Beyond Discovery of God

Sages and elders in the Vedic society were blessed with practical wisdom. The society they envisioned flourished with the values and norms imparted by them and accepted by people with all restrictions on individual freedom of action. The values or ‘Sanskars’ were needed to avoid conflicts in the society. The system began faltering as evils grew because people understood that God would punish only after death and not during their life time for all their acts in this life.  Evil doers thought of enjoying this life rather than bother about the next. Be it rebirth, heaven or hell. They felt that for the same offence God would not punish them twice as it would be an act of injustice. Since doubts arose in the minds, people began thinking about ‘Souls’ too afresh.

People began asking questions what actually ‘Soul’ is. It is like God unborn and immortal. Is it a part of God and if so how is it possible? They were not convinced that God’s parts in so many numbers could be extracted leaving Him whole as He was.  They doubted that miracles could simultaneously happen in such enormous numbers of ‘Souls’. They asked whether ‘Soul’ is a separate entity from God. A debate on’ Dwaitwad’ and ‘Adwaitwad’ ensued as some accepted ‘Soul’ existed physically. They wondered how could a formless ‘Soul’  like God could keep a record of good and bad deeds. A few intellectuals could understand it as an imagination of a fertile human mind. A meaningless and futile exercise continued creating doubts in the very existence of ‘Soul’, physical or otherwise. Hairsplitting on this issue continued.  

With increasing doubts God became quite ineffective in their present lives. Need was felt for fresh thinking. Elders found a way to circumvent this situation. They created a system of Rulers, Rajas, Maharajas, Kings, etc. This was also followed later in other societies and Caliphates and Pharaos were created. Rules and regulations were generated for punishment to instill fear in the minds of evil doers in their existing lives. In Islamic society Sharia was imposed. Eye for an eye became the custom. As the society grew along with many more norms, institution of marriage was established. In Vedic society as per ‘Niyog’ men and women were treated equally.  A man could have five wives and women five husbands at the same time. (Refer Draupadi in Mahabharat). A widow could produce five children from different spouses. (Refer the births of Dhritrashtra, Pandu and Vidhur in Mahabharat). As time passed customs were modified, altered or changed altogether. Society willingly accepted changes as per the prevailing conditions for its well-being.  

Though Vedic societies flourished in various parts of Bharat Varsh at the same time, perhaps in isolation, none needed the crutches of ‘Religion’ for God for enforcing norms and values in the society. Vedic elders and Sages never created ‘Religion’. Yet the society remained intact. Sages learnt that basic human nature never changes. They used this information well. Once a faith is embedded in the mind it remains there. Other societies used this for the creation of physical God and took recourse to religions to spread their views.