these are different forms of energy, but none of them can be called as the fundamental form of energy. It means that there is a kind of fundamental energy, which we can not see, but the manifestations of which can be seen in the form of light, sound et cetera. The same energy takes the form of protons, electrons and other particles to form an element. Thus, however vast the universe may be, we can say that all the objects have come from the same fundamental energy. This is the truth that the modern science has established.

The same truth has been narrated in our ancient scriptures. They have referred to this fundamental energy as Bhagavanta. The fundamental cause for all the objects in this creation is the same energy - say our scriptures. This is exactly what the modern science says!

This concept has been expressed in an episode in Chandi Saptashati, a famous treatise of ancient India. The situation is that of a demon wanting to fight against Goddess Saraswati, who is surrounded by different goddesses. The demon chides her saying, 'what is so great about fighting with so many energies helping you?' The goddess smiles and says 'You are not capable of seeing the reality. So you are seeing so many energies. The fact is that only I am here.' - so saying, the Goddess drew all the energies represented by different goddesses in to herself, stood alone and killed the demon.

Does not this story make it amply clear to us that though the energy manifests differently, it is only one in its fundamental form? Is this not what today's science has established?

(to be continued)